Execution of the Enemy of the World

[blitzkreig]

Chaos, the child, flinched and began to sob openly and in earnest, allowing his face to rest in his cherub-like counterparts palms while the scared and small spirit released. With that touch came comfort, warmth. The angel child lay her chin on his shoulder and eventually his sobs began to wane, turning to tiny chokes and coughs and sniffles. His small body still wracked occasionally with a deep and shuddering breath. Large eyes looked up, damp around the edges with glimmering lines across his cheeks from the flow of his tears, he stared straight at Divinity.

"But it wasn't your fault.." Bitterness mixed with a kind of realization. Chaos looked down at its boyish hands, turned them over and then finally rested them on his lap, resigning himself to the comfort that Divinity offered, finally feeling some kind of long-desired solace.

"Am I doing a terrible thing right now?" He stared off into space as his head rested tiredly on her glowing shoulder. Their light - and lack thereof - seemed to meld and play with one another. The light desperately trying to pierce the darkness, the darkness threatening to suck away the light. But at the same time they harmonized, the songs of their bodies humming gentle tunes of balance.

[Aveilthé]

Chaos emitted such a tingling warmth that it made Divinity want to giggle gaily and run about and play, but the need to reach out to the dark one's loneliness was so strong that she stayed put and held him, comforting him.

And with his words, Divinity paused in her stroking Chaos's forehead.

"We are both here for a reason, dear one. Mine is to stay and reap what I've sewn. Yours is to understand what was, what is now, and what is to come. But you must not blame yourself..."

Suddenly, the light child ceased speaking immediately, and a kind of sadness overwhelmed her face. Such a sight should have been the end of everything, but alas...

"Dear one, you must go back now. I must move on and accept my punishment. You are being called back. Can't you hear?"

The body of Divinity began to glow, and soon became transparent, until she became nothing more than a small ball of light that started to drift away from Chaos.

"Good bye... I hope we meet again..." Then she was gone in the strange vast whiteness.

---

The outer edge of Giaku became quite still. Even the air seemed to hold it's breath. On the canyontop, there was a Druin, once white, now dull grey and ugly. Nobody spoke as the inevitable chill permeated through all of their bodies. It was as if something stretched forth and touched their bodies, making their hair stand on end in shock. Ears were straining as if they were looking for a sign, possibly a noise. It was a dire moment, a kind of calm before the storm. Nobody quite knew why they were feeling this way, but it was a very important, exciting feeling. A foreboding feeling.

Endymion is dead.

[blitzkreig]

He was looking into those eyes, felt the warmth of her presence and her words inside of him. And finally something inside of the tiny spirit felt..alright. An element that he had never experienced before washed through his body, something so foreign it was almost as shocking as it was pleasant.

Peace.

He gazed at his companion with those tear-rimmed eyes and on his lips for the first time flickered a smile, something so wonderfully childish and genuine that it seemed to glow despite blackened complexion. Chaos blinked though, watching her begin to fade and reached out. His fingers touched hers outstretched and for a moment both their flesh glowed a little brighter. "Thank you.." He murmured, but his voice echoed in the stillness, he too began to fade.

'Thank you...'

------------------

Perhaps he had felt it the moment it occurred, but something so definite whispered through the air. Kratos was gazing at Endymion's still face, suddenly struck by how pale he was, how not there he seemed. Something wet trickled down his cheek and reaching up with one claw he discovered it to be a single tear, dangling helplessly from his claw, crystaline and beautiful in its own tiny way. It was then followed by another, and then many more until they were spilling unbidden down the prince crimson-streaked cheeks. His own features looked gaunt, his eyes hollow and sadness streaked through their depths. Silence had filled the canyon, the stage which they had set for the execution of an enemy. So much chaos, so much careful planning, so many failures and triumphs all that had interconnected and intertwined until their paths had become one.

And it had all led to this moment.

A few more moments he gazed at his half brothers peaceful face and knew in his heart that he was dead, the show over, he gruesome spectacle ended. And did he feel powerful, amazing, like a hero..No, to the contrary something so violent and different ripped through his body. Understanding perhaps, immense sadness. His head collapsed forward until his chin was against his chest and slowly he began to cry a little more, simply allowing the tears to fall, helpless to them.

He tore away from the spectacle, the shackled and beaten Druin now slumped lifeless in his bonds. Kratos raise his paws and tear-stained face to the crowd and in a choked voice that was quiet yet carried said. "The Enemy of the World is dead.." They felt like the hollow whisper of a warrior who had done his duty.

--------------

Bia had been staring on through the entire spectacle, never having suspecting such brutality, even though she had seen so much in her time in the demon empire. She had seen tortures so heinous they would make even the most gruesome demon's skin crawl. But for some reason beyond her understanding this trumped it all. For she felt it in her heart, dear god she felt it in her heart, that last shallow breath as his life slipped away from his quietly..peacefully.

Her heart went out. Bia let her head fall and before Kratos could turn she was already making her way away from the scene, deep sadness filling her to the very brim. She would not even hear Kratos speak.

[Aveilthé]

EPILOGUE

And so the son of Tartarus and Amnesia passed on to another life unknown. Or perhaps his mere existence ceased to exist. Regardless, that beaten rogue has fallen, a god doomed to die in the end. Were his goals set in vain?

The split second before Endymion's death heralded a great consequence. For time was meaningless at this point, and seemed to have gone on for ever. A figure standing amidst the crowd stared at him, and Endymion found her gaze through the crack of his bleeding eye--and before he let out his last breath, the white figure disappeared in a flash, leaving behind a scolding voice that he could not hear. It was Amnesia, and she had come to return his memories, that cruel witch. That was when Endymion stretched out his hand, bloodred tears spilling from his eyes. He made love to Mene. Bia was the product. He made love to Moria, consciously understanding his doing--and now twins were moving inside of her. He was a father, and he had known love in his life. And then, as his last breath drew out, he muttered,

"My death is for the good of this world and others."

And his head drooped and his arm fell, and he died.

Nobody would ever learn to know of his final words, for they were uttered the most soft. As Kratos made his final heart-wrenching words to the observers, a warm sun peered through a dark cloud, an omen of peace. Before long, the crowd would disperse. And Giaku was warmed for the first time in a long time. A good warmth, not biting or hot, but comforting.

That night, as wolves around the world celebrated the death of Endymion, Tartarus met with Kratos. And in sadness, Tartarus laid a paw on his son's shoulder. "I am glad that we can breath more calmly now that it is over." But no congratulations were said from him except from other wolves, for Tartarus could see the pain inflicting in his son's face, thus did not press him, and left him alone.

Meanwhile, Endymion's body was strewn down a mountainside far, far away. They buried the carcass beneath tons of rocks, and on the topmost rock, wrote inscriptions in Druin that said:

Here lies Endymion
God of nothing but Suffering

Let him suffer
As we have suffered

And that is the end of Endymion's story. The world knew peace.