I awoke from my long slumber,squirming on the bed,before finally forcing the crackling bones to rise up.Tridus was asleep now,perhaps from all the nursing.
I pulled over the bed sheet to examine the aftermath of battle on my body.

The scars had healed completely,indicating this slumber had slipped by a few days.

A calm silence surrounded the room.Although constant murmurings and dull soften echoes of people,chatting,whispering,giggling and laughing could be heard from outside,albeit the door being closed and shut,separating the outside world from a room where devils resided.

I had no idea where we were at the moment,although it would have seemed it was an inn.I stepped out of the bed realizing we had a new member.

He sat there,aimlessly looking at a distant vision.His eyes,coated by a layer of drizzly tear,which never slipped to his cheeks.So were the demons,ripped off even the right to cry.

I made my way to him,wary of his threat, yet failing to hold no longer the sympathy I started to hold for him.

He sat alone in a world of his own,what dark corner he used to heave off his grief I could not imagine.He had my power,but how could he control that innocent heart,which longed for its mother.Yes,like others he too was still a hellchild.An infant who was cast away by his family,never loved or cared for.He had not earned,rather deserved his rebirth in hell.

Wrapped in a blanket covering his entirely naked body,a waterfall of his silky hair,rubbed against his slender shoulders,made its way to his back.

"And how is our guest?"I asked him politely taking a seat next to him.

Although the sheer guilt of helplessness made me reconsider every word I said to him.To his fate I was lucky.I had my time in the loving arms of dear mother,unlike him who was driven away from all such liberty.

He suddenly snapped,as he noticed me healed and healthy.

" I see you posses regeneration as well.."He said in a monotonous tone,after which he began to stare into distance once more.

The hellchild,gazed into the ethereal.His eyes,sacked and pouched by the sleepless nights,his hands frail,skinny,wrinkled.Throughout his body were blurred scars,passed down from my battles,through my skin,upon his body.

I wondered what he thought,who he remembered,and who does his grief describes to,who he trusts,and who he calls out to.None of it seemed clear,as a dream of a night,forgotten in day.

"I realize what you feel hellchild,but you must let go off these feelings,should even an immortal like you has to survive in this world."


"You ask questions whose meaning your oblivious of.I realize your pain half demon,but know this.Not now,not ever will you ever experience that equal to mine."

To this remark,I had no reply.I simply stood there,raising out my palm to grab his slender shoulders,yet it wouldent reach out..so far he was,detached and thrown into a world not his.Unlike me,he had nothing to hope for,no longing or desires which could be realised.His life was meaningless,simply a curse he was to endure.He cannot live peacefully,and he cannot die easily.He was the hellchild,the last descendant to Arihala.

There was no reason digging into the unsuspected,unknown and in this case forbidden.The hellchild was a being of his own kind.Perhaps the only one left of his kind.But there were questions I had as well,questions I would like answered.The constant conversing during our confrontation signed that the hellchild somehow had managed to gain the knowledge I seek.

"How do you know about azard?And exactly what do you know bout azard destruction?"

Hellchild took a moment to gasp in some air.Indicating this would be a long conversation.It did not matter,after a century of wondering through a maze of unending parallel worlds,I would wait.

Finally his mouth opened,and the still childlike voice began to speak..

"To be honest..nothing new"

My jaw dropped as the words escaped his mouth.Anger and rage,filled me to the brim.No longer could I take this.He had clearly remarked about azard during our battle.Something negative that I wasn't able to grasp,and now he sat there,non-nonchalant and uninterested.

"Then how did you..."I tried to sound calm,although failed.His words cut mine like beef being sliced by a butcher knife.

"I did not tell you anything that you dont know of.I was created by you and your organs,our memories and your pain.I know everything about azard you know.What I said was just what your subconscious is thinking..isn't it half-demon? Do you not curse yourself for the possibility that you could have went berserk and killed every last one of the azardians by yourself..that you hands are staled with blood you made your people shed..."

He paused before he finally spoke again.Letting his words settle into my head,each of which was painfully true.

"Im not sure what of it all is true or not,but I just exposed your thoughts to you,which you were ignorant of"

The truth could no longer be hidden.This was the case,and so it will be.My next question being the obvious.

"Why did you attack me?"

His gaze now broke off from the blank wall and his eyes met with mine directly.His eyes gave out an aura of its own.A constant turmoil plagued his mind,and the eyes,always wide open,bursting out of their sockets,and the pupils forever shaking,foretold a more darker past of this child,one I could not fathom.

"Because you are the "Parent" "

"A Parent?"

"One who gives us birth,we call him/her a parent.Usually this honor only belongs to Arihala,the demoness of fertility.Our creation follows a process called the second life.Anyone who Arihala lays here eyes on,a former demon,a human and even..angels sometimes,can be turned into one of her own minions in the second life.Arihala was once a goddess.But Lucifer..he hungered for her...her innocent beauty..he lusted her as an archangel.Once banished from heaven,he usually came to visit Arihala,who at that time,mothered his child.But the eternal god,did not allow the heir of a traitor to live in this world.And so Arihala was banished from heaven soon after.Lucifer converted her.Changed her into a demoness.But even he could not overrule his great judgment..and so it was.She could never bare another child.."

He paused once more,looking into the wall again.Each word that escaped his mouth felt as heavy as the burden on earth itself.As if subconsciously he too had went through this pain,he too experienced it in some way..

"So she tried to achieve the unthinkable.She tried to bear a child...but failed time and again.If it was not the right way,then the other way around would work.Under Lucifer she began to practice necromancy.It took her years..just about the time it needed.With Lucifer on her side,there was nothing at all she couldn't accomplish.And so it began..the process of achieving a rather vile divinity.She rose in power..yes power....more like monstrosity.Until she reached it...until she created..the first of our beings..the first hellchild."

"But doesn't necromancy means reviving the dead?Imbuing life into the soul less,control them like puppets through the virtue of ones dominance over them.The more absolute the control,the better the necromancer"

"Precisely,necromancy is to control the dead and deceased.But Arihala had something different in her palms now.She was a fallen goddess yes,but Lucifer bestowed her powers beyond her wildest imagination.It wasn't long that she started to decree to a more vile, mundane form.

The first hell child who she successfully managed to breath life into was that of a human..who was still alive,very much breathing.
Since a hellchild is formed from the human,he retains his memories of his past life,yet has no control or emotions over them.That was the first successful hellchild,but not quite complete.Each man has the power to control his fate,to strike down the line of his future,to be responsible for deeds committed and those about to be committed.By damning him to hell,Arihala broke the natural order of the wheel of fate.The hell child only entered hell to die after a few breaths..."

The intensity of this conversation somewhat detached me from the world of living.As if his darkness eloped me in it somehow.Was his presence having such a influence over me,that for an instance I was perhaps witnessing the darkness in his heart?

"A grown person who had already lived his life had conspired in his sins and took part in morality.Only after his death could his guilt be counted and judgment be passed down" I said,joining in the pieces of the story evident to me.

"In contrast,a new born was pure,free from both sins and virtue.A perfect catalyst for breeding a hell child.And thus Arihala interfered with the wheel of fate yet again.All those new born who died before witnessing the light and colors of the world..love and its warmth,were reborn in her motherhood.Their plea could not be heard.Their destiny shrouded in darkness.They possessed a mind,they possessed a will..yet only under her influence..under her control.

It took a few moments to digest the melancholic tale of hell child.Hell was indeed more twisted and wretched than one would hear in folklore.It had become the landmark of utmost evil.Had it been my destiny to witness the creatures of hell while still alive? Or was I even breathing to begin with?

"It seems you have heard enough.Do not concern yourself with my worries.Our tales..both yours and I await more dark corners and twists of fate.Lose hope now,and forever be damned for an eternity"He said,as if passing down a prophecy..a proclamation.

"How is it then that only you survive? If she died..how do you still live" I was unsure if "Live" was the right term here.

"Its because you are peculiar.Its because you still live as well.When a hell child is created the former body dies.But unlike them,you regenerated.Your the reason I exist.Its only my hypothesis,but once you succumb..so will I"

I rested my head against the cold wall as I stared towards the roof.In this battle for humanity..how far had we distanced our self from god.Were all demons just truly evil in their intents, or are there still many like us.And even if that were the case, how were we supposed to salvage our self.In this world..we often forget our worries,our problems,your troubles.But what if these problems are the central point for the revolution of our lives.How inhuman have we become?

Troubling myself with further worries about this matter only fleshed out the gaping wounds.

I looked over my shoulder towards the hellchild.He was quiet again, lost somewhere within his own world.How we are forsaken in this world,neither real nor pure.

I dusted off my overcoat as I got up.There was more I wanted to show him than this.

"Cmon then, lets have a walk outside" I said.
Unperturbed, he stood up.tugging over the blanket he still held,wrapping it around his body.


"Oh and tridus..take care over here"

"Aye aye sir"came back his reply.

Rewards:

Bex: 2 SP, 1 MP and 80,000 Drachma