Gone Astray (3)

Aziel sucked the soul out of Deman.

Wooden planks and patches of bright colors turned mottled and twisted within the place Deman is absorbed into. The sound of people clamoring quickly receding with waves of scorching fire.

His hands propped against the white walls where his being is scalded, the blood flowing from his fingers rapidly vaporized in the raging flames; however, Deman felt no pain. He couldn't hear anything at all.

The scenes of him beating Larra replayed like a silent videotape and the other times he neglected the call of virtue.

"Larra... No! What have I done?"

Aziel discovered that Deman at some point truly cared for Larra based on the expression Deman gave. But that is not enough. His anger could not subside.

Did Deman felt regretful?

No matter how many times the same scene replayed in his sight, the only thing he could hear is his own hot, hoarse breath, gasping for air.

"Noo... I never mean you harm. My wife... how did I end up beating you?"

Deman is stuck in guilt as he watches himself repeatedly bashing Larra to the ground of the very same house he had built.

In that space, he is holding a shovel. From a distance, the figure of Aziel morphing to a scarier version that is similar to a beast crawled to him. He raised his shovel at the figure slowly stepping out from the sea of fire.

*SWING!*

The figure is getting closer.

*SWING!*

*WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH!*

He continued to swing the shovel at his hands, shooing away the dreaded figure that is approaching him.

"No! Don't get near me!!! Where the fuck am I?!"

The shovel went right through the illusory figure as if slashing through empty air, soundlessly throwing themselves into the flames.

It dawns on him what this place is...

"Am I in hell?"

Questioning himself, his sanity is fading. That is right. Aziel wanted to punish his soul for what he has done to Larra. He wants him to feel fear so he created this space to torture Deman.

Deman's grip loosened, and the shovel dropped onto the ground before him, letting out a barely perceptible clatter in the sea of fire.

"Why did you make her life a living hell?"

He heard a voice that sounded like a wolf growling come from behind him, carrying craggy laughter by his ear. In an instant, a hand covered his face and the voice said once again,

"From this day onwards, this shall become your hell!"

Flames erupted burning his flesh. he tried to extinguish the flames but as he did, it only became worst.

For the one-thousand-and-one hundredth time, he turned around. Yet, no matter how much effort he put in, he could never remove the fire that is eating his flesh. The clear picture of the figure in this nightmarish landscape is still there.

And the scenes of him tossing and kicking his dear wife...

"Stare at it, think how wrong it does to her!"

"Please... stop! I can't bear to look at it no more."

No matter how hard he shakes his head, it will never be erased. Poor Deman, he became a victim of Aziel's madness. Introduce someone to this something called infatuation, and a strong attraction to women, and this is what you get. A man who is deprived by the taste of the sweetness of falling in love.

Even if Aziel is an angel, he is still a man. His strong sense of justice that he had to punish anyone who harms his object of adoration is quite disgusting.

But that's just how it is. The curse of a pretty woman. Even if she is not doing anything or meant anything bad, unknowingly she causes men to sin. That is not her fault. It's men's fault.

Such is the case with Larra.

Deman is frightened and reduced into a helpless blob, the horrible figure has gotten close, and continued to speak,

"I want you to feel guilt and be remorseful for all the things you have done," said the figure with a smile.

"This is the end for you… forever. You will be trapped here and even if you beg me that you will change... That you shall repent... No! It will never come!"

Deman shut his eyes. With his final thread of consciousness, he could hear the wailing of Larra, however, the blazing fire devoured everything; as the earth trembled and cracked, countless ropes reached out, tying his corporeal body and dragging him alive into the pitch-black abyss…

***

Back at the Tavern, the owner together with some group of strong men took the corpse of Deman and decided to deliver it to the nearby Church. They are discussing how to tell this to Larra, for they know that Larra is a faithful wife.

She might get mad if she learned that her husband died. After all, Larra is dependent on Deman.

"How would she pay her debts now?"

The scrawny youngster who helped the owner asked apprehensively, almost like a whisper tickling the ears of men present. Both of his hands were clamping the ends of the cart's handle where Deman's body is laid upon.

"Why don't you pay it for her since you are this worried? hehe,"

An old man sarcastically joked as he gave a slight chuckle.

"Well, Larra is a beautiful wife. I'd replace mine to her anytime hehe"

And another man chimed in as if Deman's corpse is not there. They disrespected Deman for they know he is no longer there.

"You guys... quit it."

The owner of the Tavern gave the group a mean stare. He felt responsible for the death of Deman.

Deman's body is overwhelmingly huge as if a giant boulder of meat. They struggled to carry his body so they just dragged it to the church.

A few hours passed when they reached the church.

They were greeted by the priest. Seeing a corpse made the priest sigh as he went to take up his garments. For him, it is just one of his other duties as a priest, but Arcadia is Arcadia—a mortal realm. It is rare to see people getting killed.

Normally, people here only died due to sickness or of old age.

Aziel is also there, observing the mortals. It amused him to witness that there is a church built here in homage to the heavenly God. Once again it reminded him of his sins. He shook his head as he felt that his wings are shredding even faster.

But as the ceremony of blessing the corpse proceeded, Aziel is assaulted by thoughts he never thought throughout his entire existence.

Something an Angel would never ask.

'Is this how mortals lived?'

A deep desire of wanting to learn burned in his heart.

'Is it possible to understand them more?'

A drop of tear flowed out from his eyes. Aziel realized that killing a mortal even if he justified it as taking revenge for justice is evil. Him, controlling the machete to levitate and pierce Deman's throat replayed.

"I... what have I done?"

Didn't he hear this from Deman earlier?

'So this is what it meant to feel remorse?'

After several minutes, a crazy idea sprung in his head.

"If that is what this is, I wish to understand mortals more! I envy that they can feel this kind of emotions... these rapid beating and angst on my chest..."

Aziel held a fist across his chest, beating it hard. At that moment, Aziel had forgotten who he is. The Church that represented his Father failed to even stop him.

His desire to be human and to feel more after getting introduced to what these feelings are, burst forth!

At that moment, Aziel had truly gone astray...