A God's purpose

Mortimer sat upon the throne, staring down at the tip of his sword in silence before finally lifting his gaze to meet Azrael's.

"I watched it all unfold," he began, his voice thick with guilt. "I remained here, a mere spectator, powerless to intervene."

"Why didn't you do something?" Azrael questioned, his eyes searching Mortimer's face for an answer.

"I couldn't," Mortimer replied, rising from his seat. "Had I crossed over to the physical plane, I would have been affected by the time stop as well and likely erased from existence."

He took a few steps, pausing as he reached the Eternal Flame.

"I had to wait until the time stop had ended before I could retrieve the child and phase through the barrier the demon god had placed around the desert. That child, who you now know as the Headmaster of Ryzel, was entrusted to me by the former before he faded away."

Mortimer's eyes bore into Azrael's as he spoke his next words, his tone grave.

"My mission is to aid in your growth. It is the only way to prevent the blade from falling into the hands of the higher beings and the utter catastrophe that will surely follow."

"Wasn't the blade destroyed?" Azrael asked

Azrael's question hung in the air for a moment before Mortimer responded, "No, it had simply lost form and became one with the universe, Genesis cannot be destroyed, and the higher beings probably know this and are finding a way to restore the blade. This means we are running out of time."

"But how am I connected to all of this? Why was I chosen?" Azrael asked, his face showing a deep desire for answers.

"You were not chosen but created," Mortimer explained. "The light that had come from the hands of the former was all his power, the power of the god of death and judgment. It was power capable of eradicating the very fabric of reality, or at least the potential to do so. With the former erased, I, this place, and everything within it would have also disappeared, but I had felt my existence was tied to that light. I was tasked by the former to watch over the light and guide it, and almost a thousand years later, a child was born from it. That child was you, your grace."

Mortimer put his hands in the eternal flames, and the flames roared, lighting up the darkness around them. Suddenly, from the flames emerged a man with white hair and grey eyes, just as Ren was described.

"Hello, my name is Ren, the previous God of Death. What's yours?" the man asked with a smile on his face.

"My name is Az-" Azrael began to answer before being interrupted.

"Just kidding, I'm not here. I do wish I was. I wish I knew your name or how you look, but I was erased, and the only thing left of my existence now is you, and this message I'm leaving," the man said.

Ren looked at Azrael with a sombre expression before he spoke, "You know, maybe you'd have been the son I and Aries always wanted." Azrael didn't know what to say to that, but he could see the smile on Ren's face.

"But none of that matters now, what matters is the threat to come," Ren continued. Azrael listened carefully as if knowing that whatever Ren had to say was important.

"You are destined to go down a path, a path I had escaped from in an attempt to seek happiness, a journey of blood and destruction," Ren said with a serious tone. Azrael felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard the words of ren.

"There's a lot I wish I could tell you, but this message is being made as I am being erased, so I am constrained by time, so I'll get to the point," Ren said, waving his hands to make the dark sky show white silhouettes of people as if projecting the words he spoke.

"The higher beings, If they should somehow channel the power of the sword, they will be able to enter the lower realm, and this world will very quickly be destroyed," Ren said, and the sky portrayed the planet's destruction.

"And you, you will be taken and trapped in the dark slumber for eternity, and as your dark ki grows, it shall be used to fuel their power, and they shall evolve and evolve until they become peerless beings," Ren warned, his voice grave.

"I had created the abyss and have spent a great amount of time in it, but an eternity in the abyss is a horror too great for even I," Ren added.

"You must have witnessed the abyss, and you must know by now that this is an end you must avoid. I left this message to tell you what you must do to prevent it. The first rule which you must prioritize is; unless you are entirely sure you are capable of facing them, don't ever use power that will alert the gods or even worse, the higher beings. That includes the human gods as well. They are not on your side. Each one of them is a puppet of the higher beings sent here to retrieve genesis, and a couple of days, before I was erased, I discovered they were being developed as an anchor to bring a fraction of the 5th Council member's presence to this realm. If that happens, chaos will ensue," Ren said, waving his hands just as the human gods projected in the sky.

Azrael was almost overwhelmed by the weight of Ren's words.

"it will take a great amount of time for their plan to be successful but at the time you are seeing this, likely, there aren't too many years left before this happens, so you must grow in strength as quickly as possible and eliminate every one of them, with every human god you kill the extension of the anchor completion will greatly increase and your power will also greatly rise. Eliminating all the gods will not stop the higher beings from coming but only extend it, you must make sure you have also transcended this realm as well before you face them," Ren said as his body started fading just as the eternal light dimmed

"one more thing, I had deconstructed the watchers' dagger and made it so its power becomes one with an individual who shall aid you on this journey, so make sure to find this person, take care god of death," Ren said as his body completely disappeared

Azrael stood there in silence as he tried to process all the information that was laid on him, and he wasn't sure what emotion he felt, maybe he was afraid of the consequences of his failure, or maybe sadness that his entire life was just a creation made for someone else's purpose, but what he felt more, a greater emotion that made his blood boil and his heartthrob was the sheer power he could possess.