A senseful slaughter

Seth was walking side by side with Elise, traveling down a long flight of stairs under the Kingdom of Loss. A few steps behind them, Pearl, Meg, and Lisa followed.

The three girls in the back were trying to contain their repulsion at the bloody atmosphere that prevailed on the long flight of stairs. The stairs and the walls were made out of pure blood, wriggling continuously like they were alive.

Out of the three, Meg was the most affected, holding tightly onto Pearl as she did her best to avoid her eyes from the bloody surroundings.

While almost equally disgusted, Pearl and Lisa were also intrigued by the nature of the place they had stepped in, but since Seth and Elise appeared to be discussing something important, none of them dared to bother them.

“Quite the place you built for yourself down here…” muttered Seth, passing his hand by one of the side walls, tracing the blood texture with no trace of disgust or repulsion.

“I think your little girlfriends might disagree with your opinion.” replied Elise with a restrained giggle.

Seth peeked at the three behind and nodded.

“Maybe it’s a little heavy on the eye and nose, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. Using the Blood Sun to create a place where no gods can peek in. Quite the feat.”

“Still, I’m curious, Elise. How did you convince the ascended to live down here?”

Elise’s smile turned crooked as she replied: “Convinced is a big word….”

Seth’s eyebrow rose, but he didn’t ask her any more about it, deciding to change the subject for now. “How is their strength?”

“With Seth’s link to the Tower being broken, the knowledge in all elements besides destruction was incomplete, so the speed of progress was not as ideal as we would have liked, but the results are still not bad.”

“There are three sixth shell destruction ascended, the strongest of the batch, and 248 fifth shell ascended of different energies. Over 12 000 fourth shells, and the rest are spread between the first, second, and third shells. I don’t know the exact numbers, but it is a force to be reckoned with.”

“But if I woke up with just my knowledge in other elements, which was honestly almost nonexistent, how come there are still so many strong ascended?”

“You have started recruiting ascended quite early, even before knowing the truth about the paradox. After we worked together to capture Iris and took over Oath, we changed the academy’s name to Asteria, starting a mass recruiting of ascended from all over the Kingdom.”

“The progress was slow but still acceptable since time was not an issue then. That was until you found out about the time paradox. That was when time became a problem, and we had to change our approach.”

“After cleaning up the blood race, Seth and I completed the Blood Sun using the entire Blood Empire’s population as a sacrifice.”

“Discovering plenty of springs in the depths of the Blood Kingdom, we decided to claim it as Endora’s territory and moved Asteria’s headquarters there, where we used the Blood Sun to grow the strength of the ascended deep underground, away from any prying eyes.”

“After setting everything up, Seth disappeared into time, and Tarquin moved south, planning on claiming the land for his own plans against Thanatos.”

Elise sighed and shook her head. “We initially had a deal, but he got increasingly annoying with time, and I had to move the whole operation here to Loss. I created tunnels underground to have all the springs congregate here so the ascended would have an endless energy supply.”

“Due to the destruction ascended complete knowledge from the start and their ability to separate energies, even with Seth consuming the vast majority of them, those left still progressed much faster. The other ascended were just a bit slower, but not that much.”

Seth nodded in understanding, and they soon arrived at a massive underground cave extending under all of Loss’s capital. Energy springs were mixing with blood rivers, creating veins traveling across the cave.

As revolting as the place was, it seemed strangely beautiful at the same time.

Seth looked at the thousands of tiny dots populating the cave, none of which appeared to be moving, and asked: “You possessed them all?”

“All besides the destruction ones. Possessing three sixth shell ascended would require more sacrifices than I could provide.”

Seth took a deep breath and looked into Elise’s eyes as he asked: “How many did you sacrifice? For everything. From the beginning until now?”

Elise sighed and shook her head: “Who knows? Billions, tens of billions, maybe even hundreds?”

“And I allowed all this?” asked Seth with a slight frown.

“You did. In the beginning, we both claimed it would be worth it when the timeline was set straight, and we killed people without looking at the numbers.”

“In all honesty, the things I had to do, even as a being of the blood race, still mark me to this day, but he promised me this was the only way to save everyone, so I did it.”

“As time passed and the bodies piled up, it got harder and harder for me, but not for him. I could see it in his eyes towards the end. The shaking of his eyes whenever we destroyed a life slowly faded, replaced by a weird glint he was trying to hide deep inside. He was starting to like it, to enjoy the carnage and massacre we brought onto this world.”

Elise’s eyes turned sort of misty as she continued: “I could even hear him sometimes, when he was at his worst, mumbling to himself, doubting himself, wondering if there was any point in fixing it. He even told me once that there was another way. He could claim his divinity back and stop the paradox with that power….”

“The will of destruction was taking over….” muttered Seth, having gone through that once before.

“It was, his eyes would turn redder than mine sometimes, and he would kill people for simply daring to speak back to him. At a moment of lucidity, he even asked me to keep him sealed inside the Blood Sun.”

“I could see him suffering, the curse of his power eating away at him as he continued to devour destruction ascended to grow stronger.”

“By the time he broke the seventh shell, he could barely speak. He would sob silently when he thought no one was watching, comforting himself that it was all for the greater good.”

“He would cry for days, trying to hold onto his goal. And when he broke the eighth shell, he didn’t say a single word to me and just disappeared….”

“I don’t know if you and he are the same, Seth, and I don’t know how much the difference in timelines had changed you or him, but please, please don’t let all that pain he and I had to go through be in vain.”

Tears of blood flowed down Elise’s cheek as she turned to look at Seth. “Please erase the monsters he and I had become and bring back all the lives we had reaped like one would weeks growing on the side of the road.”

Falling to her knees, she lowered her head, uncaring of her pride and status, and spoke again. “Please don’t fail.”

Even Seth felt a slight pain in his chest, knowing very well what she was going through. He had been there as well. Running from the destruction you had created, only for it to catch up with you in the end.

Bending down, he extended a hand toward Elise and said: “I promise you that I won’t let all your sacrifices be in vain. Now stand back up and keep your resolve just a little more. I will all be over soon.”

Elise bit her lower lip as she raised her hand and took Seth’s hand, pulling herself back to her feet. Clearing the tears of blood from her cheek, she shook her head and took a deep breath.

“Alright. I’m fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Good. What have you told the ascended before putting them under the Blood Sun’s control?”

“I told them the truth about the world’s destruction and called the process a cultivation sleep, which will allow them to grow more powerful faster. After telling them everything, I never asked if they agreed and simply used the Blood Sun to seal their minds. My blood was already long been in their bodies, so putting them under its control was simple.”

Seth nodded and looked back over the blood city. “Then it’s time to wake them all up. Bring them all outside and find a place to release them from the trance. We’ll both speak to them and let them know of the situation. How long do you need?”

Elise lowered her head to think for a moment before saying: “Give me one day. I’ll have them all outside in the Plains of Famine in a day. Once they are all out, I can wake them all up instantly.”

“That’s fine. What about the three sixth shell ascended? Where are they?”

“They live inside Loss and are already aware of everything, including the plan he had before he left. Whatever orders you might have, they will follow.”

Seth nodded and took another look at the cave before saying: “What about Famine?”

“I enforced the seal created by the Council and used the Sun to keep him trapped.”

“And Worm?”

“Freed from his duties, he retreated back to their little hideout.”

“I see. It doesn’t matter. You can begin then. I have one more thing to do, and I’ll return in one day.”

Elise nodded, and the Blood Sun exited her chest again, its mist starting to cover the entire city.

With Elise beginning to pull the ascended out of the domain of her treasure, Seth turned towards Lisa, who was still reeling from Elise’s story, and the city of mind-controlled ascended.

“Snap out of it. I need you to take us outside.” said Seth, and Lisa’s eyes shook back into focus, looking at him with tears forming at the corners.

“You -“

“Take us out. I don’t have the time to babysit you right now. If we succeed, we can still change everything. It will be like none of this ever happened, but if we fail, all those sacrifices would have been for naught, and all those people would remain dead. If you don’t want their blood on your hands as well, shut up and take us out.”

Lisa bit her lip, tears flowing down her cheek as fear appeared in her eyes, this being the first time Seth had actually yelled at her. Without saying a single word, she used her space energy to teleport everyone back on top again.

Seth didn’t spare Lisa another look and turned to stare at the sky.

“The Council of Unseen, Raven. This is Seth, the former God of Destruction. I need to speak to Augur and your people. If you can hear me. have Worm take me to your place.”

It took a few minutes of heavy silence until Seth was pulled out of the continent, right in front of the three girls, and disappeared from sight.

As Lisa fell to her knees, sobbing under Meg’s attempts to comfort her, Seth was already in front of a large table filled with wild animals and plants.

At the center of the table, a large gray owl was floating a few feet above the ground, its big eyes fixed on Seth.

“I welcome you to the Council of Unseen, Seat of Destruction.”