The Star, The Demon, and The God - 52. A Destiny Foretold

The Ancient One

Raiyo stopped crying hours ago but he has not moved.

I have curled my body around him as a form of protection, but I have a feeling I will be moving soon.

What comes with never feeling anything, you never feel tired. You never feel the pull of your body wanting to drag you to sleep; to regain the energy of the day.

Raiyo’s body is betraying him as he lays there on the ground.

His eyes are open, but his body has shut down as if he has been paralyzed.

Unfortunately there is nothing I can do.

The Archdemon has not asked me to fix him or anything. He is used to not moving for hours or days at a time.

He is letting this happen to him without a care in the world.

Why is this happening to him? Why is his body all of a sudden working once more?

I had told Drulai where Raiyo’s memories were stored in order to fix my friend.

It worked but at what cost?

Why couldn’t this fix all the curses? Why only the barrier from death? Did Raiyo not feel the need to get rid of that curse when he had stored away his memories?

It isn’t fair.

Raiyo’s chest slowly rises and falls with each breath he takes.

Seeing that alone is the strangest thing I have seen in a long time.

What is he thinking right now?

These are strange changes that he must not understand. He has gone for so many years without the ability to die. The need to breathe, eat, or drink never felt like something to worry about.

For a long time, Raiyo never truly lived.

He was like me.

Never needing anything to survive, but also frozen in time.

Now, he is immortal like all the other gods. Like all the angels and demons. Like the stars.

He is like everyone else now and it is strange.

Well...not entirely.

He still cannot feel a thing.

Oh gods!

He will need to eat soon and when he does, he won’t be able to taste a thing!

I know when his memories were returning before, Raiyo felt awful because he couldn’t feel all the things he used to before.

He said he felt like he was in a small box and everything else around him was an illusion.

What do I do to fix something like that? How do I remove that curse?

“Please,” Raiyo whispers. “Please stop...thinking.”

His arms pop as he brings his hands up to cover his ears.

He closes his eyes as if he is in pain.

I remove myself from around him and stand.

“Forgive me,” I bow my head. “I did not mean to hurt you.”

Raiyo does not move from the floor. He still holds onto his head, his arms trembling slightly.

He looks so small in that moment, I am tempted to settle around him again.

I stop myself however.

Something tells me he does not want me to do that.

Trying my best not to think too much about multiple things, I stare at a patch of the stone floor next to his hand.

After a few minutes, Raiyo stops shaking.

Slowly his open once again and he stares ahead of himself.

His brow furrows as if he is sensing something.

What is it this time?

He did this before when we had arrived to Drulai’s palace the first time. He had sensed Tobias and the Star arriving to the ruins of Avelin.

Is it happening again?

Who is he sensing this time?

I watch as the skin around his eyes becomes darker and darker, the darkest I have ever seen him get before.

His eyes shine brighter and his glowing markings surge with life.

“Raiyo?” I call hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”

He turns his gaze to me, his rage subsiding.

He stares at me for a moment, it makes me very worried.

Slowly, Raiyo pushes himself off the floor and stands before me.

“I am going,” He says. “I am going and I do not think I will be coming back.”

Steams puffs out of my shoulders.

“I would rather you stay here,” He says. “Maybe you won’t be the first to go.”

If I could blink in shock I would have right there.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

Raiyo gives a sad smile. “I’m going to do what I am destined to do.”

Destined to do?

“Laneer told me long ago,” Raiyo sighs, glancing at the broken mirror. “He saw me in the destruction of the world.”

Destruction of the world? I don’t remember this! How is this his destiny!

“This place should be reborn,” Raiyo says, nodding to himself. “There is so much pain and wronging from the gods. I will be the one who cleanses it all. I shall cleanse it all in fire and the people of the world can start their life without the gods. They can be free!”

“Raiyo,” I say hesitantly, “This is wrong. You have already killed all the other gods! You don’t need to do this!”

He shakes his head. “Their stain has already been established. It will never be removed unless we start over!”

This...this sounds insane!

“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “These thoughts are so sudden! You must think it over!”

Another sad smile, this time it looks very tired.

“Is it sudden? From the day I was born, I have been a victim of the gods. The day I had died, I was still a victim to the gods. The fates happened to gift me with this second life and this power. It must mean that this was my destiny all along. I must be the one to fix it all.”

“But-” I try and stop him but he interrupts me with a finger over his lips.

His eyes burn bright for a small moment before he turns away with his back to me.

Shimmering lines of darkness materialize around his biceps like jewelry. They solidify into a dark metallic looking armbands.

Like blood dripping from a wound, darkness drips out of the back of the armbands.

It drips low and then sweeps upwards into his hands.

That liquid solidifies into a black silken cloth.

At the end of the cloths in his hands, a fire spreads into a large shape.

It shapes into large curved blades and solidifies into shining black blades with glowing orange engravings of fires and vines.

Raiyo holds onto the handles of these blades. At the ends of the handles, the cloth has tied around them, connecting them to the armbands.

These...these look like an upgraded version of those chained scythes he used to use.

“But first,” Raiyo says, looking up at me, “I must kill one more god.”

A portal materializes in front of him.

He turns to the portal and walks towards it.

For me it feels as if time has slowed down.

I watch as the one I have protected for so long walks into what he believes is his final battle.

I watch as my friend gave his final goodbye.

I watch as Yinx Dunbrali, the last of his name, goes to renew the world.

All I can do is watch in horror and there is nothing I can do about it.

It is when he steps through the portal that I sense others have entered the realm.

~~~
~~~

Tobias

“Where is everyone?” I say with a frown.

We are in Drulai’s palace right now.

All the candles are out and the palace is dark from the curtains keeping the moonlight away.

This place was crowded with all kinds of spirits. Now it is empty.

“Didn’t she mention she was going to speak with her children?” Luno asks.

Ah, I forgot about that.

Laneer glares at the empty hallways around us. “Something isn’t right.”

Well that is fairly obvious.

They wouldn’t abandon this place.

“Where would she have gone?” Luno asks. “Where do the gods all group together?”

I look to Laneer for an answer.

He shrugs. “I wouldn’t know.”

Fuck! What are we supposed to do now? We need help!

An echo of a door opening grabs our attention.

All eyes turn down one hallway that leads to Drulai’s room.

My eyes widen when I see a green haired spirit peek around the edge of the door.

It’s the one who followed Drulai everywhere!

“You!” I shout.

She yelps and slams the door shut again.

“Tobi!” Luno hits my arm and glares at me. “Don’t scare her like that!”

Okay that was my bad. I got a little too excited honestly.

We all hurry to the door.

“Er...sorry,” I say. “What happened here? Where is Drulai? We have important news to share with her.”

The door cracks open slowly.

I see her eyes are red and puffy from crying.

“Have you not heard?” She says, “Our queen is gone! Everyone is gone! All the gods have died!”

A shocked silence washes over us.

I follow that quickly with a loud, “What?”

She opens the door wider to let us in.

“That crazy Archdemon,” She says, her voice cracking. “He murdered them all! He killed Drulai and all of the gods! He even killed the spirits who went to help protect them!”

“N-no!” I exclaim. “This was her plan! She told us to do this! She said it would bring Raiyo to our side! It was supposed to fix all of our problems! He was going to kill Morgoren!”

Obviously that didn’t happen.

The fucking moon god kidnapped Luno.

“What did we expect,” The spirit says, her chin trembling. “We never should have trusted your kind. Especially an Archdemon.”

“Hey,” Luno shoots a glare at her. “This is not their fault!”

“Fine,” She spits out. “You three went to do the quest, I’ll blame you!”

Well this spirit sure is acting like a huge bitch!

I shake my head and turn to leave.

Grabbing Luno by the hand, I pull him down the hallway.

“Come on,” I say. “We are going to Enfierna right now.”

Luno’s eyes practically bug out of his head.

“Did you not hear what she said?” He shouts. “You’re going to get us killed!”

Laneer sighs. “As much as it pains me, the Star is right. Yi-...Raiyo is too dangerous right now.”

The fix of the names makes me raise an eyebrow at the Sailor.

He must have been getting hopeful if he was willing to call the god Yinx again.

Would he want to be called that again? That will be an interesting question to ask him.

“We still need him to see you,” I say. “You’re the last chance we’ve got.”

Luno pulls on my hand, “He could kill us!”

I growl and turn to face them.

“What other choice do we have? The world is ending whether you do this or not! Do you want to die trying or are you both going to roll over and hide in the Sanctuary? I’m going to see Raiyo even if it is the last thing I do.”

It helps that I know he made me his champion. Surely that must mean something.

I do not know if this was before he had stored his old memories away, but I know he still would remember his new memories.

Maybe he will be willing to listen to me.

“The humans dying was one thing,” I say. “We stopped that. This time it is the entire world at stake. Do you really want no part in trying to keep it safe?”

Luno bows his head and frowns.

Laneer stares at me with a blank expression.

I understand their hesitance. It actually surprises me that Laneer is since he isn’t able to die. You’d think he’d be willing to try this before we all die.

“Are you with me or not?” I ask.

Honestly, if Luno were to hide in the Sanctuary, I would be fine with it.

While I am fine with risking my own life, I can’t say I am fine with risking his more than anything else in this gods forsaken world.

“I’ll go,” Laneer says. “You kind of need me to get there anyway.”

I nod my thanks to him.

Luno bites his lip and peeks up at me through the curls of his white hair.

“I’ll...I’ll go too,” he says. “I think Mother and Enfi would have wanted me to help with something like this.”

I smile and pull him into a hug, almost squishing Kulu who is wrapped around Luno’s bicep right now.

“You remember what I have said before right?” I ask. “I’ll protect you no matter what happens as long as you stay behind me.”

Luno nods against me and rests his head on my shoulder.

I kiss the side of his head and then take a deep breath.

Turning to Laneer, I reach into my many pockets and pull out a silver coin.

“One trip to Enfierna if you’d please.”

~~~
~~~

Luno

I grip onto Tobias’ arm as the bubble turns into a shining orange.

It took me a bit to realize it, but each realm has its own color.

Enfierna’s is orange.

How fitting for Raiyo.

Tobi wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me close, kissing the top of my head.

The usual anxiety of delving into the depths of the ocean has disappeared, but the fear of meeting Raiyo now is terrifying.

My gut is telling me that things are going to go awful! Something is going to go wrong! I just know it will!

I can’t believe the gods are truly dead! All but Morgoren and Raiyo himself!

Never in a thousand years would I have ever imagined them all dead. I always thought of them as special beings who would outlive everything in the universe.

I used to really think Raiyo would at least do that.

Apparently that is no longer the case. That part of the curse is over.

Oh gods!

How did Drulai not see this happening? This was her plan! The one who knows all!

Did she not think that the real Raiyo would want to kill her as well?

She must have not thought that far enough.

I bite my lip when the bubble begins to disappear into little pieces.

The boat shoots upwards.

“Luno!” Tobias groans and wrestles my hands off his arm. “You’re kind of turning my hand purple!”

We breach the surface and I finally let go of him.

I clench my eyes shut and wait for some kind of awful death to fall onto us.

All I hear is Laneer rowing us through the dark water.

We...we are fine?

I would have thought Raiyo would have killed us instantly!

Maybe he is distracted?

I roll the sleeves up on my shirt.

It feels very hot in this realm. Definitely a lot more than the last time I was here.

“It’s like a giant version of you in here,” I say, fishing for a water canteen in one of Tobias’ bags.

He laughs. “Of me? What does that mean?”

I poke his stomach, making him curl away and laugh. “You feel like a walking oven.”

Noticing his reaction to the poke, I will save that information for tickling purposes later.

“How can you both joke around in a moment like this,” Laneer grunts behind us. “Clearly something is wrong if the realm is like this.”

He’s right, honestly.

The realm isn’t just a lot hotter now, the land looks visibly brighter.

It used to be dark and molded into the water. Now there is a dark reddish shade to the miles of dead trees. I can somewhat see glowing orange spots that are a little confusing for me to figure out what it is.

“Where is the castle?” Tobias frowns.

Wait...he’s right! We should be able to see it now!

Where it once stood, there is a pile of stone inside a giant crater.

Narrowing my eyes at the image, I try and think of what could possibly have happened.

“That’s...not right,” Tobias says, standing up to look at the wreckage.

Some pieces of the ground and buildings are still steaming with fire.

There isn’t a single god that I can think of wanting to come here.

Mother came once but she was trying to ‘save me’ !

Laneer brings us to the docking area and Tobias hops off the boat then speedwalks for the castle.

Quickly, I run after him.

“Wait for me,” I shout.

He ignores me.

Looking over my shoulder, I see Laneer quickly shrink his boat, shove it into his pocket, then run to catch up with us.

I keep an eye out for him as I follow Tobias, not wanting to lose the Sailor.

When I catch up to him, I find Tobi standing in front of a giant pile of steaming stones.

Simply running to catch up with him has started to make me sweat. It’s so hot here!

My eyes widen when I realize there are burning corpses mixed within the rubble.

“Who did this?” I gasp.

Tobias kneels down to inspect a burning body.

Based on it’s torn up wings, I know its a demon of some sort.

“Raiyo did,” He says.

I blink. “What? How do you know? These are his people!”

Tobias runs his fingers along a large piece of a stone wall. When he touches it, faint glowing orange symbols appear.

“He cast a spell to destroy the place,” Tobias says. “He did it with ‘his people’ inside.”

I frown and glance at Laneer.

He is standing behind us with a furrow in his brow.

“I think I know how my uncle died now,” Tobias swallows and stands.

When he turns to face me, I can see his eyes are a little watery.

“Let’s go,” He says. “Raiyo might be at the other palace.”

I reach for his hand but he shakes his head.

Without another word, he moves to follow a white stoned path through the realm.

This is insane!

First the humans, then the gods, now his own demons? He is crazy! Raiyo is actually crazy!

I feel awful!

Did we do this to him? Did we ruin Raiyo’s mind and completely corrupt him beyond repair? I feel absolutely awful!

“Here,” Laneer says next to me.

He holds up a wet rag for me.

He has his own in another hand.

“Thanks,” I say. “Are you okay? I’m sure seeing all this is scary since it involves...him.”

Laneer wipes his rag across his brow before letting out a small curse.

I take it he didn’t want to talk about this.

“I’m sorry,” I say, quickly. “I-I was just curious.”

He shakes his head. “It’s alright. I can see why someone would want to ask me that. I take it that is why Drulai wanted to keep me a secret.”

I frown at that.

“I know what you mean,” I say.

He huffs a small laugh. “People still knew about you. They heard the stories of you. Everyone just never met you before.”

Well he’s not wrong there.

Somehow stories of me spread and everyone knew my name.

When I met Viktor, he had said my parents must have named me after a ‘demigod’.

I still found it funny that people called me that.

I can’t really imagine what it must be like for not a single soul knowing who you are. All but Drulai.

Poor Laneer.

“It frustrates me,” Laneer says. “When I met him, he was calm and collected; the sweetest thing I have ever met.”

I smile when he says that.

“To hear about all that he is doing, I was angry that I never saw it. Drulai had to explain to me that he was always angry. He was always filled with rage towards everything and everyone. He just kept it all hidden beneath a mask.”

“Apparently I was the one who helped dampen the rage. I was the only one who made him happy. When I died, that supposedly was the last straw that pushed him to unleash that rage and break his mask.”

“Seeing all this now, I am more sad than anything. I should have known that something like this was bound to happen. I saw it once in a dream and I saw it the night I died.”

I frown as I listen to him.

Seeing visions of these events in a dream seems awfully important. Why didn’t he mention these things before?

I freeze when I see a Raiyo’s giant black automaton standing in front of Tobias.

Tobias stares up at the giant thing with his weapons at the ready.

Not wanting him to get hurt, I quickly summon a shield around him.

The Automaton only stares down at us like a statue.

“What do you want,” Tobias grits out to the giant.

Steam pours out of the holes on its shoulders.

“You’re too late,” He says. “He is no longer here.”