Clarity

Date Written - December 16, 2023
Characters - Asura Daevan (v6), Sephtis (v1), mysterious spirit
Warnings - Suggested gore, mental breakdown
Note - Please read Revenge before reading Clarity, otherwise it’ll make
little to no sense.

It was dark. He felt dazed. He heard distant shrieks that came to an abrupt stop.

"Well done, Asura," Sephtis, in their humanoid form, patted the young hybrid's
back. "You may drink their blood. You must be starving after all this work."

Work? That's right… I work for Sephtis. Twenty years had passed since that
night. A rumble erupted from his stomach and he sank his teeth into the soft
human flesh. As a vampire, it was a meal, but as a demon? It was a high. It
was what made them so dangerous. Human blood, flesh, even their souls…
It was exhilarating. Asura had standards, though. He had a refined taste for
blood, especially that of virgins. It was sweet, pure, and untainted by sinful acts.
However, this young woman was different…and it was magnificent. It was clear
to him that she grew up in a religious household, and that she had genuinely

enjoyed the peaceful lifestyle she had.

Asura's thoughts were brought to a halt when an electric shock spread through
his body. No… Priestess! The vampire jumped back and let the corpse collapse
to the ground. Out of the woman's coat fell a book. No, this isn't just a book.
Asura crouched down to inspect it. It radiated with divinity, yet it didn't burn him.
Upon touching the cover, his body froze. His head turned to look up, as if he was
controlled by some other force… And then he saw her.

“You bear Sephtis's mark,” an old woman observed him carefully. “How
interesting… Did they alter you in some form?”

“Yes.” Asura's eyes widened. Why was he speaking? He had no intentions of
telling this old priestess anything! Was this some kind o-

“Yes, it is. Y'see, when I finished writing this old thing, I cast a very unique spell.
If a demon touches it, they'll be a pile of ash! However, I saw some things. It
involved the Old Finch. So, if anyone with the Finch's mark touched it, they'd simply
be paralyzed and…y'know, that's not really important. What matters is that it seems
we have a little problem…”

“Problem?”

“Yes. You. You are the problem. You're a variable I didn't think about. Old Finch is an
arrogant creature. I never thought they'd stoop as low as to take some random kid
off the streets…” the woman, although transparent, picked up the perturbed man.

Asura was confused. He didn't understand. Who was this lady? How did she just
appear? How did he not burn alive?! He tried to think of what had happened, and
upon remembering Sephtis, he felt…distaste. What?

“I cleared yer head. They were controlling you.”

Asura's eyes widened. “Wh-what?” He thought back… Memories. Memories of the
past twenty years he had spent by Sephtis's side. The death he had caused. The
pain and sorrow all those families must have been in… The corpse beside him…
Asura's eyes clouded with tears and he turned away, coughing up the blood he had
just consumed. “What happened to me?!” And that's when the screams echoed.
Those lives he ended. For that phoenix. He threw his dagger away from him.
“What have I done?”

The old woman sighed and patted Asura's back. It was exactly as Sephtis had done,
but this time it felt gentle. Welcoming. Like he had nothing to worry about anymore…

But he did. He had so much to worry about.

“How can I make up for everything I've done? All these crimes… All those screams…”
Asura held either side of his head and shook. Those screams. They were echoing in
his head. Countless, heart wrenching screams. The more he thought of all those
innocent lives, the more he felt his mouth water. He was utterly addicted to the taste
of human blood. He slapped a hand over his mouth. No, never again! I’ll never do
that again! When he started hyperventilating, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Calm down, child,” the old woman gave a sympathetic smile. “I’ve got a deal for ya.
Are you interested in hearing it?”

Asura kept quiet. He clenched his jaw, blinking back years worth of tears. All his
walls were crumbling in one fell swoop… “Will it help me control myself?”

“Ohhohoh, it’ll do far more than just that! That old bag of feathers is weak to this,”
she handed the troubled vampire the tome. “I can help temporarily neutralize your
demon blood, but that’s about it. Sephtis is going to become a far bigger problem
one day, and while humans are certainly capable of handling things on their own,
this demon is growing stronger every single day they're out roaming freely. I wrote
this as a backup. If I ever revealed it to my Sisters, I would’ve been punished. Kid, I
saw something when I was younger. I saw something going wrong with the seal that’s
currently being written. You’re familiar with the bird. Think you could help this old
woman prepare for the worst case scenario?”

Asura listened carefully. If I can learn this holy magic, maybe I could somehow remove
Sephtis’ blood from my body. On top of that, I might be able to help people instead of
hurting them. “I will do my best.”
A long sigh of relief was released from the elderly woman. “Thank you… I’ve been
waiting so long to hear that. Now, this is going to hurt, but I need you to run. You need
to get away from here as fast as you can, alright? Sephtis won’t be thrilled when they
discover you're gone.”

Before Asura could even respond, the woman disappeared before his eyes. “Wait, where-” He knew holy magic was painful for demons, but he never imagined how agonizing it was. Out of fear of Sephtis, he bit down on his arm to muffle his screams. He was burning. His arm felt like it was being set on fire, specifically to that of the odd marking Sephtis had left on him. He couldn’t even feel the bite he made on his own skin. It was nothing compared to this…this…divine power running through his veins. No, none of this can compare to what I’ve done to all those poor souls. I deserve all of this.

It was a process that took several hours, and the pain had completely immobilized him. Asura couldn’t even fulfill the very first promise he made to the woman. Pathetic. You can do better than that. He chastised himself as he ran. With all his power locked away from him, his mind was clearer than ever before. The clarity had him fighting against his tear ducts. He had never once been free before. The night he killed his parents was that same night Sephtis had found him, after all. It was essentially getting away from two very controlling people to a controlling demon with power beyond mortal comprehension… And he worked for the latter. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he knew very well that it might never leave. Not even one hundred years will be enough to pay for all the suffering I’ve caused. But I’ll try to repent… I have to.