C24 ♱ Chapter • 24 ♱

♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱

Unfortunately things seemed to make more and more sense, as if one little piece could finally fit the other and all I had left was a damn puzzle practically complete.

In the end I had not left so much time to think, after all if Azrael really was a traitor, he would act again. If he were really serving his God - he would try to bring Elaine to the third territory.

A part of me refused to believe it, to believe that Azrael had not only deceived Callisto and Elaine - but also me and all the readers who considered him someone incredible. But in the end it wasn’t a reality? Fictional characters tend to be exactly what we want as we read and throw our expectations at them.

Maybe... the fact that I liked Azrael so much blinded me initially to the truth that was so clear in front of my eyes.

In the end, Azrael had no reason to hate Asra and yet he hated her even within the novel, even before the concubine began stalking Elaine.

Even before Asra committed her greatest sins. I really must have been too blind not to see Azrael’s clear preference.

Was it all for your God? What was so good about this God?

Elaine sacrificed everything for him, Azrael betrayed Callisto and his companions for him. He condemned Loren, even when he was just a little child. A 13-year-old boy who wasn’t even aware of what was happening.

My fists tightened and when I lifted my face, I came across Asmodeus.

The demon with crimson eyes and golden hair, sighed heavily as he looked out the window.

"How am I supposed to kill that asshole?" he asked more to himself than to me.

"I said so" I muttered "you shouldn’t meddle."

He snitched.

"Don’t get involved? Do you happen to know how much shit Azrael has done since he took command of OUR army? That damned imbecile always gets an excuse good enough to clear his own bar and thanks to his benefit of the doubt with Callisto - that OTHER imbecile -, he is never punished" Asmodeus played and for a moment I remembered a specific part of the novel.

The fight between angels and demons in the third territory. Elaine had managed - with the help of Azrael -, to deal with much of the territory’s problems and Lucifer who finally had some peace and control in her house, was coldly attacked and practically killed by angels.

Callisto tried for months to understand what had happened and how those bastards had invaded Lucifer’s territory. That’s when Asra suggested that this was Elaine’s fault and also when Azrael took all the pain and said it was probably the result of some spell or magical item that had been hidden even when those angels (the ones we would have to deal with now) were in action.

Many demons were killed in that damn game. Callisto lost 20% of his army and it was thanks to this that he failed to maintain the defense in all territories.

"Are you saying... this happens all the time?" I asked as all that flooded my mind, as every speech, every scene of Azrael was coldly reviewed.

Azrael, the commander of hell, the right-hand man of Callisto - was a traitor.

"Very, very often" Asmodeus snored "Calisto believes this is due to Azrael being... good... hated by the other side" he said as he gestured with one hand "but let’s face it? Lucifer’s fall was 5000 times worse than his."

The fall of Lucifer.

Yes, even I knew what it meant. Even Asra would know.

Lucifer was the twin sister of Loren’s mother and when her sister was killed painfully, slowly and ruthlessly. When they tore off their wings and cursed their son - God’s second favorite angel - they fell.

It was Lucifer who held Loren in his arms for the first time. It was Lucifer who paid for the first months of the little hybrid’s life.

It was Lucifer and only Lucifer who gave his wings, beauty and grace for the life of the child that his sister loved so much. For the life of the child she fathered even though she knew the end she would come to.

Lucifer was the first angel to actually betray his God and when that occurred. When she really fell, the whole world trembled at the fury of the one who did not know how to lose.

He decided he would hunt her if necessary, decided he would bring Lucifer back at cost. Even if you lost your angels, even if you were dragged to hell itself.

For the complete misfortune of this childish God - Lucifer and the angels that followed her were welcomed by Callisto.

With the child in his arms, guarded in a freezing spell, Callisto waged the first war against God and with all the anger he possessed in his chest - he decided he would make him suffer as much as Lucifer was suffering.

That would make him suffer as much as his beloved had suffered before she died.

Azrael - one of the numerous angels who followed Lucifer -, fell at the feet of Callisto and his state (similar to that of Lucifer), pitied the king.

Angels were thrown into hell for their crimes and the meaning of their sin was clear in their appearance.

Scary and deformed appearance for those who went against the will of God.

Burnt eyes for those who turned their back on their father.

Tongue out for those who blasphemed their maker.

Twisted wings for those who chose the fall, who chose to stand beside Lucifer.

And finally, for the traitors, those who followed not only the footsteps of Lucifer but those of his sister - a hole in his back where before there had been a pair of beautiful wings.

Azrael, like Lucifer and like the corpse of his sister, had no wings. This was the reason Callisto welcomed him, the reason to trust the fallen as much as he trusted Lucifer.

⋅• ♱ •⋅