Lone angel walked through the empty halls of the Sevilles Mansion.
Memories flooded into his mind, one after another, his eyes filled with tears.
The plan began with one of his previous iterations.
After his attempts to recreate the angelic race by infusing his test subjects and subordinates with angelic essence ended up showing no satisfactory results, he turned his attention to the pawns of gods.
While his previous iterations suffered countless defeats against gods, in some cases, what made the difference between victory and defeat was not the power of gods, but their demi-gods and heroes.
One such hero was Sagyn Finnerman, Hero of Tiger.
Some heroes were chosen, some were born, and some have acquired their powers.
Such was the case for 12 heroes who were either born or chosen to represent the 12 Zodiac. Apparently, this system, alongside many others was created long time ago by Solaris and Primary Gods in order to create heroes for humanity.
Sagyn was someone who acquired his power by pushing himself to his limit, with the Spirit of the Zodiac granting him the blessing of the Tiger.
Killing the heroes was not exactly a feat worth mentioning, however, this Sagyn was responsible for stopping Morphus in 3 previous iterations, not through power, but through perseverance and pure ingenuity. He was someone truly formidable, someone who could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
When Sagyn managed to stop one of Morphus's subordinates, one of his less than successful attempts to create an artificial angel, previous Morphus knew he was the one.
12 Zodiacs gave each user a single special ability.
In Sagyn's case, it was his ability to temporarily split himself into identical copies of himself, each having only half a soul and half the abilities of the original.
Sagyn himself likely never realized the true potential of his special ability, since each copy was weaker than his original self, with him believing its sole merit was the ability to be in two places at the same time.
But Morphus knew better.
A soul that was not whole could resist and if done right, even go against fate.
As an angel, Morphus was immune to fate, so he could cause enormous amount of damage on his own, but having a hero who was also immune to fate complicated things.
Killing him again and again would be such a waste. Perhaps he was not the problem, but the solution.
The idea of causing the downfall of gods using one of their own heroes was beyond diabolical, it was brilliant.
It took a lot of work, but in the end, 12th Morphus succeeded in capturing Sagyn Finnerman when he was split in two.
If two halves were not in same reality, they could never recombine, but he needed one to survive long enough to fulfill Morphus's plans, someone with half a soul would not survive long without some interference.
Having collected soul fragments of his many deceased subordinates and foes, Morphus infused them into one half of Sagyn Finnerman.
He only needed one of him, the other one, he chucked him into a portal created by shard copy of Mirror of Anhelium, into some other realm, he did not care where he ended up, as long as it was another realm.
Of his many experiments, while he did manage to create his own version of Mirror of Anhelium, he never did manage to create one that led back to Elam. Instead, they led to some random reality, and was essentially a one-way trip. But it was a perfect way to dispose of the half soul of this man.
Erasing his memories, implanting suggestions, dropping him at the doorstep of a former angel, now a Reaper, bound to the Aspect of Death, and then having Mrakus manipulate Chronos into finding out the one angel who refused to serve her now had a human subordinate of her own….
Everything went exactly as planned.
Gods could not be permanently killed off unless the Ruler of Time was eliminated, and that was much easier said than done.
Many times, when Morphus and his allies managed to come close to victory, Chronos would simply reset everything, bringing back their fallen forces, and all their efforts ended up meaningless.
It was clear, if they had any shot at killing Solaris, Chronos had to be killed off. This way, Solaris would lose his reset button, his most useful trump card.
That being said, Solaris was the most powerful among the gods, strong enough that not even Chronos could stop him.
However, Chronos could do what none else could, reset the world and make it that something never happened to begin with. If there was an error or miscalculation or inconvenience, Chronos could easily erase the board and the game could start all over again.
Achieving any kind of victory was meaningless as long their foes could turn back time.
Chronos was well known for torturing those far weaker than her, not just inflicting suffering, but breaking their will until they turned vegetative.
What she did not realize was this was exactly what Morphus was counting on.
Usually, a blessing would take almost half a lifetime to mature, if not longer, but Morphus modified half of Sagyn Finnerman, now known as Nur Finnerman, so that the Ouroboros blessing would mature quicker, growing in potency after each use.
This was why, it only took a little less than a decade for the blessing to reach a point where it could be extracted and modified, allowing Chronos to be killed with her own power.
It was the irony at its best.
If this was the 12th Morphus, he would be beaming with joy at how perfectly his plan was executed.
But the 13th Morphus, the latest and current iteration, the past version that inherited the collective baggage of 1 through 12th selves, he was devastated.
Everything was his fault. And yet, he was also innocent in all of this.
As contradictory as it was, it was true.
When he entered the Sevilles mansion, it was an obvious ambush.
Apparently, due to her inability to predict Nur's actions, Chronos sent her subordinates, lesser gods and demi-gods to this location, in order to catch them off guard and lay an ambush, in case they came here.
They never expected it to become a one-sided slaughter.
After ending each and every one of them, Morphus silently walked across the halls, looking for any survivors.
Sadly, Chronos's subordinates were very thorough.
Every single person who lived in this mansion was murdered.
Of particular note was the lifeless body of Sariu Lixus. Young woman in the prime of her youth, having grown up to be quite a charming lady, now sleeping forever.
As an angel, Morphus had no attraction to human beings, but he did understand that for all intents and purposes, Sariu was pretty much Runfar/Nur's wife or mate.
She was to Dark Lord what Zephyr was to Morphus.
She may have been replacement for Dark Lord's lost love, but she still loved him regardless…and now…
Now both were gone.
"I am sorry"
"You should be"
It was a male voice.
Morphus looked behind him.
Standing across the hallway was an embodiment of Death, a Reaper.
While they were known as Primordial Gods in this world, they were merely fragments of universal concepts, embodying the Beginning and the End.
Olim, the Primordial God of Death, was just a fragment of the End. He took mercy upon the surviving angels, in his own twisted way, and converted them into reapers, but in the process, he altered them into something entirely different.
They were no longer angels, but agents of death.
If Olim was a fragment, Reapers were fragments of a fragment.
Reaper: "You killed my father"
Morphus: "I did."
He knew exactly who this Reaper was.
"You are Nur's kid, aren't you? Are you here for revenge?"
Reaper: "I want to. I want it so much to the point of madness! But I cannot. EVEN THOUGH I WANT IT SO MUCH!"
Reaper punched Morhus, only for his hand to slip through him. It was as if a ghost was trying grasp the living.
He may be fragment, but he still was Death. He could not defy the rules, even if he desperately wanted to.
Until Morphus met his final end, Reaper could not claim him, much less touch him.
Morphus: "If it is of any consolation kid, I am sorry"
Reaper: "Sorry does not bring him back!"
Morphus: "True enough"
Reaper: "Do you realize the magnitude of what you have done?"
Morphus: "If I had to guess…. Creation of two timelines, separated by a point, one where I receive my memories and power, and one where I do not, and stay just an oblivious angel child. Since Finnerman died because of me, in the alternate timeline, he should still be alive. As a Fragment of the End, you should be able to travel there, eventually. Well, at least in theory…. not that I had any way of confirming it."
The ones who created the realms, in a general sense, were believed to be the embodiments of Beginning and the End, Life and Death.
Nothing else was truly known about them.
Olim was the fragment of the End, Reapers he commanded were fragments of a fragment. And a child born to a Reaper and a mortal would be even smaller fragment of a fragment of a fragment. Much diluted, but still potent.
Looking closer at him, the Reaper was clearly a young man. The one Runfar talked about was but a child.
To get to his current level of strength and arrive in this time, it must have taken him a long time and effort. And even then, he could only arrive where many died, not before it happened.
With more effort, he might be able to enter the alternate timeline, much like seeing the dark side of the moon, but for Morphus, this was irrelevant.
His current actions have shaped the main timeline, and that was all he cared about.
Reaper: "Even if a timeline exists where they all still live… Were they just toys for you?"
Morphus: "No. They were all my friends. But they were also a means to an end."
Reaper: "You bastard!"
Morphus: "I have been called worse by worse"
Reaper: "Hear me and hear me well. When the time comes for your final end…. The one who will reap you will be me!"
Morphus closed both his eyes, one blue and one red.
Even if the alternate realities did theoretically exist, those that could access them were the ones who presided over Beginning and end. Could a mere fragment of a fragment of a fragment truly enter them?
For everyone else, including the gods, this was the reality.
The kid's threat was nothing to joke about.
Who knew what happened after death, since Morphus never did truly die, the 1 through 12th versions were erased, not killed.
The Reaper boy's words carried a rather heavy weight.
Perhaps he did deserve a fate worse than death.
'Only if I die in Alem, that is'
Morphus: "Looking forward to it"
Morphus opened his eyes, now both of them were pure crimson.
All the friends and subordinates of his previous iterations were erased from existence, and all the friends of his current self were now dead.
While he did achieve killing Chronos, making ultimate victory against gods and Solaris no longer impossible, who knew such an important victory would be so lonely.
None to celebrate with, cheer him on, or congratulate him.
It was a victory all right, but was it worth all the lives erased and sacrificed?
Unfolding his wings, Morphus soared into the sky.
With Chronos gone, the gods and their king Solaris were his next targets.
His path was clear. If he stopped now, all the sacrifices would have been in vain.
Even if he failed and this vengeful Reaper claimed him, Morphus could not back down. He had to pay his dues. The others paid the price, it was simply his turn. He had to see it through.
Even if his path was singular, reckless, and most likely suicidal, Morphus had to keep going. Even if each step brought him closer and closer to Death's Door. He had come too far to stop. He no longer had the right to look back.
Only forward.
Postscript
This concludes the series of Death's Door, but the story is not over!
The story is continued in the sequel series, Angel of Darkness, link below.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/58744/angel-of-darkness-tale-of-noir/chapter/994567/volume-1-chapter-1-creature-from-beyond
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/58744/angel-of-darkness-tale-of-noir
Enjoy!