Azazel

When Ren slowly came to after the shock, he tasted ash and felt the phantom sting of his burnt flesh. The explosion had done no lasting damage to him, but the air still crackled. He glanced up and saw Lily extending her hand toward him. The white light radiating from her palm was intense. She was the one saving him. A strange warmth spread through him.

Haku's laughter filled the entire open space. She firmly patted Lily's shoulder and leaned close to her, almost involuntarily.

"You're tough!" she declared happily.

They were having a great time and enjoying each other's company, a stark contrast to when Ren had last seen them trying to kill each other.

Haku was enjoying the company, having someone who could not only keep up with her but even surpass her. The red-haired girl's wounds were slowly beginning to heal while Zel lay on the ground, unconscious.

"What did you two do? You could have been more seriously injured!" a clear tremor of nervousness in Lily's voice.

She trotted over to Ren and, with a simple, quick motion, pulled the sword from him. The pain was immediate. Ren fell to his hands and knees, but Lily's hand on his back immediately started the healing process. It was a warmth that spread like liquid sunlight, an intense, foreign pressure that felt like tissue and muscle rapidly knitting together. The pain receded, not slowly, but in an instant, sharp collapse.

The gaping hole in his abdomen began to close, as if it had never been there. Ren lifted his head, panting. He instinctively touched the smooth skin of his stomach, his mind struggling to reconcile the memory of the gaping injury with the solid, whole flesh beneath his fingertips. He felt profoundly drained, but alive.

"We didn't want to die," Ren gasped, still staring at the ground.

"I would never kill you!" the white-haired girl exclaimed indignantly, but Haku turned her head to look at the environment around them. Everything was turned on its head, quite literally. The damage wasn't localized—it was everywhere. The very ground had been destroyed and reshaped, now riddled with smaller and larger holes that smoked with dust and smelled of turned earth. Trees were not just fallen; they were ripped clean out of the soil, their thick root systems, still clumped with dirt, thrust tragically into the air. Rocks the size of small cars were flung violently from their ancient resting places, resting on their sides several yards away, giving silent testament to the devastating power that had passed through.

Lily watched the scene in astonishment and began to stammer, "I-I didn't know I did that."

Ren was still a little out of breath, but he asked the question that was burning both Haku and him.

"What did you see? What did Zel do?"

When the King's son was born, before his first birthday, Lily's grandmother, Bridget, had a prophecy about him: that Ezekiel would be the one to free the world from suffering from phantoms. To ensure Ezekiel grew up to meet this task, he was banned from interacting with anyone or engaging in play. Everyone in Ivory Concord loved Ezekiel. He was handsome, well-spoken, kind, had a strong sense of justice, and possessed an immense amount of magic that, even as a child, surpassed that of many adult soldiers. He was one of the rare few who could wield a sword and use magic simultaneously.

But his father was never satisfied. No matter what Ezekiel did, he never praised him; the only response was always, "You could do better."

This was the story Lily knew. The Ezekiel she remembered.

But the vision she had just seen when she looked into Zel's eyes revealed something else.

The King had two sons, twins: Ezekiel and Azazel.

Azazel shared Ezekiel's power, also able to wield a sword and use magic, but he was significantly weaker than Ezekiel. Next to his brother, Azazel seemed like a misfortune, so he was locked away in the deepest part of the castle, his existence hidden from all of Ivory Concord.

His father never visited Azazel; he only met his parents and his twin brother during shared lunches, which they ate in dead silence. His father often struck him when they crossed paths in the castle, saying that if he noticed Azazel, others would too.

Azazel jealously watched as Ezekiel was constantly showered with praise. He longed for his father's love, too.

The 12-year-old Azazel knew the castle's secret passages by heart. He often used them during his abundant free time to eavesdrop on conversations in other rooms. His favorite was the conversation between Ezekiel and a girl his brother had grown close to. He hid within the walls every night and almost felt like he was a part of their bond.

One evening, after much thought, he took a significant step. He decided to give Ezekiel a last chance. The two of them crept down to the courtyard, far away from the castle and the prying eyes of the working soldiers. After a long time apart, they played, talked, and laughed together again. Ezekiel beamed with happiness as he turned toward Azazel. He missed his twin, and calling him down to play became one of his fondest memories. That's why he was so surprised when Azazel plunged the knife he had borrowed from the kitchen into his brother's abdomen and watched the light fade from his eyes and his lips tremble.

With practiced movements, he buried Ezekiel's body somewhere deep and snuck back into Ezekiel's room to stage Azazel's disappearance, allowing him to take his brother's place. For a long time, he analyzed Ezekiel's gestures, his word usage, and his facial expressions; he even learned to fence with his left hand, as Ezekiel was left-handed.

Years later, he realized that if Lily, the prophet, were to reach the full extent of her power, she would know everything. That's why, before her 16th birthday, he started approaching her, and then continuously added the poison he bought on the black market to her food and drink every day.

"Damn," Ren blurted out, his honest opinion slipping out. "I'm sorry."

Haku looked at the knocked-out black-haired boy lying on the ground. "So, he's not Ezekiel? He's Azazel?"

Lily nodded. Something clicked inside Ren.

"So, the prophecy on the phantom island was true. The real prince is dead."

Lily reluctantly nodded again. Ren started to fear that he would be the third person to be betrayed by someone he trusted 100%—Haku with her Master, Lily with Azazel. For a fleeting moment, the image of Miki flashed before his eyes, turning their shared picture face down, but he immediately shooed it away. It was impossible for his girlfriend to be hiding some dark secret, right?

Then he remembered Miki's small Ganesha statue, an ivory elephant, that she stroked before every exam for good luck. Ivory and Ebony. The names of the kingdoms. A constant game of black and white, played on a board where the pieces are the people they love.

"This whole world is a chess game," Ren stammered out, completely in shock.