The Kind of Evil-Chapter 487: A title, not a name.
Everyone gathered at the mass grave that they spent a whole day digging to bury at least a million soldiers that fell during the war. Marina offered them to create the mass grave for them, but they chose to dig it themselves as their last attempt to pay respect to the fallen brothers and sisters. Nobody could stand staring down at the pit of where the corpses were stacked neatly. Aurelia was the only one standing on the edge of the pit and stared at the only coffin at the top of the stack, the coffin of her mother, Astrea.
"Please, mother... escort them to heaven," Aurelia said, and that was the only words she said to her mother after she found out that Astrea had died. "Please bury them, Lady Marina," she looked over her shoulder at where Marina was.
Marina nodded and slowly spread her arms before they moved inward and the soil slowly filled the mass grave. All the bodies were slowly being devoured by the soil as if they were sinking into water. After Marina closed the mass grave, it looked like vast flattened land, hiding a million bodies underneath.
"I will create a statue here, above the grave. A statue of a massive stone coffin with the names of the fallen carved on it," Aurelia said as she slowly turned around to look everyone in the eyes. "If you think it’s unnecessary or have a different opinion, you can speak now," she pointed out.
Everyone shook their heads, not complaining about her idea because they believed it would be the only befitting reminder or memorial of what had happened here. The coffin statue would make everyone’s sacrifice equal, and that would be the greatest final respect to be given to those who fell.
"Now..." Aurelia suddenly fainted, but luckily Uriel was there to catch her before she hit her head on the ground.
Uriel could see the exhaustion in Aurelia’s face, the high fever that she was having. She immediately carried Aurelia in her arms while Monica, Isador, Maximilian, and Alexander escorted them back into the palace. Everyone opened the path for them, and the soldiers kneeled as they all looked up at Aurelia, the young leader who had managed to fight off the powerful demon army. She was the figure who brought all the powerful by her side and nobody in the history of Neva could be compared to what she had achieved as a leader.
Nobody knew what to do since so far it was Aurelia who took the lead in everything. However, when Serena cleared her throat, everyone turned their heads to look at her. They all remembered that it was Serena who had been always by Aurelia’s side, the one who encouraged Aurelia to take this painful and unforgiving path.
"Please, get some rest. The sun is rising, and all of you haven’t rested for two days. We have mourned for a whole day, and that should be enough for today. Tonight, we will have something prepared for everyone," Serena said with a smile on her face. "You’re all dismissed," she ordered.
All the soldiers stood up and bowed their heads before they walked away and went their separate ways to find a place to lay down to rest. The powerful figures like Lenin and the others stayed behind, and they noticed someone was missing. Aris was there, Rullein was there, Videl was there, but not Rasmus. He was the only one that had been missing ever since the war was over.
"Where’s Count Blackheart?" Lenin asked Serena, Aris, and Rullein.
"He’s meeting with Luke and the cultists," Serena answered. "I don’t know why he wanted to see them again, but I know for sure that he has some questions to ask," she added with an empty smile on her face.
At the same time, Rasmus was sitting at the table with Luke and Harrot, the whole room was coated in thin ice. Rasmus’ eyes were glowing bright blue, and every breath he released, it made the room temperature drop even colder.
"Tell me, about Satan," Rasmus stared at Harrot. "You fell from grace just like the Fallen Watchers, but you’re different from them. I want to know what kind of being Satan is from your perspective," he said calmly.
Harrot knew he had no choice but to tell everything to Rasmus because Rasmus and his people were the ones who had managed to defeat Satan and her army. He looked at Luke and signaled hi to leave so he could talk privately with Rasmus. Luke didn’t know much about Satan either because Harrot kept that story to himself.
Luke wanted to leave the room, but the door was frozen. Rasmus glanced at the door and immediately the ice on the door vaporized. Once Luke left the room, Rasmus froze the door once again, locking Harrot in with him.
"Didn’t the Devil tell you anything about her?" Harrot asked.
"He did, but I want to know Satan’s origin. Right now, I want to know about her from your perspective as an angel who was there," Rasmus answered, her tapped his finger on the table that had been coated with ice, but he didn’t feel cold at all because his skin and temperature was as cold as the ice.
"Satan isn’t a demon, she’s not an angel, and she’s not made from either light, fire, or clay. When we were created, she was already there among us, kneeling to God, but we could tell that she was different. She didn’t bow her head, she instead stared at God," Harrot answered, still remembering everything vividly as a curse or punishment with the mind of a higher being but in a body of a mortal. "Satan then revealed that she wasn’t like us, she’s one of God’s titles bestowed upon her. Satan was a title, meaning the Adversary, Accusor, Opponent, and Prosecutor," he explained, his hands trembling by the extreme cold.
"A title? So Satan isn’t a name but rather a title that was bestowed upon her by God? The duality of God, both light and darkness, and He bestowed the darkness to her?" Rasmus asked, remembering what Lilith had said to him that Satan was basically the shadow that God’s throne cast.
"Not bestowed upon her, but rather God entrusted darkness to her..." Harrot was shocked that Rasmus could grasp it so quickly. "She obeys God, she asks for permission to God, she bows to God, but she’s the darkness, the calamity that God entrusted upon her," he nodded as he explained.
"Then her purpose is to question creation? A voice that God listen?" Rasmus narrowed his eyes, finding it unsettling even just from speaking it.
"No..." Harrot shook his head, his voice trembled, and he looked terrified. "It’s not like that. She’s trying to test all of His creations. I can’t tell you more about it because I don’t know, not even angels know the answer to your question. We never assume, we never question, we obey..." He explained as he looked down.
Rasmus could see the fear in Harrot’s eyes, the fear that was beyond normal fear, beyond his fear. A fear toward God, and that was the only thing that came to his mind, and that fear was so contagious that he began to feel it crawling on his feet. He took Videl’s words to the heart, and the words were about to never peek into the mind of God, to even understand the speck of dust of God’s knowledge and reasoning.
"Then I have one last question," Rasmus took a deep breath. "What makes her different from demons and angel?" He asked.
Harrot exhaled deeply, relieved that Rasmus didn’t tried to poke into God’s existence. He could see that Rasmus wasn’t a fool and knew his boundaries, better than a blind devotion and better than an agnostic. He could think of a place that would fit him in a category, and that was among prophets, someone who wanted to know but chose to accept God’s power as it was.
"Satan possesses emotions like humans, like demons, but she’s not blinded by them. She’s not immune to emotion, she can control it better than anyone. The reason why she chose to walk away from the kingdom of God was because she was disappointed by God’s decision. She believed that all creations deserve a second chance, not exclusively to humans. That’s why she embraced those who fell," Harrot answered as he looked Rasmus in the eyes. "Her title and the possession of emotions made her into a double-edged blade. However, she never disobeyed God, and that’s why she’s too complicated to understand. To the angels and demons, she’s superior to them," he continued.
Rasmus leaned back and rested his elbow on the armrest while his fingers covered his mouth. His eyes were searching for something, moving from left to right rhythmically. When he nodded his head, he slowly got up from his chair and all the ice vaporized, letting the warmth fill the room once again. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
"Thank you for your time and for the answers," Rasmus said as he walked past Harrot and then left the room without saying anything else.
