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coming undone

[u][i]Continued from [[Equal Ends]].[/i][/u]

[i]“You have some nerve, coming here, Balance.”
	“None more than you, Yochanan.”
	“Valid, I suppose.”
	“I brought a friend. They call him Michael now, I think you two have met.”
	“Michael? Yes, Legion’s toy. How is he?”
	“I’m fine, asshole.”
	“Hah. [/i]And mortal[i], I feel.”[/i]

They were here already. I could feel them, in the country. I felt them and I knew more about them than I wanted to. There are three, one is, indeed, Edo Edi Essum, the other two I am not so sure. They are not spawned from the hells, nor are they members of [i]Them[/i]. All I knew was that they had horrible intentions. I felt their desires, maniac, unruly, serpentine Longings. Moreover, I knew one was after Legion, I could feel the unfiltered loathing radiating from him for the man. Even with Legion’s unmatchable power… well, maybe ‘unmatchable’ might not be the right word to use anymore.
	Not now that he’s mortal.
	Which is why I was where I was. In Hell, the underworld, tarturas, whatever one calls it. It was every bit as unimaginable as one would imagine, and worse. Michael was forced to cling to me. I could feel his fear; he reeked of it. I was amazed he hadn’t broken down and sobbed yet, Mortals weren’t intended to witness such things until after their demise. I suppose his decades of life were enough to keep him sane. It was best he hung on me anyhow; I saw the look in the beasts’ eyes as we passed. Hunger.

[i]“Yochanan, I fear the worst has come to pass. Edo Edi Essum has once again entered our realm.”
	“[/i]Our[i] realm? You banished me to hell, remember? It’s [/i]your[i] realm now.”
	“Maybe I was… a bit too quick to judge you. Yochanan.”
	“No, you were right. I’m everything you say and think I am.”
	“Damn right you are. Bastard.”
	“Hah hah.  Why are you here, Balance?”[/i]

I am the Balance, for all the hate, I make love, for all the dark I make light, for all the fear I am hope, and for all the death, I am life. Which was why I was there, to undo what I had done. I thought giving Doom peace would bode well for everyone. Not only does he personally get rest, but also the curse would be lifted and Legion mortal. It would help things balance well. It did, until Legion needed to be immortal again. For that I would need the curse put back on him; and for that, I would need Yochanan.
	And the worse part was, I knew I was giving in to him. I knew Yochanan saw it coming.

[i]“I’m here to bring you back, Yochanan.”
	“Please, Balance, call me Jack.”
	“Alright, Jack; I assume you have felt the presence, its not just Edo Edi Essum in the mortal realm, there’s someone else. Something else. Two entities, and they’re after Legion. I fear if they kill him, or worse, convert him, I may not be able to maintain the Balance.”
	“Ah, so you’re asking me to help you make Legion immortal again. I hear you tried to make him good; tried taking out some of the evil in him. Shame, he might not fight back as well now.”
	“Will you assist us, Yocha- Jack?”
	“What do I get out of it?”
	“What do you want?”[/i]

As much as I hated to admit it, I needed Yochanan. Only he could re-instate the curse. Furthermore, I might need him to help eliminate this new threat. I also knew he would never do it out of the goodness of his heart, assuming you could still say he had goodness in him, or a heart for that matter.
	No Yochanan and I stuck a deal, and because it was who he was, it was one I reviled to accept, and in the same way, incredibly simple. Yochanan wasn’t a complicated man to understand. He was hollow inside, Neutral Evil, he could, if he wanted, destroy towns single handily. He could, given the right mood, murder entire families. However that’s not how he is; he’d rather drive the father mad, make hum murder his wife and children, then laugh his unspeakable laugh as he drove himself mad with grief and the horrible truth of what he had done.
	His request was simple. I had to leave him alone, never attempt to destroy or damn or banish him personally.
	The second was…

[i]“I want you to never try and banish me again, you stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.”
	“I find that acceptable, although a fabrication. You will never be ‘out of my hair’”
	“And secondly, I want you to admit how much you hate asking for my help.”
	“I-“
	“Mean it, Balance. I can tell when you are lying. I want you to say it, I want to hear it; you despise coming down here, asking me to make Legion immortal. Undoing your work. I want to see the sorrow on your face.”
	“…   Yes. I detest it.”
	“I knew it.”[/i]

Yochanan, Jack Empty, The Hollow Man, or just plain Bastard or Asshole. Whatever you called him you noticed things about him. The way he moved; perfectly still, no sway, no fidgeting, no rising or falling one would see if someone were breathing. No movement, then, like light (or shadow), he’d move, faster than any man with a normal pace should. He almost glided from place to place, leaving behind a sort of afterimage that one could glimpse if one looked hard enough.
	Secondly, there was his laugh. Some say it was stolen from the laugh of Satan himself, but that would be a lie; even Satan found Jack’s laugh challenging to listen to. It wasn’t scary, or terrifying. More heartless, he mocked you when he laughed, made you feel like you were nothing. An empty cackle, devoid of anything that even came close to resembling a soul.
	Lastly, and maybe most horribly, were his eyes. They were black, but not just black, pitch black. You could stare and stare, and never find anything there. They shined when light was shined on them, reflecting it all, as if the eyes prevented any light from getting inside. Then, he could blink, and they could be normal, deceivingly so. Soothing and comforting, which was merely a ruse to lure you into false security. Many young men and women lost their sanity due to those eyes. They looked through you, knew you inside and out. They judged you and dismissed you, utterly and completely. Even I hated those eyes.
	If anyone could match the new evil in our world, it was he.
	Fighting evil with Emptiness.

[i]“So, Balance, How is this going to work?”
	“We need to resurrect Doom, Michael, and for that, we need to visit the Heavens.”
	“The heavens?”
	“Do we have to, Balance? Last time I went to heaven I got kicked out, for fighting.  Besides, it’s warmer here.”[/i]

[[Category:Those Who Seek]][[Category:The Forgotten and the Unknown

Object # of 538
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