Chapter 10: Regret

"Do you feel hatred?" The half-blind woman asked the bleeding man, "Do you feel angry?" She asked again, the man paid no attention to the lady as he continued to walk on his path, "You cannot save her." She said. The bleeding man stopped walking in his tracks, looking back at the half-blind woman they were already a large distance apart, he thought she was just behind him asking foolish questions.

"Aaargh," he shouts and covers his face, jerking around and rampaging. He looks up again and he no longer sees the old, blind woman. "She will have to save you." But he still hears her voice.

"Heed my warning foolish king, one day thou will stay thyself, but the world will not! Stop thou foolish actions, you impertinent child!"

The man hears the voice, and yet, continues to walk forward. "You cannot save her," the voice screamed towards the man as he continued to walk onwards. "Truly a selfish act fit for the dreaded king." The voice mocked the man on days on end,

"Your power is worthless!" The voice shouted. As the man stood still refusing the grim truth, he looked back, and he saw his footsteps. Shining in a dark path, although they were his, the shape was not the same as his first step, the man had changed and so has his world.

"No longer am I at the mercy of the gods," he shouted holding the severed hands and feet of his foes. "No longer are they able to make such brutal nightmares, above or underneath the heavens!" as he throws down the remains of the last gods towards an empty void, the eyes of Heraldine the fierce god and the eyes of Theodore meet, "You are foolish." The last words uttered from the gods as they have been silenced for the first and last time in the history of humanity.

Sigh... "I have done it... Lydia, I hope I can build a world that will be fit for us, the improper, " As the bright shining hero Theodore rose to the highest point of Mount Olympus, bloodied from his battles, he looks behind and sees the mayhem and chaos he has caused. He smiled for this will be the last time bloodshed will be made for he has stopped the greedy and malicious gods from spreading their avarice. Theodore stabs his sword of light into the peak of mount Olympus and now travels around the world, stopping any malice from spreading... Or so he thought. "You are still powerless." A voice uttered from behind him, he turns around and sees the old half-blind woman.

"Why are you here?" He asks and she responded, "To help you." She raises one hand and gouges out her eye. Ripping out her only eye, she said "To see the future, one must lose thy sight of the present. To change the past, thy must be prepared to lose the future, thy must abandon thou past. Take my eye and consume it. To see the future, the past and the present thy must lose thou mind, heed my words no longer for thou has the power to change the world!" A bright glow emanated from the old woman, she is fading away.

"I... I can save her?!" He shouts, "You can, or you cannot, it all now depends on your heart." As she turned into orbs of light and disappears.

"Thank you," He says while grasping the eye, a bright ray of light shines upon him, looking up, Theodore sees a comet whizzing past him, "Ah... so this farce has been going on for another seventy-five years, what a sorrowful life it has been." He crushes the eye and drinks it. Consuming the eye caused his mind to be filled with thoughts from both the past and the present. Showing visions of his past life and his future ones.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" He shouts and curls in agony.

After three days and three nights, he sat on top of mount Olympus, out of energy yet has thoughts able to perceive everything. He has seen everything and yet he has not moved. A few moments of pause intertwine as he stood up and grasps the sword he plunged down on mount Olympus, he stabs it farther and farther, until it reaches the core of the earth. Placing his sword in front of the core of the earth, he leaves. Walking away from mount Olympus, he looks back at the giant mountain and lifts his hand, grasping the air and closing his fist, the entire mountain was crushed.

That was the last change he had done to the world of the gods, and now, he has sought to give help to them. To all of the needy people, to all of the suffering. He had become a symbol of hope, and Theodore the god's child was born.

Everything was fine for him, he would no longer require an alias and no more evil to fight. Walking down the road all happy as he can be, a little girl bumps into him. She fell on her bottom and Theodore quickly knelt to help her up. Reaching out a hand, towards her, he says "I apologize for that miss,"

She grabbed his hand and said, "It's fine, I'm sorry, I was not looking where I was going." Time slowed down as he recognized the face of the girl, "N-no... This cannot be!" he shouted in his head. Looking at her face, he knew for sure, no doubt in his mind. That the girl he bumped into accidentally and helped up was Lydia.

As she turned around and walked away in front of him, he could not do anything. His grasp was loosened thinking of any way to interact with her, he shouts "W-wait!" She stopped and turned around, looking towards Theodore, his heart was about to burst for his emotions want to come out. "P-please t-take this!" As he hands her an exquisite earring, he lowers his head to avoid eye contact.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I do not think I can afford such an expensive-looking thing." She said towards Theodore. "Oh, no, it's not expensive at all! This is just a customary gift I give to thy first lady I meet in town!" Blushing, she grabs the earring and says "thank you... I guess?" As they both part ways.

Once again, he is left alone. "Aahhh, so thy have seen the reincarnation?" A scraggly voice said behind him. Turning around, he sees the old blind woman again.

"reincarnation...?" Theodore asked "ha ha ha... The human soul is such a fickle thing," reincarnation of people is possible... Does that mean... "It does, but not just people, every living being is given new breath again." the old lady said "You... Can read my thoughts?" Theodore said,

"Haha! Ever since thy has lost sight I attained another ability. " The old lady laughed heartily as Theodore was nudged more and more to protecting humanity.

"Who are you, you've not said your name," he asked the blind old lady, "some call me Odin some call me Zeus but my real name is Lilith."

Theodore nods his head and says "I see... Then why are you so fond of me?"

She cracks a smile and said "you'll know in time hahaha!" she laughs as she disappeared into the smoke.

"More and more strange events are occurring," he said as he continued to walk towards the plaza.

"Blah! This thieving conniving girl!" A man shouts in the distance, a crowd gathers around the enraged man as he shouts more and more insults towards someone.

Theodore walked by slowly as he ignored the huge crowd and went about his business.

"Where was it again?" He asked himself while scratching his head, sighing a breath he continues to stroll around the town.

After an afternoon of walking around the town, he finally sights the building he was trying to find all day. "After all this time," he says with a tear in his eye. Feeling a lump swell up from his throat, he kneels in front of a house and cries. The people inside of the house knew not of Theodore and just looked at him as he bawls like a baby outside of their abode. After a few moments, a man came out of the house all annoyed at the crying Theodore.

"I don't know thy circumstances, but can ya please stop doin that in front of my house? you're scaring my kids." The man looked on with pity in his eyes. Theodore, being conscious about his surroundings, nods his head and says sorry for the strange behavior he exhibited. Wiping away the tears and snot coming out of his orifices, the man hugs him.

"I don't know who you are, nor do I care, but even though I and my family are poor, we're still humans, aren't we? So chin up, some days will get better!"

After a moment of silence, Theodore said farewell to the kind man and they parted ways. The house Theodore visited was the house where he and Lydia had met, remembering the memories he had with her was enough for him to break down in tears, for it was the only fond and happy moments he had in his life.

The kind act the man showed him warmed his heart, as he kept going on and on about how he will protect the humans, his morale was at an all-time high as he looks towards the future. His heart was brimming with all kinds of positive emotions as he kept on cruising along the lit streets of the town.

"Hello again," The voice of an old lady said beside him, "Lilith?" he asks "Why, yes, we meet again. It must be fate that we're so... Interconnected."

"Oh, I see. Well, it was nice meeting you! I'd best be on my way, I have a lot more work to do."

"Aren't thou searching to find her?" Lilith smirked, "Her? Whom dost thou speak of?"

"Why who else of course? Thy beloved reincarnation, a bejeweled rose in a field of lilacs. Thy one and only." The old lady was cloaked in a thick black fog, she kept talking on and on, and as the moments pass by, her words reached inside of my head.

"H-HAS SOMETHING HAPPENED TO HER?!" I shouted. "Why yes, thou could say... She is now in the afterlife rather, in the brink of it." The fog cleared and the blind old woman had transformed into a tall, luscious woman with raven black hair and alabaster skin, wearing a wine red dress adorned with red and black roses and a red bonnet with crows' feathers on top of it.

"ah, much better," she says while smiling towards Theodore. "take me to her," he demanded she chuckles and says "follow me," they both walk away from the street and go around all sorts of alleyways, after a bit of walking around, they arrive at the plaza.

The sight that befell Theodore's eyes could not believe it. Another time she was innocent and was wronged.

Biting his lips as he slowly walked towards the lady in shredded clothes, she had gashes all over her precious skin and her clothes were tattered. Blood was smeared all around where she was sitting and the scene that was displayed was enough for anyineto lose their composure.

"kukukuk, is thy going to destroy this town?" Lilith asked, "dost thou not able to control thyself?" she irked for me to be mad, "when doest thou stop dawdling with their thumbs and protect thy loved ones."

A dreadful silence befalls the plaza in which Theodore was standing. Lilith walked towards the side of Theodore and she took a sudden step back. Her legs were trembling and her eyes widened. "art thou going to do it again?"

Taking a deep breath, Theodore lifted the dying body of Lydia's reincarnation.

Her breathing was weak and anyone could tell she had moments to live, she opens her eyes and fear struck her entire face.

"W-Why?!" she shouted "I thought thy was a nice man, but... thou is nothing but a... criminal, a disgusting lowlife," she said as she looks at Theodore. "Please... Put me down, because of you and your friend, my life is at a breaths distance from the darkness, I am bleeding all over... and my death is imminent, doest thy not have any sympathy anymore?"

Theodore bites his lips even harder as he puts her down gently. He shows a smile towards her and in a moment, he pierces her heart with a sword of light. Lilith, shocked by what she has seen decides to go even further away from Theodore.

"Hey, Lilith, former Odin, Zeus, and other gods," he said while his back was still turned, Lilith continued to step back, she eventually hit a wall and she could no longer go further away.

Theodore stands up from the fountain and pulls out his sword, the sword once made of brilliant white light and was emanating a bright sense of justice, had now become a jagged and crude shape, and the color from once a radiant white light had now turned blood red.

"Lilith, in whom does thou loyalty lie? The gods? Or the humans?" Theodore walks towards Lilith.

Fearing for her own life, she bolts out of the plaza, running as fast as she could, turning to a black fog now and again all to gain distance. But to no avail. There was a barrier encapsulating the whole town, she could not escape for it was made of a thick light and could not be broken.

"Lilith." she hears behind her, Lilith's eyes widen as she turns around.

What she saw was not anger, nor hate, Theodore's face was showing a frown, tears streaming from his eyes.

Theodore embraces Lilith and says "I'm sorry," as he plunges his sword straight through the heart of Lilith, "W-why?" she asks, Theodore only said

"I'm sorry." as life force was continued to get sucked from her until she was only a few breaths from dying.

He pulled the sword out and Lilith was left on the street, Theodore carried the dying body of Lilith and placed it on the fountain, "Hey Lilith, is it okay for me to destroy this town?"

If he destroys this town, it would impact civilization greatly, the city is the central hub of merchants and all goods. No one can stop Theodore.

He says "I'm sorry." as Theodore stabs his blood-red sword into the ground and a pillar of light erected in the middle of the town and expanded outwards. All the citizens were eradicated, no buildings were left in sight, no signs of people, no signs of civilization.

The city of Atlantis had disappeared from all the physical planes and what was once a sprawling hub for all merchants and businesses alike, was destroyed in one night, the reason alone was the wrath of one man.

Standing in a field of yellow daffodils, Theodore looks on towards the ocean, reminiscing his quiet and bitter moments, he shows a meek display of his stature as he kneels down and erects another blank gravestone. "I... Am sorry," He said as tears drop from his eyes. He had placed twenty-five thousand blank gravestones all by hand to atone for what he had done. But sadness still loomed over his head, guilt consumes his heart as he is more and more pushed down towards the abyss that has been placed behind his spirit.

"You cannot change what you had done." A voice said behind him, "You made a mistake."

"You were wrong." hearing those words, he turns around and draws a sword, but, there was no one else in the field with him. He was the only person standing in the vast field filled with daffodils and gravestones.

Taking a deep breath, he sheathes his sword and walks towards a cliff, he takes in another view of the world he had loved and embeds it deep into his mind. After some moments of silence, Theodore takes out a dagger bejeweled with beautiful gems, a dagger made of gold and silver. Gleaming in the overcast sky, he raises the dagger and it lights up. Taking another deep breath, he stabs himself in the stomach.

Writhing in pain, he falls to the ground. Tossing and turning as the light continued to shine he screams in agony as the pain was unbearable.

After an extended amount of time, the dagger had stopped shining, and all the gems' colors faded away, the precious stones turned into nothing more than worthless rocks, and the gold and silver embedded unto the dagger had become stone.

Theodore, lying on his back in the field of daffodils looks on to the starry night and ponders. After a whole night, he rises and a light emanated from his skin, he paid no mind to it as he walked towards the final gravestone he had placed. "I will make it right." The light formed a ball around him as he sat down.

After three days and nights, a crack started to form on the outside of the sphere, it cracks open and two creatures emerged from the ball.

"Strange... I feel... Happy?" One of the two creatures said,

"I feel... Sad." The other one replied.

"We must... Continue this ritual, yes yes." said the person.

"Yes... We must." He replied.

"What is thy name?" The first man asked. "Ernest, And what is thy name?" The second man questioned. "C-Cassius." The first man said.

Cassius and Ernest have been born into the world. They knew not of their origins, but they had a purpose embedded into their very being. To protect the people, and to protect their loved ones. No one knows who is supposed to do which is which. Even to this day, they wander around the world looking for their purpose. They have been... Reborn as the clock continues to chime in on their never ending story.