Hope
She stares to the front door, where the weak source of light comes in. Lenny does not sure how these rays of light could make it through the thick fog down to here, but he appreciates their gentle warmness.
"It is beautiful, isn't it?" The old woman lowers her voice.
"What is beautiful?"
"The light. They've made it down to here. It is like they are giving people hope. They are so beautiful."
"Yes, they are..." Those rays of light remind him of the dream he had earlier, the one where he was on a wheat field with a girl. He still can remember her voice, her eyes, her smile. All of those make him feel warm inside, like none of these sad events was happened.
Grandma notices his dreamy eyes, as she speaks. "Seem likes you had something you haven't told me yet, young boy. Another dream?"
"Yes.. There is someone who is waiting for me back home, or at least I feel like so."
She smiles, "hah, I knew it. After all, it is love that keep people hoping for good things to come. Like those rays of light, they never give up on you, and will continue light up your way even if you are deep inside a heavy fog."
Lenny nods, "Yep, even I have so many questions for this world, I still have her as my ray of light, my hope. If all my dreams are real memories, as you said, then she must be waiting for me somewhere, and I will come back for her, I promised her that."
"You will, young boy. I can see it in your eyes."
"Thank you, lets continue to your story, what happened to Stata? You told me something changed." Lenny changes the topic back.
"Oh well, those rays of light almost distracted me from her story, sorry hahaha." She laughs, then continues, "Stata found her ray of light too. As I told you, she was the only lord left to stop herself from harming the world." She continues speaking while staring to the door.
"On the third days after the opening of the gate, she went to the shore where Leviathan died to moan for him. Even if the hell spawns are everywhere, none of them can touch her, for she is the daughter of Death - god of Hell himself. She walked into the shore, looking for his remains. However, Leviathan body was nowhere to be found, despite the fact that he were the biggest serpent king of the sea when he is not in his human form. Instead, she found a small glowing flower grew up and blossomed on where he was. Although the surrounding is ravaged by monsters, ashes, fire, human and beast bodies and blood, that tiny and seemingly frail flower still stand there, all pure with gentle light glowing out of it. No dirt, nor ashes ever touched its petals."
Grandma Mely pauses her story as her voice starts to tremble. She still stares to the light coming from the door, and tears start to come out of her eyes. Then she continues.
"The flower brought tears to her eyes. She remember Leviathan words when he was still alive many years ago. It reminded her the moment of fifty years ago, when their son was born, and how happy she was. The baby had a pair of dreamy blue eyes, just like the sea where his father rules and the ruby red color on his hair, which resembles much of his mother. On the day he was born, Leviathan suddenly disappeared. She was quite angry with him for how he could disappear on such important day, but the cute, bouncing baby calmed her down. A week later, he showed up to his angry lover, with a big smile on his face. He gave her and the baby a glowing and slightly purple blossom, and told them that he was so happy he couldn't think of any gift that he can give to his newborn son beside of this flower. It has no name, and is the only of its kind left. The only place where people can find it is inside one of the deep sea volcanoes. It can grow strongly in any harsh environment despite of having a frail body. Legend said that these flowers are the essence of the gods when they decided to leave the world behind them and continues their many incarnation trips through the time. Those blossoms are told to last forever, reminds people of the beauty of the gods when they were around. Leviathan told Stata that flower were the only thing left from his father, and he wants his son to have it. Nothing can describe how happy she was on that day." The grandma smiles while still staring to the light.
"Their happiness didn't last long though. Five days later, Stata and Leviathan heard an emergency call from the council of the lords, summoned them right away to the council. They had to leave their boy at home with his nanny and leave. Unknown to them, that summoning call turned out to be a test if the lords can immediately respond to the council when it needs them. It was a waste of time, and also started a tragedy, a reason why Stata can never forgive the council, and this world. When they came back to their house on the beach, their house was raided by the pirates and the nanny was killed. They tried to look everywhere desperately, but they couldn't find their baby. Stata was so heart broken and angry she went on a rampage to the sea, destroyed any pirate ship she found, killed many people, including pirates and innocent people who were captured on ships. She knew that her son was still alive, because a baby of two lords could be sold to a very high price on the black market to rich people. Many people think that if they eat the flesh of an off-spring of the lords, they can be immortal and become a lord themselves..."
Lenny stands up, and hits the table with his hand. "That is insane. Even if those things are true, he was just a baby."
The grandma looks at him, "It was just a myth, no one can ever prove it. We do not know the origin of all lords but most lords we know were getting their power directly from their godly parents. But the greedy nature of people often leads them to some blind beliefs. Stata was a hot-tempered lord, she couldn't forgive anyone who might stole her son, and she went to the sea for months, killing every people she saw with a pirate flag, mourning for her son. Quickly, she became the fear of all sailors, not just the pirates. Leviathan decided to stop her. He confronted her, and told her that his information leaded him to a conclusion that their baby was still alive and was taken to the Light Half. He promised her that he will find their son, bring him back and she needs to stop her madness. He then brought her the glowing blossom, showed her that his men found this blossom floating near the great border. The pirates didn't know its value and must threw it out of their baby's bassinet when they got there. He told her that he would go pass the great border to look for their son, even if his power would be neutralized when he is in the Light Half. Leviathan didn't forget to tell her that he will give her the flower back when he found their son.."
"Was that the same flower Stata found on the shore?"
"Yes, it was. Fifty years passed, even after countless trips to the Light Half, Leviathan couldn't find a single sign of his son. Stata slowly lost her hope, the darkness inside her slowly grew with time. She blamed the council for that emergency call on that day. That, and the death of Leviathan, were her motivation to destroy the world, and the lords with it."
"Her life is a tragic one.." Lenny sighs.
"Yes it is. Not until she released Hell on earth, she realized that Leviathan finally found their son. The glowing blossom was her ray of light, was her last hope. Their son must be on one of those metal ships..."
"Or he could be killed during the opening of the gate, or sank with some ships, couldn't he?" Lenny asks out of curiosity.
"He couldn't be. He is her and Leviathan's son, Hell fire or the sea cannot harm him. She knew that her son was still alive, but if she doesn't stop the madness of hell on her world, her son will never have a world to live in anymore."
"I see, so she managed to somehow stop all of that?"
"Yes she did. Being a daughter of Death, she can close or open the gate to hell anytime she wants, effortlessly. However, clearing the Hell Spawns on the surface is much harder. After three days of opening, the gate released hundreds of thousand beasts into this world, and they were scattered everywhere in those cities near the north sea. Within days, they could march into the main land and destroy the rest of the Dark Half and its people. I don't know if they can fly to the Light Half or not, because the halves are separated by large oceans, and most of them can't survive in water. Of course Stata knew that, so out of a desperate effort to save the world, she decided to use a forbidden spell to clear the monsters from existence. But that spell also costs the caster dearly..."
She pauses a bit, then continues, "It will consume all the life energy of the caster, and convert it into a circle of magical barrier that cast always all the evils inside it. Stata really didn't have any other choice, she hoped that her sacrifice can redeem her sins and save a future for her son. Most of the Hell Spawns were dissolved into the fog you can see around this house. That fog is not normal fog, it is their souls that were trapped here, in this world."
"Then what was the long figured that I saw inside the fog? Appet or so, I think."
"It's AAPEP. As I said, most of the hell spawns were killed, but they are the weak ones. The stronger one survived her spell, but couldn't leave the circle. AAPEP and others are still crawling out there, in this battle field. Even they will never be able to get into our main land, their presence is the reason why no human want to live in this place anymore."
"Just..just how big is her circle?"
"Well, it covered almost the north sea, the battle fields, the ruined cities. I think it covered one third of this Dark Half."
"Do you mean that we are now in the middle of a HUGE graveyard and there is no human near here?"
"Yes, it is basically that. Congrat! young boy, finally you understand the situation. Hahahaha". The granny laugh uncontrollably.
"STOP that laughing. I made me feel sick! But, to think about it. How do you still live here? why do you know all of this story? You told me no human could stay here anymore, right?"
Lenny asks her a series of questions, but then he stops and his eyes are wide opened. He cannot hide his surprise, "...are..are you Stata?"
The old woman looks at his face and smiled "Haha, no, that's ridiculous. Stata was one of the most beautiful woman in this world. Her beauty can bring any man into his knee without him even knows it. I am just an old, fat and ugly granny. Remember that I told you the spell would cost her her life?"
With his face less stressed, Lenny feel relieved. Even if he feels sorry for Stata, he still can't bear the fact that an all powerful mass murderer maniac woman could be sitting right in front of him. Deep inside, he knows that even if Stata sacrificed her life, her sins could never be cleansed, and Joe died because of her.
"That is a good news. Even she is a very pitiful mother, I still cannot forgive her for what she has done to my friends. But, then, if you are not her, nor a human, what are you? You don't seem to be scared of a strong hell spawn anyway, do you? Don't tell me you are a hell spawn..."
<To be continued>
The Lord of Fire begins to cast the Forbidden Spell, sacrifices herself
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