Chapter 1: Who am I?… What am I?

Edgar Bones POV

Did you hear that?

…

…

…

That's right, silence; peace before the storm as many like to say. It is in these moments where my mind feels so… normal, as if I were an ordinary person and not this…. thing. It's been so long, I've gotten used to the voices in my head, not having them just feels so…. queer. There are nights where the voice is just a whisper, like that light little voice in your head that gives you a advice, that helps you decide your options when faced with your doubts. And there are nights where they are simply... screams like a caged animal that wants to break free and devour everything in its path.

SINNERS!!!

FIND THE SINNERS!!!

It's what the voice tells me, and honestly, it's totally exhausting.

My name is Edgar Joseph Bones, that was the name my dear parents gave me, but since I became this thing I began to doubt my identity, was I still Edgar? The first 30 years were a torture, fleeing from town to town so that people wouldn't get suspicious, but I couldn't stop certain newspapers from reporting the news, I mean, it's always rare to find the body of someone murdered with their eyes turned to coal and burned. The strange thing is that the bodies belonged to murderers, rapists, people of the worst kind. Before leaving those towns, I heard that some people who were victims of these individuals called me a savior.

Heh, savior, if they knew I'm a monster.

After so long I got tired, this cursed look allowed me to see people's souls, and see if people were sinners or not sinners, don't get me wrong, we are all sinners, but not everyone deserves a 'divine punishment', unfortunately, despite I couldn't control my actions becoming… this, the next morning I could remember all the actions I had committed and all the sins of the people I had killed. One day I had enough, I grabbed a knife and…well let's just say that when I woke up, my eyes had healed, at least superficially, but my sight…was gone.

It's funny, I remember that turning into this flaming skull I had been stabbed or shot and the next day, I had no scratch, no mark of evidence that had happened, but when I gouged out my eyes, this power that I thought regenerated everything, It didn't return my sight, now I am a monster and…blind. However, my sight did not completely disappear, I could still see the souls of the people, that's when I realized that that cursed look, that look that gave me nightmares every night, was not 'my look', it was 'his look'.

I had no fixed destination, I just wanted to flee, I hid in Latin America, from Mexico to Brazil, everywhere I went I left burned bodies with looks made of coal. But when the great war began (World War II), the voice in my head demanded of me that I should go to Europe, to collect the souls of sinners.

Many still think that Hitler committed suicide, or even worse, that he fled and lived his old age in isolation, the truth is that no one can say what happened, since when they found him, they saw what was left of a badly burned body and the look made coal, they could only conclude one thing, the way he died, it was definitely painful. After that I kept hiding until someone found me, a priest dedicated to the monastery of Saint Lucas, an exorcist.

Imagine my surprise when a person dressed as a priest kindly asked me if I could accompany him to the monastery of the order of Saint Lucas in the city of Valencia, I don't know why, but I felt that all my problems would be solved by following him or at least, They would give me answers to my questions. Exorcists, I thought that sounded absurd, but considering my skills I thought that was nothing. They were not only exorcists who said prayers and raised the cross and the bible in the face of the condemned, no, they were fighters and magicians, YES, MAGIC! Divine or sacred magic, it could help scare away or eliminate the evil spirits that escaped from the hell, purify cursed wounds and heal serious illnesses and injuries.

They explained to me that it was me, Zarathos, the spirit of revenge or as was called before,  Azazel, the angel of the fight, a fallen angel whose divine punishment was to take the souls of sinners to hell itself, yes, they practically told me that he was an executioner or a punisher... an avenging spirit. They also told me what I was afraid of, I am practically immortal and I stopped aging after I was 25 years old, and there was nothing I could do to stop being this, no magic or action could prevent me from continuing to fulfill my punishment, or Zarathos's punishment. Well, if there was, in fact, there were two ways to fix it.

The first and the "simple" one, to comply with the terms of my imposed contract, but I knew that I could never fulfill that contract, because that contract had only been a deception to become this, and the second, that the same demon that made me sign the contract has to absolve me of it. Let's just say that the priests EMPHASIZED that it was a very, very bad idea to even think about making deals with extradimensional beings, they practically told me that if I didn't want our existence to be erased, I should never call said demon, not even for a chat.

After mourning my own misfortune, I finally took control of my life and focused on learning to control my…. gifts, which the friars helped me a lot, I know they didn't do it out of their kindness of heart, but I know they saw that a controlled being like me is better than having a monster loose around. Not only did they help me control it, they pretty much taught me everything from philosophy to fighting, yes fight and I'll tell you, to be peace loving friars they know how to hit good shots even with my improved skills sometimes I even had to admitting defeat to the highest ranking priests, the most experienced ones were monsters that used divine magic to match my strength, speed, and stamina.

Also in those years I focused on learning of everything, I never had a formal education, but now that I had the time of the world, well let's say I made the most of it. Biology and its branches were the ones that caught my attention the most, and I set myself the goal of helping disadvantaged people, creating medicines for diseases that are difficult or expensive to treat, and helping to progress the society.

Surely you are wondering, how did you learn all of this if you were blind?, Well, I was blid, but I could practically 'see' like a submarine sonar by feeling/hearing the sound vibrations of things, my sense of smell got pretty good too, although to be honest it's not always good if you're with someone who has eaten a meal with a lot of onion, and finally, my skin's sense of touch became so good that I could 'read' by feeling the characters on the pages, also my memory improved a lot as whatever I heard or 'read' I could retain it at first time so I can parse the information. In a simple way I become some kind of genius, well, when you live that long you learn a trick or two.

That was the way it was for the next 50 years, studying and improving every day, until I was finally able to inhibit the senses of the beast that inhabited me, it still transformed me on moonless nights, but at least I can say that I was the one who controlled this avenger incarnate.

When I left the monastery, I opened a store where I sold low-cost medicines, which was very successful, then there were two stores, then it was a pharmaceutical, and finally I opened a biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and biomedical research center. With my knowledge of economics and business, I expanded throughout Europe, and many talented researchers were hired under my company, yes, everyone knew about the Revenger Group, but nobody knew the owner of said group, they only knew that the group was a closed group and did not accept external investors or collaborations.

I did this in order not to attract attention, an important digital age was already approaching and any strange thing that happened would put me in the crosshairs of society and despite the control of my powers, I did not want to expose myself to anyone, well I had afraid that people would call me a monster. However, the group was successful, so successful that it allowed us to expand into America, and in 2000 we finally founded the first Revenger group research center in National City.

It was difficult at first, companies like LexCorp made things difficult for us by not accepting their advances of society, but seeing the great support of the public, they had no choice but to leave us alone, also, our technological advances did not affect other research centers such as StarLabs, given that they focused more on the advancement of technology. It must also be said that several medical centers were opened for free care and orphanages with scholarships to support these young people to achieve their goals, which prevented many young people from getting involved in crime or drugs.

Everything was normal, at least as normal as can be mentioned when you have a spirit whispering voices in your head every night, until one day in 2006, something very strange happened, and for me to say it is an understatement. A plane crash was what happened, that's not the strange thing, the strange thing is that the accident didn't happen, when everyone thought the worst and that the people on that plane were going to fall to their deaths, he was stopped by a rescuer dressed in blue suit and red cape, with his hands

WITH HIS HANDS!

Did I mention He was flying?

WITH HIS HANDS AND FLYING!

I thought I was strong with my spirit of revenge, but stopping a falling plane without sweating is another level, well I don't know what my total strength is since I can lift a car without sweating, but at least I know I can't fly and stop a plane effortlessly, and no, I'm not envious of not being able to fly… well a little bit.

"Superman" is what they called him, from that day on he was seen as the savior of the United States or the entire world, since the number of people he rescued every day was almost impossible except for him, he earned the love of the public and I have to say that if anyone can be called a hero, it would be him.

In an interview with the famous reporter Lois Lane, he mentioned that he was an alien, yes, he answered our question if we are alone in the universe, I suppose that if there are biblical demons, that there is a super strong alien, capable of flying and emitting lightning of his eyes is not so strange.

From there, the era of superheroes began, more and more heroes began to come out, some with powers, which although not comparable to Superman, still had their merit, others without powers, but with abilities that far exceeded those of an average person, heroes like Batman who fought crime in Gotham City, that city full of sinners where I almost lost control and let my spirit pull out all the weeds that abound there.

Although the authorities prefer to call them vigilantes, since, in view of the law, the heroes did not help, they only hindered the police investigations, heh, as if someone believed that excuse, they only feel that way because they cannot admit that they have done more in a short time than the police ever managed.

As for me being a hero? It never occurred to me, since there is something that they don't do and that I do, kill, I can't be a hero because my victims have to die, Superman and they only catch the bad guys, but they try to avoid as little as possible of damage, plus they have an attractive face and a flashy outfit, me? Well let's say that if I went out on the street, they would call me a villain.

I'm not a hero and I don't have the morality to be one either, and besides, except on very specific occasions I no longer had the need to transform myself into the monster I was, I no longer needed to purge sinners, at least that's what I thought, until the tragedy occurred in 2010. What was the tragedy? you will wonder

One day in March 2010, Steppenwolf and his parademons attacked, Darkseid was on way.