Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Even after calling out the name, the man smiled.

"I didn't think, the abyss would be able to get hold of a fine young man such as you."

Raith's mouth dropped in surprise. He spoke the name as a nudge but it hit him differently to realize that that he was standing in front of... in front of such a worthless bastard.

Raith leaped from where he stood and pounced upon the genteel man, he began to batter him with punches while cursing at him and thanking him for making his life so miserable. No matter how much Fel begged there was no saving him from this miserable onslaught.

Until when he shouted:

"Please don't kill me, I only came here to help you!!"

The next punch that Raith was hurling towards him stopped mid-way.

"Help me? How? I'm dead already."

"Yes, you are. But I can still help you."

Raith frowned.

"Are you shitting me? How do you want to help me when I'm dead already? You better get to the point before I destroy that wipe away that handsomeness from your face with my punch."

"Okay, okay, I'll get to the point. The thing is, I planted something in the abyss before dying to help the next victim whoever it may be. This is not me, this is only a message."

Raith's brows relaxed and he stood up. Fel also climbed to his feet gently and continued,

"Firstly I'd like to ask you. What is the uniqueness that is given to you by the abyss?"

"Death and failure. I can overcome death and gain success by failing. Although I haven't enjoyed much of the latter." Raith's response was brief and straight to the point, with a scrutinizing gaze all over Fel as he spoke.

"Timish! You are so unique, I have never heard of such uniqueness!"

"What about you? Was it not the same for you?"

"The same? No way. Our innate potential contributes more to the uniqueness we receive from the abyss. Which means for you my friend, you are very special!"

Even as he spoke, he exuded that aura of purity and innocence—it was beginning to make Raith doubt if this guy was capable of doing all those things that were said of him.

"For me, my uniqueness is the ability to become anything. Of course, some conditions have to be met, I can even become a god, of course, some conditions have to be met."

It suddenly clicked!

Raith finally understood how he reigned as a demon and later became an archon again.

"Are you human?"

Raith asked.

"Yes, only a human can serve as a host for the abyss. Since it is a parasitic relationship, the abyss leeches of the human. Giving strength and power are all fonts to not make the human's loss noticeable. I'm telling you, should you have walked another path you would have been much more greater than you are right now. The abyss places a great limitation on our growth, it completely restrains your potential from running amok while using you for its selfish goals."

"Well, I just realized that a few minutes ago. Too sad, I died before I can finally be liberated from its tentacles of control." Raith's countenance fell.

"Yeah... too bad," Fel said after him, his facial expression reflecting Raith's for a moment. Then his eyes shot open with a vibrant glow of happiness.

"But fear not! It is why I have prepared this message"

Raith looked at Fel, wiping away the remnant of his sadness.

"What do you mean?"

"It is impossible to totally break away from the control of the abyss. But it is possible to leverage yourself so highly that you will have equal control over yourself. You will be able to fight on equal grounds with the abyss."

"Wow, you prepared something like that?!"

"Yes! I did it secretly, the abyss did not even notice." He responded with a proud smirk.

"Wow, you are amazing... that is what I would have said if I did not know of the awful things you have done."

"Spare me, please... I had no choice. I had everything to lose should I go against the abyss."

Raith let out a light scuff.

"I can relate to that."

"But I hope I will be able to pay for my mistakes with this... I have been doing some charity work here and there the moment I began to repent..."

"Is that why you offered your life as the foundation of Therut?"

"Yes... I had no choice, no matter how much I wanted to cling to life, it was the only way to hide the crystal from the abyss."

"Ugh?!! Come again, you were hiding the crystal from the abyss not from the gods and celestials?"

"Well, there was that too. But the true reason why I chose to die was to keep the abyss from using the crystal."

"You went through all the stress to get the crystal for the abyss and then you died after getting it. What changed?"

"You are quite insightful. I like you." Fel smiled and put his hand behind his back. "I discovered the abyss true goal, it was after stealing the crystal that I had my first meeting with a primordial."

"You have met a primordial?!" Raith was shocked, to hear his predecessor had met a primordial gave him an immense boost of morale.

"It is not as amazing as you think it to be, I can still feel the chills in my bones when I think of her cold stare. She was a no-nonsense primordial. But she opened my eyes."

"She sounds like she's going to be an amazing primordial" Raith complimented with a smile. He didn't know why but Fel's description of the primordial made him want to know more about her. But he was too focused to get distracted by that.

"How did she open your eyes?"

Fel's face became stern the moment he asked.

"Listen well my successor."

Raith gulped.

Fel continued...

"The abyss wants to destroy the world. To be exact, it wants to destroy the wheel of cosmology and become the wheel itself."