This is a story I started before Nephilim that takes place in the Nephilim universe, just in its modern day equivalent. Enjoy! The demon was nailed to the wall, his arms, legs, and chest all pierced with silver swords coated in black blood. His head hung low, and his breaths were slow and shallow. Blood seeped between his teeth and dripped onto the floor.His ash-gray face was stained with tears that flowed from his black eyes. What little of his white robes remained was torn and hung in tattered remnants. A bright, white blur stood directly before the dying demon, who looked more human than monster. It was an angel. An archangel. But the demon was too far dead to see any of its features clearly. The demon sobbed as a woman's head was rolled out in front of it. It had been severed at the neck. Her blond hair and green eyes looked up at the demon lovingly, sorrowfully, or at least that was how the demon saw it. "Do you see, Samiel? This is the fate that awaits all of your kind. I will hunt down all of your children, all of your brothers and sisters, and I will erase all of you. Once I am done with you demons, I will bring the apocalypse and cleanse the Earth. Humans have had more than enough time to redeem themselves for what they have become, and they have failed. The universe will be purified," the angel spoke in a soft, laughing voice. The divine instrument of God was more evil than that which it sought to destroy. "Lilith... Bring back Lilith... I loved her... Don't take her away... Please give her back... Michael, please give Lilith back..." "How pathetic." And with those words the angel cut Samiel's head off, letting it fall next to the one he loved.
Theta is not a name. Not a proper name. Theta is a name for a project, or a function, not a human. That is why it was a good name for the person who had it. Theta wasn't a human. Couldn't be. His eyes were far too blue, and his skin far too pale. His teeth were much too sharp, and the smile they were set in said far more than any human smile ever could. No human smile could play trickster, sage, and friend all at once. No human could ever truly fill all those roles at once either. His moon pale face, and ivory white teeth were offset by brown hair that neared ebony, the color of his shoes, pants, and jacket. His white shirt, beneath the jacket, was addorned with an ocean blue necktie and silver buttons. He seemed an aristocrat, strange for someone who claimed to be a traveling merchant. Theta looked up at the storm clouds so rude as to rain on him and frowned. In fact, he seemed so taken in by his irritations, a passing observer would've thought Theta ignorant of the ghostly robes that floated ominously behind him. The robes were tattered, dusty, and mysteriously immune to the effects of the rain, not even a drop had landed upon them. They were empty, or at least appeared so, but the black smoke that poured from the cowl said otherwise. "I hate it when it rains, especially before a mission," Theta said, his light voice sounding bored and annoyed. He ran a hand through his short hair and sighed. "Do you consider the weather an omen?" the wraith behind him asked, its voice an ice cold whisper. "Not at all. I just have a certain image I like to maintain, and it's hard to do so if I'm soggy." Theta turned about to face his spectral friend and forced a wry smile. "We sense an artifact in Esthin Castle." Esthin was the name of the city that Theta was currently in. It was nearing holiday, and he always made a lot of money there. "Good for you, Vikrim. Why should I care?" "We want you to secure the castle for us." "By secure you mean..." "Kill everyone inside." "Why not just invade?" "There is a powerful spiritual barrier. We could take it down, but we would lose many in the process." "I see... I'll do it, but I want something." "Name it." "A Demon's Blood gem."
Akris watched in horror as his village and those he loved were destroyed and murdered by the Archedaemon Ygraxl. The monster was a charcoal-skinned, horned man engulfed in blue flame, with razor claws and dagger teeth. Eyes the same color as the crimson tattoos that wrapped elegantly around his body stared menacingly at all who dare stand in the way of the forces of darkness. As lowly cottages and elegant homes were all torn assunder a burned and bloody figure stepped towards Akris amongst the chaos. It was a knight, sans armor, who had tried to face Ygraxl and been defeated soundly. Blood oozed from the brave man's wounds as he stepped forward and collapsed, dead before he hit the ground, dropping his shortsword as he fell. Grabbing the weapon, Akris charged the eight foot tall destroyer. The heat from the flames nearly blinding him with pain, for he did not share a demon's immunity to fire, Akris ran forward even faster and brought the sword down in a beautiful arc, cleaving Ygraxl's head in two and imbedding the blade in his spine. Black, acidic blood spouted from the wound as the demon spun around without hesitation, ripping Akris' chest open with one slash of his claws. Akris' sight grew dim, and he could only faintly witness as Ygraxl's demonic regeneration kicked in and repaired the wound as though it had never been. A great light flooded the boy's vision and he heard a voice ask, "Would you like to save this village?" Coughing up blood, Akris replied, "More than anything." "Then, I shall grant you power to do so." Ygraxl continued his bloody onslaught, laughing with malevolent glee, when suddenly his heart was pierced by an ivory spear. Before he could react, six others went through his chest and nailed him facefirst to the ground. Looking up from the dirt, Ygraxl saw Akris, now a perfect being. An archangel. Fair skinned and white winged, the look in Akris shining face was not one of hatred, but one of pity as he decapitated Ygraxl without a word. However, it was too late. The village had been doomed before Akris had died, for too many were lost, and the earth had been tainted. Nothing would grow, and even if something could grow, there were almost none to grow it. Akris wept.