[center][u][b]The Flashback: Removal of the Apostate and the Glorious uprising; Part two[/b][/u][/center]

[b]“Well I can see you're all righteous idiots”[/b] the powerful voice spoke. It's body was Human and its essence was definitely Human. But it seemed so overpowering. Like it was smothering all the other essences down to assert its own.. royalty in a strange sense. Which was odd because there was a high ranking Angel in the tent with him, along with some other Angelic officials who looked with their head down. They had heard much about this [i]“unknown champion”[/i] of Sosaria, but dismissed him as some Human who had gotten lucky in a few fights. But this man seemed... very different.

For the unknown champion stood there, bare chested and with a lance of some sort as a weapon. With an entire army modernized and only the few elite Angels carrying the more traditional weapons. This was a sight to behold. The man was large and looked powerful. With a bald head, a strong face and bright blue eyes.

[b]“Six Angels, top warriors might I add sent to their deaths because you were impatient. The orders were clear I thought. Do not engage Lord Blackhawke until the Queen's forces could reinforce you. Instead you took some of the best warriors of Heaven and wasted them on stupid arrogance.”[/b]

The Angelic Commander blinked, not believing he was taking this kind of talk from a mere Human. But every time he had the courage to stand up for himself. It was as if the Champion sense it and with his hard, piercing eyes caused the Angel's mettle to collapse upon itself. So he stood there and took the berating. 

“I-i'm sorry sir... we had broken through and I wanted to end the fighting quickly.”

The Champion nodded sympathetically and walked out of the tent, but not before saying one more order.

[b]“I'm going to defeat the former King. I want my flank supported on my way inside. Pull back your forces, Commander they must be tired from the fighting. Use the human forces that Sosaria has provided for you. I will consider this an exception to the agreement made at the council meeting and will notify the Angelic hierarchy I gave you permission to use Human forces.”[/b]

The Commander fluttered his wings, somewhat stunned. How did this Human have such strong connections?

“Sir don't you need armor or protection of some sort” Noting his bare chest and wool gray pants. How did this man with a spear and no protection seek to beat a monster who just killed six battle Angels? Then again... that monster was Human too. Maybe there was more too them.

The champion smiled and waved nonchalantly at the Commander before leaving the Tent.

[b]“I will be fine Commander. Do your duty and bring honor to the Angels whom you represent.”[/b]

*

This place reeked of an essence he knew all too well. A familiar and pitiful remnant of the past. One last scheme he thought. One last twist before he would be pulled back into the sad little world he was trapped in. The hallway that led to the throne room was layered in blood. A pair of wings had been torn at the roots with the King's bare hands. At the end of the hallways was the rubble that was once the door. A hand and a mangled face sticking out of. The champion grimaced, these Angels had worked and served with courage and honor all their lives, and their diligence had been award with immense power to smite the evils that lurked throughout the lands. They deserved a better death than this abject humiliation. Though it wasn't surprising, his real opponent was driven to hate and spurn Angels for reasons that the Champion found delusional. Such a shame what happens to old friends.

 As he climbs over the rubble and into the dark throne room. The whole place had been acquired by the spirit. He had succeeded in making a permanent base on the Surface. Which while impressive was something the Champion could not abide by. 

[b][i]“Another fly sent to the hawk”[/b][/i] a deep echo rumbled behind the dark fog of the throne room.

[b]“Not exactly”[/b] mused the Champion. Noting the remaining bodies had been... prepared. Their bodies all impaled on 5 foot stalactites made out of dried blood... their own blood. Impressive, if not repulsive and perverted.

A loud, animalistic roar echoed throughout not only the throne room. But all of London.

[b][i]“You are my cousin's champion!”[/b][/i] it accused. 

[b][i]“You are a traitor to the King and therefore to the Gods.”[/b][/i]

The Champion brow furrowed as he readied his spear. How far gone was Blackhawke's spirit? Could it is salvaged? He would certainly try.

[b]“I believe Lord Blackhawke that you've forgotten what a King and a God is.”[/b]

And out of the Darkness, red pours throughout.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The land is hot and stuffy, almost unbearably so. The blazing wind kicks up dust and sand and Mary can taste how gritty the air is. This place was designed to be unpleasant, a punishment almost to whatever called this place home. But it had no traces of a Demon, the essence here was certainly malice and hatred, but also a sobbing, writhing sadness and the pain of thousands of thousands of years. Bitter, loathing swelled throughout the landscape. But also something else, something more soft and vulnerable.

	Through the background a red figure starts to walk towards Mary as it seamlessly tears and rips through the dirt and sand swirling around the harsh landscape simply by moving. He came as a prisoner, but through neglect and arrogant underestimation, he had become the warden and owner of this domain, which despite being apart of Hell, had been claimed by something else. For something mysterious barely lit the ground around her. But it's source, Mary could not see. As if the sad red light emitted from something invisible. But she could feel it, high in the sky, pressuring her, looking down at her as a curious enigma. It's essence was the same as the red figure stumbling towards her. But the only thing that she sense from it was a furious genocidal fury.

	[b][i]“Welcome to my Humble abode”[/b][/i] the figure said, its words sounded nasily, in pain and seethed in contempt not necessarily of her, but of everything else. His red cloak obscured his figure and seemed to morph and sway in whatever direction it please. And the hood drooped so low as to cover his face, which when Mary got the occasional half second glance at, seemed to resemble an oil painting of something horrible and unspeakable. How ironic, considering what the being actually was.

	[b][i]“Your body is being invaded by some sort of foreign force. But its no matter, just another machination of an inferior being.”[/b][/i]

Mary would remember that voice now, the one in the Alleyway that spoke to her, before Julian had picked up the sword. 

Mary glanced around warily at the hellish landscape. Wherever she was, while certainly unpleasant, wasn't doing anything that caused fear to rise in her. Still..she could [i]feel[/i] the loathing, the hatred, the malice and the fury. It pressed down all around her against her, and Mary hugged her arms around herself in a futile attempt to protect herself from the world around her. That's when she noticed the figure stumbling towards her. Fear rose this time and she took a step back as it approached, before realizing that there really wasn't anywhere she could go and that whatever was approaching her probably knew the landscape far better than she did. So Mary waited, shaking in fear and hoping that whatever it was wouldn't try and kill her, or torture her, or generally cause her pain and/or terror.

When it spoke, she was reminded of Henry's nasal voice and gave an involuntary whimper. As much at the memory of the vampire as the memory of what Mairyell did to him. The occasional glance of the thing's face she got didn't help calm her down either. She wanted to say something, anything, in response to the creature that showed it she wasn't as afraid of it as she felt, and that she was inches away from breaking down. She wanted to, but couldn't. Instead, Mary stuttered out [i]"W-where am I? A-and who a-are y-y-you?"[/i] The fear in her voice was quite evident.

The figure let out a humorous wheeze at Mary's question as an attempt at a chuckle.

[b][i]“Technically you are still in that building. But I've transported your mind to me here for the time. You're turning into something that your body is rejecting. So that man you know put the sword in your hand. I'm currently the only thing slowing down whatever is happening to you”[/b][/i]

The thing began to cough and wheeze, its hunched and crooked body seemed contorted in unnatural ways underneath that hood. The sounds of his coughs were horrible; painful, aching, a black sludge like material oozed out of the hood whenever he coughed and his attempts to wipe it away only smeared the robe.

[b][i]“I was once like you. Like every one else is. Scared, oppressed, my dignity stripped and was left powerless as I watched impotent and inferior beings sack and rape my kins humanity and reduce them to twisted tools that are abominations before the Gods!”[/b][/i]

His rant had begun building up and the world began to burn up with an intensifying that originated from an invisible object in the sky. But suddenly began to calm down as the red hooded figure composed himself again.

[b][i]“The very thing that is happening to your body I’m afraid, another casualty in this war for a power this scum cannot hope to obtain”[/b][/i] 

Mary was terrified. She didn't [i]want[/i] to be transformed into something. She didn't [i]want[/i] to be in this hellish place, even if it was just her mind. As the thing continued to speak, she could only think of one person in the apartment who could truly be considered human, even without the additional hint of the sword. [i]Julian? I thought he was fighting that thing...[/i] Mary's thoughts were abruptly cut off as the thing began to cough, sludge oozing out of his hood as his body twisted. She was torn between shrinking away in disgust, or see in if she could help the thing. 

It quickly made the decision for her.

As his rant began building up Mary shrank away in dread, panic pulsing through her veins. [i]He's going to kill me. He's going to snap and kill me.[/i] She thought, barely noticing the world around her. Then he was calm again. Speaking calmly about her death, her being another casualty. [i]"But I don't want to die. I just want to go home. To have nothing more to worry about than what was on TV, or the weather. To see my mom and dad again..."[/i] And just like that, Mary's legs couldn't hold her weight any more and she sank to the ground. She couldn't go home. Her parents were dead, for some reason Demons were hunting her, and had apparently succeeded in whatever they wanted to do...And now it looked like she was going to die a painful death. For what seemed like the hundreth time that day, Mary began crying. 

 He stands there, frozen in his unnatural body and listens to the tears of the innocent stain his impure home. The atmosphere becomes less oppressive, and more somber, if only temporarily. For he knew of every emotion she revealed, all too well. And thus he begins to melt in the sand below him, his red cloak morphing into a black tar that soaked the ground, his twisted, pained body becoming the sludge that he had been coughing out just before. The last thing his body did was clasped its hands together, as if it was praying.

The sludge moves quickly, like a flickering shadow through the sands, edging closer to Mary, its voice soft, almost innocent, almost. It wanted to be, but never could.

[b][i]“No more”[/b][/i] it said firmly [b][i]“I will end all this suffering, the road to salvation is coming soon sweet child. And they will never hurt us again....they will never hurt me again. I promise, you will be the last of their tools. I will avenge you, your brethren will avenge you. All the Angelic and Demonic filth. They will be gone soon and only the Gods chosen inheritors shall remain."[/b][/i]

The black substance moves meekly towards her. Love, care, protection, these are feelings it never showed but had always been capable of it. It etches closer to her, as if it was staring at her sobbing face.

[b][i]“P-please, please don't cry”[/b][/i]

She didn't notice him melting into sludge on the ground, wrapped up in her own despair. She was going to die. Not only die, but something was going to take her own body and soul from her, and do who knows what with it. If she had even the smallest chance of going home, returning to a semblance of normalcy, it was gone now. She should have just killed herself. It would have been an easier death. A quicker death. But no. She had to listen to Julian and be drawn ever further into this hell. Into this world that she had no place in, this world she had no chance of survival in. She was only alive by the mercy of a few strangers. Julian. Cael. Even Mairyell, in direct contrast to his earlier reaction to her. 

As the thing spoke, she only sobbed harder. She didn't [i]want[/i] to be avenged. She wanted to go home, to leave this nightmare behind her. She didn't want to become a martyr, the first casualty in a revolution against Angels and Demons. Mary didn't care about all that. Everything she cared about had been ripped from her. They destroyed her sense of safety, killed her parents, nearly convinced her that her life wasn't worth living, and now they were finally taking her life from her. Not to mention her soul. 

As it spoke the final time, she remembered. In the alley, before Julian had arrived and picked up his sword. It was the same voice..the same words. Sniffling and still crying Mary asked once more, [i]"W-w-who are y-you? W-[b]what[/b] a-a-are y-y-y-you?"[/i] The sludge continued to etch towards her but Mary didn't care anymore. She just wanted it all to end.

The sludge that trailed towards her stopped and slowly retreated and formed a puddle of the black, bubbly substance. It looked like it was boiling, smoldering hot that could burn the skin of anything that came into contact with it. It begins to rise and morph and take shape into some sort of blob with its top portion rounded off to resemble some sort of head.

Suddenly, it opened its eyes. It didn't even look like it had eyes, but they were red, and blood poured out of them, as if it was crying.

[b][i]“They call me the Heretic, the Traitor, the murderer of the Great One. The spurner of Heaven. Ironic since Heaven is all those things. Except to a far higher power. The only one that matters.”[/b][/i]

The blood stream flows out faster and faster, as if the memories of his past makes him cry harder, but no weeping is heard. Just seen and felt.

[b][i]“I am unseen and forgotten. No one in this world remembers my face. But soon all will remember me, and the injustice that I predicted would curse the surface ”[/b][/i]

As the thing began to retreat, Mary began to stop crying. She was still scared, and despairing, but she had at least regained control of herself. That immediately changed when she glanced at the source of the voice once more. For a few moments, she could do nothing more than just stare in numb horror. It was a monster, a thing of nightmares. She barely registered it's words, or when it stopped talking for that matter. She could only look at it, in a kind of horrid fascination. 

Then, the spell broke and she recoiled, screaming. Fear pounded in her veins and she scrambled backwards, feeling something warm trickle down her legs. She had pissed herself. If Mary wasn't terrified out of what remained of her mind, she would have been embarrassed, or laughed at herself. As it was, she just kept crawling backwards away from this [i]thing[/i]. Whatever it was, she didn't want to know anymore. She wanted to leave, she wanted to go back to the state of detachment. She wanted to be gone, away from this thing that wept blood. 

[b][i]“So be it”[/b][/i] it murmured as the tar began to evaporate within the air and the vapors that came forth swirled and danced amidst a non existent wind. A with each spasm, each twitch and flicker of the dark fog a shape of a person formed. A soon, floating shadow with human legs and arms and a human face formed out of the toxic vapors.

[b][i]“Your old life will be gone soon and all that will be left is the one I shall pave for not only you but the rest of humanity. Accept the new and throw away the old. It was all a lie anyway, a lie that was made clear by demons and their insignificant schemes.”[/b][/i]

He becomes lost in thought, almost ignoring Mary yet still holding the foreign influence at bay. He would make sure it wouldn't take another Human for as long as he could.

[b][i]“Things would have gone so much smoother if it wasn't for the incompetent Bla-[/b][/i]

He stops mid rant and looks down on the frightened Mary and just gives her a mischievous smirk with his surprisingly Human face; even if it was made out of smoke and vapors.

[b][i]“... I mean Julian, oh dear. He would be very upset if I told you the truth about him. That pathetic excuse of a man!”[/b][/i]

Mary stopped retreating only reluctantly as a humanoid shape began to form out of the vapors. She was shaking violently, eyes wide with terror. Even if this thing was trying to help her it didn't make Mary any less terrified of it, now that she knew what forms it held. As it began to rant once more about humanity and an apparent revolution, she couldn't help but think; [i]I don't want a new life. I want my old life back, where everything was safe and structured and not trying to kill me![/i] But of course, she didn't have the courage to say that aloud to this..spurner of Heaven. 

She gave a whimper of fear when he looked down at her, terror making her thoughts run down paths that all ended in it horribly killing her. What she wasn't expecting, however, was it to mention Julian in more than a passing gesture. She blinked once, still shaking, as it ended with calling Julian a pathetic excuse of a man. Fearing what change in it's form she would bring about Mary asked warily, [i]"W-what do you m-mean?"[/i]

He started laughing, not that pained laugh like before. But a powerful, loud laugh, a laugh that could make his world shake by its enormity. For he could do anything he wished in this land. For his essence had soaked the soil and turned it into his toy.

[b][i]“He was weakling, a complete fool! I gave him the power to crush his enemies into dust. And he squabbled it. Lost all he had to that.... MAN![/b][/i]

The world fired up for a brief moment as his rage at the thought of this mystery man enraged him to the point where it became almost uncontrollable. But left as soon as it came and he reverted back to his chuckling, snickering self.

[b][i]“He killed all in his path, and spurned the Heavens, made absolute fools out of them. Then he went and lost it all. He still has it, the power to crush everything in his path. He just refuses to use what I gave him, and now regret due to his tendencies to be an erroneous failure. And blames it on me! As if I'm the reason he lost it all. He sees me as a liar when in fact I opened his mind. Now he has blocked it off and I can never get access again. That sword was wasted on him. But the deed is done, and it cannot be undone.”[/b][/i]

He swirls his body around Mary, almost like a joyful skip or leap.

[b][i]“I'll leave the awkward explaining of things to him. He can tell you the story of his disgusting incompetence. One more punishment he has to face. But know this; no matter how kind he acts or how well he treats you, that facade can and will disappear and you will see who he truly is. With just a pluck of an eye. He can become a festival for the slaughter.[/b][/i]

There was a pause as he hovered around Mary, feeling something far beyond his world. He made another smile, but this time, it showed admiration, maybe even pity.

[b][i]“Ironic, considering right now. He's holding you and keeping you safe. He tries to forget what he is.”[/b][/i]

 When he laughed, Mary thought she felt the earth beneath her shake a little. It may have just been her frightened mind, but then again, it seemed that anything was possible in this world. As he suddenly shouted in rage, Mary shrank away trying to make herself as small as possible. Quickly,however, he calmed down and returned to his chuckling narration. She eyed him warily as he swirled around her, waiting for the next time he would snap or go through a mood change or even a form change. 

As he finally stopped talking, she tried to process all that he was telling her, through her fear hazed mind. Julian had apparently been powerful once, and still was. He was a murderer, a spurner of the Heavens,[i]Angels?[/i] She wondered, and refuses to use his power. Regret? Regardless, the fact remained. This..thing said Julian was dangerous, and a ticking time bomb. Yet...Mary's face softened a little from the fear and despair etched on it. Yet, he was holding her and protecting her from whatever was outside of her body, trying to take her away or worse. And he had protected her before now, even stopped her from taking her own life. If the thing was telling the truth about Julian's past, the man had changed. That much was apparent. She needed to ask her..'host' a question..but the very thought made her afraid of what it would cause him to do. Still.. she needed to know.

[i]"Y-you said something was invading my body and t-transforming me? C-can you s-stop it?"[/i]
 
[b][i]“well it WAS invading your body. But now its doing something I’m very familiar with. It's bonding with you. With your very essence, in short, it will become a part of who you are.”[/b][/i]

He sways his body slowly to the ground, taking a more relaxed stance as he glances at Mary and cocks his eye.

[b][i]“I'm quite familiar with it. Its the same thing I did with Julian and his saber. It's bound to his essence permanently, removing it would kill him. At this point in the process. The same would happen to you if I tried.”[/b][/i]

He grimaced slightly [b][i]“Seems these Demon scum aren't really good at it though. Their bonding magic is so sloppy that this thing should kill anybody it tries to bond with. Guess you're the lucky one that is adaptable to it.”[/b][/i]

He looks down at the ground, a very vulnerable sadness and pain seem to emit from him, like a form of humanity laid dormant in him.

[b][i]“I can't remove it from you. It would kill you at this point. I can only keep it at bay until Julian removes the saber from your hand. You'll be tainted with Demon filth. Another casualty I couldn't stop in time.”[/b][/i]

He turns his head away from her, as if ashamed. His vapors flickering throughout his body.

[b][i]“I'm sorry”[/b][/i]

Mary sat stone still for a few moments. She was...bonded. With whatever the monster had put inside of her. And to get rid of it meant that she would die. There was a silver lining, she supposed. She wasn't going to die. She was going to live, provided she made it out of this nightmare realm that was slowing the process down. Mary supposed she should have felt horror, or fear, or anything really. But she was just...numb. Empty. Emotionally spent from the horrors of the last few...how long had it been? Days? Hours? Minutes? It was impossible to tell. 

Finally, she spoke. [i]"I suppose there's nothing left to do but let me go and deal with this new presence.."[/i] She was tired, and scared, and just wanted this entire mess to be over with. And that was only going to happen through one of two ways...and she didn't want to die.

[b][i]“heh”[/b][/i] the figure responded as it its vaporous body became thicker with some sort of skin that looked as if it was baked and burned by a large fire. But before his naked body could be seen, the red dust and sand began to stick to his body and withing moments, it had formed a red cloak and hood to obscure his face. He had come full circle and was now the wreathing mass that Mary had first seen. A long, bony corpse of a hand emerges from one of the sleeves and points at her and painfully chuckles and wheezes.

[b][i]“That is why Man is superior, we can bear through anything and still come out on top. We do not buckle from pain like Angels nor do we shirk from death like Demons. We accept and live with our struggles and weakness and through them. We become supreme, a perfect vision the Gods had in mind for us. A vision that will be denied no longer”[/b][/i]

[b]“Hold on Mary, Just for a few moments longer”[/b] the voice echoed throughout the land. He chuckled.

[b][i]“My my, seems your friends finally got their act together. I won't be needed much longer. Good. For as much as I enjoyed the company of another Human, I have a meeting with a very special person”[/b][/i]. He gritted his teeth with what seemed like both rage and joy. As if he could not tell the difference between the two.

The air around Mary suddenly became hot, almost unbearably so, as if it was painful to breathe due to the heat. That thing, high above in the sky that had been hovering and acting as an invisible oppressor to the land that this thing now controlled thoroughly. But it was still unseen and unheard. But it was certainly felt. And with a crooked and wicked laugh, with blood and tar spewing out of its unseen face and smearing the robe, it shrieked.

[b][i]“The Heretic shall soon sleep amongst Gods!”[/b][/i]

Mary shrank away from the hand pointed at her, and he began to go on a rant again. She didn't [i]care[/i] about Man's superiority or Man's supremeness or whatever he was talking about this time! She just wanted to leave this hellhole, even if it meant she woke up in the old one. The old one, at least, was predictable. And she had allies, friends even, in there. This one...this one was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and kill her. 

When a new voice echoed throughout the realm, she glanced around wildly, looking for the source of this new nightmare, this new fear. After all, there was nothing in this world that she could trust. Friends? That hadn't sounded like anyone she knew..well, on the bright side,she was finally leaving this place! Which of course, is when she began to be broiled alive. She was almost immediately drenched in sweat, and was almost sure that this thing was going to kill her now, done with it's game. She screamed and recoiled as blood and tar spewed outwards, and the thing shrieked once more.

She just wanted to leave.

[b][i]“Become Gods! We will become Gods!”[/b][/i] it screamed. Ignoring Mary entirely, lost in its own thoughts and madness. Mary had brought it relative peace for a few moments. But it could not resist the urge to fall to madness, despair and fury. The thing up in the sky begin to make a dull red glow, it was large...very large.

Mary's sight started to become hazy and it seemed as if the scene in front of her was ripping and tearing, as if it was a bad connection on an old TV. She was being withdrawn from this world. And it was a good thing. For only the truly resistant could withstand what was to come.

The robe began to disintegrate in the boiling heat. Revealing a figure bake red and black with horrible dead red eyes with the most horrific naked body. Burned down to the bone marrow. It rose its arms up and screamed t the sky and began stomping on the ground in an incoherent rage.

[b][i]“SCAR MY BODY! BURN MY BONES. MY BEAUTIFUL CREATION! REVEAL YOURSELF TO ME! MY SUN OF SIN!”[/b][/i]

And suddenly, the last thing Mary saw before leaving this horribly wretched world was a screaming ball of fire high in the sky, its eyes closed and its scream a loud shriek of rage and pain. Illuminating the world and spreading bright yellow fire over the ground and enveloping the figure. His body now decomposing and melting into Tar. But it didn't care, all it needed was to worship this horror high in the sky as it screamed and burned the land.

[b][i]“KILLLL THEM AAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL”[/b][/i] 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Gates of hell, a once proud behemoth seemed different; it was in disrepair, neglected, abused and left to rot to nothing in its degeneracy. And throughout its little cracks and nicks an subtle essence flowed through it. Almost entirely undetected, but one could feel it crawling like an insect throughout the great wall. Melody.

But Melody then detected something less subtle flowing through the Gate, carving little pathways in its cracks and fragments and on the other side, before melody. Blood spewed out of the cracks and into a little pool. It sits there for a moment before it a hand forms and rises out of the blood and it begins to take shape of something contorted and perverted, the blood becomes a dripping red hood that flickered and spat like a flame. A body underneath this robe was formed, with a charred, mutilated hand wiping a black tar like substance away from its gaping mouth, with only a few teeth in it. Its face was seemed to be burnt corpse that had been painted on a canvas by a truly disturbed artist. It made a low, horrid grin as it whispered its poison to the Gatekeeper.

[b][i]“Does it hurt? Watching your wall crumble and your harp become undone? Does it pain you to see everything you've fought for become nothing but rubble and debris?”[/b][/i]

Melody's finger almost slipped as the figure materialized, her hand twitching as a grimace passed over her features. In her lifetime she had seen all kinds of beings, some uglier than others, but this... This made her cringe. She pulled a string, meant to hurt a demon, then one meant for a human... and none of them worked. The creature merely flinched. 

[i]"What are you?"[/i] She inquired, fingers still combing the Harp, the melody of the world always flowing.

[b][i]“heh”

“ahah”

“ahahahaha”

“EHAHAHAHHAAHAAAHA”[/b][/i]

The gate began to shake slightly in rhythm with its twisted laughter. But its laugh was not of pain. But one of emptiness and fury”

[b][i]“I knew it! I knew it! You would forget me! You all would forget me. You and your Angelic heathen scum threw me here. And you thought that would be it! I knew it all along, you forgot my face, my form, my body. You and the Council's ineptitude has served me well.”[/b][/i]

A red essence begins to flow out of the cracks and wrap themselves around the red robed man. He clasped his hands, as if praying.

[b][i]“But I shall be forgotten no longer Melody, O Gatekeeper of Hell. Soon the Gods true vision will be enacted. And all will be fixed.”[/b][/i]

Melody tried again to ornate her melody in pain and limits, anything to push the being away, but to no avail. She sighed, a frown still set between her brows. [i]"You have lost your form already, pitiful being. You shouldn't exist anymore. What is it that you want? What is it that you cling to so desperately?"[/i]  

[b][i]“Blame the Angels for their arrogance. They should have let nature take its course, but alas, their stupidity will be their undoing.”[/b][/i]

The essence swirling around the being began to emit heat, and the region grew hot and stuffy. Almost as if the air around them was boiling.

[b][i]“I cling to nothing except what I already know. I predicted this would come to pass. I knew the Council was no good. I knew they would manipulate Mankind. I knew they would see us as tools and nothing more. I knew THEY.WERE.HEATHEN.SCUM!”[/b][/i]

It beats its chest and stomps on the ground, the red essence becoming violent and filled with Malice and hatred.

[b][i]“They will all die Melody! Once this Gate crumbles. All Demons and Angels will form a mountain of corpses which Man will climb to reach our creators. To become united with the Gods.”[/b][/i]

He pointed to Melody threatening, gurgling the black tar like substance as it spit and drooled all over his robe.

[b][i]“And you will be the lowest thing under that mountain!”[/b][/i] He shrieked loudly, thousand of years of rage built of and now was becoming untamed and unloved. He gnashed his few remaining teeth and they sliced and dug into his black gums as he spewed his vile hatred towards the Gatekeepers

[b][i]JUST

LIKE 

YOUR

LITTLE

WHORE

SISTER![/b][/i]

Melody didn't know what to make of the creature at first but now it was becoming more and more obvious that it was merely a crazed animal in the shape of a man. His words were slowly losing their effect until he informed her of her future status. That.. now that made a wide smile spread over her lips. If it hated her that much... then it meant she still had some control over it. 

[i]"My little sister met a sad fate indeed. I am no fool and am well aware it's only a matter of time until I join her. However you... you seem to be stuck here, aren't you... little man."[/i] 

The being cackles and laughs painfully at her. 

[b][i]“Of course I'm stuck here, You let them throw me in here Melody. But that’s all ancient history, forgotten by almost everybody. But this is the perfect place to be my dear!”[/b][/i]

The essence became calm, still filled with malice and murderous intent. But now it seemed more... precise. More deadly in its aims. A piece of the Gate falls.

[b][i]“Because from here, I get to rot this barrier from the inside out. When I saw that first crack in the Gate, my essence seeped into it and the thing has almost been hollowed out. Five thousand years of work. Now comes to its fruition. What the scared Heathen scum call an apocalypse, I call salvation. These... these ancient relics shall fade into the past. And mankind will dominate the world. As it should be, as was promised to us by our creators.”[/b][/i]

Sadness, pain and bitterness swelled up within the being's body as it looked at Melody right in her eyes. Its red glowing pupils burned with a will that could never be tamed.

[b][i]“The Angels, every single one of them will die in the coming war. Not one will be spared. And the Demons too, they will all burn amidst their own flames. I will have to do nothing, they will simply kill each other when the Gate falls.”[/b][/i]

It bends down and scoops up the sand and dirt below and slowly lets it blow along the wind. His eyes, for a moment. There is no hatred in them, just a soft, tugging pain.

[b][i]“A fitting punishment, considering their crime. What they did to me. What they did to... him. What they have done to my people.”[/b][/i] 

Melody didn't say anything. Instead she just concentrated on her fingers, although she didn't really need to look at them to play the harp. It was indeed sad to see it crumble as a worthless piece of ash. The harp that had served this world for so long... But alas, everything had a beginning and everything must have an end. 

[i]"We shall see, Judas. We shall see which one of us outlives the other."[/i] Melody whispered thoughtfully, her tone soft and deprived of malice. Hatred was something she was incapable of, because she knew that everything in this world existed for a reason... no matter how hideous it may seem. 

[b][i]“Oh well aren't you so philosophical Melody”[/b][/i] He sneered at her. Spitting in her general direction.

[b][i]“I already see the future. I saw it seven thousand years ago when I knew those Dirty Angels couldn't be trusted. And look what they've done. They couldn't even keep their own homeland in check, so now they must ruin the surface. At least with a Demon, you expect it to be a reeking failure, but Angels act too proud, too arrogant and all they touch turns to ash.”[/b][/i]

Then as if it was skin, the robe started shedding off the body of the man. As this gaunt, hollowed out sunken spirit slowly walked towards Melody. It pointed its long corpse of a finger at her.

[b][i]“We are the chosen race. And no inferior prototypes shall hold back Mankind any longer. We will be dominate and we will inherit what is rightfully ours.”[/b][/i]

Melody didn't respond at first, only smiled at the instrument in her hands, gently caressing it like a baby that would soon be lost forever. She seemed lost in her own thoughts and it was only as the creature approached her when she looked up at him with a smile, neither sad nor happy. 

[i]"You may well be right, my child. You may well be right."[/i]

[b][i]“Of course I'm right!”[/b][/i] it shrieked, naked and deformed before her. His ranting and fragmented mind now completely lost in its own cruelty

[b][i]“I was right before. But the great King of Kings wouldn't listen to me! He wanted to..to... LOVE THEM! WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO LOVE. They are poisonous Rats with flashy white wings to distract you from the disgusting plague they carry within! And they poured their poison and honeyed words of love and friendship in his ear and he believed EVERY WORD OF IT”[/b][/i]

He was panting hard as the essence wrapped itself around him and began to pull him back towards the cracks. In hell, high in the sky. A screaming sun raged endlessly.

[b][i]“I had to stop that foolishness, that heresy!”[/b][/i] he shrieked desperately as if trying to explain his case in a court room

[b][i]“They... they. THEY TOOK MY FRIEND FROM ME!”[/b][/i]

And before he disintegrated and slid his broken body through the cracks. He gave one last final cry not just to Melody. But to the world that had forgotten him.

[b][i]MY NAME

IS 

JUDAS ISCARIOT!

AND I WILL HAVE

MY.

REVENGE![/b][/i]