Birth of a Demon (2)

Impure thoughts lead to sin, but can you blame him? With the paintings and symbols of God reflecting that this Church belonged to the Heavenly God, how funny that his angel—Aziel right in front of his sacred presence is about to commit the gravest sin.

Black, darker than the night itself. It engulfed the entirety of Aziel's body, consumed in his own passion. Aziel leaps from the banister as he dived towards a mortal vessel—Deman's cold corpse.

Unbeknownst to him, his soul is already tainted.

The cause?

An angel's love towards a woman.

This act of overtaking a mortal by possessing its body is forbidden among the angels. There is none in history since the beginning did any angel violated this. Simply because most of the angels thought that doing that is disgusting!

As if putting themselves low by assuming a mortal's physique.

'God... I might've become crazy...'

Aziel closed his eyes as his being tried to consume all the remaining soul essence left behind by Deman in his now, new vessel.

But on this night, Aziel the Seraph became true to his desires. He violated another law he must not.

When mortals die they leave behind their essence... the memories... all his life work is there, like strands of fine hair tangled together. Soon, Aziel's form ruptured, transforming and changing its shape. It began to look like Deman's.

Just as the priest who is currently forming the last gesture before throwing his incantation for the blessing to finish...

Shadows of light wrap around Deman's corpse. It emitted a black aura which made the people surrounding Deman to step back.

"What in the world?!"

The priest's eyes are the first one to open wide and with his shout, the others who faked their gesture of sympathy also open their eyes.

What greeted them is the body of Deman glowing. The dark light from earlier swirls to produce golden rays similar to the rising sun in the morning. Dark aura changing, channeling to something bright...

At the center of it all, Aziel scanned the life of Deman as he possessed its body. Indeed, he did love Larra at least. But that is not enough for him to cruelly punish her day after day.

They say when you die, you witness your life passing through and replaying like a theatrical opera. That is exactly what Aziel is seeing at this moment. Though he never died, he felt the same way how mortals die.

He is experiencing a rebirth, going through the process of sublimation and synthesizing his very being. As he watches himself drawn to a corridor where his spirit shall dwell from now on, a tunnel greeted him.

Those are the memories of Deman.

It seems like, Deman used to be the only son of a wealthy traveling merchant family. Larra is just a young little girl back then when the two met each other. Deman's family decided to settle at Arcadia for its prospects of growth and trade since the island of Arcadia serves as a landing port for both tourists and citizens living within the range of influence that the nearby kingdom has.

Yeah, it's a small town but its potential is vast.

Aziel could not point out what Kingdom the nearby land is, the memories were hazy. The ones he is seeing right now were all just fragments from the most important events Deman left behind.

While Deman appears to be of a well family, Larra's family on the other hand is nothing but a simple herb gatherer with lots of debts to pay. It is not of Deman's family to learn it yet...

Both Deman and Larra grew as childhood friends and Larra's father often visited the shop of Deman's family where they mainly sell tools for the farmers. That's how the two developed their relationship as they grew up. From sweet innocent little ones to more daring young adults, the two eventually confessed to each other.

Aziel's heart began to ache at this point.

Deman held it dear... The time Larra kissed him during the falling rain at the bridge connecting the tollgate from the Kingdom to the town of Arcadia.

In that kiss was the sweetness of passion, a million loving thoughts condensed into a moment. Something that Aziel will never have.

It was pretty... she was pretty.

Another strong emotion sparked from the null heart of the fallen angel—Jealousy.

Deman used to be handsome is what Aziel could say. Not until he became too fat and his eyebags grow from all the bottles of wine he drank.

Learning about their children's situation, the two brothers—the father of Deman and the father of Larra decided to allow things to happen. But when things became rough, Larra's father decided to marry her daughter to Deman so they could pay their debts using the dowry given by the groom to his bride. That dowry can either be in form of money or land.

As to how their relationship turned sour?

This is where the debts of Larra's Family came to be known.

Deman has liked Larra since the day they met, it's just like Aziel. Men were simple-minded fools no matter what they are, they see something pretty and you get their attention so easily. That's how they started but it ended in Deman mistreating his wife. Because little did the family of Deman knew, Larra's family had a huge debt to the Baron ruling at the nearby land from the island of Arcadia.

The dowry is not enough and when the Baron learned that Larra had married into Deman's family, he ordered his soldiers to demand some payment from the family of Deman. They even denied Larra's affiliation with them, but yeah it was futile! They were forced to give away their family business.

Of course, Deman's father did not sit idly, that very same day he planned to attack the caravan holding all of their property. That's what got him killed.

Deman's father's wife got widowed in an instant and became poor overnight. This incident went to Deman's reddish ears. He became enraged and since that day, his treatment of Larra changed!

From a loving husband to a worst kind of monster, that is what Deman is...

'You have that one thing I want but you did not cherish it... If I can't have what you had... then I'll become you!'

"I am Deman."

Aziel, who had been deep in the afterglow, woke up from his thoughts. Assuming the mortal vessel of the mortal he hated.

Ironically, it is a drastic turn of events! Unprecedented in the history of Angels! Aziel violated the forbidden act! It is the birth of a demon!