Enochian: Epilogue / The Prophecy
#56 of Enochian
Epilogue: Home Is Where The Heart Is
Ten years have passed, and the world has cleaned up most of the mess from both the Great War and the Demon War after it... but as the figure steps slowly out of a rip in reality and adjusted his widebrim fedora, he feels like it's been so much longer since he stepped into the mortal world... because it has. Ten million years, in fact, he suffered the punishment that terrified him above all others: to face his need for power, to be put in the position his father so often took advantage of: to stand and rule not a world, but an entire plane.
Zerrex made a face as he glanced back and forth, in his mortal Drakkaren body, and he tapped a black metal cane against the ground as he watched a newspaper blow down the dusty city street. It's dusk, and people are already clustered up, safe at home... they're still many a year away from forming a real alliance with the demonic and angelic realms, but no longer are they things of fantasy and fable: mortals are unable to ignore the divine, just as the divine are now no longer able to ignore mortals.
The Drakkaren absently adjusted the three rings on his fingers: he has more partners than that â€" not to mention his concubines â€" but three is all he feels comfortable wearing. Cherry, Selena, Lily, Sin... well, it wasn't his fault he was made half-Lust. Technically. And as much as he wants to, he knew he couldn't abandon Hell entirely to settle down to a happily-ever-after in this revolutionzed Ire, either... Sin, Lily, Amiglion, and Selena are excellent rulers â€" and with Sabnock, White, and a whole bunch of others running things behind the scenes â€" the Drakkaren knows Hell can do without him... but he isn't so sure he can do without Hell.
Besides which, his family in Hell gets lonely... and he misses them occasionally, too. Even Carmen, his favorite concubine... and he still has a lot to do. There are still rogue angels hiding in the Plains of Despair and some of the seedier places in Hell, and followers of both Narrius and the Princess to be destroyed... not to mention the seals that are beginning to crack and release the Terrors and other long-forgotten monstrosities. Another reason why he's glad he followed Crow to the Unworld and made sure to kill him.
Now, for the first time in more than ten million years, he's not only walking along the mortal plane... he gets to see his family. He gets to see Reia. He gets to drink coffee and find a part-time job at a bookstore. He gets to go back to pretending he's normal, despite the looming shadow of just-plain-nastiness he casts, or the fact that when he gets pissed off, he turns into a giant fugly monster. And one day, when the mortal world is ready, he looks forwards to bringing Sin and his other girls up here to see the mortal world and enjoy it.
For now, it's more than enough that he was able to ship Mahihko out of Hell, Marina agreeing quietly to take care of him on one of her rare visits downstairs: Zerrex was always worried about her getting exposed to too much demonic energy, and the Council thought he was circumventing his punishment by bringing his family down to see him. But they allowed it every so often to keep him happy... and to keep him from worrying too much.
Cindy and Cherry are also here: the latter female capable of going to-and-from Hell whenever she wishes, and the former now given approval personally from Heaven's Archangels to go back and forth to and from the mortal realm as she liked, as long as she checked in at least once a mortal year for a day... thanks mainly to the fact the angels, by now, have realized that none of them can stop her from doing whatever she pleases anyway. She isn't the only angel who had visited him in Hell, either: Raze, Francis, and Little Arcy are actually permanent members of the Grand Council of Hell, which includes other such names as White and Sabnock, while Tinman was always happy to sneak away and see him whenever possible.
There are millions of stories he can think of, with how long he spent in Hell, with how attached certain demons got to him â€" Vampire all but crying as he clung to his leg, begging to be taken with him â€" and with the demons who weren't as pleased about the idea of a Zerrex-ruled Hell â€" Tank, for instance, had been up to the same tricks he'd been in the mortal world, putting up propaganda posters. And after all, it wasn't like ten years had passed without note in the mortal world: from Reia's daring escape from the facility and Marina managing to free herself from the ruins and stumble to safety, to the dissolution of the Irenic Republic Council and the formation of "Free Ire," and the first-ever day of total peace worldwide with the destruction of the PMCs and war economies.
But those were all for another time... for now, he just wants a coffee and to sit around with his girls: after all, they'd promised him a surprise bigger than just how ravenous Sin had been for sex after so many eons of being unable to interact physically... but most of all, the Drakkaren looked forwards to seeing the smiling faces of his daughters and the giggling, happy beam of his child Mahihko. And finally... I get to be with my family again.
We must all endure our pain...
For only when we suffer, do we truly learn about ourselves.
Zerrex Narrius
September 30-2008 to February-02-2009
"The Prophecy"
[The Prophecy of the Historians regarding the Red Beast/The Darkness/The Rulership of Hell]
The Red Beast roams the Mortal Plane, setting Fire to the Lands,
Chasing down his Mortal Prey and rending the Souls of the Wicked and Just,
Fearless, Indomitable, and Undying,
The Red Beast waits and bides his time for the Slaughter.
The Red Beast is Darkness, hungry for Light,
But with Light at his right side, Darkness shall bring forth a Silent Night,
And as the World burns with Fire,
Darkness brought forth from Darkness shall strike the Red Beast down with Light,
And the Red Beast will fall further and deeper than any god or monster,
And his spirit and life shall be rekindled no more.
Darkness brought forth from Darkness shall retire back to Silence,
Dark as Night, as Quiet, Pleasant, and Terrible,
The King of Mists, Unknowable, Untouchable,
Shunned by all but those One Inch from Death,
And with his Daughters, Incest and Innocence, Redemption and Destruction,
He shall Recede.
But from the Ashes shall come a Spark,
And like the mighty Black-Winged Phoenix,
Again shall Evil Rise in its Master's Bidding,
Following in the Blackened Footsteps of the Red Beast,
Until, once again, the World is Aflame with War,
A War that shall Reach across the Planes,
And as God had once Seperated them in his Might and Wisdom,
In Hatred, Ignorance, and Wrath, shall the Planes be Forged Together Anew.
Hell shall Overtake the Mortal Realm in an Unstoppable Flood,
Angels shall cry Tears of Blood as they raise their Holy Swords,
And the Darkness and his Four Daughters shall Awaken.
They shall Battle Valiantly, but all are Destined for Death:
The Darkness to be swallowed whole into Hell, just as Destruction shall Turn Upon its Head,
Innocence shall fall to Evil, and Incest will her Powers be Reflected,
And Redemption, for all her virtue, will fall to the Despair of Losing All.
But Darkness shall Reach from even Hell to Fight,
Not Fallen so Far, or so Hard as to Jar his Senses,
Dedicated to the Silent Night,
The Starry, Beautiful Protection,
Until All Fall Down.
And only after Hell is Consumed with Death,
And Heaven stands in Ruin,
And the Mortal Plane has suffered the Purging Fire,
Shall the Throne be Filled Anew.
Only after a Dark Warrior passes Trials numbering in the Many,
A Princess Dies and a Princess Rises,
And God Himself faces the Earth instead of the Sky,
Shall the Throne be Filled Anew.
And the King of Mists shall Rule Over All.
Afterword
And so the story ends: things began small in Eudaemon, but grew to a far-larger size by the time Enochian began, in terms of both the character's abilities and the places in the story they have gone. Zerrex has travelled from Baskin's Grove to Hell, and at the end of the day, he returns to his hometown of Valise, only wanting to finally relax and be content in not Heaven, not Hell, but his home, with his family and his daughters.
After so many pages, I wanted to say thank you to the people who have followed the story from page one of Eudaemon or page one thousand of Enochian. And, of course, I wanted to thank the people who contributed to this massive story: my deepest thanks go out to, in order of appearances from Eudaemon... Lone, Reia, Mahihko, Killer, and Leo. Your contributions and interest all added to my ability to better develop this story... and I'm the one indebted to you all for all you've done. And there's been a few faithful readers who have given me plenty of kind comments, too... you know who you are, and I have to say it's been much of what's kept me writing and posting. Originally, Eudaemon was supposed to be a stand-alone story, after all... with all the interest that it gained, however, it wasn't long before the few ideas that I had for Eudaemon II became reality.
The story has included many characters, most of them somewhere between the idea of "good" and "evil," most of them with their own morals and views of "right" and "wrong." I only hope that if the story itself doesn't identify with you, then one of the characters has; and I have to extend my thanks again for reading through however much of the Eudaemon Trilogy or the expansion of Enochian you have. It's been a long haul to write, and whether it's appreciated by one person or a thousand, it's always nice to create something that can at least entertain others, whether for the sex, violence, or plot itself. I look forwards to reading any comments on the story, and thank you all for spending the time to read through Enochian.
~ Zerrex Narrius