The Tragedy of Yinx - 23. The End of a Tragedy...

The Ancient Ones

A voice echoes out into the night.

It sings a song that nobody here would know. A song that is usually sung in prayer. It is supposed to be used in a reverent tone.

Right now, it is being used like a threat. It is a taunt towards Morgoren. It is making the singer’s location known, and it is saying ‘come out and get me’.

Yinx continues to sing the song of the moon.

He is in a building full of many cells. He is in a cell that is underground, yet there is a small window that has metal bars instead of glass.

Yinx stands under it and sings out into the open world.

He wants Morgoren to come to him. To finally end things. Not necessarily for himself to die, but because he wishes for the chance of killing the Moon God.

“We are sorry, Master.” We say with our heads bowed.

Yinx ignores us and keeps singing. He also runs his thumb over and over on a necklace. It has a crescent moon and a single diamond.

“We failed you. We failed your family,” We whisper. “When your parents had passed, we tried to hurry and get back to you, but we were too late.”

It is strange that Yinx just sits here, waiting for whatever is to happen to him. You’d think that maybe he’d try to escape. We can feel the power that is radiating off of him right now. He could easily escape and be free.

But he does no such thing. He just sits here. Hoping for the Moon God to show up.

“We are sorry for your loss, Master.” We say.

Yinx’s singing stops and he looks up at us. For a moment, his eyes seemed to change to black.

He stands slowly dancing around his cell. He twirls around and spreads his arms wide.

He giggles to himself and his voice sounds as if there is another hidden underneath it. It bounces around the walls of the cell and Yinx makes his way towards his door.

With a snap of his finger, the necklace vanishes from his hand.

Yinx leans against the door in a suggestive manner.

“You.” He says.

There is a guard standing outside of his door. He glances at Yinx but rolls his eyes.

“Come closer,” Yinx smirks and sticks his hand out to the guard, “please? I promise I’ll do nothing to hurt you.”

The guard raises an eyebrow and glances around the cells before taking a step closer to Yinx.

“I would recommend singing by your window, Demon.” The guard spits the last word.

Yinx chuckles and hums a slow tune. His pale eyes turn into a shiny black color and his humming echoes around us.

The guard seems to become entranced by Yinx’s magic and slowly walks closer to Yinx’s door.

Yinx gives a sinister grin as the guard stands directly in front of him.

“Hello, handsome.” He purrs. “Why don’t we have fun just you and I?”

The guard groans as he tries to fight back from Yinx’s charms.

“Pull out your dagger.” Yinx whispers.

The guard begins to unbuckle his pants.

“Your real dagger.” Yinx rolls his eyes. At least we think he does. His eyes are just black pools of darkness at the moment.

The guard pulls out a sharp blade from his belt.

“Good.” Yinx smiles, “Now, spill your blood by slicing your throat.”

The guard brings the knife to his throat but there is a moment where he resists.

“Come on, Handsome. Do it just for me? I promise I’ll treat you right.”

The guard’s forehead begins to sweat and his entire body begins to tremble.

“What’s going on here?” A voice booms.

The King of Avelin runs over and knocks the blade out of the other’s hands. When he sees Yinx standing at the cell door, he shoves Yinx backwards.

Yinx falls onto his back and he grunts from the impact. Not even a second later, he begins to laugh at nothing. Perhaps his strange new spells.

“Go and get the men standing outside.” The King tells the guard. “We are to kill this Demon tonight.”

Demon? There is no Demon here. When we look inside Yinx’s soul, there is not even a single trace of a Demon inside.

Why is the King lying?

Yinx sighs and sits cross-legged.

“Do not interfere with what is to come.” Yinx says, “I do not want you to protect me.”

The King looks down at the Master in confusion, but we know that he is talking to us.

“Very well, Master.” We nod.

Instantly we feel the need to break this rule. How could we possibly allow the last Dunbrali to die? We failed the others, how could we fail this one.

We could not prevent Jeriko and Natzalia’s deaths and it made something hurt inside. The fact that Yinx’s upcoming death is so easily avoidable is what is making this hurt even more. We could easily kill the King and all of these guards on our own. They would not even see what is coming.

Why must our Master give us this order? Why does he wish to die? Is it because of our failure for his family? Or his Lover?

“If you wish, you may set yourselves free,” Yinx says. “Your ties to this family are over.”

We shake our heads.

“No. We will do no such thing. We will stand by you no matter the costs.”

Yinx raises an eyebrow and smirks. “You would just be standing next to a rotting corpse for weeks. Then you would be by a set of bones till you become too rusty to move. Do you really want to do that?”

“Of course we do.” We say.

Yinx laughs and looks up at the King. “The Ancient Ones are quite stubborn.”

The King looks down at him in confusion.

~~~
~~~

The God of Darkness

Yinx is hauled into another damn cage. It looks like it is the same cage that the werewolf died in.

Laneer. Laneer was his name. I know he was special to Yinx, so I might as well respect the werewolf for that.

It is very strange that Laneer was just to be a small test for Yinx. A random Demon-touched Human that I wanted to use to see if Yinx had any problems with them. I wanted to know if Yinx would have issues being my champion. Being with me would require a lot of work with Demons. Sure, he grew in a place that made contracts with Demons as if it was a casual thing, but still. He had left that place years ago. His stance with Demons could have changed.

The fact that Yinx and Laneer somehow developed love for each other...that was not expected at all.

I knew that Laneer was fascinated by Yinx, but I never expected for the both of them to grow feelings together.

It is gross but it is also human.

Yinx does not have his arms chained above his head this time. I guess the King realizes just how defeated Yinx is now.

I truly feel guilty for all of this. I never intended for Yinx to go insane and unleash his rage on Morgoren.

He went crazy. I felt his mind. It was like a lava pit of rage.

I had never been inside of his head before. Has that rage always been there? There was so much. Surely that all had not developed recently. It was years and years of built on rage. Not just to Morgoren, but to all the Gods.

He hates all of them. Including me! I gave him his damn sight and yet he still hates me. Why he would hate all of us, I would not know, but it is stupid. Yinx should appreciate what we have done for him and all the humans.

My power had unleashed his rage. It opened his mind and the magic took its form. Fire and Darkness.

Something is not right about Yinx. Something had changed.

His body gives off vibrations of power. I knew I felt the power within him before, but somehow it has awoken and it continues to grow with each second that passes.

Perhaps this is the ending that we need. Yinx should die because we do not know what other danger he could cause.

A line forms with the cage. The King leads on in the front, four robed men and women ride behind him, and then there are four soldiers that move the cart that holds the caged Yinx.

As soon as everyone is ready, they all begin to make their way out of the city.

Yinx begins to sing as soon as they are out of the city’s walls.

It is a song that sound familiar. I am pretty sure he sang it when he was on his way to meet Laneer. However, there is a big difference about how he is singing it now.

It is the same haunting sound of werewolves living in the King’s family, but it is not sung in english this time.

The song is sung in the Demonic language.

How...how did he learn that?

Everyone in the line just continues on. They try to ignore the song. No doubt it is feeling like a slap to all of them. It is about their King. I bet they are all feeling played with right now.

The King himself looks especially agitated. His body twitches and jerks around as the beautiful voice pierces into his soul.

Now I see what Yinx is trying to do. He is trying to wake the wolf inside the King! Well isn’t that just evil.

The King groans and clutches at his chest. He almost falls off his horse but he manages to jump down without falling onto his face.

He makes his way to Yinx’s cage.

“Shut it!” The King shouts. “One more word and I will stitch your lips together.”

Yinx squats down in front of the King and smiles. “That sounds rather exciting.”

The King narrows his eyes. “You wish to test me?”

Yinx laughs. His voices echoes as if he is deep inside a cave.

He stands and dances around in his cage.

The King huffs and makes his way back to his horse.

Once everyone begins to follow the King, Yinx starts to sing again.

This time it is without the Demon language. In fact, it is not in a language at all. It is just a bunch of vocals that seem to come off the top of his head.

It is both haunting and beautiful.

Nobody bothers to shut him up or make any threats. They just continue to take him to wherever it is that they wish to kill him.

This is all very strange. It is almost as if I am watching an entirely new person. What has happened to Yinx?

The King leads everyone through the woods. This place looks somewhat familiar. I am pretty sure this was where I tested Yinx!

Well isn’t that just ironic. We have circled back to where we started. I guess this is a bit dramatic but the world works in mysterious ways.

Yinx continues to dance and sing inside his cage. The old chain at the top of the cage is still there. It is not being used but Yinx hangs onto it to twirl around in the air.

Seriously...what the hell is wrong with him? He is acting like some crazy lunatic. Has my power somehow fried his brain? It’s starting to seem like it.

Yinx was feeling strange before as well. His aura had a strange hum to it ever since the battle with the Archangel.

Obviously it was not natural but it seemed like a small thing so I thought nothing of it. Has Yinx somehow...kept magic from both me and Morgoren?

Is that a thing that is possible? I have heard of Vessels, but I never seen that kind of magic in front of me before.

A Vessel is a being that can store magic inside of their souls. They can gather magic from many different types of sources and their power would just continue to grow. There hasn’t been any proof of there being a limit to how much they can hold.

Knowing this...would Yinx happen to be a Vessel? The thought never even came to my mind. It would explain how I could feel all that power inside of him. Even when he was a baby, I could feel the pull of that power. It is what brought me to him after all.

We reach a very familiar setting.

It is the old cabin that Yinx has been living in for the past few years.

Yinx’s voice has lost that echo that seems to ghost beneath his actual voice. His real voice softens to almost a whisper. He squats down and holds onto the cage’s metal bars.

He stares at his old home. How strange must it be to come back here. After everything Yinx has been through, he has come back to his old home.

Yinx reaches his hand out through the bars and his eyes change into swirling black pools.

The cabin makes a creaking sound and then the wood begins to catch on fire. The fire spreads quickly and envelopes the entire cabin.

“Keep pushing!” The King shouts.

A few of the soldiers and all robed men and women makes sounds of fear at the burning cabin.

Yinx just stares at his burning home. His eyes then go back to their pale color and then he begins to sing again. The echoes returning.

Is this a sign? Is it to say that he is done with his life? Burning away his home seems to represent that. At least to me.

Ah. Now I know where we are headed. The Morgoren shrine.

The King wishes to sacrifice Yinx on Morgoren’s shrine.

Well isn’t that just a big old slap to the face.

I am not sure if Yinx realizes where we are headed. He just continues to dance and sing. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Yinx does know but he just does not care.

I can’t help but frown at how Yinx is just letting his life go this easily.

Why could he have not been in this mindset when we first met? It definitely would have made all of this a lot easier.

Nobody would have had to die, and there would not be a city that lost about half of its population and have about half of it’s land turn into rubble.

This has all just been a mess. It has given me the biggest headache. I honestly wish we could just get this on with faster.

Yinx stands as he sees the shrine on the hill in front of him.

His voice grows louder as he stares up at the shrine. I swear there are more voices that have joined him. Not at all his. They are deeper. They chant beneath his singing.

I frown and look around for the source. It definitely isn’t from Thymestrys. Perhaps another realm?

Searching through the shadows, I see them.

It is the Ancient Ones.

Strange. Shouldn’t they be helping Yinx? I know he gave the order for them to back off, but I feel as if their own inner nature would at least fight against Yinx’s wishes.

Our dear Yinx has opened his arms to death.

Again, I feel guilty for it. I know I wanted him to join me, but I never wanted him to go out like this. I even feel sad that Yinx killed Laneer.

Sure, that was technically because of me, but still. I am sad for Yinx. I actually found the two quite nice together.

It is all a shame really.

All the humans look at Yinx in fear as he sings along with the chanting Ancient Ones.

They sing with him because they love him. Their Master has made his decision and they are going to listen. The final wish of the Dunbrali family.

Yinx finishes his song and the chanting comes to a halt.

Everyone has stopped moving. Well, the King has gotten off his horse and is moving towards Yinx’s cage.

The King unlocks the door and grabs Yinx’s wrists to tie them together. Yinx does not fight back and just stares forward with a smile.

He pulls Yinx to the top of the hill. He uses his sword to cut off Yinx’s clothes and Yinx does not even flinch at the action.

The robed men and women stand behind the King as he lays Yinx on the slab of white stone.

Yes. This is where the worshipers of Morgoren come to make sacrifices unto him.

The Moon is right above us. Morgoren is watching. The both of us are watching this mess we made with Yinx.

“You do not have to tie me.” Yinx chuckles and wiggles his fingers. “I won’t fight back. Trust me.”

The King stares down into Yinx’s face. My guess is that he is trying to find the lie.

Yinx has had many years to learn how to keep his secrets. The fact that the King actually cuts the rope off of Yinx’s wrists just shows how stupid he is.

Yinx sighs and stares up at the night sky. Not at all making a move to escape.

The robed people set up a giant bowl that stands on a small wooden table. They chuck of bunch of tiny pieces of wood and use a flint and steel to set it on fire.

Ah. I see they are going to use the ‘burn the evil away’ method.

The King stares at Yinx as he waits for the wood for burn into bits and pieces.

When I enter his thoughts, I see that he is unsure of this decision. The King does not like sacrificing others. His own father did so for a contract with a Demon. The very same contract that has turned him into a werewolf.

“My King?” A robed woman call his attention.

She holds a smaller bowl that holds burning embers.

The King stares at the bowl and then down at Yinx. After a moment, he nods to himself.

“We shall have mercy on the human inside first.” He says before pulling out his sword.

He holds it above his head, ready to bring it down vertically.

Yinx just stares up at him. “Please,” He whispers. His eyes begin to water and he gives a small nod, giving the go ahead for the King to continue.

The King takes a shaky breath before bring down the sword hard into Yinx’s chest. Right over his heart.

Yinx only manages a small cry and his eyes widen in shock before his last breath escapes his lips.

I close my eyes and bow my head in at least a small form of reverence.

That does not stop everyone else unfortunately.

The King takes the bowl of burning embers and carefully begins to lay the embers on different parts of Yinx’s skin.

First he does both of Yinx’s arms. He carefully lays the embers all the up till it almost reaches his shoulders. He gets another bowl full of embers and then he gets to work on Yinx’s legs. The embers cover from his ankles and all the way up to the middle of his thighs.

Finally, The King gets a pair of tongs and places small clumps over both of Yinx’s eyes.

The smell of burning flesh is starting to get to me so I have to step away.

The King and the robed worshipers end their ritual rather quickly. They only say a few words and then they dump the rest of the embers around Yinx’s body.

They make their way back into the woods to get back to the city.

All I hear is the wind moving and the sizzling of skin being burned.

A shimmer of light shines next to the shrine and then the Gatekeeper of the Heavens appears with Morgoren by her side.

What surprises me the most is that the Mother Goddess is here, and she does not look happy.

“Come here.” Her voices calls to me.

I quickly make my way towards them and we all stand around Yinx.

With a wave of her hands, Yinx’s body stops burning.

I frown and look up at Drulai.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Silence.” She hisses and looks between the three of us. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves. You all have done something that nobody has been stupid enough to do. Causing all kinds of mayhem with the Humans. Is it embarrassing.”

Morgoren and Taisla both have their heads held down at the Mother Goddess’ words.

“Thanks to the both of you,” Drulai points to Morgoren and I, “You have unleashed something in this human that should have been left alone.”

I narrow my eyes and point at Morgoren. “He started it!”

“What?” Morgoren looks at me in anger, “No, you did! I marked him first! Yinx was mine!”

“No! I saw him first!” I snarl, “You should have just turned the other way just like Altiba did!”

“Enough!” Drulai shouts, “You both are acting like stupid children!”

I roll my eyes and glare at Morgoren.

The wind begins to pick up and swirl around us. The smoke that comes from the embers dances around Yinx.

“What is happening?” Taisla asks.

Drulai sighs. “You are all to face the consequences for your actions.”

We all look at each other in confusion.

Drulai places her hands on both sides of Yinx’s head before leaning down to whisper something in his ear.

“Wake up. Accept your power.” She says, “It is calling to you. Do not fight it, Yinx.”

What is happening? This is not her magic doing this. It isn’t from any of us. How is Yinx doing this? He should be dead!

“I need one of you to reach out and bring his soul back.” Drulai says while standing up straight.

“Excuse me?” Taisla laughs, “Why would we do that?”

“Because you all did this. Now you are going to fix it.”

Nobody moves or peeks into the other realms. We all just stare at each other, yet we avoid Drulai’s piercing gaze.

“Now!” She says.

I sigh and open my mind to all the realms around us. Apparently Yinx is not at all going to heaven. I guess with where he was growing up, I am not at all surprised.

I reach into hell and I have a bit of a double take.

This...this is new. We have never have one of these before.

An Archdemon.

There are plenty of Archangels but this is the first Archdemon to ever be born. Is it just the soul of one, but...it’s Yinx.

I reach out and hold it in my hand. It is incredibly hot. I have to hold it with the tips of my fingers.

Coming back into the mortal realm, I hold up the orange ball of Yinx’s soul.

Everyone’s faces turn into one of shock.

“An Archdemon?” Morgoren gasps.

Drulai even looks surprised. She holds out her hand and I place the soul into it.

She quickly places the soul over Yinx’s chest and it melts into his body.

Instantly things begins to change.

The embers begins to melt into his skin. Where the skin was burned and ruined, they heal up as if they were never touched. Where the embers melt, glowing orange demonic symbols are set on his skin. They cover his arms and legs.

Upon a closer inspection, the markings seem to pulse with energy.

His nails grow half an inch and they turn into black sharp claws.

Yinx’s skin turns a few shades paler than his usual dark brown skin tone.

His hair has turned completely black, no longer showing the signs of Morgoren’s mark. At the moment, his eyes are closed so I am not sure if they have changed.

Where the two scars were on his stomach and ribs, they have turned into what looks like glowing, orange, flowering vines.

The stab wound over his heart, it has turned into a glowing head of a wolf.

The smoke that came from the embers swirl above Yinx’s body before they finally slip under his skin.

As soon as that happens, he bolts upright and opens his eyes.

The whites in his eyes have turned black, and his pupils and irises are a burning orange color that also glow like the markings on his skin.

Yinx stares at all of us. He looks so different now. It is almost as if I am looking at a different person.

“Where am I?” Yinx narrows his eyes.

His voice echoes with each word he says, almost as if there is another voice hidden underneath his original one.

“You are reborn.” Drulai says, “You have become a God.”

Yinx looks back at her with a puzzled expression.

“What?” Morgoren shouts. “How has he become a God? He was supposed to be my champion!”

“Oh yes,” Taisla rolls her eyes, “Your ‘champion.’ Don’t be stupid, Morgoren.”

Morgoren narrows his eyes at Taisla and then he disappears in a shimmer of light. Coward.

“I-I thought I died.” Yinx whispers and touches his face. He stops when he sees his claws and the markings on his hand. Soon he sees all the changes on his body and he begins to breathe a lot faster.

“You did.” Drulai says, “You were killed because of two Gods who were acting like children.”

Yinx seems to remember that detail. Instantly he looks at me. His eyes burn brighter and all of a sudden a black tendril made of smoke strikes out of thin air and it pierces my stomach.

I gasp and it becomes a lot harder to breathe. I reach down to try and pull the tendril out but it is of no use.

“Yinx stop!” Drulai shouts. She tries to grab Yinx but a wave of darkness pushes out of his back and she gets sent backwards into the air.

Yinx stands and walks towards me. His feet do not touch the ground. He walks in the air. Each step leaves behind a ripple of fire and smoke.

He reaches out and grips onto my neck hard.

I clench my jaw at the pain but then it becomes too much.

Yinx sinks his claws into my neck an-

~~~
~~~

Taisla - The Gatekeeper to the Heavens

The God of Darkness’ body falls to the ground. His body evaporates into thin air and then the God of Darkness is no more.

All that’s left is a glowing circle that is his soul.

Yinx touches it with his hand and the soul flies up and into his mouth.

He...he just ate the soul of a God!

I take a step back from Yinx but ready myself for if I must teleport away.

Yinx stares at where the God of Darkness’s soul was last in his hand.

His body trembles and then he looks at me. He is crying. Instead of regular, clear tears, they are black. It almost looks like black ink is falling from his eyes.

“Everything hurts.” He whispers.

Drulai reappears next to me. She looks more annoyed than anything.

“Please.” Yinx walks closer to me and sinks to his knees, “Make me forget. I don’t want to remember my...my Laneer.”

At that he breaks down and begins to sob like a baby.

I roll my eyes and look at Drulai.

Do I really have to do this?

Almost like she read my mind, Drulai nods and then disappears into the earth.

I sigh and look down at the pathetic new God.

No. This is a Demon. An Archdemon. I will never think of him as a God.

He looks so pathetic like this though. I might as well just wipe his memories.

I place my thumb on his forehead. Instantly his black ink tears stop flowing.

My magic surges through my fingers and tries to erase any memories that are in his stupid head.

Now that I am here...maybe I can do something that will benefit me.

This whore had better keep away from my husband. I will not let Morgoren cheat on me with some filthy Archdemon.

With another finger, I make it so that Yinx will no longer be able to feel anything. Surely if he loses his sense of touch, anything to do with sex will be unappealing.

I could always just push it further. This fool almost stole my husband.

My last spell will make Yinx immortal.

Never able to feel a thing, but not being able to end his own life to save him from the emptiness.

That seems like the perfect punishment.

I smile and step back to look at my handy work.

The Archdemon looks up at me and then stands on his feet. He looks around us. He feels lost and confused.

“Where am I?” He asks.

I just want to leave and get on with other things. I’ll just skip to the more important question.

“What is your name?” I ask. “It is best to start your life with a new name.”

He frowns as he thinks of an answer. After a moment, he finally answers.

“Raiyo.”