The Heavenly Ruins

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Aruna looked up as the man leaned over her, beginning to chant.  Those incantations... that must be the spell to take the grace.  Her body was shining, responding to the incantation.  This was it, her time with Asmeal's burden was done.  At last she could rest and return to a simpler time, one where all she had to concern herself with was that of darkness.



Aruna's Kingdom

700 years ago.

Aruna sat on a throne overlooking a massive field.  Her body was the same as her male form, except the size of a building.  With her cheek resting on her fist, his red eyes surveyed the battle below.  Demonic servants clashed with human armies, ripping them to shreds, skewering them with spike spells and otherwise tearing them to pieces.

"Pathetic humans..." she mumbled.

Eventually there was only one left.  He stood on the tip of the hill, staring down the rest of his demon army.  "Oh?  The poor fool is trapped.  I suppose its cruel to let him just die like that," he said with a wide grin, signaling with a wave of his hand for the army to open a way out.  The demon horde parted behind him, giving him a free tunnel to escape.  "He can live the rest of his life with the trauma of watching his men die."

The man glanced at the pathway, then smiled.  Pulling his sword, he pointed to Aruna, pointing the tip at him.  "HEAR ME FOUL DEMON!  YOU MAY HAVE WON THIS DAY, BUT WE HUMANS ARE PROTECTED BY THE LIGHT OF GOD.  EVEN IN OUR DARKEST HOUR THERE IS HOPE."

Aruna stood up.  "Oh really?  Hope?"

Chains emerged from the ground beneath him, yanking tieing him to the floor.  "You could not even defeat my army, yet you think there was ever hope to defeat me."

"Faith...." he choked, the chains tightening around his neck.  "...in the light... needs not.... ack."

The sounds of bones cracking filled the very sky.  "....logic.  As long as.... I can.... go... beyond...."

And then it happened, his entire glowed with power, cracking, then shattering his chains.  The man, high on the power of light, charged forward towards his demon horde.  There was an explosion greater than a large city.  In the end, her vast demon army succeded, but not before 80% of it was wiped out.


Just a tool?  Was I not using the light as they would?  Maybe... maybe I'm just a demon after all...  Asmeal... I don't think I can carry your burden after all.  Sorry but I'm just not strong enough.

Aruna's entire body writhed with pain, the shock still in her mind.  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she realized this wasn't the end.  That fake demon was just as sadistic as she was, more than willing to play with his food.  The pain it wouldn't stop, not anytime soon.  But, maybe if she endured this then when he took the grace, she wouldn't have to feel pain anymore.

Why am I taking the graces again?

Thats right, she never really knew Amseal all that well.  Why was she going so far for him?  All the sudden, she remembered that pained face, the feeling of oppression in his soul.  The light, it crushed all beneath it, even those who used its power.


Centuries after the fall of Aruna's Kingdom

An angel standing over the demon, a blade at her throat.  "By the grace of god, you meet your end here.  Your evil existance ends today."

"I left the humans alone!  Its been centuries since I desired conquest.  The humans.... they defeated me.  You can't kill me!  I've done nothing wrong!"

"You consume souls.  You deserve death!  Humanity will forever be free of you."

"NO!  I... I only eat the bad ones."

"Enough of your squabbling."


Would that have happened without the light?

Aruna grabbed Ezekial's leg.  "I... can't let you have it yet..." she said, barely clinging to consciousness.  Her vision was still blurry, her eyelids closing ever so slightly.  Just moving her arm was a struggle that felt like running seven marathons back to back.  "I... still need it."

What am I doing?  I can be a demon again.  Just let him take it.

"God's grace.  Its too much.  I don't want to ever see that happen again.  It hurts me.  I told him I would accept his pain and he gave it to me.  I'm... not a demon anymore.  I can't always run away from things."

What the hell are you talking about?  Of course, you are a demon.  Your not just a demon anymore.

"ZEKE!  DO YOU HEAR ME!  DON'T YOU DARE TAKE ASMEAL's PAIN FROM ME!"

Although she screamed in Asmeal's name, it never really was just about him.  She wanted to understand the light, the humans, the secrets of the spirit.  So no matter what happened, she would have to take the pain, the kind that comes with discovery, change. After all, the demon was old enough to know, that pain never really ends.  Avoiding it just made her weak like every other demon.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

Zeke's grin grew wilder and more passionate by the second. Yes, that's right! That fire! That is what he wanted to see. That is what he yearned for. He truly was fortunate, he had invested in the right person. Aruna was perfect. However, no one stops, even for someone as cute as this demon. The voice in the demon's head was chillingly calming. Too late.

He raised his finger to the sky, and soon her light matched wavelengths with his darkness. It was like being embraced by dark, comforting wings. And as the light reached its peak and it felt like something was coming out of Aruna...


Nothing happened.

The light and darkness vanished, and Zeke used that finger he held in the air to boop the demon on the nose. That is how you reclaim a grace.

Heheheh. Got her.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Huh?

Aruna let out a little giggle, then hysteric laughter.  Eventually, all that could be heard in the mirror of Asmeal's soul was the genuine laughter of someone truly happy to be alive.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

Pffft...

Even through his raspy, carved up chords, he still managed to let out a small chuckle. He held it back, a little, but it grew and grew until he couldn't hold it in anymore. Just as Aruna's reached its peak, his laughter booked to the skies just like her. It was the genuine laughter of someone truly happy to be alive.

[Kotomine_Rin]

6:15 PM - Day 3

Zeke

He was still chucking and wheezing when Aruna left, and just watched her silouhette grow smaller and smaller. He waved with that same confident grin as ever, until she was nothing more than a dot in the sky. Until she vanished form his field of vision.

Finally gone huh?

Then and only then, did he roll over and clutch at his body in a sudden snap. His fingers dug into his muscles so hard it looked like they'd break - his back convulsed like if a sea monster trashed about inside his spine. Indeed, his body twisted and contorted from the pain.

Damn, she got me good. That dagger of hers... haha... so this is how you feel... Joseph... heheh... what an awful sensation...

Phantom pain. A pain so large, so terrible, it had already overcome his entire world hours ago. A torment his self still wasn't finished experiencing. This was the price for greed, which was causing his vessel to crouch down and gasp for air. It clutched at his skull and began bashing his face on the ground again and again, as if there were insects burrowing in his brain matter. Sudenly, he rubbed his temple on the ground as if his marrow was roasting and his nerves were splitting into mush. His eyes were spinning and bouncing as the signals overwhelmed him, until they looked like slot machines.

Just what was the cause of this sudden pain? No, it wasn't sudden at all. Was it the attack from her grace? No. No, no, no! It was -

The dagger of lust. He stroked it around his belt, admiring the feel of it. What a fascinating artifact. It was good he took it from her. This sensation still hadn't finished growing from the beginning of the conversation. Only when the demon was gone did he care to stop hiding it. As if he'd show a filthy creature this side of him. Ah. It hurt, it really hurt. Hehehehe~

Zeke just curled into a ball and trembled, until the convulsions began to quiet down and the pain started to recede. How long would he have to look forward to this harrowing experience? Let it end already, jeez. Damn you, Aruna.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Aruna stood before the statue of that woman, the one smiling like the sun itself.  Asmeal was cursed with the burden of the light and twisted by its influence.  Zeke the false demon carried darkness yet pushed forward with the power of a human.  Lulu held a creature of darkness as her equal, even despite holding the power of light.  Although her personality was eccentric, he held no fault with her ideals thus far.  Light and dark magic were both wielded by the demon, yet he never considered if they could coexist.  After spending that time with Lulu, feeling their bodies meld together in intimate touch... Maybe...

Wings emerged from the demon's back and he shot into the sky like a giant black rocket, a tail of dark stardust tailing behind him.  His right palm glowed with darkness, his left a bright light.  One side of the sky shined with bright light, the other blackened by shadow.  The two forces began to spin meld and spin together, consuming each other but never truly mixing.

"....I can't conceptualize it yet, not fully.  Why...?  I made love to an angel for lucifer's sake."

Still it wasn't bad.  The forces weren't really consuming each other, but mixing.  Perhaps if he could mix the two elements he could advance his own magic, perhaps develop a new art.  "What is light and dark really?"

[YOLF]

Orcus

An unyielding voice boomed from the shadows, providing answers that the demon had not asked for.

"What a guileless question to ask in this place. They are each what shall be destroyed by compromise to the other. Fire and water. Or perhaps, vapor and ice?"

A man stepped out from behind a crumbling arch, inky lips curved faintly under a heavy hood, and the dark flapped about him like a cast-off shroud. He made no move to approach, only raised his head to the benevolent statue.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

"I suppose it would appear that way to a human," Aruna said, the light and dark being sucked back into his body as if it were a vacuum.  The demon's body twisted and distorted upon hearing the newcomers voice, forming a sort of blob.  All that remained on the blob was the bat wings as he descended to the earth.  The form that emerged was Aruna's female form.  The batwings shrank down to the size typical of this form and the demon approached with a curious look in her eye.  Holding her head up, she sniffed the air around him.  "Oh I was mistaken.  You are not a human it seems."

The way he emerged from the darkness, it was something akin to the silent step and other dark arts.  Still, what he said was interesting.  It was probably what he himself saw in the sky.  That is what the demon's magic looked like.  "Destroyed by compromise," she said, staring into his eyes.  "I suppose that is all I can muster right now.  Compremise....  I wonder... if there is something beyond compromise?  Tell me, what is your purpose here?"

[YOLF]

Orcus

His gaze moved down to meet her, and then his head tilted the same direction. He spoke with confidence through a slight, lopsided smile. "You can call me Orcus. I'm a salvager of sorts, or if you'd prefer, a seeker of certain truths. To who do I owe the pleasure?"

[yinsukin]

Aruna

"What a calculated way to answer that question Orcus," she said, sniffing him again like a dog trying to identify something.  "My name is Aruna and in a way I would say I am similar, a demon seeking the truth.  But you know Orcus.... there are many truths in this world.  Coming to this place, this specific area in this city raises some questions.  Despite not being a human, your presence reeks of one who is looking for things far outside of their depth."

[YOLF]

Orcus

"Outside my depth? And what of yourself?" Raising a hand to the sky, he continued to speak while curling each finger towards himself, seizing the phantom of a covetous desire. "I find this place very curious. It has a familiar voice, but it did not arise from any past that I know."

Orcus withdrew his gaze from the demon, approaching the statue. He was standing by the dais, reaching out a clawed finger to touch it, but holding back as though it would shock him.

"It is a discovery, though not an opaque one. Do you know the truth I hear around us? War and peace cannot coexist. One must always conquer the other. This broken kaleidoscope of a world contains multitudes of both, but look to the smallest fractal and you will see something is either white, or black."

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Aruna merely lowered her soft feminine eyes at Orcus, blinking once or twice before answering.  "I am out of my depth as well," she said with a sigh.  The demon followed Orcus's gaze to the statue, standing side by side with him.  "But at least I belong to this domain.  White, black.... I can't accept those simple binaries anymore, even if I still cling to them.  Strange how you call such things truth.  What evidence do you have that the world is black or white?"

As the demon stared at the woman, she couldn't help but think about what he said, a familiar voice yet not from any past he knew.  Was that just god's whisper or something else?

[YOLF]

Orcus

His masculine laughter rang in her ears. "I have none. Ontology is founded on belief, not evidence. Suppositions and argument. Even if all is black and white, monochrome pictures are no less vivid, no less complex than those in colors. Would you deny this? Then what of love and hate?"

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Aruna thought back to her experiences with Asmeal, the humans of the past, Valarie and Lulu.  After a moment of silence, she said, "Love and hatred, two sides of the same coin.  I have loved people I have hated and hated people I have loved, sometimes simultaneously.  Its a strong complicated emotion that is colored by pettiness."

"If the world is monochrome then why do we see in color?"

[YOLF]

Orcus

"Then love and hate are no binary at all," he spoke, and his expression curled fondly. "But one and the same, confounding us by its currents and states and transitions."

Inhaling, the primal raised a single finger. "Vision comes from light. If the world is a painting, then we may see it only because something shines on it. But is the light monochrome and the canvas where colors rest, bereft of shade or clarity by themselves? No. There is no such thing as black light. It is the eyes with which we see that cast color on the world painted in tiny dots of black and white, constantly at war with one another."