1
998 YEARS BEFORE RECORDED TIME
“We’ve got them routed, brother. Don’t let up!”
Spreading his wings wide, Malphas inclined his head to Itzal. He had no intention of letting any enemy survive this battle. He’d been called one of the deadliest demons in history and reveled in that title.
Indeed, his greatest wish was to become even more feared than the gods.
That was his dream.
His reality…
Malphas was wing deep in guts and swimming in entrails. Covered in blood.
Nirvana!
Nothing made him feel better than this. Than listening to demons, gods and humans scream out in agony. It was as if a part of his soul was freed every single time they begged him for their lives.
Perhaps that made him sick in the eyes of some.
In his mind, it made him even. None of them had ever cared when he suffered. In fact, most of them had egged the abuse on with a smirk that betrayed their sick sense of satisfaction. Their cruelty had seared his soul until nothing was left other than hatred and bitterness. A need to make them feel the pain of his existence.
Malphas parried a sword stroke from a female Sephirii. Her pale wings glistened against the blood that stained his black ones.
Snarling, he moved to kill her. Until he saw her sword and knew her instantly…
Myone.
Kill her!
He needed to. He must!
And your brother will have no one.
Malphas tightened his grip as he held her wrist in his hand. One stroke. One strike and he’d be able to deliver her head to his father.
Jaden would be furious. He’d probably punish him eternally for daring to take her life. Such an easy thing.
Do it! Do it!
His gaze fell to her flat belly where she grew a child. He could hear its heartbeat.
My nephew. He could sense the boy that innocently lay in ignorance of the bloodshed around them. A boy who would probably pick up a sword to slay both him and his brother who had fathered him.
One stroke would end both mother and child.
And destroy his brother before the child did it for him.
Do it!
That voice would not relent with its demand. Neither would a good demon. A demon would crush them both, without hesitation or mercy.
You are a demon.
He was, but he was something more. The demigod blood in him was at war with the demon. It always had been.
Damn both his halves for never leaving him in peace.
