Chapter 60: Stage Of Destiny

I stand speechless before the corpse of my friend. A storm of emotions arises within me. Anger. Regret. Sorrow. Of all the things that could happen, this has to be it. Once again, these hands fail to protect someone dear to me. Once again, I wasn’t strong enough to prevent it.

“Don’t blame yourself, Peter,” Balam sounds within me. “This time I’m certain; you’re at your peak form now. There was nothing you could have done differently.”

“Then who do I blame? Answer me, Balam… who else is there to blame but myself?”

“… No one. This is what’s fated to be. And no matter how strong we think we get, we can’t escape the cruel clutches of fate.”

“What am I supposed to feel about that? How no matter what I try, I can’t change the outcome of something.”

“There will always be times when we’re faced with that feeling, Peter… and the only thing we can do is to swallow our tears and move forward.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“I have millennia of life experience before you, and believe me when I say it never gets easier.”

I answer with silence. Or rather, I don’t know how to respond to that at all. Loss and grief, who’s better to understand them than a Demon that has been living on, switching from host to host for thousands of years? But if it never gets easier as he said, then… what am I to do with these feelings welling up in me?

A gust of wind blows, and one of my current comrades, Benkei, emerges. The young man approaches Pedro’s remains and picks up his cross, putting it on his own neck.

“What are you doing?”

“It will be important for us later on. And I already have an inkling of who the next vessel is,”

Even so. Even if he’s dead. Even if our priority is indeed this item. At least try to give him some respect, why can’t you understand that?

“I know what you’re thinking,” answers Benkei. “And I understand. But this is still a battlefield. We can grieve when we’re all returning alive, but now we fight with all we have. I thought you, of all people, should know this much.”

As the words leave his mouth, another gust propels him forward, and the young man returns to his battle with Michael. I know he’s right. This battle is not over yet. Pedro is nothing but a blip in our current situation, and that’s already dire enough without his interference. But… it’s not like I can just erase these emotions, can I?

Loss and grief can make you grow, but how much more do I have to lose? How much more do I have to grieve? God, if you’re up there, why do you do this to us? Do you think that making us suffer like this is fun? Taking our freedom isn’t enough, now you’re taking the ones we care about too?

“All right, that’s enough senseless fighting for one day,” a voice booms within my mind, as if directly coming from within me. A voice unfamiliar to me.

Before I can react, my body is already disappearing into thin air. And as I take a look around, the others are also in the same fate. I try to cry out, but my voice is also gone, as my body turns to nothingness.

 

The frigid wind whips me awake from my short slumber. Gasping for the cold, dry air, I glance at my surroundings.

The ground is covered in a pure white. However, this isn’t snow like what I was used to back in England. It’s not soft or hard. In fact, it doesn’t have any form at all, as my attempt of grasping it only results in it dissipating in my hand.

I’m standing on some kind of cloud.

Before me is a giant castle in a style I’ve never seen before. Its roofs are curved, and its crimson walls make it stand out like a sore thumb when placed on a pure white background. The pillars supporting the structures are all massive like mountains themselves, while the walls stretch out beyond the horizon.

“This is…” I exclaim out loud. And soon enough, the voice from before answers, this time right behind me.

“Welcome to Heaven’s Gate, child of destiny.”

I turn around to see a young man around my age with short, black hair and a matching outfit. A pair of glasses covered in mist obstructs his eyes from my view, but soon enough, the young man takes them off to clean, revealing eyes black as the night sky.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“The name’s Ryuuro. Kuroshi Ryuuro. I was the one to call you all up here.”

“Call us?” The young man, now Ryuuro’s, words send doubt to my mind. “Are you an angel?”

“Of course not,” Ryuuro chuckles. “If I were, I would have had wings, right?”

“You could just conceal them.”

“Your girlfriend’s case was special. Other angels can’t conceal their wings after they’ve spawned.”

“My… girlfriend? You know about Bea?”

“Didn’t even deny the claim. I like that,” another snicker from the young man.

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“I was just more surprised by the fact you knew us.”

“Know you? I guess you could say that. I know you, as well as everything you’ve done, and everyone you’ve known.”

“And you’re still saying you’re not an angel?”

“No. If anything, I’m closer to a demon. Isn’t that right, Balam?”

A surprising call from Ryuuro, and before I know it, I’m already sent to Balam’s dimension, while the Demon temporarily replaces me in the outside world.

“I’ve always hated your face; do you know that?” Balam grits his teeth in anger.

“Naturally. But we’re not here to discuss old tales over tea now, are we? … Actually, believe it or not, that’s exactly why I called you here.”

“What do you mean?”

“God has taken interest in your new vessel, and so they’ve invited you over for tea, and talk things out like civilized people. Isn’t that great?”

“You can cut the lies, otherworlder. Jesus would never do that.”

“Jesus? Oh, that old crow kicked the bucket yesterday.”

Hearing the news sends Balam into disarray, as he staggers a few steps backwards, holding his forehead in disbelief. “… What did you say? Jesus? Dead?”

“Yup. Dead.”

“How? Who was able to kill him?”

“No one. He decided to step down himself and have another candidate assume God’s power. Ironic, right? In his final moment, the old crow realized that doing what his brother did was the better move…”

“Don’t you dare utter his name with his face, fiend.”

“… I don’t share his face because I wanted to,” Ryuuro shakes his head in disappointment. “Everything is destined to be this way.”

“… I have nothing else to say to you,” Balam hisses for one final time, before giving me back control once again.

“Well, seeing that the hero has returned, how about joining that tea party I mentioned? Just go straight in, God is waiting for you in the biggest room at the end.”

“Before I go, there’s one last thing I want to ask. Where are the others?”

“The others?” Ryuuro raises his eyebrows for a moment. “They’re transported to other similar rooms to the one you’re about to be in.”

“What for? Another tea party?”

“There’s that, but with a… small catch.”

“What ‘small catch’?”

“They were indeed transported to sort out their differences, and if they can talk things out peacefully, they can leave just fine… or they can fight to the death, and whoever wins gets out, along with both sources of power.”

“… Is this a game to you and God? Locking people in to fight to the death?”

“Believe it or not, God rejected this idea at first. And they believed that angels and demons can finally come to a peaceful solution if given the chance. I told them that they were naïve to think that, and we finally settled on this.

Remember, all of you are given a choice: talk in peace, or fight to the death. Whoever chooses what, well, that’s on you, not us. Now go; God awaits you.”

Before I can say anything else, the young man has already disappeared without a trace. Without much of an option, I have no choice but to press forward.

Across the hallway is nothing but different rooms, each with a colored door of its own. I can see red, blue, green, gold, all kinds of colors I could imagine. Curious, I try to open one, but no matter how hard I try to pull or push the door open, it just won’t budge to anything.

I continue forward, and soon enough, the end is in sight, along with another door. It’s larger than any other I’ve come across, and this one shines a sparkly silver.

I push the door and enter the awaiting dark room.

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