Genesis Reality III

Analog of Darkness I - Absence

The crimson sky overlooked all of Crescent City. The Crescent City of Limbo that is...

The warm wind whisked and whirled throughout the destroyed city, dancing along with the broken buildings as citizens hopelessly marched below.

"Erebus, you need to be careful," A girl with bright blue hair whispered as she and Erebus hid in the ruins of some kind of office building. 

The two were on ground level, examining the daywalkers and their oblivious nature to the threat of their own world.

"Don't tell me what to do, Gaea. Do you not think I already know that the demons are out there?" Erebus explained as he peeped through the lined and shredded curtains of their hideout. 

The two wore very dirty and distressed clothes as a result of the world's lack of resources. Nobody had access to new clothes, food and water were scarce, electricity was hard to find unless manmade. It hadn't rained in years, and the sun was constantly shining a bright red, occasionally covered by thick black clouds.

"Where is Eros?" Erebus asked, tying his dirty black hair into a small top knot.

"He went with Angelos to see the boy again. He was seen in the Plains of Midgardsormr again, so they went after him this time," Gaea explained, trying to open a container of water.

Erebus kneeled and aided his sister, trying to be quiet to not cause any attention to them.

Dark clouds slowly began covering the sun causing the world to enter its minutes of shade.

"The demons might be coming. I hope they come back soon. What about Achelois? She hasn't been leaving her base has she?" Erebus quickly stood up straight, getting anxious for the girl named Achelois.

"She's with August. I was there yesterday, you don't need to worry so much," Gaea explained, trying to fold old blankets together to make a comfortable bed, "I know you wish she was your sister more than me,"

"It's not like that. She was the only one there for me unlike you. You decided to run away with Angelos. Now, look at your relationship," Erebus snapped.

"He left me because he had to take care of her, his actual sister. And what about me? Not you nor Eros protected me after father beat me. The scars on my ribs will forever be a reminder of how you betrayed me," Gaea silently cried.

"What about August... he's our brother too," Erebus explained.

"He left all of us, he only came back when our world fell apart anyway. He could go and die and I wouldn't care," Gaea wiped her tears and continued folding the blankets.

"Gaea, don't say that... You don't mean it,"

Gaea wiped her eyes with her sleeve and closed her eyes, resting her face in her hands.

"Gaea?" Erebus slowly approached.

"Of course I don't mean it... you all just treat me like I can't do anything but I can..." Gaea cried in her brother's arms.

- Plains of Midgardosrmr - 

"There he is, the boy dressed in all white," Angelos explained as he and Eros watched him from afar.

The two unsheathed their blades but hesitated to approach him.

"What do you think he's doing?" Eros asked, stalking the boy as he walked around in a circle.

Aaron got lost on his journey to find Marina and Jacob, which resulted in him finding the Paradox of Limbo. The world slowly began its decay after the Angel King Mundus failed to purify and cleanse the world of its natural state, darkness. He fell into darkness and became known as the Demon King Chronos shortly after he combusted and permanently polluted the Paradox with Lapis Lemuria. Lapis Lemuria is the constant state of heat and everlasting sunlight.

Mundus absorbed all of the life and light in the world's Yggdrasil as a swan song to purify the land but unfortunately failed. The Goddess Mors took it upon herself to create a rift to balance Mundus's actions. However, the failure of Mundus was not foreseen resulting in a corrupted Paradox, completely falling to darkness. The rift in question was Odin, the Knight of Darkness. Similar to Greed, he has the power to conjure demons at will. To this day, nobody has dared face him and the people of this Paradox will suffer through an eternity of decay until a brave soul challenges the Knight.

"Do you think he's another rift? He looks like an angel..." Angelos explained.

"Mundus was also an Angel, remember that? Until he became Chronos," Eros explained, slowly marching towards Aaron.

"Wait, don't go yet?" Angelos quickly followed.

Aaron stopped walking in a circle immediately as he noticed the two men approach him.

"Are you survivors of this world?" Aaron exclaimed.

"What are you doing here? Are you the rift our people have prayed for?" Eros asked, keeping his guard up.

"I'm just looking for my friends. I lost them in the meadows of Asphodel," Aaron replied, squinting from the bright sunlight while shielding his eyes.

"You're the first of your kind here. You should leave before you cause any problem!" Eros yelled, holding up his sword and pointing it towards Aaron.

The dark clouds slowly covered the harsh sun, a universal signal to go home.

"Angelos, go back home. I'll take care of him," Eros quietly explained to his partner.

"I'm not leaving you alone in the dark..."

"There is no need to fight. If you want to, I'll leave," Aaron replied, opening a portal.

"Are you sure you're not a rift? We need help!" Angelos claimed.

Eros pushed Angelos away in anger, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Help? From what?" Aaron asked.

A loud clap of thunder could be heard from the distance, accompanied by the sound of a very heavy horse running.

"...Odin," Eros said, shaking with anxiety.

The two immediately ran away, leaving Aaron behind with many questions.

The dark clouds covered the sun completely and demons immediately spawned surrounding Aaron.

"I guess this is where I take my exit," Aaron said to himself as he immediately jumped in his portal.

The Knight, Odin, arrived at the scene shortly after Aaron and the others had fled. Odin and his steed, Sleipnir, were massive beings. Although Odin resembled a giant human in armor, Sleipnir was a black, eight-legged, and winged horse.

"An...gel..." Odin grunted, looking around at his demons.

"...Ygg...drasil..."