Hatred

Darius slowly came to consciousness. He felt drowsy and his body was heavy, as though her were covered in a layer of hardened clay, or as if he was trying to move underwater. His mind was still in shock and he couldn't even comprehend why he was moving, much less the feelings that came with it. He slowly sat up, his head lopping forward as he did. His jaw suddenly snapped shut as his head fell forward limply, biting his tongue.

His eyes suddenly widened as he snapped back to reality. He groggily looked to and fro taking in his surroundings. Where was this place..? Why was it so familiar..? Then he realized, the cold rusted bars, the dim halls that stretched on and on, he was in the prison area of Xinoll, near where they met Gozzu and searched for Akuro when he was held prisoner by Lilith.

"Well, well, well." Came a voice, but it was distant, like he was hearing it from underwater. His ears rang and he felt a sense of being in a waking dream. He slowly turned to look into the cell behind him.

"Never imagined I'd meet you here. Especially not like this." The woman spoke.

It was Lilith.

She had stayed behind when demons followed Akuro to the surface where they made Fort Arashi. She opted out and decided to stay in solitude in Xinoll, all alone. Understandable seeing as she was made to be a fool, weakling and a pathetic insect beneath Akuro who ridiculed and embarrassed her. Though, can't say she didn't deserve it. She did repeatedly gouge out Akuro's eyes and nail chains to his body.

"You've had some drastic changes, hmm? I've heard you all have been making a mess of the Midrealm." She spoke.

"Lilith..?" Darius spoke soon as he regained feeling in his tongue. He was still recovering from the tremendous pain he'd felt before. "Why are you sitting in a cell..?"

"Oh this..?" Lilith waved about at the cell, glancing back at the wall with hanging chains and a torch by it. She grinned. "Memories of better times."

Darius frowned, understanding what she meant. "No regret whatsoever?" He asked.

"None at all. A girl's gotta keep her wits and pride."

"Didnt seem to care about your pride when Akuro had you half naked on your knees for him." Darius said with a slight grin.

Lilith glared at him venomously. "How dare you.." she hissed. "I don't care if you are a demon now or not, I will kill you."

"A demon?" Darius asked in surprise, then his eyes widened when he remembered his soul being shattered and how he'd been killed by Sedori, the cold dagger biting into his throat. His hand unconsciously went to his neck.

Then rage began to well up in his chest as he remembered Inari's cold corpse and her blood sinking into the sand.

He was then completely blinded by his rage. Emerald green aura began to swirl around his body. He was too enraged to even think about the fact that he was a demon now, or that Inari was as well, or that Sedori maybe did this for good intentions. All he could think of was Inari's corpse and the one who killed her.

"Where is the gate to the Midrealm." He asked coldly.

"Oh? Seems someone is mad. You'll find it yourself. You are a big boy now." Lilith joked.

Then Darius's body suddenly shattered apart into shards like that of a mirror, the black shards of glass flying through the air before stopping, swirling, and reforming into Darius's full figure before Lilith, his hand gripping her throat and pinning her against the stone wall, chains dangling by her head.

"Don't at like you are stronger than me. We all know how pathetic you are, Lilith." Darius growled. He was still so blinded by rage that he didn't even realize he had a new ability, he simply used it unconsciously.

Lilith glanced at the dangling chains beside her head, then laughed.

"Now I see it from his point of view." She glared at Darius. "How about you calm yourself and use that head of yours. I used to think you were that tactful one. Do you not realize you are a demon now?" She fingered the chains that were wrapped about Darius's chest, her talons scraping over the cold metal.

"You are a demon, dear. Let's stop throwing a little fit, and how about you take a look in a mirror." Lilith said.

Darius faltered for a moment, his grip loosening on Lilith's throat. As soon as he eased up his grip, a shockwave blasted from Lilith's hand and sent Darius crashing into the bars of the cell, but the pain was practically nothing after his soul had been shattered. He glared up at the demoness, but then decided against attacking her. It was a waste of time.

All he wanted was to find Sedori, and kill that bastard.

He turned and exited the cell, picking a direction to go down. He would find the gates on his own.

"Where are you going, dear Darius? Aren't you at least a bit curious as to what your new capabilities are, now that you are a demon? Your powers are much greater now." Lilith called, her voice ringing down the corridors.

"I don't care." Darius responded angrily.

•

•

•

Gwydion and Mímir returned to the Citadel of God in the Divine Realm where all the other high gods sat or stood spread out through the room. The room was large and spacious, a circular dome and light shone through the intricately designed windows on all sides of the building.

At the very center of the room was a golden throne upon which sat Youlgnir.

"You are back sooner than I would've expected." God spoke.

"It really wasn't that hard at all. It was quite easy really, a simple task." Mímir said with a wave of his hand.

"Yes. It would appear they are in the Sahara Desert. I've marked the location for you with a magic seal. You can teleport there at any time." Gwydion spoke.

"Hmm." Youlgnir looked about at the gods surrounding him. Then his eyes laid on Anubis. "The desert. Perfect for an Egyptian god, yes?"

Anubis stood, and as he did wisps of black sand would fall away from his body as if he was simply a clay figure. Anubis stood at about seven-foot-nine. His head was that of a black furred jackal and his eyes were a deep shade of red. His ears were tall and thin, silver earrings looped through them. Illuminescent red markings were tattooed into his forehead, as well as across the rest of his skin. He wore an egyptian black robe with silver lining and he wore thin plates of silver armor with Egyptian sympols etched into the metal. Bones were tied to his armor plates in layers like spikes. His body was tall and lanky, his hands long and thin ending in talons. A lavishly designed silver khopesh, at least three times the size of a normal khopesh, was strung to his back.

Anubis had a more demonic appearance than a godly one. It was the same with Hecate though. She was anything other than a fair maiden. Her black hair was matted and loose from her scalp. Her eyes were sunken in and black while here mouth was covered by cloth tightly wound about her through and jawline. You could faintly see the outline of her teeth in the cloth. Her skin was sickly and pale, scabs and deep gashes all across her body. She wore a black cloak and leather bands about her lower and her shins. She wore no armor, nor did she have a weapon.

The duo was truly grotesque.

"I have no complaints." Anubis spoke. His voice was soft and cold, like a knife scratching over cold stone. "It has been many years since last I fought.." he raised his hand, black sand swirling about his arm. "I have more aura now than I've had since the beginning of the last Immortal War."

Hecate laughed maniacally, her voice surprisingly shrill and high pitched. "I wanna go! Can we go?! I want more corpses! More dolls, more dolls!"

Youlgnir grinned. "Yes. I want you two to go and attack Fort Arashi. We will test there strength. If things go sideways I want you to retreat immediately."

"It will be fine. The armies of the dead will leave their Fort in ruins." Anubis spoke darkly.

•

•

•

Akuro had successfully learned how to eliminate entire galaxies with a singular motion. It took some time, but he'd finally succeeded in his goal, and now he needed to move to the next step: destroying a whole reality.

"But first," Kasziel spoke, placing a hand on Akuro's shoulder as they drifted in the black void. "You need to accept your humanity, so that you may lose it."

"What? How does that make any sense?" Akuro asked, confused.

"Human beings are capable of many, many emotions. While they are capable of love, compassion, trust, empathy and kindness, they are also capable of hatred, envy, betrayal, and indifference. I want you to kill your last bond to humanity, the last bonds to your life as a mortal. That is your hatred, but to act on it is to lose all of those old emotions."

Akuro's expression became hard and cold. "You mean my father."

"And your mother, yes. They are both still alive and they live in Billings, Montana. I want you to find them and not only kill them, but level all of Montana, without using your reality bending." Kasziel grinned. "Their lives do not matter. They are simply fake copies of the real ones. Eliminate them. We will end everything, starting with your reality, and that is where we start."

Akuro bowed his head. In his mind, the real Akuro stirred, memories of his father and Hope's death, his sister, his mothers hand slapping his cheek... then he became still.

Cold eyes turned up to Kasziel. "I'll do it."

•

•

•

Inari would walk through the halls of Xinoll for a long time, searching for Darius, but she was never able to find any trace of him. Eventually she made it to the cell area, walking down the dark halls. The cells gave Inari shivers as she imagined the hollow screams of the tortured and anguished souls who'd once been imprisoned there.

"Inari." Came Nathan's voice at one point. She didn't stop walking, her eyes staying forward in tunnel vision. She didn't want to think of the pain that has been inflicted in these prison cells, it made her sick. What bothered her the most was the fact that, in one of these cells, Akuro had been tortured.

"Inari!" Nathan's voice came again, snapping Inari out of her distant state.

"What?" She asked in her mind.

"Check the cell behind you.

We've got company."

Inari turned swiftly. She looked into the cell behind her to her right.. nothing, then the one to her left. Her eyes narrowed.

"You." Inari spoke.

"You." Lilith mocked.

"What are you doing here, bitch?" Inari asked with a venomous tongue.

"Oh, you know." She said with a roll of her eyes and wave of her hand as she motioned to the cell. "Reliving the past."

Inari shuddered, realizing that this was the cell she had tortured Akuro in.

"I should kill you right here right now.." Inari growled.

"Funny." Lilith spoke, ignoring Inari's comment. "You have been turned to a demon as well?"

"Wait, what?" Inari asked, confused now.

"Yes, your boyfriend or whatever he is to you, maybe it's unrequited love who knows, he went storming off that way in a rage about how someone had killed you." Lilith said. "Quite entertaining. He was so enraged he was blind to anything other than his own anger and hatred."

"Damnit.." inari cursed. She needed to stop Darius before he found his way back and tried to kill Sedori.. she turned down the way Lilith had said he went and began to run through the halls.

"Be careful." Lilith called. "A demon's rage is a blinding thing. He may not even realize it's you. Who knows, he might just make a good demon yet."