~ Chapter 20: Blinded ~

[Syliar’s point of view]

Throughout my entire existence as a demoness, thinking about love was nothing close but a taboo. Any attempt at harboring a positive feeling would result in pain and suffering for me. The reason for this was simple, as an angelion who chose the side of darkness and evil, for me, light was bad, and darkness was good. I felt at home surrounded by hate, destruction, sadism, and all sorts of sins, but the moment I stepped into the light, I would feel it burning all the way to my very core. It kept us demons in check and reminded us of our current path.

Even so, unlike some human myths and tales, when I said light, I did not mean actual sunlight. Demons never had a problem with walking outside during the day. No, what I meant through light, I meant the positive emotions and actions one could take in order to generate positive energy within the Universe, good deeds in short. Darkness meant the opposite, do everything in one’s power to do evil, to spread fear, hate, and terror, to generate negative energy, bad deeds. In other words, or to be more specific, human words, when a demon did something evil, he felt what a mortal would when they would do the exact opposite, meaning good.

Our perception was basically warped and twisted up to its very core, but deep inside it, there was one emotion untouched by this corruption. That emotion was love and could only be unshackled through the bond created with a Soul Mate.

For a demon who never felt love before, it sounded ironic, even ridiculous. How could a demon who bathed in suffering and death feel something as wonderful as that?

In the end, the question lied with our creator, with God.

As for me, what I had to say about this weird law applied only and only to Soul Mates was that I experienced it the very moment I kissed Michael and the energies of our souls touched each other, resonating in beautiful harmony, singing a delightful melody. It was a moment which unleashed the torrent of that emotion from my core towards his and back. It was wonderful, and with all due honesty, I did not want it to end.

When I was young, I did try to test this emotion by going out with angels or demons back at the Angelion Academy, the only other place where the duality of good and evil was not warped based upon demonic or angelic characteristics, and angelions could act like normal mortals bound by it. No matter whom I dated back then, I always ended up breaking up or acting more like a demon than an angel. Not even once was I able to harness and embrace the emotion called love.

With Michael in my embrace and the two of us sharing such a delightful kiss, I felt the flow of love between us. But that wasn’t all I felt. My energies bumped into three powerful seals, the Fallen Seal, the Memory Seal, and the Wings Seal. They were there, surrounding his soul and keeping his power locked up.

That was when I knew what I had to do. Without my intent, without my desire and his as well, the seals would remain intact, and Michael’s soul would keep on wandering through reincarnations until he decided on either becoming an angel or a demon.

Interesting enough, I wasn’t in love with his personality, his status, his money, or his human body. What I was in love with was his soul. Angelions can naturally see the actual form and shape of the soul and its higher self. Looking upon it, mine and his reacted beautifully, there was no hate, no anger, no fear... only love. Emotion itself was a form of energy in our eyes, a lightning controlled by our very will. This energy was viewed in many forms, but the most common was like a cloud of electricity of a certain color. White and light colors predominated the positive energies: bright yellow was for happiness, pink was for joy, white was for a type of emotion only angels felt, the emotion of overall goodness, and love was a mix of white, yellow, and orange. At the same time, black, gray, and dark colors in general like blue and dark red were for negative emotions. We could also see and immediately know what frequency each emotion had and thus how strong it was.

The emotion flowing between my soul’s core and Michael’s was a bright-white mixed with streaks of yellow and orange. All the darkness inside my core retreated to leave this energy take hold. I could feel it filling me up and embracing me in such a gentle manner that I could simply melt away.

I knew, however, Michael also felt the exact same things. The energy of our love surrounded him and requested both our permissions to undo the seals cast upon his soul. Without the slightest hesitation, I let them do as they pleased.

The seals began to crack, the magic to shatter, and in a moment’s time, they were no more.

The first to fall was the Fallen Seal, unlocking Michael’s full potential as an angelion being. His powers and abilities similar to mine and Metatron’s began to flow back into him. The world all around us changed, and we entered in a near stopped time again. His body healed immediately from the deadly wound he suffered thanks to Demon Lord Severus.

The second to fall was the Memory Seal. I had no idea what the results of it would be, but given what the archangel told me, Michael would forget about me completely. This final touch, this final kiss was going to be my goodbye.

I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t let my tears flow because I was too happy and filled with love to let them through. No matter what would happen, I would believe in him and trust that he would eventually return to me.

Then fell the last of the three seals, the Wings Seal, and with it, his final decision was made clear. From the back of the human Michael Kunosagi Asakura, a pair of beautiful white wings sprouted. Unlike mine, which were touched by madness, darkness, and hate, his were filled with light, love, forgiveness, and acceptance.

My Soul Mate chose his path. He desired to be an angel...

The kiss came to an end as we both pulled back. The flow of energy between me and him came to a stop. We were now looking into each other’s eyes, half dazed as a result of the powerful energies surrounding us.

I do not know for how long we stood there like this, but eventually, Michael pulled back from my embrace. Now came the hard part...

“Michael?” I asked with a trembling voice.

He looked at me for a moment and then shook his head.

“I apologize, but I do not know that name.” he told me.

“Syliar, he...” tried to say Metatron, but I raised my hand and silenced him.

“I know...” I looked down, tears gathering in my eyes as my heart crumbled under the heavy burden of knowing that I had to let go of my beloved.

“Do we know each other?” asked Michael.

“You...” I tried to speak as I looked up at him with teary eyes, but I fell on my knees.

The rejection, no... it wasn’t a rejection, but the simple fact that he forgot about me. That was what hurt the most.

“Do you know me, young angel?” asked Metatron as he approached us.

I did not look at him.

“Yes, I do.” he replied with a calm tone of voice.

“Then listen to my words and do as I say if so you desire. I ask of you to embrace the demoness and then leave this plane of existence. I will meet you shortly after and guide you to the Academy of Angelions where you will learn all that you are required as the entity you are now.” he spoke with a calm and gentle tone of voice.

“Very well, but won’t she be harmed by my light?” Michael asked a bit worried.

“No.” replied the archangel.

Listening to him, Michael took a step closer and then embraced me. I welcomed his touch and gentle energy as it played with mine once more, bringing a happy smile to my lips.

“I’ll wait for you, my Soul Mate.” I whispered to him, hoping those words would eventually lead him back to me.

When he wanted to pull back from our embrace, I struggled with the decision of letting him go. All I wanted was another moment in his embrace.

“Please...” he said softly.

I clenched my jaw and pulled back my arms. Doing so felt like I was trying to split apart an entire planet as a mere Type A, it took all of my strength and power of will not to tighten my grip around him and flee from that place. Doubtful I would be able to run too far, especially with Metatron there.

My Soul Mate, now an angel, took a step back and after showing me one last kind smile, he vanished before my eyes. I felt something ripping inside of me. I began to cry and weep like a small child.

I could not believe he was gone and now. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get him back until he desired to return to me. I had to respect both the love and freedom of my beloved. Such hard words for a demonic mind, but pleasant when spoken about my Soul Mate.

“I don’t understand... did I suffer?” I asked with tears in my eyes.

“Syliar, do you know why no angel commander, archangel, or seraphim came down from the heavens to stop you on your rampage?” asked Metatron.

I looked up at him but shook my head. Nothing came to mind as to why the heavens ignored me.

“God loves everyone, be them mortals, angels, or demons.” he said.

“But demons don’t love God.” I told him.

“That is true, but still, God being who and what He is can love everyone and everything, his entire creation. Demons, just like angels and mortals, they too have a soul and all of them crave for the feeling of love even when they appear to have abandoned everything. Mortals often say that those who hate the strongest have the ability to love the most if so they will it.” he told me.

Listening to his words made me look a bit ridiculous. As a demon, I had forsaken God, yet even in my position, I couldn’t go against his bidding. We exist because He wills it, but we live as we do because we will it, and He allows it. In the end, the game of good and evil, the war of duality was merely an illusion for mortals who had yet to learn the true ways of the Universe.

Remembering that, I realized how foolish I was in my quest, and how fearful I was of stepping out of my boundaries. The one who wanted to suffer the most was me. My soul desired to know what it meant to go against God, to hunt for my Soul Mate, and then experience his death and loss. Maybe everything that happened was indeed because of me.

“If I wasn’t a Demon Queen, I might have not noticed this...”

“True, Severus has aspiring dreams, but until he learns what a Demon King’s true role is, he will remain as a simple Demon Lord under your command or another’s.” Metatron said.

“Heh... Right now, I’m wondering if I was a fool for going after my Soul Mate, I broke so many laws, both in Heaven and in Hell. I ignored the wills of the souls and threaded dangerously on a path which could have only led to my Soul Mate’s pain and sadness...” I confessed with tears in my eyes as I looked up at the clear sky.

“Did your ability to see beyond time return?” he asked me.

I nodded.

“Then you see them, the many possible futures, but none of them hold the perfect situation envisioned by you.” he told me.

“Because neither me nor him wished for such a thing... He wanted to be free. I wanted to free him, but because I am a demon, I also wanted to take hold of his future and will. I wanted to set him on the path I believed was right, yet... if I knew to what sort of suffering I could have subjected him to, I would never had tried to do so in the first place.” I said with tears in my eyes.

Despite speaking in such a clear way, I was in shambles on the inside. The proof of that were my unending tears, but then again, how could I stop after what had just happened? It hurt too much...

“That’s why God took away your ability to see, so that you can act upon your own free will and experience that from which you would have otherwise ran away.” he explained as he looked up at the sky.

The archangel spoke a very painful truth. The law regarding Soul Mates dictated that no matter what, Soul Mates cannot intentionally harm each other without both their accords on doing so. One’s soul must agree to cause harm, while the other must agree to receive the said harm.

By being unable to see the harm, I could intentionally cause it, I would be able to move forward and do it. I was just like a soldier blindfolded and forced to shoot at what he believed to be an enemy only to find afterwards that he executed his own wife. While doing the deed, the soldier had the intent to kill his target. The final judge was the blindfold, not the soldier. Without the blindfold, he does not shoot, but with it, he pulls the trigger unhinged by remorse or his own conscience.

In order for me to go on my frantic Soul Mate search, I had to be unable to see the future of when I found him.

“That’s why you stayed behind?” I asked as I looked up at the archangel.

He nodded.

“Sigh... What now then?”

“We will go on our separate ways. I do believe an entire kingdom in Hell awaits your return, isn’t that right?” he noted with a smile.

“True to that but tell me one last thing though. Why don’t I want to kill you right now?” I asked curiously.

“Was there ever a need to do so?” he replied with a calm smile on his face.

I looked at him for a long moment, searching my memories and reading the energies. When I found the answer, he bowed his head once.

“Farewell, Syliar Heartbreaker, Demon Queen of the Demon Kingdom 78 in Hell.” he said and then vanished before my eyes.

Just like Michael, he returned to Heaven, the realm where as a demon, I was forbidden from stepping into.

Letting out a sigh, I let time flow normally again. I could hear helicopters closing in on my location, soldiers recovering from their ordeal with experiencing first-hand the horrifying presence of a demon. My play time in this world had come to an end.

“I hope to see you soon, Michael...” I said as I closed my eyes.

My demonic soul released its sharp hooks from the mortal’s body and slipped away from it. However, considering the fact that most of it had been destroyed by Severus, what was left in that spot was nothing more than a ripped up broken corpse of a former Japanese woman. When the authorities arrived on the scene, I was long gone from their world.

Now, all I had to do was wait patiently for a sign from my beloved Soul Mate... How long that would take, I had no idea...