A lie can travel half way around the world, while the truth is putting on its shoes.
- Mark Twain & Jonathan Swift
And then, by the grace of the gods
there was The Law Of The Celestial Command which shattered the primeval silence of the firmament.
Resounding through the vast dominion of existence with a glory so terrible and ancient. Yet this decree was never meant to be questioned nor broken—only carried out and kept a dead secret.
"The stars align, find the childe
For he bears The Mark Of The First Discord and The Arch Devil stirs."
The celestial being hath spoken,
and his endowing essence unfurled across the aster. Bellowing through the ever so bountiful vastness of the cosmos, reverberating in every cardinal direction and beyond the measure of the stars.
"Go guardian, the time is now before it is too late..."
And when the confines of time and space unfolded, two enigmatic figures accordioned from the light.
The first one passed by like a cool breeze — calm, collected and composed. It quietly brought about
mercy and it departed.
But the second one did not pass at all, instead it tore through like a raging sandstorm — swift and chaotic leaving only merciless devastation in its wake.
Both ordained by divine providence, but only one would prevail. And this time, for the first time in history : policy met diplomacy — it was first come, first serve.
"We knew you'd come..."
The serene woman whispered, and in her voice dwelled the old truth : that a mother's compassion is softer than silk, yet stronger than any storm — for to mess with a woman is to mess with the very ilk bedrock upon which countless generations have been layeth.
"For long have the dreaming stars whispered of thy arrival."
"Then perhaps milady, you know why I am here?"
The mysterious hooded figure replied, while lowering the hood of his ragged shroud.
"I am sorry but the child cannot stay, for something restless sleeps deep within him."
As he gestured to the child laying in the cradle.
"And it grows stronger with each passing moment."
In that instance the small infant opened his eyes, and when they met the gaze of the mystic hooded figure. He saw a spark in them, shimmering a small glimmer of hope that foretold of an untold future that has still yet to come.
And upon his chest, a blood stained birthmark pulsating in a dim glow of crimson red. Resting on the child's skin, like an anemone placed atop a grave a cursed ember that whispers of ruin buried deep within the child's fate.
But the brawny man standing next to the woman suddenly stepped forward in an aggressive and protective manner.
"Nom de zeus brontios, what do you think you're doing?!"
"That's my son! where are you taking him?"
"Forgive me sir, but he's The Universe's last hope..."
The cryptic hooded figure subtly countered, but came to a sudden hesitant pausal clause.
"...Or maybe, just maybe it's final doom."
"The Universe's last hope or final doom..?"
"What the hell are you talking about his just a boy?!"
The stoic and masculine man precariously rebelled in revolt.
"My precious baby boy..."
"How come such a burden is being placed upon him?"
"Why can't he just live a normal life like every other child, free to make his own choices and mistakes?"
"Interesting, where you once boasted about the glory of conquest..."
"How might makes right by the blood of the innocent, you now speak of mercy."
"I–I…I'm s-sorry, but…"
"We…we were wrong to measure balance in lives taken"
The man solemnly confessed with a repining expression on his face, and a heavy heart unsteady still yearning.
"And we will forever grieve that mistake — for no scale forged by the mere hands of man was ever meant to weigh the worth of a living heart."
For a moment he stood still lost in deep pondersome contemplation as he gazed upon the child laying in the cradle, already burdened with the realization that this would be the last time they would ever be together.
"We've seen the paths of probability"
The female maiden consoled the fiendish brute with a melancholy and endearing expression on her charmingly decadent face.
"Alas my love, all the paths lead to blood."
"But do not despair, for there still lies hope..."
"For your lives are now gifts to
The Empyreal and together we will protect its harmony— not by ending it but by nurturing it whereas some paths do lead to tomorrow, for there are far worse things than death."
Thus the hooded figure came to his final decision and without ceremony he took the boy away from his parents, forever severing the fragile bond that had bound them.
Without hesitation turning from the world he had undone, he set an uncharted course toward a remote planet in a distant galaxy. And the child's name given that history would later deny ever belonged to anyone, for the world recorded the event as a massacre and there were no survivors, no heir and no mark.
But far far away from that ruined world, beneath an unfamiliar sun a child cried for parents he would soon forget. Fate be fortunate something that had been watching since the first age and somewhere beyond sight, ancient eyes opened realizing what had been stolen had not yet been destroyed.