Father of All Fathers

It was like Cain had wandered in this land of Nod for forever, but his journey was fast-forwarded in front of Leona's eyes: she could see his body wither, his skin shrivel and his eyes protrude within a minute, turning him from a man into a set of bones with skins.

He couldn't take or grow anything from the ground. He spilled Abel's blood on earth and forced the earth to drink the life of an innocent, so God deemed him unable to live on any soil.

"I was alone in the Darkness

and I grew hungry.

I was alone in the Darkness

and I grew cold.

I was alone in the Darkness

and I cried…"

That crying didn't come with tears, because his body was drained dry—It was sheer whimper, a whimper so distorted and non-human as if it was the sound of the wind blowing through a hollow, wooden log.

Until he heard footsteps coming from before him. He raised his head, looking at this beautiful woman with fiery, red hair approach him in a simple, white linen dress, holding food, wine and clothes in her hands. Behind her, is a lovely hut surrounded by fields of fragrant flowers and green farmland, like an oasis in the desert.

She held Cain and sat down, put his head gently on her lap whose skin silky smooth like pearls, clothed him, fed him, warmed him with the heat of her own body. Regaining some strength, Cain reached out his wizened hand to the woman's face, as if wondering whether or not it was his illusions before dying:

"Who would comfort one so Cursed as I?

Who would clothe me?

Who would feed me?"

And the woman answered, her honey voice offering succor and surcease:

"I am your Father's first wife,

who disagreed with the One Above

and gained Freedom in the Darkness.

I am Lilith.

Once, I was cold, and there was no warmth for me.

Once. I was hungry and there was no food for me.

Once, I was sad, and there was no comfort for me."

And yet, here she was, showing mercy that no one had given to her.

After that, there was a period of dream-like, surreal peacefulness, as Cain rested in Lilith's place, being nursed back to health. The scene was dazzling for Leona, as if someone deliberately casted a light under the roof, beautifying this memory, Cain sat at the window, watching those plants that miraculously and unnaturally grew on this barren land, and asked:

"Out of Darkness,

how did you build this place?

How did you make clothes?

How did you grow food?"

Lilith was weaving right by his side, with a sewing machine she made on her own, looked at him like a mother and wife:

"Unlike you, I am Awake.

I see the Threads that spin

all around you, I make that

which I need out of Power."

She caught the a blood-red string that bound Cain, pulled it right in front of his face. Cain's eyes widened. It was the first time he saw this, the thread that marked the Curse of God on him.

And this woman, this Lady of the Night, turned the curse on her into her strength. Both in desire and hope, Cain held her hands and pleaded:

"Awaken me, then, Lilith." He said.

"I have need for this Power.

Then, I can make my own clothes,

make my own food,

make my own House."

Yet Lilith hesitated:

"I do not know what the

Awakening will do for you,

for you are truly Cursed by your Father.

You could die.

You could be forever changed."

Her words were truth, but Leona sensed more than that beneath her burdened eyebrows. Cain seemed…more than just a stray animal she collected to her, and she was afraid she would lose him.

"Even so, a life without Power will not be worth living.

I would die without your gifts.

I will not live as your Thrall."

But Cain insisted. He knew that Lilith would do anything he asked. Because she loved him...and he took advantage of that. So with a depression glooming on her bright eyes, Lilith cut her wrist and shed her blood into a bowl.

Cain drank it. At the moment he took the last sip, the whole world again turned to total darkness.

"Puff…"

While suddenly, it was ignited by a fire, scarlet flames with a light of gold hovering over them—the flames that Leona saw burning whenever a Kindred is dead—swallowing the everything, leaving only a long path down into the burning pit. Cain walked along the trail, and Leona trod behind him in this combusting hell.

"And from the Darkness

came a bright shining light -

fire in the night.

And the archangel Michael,

General of Heaven,

Wielder of the Holy Fire,

revealed himself to me…"

In a white robe and silver armors, with his snowy, wonderous wings lifting him up from ground, Michael pointed his sword to Cain, the sword that burnt the same fire as the one creating this abyss, and enquired:

"Son of Adam, Son of Eve, thy crime is great,

and yet the mercy of my Father is also great.

Will you not repent the evil that you have done,

and let his mercy wash you clean?"

Even knowing that everything in front of her eyes was just the display of…a story, upon these words, Leona just couldn't help but scoffed in contempt, the same contempt Cain held on his face.

Could this mercy be more…hypocritical?

Cain didn't even bother to give an answer, just walked right past Michael the Archangel. Not before long, a second angelic figure appeared in his path.

"Then Raphael came on lambent wings,

light over the horizon,

the driver of the Sun,

ward of the East…"

Carrying the second message from the Lord, Raphael spoke:

"Cain, son of Adam, son of Eve,

your brother Abel forgives you your sin,

will you not repent, and accept the mercy of the Almighty?"

The sinner, however, still remained silence, resisted the offer quietly. And so the body of Raphael burst a scalding, glaring light, and the voice of anger came from inside:

"Then, for as long as you walk this earth,

you and your children will fear the dawn,

and the sun's rays will seek to burn you like fire,

wherever you hide, always.

Hide now, for the Sun rises to take its wrath on you."

Then himself became solis, blinding Leona's eyes which were already accustomed to darkness, boiling and melting her flesh. The pain and the vesicles on her skin were so real and unbearable, that she screamed in panic, but a boundless cloak sprang out from Cain's shoulder, and the night below the cloak sheltered and healed her.

Leona looked up to Cain's side face, like a young eagle hiding under her father's wings, and came to the awareness that something deep inside him was changing. He wasn't that young, Carthaginian farmer anymore, he was gradually transforming into something else, something…familiar.

Understanding what this meant, Leona froze, and Cain just kept walking after the light dissipated, and with every step he took, she felt he was becoming…closer to her. Or she was closer to him.

A rain of weightless, obsidian feathers dropped from above, fading every noise away, even the burning sound of Michael's Holy Fire, until everything crushed into the absolute quietness.

Quiet, like death.

"I heard the sound of gentle rushing wings,

and I saw the black wings of Uriel draped around me -

Uriel, reaper, angel of Death,

dark Uriel who dwells in darkness…"

This Uriel, with his solemn expression and without the shining halos of his brothers, stood in front of Cain in a mourning posture:

"Son of Adam. Son of Eve.

God Almighty has forgiven you your sin.

Will you accept his mercy and let me take you to your reward,

no longer cursed?"

While facing the other two Archangels fearlessly, there was something about Uriel so heavy and ominous in the air that Cain couldn't breathe at his normal pace. Gritting, Cain said to Uriel, reaffirming his own resolution:

"Not by Abel's forgiveness, but my own, will I be forgiven.

Not by God's mercy, but my own, will I live.

I am what I am, I did what I did,

and that will never change.

So not by the One Above's grace, but mine alone,

will I live, in pride."

The feathers floating around trembled at his words. Uriel looked at Cain, with eyes of nearly pity, and the curse of the Almighty came out of his lips:

"Then, for as long as you walk this earth,

you and your children will cling to Darkness.

You will drink only blood,

You will eat only ashes,

You will be always as you were at death,

Never dying, living on.

You will walk forever in Darkness,

all you touch will crumble into nothing,

until the last days.''

He disappeared, leaving Cain alone on this road of curse—finally, his punishment was greater than he could bear. He kneeled on the ground and cried, like a grudging, dying beast, and tears of blood streamed out of his eyes. His lament for this eternal cruelty left Leona in a striking shock and sorrow, even without herself noticing, a drop of tear snuck down her cheeks.

So this…this was how it all began?

Lilith came to Cain, crouched down, stroked his trails of tears and whispered:

"You have over reached your bounds,

you have gone too far,

you threatened your very essence,

I command you to stop, before you are beyond salvage."

But even her couldn't waver his heart. Cain stood up, swayed his arm gently, and Lilith's figure shattered like sands, while the fire died out in obedience.

Leona gazed at him in awe, lost for words—there was no word could define what she felt right now. If she had to made a comparison, it was like…witnessing a star being born.

Cain. He's the father. The Father. Father of all of them.

"Deep within me a seed was planted,

a seed of rebellion.

I opened myself up once more, to the Night,

and saw the infinite possibilities in the stars

and knew that a path of power, a path of Blood

was mine for the taking,

so I awakened in me this Final Path,

and became the Beginning of My Kind…"

Suddenly, some disturbing buzzing flew into her ear, like the noises made by radios when the signal is bad, completely ruined this ceremonious moment, and the shape of Cain was gone also. This strange world in this painting returned to emptiness again, until a woman's exciting voice came up from back behind Leona:

"What do you think, Garrett, of my work?"