Chapter 2

It had been one hundred years, and the war between the realms still stretched. The battle for who should be the supreme ruler of the realms and whose orders should supersede that of the other realms was still waged. The realms originating from hell, led by Daemon, were adamant about continuing the rulership. It was a realm secession movement. The Kingdom of Lights had been ruling over the whole realm, including the Earth, for thousands of years, and it didn’t seem like things were improving.

“The Kingdoms of Light have been in charge, and we haven’t seen any real progress all this while.”

Daemon was the first son of Hades. He had grown up to be in defiant opposition to the rulership of the Kingdoms of Light. His father, Hades, had warned that it was better not to distort the natural state of the Universe because doing so could bring the whole Universe to ruin, but Daemon had never heeded that advice.

His charisma won him some popularity in the Kingdoms of Darkness. His huge wings had punctures with eyes decorated by a red iris and a yellow pupil in the middle. His wingspan covered the length of three angels, and his voice always seemed to echo whenever he spoke. His horns were as long as three palm widths, and his eyes were shaped like beaks, pointing outward as though they were about to leave a hole into whomever he looked at.

“We need to declare an all-out war on the Kingdoms of Light,” he said to Hades. “It is inappropriate for one kingdom to assume rulership over all the realms of the Universe.”

Hades was calmer than Daemon. He saw himself in Daemon’s eyes. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, Hades had led an army to fight against the Kingdoms of Light too, but he had lost and was banished into the depths of hell. He remembered the chains and shackles he was tied with and how he spent years all alone before he was finally released.

“But you know the Kingdoms of Light are way more powerful than we are,” Hades replied. “We had gone to war with them several times and never stood a chance.”

“Then, if we can’t rule over all the kingdoms,” Daemon said, “we should be allowed to rule ourselves, at least over the domain of the Kingdoms of Darkness.”

The passion in Daemon’s eyes was palpable. He had never liked to be subjected, which stemmed from his pride. As a boy, he had run away from his parents into the darkest of realms, beneath hell itself, and he spent 200 days there, all alone, to express his defiance of his mother’s orders and his willingness to live his life the way he wanted.

The Kingdoms of Darkness were divided into three domains. The superficial one was governed by Veneer, a red-eyed god with the face of a bull and the wings of a bat. The deep domain was governed by Daemon himself, and he controlled every activity that went on in the realm. The deepest domain was forbidden from the other gods of darkness. Only Hades himself and Daemon had access to this realm, and Daemon had gotten his access out of defiance.

“I shall consult Veneer, and we will at least hold a meeting with the Kingdoms of Light so that we can decide how to divide the Universe among ourselves,” Daemon told Hades. “We cannot continue being under the rulership of the Kingdoms of Light forever.” 

Hades was getting old, and after engaging in so many wars over hundreds of years, he was wearing out and getting too tired to argue with Daemon. Besides, he knew he would be gone soon, and Daemon would become the supreme being in the Kingdoms of Darkness.

***

Eos was the beautiful daughter of Azure, the grand ruler of the Universe and the Kingdoms of Light. Her beauty was known all over the Universe; she even had one of the realms of light renamed after her. Her hair flowed like a river down its natural path, and her eyes were like petals at the peak of their bloom.

“Eos, you’ll be representing the Kingdoms of Light in the upcoming meeting that will be held for all the kingdoms of the Universe.” Azure was eager to introduce his daughter into the politics of the realms, but Eos didn’t really show much interest. She didn’t understand why there had to be a distinction between the realms of light and darkness, and she had no interest in being the supreme leader of all the realms either.

“But I hardly know anything about how the kingdoms operate,” Eos replied, “and I am no match for the indomitable Daemon.”

Eos knew Daemon. Who didn’t, anyway? She knew about his discontent with the domination of the realms by the Kingdoms of Light. She never told Azure, but she secretly supported Daemon and hoped he would win his struggle to separate the Kingdoms of Darkness from the domination of the Kingdoms of Light.

“Why don’t you let Hera represent our realm in the meeting instead?” Eos said. Hera was Eos’s younger sister. Unlike Eos, she was very much interested in the politics of the realm, she had often accompanied Azure to the assemblies held by the Kingdoms of Light, and she had always sat on her father’s feet, her long, chestnut hair flowing to the ground, and her almond eyes staring and taking in every detail as each of the higher gods spoke in the assembly.

“My decision is made,” Azure bellowed at Eos. “You will be the next grand ruler of the Universe, and you need to start learning how to represent the realms so that we all don’t get subdued.”

***

Assemblies in the Seven Realms of the Universe had often been unremarkable, but not this one. In the past, it used to be that the dark kingdoms were invited so that they would receive an announcement directly from the light realms, but this time it was different. Representatives from both realms sat to negotiate how they wanted to control their domains.

“It is my great pleasure to welcome everybody to this grand assembly that shall decide the fate of every god and goddess of the Seven Realms.”

Eos spoke from the high place as the chair of the assembly, a position usually reserved only for the supreme leader of all realms, which until now, was always Azure.

Daemon sat right next to Eos. Before now, this seat was reserved only for the co-chair of the assembly, who must always be from one of the Kingdoms of Light. His wings were more polished than usual, and the punctured pupils were brighter and sparkling; he didn’t want to give any opinion of weakness to the people of the light realms.

Daemon had expected himself to be vibrant and loud in this assembly, but he had been sitting for two hours, listening to Eos speak, and he had not said a word. He had heard of Eos and tales of how her beauty enchanted all the gods of the light realms, but this was the first time he was coming this close to Eos.

For a moment, Daemon wasn’t thinking about being the supreme leader of the Universe. He wasn’t thinking about an independent realm of darkness. To his own shock, he was thinking about making love to this goddess from the realm of light.

***

One thousand years had passed since Daemon cast himself into the deepest part of hell. One thousand years since he sat down with the representatives of the light realms to discuss the secession of the Kingdoms of Darkness. The hatred from his father, Veneer, and the people who once looked up to him had taken a tremendous toll on him.

Once shiny and revered, his wings were now flappy, as though one side of them was cut off and the other was hanging, waiting to fall off. The pupils that punctured the eyeballs on the wings had also faded, hardly noticeable. His horns had darkened and had lost the shiny luster.

Even though he had always been defiant, he never knew his ultimate defiance would be against the realms he once promised to serve and against the order of the Universe itself.

Years after they had met, Daemon realized he could not take his mind off the beautiful Eos he saw on that day, who had graced the stage and made him forget about his mission.

“You were not sent to the assembly to go and fall in love with a goddess from the Kingdoms of Light,” Veneer told him. Veneer couldn’t even believe he was saying this. Wasn’t Daemon the same person eager to break away from Kingdoms of Light?

Eos, an eccentric herself, did not mind going against her father’s wishes. She had never wanted to be the grand ruler, anyway. She’d been okay with reciprocating Daemon’s love and running away with this revolutionary from the dark realm.

So, when Daemon proposed they run away from everybody deep into the deepest part of hell, Eos didn’t mind. Theirs was a love counterpoised by both the realms of light and darkness. But they did not care as long as they were together.

As Daemon cradled the son Eos left behind, he couldn’t help but reminisce on the one thousand years he spent with his lover. They were supposed to build their kingdom in the deepest part of hell, just the three of them, but Eos had died during the difficult birth of their son.

They both knew they had gone against the natural order of the Universe and could not live a normal life, but little did they know the curse that would affect their son.

Daemon was tired of hiding; he knew he couldn’t keep their son forever in the deepest part of hell. The boy he was cradling in his arms, even though he was a mosaic of two beings, animalistic and human, deserved to live the best life. Cursed for a reason he knew nothing about, the boy could neither fit into the spiritual realms nor the realm of humans. He’d forever be an outcast.

Daemon, however, knew that it was better for his boy, the fruit of his forbidden love, to live amongst humans than among the spirits; he would constantly be reminded of the rogue rebel who prioritized love over his people.

With the last strength he had left, Daemon covered his son under the cradle of his wings. He dropped him off in the Earth realm. The boy would have to navigate life by himself.

“I know you’ll find your way,” Daemon told his little boy as he dropped him to the ground. “Someday, you’ll fulfill the duty I was never able to.”

Daemon flew back to his realm, determined to spend the rest of his life alone, half weary and half sad.

Overhead, the moon rose, and the birds chirped. The wind blew the long and shabby hair of the little boy, abandoned to cater for himself, half human and half lupine.