Du drehst Dich im schwarzen Licht
Dein Schatten explodiert wie ein Vulkan
Du bist wie ein Stern der spricht
verfallen bin ich Dir in meinem Wahn
in Deinem Bann Du mich ertränkst
unsterblich dann mir Leben schenkst
öffne das Tor den schwarzen Legionen
schließe den Kreis des Bösen, Das Omen

E Nomine – Das Omen

Time held no meaning for Edwin anymore, the only thing that had any meaning was the pain which coursed through his battered body, intensifying and fading like the tide.

Chained up against the wall of the prison cell, his delirious mind amused itself with the fact that they had bothered chaining him up, aware that after what felt like an eternity of torture, he was no longer a threat.

Reluctantly, the assassin remembered the events that had lead the up to his current predicament.

The night had been a mild one, the type of night that romantics appreciated and Edwin preferred to work in. The target had been a young man, the lover of the insane god, Anteros. Not too many people knew that Anteros had a male lover, and even less had a problem with it. Edwin’s employer had belonged to those who saw the man as a problem. He had contemplated that in comparison to some of the other targets he had taken out, this one was by far the easiest, at least he had believed that to be the case at the beginning of the night.

The gods are foolish. Edwin had thought as he silently entered the chambers his target was occupying. For them, the idea that someone could enter their palaces through any way but the front doors was a foreign idea. Their palaces were normally protected by some type of 'godly' power, but, as with all gods, that only worked if the person it was supposed to stop believed that these 'godly' powers existed, or believed in the god. The guards that were posted outside the front door were there to impress, and occasionally, deter some fanatic. and then they wondered why so many of them die. He thought, taking advantage of the knowledge that 'godly' powers only existed in the mind, and they sure as hell did not exist in his. He had killed too many of them to start believing in their powers now.

He had surveyed the room quickly, standing in the shadows of the curtains which fitted into the baroque style the rest of the room was decorated in. A slow smile crossed his face as he noticed his target, who seemed to be pre-occupied with standing in front of a mirror admiring himself, to notice Edwin.

Silently, he had come up behind his target. His dagger in his hand he smiled coldly, never giving his target the chance to react to what he was seeing in the mirror as he had driven his dagger into the man's neck, cutting through the vocal chords. When his target tried to turn to face his attacker, Edwin had kept the dagger steady, preventing the target from facing him, instead, had made his target watch his own death in the mirror in front of them.

When he had been sure that he had kept the blade in the man's neck long enough to do mortal damage, he had pulled it out, his target's blood running down the handle and over his hand, and had watched as the body had collapsed in front of him before looking into the mirror himself. He had smiled slightly at the image of himself. He knew himself to be good looking, and this mirror confirmed that. He had the look of a man who was full of mystery, the type that seemed to want rescuing from his fate by fair maids. His electric blue hair which had been genetically modified to match his equally blue eyes, and black clothing just added to the air of mystery he carried.

He had then pulled out a piece of cloth and wiped his dagger clean with it, before becoming aware of another presence in the room and surveyed the room through the mirror, only to find the god who's lover he had just killed standing in the doorway, looking in absolute horror at the scene in front of him.

The door creaked open, and Edwin lifted his head. His once clean hair now sticky with dried blood, his clothing in places, he looked far from the man that was known as the slayer of gods.

"Oh, you're awake"

The voice of the god spoke, sounding slightly disappointed. Edwin opted against speaking, his throat felt parched and he had his doubts that his voice was working, instead, he just glared at his captor.

"Well, that will make this soo much more interesting, scream for me, Edwin, scream" Anteros spoke, his voice filled with the same insanity that reflected in the spark in his eyes. Edwin denied the insane god the satisfaction of complying.

"You would get off that, wouldn't you?"

He asked, his voice raspy, but at least now, he knew it worked, it was a start. It did not last long though, as the god started to choke him without coming closer, until he almost passed out.

When Anteros let go of the invisible hold he had on Edwin's throat, Edwin took a deep breath, coughing as the air entered his lungs, as he glared at the insane god, wondering how long he planned on keeping Edwin alive.

The god smiled, having read Edwin's mind.

"Death is too good for you, Edwin Neco Deus"

It came as no surprise to Edwin that the god knew who he was. He had a reputation preceding him and had no idea what he had told the insane god during the duration of his torture.

"Instead, I will take the one thing that kept you in your job from you"

Anteros informed Edwin. Before Edwin had the chance to finish contemplating what the god had meant, the god was already hovering over him. Even with the disadvantage of being chained to the wall, Edwin was still taller than the god. His delusional mind found this fact amusing and it took all he had to not show it, there was no use in upsetting the insane god any more than he had already done.

Not that it would have mattered to the god who seemed to be too busy with a syringe he had pulled out of nowhere to bother with Edwin’s thoughts. Edwin on the other hand, now attempted to back away from the god, further into the wall behind him. Anteros laughed insanely at the realisation that he was creating panic within Edwin, and spoke into his mind.

”Do what you denied my lover, beg me to spare your miserable life, scream Edwin, scream”

The mental message pushed Edwin’s mind closer to the brink of insanity, and he laughed, coughing as he did so.

“Oh, you think I am joking?”

Anteros asked, raising an eyebrow, suddenly serious as he squirted a bit of the liquid from the tip of the needle, watching Edwin’s reaction with a certain amount of amusement.

He then denied Edwin any movement, simply by using the power that Edwin did not believe in. The irony of it was not lost on Edwin, who was now frantically trying to find a way around his sudden immobility. Anteros carefully and accurately injected the content of the syringe into Edwin’s eyes. As he did so, he whispered into Edwin’s mind.

This liquid is something similar to what you humans call bleach, it will blind you. You will be vulnerable to all who choose to act against you. But, out of the goodness of my heart, I will grant you limited immortality. No-one will be able to kill you for the next year or so.

When he had finished injecting Edwin’s eyes with the poison, he floated back a bit and released Edwin, only to be rewarded by the scream Edwin had not wanted to give him before as the full effects of the poison together with the words spoken hit.

He was not even aware that he was screaming. The pain he felt was worse than anything he had felt before, his eyes seemingly on fire, burning straight into his brain. Anteros’ words made him realize exactly what the god had meant when he had told him that death was too good an option for him. I fucked up, royally. He thought as he passed out, the burning pain too much to handle for his already damaged body.

He woke up with a start, and froze, just lying there, listening to his surroundings, making sure that no intruder was in the room. It concerned him greatly that these memories, nightmares, were starting to frequent his dreams again. When he was certain that no-one was in the room, he opened his eyes, only to be confronted by the fact that the nightmare was indeed a memory, and he was actually blind.

"Why? Why did you take him from me?"

He remembered those words, remembered the face of the god, and remembered looking straight at the bullet-prove god and declaring:

"I was doing my job, Anteros, nothing more"

He groaned as he sat up, his body still aching from the previous events. He guessed he had come close to loosing his live at the hand of Anteros, but for the life of him, had no idea what he was doing here, wherever here was.

He ran his hands down his battered body, checking to see if by any chance, Anteros had left him with some type of weapon, but was disappointed at the result. No weapon, not even something that could be used as one, was left on him. Tbc. (You didn't honestly think I could finish writing a complete piece, did you?)>