Somewhere in Achisia
A field of death
The Night of the Bloody Moons
As Julie started to speak, the blonde haired prince and hero slowly turned around to look at her, with the same calm expression and gentle smile on his face. Ekaitz, now more than ever, seemed to be very embodiment of the heroes from the legends, as if one of the brave and mighty evil-slaying knights from the Age of Abhorrence and the Age of Cleansing had descended upon the world once again. His aura was glowing around him in this night of darkness and corrupting influence like a torch or a beacon, and his kind smile seemed to be able to calm down even the most horrified of people. He was already famous for it - the Prince of Xerena was one of those men who seemed to have been born to rule and to fight, one of those who were able to take over a horde of panicked and deserting soldiers and to turn them into an unbreakable wall of shields and spears. Julie could sense it all too well - disagreeing with him seemed to be a horrible and heinous crime, and the idea that your words or actions could upset this warm-hearted prince would have been a terrifying one for everyone around him. He was one of those people who could just change the minds of the people that he led effortlessly, he was one of those people for which thousands of others would have been ready to die at a sign or a word. He was one of the Seven Heroes, one of those who slayed the corrupted Mage-Emperor, who saved all of the human realms, all of the world even. The knight, hero, and prince, that everyone loved and expected, that everyone wanted to follow.
"You want to save him?", the green eyed prince asked softly. "It's truly heartwarming to see you so dedicated to your position and to your Virtue..you truly are a great Archbishop of Benevolentia, Julie. This world truly needs more kindness these days..and every time when I see someone with such a kind heart as yours I'm reminded that our efforts during the Great War were not in vain.. it was for people like you and for the hope of a better world that we all fought." Ekaitz remained quiet for a moment, with a smile that would have probably been more than able to melt the hearts of all the princess across the human nations. "I'm sure that Benevolentia would be proud of you.. but I can feel this evildoer's aura from here.. dark, corrupted. The smell of scorched fire and settling ashes.. he is long lost, and he is not worthy of your kindness. If we truly want to remove evil from this world, and if we want to save the people from his undead army, we have to send him to his final judgement. We can not waste time trying to save what can no longer be saved, instead, we have to start by cutting off the roots of evil, as sad and heartbreaking that might be."
Ekaitz smiled sadly. "So let me carry this burden, Julie. I shall take care of this, and the death of their dark master will end the undead army too. Thousands of lives will be saved...and then, we shall fight and protect those who need it until the break of dawn." Turning around, the hero wasted no time looking at Celio who was trying to stand up yet again. Bolt after bolt of lighting, Ekaitz mercilessly attacked the dark haired boy, and Celio's screams of pain pierced through the night around them..
Somewhere
A knight, an angel, a demon
Meeting a god?
After a few moments, the little deity opened his mouth to talk again.. just as Nysa touched his skull mask. The angel-girl quickly snatched her hand back, amazed and confused.. but the black eyed boy seemed to be just as confused as her. He was.. he was a god. He was a divine being, much more powerful than any of them, and even if most of the mortals had no idea who or what he was, they could all feel his power.. and most of them were either amazed or terrified by it.. but all of that treated him with the respect that he deserved. This was the first time that someone had touched his mask like that...and he had no idea what he should do. Burn her alive? Forget about it? Punish her for it? You couldn't just go and randomly touch the people around you, right? Especially if one of them was a weird, skull-mask wearing divine entity. Right?
But luckily for Nysa, Az immediately started speaking, distracting the little deity's attention as he quickly regained his composure. "You're not fun at all, little demon. Messing around with mortals is one of the greatest things that beings like us can do, it is one of the most wonderful things in this great and cruel world. Putting them in front of unexpected challenges, helping them or hindering them, just messing around with them..it's the most entertaining thing that there is.. the complete opposite to the eternal boredom that we have to suffer through.." And the little deity chuckled. "I can't say that I respect mortals.. but their insanity is just so much fun. That's why someone as insane as this knight could be interesting to watch in the future...." But then, out of a sudden, the boy left his vaguely mischievous attitude behind, becoming serious again. "I certainly do hope that you are not questioning my authority or mercy, little demon. It's true that not many people know about me.. and that is really, really sad... but I'm fairly certain that I would be an amazing supreme deity.." And that moment of seriousness quickly disappeared as the boy giggled.
He snapped his fingers again.. and two things happened at the same time. A large circular area against them was surrounded by a wall of shadow that quickly expanded into a full dome, covering them, and blocking the crimson light of the sky, and an invisible force pressed against both Az and Nysa, forcing them to kneel on the ground, in front of him. The boy sighed, and hellfire, similar to that used by Az earlier, started to burn around his left hand and arm, the flame bringing some light to the darkness inside the dome. "I offered you a simple deal.. and I really don't like it when people reject my kindness.. that little broken knight there is close to dying.. and I'm fairly certain that you don't want to be here when Achlysa will come to claim his soul.. right, Az'goxaak? Even if you two being reunited after so long would be a touching moment.. I'm not sure how she would react to the whole part where you left the Eight Hells only to hide in the mortal world. And your little fight from earlier would be in vain if the little knight would die, right? So it's a win-win situation."
"You two ask me to save him, I save him, and I'll also help you survive through this night. Isn't that a great deal? Now come on.. do it."
Fallen Achisia
The city of Kydara
Under the protection of the Council of the Six Nations
Pride simply hugged her again. "You do not have to give your life away for me..my world would be empty and dark without you. I don't know what I would do if you were gone..", he whispered, so that only she would be able to hear him. "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry that I had to act like that for so long....but every time I look at you I can't help but feel horribly guilty.. and it hurts, it hurts so much.. it's all a maelstrom of pain and guilt.. I remember things only to forget them the next day and to remember then again the day after..and always and always, I can feel that fear grasping my heart.. the fear that I could lose you again.. that I could you lose you forever, without me being able to do anything to help you..but I will save you. I will save you one day, and we will be able to escape from all of this.. I promise. No matter what, I promise. You'll never have to be alone and afraid again..and one day.. one day you won't have to do all of these terrible things anymore.. even if you don't understand it right now, even if you don't understand anything right now.. you just have to trust me. Can you do that? Can you trust me, no matter what?"
The white haired boy then kissed her again, but much more gently this time, as if she was a porcelain doll that he was afraid to break. And after their kiss ended, he remained close to her, his empty silver eyes right in front of her false green eyes. "Can you?"
