The Star, The Demon, and The God - 42. Where is your Heart?

Tobias

This was all quite a bit to unload…

I almost died, apparently there are undead angels trying to kill us, Luno can apparently reverse curses, and the Spirit Sailor is actually Laneer Bancroft.

Is there anything else that I’m missing?

Oh right!

When I had inspected the Moon Necklace, I saw that the strange empty space was no longer empty.

A single small diamond was present.

“Whoa! Did the light beam do that,” Luno gasped when I pointed it out.

Laneer really didn’t want to look at the necklace.

Obviously I found that suspicious.

“What do you know about this necklace?” I ask while holding it in front of him. “You clearly have something against it. Tell us what is wrong.”

Laneer turned his head as if looking at the necklace would make him sick.

“It...It’s complicated,” He said, scratching the back of his neck.

I rolled my eyes. “Then make it make sense!”

“Tobi!” Luno glared at me. “Be nice.”

I scoffed at him.

“Apparently the fate of the world rests in this necklace! I would like to know why the hell it’s so important with making Raiyo our ally.”

Luno’s glare goes away because he feels the same way!

Clearly this man knows something about this necklace.

I need answers!

Luno and I both wait on Laneer for at least some sliver of an answer.

“It’s a bit of a long story honestly,” He says. “One that can be shared as we travel.”

I suppose that was fine, if only he would start talking already!

We had only traveled a few hours now and finally, finally Laneer will tell us something.

“I suppose I should start at the beginning, right?” He chuckles slightly. “Back where it all started?”

All I can manage is an annoyed glare for him to hurry up.

The old man bites the inside of his lip before walking on.

“You know the story...The Tragedy of Yinx,” He says. “I know you both have a copy with you.”

Luno smiles. “Yup! We love to read!”

I glare at the Star but end up smirking at how proud he is of that.

“Right well,” Laneer turns away. “That story...is not entirely correct. Not very much at all really.”

I shrug.

“It isn’t really a story to begin with,” I say. “It only talks about how Avelin was destroyed. Nothing fancy about it. Perhaps to a human it would be.”

Awkward silence.

Alright...I’ll take that as my cue to shut up!

“I knew Yinx,” Laneer says slowly. “Yinx was...Yinx was very different than most people I knew.”

Luno looks over at him in confusion.

“He was very special. Special enough to indeed attract the attention of gods. That part is pretty much true.”

“Morgoren and the God of Darkness had both wanted Yinx to be their champion. They made a bet with one another to try and win him over.”

Wow! Now this is definitely new information that isn’t in the book.

The book said that they would harass and push him to do evil deeds. Nothing about wanting to claim a champion.

This has gotten a lot more interesting now.

“How did you meet him?” Luno asks.

Laneer smiles to himself as he walks ahead of us.

“I met him a tavern,” He says with a laugh. “A small one that wasn’t very special. I wanted to get away from all the high class coldness that I was constantly around and I went to a random tavern far from home.”

“That’s...that’s when I first saw him. A white haired Serendian who sang and played on a lyre.”

Narrowing my eyes, I glance at Luno, someone who looks Serendian and happens to be white haired.

Luno’s face pales slightly hearing that.

“Wait...what about Lleros?” Luno exclaims!

Laneer stops moving which almost makes me run into him.

Growling at him and his stupid skid to a halt, I step back with Luno, pulling him behind me.

Laneer turns and stares right at Luno.

“How do you know that name?” He whispers.

I place my hand on the hilt of my sword and step closer to Laneer.

“I-I see him,” Luno stammers. “I see him through strange visions. I saw him in and just outside of Avelin in a small house further south. I even saw him in your memories when I...fixed you?”

Where the hell did this come from and why hasn’t he mentioned this to me?

Wait...he heard singing. He said he had been hearing voices and all kinds of things.

Gods I was stupid to think it was nothing.

It’s kind of hard to take him seriously sometimes when he constantly jabbers on about wanting to care for every living creature!

My question is why isn’t Luno connecting the dots right now?

White haired Serendian from a thousand years ago? He was made to look like Raiyo because Morgoren wanted to fuck him for eternity?

It seems like a stretch, but I’m pretty sure Yinx is Raiyo.

In the book, it says that Yinx became a demon and was sacrificed to the gods.

Raiyo is indeed a demon. An Archdemon for gods sakes.

What the hell does someone named Lleros matter for?

“Lleros was Yinx’s false name,” Laneer narrows his eyes. “He used it to keep his identity safe. You can see his memories? How?”

Oh.

“Not necessarily his memories,” Luno says. “They are more like old messages left behind for me to see. I don’t quite understand what I am seeing however. I just know that his life in Avelin was not pleasant to say the least.”

Luno’s face cringes at whatever memories he saw.

I don’t even want to know honestly.

Laneer frowns and turns to keep walking.

We follow.

He is silent for the rest of our time in the forest.

I suppose it was something at least!

I already connected it all together and realized Raiyo is Yinx...or Yinx is Raiyo?

Let’s see how long it takes Luno to figure that mess out.

~~~
~~~

The Ancient One

The gods have all gathered in the God of War’s realm.

The realm is shaped like a giant coliseum. Each layer is home to a different district of warriors who fought well enough to have a place here.

Stone is the main resource here it seems. No plant life or anything like that. Stone houses, stairs, ladders, statues.

It is very bland.

In the very center of this coliseum sits a tall temple.

That is where all the gods are present.

At the moment, I stand next to Raiyo, peering down at this strange city that glows yellow from below.

Not much time has passed since the event in Enfierna. He hasn’t even changed his clothes yet.

He was very intent on being here now.

The corner of his lip is turned up as he takes in everything below.

“Master,” I say, “I highly recommend thinking this over once again! This is a realm full of Thymestrys’ mightiest warriors! We do not even have an army to stand behind you should you need them!”

He turns to me.

“I’m quite aware,” He chuckles. “I killed them all didn’t I?”

I nod slowly. “Yes. For a strange reason.”

He rolls his eyes.

“Simply not wanting a kingdom I cared nothing for seems like a good enough reason to me.”

He turns to watch the random warrior spirits walking below.

There are quite a lot of them. That is what makes it so much scarier! How could Raiyo possibly take them all on?

Obviously he is powerful, but these spirits come in great numbers.

Would his power be enough? There are ten gods down there.

“Why must you do this?” I practically whine. Steam comes out of my shoulders in worry.

Raiyo smiles.

“Because I can,” he shrugs. “Also because they think they could get away with what they did to me.”

He says it so casually, I would swear this entire situation was only a simple walk through the woods.

“What if you fail?” I say. “What will happen then?”

Raiyo tilts his head as he thinks it over.

“I’m not so sure,” He waves it off. “If I am lucky, perhaps these fools have finally found a way to kill me! That would be lovely wouldn’t it?”

I stay silent. I am not sure whether I should agree or not.

There is a battle in my mind that is confused on whether I truly believe if Raiyo should die or not.

Obviously thinking too much on it is a bad idea, so I pay attention to the warriors below and shining light in the temple that belongs to the sun god.

I cannot see him now, but I know it is him. He is the only one of two gods who do that.

The other would be Morgoren.

Based on the missing white light, it is safe to say that Morgoren has chosen to hide in his own place.

At least we think so. Apparently he is planning the end of the world.

It must be strange for these gods to hide here. I imagine their life was filled with luxury before this.

A scream catches my attention and when I look over, I see a swirling black cloud splitting itself into two before it begins to circle around the top layer of this coliseum.

Raiyo is destroying everything that he touches.

After the clouds pass through spirits and stone, all that is left is ash and rubble.

Oh gods! He is really doing this!

“Master!” I call. “Please be careful!”

A wave of fire runs down to the next level.

He can’t hear me. Unless...he can and he’s ignoring me.

Most likely that one.

I can see now that my worries against the spirits was useless, thought I guess I should have seen this coming.

The clouds of smoke draw together and solidify into Raiyo’s body once again.

He jumps into the air and begins to fly.

With the extension of his hand, a stream of fire and magma spews forward, coating everything he aims at.

He circles around the layers, slowly making his way down.

Raiyo tends to like being thorough with his destruction.

Arrows, spears, axes, and all kinds of weapons are being thrown at Raiyo.

Before they can touch him, an invisible forcefield causes them to disintegrate.

Raiyo reaches a fourth layer and dives down onto it.

Halfway through his dive, his body morphs into a smokey shape of a giant panther with demonic wings on its back and fire in its eyes.

Raiyo pounces through the air, roaring while swiping at the spirits with his claws.

Each swipe summons a glittering trail of smoke and embers that slice through the spirits like butter.

Raiyo’s wings also create a steaming black liquid behind him as he runs through his enemies. It causes everything it touches to melt, even the stone houses.

The black liquid begins to fall down to the remaining layer below, down where the gods are.

I stare at it, wondering if it will reach the base of the temple.

Swirling blue light circles around the temple and creates a thick wall of ice to block off the deadly magic.

“Come on you!”A voice says where Raiyo is attacking.

A poor unfortunate soul appears to be the last one standing. He is tall and wields two blades in his hands.

Raiyo circles around him, growling and flicking his tail in anticipation.

The battle spirit gives a battlecry before charging for the panther.

Raiyo roars before pouncing for him as well.

The poor spirit doesn’t even have a chance as Raiyo sinks his teeth through the spirit’s neck, ripping it open.

Raiyo morphs back into his normal self and smiles down at the ice globe that is slowly forming around the temple.

“How cute,” He chuckles.

He leaps forward and barely scraps the tip of the forming ice.

Just as he is about to touch the stone ground at the base of the temple’s steps, his body quickly becomes a cloud of black sand.

Raiyo quickly makes his way up the temple’s steps.

Every time he passes through any warriors waiting, they are burned alive.

Just as Raiyo is about to reach the giant front doors, they burst open with a shining golden light.

The Sun God has stepped out and his wings shine sun rays out into the world.

Raiyo flies back a few paces and rematerializes the top half of his body.

“Leave now, demon,” The Sun God shouts down. “You will regret this decision.”

Raiyo’s laughter echoes around in my head.

Do the other gods hear it as well?

Based on the Sun God’s glare, I imagine that is true.

Two other gods step from behind the Sun God.

The Snow Goddess and the War God.

“You all deserve to be punished,” Raiyo grins maliciously. “Come. Dance with me.”

Raiyo pushes his hand forward and a ball of dark energy flies out.

The three gods dodge just in time as the ball explodes on the stairs.

Three more gods come running out from the top of the Temple!

Oh gods what do I do?

When I try to move to help in some way, my body freezes up as Raiyo places some kind of command that I did not hear.

Raiyo laughs and flies away.

The Sun God makes his chase in the skies while the others find their places elsewhere.

Steam seeps out of my body like crazy as my Master fights off against half of the gods by himself.

“Quit running you coward!” The Sun God bellows.

Raiyo keeps on laughing like some kind of maniac as he flies around in circles.

He rains down black magics onto the gods below as he roams around. It leaves the gods scattered about with trying to survive his toying.

Glowing green arrows fly after Raiyo from the Hunting Goddess.

Raiyo waves his hand in her direction and a wave of fire and ash spews after her.

She leaps from her perch and runs for a new location to shoot.

Suddenly, a small blizzard forms and is thrown like a ball after Raiyo. My Master splits himself into three and slips around the attack.

Raiyo changes his flight direction and heads straight for the Snow Goddess.

The Goddess holds her mace and readies it.

Just as they are about to clash, Raiyo’s body disappears into a puff of smoke!

All the gods look around in confusion.

“Find him!” The War God barks. “He’s still here!”

A scream pierces the small silence.

All eyes turn to the God of Barriers.

His skin glows with tiny yellow symbols. They remind me of the giant one that sealed Raiyo away.

It looks like the symbols are fighting back strange black lines on his body.

They are losing that small battle.

What looks like a spider’s web of blackness spreads across the God’s body until he screams rise an octave.

An explosion of blood, flesh, and bone go off as Raiyo erupts from the body of the God of Barriers.

The Snow Goddess wastes no time in attacking while the others look on in shock of their dead brother and son.

A wave of icy air streams out of the Goddess’ mace as she aims it for Raiyo’s floating form.

Raiyo counters her attack with a fiery stream of his own.

Both fire and ice meet and both streams fight for dominance.

While the Snow Goddess look like she is physically struggling to hold that much power, Raiyo smirks down at her with a crazed look in his eye.

Thunder goes off as a grey cloud materializes above Raiyo.

The cloud grows thicker and thicker and then bolts of lightning are called down on top of Raiyo.

It does nothing at all!

The attack does not falter his channeling of fire against ice.

My chest feels colder as Raiyo’s skeleton flashes from the lightning.

Why isn’t Raiyo doing anything else! He’s being lazy with his attacks and dodges!

“Chain him!” The Sun God yells.

That grabs Raiyo’s attention.

With a smile, Raiyo jets up into the air and straight for the Sun God.

The Sun God’s eyes widen and he quickly tries to fly away.

He is fast but not fast enough.

The swirling cloud of Raiyo reaches the Sun God quickly and just as he reaches him, Raiyo circles around the God before slipping into his body.

Everyone is silent as all eyes remain on the Sun God. He flaps his wings to keep him stable in the air, but he remains still.

All of a sudden, a clawed hand bursts through the god’s chest!

His body splits open right down the middle as Raiyo forces himself out of his body.

The sight of so much blood and guts being spilled makes me turn away.

Cries of terror can be heard from the other gods, followed by the sound of the Sun God’s body hitting the ground below.

“Yes!” Raiyo pratically moans as he licks blood off his fingers. “Now you see! None of you are real gods! You! Are! Nothing!”

While he was talking, the War God took advantage of his time and summoned chains to pull Raiyo down.

The chains all of a sudden glow white.

Raiyo struggles against the chains. He tries to wrestle his way out of them but the effects of the War God’s magic is already coming into play.

His fighting becomes weaker and weaker with each attempt.

Soon enough, Raiyo falls asleep in the blood of the Sun God.

I want to go down to help. I should, right?

Something stops me. Something in my chest is telling me that I shouldn’t. That maybe this is for the best.

The other gods all crowd around him.

It is silent.

Nobody speaks. They only stare down in hatred.

~~~

~~~

Morgoren - The Moon God

I knew my brothers and sisters were hiding in one of their realms.

I even knew which one they were in!

What I didn’t expect was for the sun to completely lose its light in Thymestrys.

It was amazing!

Here I was, shadowing my creation who was nearing the edge of the Drulai forest.

In one hand, I had a seeing ball of light that allowed me to watch all the destruction that was being caused by Raiyo.

When he killed my father, I felt my body overflowing with newfound power!

It was delicious!

My moon now shined the brightest up above. It was no longer overshadowed by my father’s light.

My curiosity got the better of me and I just had to see all this for myself!

Quickly, I traveled through the realms until I found my brother’s sewer of a realm.

When I see the beautiful chaos with my own eyes, my body practically quivered with excitement and a bit of arousal.

My, oh my!

Raiyo has certainly been busy hasn’t he?

Ashes were piled in all kinds of places. They mostly were made of the warriors that once lived here.

Near the very bottom, there was a melting ice wall that has the bottom half of it coated in a strange black paint.

At least I believe it is paint. Not too sure.

My eyebrows rise in surprise when I see the corpse of my father on the bottom of the temple steps.

His torso had been completely torn open. His blood and guts were out for all the world to see.

It was quite the nasty image, if only I were the one to have caused it.

A bit surprising that they would just leave this here.

I should find dear Raiyo. I must thank him for making my life that much easier!

Traveling up to the top of the temple, I see that it is somewhat deserted.

I had expected to find my brethren. What I find instead, is Raiyo.

It appears that Drulai was here as well.

Large stones hold Raiyo’s body down on his knees. Another stone runs flat behind him, making sure he is held down. More stones hold his hands up slightly as if they were arm rests.

It is a stone prison with glowing green veins.

The green veins pulse in the areas that run along Raiyo’s skin.

My Mother is using sleeping stones to keep Raiyo in his place.

Obviously her power is not strong enough since Raiyo’s eyes are open right now.

Those glowing orange eyes burn into mine.

“Funny seeing you here,” He huffs a sleepy laugh. “Have you come to free me?”

I smile at him.

“Oh you beautiful creature,” I say. “You got yourself into this mess. I know you can get yourself out.”

He smirks and his eyes burn a bit brighter.

“Come closer, Morgoren,” He purrs, his whispering inside my mind as well. “Come free me so that we may touch once again.”

Chuckling, I shake my head.

“After what you had tried to pull off? I think not.”

He fakes a pout. “How rude!”

“While I am thankful for your killing of my father, I must say I am quite disappointed,” I frown. “You could have easily killed them all, but you got caught so quickly!”

He scoffs. “What makes you say that? Perhaps this was as far as I could get.”

“No,” I shake my head. “Not at all. You are doing all this without a reason. Without heart. Why?”

He attempts a shrug but the stones keep him from doing so.

“It was for fun,” he grins. “What other reason would I have? It isn’t as if I have anything to lose. A shame this is all they could manage. I was hoping that would finally be able to kill me.”

Don’t we all…

“Well,” I reach out to touch his cheek.

I hiss through my teeth when my hand ends up getting burned.

Narrowing my eyes, I step away.

“I should head back,” I say, slightly annoyed by his defiance right there. “I have a Star I must follow.”

Raiyo eye’s close for a moment and his nods his head before jerking awake.

“Leaving so soon? How unfortunate.”

Smiling, at his words, I am tempted to free him and take him home, but I know if I do such a thing he would kill me on the spot.

“Goodnight, Raiyo,” I wink before slipping back to Thymestrys.

“See you soon,” he says, “…for dessert.”

The way he called me that wasn’t exactly in the sexy way honestly. It actually worried me for a small second.

Oh well.

Once he is free and kills everyone, I will be one step closer to being the one and only god.