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hbyrde36 · 1 year

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Chapter 6!

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 ao3 link

Steve Harrington: Vampire Hunter

They really needed to go and see what was happening up at the house, but Steve wanted to put the zombie to rest first. Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found. So much for his deal with Billy. They must have taken her with them.

“Fuck.” Steve cursed.

He’d have to let it go. Going after them now would be a suicide mission, and as much as he cared about the ethical treatment of zombies, he wasn’t willing to lose his life for it.

“Let’s go.” He said, motioning for Chrissy and Dustin to follow. They walked together back through the trees and towards the house they’d come from.

It was chaos. People were running in the street, a few of them waving guns around. Hell, there was even a trashcan on fire in a nearby driveway. It was a protest gone bad. The group identified themselves as members of The Order of the Eternal, a would-be church of sorts for vampires looking for a “better” way to live. It was more like a cult.

They were big into purity and morality, in a twisted sense of course. Someone must have called and alerted them to the party. Steve wasn’t surprised that they would have an issue with the freak scene. He was a little surprised, however, that their protest had devolved into something so violent. He didn’t think their leader would stand for such actions. It went totally against their mission statement.

It was something Steve had been considering, in his investigation of the vampire murders. That The Order of the Eternal could be involved. After all, it was only Billy’s vamps that had been killed. As far as Steve knew, none of the victims had been from the order.

The group was already on his short list to check out, and this development only served to put them right at the top of it. He’d have to visit their headquarters tomorrow and check things out, set a meeting with the head of the organization, Jason Carver. He hated that pompous asshole, maybe he’d bring Robin along for moral support.

Steve could already hear sirens in the distance, the police were already on the way. He was glad. He didn’t want to leave these people high and dry to get attacked by the crazed protestors, but he needed to get Chrissy and Dustin out of here now. He spared a thought for Nancy, but he knew better than most that she could take care of herself. Somehow, the three of them made it to his car without incident and sped off before they could be spotted by the cops.

“Where are we going?” Dustin asked, breaking the stiff silence in the car, just as Steve blew past the exit for downtown.

“I’m taking you both back to my house. It’ll be safer there.”

Steve watched as his two passengers shared a wary look.

“What is it, Dustin?”

“I know you mean well, but it’ll be worse for us both if we don’t go back.”

“He’s right.” Chrissy added.

“What! But Billy…” Steve started to argue.

“He won’t kill us.” Dustin interrupted. “I sort of belong to him and with our dwindling numbers, the worst he’ll do is punish me. It’ll be okay.”

“Some punishments are worse than death.” Steve said, matter-of-factly.

“Look, Steve, I know you don’t like what I am, but this is my life now. I have to play by the rules if I’m going to survive.” Dustin’s voice held the slightest twinge of regret. It was something Steve would have pounced on once upon a time. He might even have used it as an excuse to say, I told you so, but many things had changed for him over the past few days.

“You’re right, I don’t like it.” Steve said, as gently as he could. “But I’m starting to realize that I was wrong about one thing. You’re still my friend, and I still care about you. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Dustin smiled, nodding to himself a little. “I know.”

Steve sighed. He knew how stubborn Henderson could be, and he could tell there was no talking him out of this, so he turned his attention to his other passenger.

“What about you?” He asked, glancing at Chrissy through the rear-view mirror.

“I’m under Eddie’s protection”

Steve scoffed. “He’s not exactly available to protect you right now.”

“No, but Billy won’t keep him locked up forever.” She began, staring out the window as the world flew by. “Eddie is powerful enough that Billy won’t want to piss him off by killing me.”

One day soon, Steve would look back on this moment and wish he’d tried a little harder with her.

As it was, he didn’t like it, but it wasn’t his choice to make unless he was willing to kidnap her. He took the next exit and drove to the club. He wasn’t sure if Chrissy actually lived there or if it was just a place she spent a lot of time at. He was too tired to ask questions.

They waited, watching from the car until she was safely inside, and Dustin directed him around the block and towards The Corroded Coffin.

Before Dustin could get out of the car, Steve reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. He turned, surprised at the touch. Steve looked him in the eyes for the first time. “You do realize you’ve now confirmed for me that this is the daytime resting place for the master of the city’s vamps, right?”

Dustin smiled with a hint of fang, and nodded. “I know. I trust you, Steve.”

The stage was backlit in red as a stunning male figure moved lithely across it. He stopped at the halfway point, at the shining silver pole in the center of everything. Music began, and the man swung his body around it. A thumping baseline that Steve could feel deep in his chest. There was no crowd at Guilty Pleasures tonight. Just Steve, an eager audience of one, sitting front and center watching a show meant only for him.

The lights changed, morphing from a dim red to a soft white, and suddenly Steve could make out the pale skin and ethereal features of Eddie Munson. His curls were pulled up into a high messy bun, a few tendrils left loose to fall artfully around his face. He was shirtless, giving Steve an unobstructed view of the dark line of fine hairs that trailed from his navel all the way down, where it disappeared into the black pants that were slung low around his hips. Steve wondered what it would be like to follow the trails path with his tongue, and dip it beneath that waistband.

Eddie continued to dance under Steve’s watchful gaze, undulating his hips to the beat in a way that was utterly mesmerizing. The song ended and a new one began. Eddie dropped to his knees next to the pole, a perfect compliment to the transition in music. He rolled his body as he flung his head around, the movement loosened the hair piled on top of his head, sending it cascading around his face and shoulders like a dark curtain.

He shifted onto all fours, crawling seductively towards the end of the low stage. He reached the edge and crooked a finger at Steve, beckoning him closer.

Steve moved like a man possessed, throwing himself violently from the chair, knocking it over in his haste to reach the other man. In seconds they were face to face, inches apart. Eddie supported himself with one hand, using the other to grip the front of Steve's shirt, pulling him in close until their lips met.

Eddie licked into his mouth with desperate need, as if he had been caught lost in the desert and Steve was a cool drink of water. He tightened his grip and pulled, helping Steve to climb up onto the stage with him, without ever breaking the kiss.

Steve straddled the other man’s lap, grinding down with abandon, helped along by strong hands on his waist. There was a pulsing heat inside him at every point of contact. It kept growing, rising until it felt like he would combust. He scratched his nails down Eddie’s bare back, hard enough to leave marks. Eddie moaned into his mouth and he swallowed the sound eagerly.

Steve whimpered as Eddie pulled back from the kiss. His hands slid up to grasp the collar of Steve’s shirt on either side. With a hard tug, the fabric ripped, exposing his chest. The sound did nothing to cool the fire burning inside him. Steve shuddered, so close to cumming from that action alone.

Eddie surged forward, taking one of Steve’s nipples in his mouth and rolling it between his teeth. He sucked in a sharp breath and then let out a low slutty moan as Eddie turned his attention to the other side of his chest.

He was falling apart, lost in the feeling of lips and tongue on his body. Eddie trailed kisses up his chest and neck, stopping to nip and suck at the point where his pulse pounded like a wild animal in a trap.

“Steve”

Eddie whispered his name reverently, like a prayer, as his lips hovered over the delicate skin of Steve’s throat. His building pleasure became a wave, crashing over him just as Eddie bit down, sliding his fangs deep inside.

Wakefulness hit Steve like a bucket of cold water. As his eyes snapped open, he became aware of several things at once.

He’d been dreaming of Eddie.

Again.

There was a sticky substance drying on his leg that confirmed that, yes, this dream had had the same effect on him as the last.

Also, his phone was ringing.

He didn’t have to look at the screen to know it was the police.

“ ‘Mornin Hop” His voice sounded rough. He swallowed, trying to clear it, and his throat felt like sandpaper. The thought had him clutching at his neck, relieved to find it intact and unmarred.

It was just a dream, Harrington. Get it together!

“You alright, kid?” Hopper asked, after a brief hesitation.

“All good, Chief. What’s up?” Steve forced himself to sound as chipper as possible, so the other man would let it go. Luckily he did.

“There’s been another vampire murder. I need you to come take a look.”

Christ, Steve thought, not another one.

“When do you want me?”

“Now, or as soon as you can get here. Everyone else is done with the body, I’m holding the scene for you. Been calling you off and on for an hour, Steve. You must have been out cold.”

“Yeah, sorry Hop. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.” Steve rolled his eyes at himself at the gross understatement. “Text me the location and I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

The address Hopper gave him was for a building only a few blocks away from The Corroded Coffin, where he had dropped Dustin off only a handful of hours ago. Steve worked hard to swallow down his rising panic at the thought that he could very well be about to see the truly dead body of a person who he’d known and cared for since the boy was ten years old.

The body itself was laid out in an alley nearby, the head was a few yards away near a dumpster. Both were shrounded in white sheets. Steve approached slowly. At first glance he thought the covered form looked a bit too tall to be dustin, still, he steeled himself before lifting the cloth.

He sagged in relief. It wasn’t Dustin, the features and proportions were all wrong, though there was something familiar about the clothing the corpse wore. Whoever this was, their heart had been ripped out of their chest, and, judging by the torn skin on what was left of the neck, the head had been wrenched off by brute force as well.

There was blood everywhere. Steve was surer than ever that there was no way humans were responsible for this. No matter how skilled some of them could be, no ordinary human being possessed this kind of strength.

He lowered the sheet and moved on to the next piece of the victim. It took only a quick peek for Steve to realize he knew who this was. He instantly recognized the heavily freckled skin and medium brown hair of Tommy Hagan. The guy had been an absolute asshole and Steve would not mourn him in the least, but he recognized that this was a shitty way to go.

He didn’t tell Hopper that he’d know this vampire, didn’t tell him anything about Billy or Eddie or his last few night’s adventures. He’d thought about it briefly, but in the end his lone wolf instincts won out, for a lot of reasons.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the guy. They had a good working relationship. Sometimes Steve even privately considered the man something of a father figure. The problem was that, as a cop, Hopper was shackled to the letter of the law in a much bigger way than Steve was. He respected the law, and not only because not respecting it would land him in jail or worse, but you had to have a certain amount of flexibility with it if you were going to survive dealing with vampires.

So, anytime Steve thought he might have to use less-than-legal means to protect those he loved or to stay alive, he tried his best to keep the other man out of it. He had a feeling that when he did finally solve this case, and this arrangement of sorts with Billy was all over, he would have several blood suckers gunning for him. He wouldn’t be wasting time getting a court order to defend himself.

Last but not least, he already had Robin involved and that made him nervous. He never wanted to see her get hurt, but it would be even worse if it was his fault. Hopper had a wife, a family. Steve would never forgive himself if something happened to the man because he brought him into things and robbed his family of their husband and father.

Back in the car after giving Hopper his opinion of the scene (and probably telling him things he already knew) Steve called Robin. The call connected and her voice blared out of the vehicle’s speakers.

“Hey dingus, how was the party?”

“Eventful.” He replied simply.

“Ooooh, tell me everything!”

“I’m planning on it, in fact I'm already on my way to pick you up.”

“Why do I feel like this isn’t purely a social call?” She asked, suspicious.

“I need you to come with me to visit The Order of the Eternal’s community center.”

“Ugh, I thought you hated that place.”

“Hence me asking you to come along.”

“Right. I’m gonna go put some pants on so I’ll be ready when you arrive. You can catch me up on everything on the way.” She said ina rush, hanging up without his response or a proper goodbye. He loved her so much.

He gave her the quickest version of events he could manage without skimping on too much detail. Starting with picking Chrissy up at the club, and a cursory description of her outfit. Something that Robin begged him to elaborate on, but they were short on time, so it would have to wait until later. He told her all about the party, the run-in with Tommy, Billy, and Co, briefly touched on his latest dream about a certain dark haired vampire, and ended with examining Tommy’s body for the police.”

“God, your life is busy, Harrington. I don’t know how you do it. I would be exhausted like 24/7.”

“Who says I'm not exhausted?”

“Hmm” She hummed. “Maybe you just hide it well.”

“I guess.” He certainly felt tired enough.

“So, one little riot and you’re ready to accuse Jason Carver of murder?”

“It’s the best theory I've come up with so far. Do you disagree?” He asked. Genuinely wondering if he was jumping to conclusions that didn’t track.

“No, But it does sound crazy when you say it out loud, doesn’t it?”

“Why did I bring you with me again?”

Steve locked his gun in the car. He was surprised when Robin handed one over as well to add to his safe. He stared for a second too long and she blinked at him.

“What? You told me to be careful, so I'm being careful!” She said, defensively.

“You hate carrying a gun.” He pointed out. It was a point of contention between them. Her steadfast refusal to go around armed and him insisting that in her line of work it was necessary.

She shrugged. “It won’t hurt me to keep it close, at least until this case is over.”

Steve nodded, pleased that she was being reasonable for once, and got out of the car.

They had to walk through a set of metal detectors to enter The Order’s center, which was why Steve and Robin had left their weapons outside. It was funny to steve, in a fucked up way, that even vampires worried about things like mass shooting events. But, that’s America for you.

They made it through the machines quickly and approached the young man sitting at the welcome desk. He reminded Steve of the meathead jocks he used to know in high school. His white name tag read - Andy.

“Can I help you?” Andy asked, sounding both aloof and bored at the same time.

“I’m looking to speak with Carver.” Steve said, straight to the point.

“He’s not available during daylight hours.”

“Yea, I sort of figured that.” Jesus, how dumb did this guy think Steve was? “I meant, I was hoping to make an appointment to see him later tonight.”

“Listen, man, the boss is a busy guy. If you’re looking to join up, I got plenty of other people who can work with you. You’ll still get to meet the man someday though, don’t worry.”

“Right. I’m not interested in your…group. I need to speak with Jason about the vampire murders.”

“You a cop?” Andy asked, looking at Steve with interest for the first time.

He probably could have lied, but if this asshole asked for proof he had nothing to show for it. Besides, Carver knew who he was, he would know that Steve had lied.

“No, but I do work with them sometimes.” Steve answered, honestly.

“Hmm I don’t know.” He tapped a few keys on the keyboard in front of him, squinting at the screen. “He looks pretty booked. How about I have someone call you. Maybe we can work something out in a week or two.”

Steve lost his patience. He opened his mouth to argue but was kept silent by the light weight of Robin's hand on his arm.

“Excuse me, Andy? Can I call you Andy?” She said, leaning forward on the counter and looking up at the man through her eyelashes.

Andy smirked, giving her an appraising look up and down, paying special attention to the little bit of cleavage spilling out of her top. Steve fought hard to keep a straight face.

“It’s really very important for me and my colleague to speak to Mr. Carver as soon as possible. Couldn’t you find the time to squeeze us in? You’d be doing me a big favor.”

Andy’s smile widened. “For you honey, I think we could work something out.” He glanced again at his screen. “How does 9pm sound?”

“That’s perfect!”

“Maybe you and me could go out for a drink afterwards?”

Robin faltered, her flirty mask slipping for just a second. Steve thought they were screwed, but she recovered quickly. “I’ll have to check my schedule, but if I'm free, it’s a date.” She choked a little on the last word, but he didn’t think Andy noticed.

Appointment acquired, they made their way back across the lobby and towards the front doors.

“Ugh. I hate men.” Robin groaned, under her breath. “Present company excluded of course.”

“Love you too, Robs.” Steve said, with a chuckle.

The outer doors opened while they were still several feet away. A man stepped inside, scanning the room. There weren’t that many people milling about the lobby of the center. Most of the Order’s members were vampires, who were still asleep for the day. The only folks who’d be around now were the daytime crew of workers, and new members who were waiting for the opportunity to be turned.

The man stopped his search when his eyes fell on Steve and Robin. He raised his arm and Steve caught sight of a glint of metal. Without thinking, he pushed Robin out of the way hard, sending her sprawling to the floor. What he didn’t know is that she had noticed it too, and when he pushed her she had grabbed hold of his shirt, pulling him to the ground with her.

A shot rang out, the bullet flying over their heads to embed itself into the wall beyond. Steve surged forward on hands and knees, trying to reach the man before he could adjust his aim. He swung hard, knocking the man’s leg’s out from under him with one arm while reaching for his gun hand with the other.

It worked. The guy hit the floor with a loud crack, as his head bounced off the shiny tiles. Steve took the gun and slid it back towards Robin before checking the man over. He didn’t see any blood and the guy was still breathing, he was just unconscious.

Steve is thankful that when the police and ambulance arrive, it’s not Hopper or any other officer he recognizes that comes to take his statement. For the time being he can get away with claiming he was visiting the place out of normal curiosity, and fell victim to a random attack. He knows it’s likely that Hop will find out eventually, at least this way he’ll have more time to come up with a believable excuse.

They’re released pretty quickly. The place was covered by several cameras and there were enough witnesses that there was really no question as to what happened.

Steve takes Robin out to lunch, it’s the least he can do after the day they’ve had. He was also starving, not having had time to catch breakfast before meeting Hopper at the crime scene.

“I know what you’re going to say.” She accused, after the waitress had walked away to punch in their order.

Steve sighed, he really didn’t feel like fighting with her about this. “You can’t go back there with me tonight. It’s not safe, Robin, you saw what happened.”

“It’s not safe for you either, idiot! You need someone to watch your back.”

“I’ll be fine. Carver is a jackass, but I can handle him, and after today I'm sure they’ll have more security in place.”

“If you’re so sure it’ll be fine then why can’t I come along?”

“Because, I could be wrong.”

Chapter 7

#steddie fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steve x eddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steddie #fanfic #ao3 #ao3 link #vampire eddie munson #vampire hunter steve harrington

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kevinharrispastor · 6 months

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God is Holy

By Kevin is pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church, a suburb of Wollongong, NSW.

God is holy.

Habakkuk 1:13 says,‘Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity...”

Ezekiel 18:4 states, ‘. . . the soul that sinneth, it shall die.’ Why? Because God is absolutely holy!

Exodus 34:7 declares that God ‘. . . will by no means clear the guilty...’ There is only one reason God does not overlook our sin – He is holy!

Zechariah 8:17 says, ‘And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.’ Hatred against sin is part of what it is to be holy.

Do you know that God is holy?Psalm 113:5-6 asks,‘Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, Whohumbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!’

God is incredibly holy!

Many of God’s choice servants were confronted with a holy God at the beginning of their ministries.

Moses encountered a holy God when he came across a burning bush one day. God said in Exodus 3:5 ‘. . . Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’

One day, the Lord Jesus performed a miracle that astounded Peter so much that we read in Luke 5:8,‘When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’

And in Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah stands before a thrice-holy God and trembles.

God’s holiness is the one characteristic above all of God’s other attributes that the angels of heaven choose to exclaim over! He’s holy!

God is so holy that when Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, offered strange fire, God immediately struck them dead.

He is so holy that when the Israelites murmured and complained, God wouldn’t overlook it. Thousands were destroyed in judgment from the Lord.

He is so holy that in the book of Joshuawhen Achan disobeyed God and stole, he was stoned to death.

He is so holy that when Ananias and Sapphira lied in Acts chapter 5, God struck them dead.

I believe we need a fresh picture of the holiness of God in our city of Wollongong and in the nation of Australia. If we could just get a good understanding of God’s holiness, it would dramatically reduce the pleasure we find in wickedness.

God said in Psalm 50:21,‘These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.’

When I see that God is not sinful like me, but that He hates sin, and when I realise that I will stand before Him someday in judgment for my sin, I’ll be careful how I live.

You see, sin will not go unpunished.

Let me illustrate it with Australia’s justice system. It is the responsibility of our nation’s courts to pursue justice, not to be merciful.

Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘I could never live in a country that would build places to punish people — some for the rest of their lives — just because they raped a girl and murdered her’? Not very likely! It is obvious that a government is within its bounds when it dispenses justice. ‘You do the crime, you do the time,’ is a saying almost everyone agrees with.

What many people do not understand, however, is that God is perfectly just in sending those who break His laws to a place of punishment. Yet a popular argument for those who deny the God of the Bible is that a loving God would never punish anyone in hell. God has a system of justice too, and it is of the purest form. He has a set of guidelines that must be obeyed. If they aren’t followed exactly, punishment eventually results. And since none of us is perfect, we all deserve that punishment.

But God is not a God of justice only. We can be pardoned from our sin because Christ paid our debt when He died on the cross. By receiving Him as our Saviour, we escape eternal punishment because Christ has already been punished for us.

God’s holiness demands justice, but He also offers mercy. That’s a loving God in action.

Let’s bow before Him, worshipping Him for being both holy and merciful.

Kevin is pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Dapto, located approximately 15 minutes south of Wollongong, NSW.

#Kevin is pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church #kevin harris Dapto

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faroreswinds · 2 years

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For those who don’t know, here are the opening images that flash after Rhea finally obtains her mother’s bones at the beginning of Houses:

Likely when Sothis first fell. We see a gorilla or some ape in the front here. That doesn’t necessarily mean she didn’t create all life, but it does mean there was life prior to her coming to the mortal plane. You could argue that showing an ape means that if there was life prior to Sothis, it was a more primitive form. Think... like how apes came before humans did on the evolution chain. Or, it’s just an ape and it doesn’t mean anything, who knows.

It does remind me a lot of 2001 A Space Odyssey though.

Anyways, next image:

Civilization. We can see a huge tower.

This image doesn’t show the crator well, but from “Seasonal of Warfare Collectors Edition” we get this image:

It’s a HUGE crater, and the tower itself is ginormous. Look at that thing. What’s also interesting is the lack of greenery around the crater itself. Did everything die on impact, or was it already a barren wasteland? Either way, I get Shadow of the Colossus vibes.

Moving on, next image

Sothis looking over her city. Nabateans or humans? We can’t really tell. Here is a better image:

I personally believe the robed figures behind her are her direct Children. But that is merely a guess more than anything. Regardless, this is Sothis overlooking the people of the city, perhaps even the one we see in the crater.

Here we see what appears to be a battle, with ships razed with fire. Before I talk about that image though, I want to bring up the next one since I think it’s important to my point:

Here we see the Javelins of Light hitting a city of skyscrapers.

I wanted to bring this image up because to go from wooden ships in battle to skyscrapers being hit by what are essentially advanced bombs is a huge leap of technology.

This implies to me that one) humans have been warring for a very, very long time and two) Sothis did not attempt to stop them until much later.

Was she asleep? Or did she stop them before and they just keep starting up wars over and over again until she decided to put her foot down one final time? Hard to say.

The image with the Javelins is probably when the Slithers tried to turn on Sothis, as outlined in “Romance of the World’s Perdition”. Perdition is defined as

(in Christian theology) a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death.

So that is an interesting word choice. It can also mean “hell”, eternal damnation, and utter destruction.

Hard to tell what is happening in this last image to be honest. Likely the ruins of that city after being hit by those bombs. Or it could be the final moments before the great flood. Honestly, I don’t know on this one. But it looks like a city on fire.

This post is where most of these images come from btw.

#Three Houses discourse #Sothis discourse #my thoughts

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mcx7demonbros · 2 years

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Damnation - Solomon’s Case

This is a continuation of my Damnation’s Series (like literally everything I’ve written about damnation). However, it can be read separately.

First, I want to talk about Solomon’s immortality. Many assume Solomon would be save forever thanks to his immortality (i.e. he would escape eternal punishment). However, I believe Solomon’s immortality is relative, not absolute, meaning it could be removed from him or something stronger than his immortality could destroy him.

I divide immortality into two types, absolute and relative. Absolute immortality belongs to God alone. Being self-existent, having no beginning and no end, absolute immortality is an attribute of God.

Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (The Trisagion)

Souls are also immortal, and this immortality is absolute in the sense of it couldn’t be removed or changed, but also relative in the sense that this immortality needs to be sustained by God.

Relative immortality can be achieved by human, only through some extraordinary means. And like the name indicated, this kind of immortality can be overcome by something stronger than it. However, trying to attain this immortality is sinful in itself.

Since the fall of human, every human are fated to die one day, an effect of Original Sin. Adam’s sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation, but by descent. (Dogma no. 63 of the Catholic Church). Trying to achieve bodily immortality means going against God’s punishment, which is no different from a criminal trying to escape their lawful penalty.

Think about it. Only a person with no hope for the afterlife would try to achieve immortality. The person clings to this life on earth, its transitory wealth, its pleasure, its forbidden knowledge, etc.

Solomon’s immortality belongs to the second category, the relative immortality. Proof? Grim Reaper(s) tried to take his souls multiple times. Had Solomon’s immortality being absolute, the Grim Reaper(s) would have been trying in vain. But as Grim Reaper(s) is death incarnated and death is under their jurisdiction, they sure know what they were (still are) doing. Meaning, Solomon’s immortality is not absolute.

Even if the Grim Reaper(s) never manage(s) to capture the Sorcerer’s soul. There’s still the Apocalypse at the end of time. According to some theories, the Earth will be covered by fire (contrast with Noah’s time which is with water), this fire will surely kill at least all living human beings. The fire is never defined I believe, but the death of all human at the end of time is decreed by God, with 100% certainty. If Solomon makes it to this point, his immortality will surely ends and he will die. After the death of all human, come the dreadful Judgement Day

Dies irae, dies illa

Solvet saeclum in favilla,

This day, this day of wrath

shall consume the world in ashes,

(Requiem Mass - Sequence “Dies Irae” - Day of Wrath)

On this dreadful day, demons will accuse you before the just Judge. For Solomon, which demons but his 72 will accuse him. Asmodeus and Barbatos, whether they want it or not, will accuse Solomon on that dreadful day, pulling him down to Hell with them.

I guess I gotta make a separate Masterlist for this topic. Guess I’ll talk about Simeon’s case next.

TAGLIST

@sparkbeast20 saw your comment in the reblog on the previous post so I tagged you to clarify Solomon’s case

#obey me #obey me shall we date #omswd #obey me solomon #omswd solomon #om! shall we date #om! solomon

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adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me · 1 year

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Salvation, Revisited

I hear Protestants talk of Christ bearing our SINS on the cross, and try to work through this. Much is made of Gethsemane - "He bore our SINS"…

One teacher traumatized my daughter by telling her that every time she was naughty, Christ suffered just that much more on the cross. Now, 19 years later, while my daughter doesn't go to church on her own anymore, she doesn't fight with me or my wife when we take her as part of our family. At one point she said, "I don't think my teacher was a bad man, even though his ideas are wrong".

One way around this, one of my my preferred ways, is to think of our SIN (singular) or the dogmas (decrees, Colossians 2:14) accusing us, as having been nailed to the cross. The problem arises if you subscribe to an accounting version of Christianity, where the scales of justice are balanced, based upon the book of life (Revelation 20:15, though to be fair, sins aren't actually accounted for, only names are in the book), to account for every jot and tittle of any sin that you could have entertained in life. Arguing that Christ destroyed sin, death and the devil, is kind of a nonstarter with with such people.

The cross was painful. Anyone who would suggest otherwise is probably looking to argue, or is clueless. However, there were many painful ways to die in the ancient world that were at least as painful, some probably more so. Burning seems to get high marks for its painfulness - some Saints died by burning. I would think that being boiled in oil would also rank quite high. Beheading might be quick, but odds are it wasn't exactly pleasant if done with an axe or sword. There was also Scaphism - which also sounds painful. Google it if you must. The Japanese locked prisoners in underwater caves during WWII, and let them drown slowly, which would not have been quick and not without pain. So, bottom line, I see Christ's suffering as more of a sentimental conceit of Modern Man, who needs to create their own narrative - Tit (sins) for tat (pain).

Father Freeman argues persuasively that shame is what was on display.

Now, I still see the cross as a watershed event, as do the Orthodox. Through the cross, Christ was able to enter the realms of darkness that he could not (or would not) enter as God. Satan and his demons were routed (The Harrowing of Hell). The God of the universe now interpenetrates the entirety of the universe. Nothing is beyond his purview. By becoming man, he imparted upon us a divine nature. A divine nature that is now a part of us. I grew up Adventist, so for the longest time I believed in soul sleep and an eventual death of the sinful within the lake of fire. Not anymore. We have been given what we were denied when the tree of life was kept from us. We have been given immortality.

Practically speaking, though, what does that mean?

Nothing more or less than eternal life. Period. For Everyone.

Now, before you start objecting that this totally denies punishment and all the rest, consider the pitfalls of everlasting life in an unredeemed state. Living (possibly) within the Holy City itself, immersed in the energies of God's love (a river of fire), and experiencing the burning love of everyone around you. Wishing, with every fibre of your being, to retreat into the darkness, to consort with those entities that kept pushing you to power or greatness or superiority here on earth. (Remember the son that remained home in the story of the prodigal son? How did he view his brother's elevation?) How would you view your "salvation" under such circumstances?

Think about what this kind of reoriented thinking does though.

Christ retains his goodness and his divinity. It is his will that every one should be saved (John 3:17). 1 Timothy 4:10 makes a lot more sense too if those who believe are "especially saved". He states over and over that the death of the wicked is NOT his pleasure (Ezekiel 18:23, Ezekiel 18:32, Ezekiel 33:11, 2 Timothy 2:25).

Man receives the fruit of his works.

The work of Salvation is entirely God's. Only God could have come to earth, could have united with man, and died on a cross with two distinct natures. Man could not have done that himself.

Each individual who is saved, is saved not through works per se, but through orienting themselves to a correct - there are no words - Zeitgeist? Phronima? Worldview? We must change, but it is not a work of our own. It is in cooperation with the Holy Spirit that will draw us - if we listen and obey - to what we are meant to be.

It isn't magic. Christ did all the work, but I have a part to do too.

What's more? This is a God I can love. This is a God that I can trust. This is a God that isn't a schizophrenic psychopathic filiciding demigod/demon.

Lord have mercy upon me, a Sinner.

#Theosis #Salvation #Phronima #Divinity #Soteriology

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graciousheaven · 2 years

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ARE YOU RECONCILED TO GOD

My question to you today is, are you reconciled to God? You might be perplexed by this question. But what you need to know is that all sinners, and I can affirm with certainty that you are one of them, for “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10), are separated from God. And being separated from God, all that awaits us is eternal death, which is nothing but an everlasting and conscious cruciation that unrepentant sinners face in hell. Therefore, there is a need for us to be reconciled back to God, in order to escape eternal torment and the wrath of Almighty God, which is a just punishment for our sins. For every wrongdoing that we commit is a sin, a violation of God’s command. However, there is no reconciliation with God unless our sins are forgiven, and there is no forgiveness without genuine repentance. Genuine repentance is a humble acknowledgement of one’s sinfulness and unrighteousness, a sincere affirmation of one’s desire to turn away from sin, and a recognition of one’s need of the Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ through one’s confession of Christ as the only Mediator who reconciles sinners to God, confession evidenced by one’s faith in Christ.

God sent his Son Jesus Christ to bless us by turning away every one of us from our iniquities. “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19-20). Apart from Christ, reconciliation with God is impossible. Those who reject Him turn their backs on the grace of God, and the fire of hell is the eternal destination of their souls. Salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (cf. Eph. 2:8-9). “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”, declares the Lord in John 14:6.

If you are not yet reconciled to God, I encourage you to turn to Christ the Saviour in repentance and faith, and He will save you from spiritual deadness and eternal destruction. He is the means by which sins are forgiven and sinners reconciled to God. “As the Father raises the dead and gives them life (i.e., He restores spiritually dead people (sinners) to life and will raise all those who are physically dead on the last day), so also the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life”, declares the Lord in John 5:21-24.

What a great news for those who recognize the wretchedness of their hearts and surrender their souls to the Lord Jesus who sets sinners free from the bondage of corruption and reconciles them to Himself! All those who feel the burden of their sins weighing down upon their shoulders and turn to the Lord Jesus are recreated; they come alive, redeemed from the bondage of sin and death by the precious blood of Christ the Saviour. What a gracious God we have! His tender mercies are unsearchable. The Lord does not cast out those who seek Him, but rather He is the Seeker and Saviour of lost sinners; He calls them to come to Him and be saved. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”, says the Lord in Mat. 11:28-30.

If you haven’t repented of your sins yet, this call is for you today. Do not harden your heart, because there may be no tomorrow. Today is the time to humble yourself and recognize that you are a sinner. Acknowledge before God that you are unrighteousness and that you can’t save yourself. Call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, confess your sins to Him and acknowledge Him as Lord and Saviour. Do not let pride keep you forever at enmity with God. I urge you to repent of your sins and believe the Good News of grace today. Put your trust in Christ, and all your sins – past, present, future, will be forgiven; you will be washed from your wickedness by the precious blood of Christ and numbered among God’s children.

I urge you to turn away from your sins before it is too late. As Isaiah 55:6 states it, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near”, for the day is coming when all those who dishonour the Lord will seek his face and shall find Him no more. But mercy and salvation are available now to everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, anyone who turns to Him in repentance and faith. Jesus Christ is the only Mediator, the Lord and Saviour, the Way to eternal life. Your good works cannot save you – they are nothing but filthy rags in God’s sight – “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

#be reconciled to God #reconciliation to God #Repent and Believe #repentance and faith #graciousheaven

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ithisatanytime · 2 years

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youtube

bladee - Search True (Official Audio)

you know years and years ago when my sister and i were very little, i was probably around five or six, she had a panic attack or some shit and went to the hospital, she went to a doctor first who rightly diagnosed her as being a baby (her lungs were checked for pneumonia at this time) but she went to a hospital and some dumbass doctor took her complaints of not being able to breathe seriously and while she was clearly able to breathe they couldnt pin down what was wrong with her (because it was psychological) and had her placed in a medically induced coma and INTUBATED, this is important because while there was nothing wrong with her going in, she developed a rare form of pneumonia called pneumococcal pneumonia, for years we thought the reason she was in a coma was for this rare pneumonia along with some mystery disease, it wasnt until i was writing a paper on the subject for a college course that i found out that specific type of pneumonia in healthy non HIV positive patients pretty much only happens as a direct result of intubation, so she had nothing (but a panic attack) going in and ended up with a life threatening upper respiratory infection. she had a legit near death experience where she flatlined for a full minute, and do you know what she saw? you were going to suggest a white light werent you, perhaps long lost relatives or something? nope, she saw hell, what she describes as a place filled with weeping and a gnashing of teeth. i spent my childhood obsessed with hell, constantly worried id go there, ive been saved so many times lmao, always raising my hand when during some christian presentation they ask people to raise their hand if they believe they are going to hell, i was obsessed, but the fact that my mother saw hell during a NDE actually brings me comfort now, i think people who fear hell or believe it is an unjust punishment dont understand that heaven will be filled with people who sinned greatly but were justified by the blood of christ, these people are in fear for their own immortal souls, but theyve never known a person like my mother, a weeping and gnashing of teeth is a biblical phrase the full section is something like this

“many will come to me and say father father, have we not prophesied and cast out demons in your name, and i will respond, depart from me i never knew you and cast you out into the outer darkness where there will be a weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

these passages never used to bring me comfort but dread, and all fire and brimstone passages, but near death experiences that are negative are exceedingly rare, and of all the people in my life she is the only one i felt probably deserved eternal punishment, not as a form of punitive justice, but because ive never met someone so essentially cruel, so alien. people are all different from one another but shes different from all people, if you read things like this and they make you afraid i say take heart instead, if theres someone inside that fears that sort of thing, i suspect they arent destined for it, i believe truly that on some metaphysical level my mother is the child of the accuser, satan means accuser and that describes her perfectly. im not just trying to shit on her but say that most people see a white light, the single most mean spirited person ive ever known saw a gnashing of teeth, thats comforting.

#youtube

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onewomancitadel · 1 year

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Oh fuck, of course, the poison is the cure (which I offhandedly mentioned in this ask-response), you have drunk your death! 'If by my death you mean this agony of love, that is my life. If by my death you mean punishment we are to suffer if discovered, which is namely execution, then I accept that. But if by my death you mean eternal punishment in the fires of Hell, then I accept that, too.'

#why is everything #wound of love #the poison is the cure

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hottpinkpenguin · 2 years

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Requests!

Pick a character and a prompt from below.

Please specify if you want:

☑️oneshot vs series

☑️platonic vs angst vs fluff vs steam (I don’t write smut)

☑️any reader characteristics you want

📌I’m open to requests for other characters / prompts

Fandoms/Characters:

LOTR: Boromir, Eomer, Haldir

MCU Avengers: Dr Strange, Loki, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner

Eternals: Druig, Ikaris

Punisher: Frank Castle, Billy Russo

The Witcher: Geralt, Eskel, Cahir

Shadow & Bone: Aleksander Morozova, Kaz Brekker

Twilight: Carlisle, Jasper, Aro

Star Wars: Orson Krennic, Galen Erso, Kylo Ren

ACOTAR: Rhysand, Azriel, Cassian, Tamlin

Prompts:

Quotes

“What we had was a dream”

“You said goodbye too soon”

“If you’re going to break my heart, at least make me feel it”

“I still care for you”

“I wouldn’t mind death as long as I go out with your name on my lips”

“I can’t decide if you’re my salvation or my downfall”

“You break it, you buy it. That includes my heart.”

“Did you do that for me?” “I don’t do anything for you anymore.”

“There’s no happy ending for us, is there?”

“Even if I had a thousand lifetimes to live, this one with you would be my best.”

“I’m sorry I ever met you because it means I’ll know the pain of losing you.”

“A life without you isn’t a life at all.”

“Don’t make me regret this.”

“Even nightmares end eventually.”

“Look me in the eye when you break my heart.”

“My eyes are the only thing I don’t want to take off of you.”

Tropes A thru Z

Arranged marriage

Accidental kiss

Battlefield romance

Big Bad - lover turns out to be a villain

“Come back to bed”

Conflicting loyalties

Declaration of love/protection/devotion

Divine romance - lover is a god/god-like being

Enemies to lovers

Everyone can see it… except you two

Fire-forged love - you go through hell and back together which cements your bond as friends/a couple

Friendly rivalry

“Glad to be alive” sex

Held gaze

Heroic gesture

Injury & comfort

Inconvenient attraction

Just friends / “just friends”

Jealousy

Killed the mood

Kissing under starlight

Love at first sight

Love triangle

Mistaken for cheating

Mutual pining

Now or never moment

Opposites attract

Old flames

Pleading

Problematic love

Rescue

Royalty

Self sacrifice

Star crossed lovers

Secret lovers

Time travel

Tongue tied

Underwater kiss

Villain with a sad past

“Why can’t I hate you?”

Wartime wedding

Waking up from a coma

“You must be cold”

“Zip me up” / “un-zip me”

much love ❤️‍🔥

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c-is-for-circinate · 3 years

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As promised: let's talk Hades, and how acts of abuse can create toxic environments for everyone around them, and also how people react to those environments--and to them being disrupted.

(For reference, I have just kicked Theseus's ass for the first time, it was exactly as satisfying as it was intended to be, and then I got predictably slaughtered a couple of chambers into Styx. Spoilers for everything through that point, but please no spoilers in reblogs/comments for anything after that!) Also, TW for a whole lot of discussion of abuse, particularly verbal and emotional abuse, and abusive familyworkplace dynamics.

Okay, so. To start out with, Hades is an abusive parent. He engages in innumerable acts of verbal and emotional abuse towards his son, because yep, that's what you call it when a parent constantly berates and belittles their kid for every perceived failure, including the ones the parent themselves could have prevented. Sometimes especially the ones the parent could have prevented. Zagreus failed at his office clerk job because Hades refused to teach him how to do it and then blamed him for not already knowing how. Cerberus tore up the lounge because Hades, who was actually there, chose not to stop him. Hades created, possibly deliberately, and then took full advantage of every opportunity he saw to insult and demean his kid, and the clerk job flashback shows us that he was doing so even before the escape attempts started. I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page here, but: yep, that all constitutes abuse, even if they're gods. Even if Hades has reasons for Being Like That. Even if you think Zagreus seems okay and unharmed by it (which: repeatedly throwing yourself into a gauntlet of violence that inevitably ends in your own pain and death because you're so desperate to escape home, not actually an indicator of someone who's okay). We all good on that?

Cool. Because I'm not really here to talk about how Hades' abuse directly impacts Zagreus right now (although there's for sure an essay in that too). I'm thinking about how it impacts everybody else.

Hades isn't as obviously unreasonable with anybody else in his kingdom the way he is with his kid. When we see him lecture somebody else, it's usually for an actual failure to do their job: Hypnos for literally falling asleep on the job and not doing anything that was assigned to him, Megaera for letting us past her so many time, Orpheus for being a court bard who refuses to sing. His attitude is super confrontational and unpleasant, but on the surface it doesn't necessarily look as fucked-up. Thing is, though, whether any individual act of aggression towards an employee/family member is justified or not (I would generally argue 'not', because aggression towards employees/family members is, y'know, not justifiable)--it's not about the individual acts. It's about the entire cultivated atmosphere of toxicity and abuse.

One of the very first things Meg ever says to us is, "I'd rather be on your bad side than his." Up until that point, we've got no reason to believe Meg has any history whatsoever of fucking up at her job. In fact, we've got plenty of reason to believe she's good at it. She's fiercely proud of it, she's frequently Employee Of The [Time Period], and we've apparently never even met her sisters because she handles her shit herself. But she's still scared of Hades. Dusa, who is an anxious wreck at all times because oh god what if she gets fired what if she gets fired what if she gets fired, in spite of apparently being absolutely exemplary at her job, is scared of Hades. Every single shade in the Hall is clearly terrified of Hades, and it's not because of what he's done to each of them. It's what they've seen him do to other people.

Which is how toxic environments work, whether they're work environments or families. The Court of Hades is of course both, always, with the bonus hell layer of you can't quit even if you DIE. An abuser in authority doesn't have to target you in order to make you feel scared, cowed, and desperate to please them. Humans (and gods who are basically extra-powerful humans) are good at learning by example. The residents of the Court get the picture.

So this Court is a minefield--and everyone except Zagreus is very good at tiptoeing around mines. We see it in Meg, so desperate to do her job well. We see that Hypnos very clearly does not give a shit about anything, but he still makes sure to have a list of excuses ready if/when Hades ever confronts him about failure to do his job, just in case. We see it when Achilles tells us that my ability to help you is constrained by the authority your father gives me, or whatever the line was sixty runs ago when he couldn't let me into locked chambers. The system, such as it is, works, and if Nyx talks to Hades as little as possible, if Thanatos avoids the Court entirely, if Achilles treads very carefully and knows how to keep his head down--well that's just the system, right? That's just how things are.

Even Zagreus seems to have had a role in that system as the court fuckup. He's the kid who didn't have a real job or purpose. He could take the focus of Hades' generalized, day-to-day ire off of everyone else, without triggering some of the more direct and violent ire because the work he was doing didn't really matter (a LOT of Hades' rage-triggers seem to be related to job performance, which means that the people with real jobs are of course the most at risk). And he could do so "safely" (big emphasis on the quotation marks there) because he alone of the court is Hades' actual kid, who's Prince of the Underworld no matter how much he fucks up. If one of Nyx's other kids gets something really really wrong, she might be able to protect them from some consequences, but Hades doesn't have any layer of supposed parental affection holding him back from getting violently furious about it. Zagreus gets a nice bedroom and the abuse is limited to words rather than divine power, and Hades is a dick to everyone but he only occasionally condemns people to eternities of torture, and only for good reasons like refusing to sing when your job is to be court bard, so it's fine, everybody's fine, everything's totally fine, right?

Except it's not fine when everybody is so clearly worried about anything going wrong. And it's especially not fine for Zagreus, who's the person to finally say no. He's leaving, for his own sake, because he deserves better and he's finally convinced he can have it. And that turns the whole system into disarray.

I am endlessly fascinated by the ways this game portrays different characters reacting to this upheaval in their carefully-mapped minefield. It's different for authority figures and peers and servants, different based on how people are positioned in the house under Hades' rule, and it's so spot-on and I love it.

Nyx, for instance, is absolutely calm about the whole thing, because Nyx has power. Hades can't hurt her. Hades can't even really do much against her children, not when Hypnos and Thanatos are gods in their own right. Yes, Hades rules the kingdom, but Nyx owns the land, and she gives no shits about his rages. And it's interesting, too, to see the lines she doesn't draw. The deal seems to be that Hades doesn't fuck with her, and doesn't outright threaten her kids (because Hypnos is bad at his job, demonstrably so, and Hades hasn't ruined him yet), and she doesn't interfere with the way he treats the people around him. She gives Zagreus advice and support and the mirror, but she also doesn't take a direct stand against Hades. He can't hurt her, but he could make life...difficult. She's protected, her position in the minefield is more of a safe viewing platform than slogging through the middle of it, but the mines are still there.

And then we have Achilles, who is one of my favorite characters in the whole game because of how he reacts to this whole situation. Achilles, like Nyx, is so supportive. Every single time you see him he has something encouraging to say. He gives us his Codex, secretly finds us weapons, trained us for years, clearly wants us to succeed. And still he's limited, not necessarily out of fear for himself (though he has to be scared for himself, he knows what Hades does to people who anger him), but out of concern that if he gives Zagreus too much help in one way, he won't be able to provide help at all later. He's still so careful.

Achilles and Nyx are so fucking important to this story because they're the only authority figures Zagreus really has in his life except for his father, and they are so supportive. They're what keep this story from being a nightmare of psychological horror and depression. They can't stop the pressure from Hades and this life in his house being miserable for Zag, but they can give us hope, remind us that Zagreus is still loved. And they have such an incredibly important role when it comes to guilt, which is one of the biggest ways toxic systems maintain themselves.

If Zagreus leaves, what happens to everybody else? Who takes Hades' wrath then? Who becomes court scapegoat if he's not there, and also, who gets punished for his escape? These questions matter, and we see him worry about it! He asks Nyx and Achilles both, is it going to be okay that you're helping me, are you going to be alright, will my father hurt you for this? And they are both so firm about telling him no. No, I will be fine. See, here's the list of reasons about why I'm going to be fine, why my position in this minefield is secure. They make a point of telling us that it's fine, that we do not need to hold ourself back from getting out of this abusive situation for their sake. That is instrumental in Zagreus's ability to keep making these escape attempts without feeling too guilty and worried and selfish to go on. (Another thing that's actually really important in setting up that dynamic--we see that Hades cares about Cerberus, even if he's using him as a pawn against us, and Cerberus seems to be the one figure in court who Hades doesn't get mad at. The dog isn't at risk, and that is really essential in keeping the story from getting too grim.) These people who we care about refuse to let themselves be held hostage to secure our good behavior.

It's also really useful for raising the stakes later in the story--we see Hades arguing with Nyx once or twice, and we see Zagreus feeling guilty about it, but it's also a sign that we're making enough progress to piss him off. After I finally made it out of Elysium on my last run, I came home to find him furious with Achilles in a way that actually makes me nervous, because Achilles does not have nearly as much security in his position as he says he does. (Achilles is such a good teacher/authority figure, because he knows goddamn well what Hades could do to him, and still refuses to let fear for his own situation stop him from helping the abused kid under his care escape his. And no, not everybody has the capacity to do that, but it matters so much coming from the guy who helped raise us. It matters so much. I do not even have the words for how much.)

It's also no mistake that many of the people we find supporting us along our journey are either the people with the most power in their immediate environment, or the least. Sisyphus helps us because what more could they do to me than this? Orpheus is a little wild around the eyes and somewhat disconnected from reality, and he wishes us the best because someone should get what they want and also he no longer gives a single fuck what happens to him. Eurydice has her own cozy little corner of Asphodel, as safe from Hades' rage as anybody anywhere in his realm because she's tucked in such an out-of-the-way middle place she's outside his notice. Dusa is so scared of everything anyway that, crush aside, she isn't any more threatened by us escaping than she is just by her everyday life here. Charon is unfathomable and unstoppable; Skelly literally exists to be a punching bag, and yet he also seems basically immune to pain, no matter what we do to him. There's no threat from Hades there.

So the people most at risk when I flip the world on its ear are the ones who have so much standing that they have something to lose, but not enough to protect them from losing it. Which of course brings us to Than and Meg--who are, of course, the two people who also seem by far the most upset by my attempts to leave.

As authority figures, Nyx and Achilles are constantly reinforcing the message that it's Hades' fault, not ours, if they or anybody else get caught in the crossfire of his wrath. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and it's not my guilt to bear. From Megaera and Thanatos, we get the opposite message--I am fucking with things, I am hurting people, and I need to stop. Zagreus isn't just abandoning them, as a friend or brother or lover or all of the above they're Greek gods who even knows. He's betraying them. They were in this together, as friends or lovers or whatever, but now Zagreus is sending earthquakes through the minefield they both still have to stand in. He is about to capsize this boat in the middle of a thunderstorm, he is fucking with the system, and they're the ones who are going to get most hurt.

I'm so curious how this is going to work for Than, who out of everyone we meet holds the closest role to Nyx's in terms of being sheltered from Hades' wrath. He's the guy who gets to leave, after all, even though he always has to come back. I've seen the least of him out of anybody so far because it took forever for me to get to Elysium, but two things really stand out and I'm so interested to see where they go. One, he really genuinely does care about Zagreus. He wants us safe, he wants us unhurt, the accessory he gives us only grants its bonus if we clear a room without taking injury, he keeps showing up to help. And two, he wants us to give up and go back and recognize how good we had it. Which is SO fucking interesting, considering how miserable Zagreus so clearly was, and how legitimate his reasons for being miserable were.

It makes me wonder so much about Than's standards for comparison. Does he know something we don't about what's waiting for us on the surface, something that might theoretically hurt Zagreus even more than staying down below? Has his life, which apparently allows him more freedom than anybody else in the Court, sucked horribly in ways we haven't seen, and that's why he spends so little time there in the first place? Either of those things is plausible, both of those things are plausible, and yet either one leads to this sense of patronizing, because he refuses to simply tell us. If something terrible is awaiting us, don't give us vague warnings, tell us what it is and let us decide for ourself! If you're fucking jealous because we might get out entirely and you're still stuck coming back here, say so. If you're worried about your mom--and he does bring her up, how could Zagreus turn his back on her like that, does seem to worry for her--then let's have an actual conversation about how many times she has insisted I do this and also how much I love her.

And, right, it's clear that a lot of Thanatos being upset is simply, you were going to leave me without even saying goodbye, you want to leave ME, which is understandable! But, like, he is demonstrably the one god who gets to visit the surface. He's the one person we actually COULD expect to see again. And he is absolutely also upset because there's an Order To Things, and we're fucking it up. We used to be his careless callow reckless friend who could talk back to Hades and get away with it, and now we're not, and everything is changing and we might leave him altogether, and we might leave him alone in that court without us, and he hates it.

Is it a short-sighted, selfish fear on his part? Yes, absolutely. Even if he's not scared of Hades on his own behalf, he is still frightened by what happens if we upset this system--and maybe it's the sanctity of a much bigger system than the Underworld that he's worried about! Maybe it's the whole divine and cosmic order. Whatever system he wants so badly to protect is enabling the abuse Zagreus has been dealing with for however-long he's been alive. Whatever system he wants so badly to protect OUGHT to be overturned, or at least shaken up. But this is what toxic systems DO. They convince the people within them that they have to be maintained, that a broken system that hurts the people within it is far better than no system at all, that changing the world is too scary and too dangerous. And Thanatos wants his whatever-Zagreus-is-to-him to be there, because he loves him and also because that's how the world works, and those things are all tangled up in one another, and that is how relationships are in a messed-up family like this so therefore I love it.

And Meg. Meg, the best for last, my dear, beautiful, furious, bitter, scared angry tired girl. I adore her. I am absolutely never going to date her, because the thing Zagreus needs most in his life hurts her, more directly than anybody else in the story, and that sucks, and it's not Zag's fault but they still shouldn't be together. Meg has taken more injury from this situation than anyone, quite literally as well as metaphorically, and it's not her fault any more than it's ours, but oh boy it has made her lash out and it's awful and it's perfect.

Meg's place in the Court of Hades is unique because she's not dead, not a mortal, not anything other than a god--but she's also not family. Nyx is not her mother. She's very much part of this system, she and her two sisters belong to Hades-the-realm and therefore also Hades-the-king, she can't leave, but she also doesn't have that protection of Nyx watching out for her in the same way. She's not royalty. She and her sisters (if you ask Hesiod instead of Virgil, which seems to be the interpretation the game's going with here) sprang from the blood of maimed Uranus at the same time as Aphrodite, but fuck knows Aphrodite isn't claiming them as siblings. And she can't be fired, exactly, but she sure can be demoted, and she sure can be made miserable in her job. Meg is vulnerable in a way very few people in Hades' employ are. She's a lot harder to do away with than any one random shade, but she's also a lot harder to miss blending in with a crowd.

What's more, she's the one person in this whole mess who is specifically tasked with stopping us from leaving. Hypnos isn't ordered to put us to sleep and keep us in our room. Thanatos can't be compelled or punished if he doesn't hunt us down. Achilles isn't told to lock us up and keep the keys. Meg is the one stationed at the doorway to Tartarus to keep us in. Meg is the one who gets in trouble when we leave. Meg (who Hades knows goddamn well Zagreus cares for, or cared for, who he absolutely knows we used to date) is the one who has to fight us again and again and again. And she's the one who keeps dying.

Again, it's this incredibly fucked-up guilt/hostage situation deliberately designed to keep people from fleeing abusive situations. Meg's insistence on fighting us now puts Zagreus in the position of having to hurt her himself again and again. Now suddenly we're the ones sticking a sword in our ex-girlfriend. Now suddenly someone can point to our desire to leave, to flee, to escape, and say, how selfish. How cruel. How terrible of us to want to go, when we're even willing to hurt the people we love to do it.

Except, right: Hades is the one who demands Meg stand there and stop us. Hades is the one who puts both of us in that position. Meg is also in an abusive situation, and she's willing to hurt us to protect herself. "I'd rather be on your bad side than your father's." It's easy to blame her at the start for being complicit, for being a tool of our father's abuse, for being on his side. It gets harder as the game goes on. I've killed her so many times. There's no way for her to beat me. She knows at this point that she can't beat me. She still fights, every single time, still throws herself upon that spike, not because she thinks she has any chance of stopping me but because she is so damn scared of what will happen if she doesn't try.

In fact, Meg's the one person we have actually seen face consequences for our actions so far, instead of just facing the threat of them. Her sisters are here. Her sisters, who she clearly does not want here, who are wild and violent and who she does not want in her life or anywhere near her, let alone near the job she takes so much pride in. She gets to deal with them now. (Hades doesn't have to deal with them. They're still not allowed in his court. But Meg does.) She gets stabbed, and bludgeoned, and shot, and lightning-struck, and poisoned, and every other thing we do to her. Thanatos doesn't. Nyx and Achilles and Hypnos don't. Bug Meg? Oh yes. Meg pays.

And yes, ok, she is complicit in this system. Everybody is complicit in this system. Zagreus who's trying to escape on his own behalf instead of overthrowing his father for the sake of everyone he'd otherwise be leaving behind is complicit in this system. Pointing fingers and pulling strings of who's more at fault? and who do we blame for this? is exactly how this sort of system perpetuates itself. Your sister always talked back at the dinner table and put everyone in an even worse and more violent mood. Your coworker refuses to work more than forty hours a week so now you have to take overtime to pick up their slack. You're enabling your dad by asking your sister to shut up, you're enabling your employer by working as hard as you do so you don't get fired, everyone's at fault, everyone's to blame, everyone is--

It's not everyone. It's Hades. It's Hades at the root of everything, and probably something big and institutional and fucked-up even beyond him. But even if everyone down in this Underworld does have to be trapped here forever, even if he's trapped here forever, Hades is neither challenging the system that put them here nor trying to make that fate better for anyone else stuck with him. He's just created an entire kingdom of backbiting and misery and people who can either go along with his whims or suffer the consequences.

At this point in the game, Meg is so fucking tired. Every time we run into her in the lounge, hunched over a table, the venom in her voice when she tells us "Do I look like I have anything to say to you?" is so bitter and so exhausted. There was a system, and she knew her place in the system, and it was a system divinely ordered by the gods themselves, and sure it was cruel but that's the literal will of the universe as far as she knows it. She had a role, and her role was vengeance and punishment and violence against those who'd committed the most egregious of sins in life, and there was a point to it, she was the divine deterrent to convince people not to do those things, and that was just, and that was right. The GODS THEMSELVES said so. How do you argue with that? You can't possibly argue with that!

And Zagreus is arguing with that. In trying to leave, he's questioning the unbreakable rule that nothing in the Underworld ever gets to leave it. In disobeying his father to do so, he's questioning the unbreakable rule that what the gods say is LAW. He's breaking everything.

And of course he's not trying to do any of that. He's not trying to destabilize the system at all. He's just trying to get himself out of it, to a place where he feels like he belongs and maybe a parent who's slightly nicer to him than this one. But toxic systems like this one break when the people within them have access to another option. When the kids find a way to actually leave, and not answer the phone, and not come home for holidays, and not deal with it any more. When the employees have the economic freedom to quit. When opportunities granted by education, money, social support, etc etc etc, show up and give people a choice. Even if the option is only ever for Zagreus--he's demonstrating that an option exists. Which is, of course, the one thing the system cannot ever allow.

I really like this game.

#hades game #hades spoilers #C plays stuff #driveby meta attack

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marshmallowprotection · 2 years

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Gardenia, et tu Polaris?

Pairing: Choi Saeran/Reader, 707 | Choi Luciel/Reader

Description: Would you risk your soul to save someone you love? Would you give your eternal life if it meant that they could survive? For Saeran and Luciel, that isn’t a hypothetical question, and these twins torn apart by Heaven and Hell have no one to blame but themselves. Will the stars guide them back to life’s bountiful garden, or will they taste hellfire before they know what it means to have faith in something real?

Saeran x Reader 1 & Seven x Reader 2 [There are two Separate Readers. Choose your path.]

Word Count: 6333

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Chapter Eleven

Despite what one may lead you to believe with their opinion, ruling over the realm of Hell wasn’t as difficult as it appeared to be. It was different from running a country, but Rika didn’t think it was hard. Lucifer simply allowed it to become hard over the centuries. There were plenty of things that needed to be done and taken care of but they weren’t impossible. They were easy when you had the right amount of advisors and demons on your side to take care of everything.

Unlike Lucifer, Rika was very willing to work with anyone in Hell who was willing to work with her on assignments.

With the right hand and delegation allocated, there was nothing to be concerned about with the reality of things. She waved her hand and allowed the demons to do what they needed to do. She could get more done by entrusting layers by design. Each layer of Hell now held someone in charge of its torture and maintenance; Though, she had the final say in things when it came to transporting souls from one plain to another, among other things. It allowed her more time to consider what was needed and what could benefit every demon in the realm as they worked to spur the fires of Hell.

The realm needed to be run by someone willing to lower their hands and say, “I would truly enjoy the pleasure of working with you to maintain the stability of our realm. It isn’t my job to do this all by myself. Hell is meant to be run by the hand of our malicious and steadfast demons. Who better to do what is needed than those on the ground? I am merely one Devil, but with all of you, we can run this realm right. By unleashing our personal Devil, we can create discord amongst the humans and those Angels. Together, we are stronger, as opposed to bowing our heads to Lucifer who never let anyone in hell speak their minds.”

It hadn’t taken all that long for her to gain a position, much less find herself on the throne of Hell. When she spoke with eloquence about how she imagined the realm of Hell, it didn’t take that long for people to realize that she was capable. Even Lucifer had complimented her a few times as she made her way through his court throughout the centuries. In her few hundred years in Hell, she had spent most of her time climbing her way to the top with her warm smile and radiant ideals. Many of the demons had joked that she was an Angel of Death from her appearance.

It was because so many of them never expected to see a demon with long blonde curls and deep green eyes. Even with her dark feathers that clung to her back like an Angels wing dipped in darkness, or her horns that curled around her brow like a crown of despair, many saw her to be an illusion of Heaven’s glow… a mockery of their world that claimed to possess those that were beautiful and shiny. Rika was one of God’s mistakes, she often said with a smile, because his mistake was allowing a human who had strong ideals to fall into Hell in the first place.

Unlike most souls sent to Hell after their death, hers had been so in need of holy punishment that she awoke as a devil instead of a tortured soul burning down in the deep pits for all eternity. To think he’d given her power after he failed her in her mortal life, now, that was the best joke of all time. It was his mistake and he would one day pay for it, just as she’d made Lucifer pay for his indiscretions. Neither God nor the Devil was free from Judgment Day. No matter how much they claimed to be the ones who delegated punishment and salvation, even they weren’t free from it.

It was why Rika did what she had to do. It was her calling and her duty to do what needed to be done. It was why she was sitting on the throne of Hell with a firmness in her eyes, knowing that she was the Devil who Hell had always needed. It was her destiny to change the way that things were done, and it was never going to return to what it once had been. She would not allow such mistakes to be made ever again. It all started by understanding what had gone wrong in the first place and what needed to be the next step since others had failed to make it.

As it turned out, Hell had needed the guidance of someone who didn’t stick to the old ways for a long time.

Lucifer was no different than a man upstairs. Perhaps at the dawn of his collapse and descent into the Earth and Hell, he could’ve been capable of the task that he wanted to hold; But, in recent years, he’d become a nuisance and a shell of the strength that he once held in his hands. He stuck to his ways and refused to change with time. It was humorous to think that Lucifer had become so set in his ways after spending his time trying to rebel against God. He always claimed that he would never be the man who created him.

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, that’s what they always said. In the end, he was no different than his Father. Lucifer believed that he was going against God for his love of humanity and lack of care for a million Angels in need, but in reality, he’d become a God that he hated by the end of his reign and it was the reason why he needed to take his eternal rest. There was no point in keeping around a Devil in Hell who hated himself so much that he could barely see the space beyond his nose. He was better off with the damned souls that he loved to devour.

He hated humanity for all it was worth, but his bias of hatred clouded his ability to judge properly at his stead. He didn’t believe salvation was possible for the souls who had been punished unfairly or for sins that were not as damned as those on the lower depths of Hell. There was no chance to redeem the lives that they had lived and claimed a chance to be among the souls in the Heavenly realms. Regardless of their deep faith or lack thereof, there were far too many souls unable to reach the afterlife they’d poured all their lives into simply for minor infractions.

It would not be the most grievous of sins that would bring them damnation.

In fact, most of the time it would be something that nobody would ever expect to be countered among the sins. It would be one of those things that you would have never believed would bring about such a cruel fate in the end. Something so small and subtle that most people in the modern-day wouldn't even be taught about. Now, it didn't seem incredibly fair for people to be punished for something that they weren't told about in the first place. It seemed to go against everything that Heaven and Hell stood for. The system was the abomination, not the people at its mercy.

Lucifer was, or rather, had been a stickler for little details. He could nitpick anyone over the smallest of mistakes like a game. He would laugh in their face and watch as they would lament over such a minor infraction. There was nothing I could do about it because he was the kind of person that did not care about the excuses that they wanted to make. All he wanted to do was make good on the punishment that they were due to their choices. He never gave it a second thought or decided to look it over to see if it was needed one more time. His malice and discontent were biased.

Just as God was willing to look at those choices and cast the very same souls down to Hell in the first place. It was a crying shame. Even though they both claimed to be very different from the other, they were no different at the end of the day. They claimed to know what they were doing and that it was their job to do what needed to be done for the souls. Yet, there was no consideration for those that needed to be looked at one more time. There was no thought about their situations or what could have been done differently. There was no care to what they could have been forced into doing or made to do from the start.

It wasn't about morality.

It was about their justice.

God’s justice… Lucifer’s justice… There was no line between those two things, no difference, no wall between the two. They were the same and their choices were incredibly outdated and unwanted. There was not a single person who was flourishing underneath such a system of damnation and counts of discrimination. There were not any blossoming Angels, no growing demons, nor was there a single human who could say they were content with the system of life, death, and renewal. It‘d been broken for centuries and the longer the system continued, the more the universe was failing those who resided inside of it.

That's why she decided that something needed to be done. She managed to speak to those demons who were amongst the highest in Hell and convinced them of what needed to be done. Many were tired in a way that they’d never admit because anyone who disagreed with Lucifer would be sent into the pits to be roasted. Demons didn’t die easily when you tortured them, if you wanted to kill them, you would’ve needed a powerful artifact created by God as a failsafe just in case. But if you roasted them on a spike or something, they wouldn’t die. Lucifer liked to punish demons for fun. It was just one of the ways that he ran the realm.

Malicious hearts and intent were the backgrounds of Hell, but that didn’t mean that many demons did appreciate being treated like the human souls meant to be damned. He wasn’t willing to team up with the demons around him, not even those that had fallen with him were close to his heart. He crushed so many of them without warning simply because he could. He was Lucifer, the former Morningstar, the gift of God that fell from grace and became the devil who sat on a throne of damnation and lies with a smug look in his eyes. He was wicked, malicious, and very powerful. But there was one key thing that he wasn’t—

He wasn’t considerate to the possibility of change. In his eyes, it was the way that it was and it would always be the way that it was. There was nothing wrong with the system that he had created and it was always going to be what he wanted. But, if you're used to that thinking and applied it to the same thing that was in Heaven? It made him truly no different than the Father that he was rebelling against all this time. It made it so they were the same.

It didn't matter if they went about things differently, the result was always the same. They claimed to be different in the way they did things, but it was never different at all.

Rika always knew that to be the case.

She had known that fact for a very long time. Her faith had failed her once and she refused to let it fail again. It would never fall flat in her face, and there would be no other person to fail once she had things the way she wanted. She wanted massive upheaval and she was going to get it. She had to get her hands dirty to make sure that it happened first, that’s all. All it took was finding the right poison for Lucifer in the archives of Hell. There was a strong root from a tree that had been swept into hell by Lilith quite a long time ago when she and Adam took the bite from the apple that opened their eyes. That tree was in Hell as it had become “corrupted”, so to speak.

If one were to grind the tree root into a fine powder, it could kill anyone in existence. This was a fact not known to many. It was hidden for a reason and Rika had only found it because her smile and air had amused Lucifer for a few hundred years. She used her charm to worm her way closer and closer to him until he thought nothing of her reading about lesser demons in his library. That was his mistake, of course, because he was quickly indisposed of after one evening meal. He was dead and sent to the deepest part of his layer of Hell to lay amongst the bodies of the damned in his lake. It was fitting for him.

His frigid nature belonged to the ice that many never would’ve expected to linger in such a warm and dangerous place. It was his time to let go of life. It wasn't as if he had a period for his existence from start to finish. There was never an exact expiration date but it had come for him soon enough. When you existed forever, it was obvious that you wouldn't know when you had overstayed your welcome. He got what he had coming to him. He could consider himself fortunate that he was only poisoned.

There were more ghastly ideas that could’ve taken his essence that God would’ve wanted to happen. There were plenty of ways that could have been a hundred times worse than that. It was a way to go help in a whisper instead of in a blaze of agony.

In some ways, Rika was a kind soul that spared him the damnation that God wanted for him. It was only a few minutes of suffering compared to the ions that God would’ve wanted. A few minutes of gasping for air as your body denied a breath. It was nothing. There was nothing to complain about when your death lasted a few seconds. It could’ve been a drawn-out process and taken hours as most of those elder demons might’ve preferred when it came to killing a lone demon and ripping their bodies apart to stop any possible reformation.

She saw her hand as needed and that was that. Lucifer had fallen ill and death took him just as it took many of those who had existed throughout the universe’s existence. He wasn’t safe from death’s long and arduous march. Neither was anyone else who claimed to be immortal and without the need for it.

It was coming for them, all of them, and as many deemed her to be the Angel of Death, she was going to be the one who ensured that those deaths came soon enough to equalize the universe as needed.

This was her true purpose.

The only way to make room for new soil was to watch as the flowers wilted and returned to where they belonged in the ground. For something to thrive, something had to die. That was simply the way of the world. There was no need to complain about that. It had been created this way and that meant that not a single soul could say that she was out of line. She was only doing what needed to be done in the face of failure from others. She took on the crown of Hell and became the Devil they needed, as the last was sent to rest in his grave. It was the only way for change to come.

It was the only real way for the seasons to change and something to come about that made things right. If the flowers were to bloom again, something would have to be sacrificed upon the soil for everything to be nourished. There was nothing macabre about it. It was merely a cycle of love and loss. For you to gain something you had to lose something. Nothing was ever truly gone, anyway. Much in the sense that things were like cockroaches. You could continue to try and scrub it away but it would always find a way to come back to life.

Rika was a demon unlike the rest and she was proud of herself. She stood tall in the face of Hell and that was what lent her the support of its people. Surely, there was something to be said about the boy that had fallen from grace just after Lucifer’s death that helped her ensure that the demons were able to understand the severity of the situation. But, she took her claim at the throne because it was meant for her to take. It was her spot to have and God could only blame himself for allowing her to grasp at such a thing. If he never wanted her to take it, he would’ve never failed her as a mortal on the planet Earth.

Here she was, the Devil, with the new world order sitting on the horizon because of God’s mistake, and she couldn’t have been happier. They made her become this way and she was going to show them why they had hell to pay. She had become the Devil as they always imagined her to be and she would be the strongest one that ever existed. Nobody would ever forget her name or what they did as long as she was around to remind them of their misdeeds. Rika wanted to prevent the worst of the worst from having a chance to happen again. It’s why she was a better fit for this job. Hell wasn’t meant to be a realm of damnation and suffering. It could have been a place that balanced out punishment and rehabilitation.

There could be a tipping point between the two of those things but it was a damn shame that nobody seemed to think that it was reasonable or possible. She was the one leading the charge now. Even if the eldest of demons were committed to punishment, she was as well, but only when needed… only when those who truly deserved the taste of rot and fire in their throats were those who needed to be damned. The rest should have been given a chance to work out their sentence and make their way back up to the top if possible. There was a way to make it work. But, of course, for the scale to start, they had to hit it where it hurt first.

That’s why she ordered so many demons to climb upon Earth and consume the greed of those who would be damned in hellfire as they pleased. They could get a taste of the things that they wanted so much faster and easier, and it cleared the way to show Heaven that their lack of care towards Earth in any capacity was what would destroy them. If they wouldn’t do what needed to be done then she had to do it. Hell was already on Earth well before the demons, but this would force Heaven to see it for the truth it was. They already believed that humans weren’t worth the trouble anymore, yet, they decided to continue the system that God had created purely for tradition.

It was complacency at its finest. Hell and Heaven weren’t so different, but that’s why Rika refused for it to remain that way any longer. Hell was going to change and she was going to drag Heaven through change as soon as she could grasp them. She would destroy their systems the way they destroyed her in life, and they would know the taste of ash as she had. She could care less for humanity in the sense that it had abandoned her as well as Heaven and Hell had, but there was always a chance in the world that there were golden eggs in the pool of sludge that was Earth. That’s why whoever survived the onslaught of corruption was worthy of their place.

Though, as she sat on her throne today, she was rather curious about the news that she just received from one of the many informants that worked to stalk and gather information from Angels that were on Earth. It wasn't the news that she had expected to hear but it was something that she realized that she could put into her favor. This was the kind of thing that they were trying to hide for a reason, and she was going to make sure that they were not capable of making that choice for long.

“Everything has been going according to plan. Heaven has no idea about what we've been doing all this time. In fact, it appears as though they think that humanity itself is corrupted and it has nothing to do with us. I'm sure that that is no surprise to you, Ma'am. There is no doubt that they believe that things are uncontrollable and unruly. It's a shame that they don't have their act together, if they were much more willing to see things for what they were, maybe they would realize the truth of the situation. But, just as you thought, they have proceeded as expected. Humanity is to blame for their suffering as far as they believe.”

“However, as it stands, for the first time in a very long time, two Guardian Angels have been on Earth for an extended period. They stopped allowing that to happen quite a long time ago. I cannot recall the last time that they allowed them on Earth for longer than a day, maybe two at most. That alone is much too suspicious. But, there’s other news. They are in close contact with another Angel who is quite high in command, yet, their duty alone is for one human being. We haven't been able to figure out why it is this particular human, however. But, what we can surmise is that this is an intentional decision on their part. Something about this human is very important to Heaven.”

“How important?”

“Important enough that Jumin Han is involved. However, I can tell you information that I’ve got from this firsthand. The human in question is a party coordinator working for his persona, and there’s going to be a major event held very soon. The Angel contact I’ve contacted has also implied there’s likely to be other Angels in attendance with the humans at this event. I can’t say I know their intention, Ma’am, but I can say that it’s suspicious.”

It was suspicious.

What reason would Heaven have at a party? Even if Jumin, one of the highest Angels, was holding the event, Heaven had held closed doors for years now since the fall of Luciel. Why would they want to be on the ground all of a sudden? It just didn't make any sense. Why would they want to come down here after years of being detached? What was the purpose? What did the involvement of this human mean? Why did it matter now? Heaven was up to something, and that something was no good.

The revelation hung in the air for a long moment. There was something about it that just rubbed her the wrong way. She felt like she knew what this was about. There was no way to know for sure, but she had a strong feeling. The last time she had a strong feeling about the future, she ignored it and looked to someone else for guidance, but not this time. She would think about what she needed to do here but there was already a strong sense of what needed to be done. It would turn out the way that she wanted.

Yes, she could likely use this to benefit the plan at hand. It could happen a lot faster than she imagined it would. They would just need to handle this with care. As long as she considered the options then it would turn out alright. Yes, this could be good. This could be everything that she needed it to be. It’d come together, and it’d be God’s fault. It was always his fault but this time it would be sweet justice to think that his undoing could be his creation.

“I can only imagine that this may be a test,” Rika leaned back in her chair as she dismissed the demon who brought the news. She glanced over her shoulder to look at Jihyun. There was a tight line to his lips as if he was uncomfortable hearing the news. “You know, just like the last time that they decided to run tests. I can't imagine why they would want to do it but we both know what happens in the end. Of course, we know how that ended up, don’t we?”

“...Yes,” Jihyun said, quietly. There was something almost dejected about the way that he spoke up. It was a memory that he wasn't happy about. He wasn't proud of it, either. Rika couldn’t say she was so pleased with it, either. It was the precipice of their relationship. It was the crux of all sin. “I remember it clearly. I won't forget. It is ingrained inside of me.”

Her fingers tapped against the arm of her chair, “Of course, you do. I imagine if it's happening again, I will have to do something this time. There's something that we must consider if that’s the case. I can’t help but wonder if you're up to the challenge, Jihyun. Because if we have to do this all over, it's going to be done differently and I’m going to decide how the story ends. You’re not going to make that decision at all. Do you understand me?”

His mint eyes met hers. There was something unspoken inside of them. Perhaps, it was the fact that her voice had gone icy. “I understand. I understand what you mean completely. I don't think anything will ever happen like that again. But, I understand that it's still possible. After all, I don't believe Father has changed. If anything, he's more set in his ways. But, it's up to you what you think we have to do for this situation, my Queen.”

A wicked smile crossed her lips. “Now, was that so hard? You know, you could have done that the first time. Oh, well. Now that we have this information, I think you understand what I need you to do for me.”

“I do.”

“Good. I'm glad that we had this understanding. Fetch Luciel for me, then. I need to speak with him at once.” She ordered. Jihyun didn’t argue with it. His long mint curls pooled around his face almost as if he still felt the shame of the past. He pulled his coat around himself to cover the black crop-top that he was wearing, held his head lowered, and left the room to go and find the demon in question. It was so much better when he didn't argue. It was a lot easier that way.

She was finally the one in control like she needed to be. She had the cosmic power, now, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

Those memories were still as fresh as the day was long. Neither he nor she would ever forget what had happened. It was what spurred them to do what they needed to do. Well, it convinced Rika to do what she needed. Jihyun was less willing but he came around after a while. It took him some time but he was that sort of person. He was the kind of person that would get lost in his head before he could make any sense of his decisions. But when he decided at the end of his thoughts, he would burn himself to make sure that it happened.

Quite literally, of course.

His indecisive nature could be what caused him trouble in the first place, yet, it wasn’t what made him be the man he was today. No, his inability to think before he acted was what caused so much trouble in the first place. They were bound together for a reason, and as frustrated as she could be with him, they were together now as dictated by destiny. Even if it wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, it was useful to make him bend as needed.

Jihyun would do what she needed. He wouldn't argue about it and he would never make a fuss when she told him to do something that he didn't agree with. He knew his place and he knew the price of the punishment that would happen if he didn't listen. It was just better this way. It was always going to be better this way. Instead of letting him push her around, she was the one getting to call the shots and let it be what it needed to be. If only he had done that from the start.

Though, she was surprised that he hadn't gotten this information first. It was by the nature of who he was and the connections that he had made that should have allowed him to see this coming. He always knew when somebody was going to do something that they were trying to hide from everyone. It was a possibility that something had slipped underneath his radar, but she wasn't sure that that was the case. It was curious to think what would happen if he had known this information before she had been told it.

No, this wasn't the time to be doubting him. She didn't have time to deal with him in that sense. There was nothing to think about. These sorts of things just happened sometimes. It was incredibly rare, but it still happened now and again. It was obvious that they were trying to hide this information as much as humanly possible. There was a reason why they were doing it right now, and if it was hidden enough that Jihyun couldn’t get his hands on it first? That meant that the situation needed to be provoked and God needed to be punished for being stupid enough to get caught.

Rika merely shook the thought from her head. It had been a couple of hundred years, and she could ignore what happened for now. She was focusing on the future and she would deal with the past when there was time. He was already paying a price and serving a sentence, there was nothing that she could do to make him suffer more. He would do anything that she asked… even if it meant walking through hellfire. Perhaps, he was just thinking of his mistakes of the past.

It was possible because if this was a situation where they were going to test someone, it could end up the way it had the last time. It never worked out, and it wasn’t going to work now. Testing humanity was such a stupid thing. They only did it because they imagined that it was worth seeing if the people were following what they needed to do. Humanity never was because they had misunderstood all of the teachings that had been passed onto them. It wasn't just because they’d been tricked and deceived by demons or other spirits. It was because their Angels failed to do their jobs, as did God himself.

The only benefit to this situation was that it could be a last-ditch effort to see if they could maintain stability on Earth. It wasn't as if they had control over everything anymore, either. They didn't know that was the case but it would become apparent in due time. They were going to burn themselves out before they realized the truth of the matter. This was a great situation because it was going to be the very vessel that would finally show them they failed. Maybe if they had cared from the start and tried to be involved from the get-go, it would have been different. But, this was the fault of the system that they had controlled and maintained.

When it collapsed, it was going to be their fault. It was going to be their fault and there was nothing that they could say about it or do about it. It was past the time that they could have done something about it. It was only a matter of time, and Rika was going to reclaim the new world when they failed to do what they set out to do. She was going to rebuild the world from the rubble left inside of the ashes; Like a Phoenix in bloom, she was going to come back from Hell within due time and they would know her name and the Devil that they created.

They would all know her name.

As Luciel stepped into the room with Jihyun at his side, she could do nothing but smile. “Luciel, I have a job for you that I won’t take no for an answer about. The Angels have finally made their move on the planet Earth. They’ve chosen a human to watch over and guard as if they’re worthwhile, and while it’s not clear why they’ve chosen this human… It's as clear as day that this one human means everything to them as it stands. If we want them to understand the severity of the situation, then we need to take care of this human, if you understand what I mean.”

Luciel glanced at Jihyun but the man merely looked down. He already knew what she was thinking, and admitting it out loud would be too much for him. Which was a shame, because he knew why it had to be done. “You want someone to get rid of the Angels on duty? If there's more of them than usual, then you would want to get rid of all of them in a display of our power, correct?”

“Oh, Luciel. You and I both understand that killing a few Angels doesn't get us anywhere. After all, plenty of them have been killed over the years and it's been glossed over by Heaven,” Rika chuckled. She rose from her chair and beckoned him forward to take his place at her heel. Luciel did as she had ordered since he had no choice but to obey, either. “What I want you to do is get rid of their human during the party they’re holding. I want you to make a spectacle of them that they’ll never forget as long as they exist. I want the blood to be on the walls and Heaven to understand their position from now on. I want you to be the one to do it, and I want them to see your face when it happens. Oh, isn't that a grand idea? It will show them their mistake of letting you rot. Hahaha… haha.”

His expression flickered through discomfort and then flatness, “My Queen, humans are killed all of the time by demons. It’s happening as we speak. I don't think killing one in front of them will do much to make a difference. They already understand humans are going to die. They've watched it happen since the dawn of time, what is the difference in the situation?”

“The difference is that they'll be seeing it happen firsthand by a demon. They've never been challenged in that way before. They like to imagine that they have control over us. They like to believe that a single touch from their hand can destroy us. But, they need to understand that our touch can be just as dangerous. They need to understand that they're not going to control or bend us to the way that they exist. No, we're going to change and dismantle everything. They no longer get to decide who lives or dies first. We decide fate now. You will destroy their party. You will kill the human. You will make sure that they understand. They need to pay for their misdeeds since the dawn of time and their reminder will be the life of one human. That’s not much to Heaven, they’ve done it before and they’ll do it one more time if they want. Don't get cold feet, you’re a demon now. You will do as the Devil commands.”

His silence was very telling. Thus far, she’d been letting him do whatever he wanted to do as long as he continued to ensure that everyone was following her as needed. It was a simple job. Anyone could do it with ease. That would continue as long as he would make good on his end of the bargain. All he had to do was what he already had done over and over again.

His hands were already stained red with the blood of humanity.

That was nothing in the grand scheme of things. After all, the sect that followed Jesus knew that it was one sacrifice that had given them their belief, those humans understood the loss, and plenty of others knew that to be the case as well in their faiths. If the act of getting rid of one person could save more of them, plenty of people would sacrifice the one.

It was one more death in his hands.

“Is that clear?”

What was one more after hundreds that he willfully took away?

“Yes, ma’am.”

Her magic would bind him to do what was needed regardless of his consent.

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bylagunabay · 3 years

Text

Unseen Warfare

10 WISDOM QUOTES ON ENTERING THE NARROW GATE

(3-min read)

When asked what he thought about modern people who didn't believe in hell, Padre Pio replied: “They'll believe in hell when they get there.”

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

After making the painting, Graham Braddock commented: “𝓢𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓼𝓪𝓲𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓹𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓯𝓪𝓻 𝓽𝓸𝓸 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓱𝓲𝓬 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓷 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓼. 𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓵𝔂, 𝓲𝓽 𝓭𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓵𝔂 𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓼”

Graham Braddock’s painting is symbolic. Let us reflect on his work of art – even once, in the hope of avoiding our entry into the gate of destruction.

1“I am filled with fear and trembling, and all my bones are shaken at the thought of that unhappy country of the damned.”

St. Bernard

2 “I saw the torments of hell and those of purgatory; no words can describe them. Had poor mortals the faintest idea of them, they would suffer a thousand deaths rather than undergo the least of their torments during a single day.”

St. Catherine of Siena

3 “Poor Judas! Above seventeen hundred years have elapsed since he has been in Hell, and his Hell is still only beginning.”

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

4 “The natural fire that we see during this life has great power to burn and torment. Yet this is not even a shadow of the fire of Hell.”

St. Anthony Mary Claret

5 “The wicked bodies of the condemned shall simmer and blaze in those living fires.”

St. Cyprian of Carthage

6 “Alas! Of what kind is that place of wailing and of gnashing of teeth… at which even Satan shudders? O Woe! What kind of place is it, where the unsleeping worm dies not? What dread misery to be sent into outer darkness? Of what kind of angels placed over these torments, who pitiless and frightful, punish by casting in there, while at the same time the reproach most grievously? Then shall those already in the midst of the torments cry out with pleading voices, and there will be no one to speak for them to the Lord, and they shall not be heard.”

St. Ephrem of Syria

7 “Let us fancy we see hell and imagine what is worst to behold – a horrible cavern full of black flames. Sulphur, devils, dragons, fire, swords, arrows, and innumerable damned who roar in despair. Imagine the worst you can, and then say, ‘All this is nothing compared to hell.'”

St. Ignatius of Loyola

8 “No more is it possible for the evildoer, the avaricious, and the treacherous to hide from God than it is for the virtuous. Every man will receive the eternal punishment or reward which his actions deserve. Indeed, if all men recognized this, no one would choose evil even for a short time, knowing that he would incur the eternal sentence of fire. On the contrary, he would take every means to control himself and to adorn himself in virtue, so that he might obtain the good gifts of God and escape the punishments.”

St. Justin Marytr

9 “Alas! I could not bear the sight of them. How could I, as the mere noise of these despairing yells caused me an unbearable horror?”

St. Lydwine of Schiedam

10 “Do not neglect the grace that is offered to you. The God who offers the sinner pardon, does not promise him tomorrow.”

St. Wolfrand

#catholic church #catholic #traditional catholic #hell #purgatory #Narrow gate #saints

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telehxhtrash · 4 years

Text

On the cultural lore behind the late Hunter Exam Arc and the Testing Gates Arc.

Hi ! Today I want to talk a bit about Togashi’s use of mythology, legends and lore as a way to emphasize the narrative in his story.

It’s no secret that Togashi loves to use details and symbolism in his story, but I think the Testing Gates arc is the one arc that uses this writing technique the most. In only a few chapters, Togashi manages to reference and intertwine 3 different legends to highlight the message in his narrative : Gon’s rescue mission is emphasized by the legend of Orihime & Hikoboshi, the legend of Eurydice & Orpheus, and the legend of Izanami & Izanagi.

As you may know, the early part of Killua’s character arc reflects the Tanabata legend, and it’s reinforced by the fact that his birthday falls on July 7th, the day Tanabata is celebrated. I’m going to link this post that is better written than anything I could ever write on this, so I suggest reading this before reading this post ! I’ll still go over the general details of Tanabata below though.

The legend of Tanabata can be closely paralleled to Killua’s early story arc.

Orihime worked relentlessly for her father and weaved the most beautiful clothes. She was very, very talented and worked very hard for her father.

However, Orihime lamented the fact that because of her job, she couldn’t meet someone and fall in love. All she craved was human connection, and her working for her father kept her from meeting someone and falling in love.

Her father eventually allowed her to meet someone, Hikoboshi, and they instantly fell in love.

But sadly for her father, that meant that Orihime didn’t focus on her job anymore and only focused on appreciating her time with her lover.

In anger, her father decided to separate the two lovers and forbade them to meet. (don’t take this too literally - the Zoldyck family in its entirety represents Orihime’s father)

As you can see, Killua follows Orihime’s story pretty accurately. He used to work for his family as a skilled assassin, the most skilled one in the entire Zoldyck family’s history. However, Killua lamented the fact that because of this, he couldn’t make friends. That’s his primary reason for leaving the Zoldyck Mansion : see if he could make a friend. And then, he met Gon, and it was pretty much love at first sight. The two of them enjoyed their time together, joking around and sticking together most of the time, until the final phase of the Hunter Exam where Illumi forbids Killua from seeing Gon and manipulates him into going back to the Zoldyck Mansion.

This isn’t how the Tanabata legend ends, but this is where the other 2 legends I want to talk about come into play.

Gon, after being passed out for hours as a consequence of his fight with Hanzo, learns about Killua’s fight with his brother and completely flips out. He proceeds to confront Illumi about it directly and asserts that Killua is his friend and that he’ll bring him back no matter what. After this, Leorio, Kurapika and Gon make their way to the Zoldyck Mansion to get Killua back. As they arrive at the Mansion, the tour guide proceeds to explain one of the particularities of the Zoldyck Mansion : there’s a huge gate that can only be opened by brute force. Anyone can enter, as long as they go through this door. And this is where it gets interesting.

The tour guide mentions that this gate is called “黄泉への扉”, yomi he no tobira. The gate to Yomi.

But Tele, why the fuck are you mentioning this, you may ask.

Because 黄泉, Yomi, is the land of the dead. Togashi is expressing that this is the gate to Yomi, the gate to enter the land of the dead : the Zoldyck Mansion. The Zoldyck Mansion is directly compared to Yomi.

In Japanese mythology, Yomi is where all souls go after they die. No matter if you were good or bad, you’ll end up in Yomi. It’s not Heaven, it’s not Hell, it’s just…. A place where you end up rotting forever. It’s described as gloomy and dark, empty and cold. It’s not burning in hellfire, it’s just a place where you just sort of wander aimlessly, empty for the rest of eternity.

And this cold and gloomy, empty atmosphere can directly be correlated to the Zoldyck Mansion. The tour guide mentions that this is the gate to Yomi, because if you enter, you’ll never come back, but this applies more to Killua. Killua is in Yomi right now after a trauma-induced dissociative episode. He was forcefully sent back to the Mansion, and is now being tortured by his family. If Killua stays there, it’s obvious he’ll never come back psychologically from this. He’ll be trapped in this meaningless existence, cold and empty, devoid of any passion. A life his parents chose for him, a life he doesn’t want to live, a life as Zoldyck heir. He’ll be stuck in Yomi, the land of the dead, forever.

But Gon won’t let that happen. He planned this rescue mission because Killua opened up to him about who he wants to be. He doesn’t want to live according to his family’s plans for him anymore, he wants to live a life for himself and be free. And Gon wants to help him achieve that, because he saw the good in Killua. Which is why he insisted he’d rescue Killua himself and will drag him out of the Zoldyck Mansion. He’ll get him out of Yomi.

Which leads us to the story of Izanami and Izanagi. Yomi is commonly known as Izanami’s retreat after her death, so when you hear Yomi, you automatically associate it to Izanami. And there’s an interesting piece of lore when it comes to Yomi and Izanami : Izanagi’s rescue mission. Izanami died a horrible death after being burned giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi : she descended to Yomi. However, Izanagi, her husband (and brother but we don’t talk about that) found himself miserable. He missed her terribly and couldn’t live a life without her. That’s why he decided to make the trip to Yomi to get her back. Izanami ended up pleading to the Gods of Yomi to let her go back to Izanagi, and the Gods ended up making her an exception and allowing her to leave.

I’ll spare you the details but the story ends tragically with Izanagi trapping Izanami in Yomi forever, her ruling over it and the both of them pretty much getting divorced.

Anyways. What matters is that when you talk about Yomi, it’s automatically linked to Izanami, and Izanami is automatically linked to Izanagi and his rescue mission. A rescue mission that also happened in HxH. Just like Izanagi, Gon decided to take the trip to Yomi, as the tour guide said, to rescue Killua from eternal damnation and be reunited with him once again.

Additionally and still in the spirit of the Yomi lore, the etymology of Yomi (黄泉) is uncertain, but it is theorized that it could come from 山, yama, meaning mountain. Izanami was buried in the mountains and Yomi was thought to be located in the mountains in ancient society, which is leading me to believe this could be the reason why the Zoldyck Estate has a mountain. So it could simply be because the Zoldyck Mansion is referred to as Yomi, and Yomi was thought to be in the mountains : hence the Zoldycks living on a mountain, fitting the Yomi lore perfectly.

There’s one last interesting thing about Yomi. Since Yomi is not Hell, it’s not where peoples’ souls go to get punished but more of a place of eternal wander, it’s oftentimes related to the Greek Underworld also known as Hades. So usually, when japanese media refers to something as Yomi, translators choose to go with “Hades”, which is the translation choice Viz made here.

So by insinuating the Zoldyck Mansion is considered as Yomi, it also connects it to the Greek Underworld, since the two are deeply connected. And interestingly enough, the first thing that pops into my head when I think of the Underworld is Orpheus and Eurydice’s story.

Orpheus and Eurydice fell in love at first sight, and enjoyed all their living moments together, however, this provoked the jealousy of one man who despised Orpheus and desired Eurydice for himself. After multiple events including a chase through the woods, Eurydice got bit by a deadly snake and died, leaving Orpheus heartbroken and alone. He couldn’t do anything but grieve and he lost his will to live without his beloved. That’s when he decided to take a trip to the Underworld in an attempt to get Eurydice back. Orpheus, armed with his lyre and his voice, was pretty much protected by the Gods as he walked through the Underworld and sang his song of love to anyone who would listen. His song and story brought tears to Hades and Persephone’s eyes, and Hades eventually accepted to make a deal with Orpheus : Eurydice has to follow him and he must not look back under any circumstance as long as they’re in the Underworld, or she will be sent back there forever.

I’ll once again spare you the depressing details, but basically, Orpheus turned back because he couldn’t bear to not look at his beloved anymore, they got separated again and Orpheus ended up grieving his entire life, ending up being killed because of it.

So once again, here, there are similarities between Gon and Killua and Orpheus and Eurydice. Falling in love at first sight ; Illumi despising Gon and wanting Killua for himself and his family, thus ending up causing a separation and sending Killua to the Zoldyck Mansion ; Gon deciding to get Killua back. And for this one, there’s one interesting thing, and I thank @gallyl very much for telling me this, but it’s very important to note that Orpheus got Eurydice back because he sang songs of love and proved his devotion to Eurydice. Gon did the exact same thing. During those 7 chapters where Gon rescues Killua, the word friend is highlighted 7 times.

Gon, and therefore Togashi, makes it a point to emphasize that his rescue mission is solely based on his love for Killua. He’s doing it out of devotion and care for him. Just like Orpheus rescued Eurydice with his song of love and brought tears to everyone’s eyes, Gon managed to go through every hardship he faced by highlighting that Killua is his friend. That’s how he managed to convince Zebro to let him train to pass the gates, that’s how he got to Gotoh and to Canary, and eventually to Silva. Because he kept on saying that he’s doing this because of his love for Killua, which eventually softened all of these people and made them get on board with his rescue mission.

Another parallel is the fact that Hades strikes a deal with Orpheus with a condition, and should the condition be broken, Eurydice will return to the Underworld. Here, it’s slightly different but still under the same spirit. Silva strikes a deal with Killua, making him promise to never betray his friend, and that if he does… he will be unworthy of his friends and will have to return home.

There are also a few other references to the Underworld in the way Togashi portrays the Zoldyck Mansion and Silva and Kikyo, but I won’t get into it too much for fear of not being too objective and reaching, so I’ll just go over one. The Greek Underworld is kept by Cerberus, a gigantic 3 headed dog. And while Togashi didn’t make Mike a 3-headed dog, he did include 3 different dogs as gatekeepers of the Zoldyck Mansion, thus keeping a connection to the Cerberus lore.

So by making one random character talk about Yomi, the japanese underworld, Togashi calls back to those two myths : the japanese myth of Izanami and Izanagi and the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Togashi put imagery for both of these legends to emphasize that they are connected to the story, and as a way to further highlight the narrative of someone rescuing someone they deeply care about.

I never finished talking about Orihime and Hikoboshi’s story, so I’ll do it now! After being forbidden to meet, Orihime pleaded for her father to let her see Hikoboshi again, until he finally agreed to let them reunite on the 7th day of the 7th month. However, when they reunited for the first time, there was no bridge to cross for them to be able to meet. That’s when a flock of magpies came and promised to help the lovers reunite, creating a bridge between the two of them, and allowing them to finally reunite.

This is once again reminiscent of the Testing Gates arc. Killua asked his dad to be able to see Gon again, until he finally accepted. However, Gon found that it was hard to cross the metaphorical bridge that are all the hardships of the Zoldyck Mansion, until a bird finally helped him : Canary. Canaries are birds that symbolize happiness, freedom and that spread joy. On top of that, I could even reach a bit and highlight that magpies, the birds that reunited Orihime and Hikoboshi are mostly recognizable by their long black tail. Canary and Gotoh, butlers, are the main reason Gon managed to get to Killua, and butlers outfits are characterized with a longer back, reminiscent of a tail, detail that Togashi also put. So it’s easy with that to associate the butlers with the flock of magpie, since they’re the reason Gon managed to get back to Killua.

The Tanabata lore started from the moment we got introduced to Killua’s character up until Killua and Gon finally reunite, and this lore was complemented by 2 other legends that highlight this beautiful narrative of rescuing a loved one.

All 3 of these legends share common themes : they feature lovers who got separated for multiple reasons and one of them pleading to higher forces to let them have their lover back. There’s a common theme of love and devotion that ends up moving the higher forces and lets the person be reunited with their lover at last. All these missions were rescue missions done in the name of love : Orihime pleaded with her father out of love, Orpheus sang his song of love to plead to Hades to let him get Eurydice back, Izanami asked the Gods to let her come back to Izanagi. And Gon begged everyone to let him see his friend. He shouted on top of every rooftop that Killua was his friend and that he’s rescuing him out of love and devotion for him, and that’s exactly what made people help him get Killua back. It’s seeing Gon’s love that made people help him, just like in those legends.

So by giving us references to these legends, by making Gon and Killua follow the same tropes as these myths, Togashi is highlighting the beautiful narrative of Gon’s rescue mission. Togashi is putting little details and symbolism to give his story more depth and make us subconsciously link together a legend about lovers wanting to reunite after being separated, and two legends about people going on a rescue mission to save their loved ones.

Killua’s story follows the Tanabata legend closely, he meets Gon and it’s love at first sight, they are happy together, until they’re separated. Then he gets sent back to the Mansion, Yomi, the Underworld, which prompts Gon to organize a rescue mission out of love, just like Izanagi and Orpheus. It’s thanks to this love that he moved Zebro, Canary, Gotoh and finally Silva, just like Izanami’s pleads moved the Gods and allowed her to (almost) leave, and just like Orpheus’ love songs moved Hades. Finally, they are reunited by a bird, Canary, and a flock of magpies, the butlers, just like in the Tanabata legend. The lovers are reunited at last, after a long rescue mission.

I can already feel the panicked asks, “but Tele, all these tales end tragically, is Killua and Gon’s relationship broken forever? Are they going to die?”. No. HxH is not a retelling of common legends. It’s not accurately and faithfully translating myths into a manga. It’s using cultural references to emphasize some narratives, and here, it’s the narrative of two lovers going against all odds to reunite with each other once again after being separated. I’ll link you to this post by @/buzzykrueger that explained it better than I could, but don’t worry, I can promise you, Togashi will never head this way. HxH is not a retelling of old tales, and he loves to subvert common classical tropes. He already subverted them many, many times in his manga, and I can guarantee you that Killua and Gon will be fine in the end.

Also, yes, I’m referring to Killua and Gon as lovers in this post, because Togashi made the conscious choice to refer to 3 pieces of lore focused on romantic love.

Thank you for reading this ! If you’re interested, I’ll link all my references below! Also, Tumblr hates me and won’t let me appear in tags anymore, so reblogs are very appreciated. Ty for reading!

• On the general legend of Tanabata : here and here

• On Yomi : here and here

• On Izanami & Izanagi : here and here

• On Eurydice and Orpheus : here

#hxh #hxh meta #meta #my meta #killugon #idk why i even bother tagging tumblr hates me #reblogs r very appreciated!!

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yami-writes · 3 years

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The Underworld - AoA Mythology Event

(✨) paring(s) — Hades Shouto Todoroki x f!reader

(⚠️) warning(s) — some angst, talk about devils, hell and stuff, mentions of execution, fires and buildings burning down, major character death (nothing graphic)

(💌) yami's note — my contribution to Attack on Academia’s Mythology AU event! hope you enjoy- even though i know close to nothing about mythology :sob: also this isn’t a specific AU/theme or anything, i was pretty lost on what to do so i just went off what i knew + a bit of my own shit ( this is my first work in a while, i'm a bit rusty lmao )

Y/n, never to be held back by the rules. You always preferred to do things your way, bending and breaking rules to do what you wanted.

“I’m supposed to be executed next month.” You took a bite out of your mashed potatoes while Denki choked on his. “What!? How could you say that so casually!?”

“I don’t care. They’re supposed to be executing all the lifetime prisoners here as some sort of offering to the Devil or some shit.”

You spent the better half of your life as a wanted criminal, committing acts left and right at your will. You never had a reason to commit crimes, it was more or less the ‘You Only Live Once’ mentality, as well as your own curiosity that drove you to be a bad person. For better or for worse, you enjoyed your life of crime. It was a never-ending adventure, a game. What crime will you commit this time? How many cops would show up this time? How far will you have to go to escape them? It was all a fun game to you.

“I’d rather be executed than spend the rest of my life in this place. We’re not even treated like humans. More like rabid animals that could attack at any moment. At least if I get executed I’ll be dead.”

“At least if I eat food I won’t starve.” Denki mocked. “But is it true? Are you really going to be executed?”

“Yeah.” you take another bite out of your lunch. “The guards hate us, they’ve been wanting to see our heads on a stick for a long time.”

“What!? But if you die I won’t have anyone in here to keep me sane, y’know!! We’ve only been talking for a few days but I like you!!”

You merely nodded.

“Hey, Y/n!” Mina poked your cheek. “What is it this time?”

“Have you ever heard the term ‘yolo’?”

“The fuck is a yolo?”

“I said it’s a term!” Mina laughed. “It’s an abbreviation for ‘You Only Live Once’.”

You Only Live Once. Those four words touched your soul. They told you to go, do the things you never thought you’d do. Commit the crimes you’ve never even thought of committing. They told you nobody, not even the law could tell you what to do, only you could tell yourself what to do.

Time was passing fast. Minutes, hours, days passed and your execution only got closer.

You didn’t care, but word sure did get around fast. Two weeks until the execution and everyone knew. You received weird looks wherever you went, which was normal, but these were different. You couldn’t explain what made them so different though. Maybe it was the way they lingered for longer than you’d like, as you had gotten used to the quick glances.

They were getting cocky.

You ate your lunch in silence, Denki was nowhere to be seen but you couldn’t be bothered, you just hoped he wasn’t doing anything stupid. As your execution came up you had been thinking, mostly of your past, your decisions, your life. Specifically, that one night...

It was a quiet Sunday evening. After being passed around in foster homes, enduring abusive foster parent after abusive foster parent, you were put into an adoption center, where you were finally being taken care of. You never made friends with anyone, you were scared of them. You thought they’d hurt you, abuse you, call you names. You didn’t want to go through that again.

“Hey!” A girl called out to you. She sat in front of you on the floor. “My name’s Mina!” The girl had messy pink hair, it was hard to tell if it was natural or not. You stared at her for a second, unsure of how to respond. “Hello.” Was all you could choke out.

“You’re y/n, right? I think you’re cool, wanna do this puzzle with me?” She took out a puzzle of a cat wearing a wool hat.

“Sure.”

“Yay!!” Mina cheered, quickly dumping the pieces on the floor.

From that point on your friendship with Mina flourished. Countless days and nights spent together. Laughing, talking and gossiping, together. You didn’t want it to end the way it did.

Months later, you never imaged standing in front of the adoption centre, the building ablaze and falling apart due to fire damages. Your friend, Mina, nowhere to be seen outside of the building. Was she still inside? The entrance to the building had already caught fire and looked about ready to collapse. You weren’t quite sure if the emergency exits were available, but if they were Mina would’ve used them by now, she was always quick-witted.

“y/n..” The adoption centre staff that had escaped with you puts her hand on your shoulder. “I’m sorry, but… They’re gone.”

You understood the concept of death very well, you’ve experienced losing someone before, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Hello, y/n.” A lady walks up to you, waking you out of your daydream. Her hair is up in a tidy ponytail and she’s wearing a prison uniform, she’s a prisoner too? “What? I was hoping to enjoy my lunch alone.”

“My apologies.” She sits down beside you. “I just wanted to talk to you before your execution, I think you’re very interesting.” You continue eating your lunch, minimalizing socializing with your prison mate. “Have you ever heard of ‘The Underworld’?” The lady asked.

“The Underworld?”

“Yes. It's where lifetime prisoners like us are bound to wind up. Lemme tell you about it.” She makes herself comfortable on the bench.

“If he deems you to be a bad person, the Devil will bring your soul down to The Underworld as a way to punish you for the sins of your past life. It’s a large, dark place, filled with the souls of people like you and I, who have committed horrible crimes and now have to deal with the consequences forever.”

“I see... And why are you telling me this?”

“I’ve been telling everyone about it! We’re all gonna go there!! It's good to be informed. Anyways, I’ll leave you to your lunch now. It was nice talking to you, y/n.”

“Okay.”

You pondered for a while after listening to that woman. She seemed pretty nice but it was obvious she had some screws loose.

You also thought about her teachings of The Underworld. If you enjoyed your life to the fullest, did it really matter what happens in the afterlife? You asked yourself that question often. You were more curious than you were afraid of the underworld.

You’ve heard many different interpretations of it, although the most common seemed to be one of suffering. Eternal suffering at the hands of Satan. The supreme ruler of Hell torments your soul for longer than the human mind can comprehend as a means to pay for the sins of your past life. The cold-blooded Devil rests on his throne as he listens to the tortured screams for mercy, to be set free.

The thought left your mind soon after, although you never seemed to get that woman off your mind. She was interesting, to say the least.

Two days. Two more days until you’re to be executed. As the days went by you became more and more curious. You had been thinking of the woman often.

She was a kind, yet mysterious lady. You’d gone around and asked other prisoners about her, but they all had nothing. Some people said something about her being pulled from a mental hospital and into jail but those seemed to just be rumours. Who is she? Where could she have gone? The prison was relatively big, so finding a specific person would prove to be pretty difficult, but almost two weeks of searching should’ve yielded at least some sort of information. You had given up on finding anything about her, she was just someone who wanted to speak to you, there was no need to spend the last few days of your life on her.

You never stopped thinking of The Underworld, or whatever it was called at this point. You wondered what it was really like. What really happened down there? Are bad souls really tortured for eternity? Is there even an afterlife? You wanted to know.

You went to bed thinking about it. About your afterlife.

You opened your eyes, a dark blue sky looking back at you. Outside? Your head was pounding and your throat was dry. Your body ached.

You could hear an eerie ambiance in the distance, this was truly an odd place. Ignoring the pain, you got up, taking a good look around you. The ground was made out of a mix of rock and dirt, around you seemed to be lakes of water. The sky was a dark blue colour, almost like a night sky, although there was no moon, stars, or sun.

“Hello.” a voice called out to you. You turned in the direction of the voice, a hooded figure stood before you. “Who are you?? Where am I??”

“Woah woah, calm down.” a hooded figure tried to calm you down. Their voice was rather kind, leading you to believe they weren’t a threat to you, they seemed to calm you down a bit. They wore a black, hooded robe and grasped a long stick with a red gem on the top. Behind them was a river, as well as a boat. “Was it a rough fall?”

“...Yeah,” you looked up at the gloomy sky, “I guess so.”

“I’m sorry about that, I'll ask him to add some sort of cushion here.” the mysterious person takes off their hood, revealing green hair and a rather cute freckled face. “I’m Izuku, I’ll be bringing you to the mainland.”

“Mainland?? Wait where even is this place, why am I here?? I’m supposed to be in prison right now-”

“Oh! You’re in The Underworld now. You’re dead, I'm sorry..”

“Dead!? How!? I wasn’t executed yet!”

“Your questions will be answered once we get there, so come with me into this boat and I'll take you to the mainland.” Izuku leads you to the boat, preparing it to sail once you get in, and soon enough, the boat starts to move onward.

“We might be here for a while, mind telling me about your past life? He never tells me anything about the souls that wind up here.”

“Uh sure, I guess. My parents died when I was still young, so I was tossed around in foster homes until they just stuck me in an adoption centre… One day one of the ladies that worked there caused a fire and it got burnt down, only me and that lady survived. After that I moved to the next town over and started a life of crime, I enjoyed it. Eventually, the police caught me and I was sentenced to jail for life for all the crimes I committed, they planned to execute me tomorrow but.. Y’know, I’m dead now.”

“Hm.. what an unfortunate life you’ve lived, although that story isn’t very new around here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve heard the stories of most of the souls down here, their lives began to tumble after a traumatic event. The loss of a loved one, car crashes, tragedies, I've heard it all before, but it doesn't get any less saddening.”

“I see..” you sigh, slumping over the side of the boat. You stare down at the water, watching your reflection. The water was almost as dark as the sky, tinted a greenish colour. ‘I’m kinda tired…’

“And~~ we're here!” Izuku announces, stopping the boat. “Sure did take a while.” You step out of the boat, taking a look around. It looks identical to where you first woke up.

“Follow that path, it’ll take you to Hades. He never asks to see anyone so you’re special!”

“He asked to see me!?”

“Yeah, I'm not sure as to why, but you better hurry! He doesn’t like waiting.”

“Oh, okay! Thanks!”

You immediately make your way down the path, concerned as to what Hades himself wanted from you. The path seemed to stretch on forever, turning corners before another straight, long extension. It almost left like you were going in a long circle.

At this point you had been in The Underworld for 30 minutes, although the sky hadn’t seemed to change at all, was there no time here?

After a long 15 minutes of walking, you made it to a large palace, tall gates of steel keeping unwanted guests from entering. A button rested on the side of the gate entrance. You pressed the button, unsure of what it would do. You wouldn’t be surprised if it summoned another hooded figure like Izuku to escort you into the palace, this place was unpredictable.

A loud ‘buzz’ sound erupted from the button upon being pressed, followed by a “Who’s there?” The voice on the other side was definitely different from Izuku's. It was deeper, but pleasant. “I’m y/n, Izuku told me Hades wanted to see me?”

You heard another buzz sound before the front gates opened. You anxiously walked in, not sure what to expect next. Your mind raced with thoughts as you wandered through the halls of what you assumed to be Hades’ palace. It was surprisingly bland on the inside, though. Maybe he wasn’t good with interior design.

After making your way through the halls, you were met with a surprisingly small room, with the classic long, expensive red carpets you would only see in movies. You felt somewhat bad for stepping on it, it looked expensive.

You looked up to see someone, a humanlike being sitting upon a throne.

“Hello?” you called out to them, inching closer.

“Ah, you must be y/n.” They acknowledge, standing from their throne and walking up to you. Was this Hades?

He looked more human than you thought he would. His face is what caught your attention, he was incredibly handsome. The type of man you’d only see in your dreams. His hair split in the middle, his left red and his right white. There also seemed to be a red mark on the left side of his face, it looked like a burn scar…

“Uhm, why’d you call me here? Shouldn’t I be like... Suffering? With the rest of the bad souls that ended up here?” you questioned him, trying to ignore his beauty.

“No. I’ve been watching you for a while, y/n. If I'm getting to the point, I want to marry you. I killed you prematurely so those awful people didn’t get the chance to, and so I could get to see you early.” He smiled. His lips looked incredibly soft, the kind you’d want to kiss forever.

“What!? Marry me!? But-”

“You mustn’t worry about the details, y/n. I love you, everything from your beauty, to your personality, I feel drawn to you. I would like you to be my wife. We could live happily together.”

The way he never elaborated didn’t make it any easier to take in, but an idea came to your mind. “If I marry you, will I still have to suffer? Like to pay for my sins…”

“Of course not, my love. Let’s say marrying me is enough to pay for them.”

You were curious to know what would happen if you didn’t marry him, or if you had a choice at all, but you decided you were better off not knowing for once.

“Alright, I’ll marry you.”

“Wonderful. Please feel free to explore the palace, and pick a room. I know you’re probably tired.”

“Thanks.”

After exploring the palace, you settled for a cozy room on the second floor. You liked the colours and arrangement of the room.

You lie in bed, pondering what had happened in the first few hours of your afterlife. You spent your life thinking you’d be sent down to meet Satan, an unforgiving force meant to punish evil souls for their wrongdoings, but was met with Hades instead, a God that was not only kind, but had at some point, fallen in love with your character. He had promised you an easy afterlife with him, an eternity you could spend however you wanted. Do the things you never got to do in your past life as a spirit.

You were beyond grateful to him, choosing to not only have mercy on you, but make you, a criminal who’s committed many crimes, his wife, another ruler, God of The Underworld.

Everything turned out quite different from how you originally thought.

#shouto x reader #todoroki x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader #reader insert #mythology #mha x mythology #bnha x mythology #mythology au #hades #shouto todoroki x reader

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