GODS OF ASEROTH: The Prodigal Son: A monster is born

by Asher, Yarid

  Samael walked down the spiral staircase and walked over to the darkest part of the dungeons with the coffin on his shoulder and as he proceeded, the light became dimmer and dimmer and when he reached the end, it was the deepest point and the darkest as well. There was not even a speck of light and it was incredibly cold just like the middle mountains, and it was wet as well. There were puddles of slimy water on the ground and the floor of the cell was mud.

  Samael threw the coffin in a corner and left the dungeons and it was pin drop silence now, and there was nothing in the dungeons except the imprisoned, fallen king, the dark horse, Leosher…

  It was now night and Ezhak had woken up. It took him time to recover but he did and now he stood tall again but he still was injured and he knew that he was not of match for neither Temuna, nor Samael, therefore he flew back to the golden castle where he told Virgil that Leosher was in grave danger.

  They all stood were in the court hall when Ezhak barged inside.

  “Virgil,” said Ezhak, “You have to help your fallen brother. His very life is in danger and you are the only one powerful enough to save him. You are the lord of Thraenus and Aseroth; you have the power to kill Samael.”

  “Where is he?” Virgil stood up “Take me to him.”

  Meagon, who was also in the court hall, heard that Leosher was in danger, and instantly she wanted to go help him,

  “I demand to go with you, for my husband’s life is in danger and I shall do everything to save him.”

  Virgil thought for a moment and then looked at her “Get ready, for we must depart now. I do not know how much time Leosher he has till he dies, Asurot has a cloak on him and none can sense him or his presence.”

  Meagon snatched Usere’s sword and Urey’s bow and got ready and though she wore a dress, it was not a fancy one. It was a normal dress which warrior women wore. The only thing that she did not possess was armor but with Ezhak and Virgil on her side, she did not need any.

  “Virgil, the fastest way to get to Samael is by flying, therefore, both of you shall ride me there.”

  “No—you are already injured, and even if you were healthy, I have a faster way, but first, let me heal you.”

  He put his hand on Ezhak and closed his eyes and within seconds, all of Ezhak’s wounds were healed.

  “Now,” he continued talking “We shall go.”

  Virgil put his hands on Meagon and Ezhak and in an instance, they turned into a golden ball of fire. They flew up in the sky like lightning and landed in front of the castle of Samael. It only took them about 4 seconds to get there, because Virgil had read the location from Ezhak’s mind when he touched him.

  This was the way how the gods traveled but Leosher never quite learnt it. Virgil utilized all of his resources, for he was wiser than Leosher and did not have power on his mind all the time.

  They stood in front of the castle and Virgil shouted “Samael, I know you are in there and I know you have my brother. Come out now and you shall not be punished by death. You will only be returned to the guardians and will only be put in Ratarus, where you belong—now come out and face me.”

  There was silence but then Temuna walked out of the broken gate and her hands were in the air, as a sign of surrender but there was no sign of Leosher or Samael. Just as Meagon saw Temuna, fire came into her eyes and she charged at her. She slapped Temuna in the face but Virgil raised his hand and pulled her off with a flick of his wrist.

  Temuna was angry but was helpless for Virgil was too strong for her.

  “Where is Leosher?” Meagon yelled at her “Bring him out or you will perish.”

  Temuna smirked “You are naïve. You do not know what you speak. You are weak, you cannot possibly think you can defeat me. I am too strong for you, stronger than any wizard.”

  Just when Temuna stopped talking, came out Samael with the marble coffin on his shoulder. He swaggered towards Virgil and when he was finally close, he spoke to him “I shall make you a deal. I will give you your brother alive, and you will grant us freedom from the guardians.”

  “It is too late, for the guardians already know you are here. I told them telepathically and they will be here any moment now. You have no choice but to give Leosher back.”

  After a few moments of silence, red smoke appeared beside Virgil and out of the smoke came the guardians. They were looking as grim as always. They wore their thick red cloaks and floated around in mid-air. Their feet were bloody, for the grounds of Ratarus were molten rocks and spikes and their faces were black and their eyes were red. They had hoods on their head and had whispering and grim voices.

  The leader of the guardians said in his whispering voice “At long last, we have found Samael. Today we shall take you back to Ratarus and wipe the stain away, wipe our humiliation away.”

  Virgil was the only one who did not look at the guardians but all the others did and although the guardians were grim, none were scared of them, not even Meagon.

  “Keep them away from me or I will kill Leosher” Samael said right after the guardians talked.

  Virgil smiled, “You cannot kill my brother before my eyes.”

  He snapped his fingers and the marble melted away and Leosher jumped out of it and put the scythe against Samael’s throat. All were surprised except Virgil, for it was his plan all along. He knew his brother had a fighting spirit and he would never give up. His plan was going exactly the way he wanted but then things took an unexpected turn.

  “Leosher, move away from him. He will not harm you. It is his time and he has to go to Ratarus now.”

  Leosher laughed “I will not let him go, for he has destroyed my pride. I will kill him and gain it back.”

  “Not if you want to go to Ratarus,” The leader of the guardians said “If you kill him before our eyes, you will have no choice but to come with us. You will be locked away for eternity, for you are disobeying the king of all gods.”

  Leosher laughed again “The king of all gods is my brother, and I am sure he will not let me be imprisoned.” Leosher looked at Virgil and smiled “Right brother?”

  “No—I am afraid I will not be able to do anything. I am expected to do what is right and therefore, I shall do what is right.”

  This infuriated Leosher but he did not stop. He swung his scythe and killed Samael. He had followed Dadurot’s orders, not because he had to, but because he wanted to, for he thought that Dadurot was going to give him the throne.

  Virgil was angry and Temuna was devastated. She ran forward to catch the falling body of Samael but she could, not for it turned to ash. She fell on the ground crying and put the ash on her bosom, mourning for her late husband.

  Meagon ran to Leosher, for she was happy to see him. She hugged him but Temuna was not happy at all.

  “I will take away your love, just like you took mine away.”

  She turned herself into pure evil energy and shot herself towards Meagon with the aim to kill her but Leosher got in the way and put his left arm in front of her and the energy blast was absorbed by his body and this was the day when both Temuna and Samael died; this was the day when Thraenus was rid of all its enemies.

  Virgil yelled at Leosher “What have you done—you fool!”

  “I did what was right. Now, tell the guardians not to take me to Ratarus.”

  Virgil said with anger in his voice “I am afraid I cannot, for it would be unjust. You have to pay for your mistakes.”

  Leosher was jaw dropped, for he had expected his brother to help him but instead, he did not. Leosher ran towards Virgil and put his hands on his shoulders, and just as he did, something drastic happened. There was a blast and Leosher was sent flying into the walls of the castle and the walls collapsed on him and buried him. No one knew what had happened or why it had happened but all thought Virgil had done that on purpose.

  When Leosher walked out of the rubble, they all noticed that the arm that was struck by the blast had turned black. There was lava flowing through his darkened left forearm. His nail
s had turned into sharp claws and the hand had immense strength. This was the result of the blast. All the dark energy was stuck and trapped inside the forearm and the blast occurred because it clashed with the pure white energy that Virgil was filled with.

  His hand was stuck in the demon form and he could do nothing to bring it back, because there was too much dark energy trapped in that one specific area.

  Virgil could not do anything either, for he could not take out the dark energy out of Leosher’s heart and his mind. Dark energy was home to evil and evil was home to dark energy and Leosher was evil, and could not be stripped away from the dark energy until he became good.

  After Leosher walked out of the rubble and stood close to all again, the guardians began talking to him.

  “Come with us” said the guardian while approaching Leosher, who was jaw-dropped with shock “You deserve it.”

  “Stop,” Virgil yelled at him “I will escort him there myself, but first I shall make some changes.”

  He dismissed the guardians and sent them back to Ratarus and then walked over to the cliff. He looked at the distant Mount Dabbacan, the place in whose bosom existed the worst place known to Thraeniuns, Ratarus.

  “It should not exist on Thraenus; it should exist in a remote dimension where nothing else exists.”

  He raised his hand and flicked his finger and suddenly, the giant mountain shook and was stripped away from Ratarus. It jumped out from its bosom and levitated in the air. It was like a mountain, a smaller version of the volcanic Mount Dabbacan. It levitated over the Mount Dabbacan until a giant hole opened up in the sky and engulfed it. It was a dimensional gate that sucked Ratarus in and in an instant, Ratarus no longer exited on Thraenus but instead, in a place no one except Virgil, knew of.

  After he was done, he turned around and had sadness on his face and tears in his eyes “Brother, say your goodbyes, for this is the last day you will see your loved ones.”

  Leosher was no longer shocked but had anger on his face but he said nothing, for he thought it was Virgil’s fault he had to go to Ratarus for eternity.

  He hugged Meagon and kissed her “Take care, and remember my dream. You are my last hope. Conquer the world, conquer Aseroth and wait for me, for I shall escape Ratarus. I am destined to escape and come back. I am destined to rule; you just wait for me, loyally, and faithfully.”

  She nodded and burst into tears because she loved him too much but Leosher was cold hearted and focused. Then he turned to Ezhak who had tears in his eyes too “You were a good servant. You served your purpose well but now, I burden you with a new purpose. Serve Meagon and do whatever she says. Accompany her in everything she does, and take care of her and yourself as well.” Ezhak nodded and backed away. Afterwards, Leosher walked over to the cliff where Virgil stood and stood next to him and said to him while looking over the sea, “I am ready—let us go.”

  Virgil snapped his fingers and a small dimensional gate opened in front of them and both walked in and when they did, they saw a gate at the end. The gate had no knob but only had thorns and spike on it. The door was red hot as well, and only gods and the guardians could open it. This was a Ratarus that Virgil had designed. When he moved Ratarus, drastic changes were made.

  When Virgil opened the gate, the guardians welcomed them. The gate led to a thin bridge. Only 3 fully grown men could walk side by side on this bridge. It had lava flowing on either sides and had nothing to keep one from falling. It was a rocky bridge with a sudden end and it looked over Ratarus.

  This Ratarus was a mountainous terrain. All these mountains were cells and there were many cells and all these cells were hot, hot like lava, for the ground was molten rocks. There was a huge mountain at the end, which was the cell of Shamaun, Samael’s father. All of the prisoners were allowed to roam freely on the molten ground except one, Shamaun, for he was too treacherous to be left free.

  The sky of Ratarus was dark and filled with stars. The air was thick and filled with fire and sparks and smoke. There was no water and food, all starved and were only given food once a week, just to keep them alive.

  After the guardians thought Leosher was scared enough, they began talking to him “This is your home from now on, and there is no exit except the one you stand before and this exit is guarded by us, therefore you cannot escape it. This is your punishment.”

  Leosher laughed and thought in his head “This might be guarded, but I am Leosher. I will escape it and get my revenge on Aseroth.”

  Virgil took Leosher to the end of the bridge and told the guardians to stay behind and talked to him alone “Brother only if you had listened to me, you would not have ended up here. Only if you had stayed good, only if you had not gone power hungry and stayed the same, innocent Leosher, just like the one you started out. If you had done that, you would not have ended up here, but alas, here we are, and there is nothing that can be done anymore. Therefore, we shall say our goodbyes.”

  Leosher smirked and nodded “You might want to think no one can escape, but I will and I will get my throne. There is nothing you can do to stop me and when I get out of here, you will be the first one to die….”

  Virgil got angry and kicked Leosher off of the cliff. The time seemed to have slowed down. Both had tears in their eyes and both, even though loved each other, were angry at each other. Both brothers recited their creed, Leosher for revenge and motivation to get out of this place, and Virgil recited it out of sadness, and out of anger, for he knew this was not the end, and Leosher was going to come out and when he was, he was going to be there to stop him:

  “We are not ordinary,

  for we battle with destiny.

  We have great power,

  the power to write our own fate.

  There is a beast rising within us,

  and our revolt is weakening.

  The beast is at the edge of our souls,

  and its might is strengthening.

  The beast is raw and pure,

  its power is like lightning.

  We cannot begin to describe,

  the storm that is inside.

  But the beast will rise again,

  to bring forth the eternal pain.

  The sun of hope has risen,

  and the battle has begun.

  But we remember one thing,

  we will always be one.

  We let the beast within us, rise,

  to bring forth our enemy’s demise.

  We move forward with one creed,

  for it is our need,

  Clearly, we are not ordinary,

  for we battle with destiny….”