Drawn into the perspective of the Crown Prince, Raziel Cosmos, Orion couldn"t believe what he"s seeing. Raziel is being praised for his return back to his kingdom. Though many have died from the hands of traitors and enemies, the Crown Prince got all of the unwanted attention coming from the citizens of the Light Kingdom.People showered him with gifts upon entering the gates of the capital and… was immediately brought onto stage, ordered by his father. He was pushed onto stage and… an advisor held a speech for his… greatness for obtaining and securing the Nebula.
"Wh-What about Urie—" Raziel didn"t get to finish his question as the advisor kept speaking.
"… and truly, Prince Raziel is born to be a G.o.d." The advisor praised him, "He led our army towards victory, and even vanquished the traitors that had set their eyes on the chosen G.o.d!"
Everything… happened too quickly. Raziel didn"t have the time to react nor to think. This is far different than what he had seen from his visions, thanks to his clairvoyance. He underestimated how much greed would surface once the Nebula bound itself to him, claiming him as its owner.
It seems like the advisor is taking advantage of this, swindling many to serve the "true G.o.d".
Faced with this unwanted attention due to Raziel"s cowardice, this dragged on for many, many hours, days… weeks. Because of this, casted behind his shadow, stood his younger brother who had lost his radiance after the war. The younger twin lost his shine as he faded away in the background. Raziel knew of this and… now that regret succ.u.mbed to him due to his negligence and fearful side, he… he wanted to change the future path that is to be taken, even if he also knew that it"s already too late.
Every day, he"d approach his younger twin, who in turn kept avoiding him while wearing the same pained smile.
"Uriel, please—"
"No, elder brother," Uriel smiled, "it"s… I"m okay. I"m sure you have a lot to do." He then vanished by the help of the Void"s gift.
Every day"s the same.
"Uriel…!"
Uriel would always avoid him and… this time, for the first time, he doesn"t know why. His clairvoyance keeps dissipating every time he tries to see why his younger twin is being like this, but all is for naught. Something greater has been cancelling out his power that is amplified by the Nebula, and it"s rather disturbing.
Because of this, he decided to take a break from all of the work that is placed upon him after the war. He escaped from his works, sneaking out and teleporting to what used to be his and his twin"s secret place—that even their younger sister doesn"t know about.
The same gra.s.sy field that Orion had seen through Raziel"s eyes appeared. The Hatake-Nara has mixed feelings about all of the things that happened—he didn"t have the time to comprehend what"s happening. One second, he"s looking at war, the next, he"s looking at a crowd that gathered around a… what they considered to be a "G.o.d", and now, he"s watching as Raziel is slowly suffering from all of the things that are happening in his life.
Orion looked up as Raziel paused on his steps, looking over at a familiar figure sitting amongst the flowers and patch of green gra.s.s. The Cosmos doesn"t know what to do—whether to approach his brother or to just stay and watch. For the time of being though, he successfully concealed himself to… observe first.
He activated his clairvoyance towards his brother, but was for naught once again. By the third time he tried, damage was inflicted back to him as the backlash from using his limited clairvoyance ability, which was also enhanced by the Nebula, ruptured his eye. His left eye bled, but he simply covered it with his palm and bit his lower lip, still keeping his soft gaze at his brother"s back.
He could always heal up anything—or maybe even lose a limb and regrow it back, but he can"t undo the mistake of not having to alter the things that led to this path when he had the chance.
When he finally decided to stand up to approach his brother to know what was going on, a surge of power blasted towards him. He was standing firm and with the help of his powers, he didn"t get flown back by the ominous blast. However, the blast… left him feeling uneasy and weak—it"s far different from anything he had experienced.
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Clutching his stomach, he struggled to stand up, but still tried his best to look up to see if his brother is alright. He hoped that his brother didn"t get caught up by the blast—
He froze, previous visions coming back to him. He had taken notes of things similar to this event taken from his visions, but all of those has been burned out to not be discovered by anyone.
His eyes widened as a faint gold glow became prominent over the black fog that had covered the area from the blast.
He knew that, at some point—thanks to his clairvoyance, the Nebula would split into two, giving birth to another Eye—caused by unknown means. He expected this to occur… but he didn"t expect for it to bind itself to his twin, out of all people.
He stood there and fell on his knees, dumbfounded as his golden eye reacted to the golden glow coming from the shadows. The golden glow seems to be staring right back at him and… when the fog and dust slowly cleared, his younger brother"s menacing face imprinted itself into his mind before the young Cosmos disappeared in a black smoke.
Whatever that was, it totally broke Raziel. The power Uriel exerted left him paralysed in fear.
This reached the spectator"s, Orion"s, leaving him frozen as well. The young child had never felt this kind of fear in his entire life—even in his previous life. It"s like witnessing a foul creature come to life in unknown reasons—that"s how he describes it anyways because, he can"t really put it in exact words.
Either way, it was awful—it was horrifying… Horrifying enough to make Orion"s chest tighten… or is it Raziel"s? He doesn"t know.
Raziel remained there until, eventually, people found him… but it doesn"t get any better. The knights who found him carried an unexpected news. Apparently, he"s been gone for half a day and… it was enough for things to go south—the king, his father, was killed.
By whom, one might ask?
Raziel"s heart sunk when the name was uttered to him.
"The king was… killed by the Second Prince, Prince Uriel, your highness." The knight dropped the news to him.
"It appears that… he possesses the same eye your highness has acquired, and it made us think of the worst." The second knight spoke up, "We thought he had ended you to gain your power, your highness… so the Princess ordered to search for you and, worst case scenario, for your remains, your highness…" He then perked up a bit, "But we"re glad to see that you"re all right, your highness, despite of attaining serious injuries."
"It seems like the Second Prince and his highness has confronted each other?" Another knight questioned.
Raziel covered his bleeding golden left eye and supported himself to stand up. He stared at the knights in front of him and, without himself knowing, gave them the coldest glare they had ever seen from him. "Enough." He said in his most dead tone, before sighing and brushing past against the knights to make his way back to the kingdom"s palace.
The knights, of course, froze up. They had never seen their highness like that before. He was always so kind, gentle, and silent… but… they never expected him to be as scary as he had just shown.
The Crown Prince"s feelings were conveyed to Orion and… the child understood. No one would ever believe that the closest person they had ever been with would do such morbid thing. Well, would you look at that, it"s just like Orion"s last life. He cared so much for his own brother yet he…
Sure, he had seen that, through Raziel"s notes, there was a chance that the King would be killed after or during the war, but he nor Raziel didn"t expect Uriel to be the culprit. That, until Raziel arrived on the fresh murder scene that occurred in the throne room.
"M-Maybe it was just an impostor! An impostor that had taken the second prince"s face as a disguise to tarnish his reputation!" The advisor was violently shaking as he spoke to the Crown Prince.
"Br-Brother wouldn"t do such horrible thing to father, right, Elder Brother?" Mallory cried as she hugged their father"s corpse.
Raziel… knew otherwise. His Nebula reacted negatively towards the remaining substances flowing with the air. His eye sight with his left eye became… almost statically glitched, like, it doesn"t like whatever"s floating around them. He was getting livid—he"s mad at himself, Orion could feel it. Granted, he has a lot of mixed emotions at the moment but sadness and anger are clashing together furiously.
"It wasn"t supposed to be like this." Raziel gritted his teeth, closing his eyes as the memories of his and his family"s joyful past when they were little played through his mind. Uriel and Mallory"s smiles replayed in his mind, together with their father"s and mother"s when she was still alive.
Orion sees what Raziel sees, and they both had the same thought: maybe, if Raziel"s mother was still alive, things wouldn"t go this way.
Well, it was just a thought.
Raziel couldn"t remember much about their mother. Every memory of her is a blur. All he remembers about her is her kindness, gentleness, her sweet smiles, and kind… face… no… at this point, he couldn"t remember her face. It"s not like that would change a thing.
Orion thought it was weird that Raziel would think of his mother at such random time, but he didn"t say a word. He then got a bit dizzy as Raziel"s world seemed to have skipped a week, or probably a month. He was still in Raziel"s perspective and it seems like the said prince is getting crowned as king.
The crowd cheered as Raziel wore the crown his father once owned. He then sat at the golden throne, with Mallory by his side. Neither of them wore a smile—just both with their dominating stature.
Orion saw that a lot of things changed in a span of a month—the late king was mourned by the whole kingdom, Mallory and Raziel drastically changed, statues and monuments for the second prince were put into ruins by the people who held grudges and anger… the kingdom was in a bit of chaos when there was no ruler… maybe that"s why Raziel was crowned as king for he was favoured by many.
Orion blinked as everything seemed to have paused. He looked back and saw the Raziel he knows sitting back in a couch with an indifferent face.
"Nothing really happened after I was crowned king—just my workload getting bigger." He told the child, "You really don"t want to see that. You will have a headache."
"After seeing the moment you locked yourself in your room, no." Orion chuckled but stopped half way, "I have a hunch that things will eventually go downhill?"
"Well, things already went downhill," Raziel mustered up a bitter smile, "but, yeah… things got way down after a three-month silence."
"Lemme guess," Orion"s piercing gaze met Raziel"s, "Uriel?"
"Hm?" Raziel blinked before letting go of a solemn smile.
Orion just looked back at the movie screen, and at the same time, he got sucked back into the past Raziel"s perspective—this time, it"s been three months since Raziel became king. This is his first break ever since becoming a king.
The king stood atop a green cliff, watching over the edge of his kingdom—the void of the universe, where the stars, planets and other kingdoms are scattered. A breeze swept through his unkempt hair, making it dance with the wind. His cape that draped over his shoulders did as well. He was just letting the peacefulness sink into him. It"s a nice feeling.
Well, until he felt someone familiar appear behind him.
He simply sighed, "Welcome back, dear brother."
Uriel chuckled, making Raziel finally turn around to look at him. Raziel saw that Uriel changed a lot—he too now has unkempt hair, but his face seemed more clear and relaxed compared to his pale and tired one. His brother wore something that would fit someone from the royals of the Void Kingdom. Black cape draped over his shoulders, with a familiar silver crown clasped as an ornament.
"It seems like you too has become king." Raziel took note.
"I did." Uriel stared back at him. Raziel just gave him a pitying look, which greatly irritated him. "I hate that face you make… every time you look at me, you hold those pitying eyes—after getting the Nebula and the people"s favour? You looked at me that way." Uriel then snarled, "I hate it."
"I…" Orion narrowed his eyes as Raziel try to make up his words. It seems like Raziel feels rather guilty. He can"t really blame himself for worrying over his brother. Even though Uriel fell out with the whole kingdom, and even killed their father, Raziel couldn"t help but feel worry and pity for his brother.
"You… always casted me behind your shadows…" Uriel stepped closer to him, "And I"ve always hated it."
"Why… did you kill father?" Raziel stood firm as Uriel got closer.
"Why?" Uriel paused, "Well it was to make you king! Aren"t you proud of me, elder brother?" He laughed, "You"re going to be king anyways, and I just sped it up."
Raziel knew it wasn"t the answer he was looking for, and Uriel caught the gist of it.
"I can see that you"re not satisfied with my answer… shall I find a more suitable one then?" Uriel mocked him.
"You weren"t like this, brother… why have you become like this? I never planned to be king… I didn"t want to be king… I didn"t want to be the "chosen G.o.d"… I didn"t want any of this! I—"
"You didn"t want to, but you have to, I know." Uriel stopped him, "I, too, didn"t want to step back to make way for you… I didn"t want to be casted behind, but I had to—because father favoured you more, right? You"re gifted since your birth, brother. You"re the genius of the kingdom. You had powers ever since your youth… you can even see the future! You"re everything everyone dreams to be!" His words then became bitter, "Even me…"
Raziel"s eyes widened.
"I"ve looked up to you… and dreamt to be you… but I didn"t have the abilities and powers to do so… had the Void Kingdom not gifted me their treasure, I would be powerless… but you… you had everything…" Uriel clenched his hands, "But you"re such a coward."
Raziel looked away.
"You had every opportunity to rise on top faster, yet you refused to do so… you were scared to even show your abilities that I had envied for… you have such a soft heart." Uriel swiped away his cape that hid his hand that held a sharp sword.
Raziel stood his ground, regret swarming over him as he realised why everything happened. It makes sense to him now. This made Orion scoff as how naïve Raziel has been.
"You"ve… changed a lot…" Those were the only words Raziel could let out his mouth.
"Having seeing so much will definitely change one." Uriel spoke before he vanished, "You won"t be able to fix me, dear brother."
Orion froze when he heard those exact words. They"re familiar.
Raziel, on the other hand, couldn"t react in time as Uriel appeared in front of him and dug his sword through his chest. His chin rested onto his younger brother"s shoulder as blood flowed through his mouth, dripping down to his brother. His golden crown fell from his head and it made a sound that reverberated in the empty s.p.a.ce. For him though, it was somehow deafening.
"My bad, dear brother." Uriel laughed, "You"ve been far too kind and naïve for your own safety."
Tears made Raziel"s vision blurry. He shakily raised his arms and wrapped them around his brother, hugging him as tight as he could. The sword glinted as it snaked through Raziel"s body. Uriel"s victorious smile placed proudly on his face. Blood seeped through the Raziel"s mouth as he stepped back, his feet dangling near the edge of the universe, making Uriel pull out the sword and flick off the blood that covered it.
Somehow, Raziel couldn"t heal. Whatever sword his brother used, it prevented him from using any of his abilities. His golden eyes doesn"t even work because Uriel is around—this will be his end, he was very sure. Still, knowing that this is his demise, he held the same worried, pitying, sympathetic gaze in his eyes.
Uriel hated it.
Even in Raziel"s coming end, he still managed to look at him that way. His eyes caught the crown his brother wore. He picked it up and looked at it before looking back at his dying brother. He smiled at him before raised his sword and pushing his brother off the cliff and into the void.
Raziel wasn"t able to do anything as the final images that cascaded over him was the rare sight of his brother"s eyes that told him he"s sorry.
Orion stayed silent as the movie-like show finally ended.
The movie set slowly disappeared and the present Raziel appeared beside him.
"Hate." Orion suddenly spoke.
"Pardon?"
"It was because of jealousy that eventually turned to hatred." Orion clarified, "Isnt it?"
"Maybe…" Raziel looked away.
"I suppose that was when the reincarnation started happening? After your death?" Orion asked.
"Yes, it was the start of the never ending cycle…" Raziel sighed, "Are you familiar of the story of Cain and Abel?"
"Mhm."
"It"s like that, right?" Raziel chuckled before pausing, "Except we always know what happened in our past life… but then you came."
"What do you mean?" Orion was abit offended by Raziel"s words.
"You see, when I was always reincarnated, after a few years in my mortal life, I would always remember my past lives… even Uriel did…" Raziel sounded a bit bitter, "But you, you never received those vital memories and, instead, manifested me inside your very mind. I"m trapped inside you."
Orion was a bit lost, but he"s getting it.
"It seems like you"re the one destined to end this." Raziel then paused, "Well, I"m still you so there"s that."
"What?" Orion raised a brow, "No, you"re not me, and I"m not you. I"m entirely different from you. I would"ve made entire different choices than you had I"ve been placed in your situation."
"That seems to be the case," Raziel agreed, "but what you said about the choices thing does not matter, I"m afraid. The universe will do what fits for itself. What happened to me would"ve eventually happened to you too. It"s inevitable."
"Well, f.u.c.k the universe then." Orion showed his stubbornness, folding his arms, "I"ll do what I want."
"If that"s what you want," Raziel cracked a rare genuine smile that caught Orion off-guard, "I"m sure you can do it."
"Well… that"s a rare sight." Orion told him.
"Is it?" Raziel faced him and raised his hand over the child"s face, "Well, you should go back now…"
"Wait!" Orion put his hands in front of him, stopping him from his movements, "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"I thought you"re gonna take over when you showed me your… uh… supposedly our past?" Orion raised a brow. He honestly thought that.
"If I could, I would"ve done it already, child." Raziel pointed out.
"Ah, point taken." Orion nodded.
"Oh, and you probably won"t see me for a long time after this." Raziel told him before touching his forehead.
"Wha—wai—" Orion couldn"t finish his words as he was sent back to…
… a horrible reality.