When one thinks of the word ‘Asura’ they generally think of Avan; The First Asura. However since his creation so long ago there have been three others to follow his broken path.

The Second Asura, who drowned his world in an ocean of war and blood, leaving nothing but graveyards and broken towers in his wake. He survived long enough to cleave a path through nearly a dozen Archangels before they finally put the rabid dog down.

The Third Asura, who ate the star that birthed his home, before turning his ravenous hunger upon the stars beyond his own. The Forgotten Pantheons barely managed to end his reign of gluttony before he sank the entire galaxy he had been born into down the path of entropy.

And The Fourth Asura, who spent centuries waging his own doomed war against The First of his kind, in some vain attempt at dominance. He died last, and his name remains forever forgotten.

The birth of an Asura is violent, and cruel. And only time will tell when, not if, we are forced to cross paths with another of their ill begotten kind.

-Via ‘Arkosa’ Crito; The Third Head of The Crito Crime Family

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Purgatory; Before T̸̨̧̧̗͉̲̻̜̟̻̟̗̜̿̍̓͛̽̐i̴̹̲̯̞̣̪̪̹̣̘̒͂̇̃͊ͅm̸̯͒̏̔̋̾̕e̷̜͚͚̫͈͆̈́͋̀̀̎͝ Ascended

“Are we there yet?”

Opening his eyes he was met with the bored face of his daughter, Meeshka. Young, and appearing almost exactly like a younger version of her late mother, Avan couldn’t help himself from smiling whenever he looked at her. Even after the death of his wife Melea, Avan had never given up on raising Meeshka, he would never disgrace his wife by doing so. Even if she had the tendency to annoy him greatly, like right now.

Younglings are so impatient these days…

“No little one, we are not there yet.”

Gazing out of the window of the transport they had boarded he watched as the trees passed him by. Golden branches, mixed with the red leaf’s that Purgatory was so well known for. He used to watch with his wife as they would fall during the realms resting period, gathering as many as they could carry to throw into the air, dancing around them as they danced together.

The beauty of Purgatory was second only to the Heavenly Realms, and he felt blessed every season of the year, for every season brought on new beauty to admire. His only regret was that he no longer could share its beauty with Melea.

How I miss you beloved…

He had loved his wife more than anything in the world, he still loved her now, years after her death. Their life had been going amazingly, his position as a personal healer to the Peacekeepers organization had done wonders for his station, and his financial situation, while he had even managed to catch the eye of a Minor God of Healing, Icathu. He had thought his life would be one of unending happiness, especially after he’d met his wife.

They had both been healers, so young and eager to practice and train their craft that they spent practically every waking moment together, especially after they had decided to become a bonded pair. However, life was fickle and had the tendency to crush one’s dreams as easily as a Titan crushes an ant.

Melea was perfectly healthy, and all seemed well, until she learned she was pregnant. While they had assumed nothing could go wrong, both being excellent healers and exceptionally healthy, they hadn’t planned on one thing… The difficulties of childbirth. When the time came he had a choice, either bind himself to Icathu eternally, or save either his wife or their daughter. While he had begged his wife to allow him to bind himself, being more than willing to spend eternity by the beings side if it meant their survival, his wife was adamant.

He had to remain free.

He had promised her to never bind himself to anyone besides her, and she was strong willed, even in the face of death. Some days he regretted the decision, he regretted being forced to choose. But he knew, in the end, that it was better to remain free for his daughters sake than to become a Faithful.

For whatever their blustering and propaganda, the Faithful were never free, not until their final deaths that is.

He had dealt with the sadness of her passing rather well, compared to many who had lost their soulmates, albeit he had a better crutch than most who were faced with such a horrible fate.

He had his daughter.

He never expected fatherhood to be filled with so many joys, but he was happy for all of them just the same.

Enjoying the small amount of silence he was being gifted with - until she did something that disturbed it of course, he continued his trip down memory lane. Of course like all things in a state of peace, it had to be disturbed.

He heard a loud crash somewhere on the transport, looking to his side he found that his daughter had somehow disappeared. I knew it was just a matter of time, but I didn’t expect her to get that far that fast!

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He stood up, stretching both pairs of his legs out beneath him. Stretching his body out, resulting in several satisfying pops and cracks he sighed before moving himself towards the loud crash from earlier. I just hope she hasn’t knocked over something expensive again.

Looking through each section of the transport he passed he didn’t see anything broken, nor did he find his daughter. That was until he got to the open bar. How did she even sneak into here? The small bar was covered head to toe in spilt liquor, and he knew that his growing savings were going to take quite a hit after today.

Luckily for him his position as a personal healer within the Peacekeepers meant that he was never short on credits, and even if he went in the red there were plenty of institutions that would be ‘kind’ enough to give him a loan, but he would never allow it to get that far.

It was a good thing for him, and his daughter especially, that he was a miser in most things. There was most likely no one on this transport to offend, since it was chosen for being ‘middle class’. Just expensive enough that most criminals who acted more like wild dogs would avoid it, ‘young masters’ who enjoyed causing trouble wouldn’t use it because it was too ‘cheap’ and the old bastards who liked to hide around and cause problems for mortals wouldn’t bother with it for the exact same reason he chose it; no one of importance, or danger, ever rides the middle class shuttles.

Perfect for peace and quiet, and cheap enough that there wasn’t a damn thing his daughter could break that he couldn’t replace.

Sometimes my genius is… it’s almost frightening!

Chuckling to himself as he looked at the mess his daughter had made he shook his head before approaching the obviously annoyed bartender who had ‘captured’ the fiend breaking his wares. The small being of chaos who doubled as his daughter, Meeshka.

Obviously a young man, his coat hadn’t even begun its initial graying process, still a bright blue. If he had to guess, he’d say the young man was most likely the son of the owner, judging by the quality of his clothes and the higher tier of aura he could sense off of him. He was most likely working part time, or learning how to work in the family business.

Luckily as well for him, being the son of the owner hadn’t made him arrogant, or act like a complete sociopath, because he seemed to be more worried for his daughters safety amongst the broken glass than angry over the destruction she had most likely caused. I guess you find some good souls even out here.

“Greetings brother! I see you have captured this fiend, who I am going to guess is at fault for damaging your wares?” Most people would probably be absolutely appalled that their child had done something like this, let alone wandering into a pub when they were certainly not allowed, breaking so much alcohol would be embarrassing enough. However, Avan was certainly used to his daughter's shenanigans, and as long as no one was hurt he never truly showed his anger over her actions.

Of course, punishment would be given later in private, most likely extra chores or the price of what she broke being deducted from her allowance. But punishing a child and embarrassing them publicly were two different things.

Looking relieved at someone who could detain the small menacing fiend, he turned towards him while holding his daughter at bay. “Yes sir, she somehow got behind me while I was serving drinks and the whole rack just shattered! Luckily I don’t think she was hurt but there is glass everywhere and she keeps trying to run around!”

She must have used her Echo on accident when he startled her, breaking the glass. Well, there goes another month of her allowance I guess…

Like most of his species, she was given a gift as they hit puberty. Some were given boosts to certain magics, such as healing or combat spells, others were given passive gifts that helped with things like regenerating from damage or even attaining the power of flight!

His daughter's skill, for better or worse, was an Echo based skill, one that had a tendency to appear when she panicked and had the unfortunate side effect of shattering glass within close proximity. Which also explained why the bottles were broken, but none of the transport windows were damaged.

Reaching into his pocket he retrieved one of his cards, an identification mark from the Peacekeepers that he kept on him almost everywhere he went. There were many people in the world who didn’t care that you were a living being, but they would back off or treat you respectfully if you were an important member of a powerful organization. Kindness and respect could get you far in life, but sometimes power was the only way to be truly safe.

“I apologize for my daughter, she’s a creature of mayhem regardless of how much I attempt to calm her.” Handing him the mark he sighed when he realized that this was most likely going to put a dent in their vacation plans at the end of the year. “This is my mark for the Peacekeepers, if you scan this you can simply send the bill to my residence and I will pay the damages to your boss.”

Giving the young bartender an apologetic smile while the young man used a crystalline scanner to mark his identification in their systems, he grabbed his daughter and pulled her beside him.

Holding his daughter he gestured calmly to the young man in the tone any parent takes when coaxing their child to apologize. Many parents master the tone, many children can hear it even after they become an adult from the amount of times they’d heard their parents use it. “Now, Meeshka, apologize to the young man for the trouble you have caused.”

Giving him the scandalized look of someone falsely accused, but backing down rather quickly when she realized he was being serious, she mumbled an apology from behind him. “Properly, Meeshka, don’t make me ask again.”

Stomping one of her shoes on the back of his heel he had to suppress a grunt. Little brat you might actually persuade me to put you over my knee for once! Before he could react however she had begun to apologize properly.

“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean to knock over the glasses…” Better late than never I suppose…

Finishing up with the marking process the young man handed him back his mark. I should leave a decent tip, as an apology for my daughter's recklessness. Taking out his pouch he retrieved a few dozen credits and handed them over to the bartender. “Take this as an apology for having to clean this mess. Once again I apologize deeply.”

The young man seemed shocked by the tip, usually a hundred credits would last a family a month, so the thirty or so credits he had handed over would most likely give him some spending cash after work was done, or at the very least replace his shoes that had been undoubtedly soaked in the liquor. Even if he is the owner's son and that isn’t just a uniform, that much cash should be enough of an apology, I hope.

The young man gave him an excited and happy wave as he left the room with his daughter, and while he’d inadvertently caused the mess he felt better at obviously having made the young man's day.

Now to try and teach Meeshka to stop breaking things… if that is even possible.

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The trip after the bar fiasco had been relatively peaceful. His daughter seemed satisfied with the amount of damage she’d caused at the very least, and had stayed in her seat since. Small miracles.

The more important thing however, was that they had finally arrived at their destination.

Watching through the window he observed the small city they had arrived at. Glowing, blue, and a testament to the people who lived there, was Oarthik. Mainly a tourism attraction due to the massive crystalline caves they had underneath the city, it was also the home of a number of Minor Gods of various crafts and religions.

He however was here for one thing and one thing only, work.

The caves had a tendency to attract foolish tourists who didn’t read the signs, and many times they played around with the crystals inside the cave and ended up blowing themselves up, or impaling themselves on something. He’d been contracted to heal a few dozen people who had been injured severely enough, and as a healer with the regeneration gift his healing left no scars or disfigurations, no matter how badly they were injured.

His daughter however, had begged to be allowed to come with him to visit the caves, and figuring he could kill two grapna with one stone he brought her with him. He gets to work, she gets to visit the caves, win-win.

As the transport began to slow he gathered the few belongings he’d brought with him, before handing his daughter her pack and grabbing her hand.

He felt happy, even after the bar disaster. He had his work, he had his daughter, he had everything he needed.

Moving the two of them towards the nearest exit he made sure he had his map on hand to get to the Healers Clinic that he was scheduled for. Looking down at his daughter as she eagerly danced on her legs, hopping from one to another in anticipation he felt warmth enter his heart.

He felt happy.