“I love all our children.”
It was a smile unknown to all, beside the three who shared the rooftop with him.
“………”
Astrea cast her eyes downward. When she looked up again, it was with the determination necessary to carry out her duty.
“Erebus, you will face judgment for your crimes.”
There was no last will, no sore words, no apology.
Right up until the blade fell, there was only the smile of one committed to evil.
✦ ✦ ✦
On that day, another god was sent back to heaven. The whole city watched a golden pillar of light pierce the firmament and rejoiced. The evil god who spread death, struck fear into the populace, and garnered so much ire was gone.
They would praise the blade that struck him down and ended the reign of absolute evil.
But the goddess would never forget his necessity.
He never asked for pity.
He never asked for praise.
What he did was evil. The dark god had said as much himself.
Just as there were countless forms of justice, so, too, was his evil only one of countless many.
“Hrgh…hrgh…hrgh…! Erebus…you tricked me!”
The man’s screams bounced off the walls of the subterranean waterway.
“Absolute evil? Hah! Dreams? Hah! You knew of my defect and still you seduced me! Oh, how cruel! How barbaric!!”
He huffed and huffed, trembling with indignation. He ran, hair disheveled, through the muck before suddenly coming to a stop.
“Heh… Heh-heh-heh-heh! This isn’t over. Oh, not by a long shot! I swear on my hatred of the gods themselves that I shall see this world remade!”
He was crying. But as he cried, he laughed. He knew not why he cried, or even that he cried. He simply gave himself over to the ruinous urges seeking to control him.
“I shall see this world’s defects erased! Heh-heh-heh! Hee-hee-hee! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”
“You’ll pay… You’ll pay… You’ll pay for this, Finn!!”
In the dark depths of a labyrinth of stone, Valletta cursed her defeat.
“I’ll never forget this pain…this humiliation! I’ll get you, Finn! Just you wait!!”
Valletta clutched her wounded shoulder, eyes wide like a wild beast. Her blood-soaked hand trembled with anger, feeling the brand left by her detested foe.
“Just you watch!!”
Only the walls of the man-made labyrinth heard her vengeful scream.
Evil persisted. It slunk back to the shadows, spread its roots, and prepared for the day it might once rise again.
Justice, too, went on, its dreams still far out of reach.
“Nonetheless…”
Astrea stood at Babel’s peak, looking out over the city. She focused on the lights dotting the streets and protecting every window. The lights of a people who had overcome their trials and protected their city.
“Keep searching,” she said. “Keep asking. Keep wanting. Keep on looking for real justice—one you can pass on to others.”
Braver and his comrades were there.
Warlord and his fellows stood strong.
And the followers of justice gazed at the stars above.
“I pray,” said Astrea, “That at the end of it all, the final hero will be born.”
Hope. Sadness. Order. Justice…and dreams.
The goddess thought of the future and swore a solemn vow.
“We will always watch over you,” she said.