Thalia…
She was frozen upon hearing the name of her brother’s birth father, spoken by the very same man that stood in front of her.
She had only ever heard the name once when she asked Marcus about their parents so long ago, but to think that she would be the first to meet him was surprising alone.
The fact that Lucien was here in this world only further added to the shock.
As she focused on Lucien’s face, she was able to piece together that he did indeed look so much like her older brother.
Of course, Marcus had the black hair and blue eyes of their mother, but the sharp jawline, narrow eyes, and hawk like expression on his face that were present on Lucien’s had always been shared by her brother.
She might have been able to look past that, but the circumstances in which he had appeared, right after Alta had seemingly vanished when he was right next to her, and Lucien had took his place, made her suspicious.
The fact that he knew who she was without her introducing herself only added to her anxiety.
“H-How do you know who I am?” she said, failing to hide the whimper in her voice as she took a step back from him.
He chuckled darkly as he stood up and said, “It would be pointless to explain the details of how I know of such things. Besides, what good would it do to try and explain myself to you when you are so visibly terrified of me?”
He even talks like Marcus… His tone of voice, his mannerisms, his attitude...but he isn’t my brother. He isn’t the man who raised me. He isn’t my family. He’s a stranger to me…
“What do you want?” she asked him with a harsh tone.
“Why are you so defensive? We have only just met,” Lucien said, not moving an inch from where he stood.
He hadn’t bothered to try and approach her even after she had distanced herself from him. She couldn’t tell if it was his way of making it seem like he wasn’t trying to appear as threatening, but to her, it felt as if regardless of whether she intended to run away from him, she wouldn’t be able to escape him.
There was an instinctual fear that came from simply standing near him that told her no amount of running, fighting, crying, or pleading for her life would do her any good if he decided to kill her.
“You sent Alta away somehow so you could talk to me, didn’t you?” she asked, and his eyes twitched ever so subtly to show that he was mildly impressed by her.
He smiled and said, “I did. I take it that you are smart enough girl to know that you cannot leave until I allow you too. You will listen to what I have to say, and then I will send you on your way.”
She swallowed nervously and replied, “Alright. What do you want to tell me?”
Lucien frowned as he looked around at everything and said, “Its a bit too loud here...but I can’t take you away from here or Cain will sense it…”
Cain…? Like ‘Cain and Abel’? What is he talking about?
Lucien then raised his right hand, which made Thalia flinch in terror at the slight movement.
He then stuck out his index and middle finger as he flicked them through the air and the people around them froze in place like statues. Particles of light floated all around them, completely stationary yet somehow visible to her despite them not reaching her eyes.
“Oh this isn’t necessarily stopped time Thalia. I cannot do that,” he said, reading her thoughts.
She put her hands around her head reflexively, as if hoping it would keep him out of her head.
“Don’t read my mind!” she shouted as she looked around in confusion.
If he’s not stopping time then what the hell is this?
“I don’t think its very polite to use your own mother as vainly and in such a vulgar manner Thalia,” Lucien said, again reading her mind.
“Fuck you! Stay out of my head”! she spat at him.
He took a deep breath as he seemed to be running out of patience for the attitude she was showing him.
“Very well. I’ll avoid peering into your inner monologue. In return, do avoid using such vulgar language. It is unbecoming of such a nice girl like yourself.”
She glared at him as she said, “What did you do if you didn’t stop time?”
“I stopped creation itself. I, and all those like me, are cursed with the inability to directly interfere with time. So instead, I command the universe itself to freeze in place.”
“I-If that’s so then...how can I see what’s going on around me? How can I see if the light particles aren’t moving to enter my corneas?”
Hearing that, Lucien’s face lit up as he said, “Oh wow...you really are quite an intelligent girl. I’m impressed that you picked up on that. You know, light itself is an aspect of my father. Although he is cursed just like myself with the inability to interfere with time, he unconsciously exists across all manners of time and space. So even in stopped time, light still travels within it all the same. However, with creation itself halted like this...even my father’s light halts its passage through space.”
“If that’s true...then how-?” she tried to ask but stopped as Lucien raised his other hand to point at his chest.
“You are not seeing with your eyes, you are seeing with your soul. You unconsciously believe that you are seeing everything around you the same way you would with your eyes, but in reality, the spiritual energy emitted from your body is acting almost like sonar and processing your surroundings, feeding that back into your mind, and creating an image much like regular eyesight. If you become too conscious of the fact that light is not actually reaching your corneas, then you will blind yourself by accident. Be careful now,” he said in a tone like he was trying to be helpful but it only served to stress her out further.
“Whatever. Enough about that. What do you want? Why did you show up now? Did you get sick of being a deadbeat dad to Marcus that you wanted me to introduce you to him or something?”
A barely visible expression of hurt flashed across his face but quickly faded as he said, “No. I don’t want to see him just yet. Although...I’ve already seen him to a certain extent, but I cannot approach him as his father at this time.”
“What’s stopping you?” Thalia asked in anger.
Lucien’s expression changed to a slight glare as he said, “It is beyond your capability of understanding despite your admittedly impressive intellect.”
Gritting her teeth, she then asked, “then what do you want? Why stop me here?”
“It is about Marcus’s child, my granddaughter. Moyako. I’ve come to rip the knowledge of her from your mind,” he said as he started walking towards her.
“What?! Why?! Why are you trying to keep them apart?! If things continue on, they will kill each other!” she protested as she tried to step back but her feet were rooted in place.
Lucien paused in confusion at her statement and said, “No they won’t. They are both immortal to an extent, so that would be a rather-”
“That’s not the point! They would butcher each other! Why would you allow that to happen? Why is it so dangerous that you don’t want me to know about it?” she demanded.
“It is not so much that you know about it that is the problem, but your desire to tell Marcus that he has a child is the issue. He cannot be consciously aware of it right now or...it will cause problems for me,” he said.
“Explain yourself!”
Lucien sighed as he asked, “What would it even matter for me to explain it to you if I am just going to erase your memories?”
“Maybe you can convince me to go along with it. Maybe I agree with you somehow and let you do it. Maybe it will make sense to me,” she said frantically, trying to buy some time to think.
Lucien sighed in exasperation as he said, “The reasons for my actions date back to eons of existential circumstances of which it would be immensely strenuous on my tolerance and patience for me to explain it to you.”
“Try!”
His face twisted in irritation at her stubborn attitude as he asked, “Tell me Thalia, do you know what will happen to you when you die? Lets start with that.”
“A-Are you threatening to-”
“Do not be foolish. I know you aren’t. Answer the question. When you inevitably die, what do you think will happen to you...? Or no, perhaps that is the wrong way to ask that. When you die, no doubt Hestia will take your soul into her domain to protect you,” he said as he looked around to the people who were frozen in place.
He waved his arm, gesturing at them as he asked, “Lets take these people for instance. The common people, who know no blessings or manner of protection from the reapers. If they die, where do you think they will go?”
She looked at them and thought about it for a moment.
“I...Well, I used to think that people would go to heaven when they died, but that was back on Terra. I doubt its the same here.”
“It is the same here. This universe is hardly much different in its structure from Terra’s own,” Lucien said.
“Well then, they would go to Heaven right?”
“Wrong.”
“I...they’d go somewhere, right?” she asked.
“No.”
“W-Well...then its just nothing? Do people just cease to exist?”
“No.”
“T-Then what? What happens? If they don’t go anywhere, and they don’t cease to exist, then what happens to them?” she asked, feeling uncomfortable with the existential question.
“When living beings die, they become Reapers. A soul is forcibly ascended beyond the tenth dimension, causing their sanity to shatter and phase in and out of existence within time and space. In an attempt to hold onto what little remains of themselves, Reapers hunt down souls that have left their vessels, or even been ripped out of them, and start to consume them. The weaker souls are quickly feasted upon and cannibalized by the powerful Reapers, while the stronger souls struggle against them but are eventually ripped apart. Are you following along so far?” he asked.
She nodded, but she was struggling to understand what this had to do with Marcus or Moyako.
“There have been attempts made in the past to create an afterlife. A realm in which souls who have passed on can rest easily, free from the pain and agony of being ripped apart by the Reapers, or from the trauma of being forcibly ascended beyond what their minds can withstand. Valhalla, the Field of Reeds, the Greek Underworld, all of these were attempts made to make a suitable afterlife, but all of them failed. Only two still stand. Hell, and the Silver City that you might call ‘Heaven’. But neither are the ideal and both may yet collapse one day.”
He knelt down so as to look her in the eyes as he said, “Your Elder brother and niece both hold the power to alter reality in such a way that the ideal afterlife can be made. Cain as well holds that power...but he cannot be trusted. I cannot trust him. Truthfully, I cannot bear the thought of putting that weight of responsibility onto them.”
“W-What does that have to do with keeping Marcus from knowing he has a daughter away from him? Why would you let them tear each other apart regardless of them being immortal? What is there to gain from that?” Thalia demanded, struggling to understand everything that Lucien had told her.
“The path set before us is clear. My father will appear in this world very soon and what follows afterward will be chaos. Marcus, Cain, and Moyako will be key figures in the future as they will undoubtedly try to intervene, but they cannot. Neither can you Thalia. If Cain learns that Moyako is Marcus’s daughter and stops events from proceeding normally, then the entire board from which this game is being played will be thrown away and all our efforts will be lost. Simultaneously, if Marcus somehow learns that he has a child, the situation which forces him to realize his own power will not come to pass. Marcus and Moyako, father and daughter, must continue to tear each other apart. You cannot intervene in that. I will not allow you to do so,” he said as he waited patiently for her response.
It seemed that he had decided to give her the benefit of the doubt on whether she would go along with it or not.
“I...even if I agreed with you about...this whole afterlife business, forcing them to kill each other like that is...its wrong. Its immoral, evil even,” she said as she wrapped her arms around herself to keep herself from trembling with fear.
Sympathy flashed across Lucien’s face as he smiled sadly and said, “I agree Thalia. I do. I really really do. I don’t want this to happen. In fact, there have been many things I’ve had to do that I didn’t want to. This is just one among many sins I’ve had to commit in this journey. Regardless, it has to happen. Marcus and Moyako must fight, and Cain cannot know the truth about them.”
There it is again. Cain…
“You keep bringing up Cain. Who is he? Why is he important?” she asked.
Lucien looked at her with confusion as he replied, “You don’t know…? You’ve met him already… Or I guess you are not aware of who he really is. Like myself, he has adopted a new identity to escape his history. The man you know as ‘Ruvick’ is a name given to Cain, the Father of Death.”
Ruvick is...Cain? I don’t understand!
Trying to process all of this, her mind focused on what Lucien said earlier about how he had also ‘adopted a new identity’.
“If Ruvick is ‘Cain’, then who are you if Lucien isn’t your real name?” Thalia asked.
She blinked and two of his fingers were instantly pressed up against her forehead before she could have time to react.
“Lucien is the name given to me by Yeshua, but my true name is Lucifer, the Lord of Sin,” he answered right as the world around her went black.
Thalia blinked and felt dizzy for a moment as she grabbed Alta’s jacket for balance.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked her as she rubbed her head.
“Y-Yeah...I’m fine…,” she said as she got her bearings, but then something bothered her.
“Wait...why are we out here again?” she asked.
“You said you wanted to go to the cafe to try out their coffee, right?” Alta answered.
“Oh...right…,” she said but for some reason, that answer didn’t satisfy her.
She felt like she had forgotten something important, but couldn’t seem to put her finger on why.
It was strange because although her memory wasn’t nearly as amazing as her brother’s, she knew that she couldn’t have forgotten anything significant when it really counted.
Alta then let out a startled yelp as Ruvick appeared in front of them and said, “Thalia!”
Hearing her name called out to her by him so suddenly shocked her out of her stupor as she said, “Ah, hi.”
Ruvick knelt down and quickly put his hands around her head to look at her as if giving her an eye exam.
“Are you alright?! I felt something unnatural happening around here but…,” he said but his voice trailed off as he finished looking her over before he turned his head around in a panic.
“I...yeah, I’m fine. I was just...I was just going to try out the cafe you always visit,” she said, to which he looked down at her with concern in his eyes.
“Are you sure that’s why you were going there…?” he asked.
“I...I think so,” she said, with a confused tone.
A look of uneasiness flashed on Ruvick’s face which bothered her.
He looked at Alta and said, “Do you mind if I look after her?”
“Uh...yeah, I mind. I don’t want Marcus to get mad at me for passing her off to someone I’ve never met before,” Alta said as if he were just asked a really stupid question.
Ruvick let out a sigh as if he remembered something annoying and said, “Alright well, you might as well come along. Thalia, do you feel safe with me around?”
She nodded and said, “Of course. You’ve already helped me before. I can trust you.”
“Alright. I want you to stay with me until Marcus’s final match is over. Something is bothering me, and I need to keep my promise to your brother that you’ll be safe,” he said as he reached out his hand to her gingerly and she took it.