Goodbye Vanaheim

Vanaheim's crimson sun had already sailed past the horizon. Its mystic lights of had rose to garnish the lightless sky. Creating a scene that was simply breathtaking.

My clothes were already in tatters with not a single intact place, well besides my lower body. Theia was far from cruel enough to aim any attacks at that part of my body.

However, I was currently too preoccupied to care as I voraciously wolfed down a giant bowl of roasted lamb.

"Don't eat so vulgarly." Theia gently chided as she wiped the corners of mouth clean. Anyone who didn't know better might think we were on a date.

Indeed under the celestial beautiful Theia's countenance was especially entrancing. 

Normally it would dazzle me immensely, today though, my mind was derailed with grave matters. 

I had to expunge my doubts on th eerie claim she had suddenly made today.

""What did you mean by "The dragon gods body"."I asked. "I clearly still feel human".

A bit of earnestness invaded her gaze as she answered. "Its ichor's essence invaded your body when you destroyed it in the temple. Since you purified its soul the replacement of your human essence didn't occur. So your body is still largely human.

But you feel it, don't you?. That the blood that runs through your veins has become darker, more volatile. Your very marrow contains explosive power and your bones are far more resilient, in fact they are nothing short of an impenetrable fortress."

Sensing my disquiet, her tone became milder. "I'm sorry. But it is a part of you now."

I shook my head in response. "I never once thought of myself as the victim of our clash. I felt its pain when I destroyed it. It was a tortured existence. Not an evil one.

The least I can do its carry on its place with its mantle."

"As expected of you, even against the most vile foe looking to claim your life you cannot help your compassion. That's why even I....I" Her voice trailed of into silence as she struggled to complete her sentence.

Her neck and cheeks had already become a field of crimson.

"I have gift for you." She finally said after a while.

Her smiling face returned. And a burgundy scroll appeared in her palms.

"There aren't many treasures like this in our vault. A remarkably pure divine aura radiates from it, but no one has ever found its use. Its titled Mars' Mireau." She announced.

I gently claimed it from her chalk white palms. "Thank you." I said softly.

Eliciting a smile from perfect face. She got up slowly and assumed her true form. "Please give me one day. I must see you off tomorrow." With that, her powerful wings flapped and her figure disappeared' faster than my eyes could follow.

I lay on a soft mossy rock and gazed at the stary sky unwilling to return to my quarters. My surroundings grew quiet as the bustling realm went to sleep. 

Restless, I gently spread the Mireau over the viridian earth. Nothing could have prepared me for the macabre scene that followed. It was a Mireau of an earth dyed crimson with blood. Human entrails strewn across the wailing scenery as flames of war burned fiercely.

Warriors fought with their very bones. Jagged and broken out of their bodies. Heads flew and the masses perished. The scene came alive within my soul.

The wails of purgatory surrounded me and the scent of fresh blood thickened the air. 

This horrific world could only be described with a single phrase.

"Endless death."

within my eyes. I had never before felt a greater fear. A greater desire to cower from the gruesome horizon. But despite the guttural screams and monstrous actions I felt an entity rising around me.

My eyes sunk into the emotional spectrum however I no longer saw the grey aura of fear. But deep crimson threads rising from all who fought.

In this horrific conflict love burned brightest. Everyone fought for home. For what was important.

"Haha my descendant eh. You've witnessed this scene with an intact mind.

Well done.

So let papa Mars give you a hand. I no longer exist in completion. Only this mere smidgen of my being remains.

So let me grant you this, my successor.

The flames of a war god!!!

HAHAHAHAH." A rambunctious burst of laughter boomed through my ears. The voice I heard was proud and cruel. Yet it commanded a strange feelingof intimacy from me, and respect.

Immediately my vision swirled. I felt the lives of millions burn out in battle, Fighting as each one of them: For every smile that held importance to me through billions of different incarnations.

I fought as an archer, then a spearman, then as a warrior whose sole figure faced a hundred.

Experiencing several deaths indifferent incarnations.

"Rarrr" An inhuman growl escaped my lips, as a I swung my spear wildly. Realizing too late that I had returned to the green havens of Vanaheim. 

Lightless stopped a millimeter short of a delicate sparrow. It cocked its head bizarrely as it stared at me.

I collapsed on one knee. Breathing heavily as my body trembled ceaselessly.

My strained mind begin to dim and my eyes began to close. Unaware of the deep chasm the mere winds of my unconscious fury had dug into the earth

**

The raining brilliant scarlet waves of red light roused me from my slumber.

"You sure do take your beauty sleep seriously." A teasing voice carried itself to my ears.

Theia stood before me n her true form. she had donned soft leather armor that lent her the air of a war goddess.

I hurriedly got to my feet. Shaking the dew out of my hair.

"I like it here" I admitted,

"Its quiet."

My lips curved into a gentle smile as I spoke. If I had been more attentive. I would have noticed Theia staring at me longer than usual with red tinted cheeks.

As soon as my focus returned her face regained its serenity.

"You're nowhere near to travel on your own. "She began. "Even if its your earnest wish, unless you prove me wrong ill keep you here with me."

I said nothing, only smiling warmly.

She then returned the smile I gave her with a sadder one, before saying reluctantly.

"Let us begin."

My muscles tensed and my field of vision narrowed on its own. A glowing emerald vine lashed at me faster than I could possibly react.

And yet I had moved faster than i ever before without ever being able to see it. The vine had smashed into whar my position had been a few breaths ago.

A raging bloodlust of unknown origin suddenly enveloped my mind as lightless appeared in my left palm. With a simple motion it flew from my palm, sailing towards Theia at impossible speeds.

When my head cleared and a slight glimmer of worry appeared, It was immediately extinguished by a marvelous sight.

A viridian suffused with gold light burst out of her body.

Forcing lightless came to a stop in midair right before it touched her throat.

The flora around me sang in joy as if rejuvenated by the green luminescence radiating from Theia's figure. An immense pressure immobilized me, and for the first time I felt the power difference between us.

She was absolutely beyond me. "Well done." She praised. "You seemed to have become a seasoned warrior in one night. This can only be attributed to the Mireau. 

Once again a divine miracle beyond me comprehension has occurred within you."

She said as she nodded at the remarkabiltiy of fate. She continued. "Listen up. Below the pseudo divine realms of power exist what we call the four mortal circles.Each a classification of strength yet to break through to the shura domain. 

Currently you're half step into the 2nd circle ay your very best." She surmised.

"Which circle did Rubel and Marcel inhabit?" I asked out of curiosity.

"They were both at the 1st circle with Rubel being stronger. yet marcel always triumphed in their spars." A faint air of melancholy clouded her voice as she spoke. 

"But the current need not compare yourself to them. They were abnormalities. The current you is still vastly impressive by demigod standards." She consoled. 

I was skeptical about what she said and my countenance showed it. "Their strength was attained in a very cruel tempering. The very best of demigods are only 3rd circle at their strongest.

Being half a step into the second circle is already remarkable, after all the difference of strength between circles iam irreconcilable chasm." She surmised.

"Theia." I began slowly, " I watched as the only relative I had perished painfully. 

In regards to strength the only worry i have is how far i can travel in the realm of power, as for pain and suffering, they are entirely irrelevant."

She grew quiet, but ultimately unsurprised as if that was the answer she knew I would give. "Then prepare yourself for a hell unlike any other." She replied coldly.

Her figure shimmered like a mirage. And she was Infront of me. Leaving Ghastly mirages in her wake. Her giant arm pressed itself onto my shoulder. An unending stream of power flowed into my body.

Immediately a vivid feeling of suppression appeared within me. It was violating and at the same time liberating.

My mouth was forced open by a mysterious telekinetic force. A brilliant golden liquid flowed into my throat and I mmediately doubled over in pain. A sensation akin to my bones melting and my skin being flayed assaulted me.

A pain I couldn't describe with words. 

Theia watched me impassively as I screamed and clawed at my chest until I had dug bloody groves, and my throat run dry.

In this horrific state I stayed until my screams became increasingly hoarse and my body was riddled with self inflicted wounds.

Then the terrible began to fade slowly.

An hour passed me in this state. My scream had already dominated the sounds of nature and frightened countless creatures out of their abodes.

The pain faded to reveal an immense fatigue. A simple twitch of my fingers provoked endless convulsions.

"Urgh" I groaned as I felt a talon-like hold on my jaw.

It was Theia, her palms glowed with the same restrictive emerald energy yet my worn body was now unable to sense any changes within my being.

My swimming vision captured glimpses of Theia's emotionless expression as she forced my jaws open once more.

This time a glistening volatile crimson liquid that radiated a somewhat starry light sailed down my throat.

Suddenly i was sunk back into an even harsher purgatory.

Somehow the pain vastly eclipsed what I had experienced before. For a split second I considered the thought of ending it all merely to escape the allencompassingpain.

I wailed in a much hoarser voice till I lay in a pool of my own blood and sweat.

The time i spent writhing in agony was also vasty longer, however Theia accompanied me through every moment, her eyes never leaving my figure.

I found my reprieve as as the pain brief reduced; black out immediately.

****

When I woke....

"You're back." A lonely feminine silhouette sat next to my bloodened figure. The very one who had plunged me into an endless purgatory. Yet I couldn't find an iota of hatred in my heart.

"What did you feed me?" I asked weakly as I sat next to her unstably.

"Two things. The remaining godly ichor and dark ichor in our treasuries." She replied calmly.

" I'm sure you know that dark ichor is poison to all with divine blood. After all, it hails from the dark gods, our natural opposites. It erodes our very essence. Our Ichor has the same effect on demonic beings."

When i fnally understood her words i froze. The words i would say frightened me but i still had to say them. "My body rejected the divine Ichor so does that mean.." I failed to finsih the string of words i had wished to offer.

Theia sighed deeply after which she spoke with a complex expression.

"You never asked me what my purpose was at our school? Was it because you already knew the answer when you felt my killing intent or witnessed the reaction your mother had at the mention of the name of my house?

My Adam is more perceptive than anyone else. You definitely sensed but never dared to believe it, for i had already become your enotional support by then, your reason for living.

Your instincts were right, I sent the Tri Centauri that dark night."

I completely froze as my body ceaselessly convulsed. In my eyes a deep, broken, fractured crimson light had completely replaced the normal vibrant scarlet.

I had already stopped breathing as my complexion completely paled.

Theis continued without turning to face me. Indeed, how could she?

"Over the years our house, the closest to earth, had sensed a faint dark shura presence from it. Unfortunately magic wards barred us from zeroing in on it. Still with our persistence we managed to gain a rough estimate of its location. 

I registered as a student simply to gain a mortal identity to aid in my search. Never did I have think that I would actually come into contact with you, the source of the demonic presence so quickly.

Here, we are taught that the dark shuras are an inherently evil race to be annihilated without mercy, and yet you with an extremely pure dark shura lineage did not possess the slightest evil.

The void fey are nature spirits sensitive to the evil within ones heart so i could tell...that your soul was the purest i had ever seen.

From my original killing intent and hatred I quickly became interested in you. Unfortunately you and your mother were escaping so I could only do my duty. I conjured, and sent the tri Centauri after both of you.

Against all my expectations you actually managed to best it. Your fight impressed me in more ways than one. Despite being able to escape you refused to abandon your mother to her fate and even sought to accompany her in death.

Moved, I decided to make you my servant and mask your demon aura. As a servant I could control your thoughts and desires, as well as your life and death.

If you were defiant I would break you, and if not I would have gained a useful slave.

As you began to trust me despite your misgivings i mocked your innocence. Oh how easy you were to manipulate, entirely unaware myself, that i had began to see you in a new light. That the purity within your eyes had already taken me captive until i couldnt help slowly drowning myself within."

After saying so much she suddenly sighed painfully.

"I know more than anyone that this will not change anything, after all i can read the horror in your thoughts and the voilent quaking of your soul. But I still wish to be selfish one more time, to accompany you as you sink into your dreams. So please me dear servant, grant me my last request.

Sleep."

My quaking soul was attacked by the irresistible waves of power in her voice, and i suddnely couldnt help my heavily drooping eyelids.

I fought the urge as much as I could, but her voice brooked no weakness. Before long my entire body relaxed, and I had sunk into blissful sleep.

***

The endless chriping of Vanaheim's birds shook me from my torpor. As i slowly opened my eyes, i didnt move for a long, long time. Even now I had not fully accepted my new cruel realty. 

That the woman i loved was the origin of my suffering. Unbeknownts to me a golden imprint on my right palm had began to glow.

"As of now under the stimulation of the divine and dark ichor your body's capabilities have risen to new heights." My body shook once more as her voice appeared in my mind. I finally found the strange imprint that glowed on my palm and stared at it incredulously.

Theia's voice continued. "I have left every single bit of information on the imprint on your arm. As well as basic divine spells that will be of use to you. I also left the Shen amulet with as much spatial power as my father and the elders could harness. It should be enough for a few long range teleportations.

The realm of the read cross is the most cursed place in Muspell and is haurded fiercely.

I have already inscribed the coordinates of the safest region in Muspell. You can begin your journey there."

The imprint on my arm was a beautiful golden lotus shaped imprint that radiated a gentle light. I could almost see her delicate figure gently inscribing it on my skin.

But despite knowing that, it's light that was obviously gentle cruelly stung my eyes.

My previously ruined clothes had already been changed into intact dark linen robes. 

I wordlessly stared at the last spot I had seen. My eyes burned with emotion too complex to be put in words as I tapped the Shen amulet.

I would be saying goodbye to the only place apart from my home I had ever known to enter a helllscape, however only I knew how much I longed for an escape.

As for Theia, I hoped I would never see her again. It would be.....easier that way.

Space blurred around me, transporting my form away to new barren land.