Prologue: Truth & The Black Gate
Prologue: Truth & The Black Gate
Electricity arched as a strange incantation appeared upon the ground. The glyphs, symbols and words glowed brightly as it began forming a person, standing battered and bruised, donned in torn clothing yet his chain-mail vest remained pristine. A deep blue, bloodied cloak barely hung half off his right shoulder. A sundered cowboy hat with a ruined silver feather hung on for dear life upon his head. Blood flowed down the left side of his face as he stared on, his vision blurred somewhat but seeing his enemy running past a figure and up to a looming, black gate in this endless white void.
“So here you finally stand before me Juno…” the featureless human said to him, an eerie smile adorned on its blank white face.
“Yes…yes I am Truth. Finally here, as my brother was those many years ago…” the young man said, limping over, blood spilling from him in every shaky step. He had fought to get here, fought to stop the person before the door, his magic spent with the help of his close ones to stop his catastrophic attack and open the portal to this realm. He cringed as he finally approached, hearing him laughing, the ‘secrets’ were now ripe for the taking, his ‘family’s legacy’, and everything lies in plain view for him. If only he knew...
“Well the first thing I should do…” the figure said, waving its hand softly. “Is make you look more presentable. I congratulate you on the feat of opening the realm. Better than your brother I might add. I wouldn’t have guessed you would use the power of Supernova and your charges to act as a catalyst. No wonder you learn that last Blue Lore…”
Juno blinked once and grunted softly, seeing his person now completely healed. Every scar closed, mended and normal. Even his clothing donned their original look. The man laughed and cackled, “Finally! The secrets of magic are MINE!!! Your LEGACY IS FINALLY MINE!!!!” he said, just enraptured by the sight of it. There it loomed, covered in arcane sigils and glyphs, the very tree of magic upon it and the writing beyond comprehension and ancient.
“The Black Gate…” he said softly, seeing the immense doorway before him, and what lie inside many a mage and seeker of this forbidden knowledge wanted to know.
“You have paid your toll now enter… Know what was done in the past and gaze into the infinite mind of God human…” it grinned, the doors creaking open, showing nothing but that familiar darkness Juno was born into, then the eyes and the eerie smiles…
He laughed as the shadowy hands took him in, but finally realized what was actually happening by what the being truly meant by ‘toll’. The mouths all laughed as they reeled him in.
“Wait! NO!!! NOT THIS!!! NOT THIS!!!! ITS TOO MUCH!!! TOO MUCH!!! YOU FUCKING TRICKED ME!!!!” he yelled, turning back and looking at Juno, screaming and thrashing as the doors slowly shut with him in it. All was silent once more save for Juno's lone heartbeat as he never moved from his spot…
“Sacrifice. That is what was given. The Balance and the Law has been restored you sick fuck. Have fun in hell…”
“Yes Equal Exchange Juno… Now your answer…” it said, “Do you finally, finally understand and wish to use it…?”
“I do…I’ve seen what it means now… To control this power…the untapped potential of magic… and this accursed gift…” He said softly, causing Truth to laugh a bit, he seeing Juno's inner darkness standing next to him, black as pitch except for his red, slitted eyes, the gift and curse from his mother Lucretcia.
“And you believe that using it, paying the toll to ferry it away, wiping your slate clean, that you will discharge your past? Erase all the pain? Leave your fate behind? Escape what the Dark Queen, your mother... has given and your father has lied about...? Finally, finally shun the sins of your past and present?”
“If I must… This world, my...home has already scorned us, scorned my family’s history. I am simply a demon to them anyway. Not a human anymore… I am just a full-fledged demon. Always have been and will always be…” he said, looking at his very human self, but feeling the blood of the mythic creature running within him.
“I see….” It nodded, and smiled simply. “So you pay the toll…your sheltered answer…to start over… A new man so to speak?” it chuckled.
“Yes…because what can one do with just asking for immortality, infinite power, to be side by side with God and everything that He has put out of our reach… I’ve seen what lies behind that door Truth, everything within my grasp but that will be discovered in due time…for mankind hasn’t reached that point yet…” he said pointing. “So do it… Please… Just let me die...”
Truth remained silent before nodding slowly, “Die...? No... Not yet Juno... For you must live on and wander the world alright… Your purpose is not yet clear..."
"Why Truth...? Why must I live...?" he said, pointing at the figure. "Ive suffered enough in this hell that was purposely wrought upon me! Ive done everything to...to free myself from this so WHY MUST I LIVE?!"
"Because living... is the most human thing within you. Ive watched you from the day of conception, till now... No one has ever had a drive such as yours, save your brother." he said, standing now. "So you must live. Consider it as appeasement...instead of going straight to the Nether for what was done...." Truth stated, waving a hand and hell itself surrounding them all.
"I dont think you want to be here, as I believe Beelzebub has a whole theme park of red delights and your enemies in waiting as well...."
Juno gritted his teeth and nodded, now reaffirming his answer as Truth grinned and everything was now white as before.
"So...you will live... and I believe it is time for you to go now..." it said, oddly hugging him warmly before stepping back. Juno blinked at the familiarity of the action, the warmth reminding him of what was truly within other than what Truth stated. Gesturing towards the door, it silently opened, showing a glow of light among the smiles and eyes looking calmly at Juno.
"Go Juno... Go forth into this second chance... But note that this world…heheh… is far different from yours so I do not see the reason to take away your gift of the blue magic Juno… Oh yes… That stays with you… And of your special ones, these, personal women of yours? They will wait for you… wait within the silent gardens of Purgatory as you fix the path you have befallen…” he nodded slowly, his special ones indeed appearing before him, their souls all sharing one final embrace before standing beside Truth, smiling and nodding. Looking at the open entrance, Juno gulped and felt it call out to him, the same hands that took in his enemy, now beckoning to take him. He slapped them away and walked on, amusing Truth as he stood in the doorway.
"See you on the other side...." he said, looking at Truth and the souls of his lost ones before the gaping maw swallowed him whole and the door shut for the final time…
“Heh... Indeed you will Juno... But I wonder how you will fare here…” Truth said, already seeing the awaiting world, no different than his save for the reality it fell upon. “Yes. Start over Blue Mage. Find that answer that describes you. Take this chance to fix and heal what has been wrought upon your very soul. And then maybe…just maybe, in this second chance you will know your own Truth…”
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Juno saw the sights once more. The secrets and memories of himself as he fell endlessly, the glimmering lights spiraling all around him. Smirking once at the trip down memory lane, he looked ahead, seeing the light growing and coming before him. Reaching out, he suddenly grunted, the familiar pang in his chest and head returning.
"No...Not now!!" he grunted.
THE CHAIN IS STILL BROKEN SOURCE!!!! YOU ARE MINE ONCE MORE!!!!
Juno screamed as his eyes turned red, the presence welling up within him, just as the portal finally spat him up, covering his body in an odd, pinkish glow. Unknowing of the fact that he was a few thousand feet in the air and falling like a human sized meteor, he fought within for control, right up to making a decent sized crater onto terrra firma below, tumbling out of it and smacking a tree, it falling from the force. Billows of the magic that surrounded him spread haphazardly in all directions, flattening the grasses and making the trees groan as they withstood the force from where he landed, he unmoving and lying upon the uprooted tree.
“Stop it! I don’t want this! I shun and rebuke you Shade!!! Leave me be!!!” He yelled out within his head, twitching in his unconscious physical state while breaking the dark chains that latched onto him in his mental mind.
“BUT YOU DO!! YOU DO WANT THIS!!! EMBRACE IT!!! EMBRACE ME!!! DONT FIGHT IT AND MAKE US WHOLE ONCE MORE JUNO!!!!” The Shade laughed, his inner demon pulling him ever closer. Juno kept fighting until it finally held him, held him in that familiar embrace; he curled up and rocking as it surrounded him like a shroud. Outside of his mind, Juno twitched a few times before awakening, rising up and moving with the foreign power, his hands clenched as he slowly stood. The demon within finally gaining full control of him and forcing Juno to see and watch every movement made through red slitted irises.
“Yessssss…..” “Oh how I have missssseedddd thissssssss….” It said with an ethereal hiss using his voice. Looking over himself and now up at the glowing moon, he laughed and ran his feet fleet and quick, only to yell as he felt a strange pain on his back. He stumbled once and ignored it moving with an unknown purpose through the trees of the forest…
