Marcus…
When he woke up in his own personal bed for the first time in nearly two months, words could not describe how refreshed he felt after sleeping for a little over twelve hours and seeing the sunlight pour into his room to welcome him into a new day.
Of course his house was still relatively empty and required a lot of renovations as well as more furniture, clothes, and food but those can wait for a little while. Today he planned to do a little bit of cooking with all the spices and other ingredients he had purchased yesterday.
Today he would be cooking up Malthael's heart.
Or at the very least a small part of it. When he had ripped his way into the dragon's body and finally found the heart it was three times larger than his house. Despite this he was able to carve out a piece of it the size of a T-Bone steak. This particular piece that he cut out was also teeming with energy and power. He figured that it was the condensed part of Malthael's soul that he had stored in his heart after death and it was probably what all dragons did after they died.
As he thought about cooking the heart he was also worried about what Selene had told him, about how taking in dragon's blood can have permanent dramatic side effects on those that eat them. Just from ingesting Malthael's blood during the resurrection process Jiroh's skin had hardened and transformed into scales, his skeletal and muscular structure changed as it created retractable claws and bone blades in his arms.
That was one of his concerns when he thought of eating it but when he asked Artemis about it she had told him that it was a transformation that only usually happened to humans or sometimes gods that were weaker than the dragon itself. She had said that where a god was concerned it was a matter of the power a god held that determined whether its genes would take precedent over the dragon's blood that would threaten to take over the god's body. However she had stated that he was not human and was the son of a goddess that she called a 'cosmic force of nature'.
If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he was taking an absurdly stupid and reckless risk in his decision to cook and eat this damn thing but he has done far more dangerous things to himself to secure money and power in order to defend his sister. Besides that and his unquenchable curiosity to find out what dragon heart tastes like.
After mentally preparing himself with a firm conviction he stepped into the kitchen and pulled out all of the various new spices, spices, and other things he had bought from the market. He took out minced garlic, flame roasted tomatoes, red cooking wine, sesame seed oil, olive oil, coriander, parsley, turmeric, black pepper, salt, and something completely new to him, a spice called Kalln. It was an unusual spice that had both a sweet smell and spicy taste to it which didn't seem possible to him but he decided to try it out.
He was more or less experimenting with these choices of spices and ingredients but he'd give it a shot.
When he took the heart out of the fridge it was still fresh which left him impressed by the versatility of the magic implementations in exchange for a lack of mechanical ingenuity. Still, there were things that he would make improvements on.
The heart was too large to cook all in one go so he trimmed off some of the fat from the edges of it and set it on a plate for later before cutting the heart evenly down the middle. He made sure to firmly grip the heart and slowly press the edge of the blade into it with very little force. He did this so that it didn't build up too much pressure and cause the blood inside the heart to explode everywhere. Not only would that be a horrible mess but he wanted to cook the heart with as much blood as he could and mix it with the trimmed fat. In his experience working with beef its better to cook steak with plenty of blood to keep the meet from drying out and to keep some of the metallic taste mixed with the spices that gave it flavor. Now he wasn't sure if the same concept applied with dragon hearts as they are lizard like creatures and cows are bovine creatures but from what he knew, even so much as tasting the blood would have an effect so he thought to keep it all together.
He then took a skillet and lit the oven before putting some olive oil on and the rimmed fat.
It was sizzling in no time at all and he placed both halves of the heart, moving it around the olive oil and fat before then adding salt and pepper to lightly season it. With his bare hands he pressed it down against the pan to sear the edges on every side and then took them off the skillet, placing them on a plate to the side, leaving the oil, fat, and seasoning on the skillet for later.
He then made a separate bowl with his Dragon Glass and placed the minced garlic, sesame seed oil, turmeric, parsley, coriander, and Kalln. Mixing them together to make a pasty liquid he set it aside for later.
He then returned to the skillet and put the flame back on and took the bottle of red cooking wine and the flame roasted tomatoes and put both in the skillet. After mixing them together a bit he placed both heart steaks in the simmering red wine and tomatoes. After about five minutes of cooking the insides of the steaks he made a fork and poked holes in the tops of the steaks and then poured the mixture in the bowl on tope of them and spread it out evenly over the surface of them. He then flipped them and repeated that process and continued flipping them until the cooking wine evaporated and the tomatoes were mostly dehydrated.
After cutting into it to make sure their was still enough red to indicate that the meat wasn't dry but still cooked properly he took both off the skillet and placed both on their own plate before extinguishing the stove top.
He then realized that he didn't buy a side dish but shrugged as it wasn't important as he made a chair and sat at the counter with two juicy steaks right in front of him.
His mouth was watering but his mind was warning him of the risks involved.
His stomach won.
He carved his first piece off the end and bit into it.
His eyes widened in shock at the tasted and he said to himself, "Holy shit that's good."
When he bit into it he knew for certain that leaving the blood in was the right call. The metallic taste of the blood gave it a nice tangy flavor to it that was amplified with the various spices he used but he probably should have used less Kalln as it being paired with the turmeric was almost overpowering the other spices and the taste of the tomatoes and wine.
The texture of the meat itself though was interesting. It was only slightly less tender than beef tenderloin and its texture was almost like that of pork ribs. Above all it was easy to eat which was shocking considering the extreme physical strength of the dragon itself but it was the heart he was eating which would obviously be much softer than the exterior muscles like those on its arms or legs.
Both steaks were swiftly devoured in no time at all and it left him hungry for more only to disappointed that there was nothing left.
When he stood up from his chair his disappointment was replaced with dizziness as if the blood had rushed to his head too quickly so he slowly made his way back into bed and as he laid down and looked up at the ceiling and sense of vertigo did not subside and his vision doubled. Strangely enough though he didn't feel nauseous or any stomachs cramps. His muscles didn't tighten and his bones weren't twitching...or growing.
He didn't feel like he was about to undergo a transformation rather it felt more like he had eaten a psychedelic drug. In fact, the more he thought about it in that sense the more he started to feel things that he didn't think should have been possible. His sense of perception heightened until it was as if he could see things in every direction all at once. Was it echolocation...? No that would be based on sound and this was different. If he had to compared it to anything then it would have to be similar to how sharks sense things in water due to bioelectric receptors but this was amplified to such a ridiculous degree that he could make out the most minute details on every surface in his bedroom.
He didn't know if this was something that Malthael was innately capable of that had been transferred on to him when ingesting his flesh and blood but it seemed like it might end up being incredibly useful.
A few moments passed and he could feel a fly buzzing into his bedroom and as if on instinct he launched a dart of stone with a jolt of electricity sending it hurtling through the air. It tore through the fly as if it were nothing but the small burst of energy that he released caused an eruption of feedback into his senses and the worst migraine of his entire life hammered the inside of his skull much like Athena poking the inside of Zeus's skull with a spear.
The pain became unbearable and his vision swam and drifted uncontrollably until he passed as he fell into a dream.
Gabriel...
His eyes looked up at the sky. They looked up, gazing past the trees, gazing past the vast mountains that scraped against the clouds in the sky, past the atmosphere that kept everything alive upon this planet and looked up at the vast silver city that overlooked the entirety of Terra.
He gazed up at it as he laid down upon the soft grass on the planet below with a feeling of absolute bliss in his heart. As endlessly magnificent as the silver city was, there was also a profound beauty in the simplicity of Terra that was entrancing to him. Unfortunately he had the ability to sense everything all at once which made it extremely exhausting. He could see all of what the silver city had to offer and it would still take time for him to process and digest the sheer complexity of it all and its brilliance where as stepping on Terra was like an overwhelming amount of simplicity that he could process too quickly to enjoy properly.
He envied the human's far more simplistic mind and their ability to look at something and not have to process its entire existence down the the sub-atomic level every picosecond. However looking up at the silver city whilst laying down upon the grass provided a good balance. His mind would be too busy processing the existence of the silver city to fully analyze everything about Terra itself and he could feel less which ended up feeling like more at the same time.
Alas, he couldn't stay on Terra forever or Azrael would chastise him for it yet again.
As he stood up the second thought that popped into his head was, I need to return before Father catches onto it as well.
As this singular thought crossed his mind it made him pause.
Wait...how is my presence, my very existence even permitted upon this world? For him to have even graced a single blade of grass with his skin should have immediately been met with Father's attention and yet...he has not appeared or delivered divine punishment upon him like what he had done to his brother Lucifer...How odd.
As he was about to head back home he heard the sound of crying.
He turned around, though not that it was necessary to do so he did, and he could see a woman with dark skin, brown hair and brown eyes weeping into her hands with a man of similar complexion attempting to comfort her.
He knew that he shouldn't interact with them, he shouldn't even allow himself to be seen but for some reason the sound of crying disturbed him. It wounded his heart to see anyone crying in such a vast and beautiful planet for any reason. He wanted to do anything to help rectify that feeling of sorrow and replace it with joy and happiness if it was at all possible.
Gabriel paid close attention to their appearances and although Azrael and many of the other angels saw it as beneath them, he dimmed the shining grace of their father so that it would not blind the eyes of the two humans. He also noticed that they wore animal hide around their bodies as a way to perhaps keep warm or as an attire to conceal parts of their bodies. He wasn't entirely sure, humans were such curious beings.
He wrapped his emerald colored wings around his body as if it were cloth and fashioned a hooded robe from them. It was not unlike the armor that he had once worn in the early days of the universe during the old age of chaos.
Even in the form of a cloth robe one would still be able to make out the intricate details of his feathered wings. He would surely have to dim his Father's light even further as to not rouse suspicion or draw Father's attention to him.
He couldn't help but feel like he was betraying everyone who waited for him back home but he couldn't in his right mind ignore them.
Putting the thought out of his mind he walked towards the two humans and the moment they noticed him they became tense and the man pulled out a wooden spear.
"Who are you!" he shouted at him as he aimed the point of it at Gabriel.
"I am...just a traveler passing by," it was technically the truth but it hurt him to have to spare some truths from others as a means to ease their concerns even if he knew it was necessary.
"I have never seen a man wearing animal hide like yours, nor have I seen any beast bearing such a hide before. What do you want?" he said with suspicion still clear in his eyes but not making any sudden or reckless movements.
"I heard this woman crying and I wanted to help," Gabriel offered.
"What we are suffering is not something any traveling man can solve," the man said but the woman gently pulled him closely and his eyes widened at the words she whispered to him. Her words were not hidden to him as he could hear everything that was being said but he gave no indication to show that he was purposely trying to eavesdrop on them.
"My wife wishes to hear what you may have to offer to heal her of her sickness," he said.
"She is ill? What is it that ails her?"
"She is barren. We have both tried for many decades to have a child but now matter how many times we may try, she is unable to bear a child," he managed to force out with genuine pain in his eyes.
To be unable to conceive a life...he could not think of anything more horrible for someone who is the giver of life.
With this in mind...what could he do? What was there that he could do to help them without attracting Father's wrath? He could not impart his light to give her the the gift of childbirth.
He could not ignore the emotions they were expressing so. It was painful to look at even to see sadness and so he had no alternative to think of other than to grace them with Father's light and help them.
"Can you tell me your name?" Gabriel asked.
"Mine is Aakifah," she said with eyes red and empty from crying that looked up at Gabriel.
"And what is yours?" he asked the man by her side.
"Mine is Rakan," he said with confusing.
"Very well...," he knelt in front of her and asked, "May I?"
She nodded although unsure of what he meant to do.
He then placed his hand upon her navel and Rakan looked down at him with what was a mixture of anger and confusion but he remained still.
His palm then glowed with warmth as energy was emitted from him and coursed through her as she let out a gasp of surprise.
"Y-you are-!" Rakan tired to speak but was too astonished as he realized who, no what Gabriel was.
When the glowing light faded Rakan dropped to his knees as if to show reverence and Aakifah was about to follow his example but Gabriel gave them a pained smile as he was not expecting such a reaction. Surprise, certainly but not reverence, at least not to him.
"Please, do not worship me. I am not your lord, nor your god," he said honestly trying to correct their misguided worship.
"Are you not a god?" Rakan asked him.
"No, I am but an angel, my name being Gabriel, of our lord from which my light originates. It is through him that which I was able to gift you the ability to bring life into this world which should have been your given right," he said and both of them were amazed at his words.
"How do we show our thanks to our lord?"
At this question he panicked. He was not even supposed to be hear so if the two of them were to suddenly pray to Father thanking him for gifting them the ability to bear children once again after not raising his own hand to do so...surely judgment would fall on him.
"Our lord asks that you simply live your life with the child you bring into this world with joy and live with that child to the fullest extent that you possibly can. And speak not of it directed to our lord but be thankful in silent gratitude," he said and they bowed their heads to him as they were not sure of what else to do.
After giving them his goodbyes he left as swiftly as he could manage and returned to the silver city to which he called home although to the rest of his brothers and sisters, it would have been as if he had never left because in truth, he truly didn't. In awe of his Father's seemingly all encompassing nature he aimed to emulate that as he wished to encompass everything in creation, to take in every intricate detail and for this he had succeeded but now he wonders if it was a mistake and the real beauty in things is to be seen without every piece of the puzzle and in the discovery of something new not yet attained with one's senses.
Time passed by in a flash and he could feel a vibrant pulse of energy come into the world one that he knew hummed with the light that he had given to affirm that this life would be brought into this world.
Without intending to appear like he was sneaking out and yet projecting that image of himself nonetheless, he traveled to where Aakifah and Rakan were presently staying to care for their new child.
Upon appearing near their home, a collection of wood, straw, and animal hide gathered together in a hut, inside Rakan, Aakifah and their newborn child stayed, both parents could feel his energy and tensed.
As he slowly approached around the hut, Rakan poked his head to look at him and instead of bowing his head like he had first done many months ago he instead looked straight at Gabriel and maintained eye contact with him.
"M-my Lord! Y-you came to see our daughter's birth?" he asked in amazement.
"I did. I wanted to make sure she was born as a healthy child," to which Rakan gave a sigh of relief and gratitude.
"It is because of you that our daughter was born at all and to be born so beautiful," he said as he welcomed Gabriel inside.
It was a tight fit for him but he would not complain as he was a guest in their home and asked to be seated.
Once he had sat down he was greeted to a view that he would never forget for the entirety of his existence.
This beautiful child as she opened her eyes for the first time to look upon her parent's faces...and smiled.
"At first when she was born we were worried she was a stillborn because she did not make a sound, she did not cry, she did not scream or shout she only turned her head to look at us and smiled. It is glad that you arrived. Perhaps you be certain to see if perhaps she cannot speak?"
Gabriel was puzzled by this request and chuckled at him before he said, "Perhaps she cannot speak because she is too lost for words at the beauty of this world and at the love you are showing her? I honestly cannot say. I am not an expert at raising children I'm afraid."
He said so with a humorous tone to ease their worries and they let out a sigh of relief. With her being their first child they were bound to worry.
"Have you got a name for her yet?"
"W-well...we weren't certain if you would appear to see her as she was born but if you were to come we had wanted you to have the honor of naming her," Aakifah said as she held the child in her arms for Gabriel to hold.
"You want..me to decide?" he asked as he held the fragile infant girl in his arms and looked into her eyes.
He could feel a great indomitable strength in her. It was not simply a result of the light that he had given Aakifah but it was this girl's own strength to come into this world and see all that it had to offer.
"I will name you Reyna. All that you seek in this world will be yours to see through your own eyes," he said and Reyna laughed.