Morphus: "No…no…no! This can't be happening! Not again!"
During the fall of Anhelium, in his original world of Elam, gods and their heroes raided the floating island of angels.
Their goal was to massacre every last living angel.
He was supposed to flee with Tauriel, only for her to shield him from a killing blow and push him into a Mirror of Anhelium, an experimental one-way portal that led to who knew where.
He did not manage to escape unscathed, with his right hand cut off, and divine arrows piercing into his flesh, even though he made it to the other side of the portal, his body was about to be destroyed, leaving nothing behind.
In desperation, he resorted to using a forbidden technique in order to survive the ordeal by implanting his core into an animal that was passing by.
Angels had no souls, but they could cheat death to a certain extent by creating a core within their body, in the form resembling a jewel.
If their original body was destroyed or damaged beyond repair, they could implant their core in a vessel, allowing them to live on through it.
It was risky maneuver and not all angels could do it, requiring a certain degree of talent and skill. After Lucifer taught them how to do so, Tauriel and a few other angels tried, but only Morphus managed to pull of the creation of the core.
To say that day was a traumatic experience would be an understatement.
He lost his people. His race.
He lost his original reality.
He lost the girl he loved.
He lost his original body.
Seemingly, just in an instant, he lost everything that once mattered.
And to make the matters worse, he was trapped in another realm, which he later learned was called Alem, with no way to go back.
After spending a few years as one of the Shadows in the Order of Darkness, Morphus found a rare discovery, a female angel by the name of Zephyr, petrified within a stone statue.
Most of the angels of Alem were either dead or enslaved, with them being turned into mindless puppets of gods. It was a kind of corruption that describing them as walking corpses would not be inaccurate.
They once tried to capture an angel who was bound to a god and to do something about the power that bound him, only for the angel to burn to ashes right before them. It seems all the enslaved angels came with a failsafe and only death led to their escape from the hell gods have imposed on them.
Over time, Zephyr and Morphus grew close, eventually becoming lovers, and were planning on leaving the Order of Darkness at some point to have a chance at a future, maybe even a family…
Those hopes did not last long.
During one of the many scuffles they had with their enemies, Zephyr suffered a fatal blow at the hands of a hero, and worse yet, she was trying to protect Morphus.
The divine spear the hero wielded, stabbing through her body took away any chances of her surviving.
There was nothing Morphus could do but watch his mate fade away in his arms.
For a moment, the hero's eyes met with Morphus's piercing glare.
Both wanted nothing more than to kill the other.
A magical explosion interrupted them, and both sides were forced to retreat. Morphus made sure to memorize the face of the one who took away his lover.
With Zephyr gone, following Dark Lord and his insane crusade against the gods was the only thing Morphus had left.
They lost many along the way.
Meros barely made it out alive from one battle while Lukalis went missing, her body was never found.
Each step of the way, one after another, their friends and allies dwindled in numbers.
Dark Lord tried to minimize the losses as much as possible using his affliction, but something had definitely changed.
They knew this was not a game they could win, but they played it anyways.
All who joined the Order of Darkness had a death wish, they knew that much, but losing your friends never stopped being painful.
And at last, it happened.
They managed to plunge kingdoms into an enormous war and it made it impossible for gods to not get involved.
Minor gods were small fries, but Dark Lord wanted to catch the attention of the ones who were up higher among their ranks…
He succeeded. But at what price?
Every member of Order of Darkness was dead, except for Dark Lord and Morphus.
The gods and their heroes have set out to destroy everything and everyone tied to the Dark Lord.
Dark Lord knew this was likely the end, yet he wanted to face it regardless.
"Did you really think that toy is enough to face me? You are so beyond comical"
It was a feminine voice, one Dark Lord knew all too well.
The goddess of time, Chronos.
Before he could use the dagger on her, with a single gesture, the dagger shattered into countless pieces, falling all over the floor.
Dark Lord was not deterred. He decided to simply go out swinging.
Unfortunately, the girl had other plans, simply blasting him with a concussive beam, sending him flying.
When Morphus caught up to him, he saw, to his horror, not only Dark Lord was injured, his body was starting to disappear, starting from his legs, slowly but surely.
"Did you think you could escape me, with my own power, no less? Unfortunately for you, boy, your luck has run out. Lord Solaris is most displeased with the mess you have created, so my game, sadly, has to be put to a halt"
Morphus: "Runfar, stay with me!"
Morphus placed his hand upon Dark Lord's chest, hoping against hope that he could do something, anything…
His friend was fading from existence and fast, not just his body, but his soul as well.
"What we have here? An angel?"
With a click of her fingers, the time for everyone but Chronos was stopped.
Even the servants accompanying Chronos were frozen.
She really wanted to take her time enjoying this.
"The boy caused so much trouble in such short time…erasing him from existence is such a light sentence, but Lord Solaris wants everything reset back right away…but it seems I will not be going back empty handed."
Angels were a novelty, because of their rarity, with most of them extinct, claiming one as a slave was something of a status symbol among gods.
Still, she could not help but think she once had a servant, the angel before her reminded her of him… but she could not remember who it was…
With the time stopped, she was the one in control, the one who controlled it all.
Aside from Lord Solaris, not even the other Primary Gods, Solaris's direct servants, could resist her power over time.
She came in close and put her hand underneath Morphus's chin, lifting up his face a bit.
"This one is a nice specimen. I will enjoy taking my time breaking you"
She smiled wickedly, eager to play with her new toy.
The only reason she could get so close without a care was because of her absolute belief in her power over time. In the realm where time stood still, she was the only one who had power.
Yes, the only one who mattered….
She felt a cold and wet sensation, suddenly, blood started to pool up in her mouth.
She looked down, and to her horror, she realized she was skewered with what only could be described as black tentacles or wings, in the shape of piercing needles.
It was so fast…
But the time was stopped…
How could he…
Chronos could not break free.
For some reason, her body was paralyzed and quickly losing power, even her divine power did not activate to regenerate her wound.
The angel moved slower than before, but there was no mistaking it, he was moving in her time frozen world.
Then, their eyes met, the left eye was blue, but the right eye was glowing red, filled with overwhelming killing intent.
He spoke, but this time, it was different, much deeper, almost like it was coming from someone far older.
"This is the end for you, bitch"
That was the last thing she heard before her head was stabbed through with another tentacle wing and was separated from her body.