Sera

I was born a seraph, cared for only by my mother, while my father and brother tormented me without a care in the world other than themselves.

It was an arranged marriage. My father cared little to nothing for my mother other than as a sex toy or heir maker to his company. Past the oldest son, he didn’t care about her at all.

My existence was not only accidental but seen as a bother. Instead of loving his second son, my father decided instead to use me to bring my brother higher.

I was his stress reliever. I was his practice dummy for the martial arts he was taught.

It was becoming more and more normal for me to move in constant pain. I rose like a zombie, my face expressionless, each time accepting the punishment without words.

I considered it Karma finally catching up to me. I was a horrible person in my previous life, caring for nothing other than myself.

So if I viewed this as punishment, it could continue up into my teenage years and I’d still feel that it’s too little.

Physical pain was something I was always good at handling. Sharp pains were difficult to deal with, but the aches and dull pains that linger long afterward were nothing in my eyes.

My mother was treated similar to me, except by my father and in adult terms. When I was ‘beaten’, she was ‘disciplined’. Many times I would hear her screaming, moaning, and the cracking of whips coming from the room next to mine.

Her desperate pleading, while I was cutting my heart out, still affected me. I wanted to help her, at the very least. If it means that my punishment shall wait until I die once more, then so be it.

But I want to help her. Seeing her tear stained face, legs weak from the different things she’s been forced to do, and her broken expression… They tore through me with much more pain than any of my brother’s punches.

“I started learning swordplay. I’m not strong enough yet to handle picking it up, so let me train my muscles, sandbag.” My brother… what was his name again? It’s never stuck since I’ve never spoken a word… to him or otherwise.

I think… I think it was Pate.

Yes, that seems about right.

He rushed towards me, throwing his balled up fist into my stomach. I felt something within me stretch and convulse. Just to the point where there wouldn’t be major damage but it would hurt like hell.

I coughed out spit, wanting to throw up but being unable to. I dry heaved a few times, waiting for the next blow.

But, nothing came.

I looked up to him with a knife in his hands, tying the handle to the end of a wooden shinai, a fake wooden sword normally used in Japan for kendo and other swordsmanship competitions.

But now it had an edge.

For the first time in awhile, I felt some fear take over my body. My mind accepted it, but my body shivered, wanting to run away.

A step forward, the shinai came down upon me. The blade was heading directly for my neck, ready to decapitate me.

“I can just get another sandbag from your whore of a mother. You’ve begun to annoy me.”

Fear of Death? I had no such thing. I had a Fear of Pain.

But now I wanted the pain. If I didn’t get hurt in the next few seconds, I’d lose myself. For once I’ve found something that hurt me more than punches.

His words. His attitude.

Even a cornered rat will take the initiative to attack.

The floorboards creaked, the makeshift sword buried deep in them. A thin line of blood dripped down my neck, soaking into the collar of my shirt.

I stood, shaking knees and unsteady sense of balance. I stared Pate down.

His words. His attitude.

He pissed me off.

I stood. Blood soaked my shirt, turning it red. It was barely on my body at all, sheared into strips.

That makeshift sword that Pate wielded was buried in the ground, not to be lifted by him again.

I grabbed the handle and felt something come over me.

With this, I had the power to kill the exhausted boy in front of me with a few movements.

I held it in my hands, readjusting my grip a few times, as it was slippery from sweat.

“Heh… Sandbag, you finally gained a pair, huh? I guess I could call you Training Dummy now. After all, you’re still stupid. I’ve only just recently learned swordplay.”

His figure disappeared from where it was on the ground, and I was sent to that spot instead, sliding a bit on the slick floors.

I got to my feet slowly, rising up from the ground as I always do.

“Pate, that’s enough. It’s time for your lessons already. Don’t play with your toy so much that it breaks. I’m getting tired of his mother, so you may not be able to get another one.” It was Him again.

That bastard that happened to be my father.

My vision was blurry, but I gazed at him. With my eyes, I marked my target. Tens of cuts lacerated my body, my blood beginning to pool on the ground below me. But the man in front of me had taken my rage. All of my anger was focused on him as if looks alone could kill.

But there was a piece of my mind that was weak, desperately hoping he’d just turn and leave.

Don’t look this way.

I want to kill you.

Please, I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt me.

You bastard.

Leave, please…

Come over here so I can rip out your jugular vein. Seraphim… my ass,

“You’re just a monster, aren’t you? Using people as toys. I don’t belong to you. My mother doesn’t belong to you.”

Don’t listen to me. Just walk away!

“For people like you, there’s a special place in eternal torment. They relay the pain that you’ve inflicted, no matter how indirectly, at twice the sensitivity. I’ll be your doll. I’ll experience all the pain I can from your hands. Then, I’ll kill you, and let you see how it feels to die when your heart keeps beating.”

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If my body had not been next to death’s door, I would not have been able to hold myself from rushing him right there.

There are very few things that could ever really get me angry.

But I was furious.

He scoffed at me, before turning and leaving, no other response to my words.

My mother ran into the room shortly after he left, her clothes ripped off and lashes covering her body, a white liquid dripping from between her legs as she rushed to my aid.

If he hadn’t been there, then that means that somebody else was conducting her ‘session’ today?

My mind had already broken, and my heart was bleeding dry.

Just another person to kill…

Once I’d woken up, I’d come to terms with what I just did, and hated myself for it.

Killing my own father? He’s still a person. I’d feel guilty for it eventually. Killing is a sin, after all.

So I decided to hold that memory within my head as I went down a different path.

“Mother, do you know any healing magic?”

I whispered to her. It was one of the few moments neither of us were being beaten at the same time.

“Your first words are to ask such a question?” Her voice was just as soft, ridiculing me lightly.

I smiled at her sarcastic words as I awaited her response.

“Yes, I know quite a bit about healing magic. Would you like to learn it?” She wrapped her arms around me from behind, sitting me on her lap, as if preparing to read a book to me.

“If you don’t mind teaching me.”

“Well then…”

I took her words to heart and learned everything about healing magic. Piece by piece, I adopted it. I was able to use it at will, healing bruises and other light wounds within minutes.

But that wasn’t good enough. I wanted to be able to repair my body instantly from any condition.

I wanted to be cut in half, and live long enough that I can heal myself.

So, once I had learned the magic, I’d gone on to practice and master it.

A year went by as I became the best punching bag ever, rising from the ground just as I did the time before. Each time, I healed faster, my mana learning the injuries and healing them more efficiently.

The rage I felt came back to me every time I saw them. It came over me like a cloak, and I wore my killing intent like a weapon.

But I didn’t attack. I needed a way to destroy them, instead of killing them.

So I gathered information. Fears, insecurities, the number of laws they were breaking.

I’d orchestrate their deaths without killing them.

All I needed to do was get away and get to the guards.

All I needed to do, at that point in time, was stop healing myself early. I was three years old and attending another ‘session’.

“Awww, already out of mana? Father must have ruined his toy more than usual today. I guess I’ll just have to stop early as well… Can’t be getting rid of my best stress reliever.”

I stayed silent, letting my blood flow out upon the ground. The wounds he inflicted were much deeper than when we began.

My ear pressed to the ground, I listened for when Pate’s steps were far enough away.

My mana rose up, stitching me into a single body.

There’s not much left…

I stopped a bit too late. If I’d stopped any earlier, though, there would have been a bit of suspicion.

My body rose up, ready to run.

My feet slammed upon the stones. Bloody footprints showed where I headed.

I stopped in the middle of the alley. I turned, before backing up against the wall.

My left arm began to drip blood, staining the wall.

Next, it was my right leg, the flesh slicing easily.

Then, blood spouted from my chest, spewing out past the blade onto the other wall.

I smiled, coughing up a bit more blood.

I took my knife out of my chest and healed myself.

For all intents and purposes, I just died.

Now, it was time to save what I could, by destroying the root of the problem.

I leaped across the rooftops, racing towards where I knew some guards would be stationed.

I kept my eyes open towards the wind, letting them tear up.

I grabbed onto the lip of the roof, swinging down into the deserted alleyway. Then, timing it as best I could, I ran out of it.

I slammed full force into one of the four guards that were patrolling the streets.

I looked behind me as if fearing pursuers, before looking up at the guard.

“Please, save my mother! She’s in that mansion, right over there! Please! I’ll do anything!”

The tears that coursed down my face were due to the wind, and running out, so I bowed down to the guards, hiding my face while continuing my act.

“Calm down boy! Slow down and tell us everything while we go there.” The female guard knelt down and tried to calm me.

I smiled, wiping my eyes as I righted my position slowly.

I told them everything, except for the fact I was related to them.

My brother was Pate. My father was named Orcus. My mother was Persephone.

I told of how I was used as a sandbag by Pate. How my mother was nothing but a slave to Orcus. I repeated some of the things he’d said to me and Pate.

It was a very long walk, so I had more than enough time to put it into detail.

“That… that’s horrible…” One of the male guards said.

“At least we can get him now, with all these crimes he’s piled up.”

I listened to the guards as they spoke badly of that man. His sins brought forth the rage I felt against him once more.

When we arrived at the doors to that mansion, Orcus opened them after a few gauntleted knocks.

He smiled at the guards, not seeing my figure.

“May I help you?” His voice was sickeningly sweet as if trying to convey innocence before he’s accused of anything.

“We heard that you’ve committed crimes against Anarta and its people. We’ve come to investigate if such claims are true.” The female guard was in the front, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

It seems even she was affected by my words. There was an unanimous hatred against this man.

“Where did you hear such ridiculous claims? I’ve rarely left my house for things other than shopping.”

The guard in front of me clenched his jaw as if to hold his tongue, while he drew his sword about an inch out of its scabbard.

“You don’t need to leave the house to commit the crimes you’ve been accused of. Now, let us in before we have to use force.”

Orcus narrowed his eyes at the female guard.

“What’s your name?”

“Jacqueline.”

“Jacqueline… I’ll remember that. Come on in, I’ll show you around.” He sighed as if having given up.

“There will be no need for that. The victim shall show us the scene of the crimes.”

He seemed confused for a second before I stepped into the house. The same house that I’d been held in for so long.

“You? I thought you died!” Orcus’s voice was incredulous, disbelieving his own eyes.

“I told you before, didn’t I? I’m finally making true on my words, Father.” I scowled at him as I began walking the path that I always had.

I felt as if I was going back and reliving those years. Every time, my broken body would walk this path, to hide back in that room, away from the pain.

A wall blocked my path. The room was just behind it…

He couldn’t have remodeled the house in just the time I was gone. This is wrong.

I walked through it, the wall disappearing behind me.

“What?! An illusion?!”

“Hiding things from the guards is another criminal offense, sir. Even if what we heard was wrong, you’ve just committed a crime.” Jacqueline notified Orcus, but his face was calm.

I walked forward and opened the door to my room.

My mother lay on her bed. Lashes… ruining her skin. Scars, just barely healed. An expanded stomach.

I turned to the people behind me. Four guards, my father, and Pate, who came running.

“I’ve been gone for one day. Why is she pregnant, when she wasn’t as I left?” My voice was quiet. A small rage, like a bowstring drawn taut.

Judgement…

“Did Pate want a new ‘toy’? Did you do this just because I didn’t play my part well enough?”

Sinful.

“Orcus. No, Father. Do you understand how much I want to kill you right now?”

The bowstring frayed, the strain too much to bear.

He smiled at me, a kind smile that told me only one thing.

JUDGEMENT!!!

“I call upon the Inferno.” Words sprang through my mouth, tears streaming down my face.

“At first, I wanted you to die. Just, cease to exist. But now?”

Mana coiled around me, ribbons of smoke drifting up.

“Now I want you to go through what you deserve.”

Rage filled my heart. I wanted to scream. I wanted to lose myself in it. I wanted to torture the man in front of me in the way that he tortured me and my mother.

“Judge.”

The mana that wrapped around me condensed into my hand, forming a book.

My heart stilled, becoming cold.

“Fifth Circle, Judged. Seventh Circle, Judged. Second Circle, Judged.”

Three rings appeared, beneath the guilty.

“You have been judged guilty. Do you repent for your sins?”

My voice was no longer one of a heartbroken child, who’d seen his mother’s tortured form. It was one of a judge, looking down upon two sinful bugs.

“You’re just a sandbag! It doesn’t matter how much you get beat up!” Pate scoffed, striking a pose.

“Pfft… That woman meant nothing to me! Why would I feel guilty about using her as I pleased?” Orcus was just as horrible, having no remorse.

Guilty.

Punish them.

“For the wrathful, you’re sentenced to ‘Revenge’. Take the injuries and pain that you’ve inflicted upon others, and hold them.”

Pate suddenly fell to the floor, holding his head and opening his mouth in a silent scream.

“For the Violent and Lustful, you’re sentenced to ‘Phlegethon’ and ‘Whirlwind’. As you’ve been swayed by lust, you shall be buffeted by the winds of a violent storm. As you’ve bathed in the pleasure of hurting others, you shall bathe in the waters of the Phlegethon.”

Orcus fell to the floor as well, numerous cuts covering his body as he seemed torn by sharp winds, while other parts of him boiled and burned.

“Justice.”

With that final word, I collapsed.

When I awoke next, it was in my mother’s arms, in an unfamiliar place.

“You’ve awoken, Sera! It’s nice to see you again!”

She cuddled me against her face.

I smiled weakly. I had a horrible headache and a throbbing throughout my body that wouldn’t go away.

Jacqueline stood to the side, a pair of things that looked oddly similar to handcuffs dangling from her hand.

“We’ve got to take the both of you in for questioning. To be safe, we have to put both of bonds.” She seemed apologetic, but she still seemed ready to run after us if either of us ran.

I held out my wrists, and she clamped the cuffs around them. My mother was next.

She literally just questioned us on what we were put through, so she could legally give the full punishment to Orcus.

After that, we were set free, from the questioning room and from the captivity of Orcus.

“So, where shall we go first?”

My mother asked me, and I simply looked up to her.

“Wherever we want.”