The Broken Halo

[A/N: This bonus Chapter is thanks to PettyEnigma! Please thank him in the comments section for me.]

Simon could feel a foreign presence inside him.

It was too small to account for the attention it drew. He followed the strange pulse into his Infernal Heart and found a faint outline within his burning heart.

Smaller than a grain of rice.

It trembled whenever his heart contracted, gathering definition without quite becoming solid.

Simon examined it more closely.

A word surfaced.

A seed.

His expression tightened.

’A seed? What the fuck is a seed doing inside my heart?’

”As I expected. You began forming one naturally during the tribulation.”

Simon looked toward Lilith through the lightning surrounding him.

A crimson branch crossed his shoulder and opened a narrow wound. Unholy Regeneration closed it while he turned.

The remaining power still hurt him. But his improved affinity and changed lightning allowed him to handle far more of it than before. What had been tearing him apart now demanded less attention rather than everything he possessed.

”You know what this is?”

”Yes. A Seed of Sin.”

Her eyes settled upon his chest.

”More precisely, a natural Seed of Sin beginning to form inside your Daemon Heart. It is not complete yet.”

Simon looked inward again.

”A Seed of Sin...”

”You look confused.”

”I would like to know what is growing inside me before deciding.”

Lilith’s lips curved faintly.

”Now that you are forming one, I can explain.”

A low rumble passed across the basin. Loose stone slid beneath Simon’s feet, but neither moved from where they stood.

”Seeds of Sin are powers meant for Daemons,” Lilith began. ”You could begin forming this because you are now a true Daemon. But that does not mean every Daemon will obtain one.”

”Even with enough talent?”

”Some exceptionally talented Daemons never do.”

Simon listened while directing another surge of consumed energy toward his injured wing.

”There are seven Seeds of Sin, corresponding to the seven primordial sins. Pride, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Envy, and Wrath.”

His gaze returned to the faint outline of the seed in his heart.

”Hmm. Then I suppose my behaviour has been suitable for one of the sins.”

Lilith gave him a long look.

”Your behaviour has hardly left room for doubt.”

”That still doesn’t explain why it formed now.”

”Extreme emotion can bring one into existence. So can living a sin so thoroughly that your heart, body, and soul express it together. But neither description gives you a reliable method.”

Her scarf stirred in the hot air.

”One Daemon might reach that point in a single overwhelming moment. Another might spend years pursuing the same sin and never form anything.”

”So there is no procedure.”

”No procedure that lets anyone promise you a natural seed. The beginning differs for each individual.”

”And after it forms?”

”You must understand yourself. Embody the sin. Act upon it. Forming a seed is only the beginning of nurturing it.”

Simon flexed his hand.

Crimson sparks curled around his fingers, now answering him even while the remaining tribulation power pressed against his wings.

His desire to take more had not weakened with the pain.

”I see.”

He paused.

”But you have told me how they appear and how to nurture them. Not what they actually are.”

Lilith regarded him silently.

”Why do I need one? What does it do? How much stronger does it make me?”

She sighed and looked up.

The flashes of the lightning had grown sparse. The massive ominous tribulation clouds had not.

They spiralled above the ruined basin, dark enough to hide whatever remained of the sky beyond them. Between distant folds, crimson light flickered and disappeared.

”Seeds of Sin are our paths to godhood.”

Simon’s hand stopped moving.

”What?”

Lilith lowered her gaze.

”Not the godhood you associate with the beings you know. Not that of your so called God of War.”

His eyes narrowed.

”I mean the beings who could genuinely call themselves gods because they possessed the power to justify it.”

For a moment, he heard only the lightning moving across his body.

”The true gods,” she continued. ”For a Daemon to attain that level, the path lies through the Seeds of Sin.”

Simon stared at the tiny outline inside his heart.

Something that small.

Something that had begun forming without him even knowing it.

And it could lead to a level of power beyond the being that had held him helpless with one hand.

Beyond the gods he struggled so much to reach in his past life.

Questions crowded his mind.

How far beyond? What had happened to those ancient gods? How many Daemons had reached them?

Did Lilith-

”A seed does not make you a god when it forms,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. ”Do not confuse possessing a beginning with reaching its end.”

”I wasn’t.”

Her expression suggested she did not entirely believe him.

”Seeds also possess abilities of their own. Some depend upon the Daemon carrying them. Two possessors of Lust could develop similar abilities, or abilities that differ considerably.”

Simon nodded slightly in understanding.

”The same sin, different powers.”

”Yes. You will know what yours offers when it finishes forming.”

Simon remained silent for a while.

The lightning loosened around one wing, leaving thin red threads across its healing membrane.

Then he looked at her.

”Which did you form back then?”

Lilith did not answer immediately.

”Pride.”

That was hardly surprising.

Simon nodded, already considering the answer.

”And Wrath.”

He looked back at her.

”Two?”

Lilith did not respond. She kept on looking at the sky with a solemn expression and her arms folded.

His first surprise was that one Daemon could possess more than one.

The second was Wrath.

Lilith could be contemptuous, impatient, and remarkably creative when insulting him. But even when facing Sunless, she had rarely displayed anything resembling uncontrolled anger.

Something must have happened to make her that furious to form the Seed of Wrath in the past.

Or perhaps-

’She really does have a terrible temper beneath all that calm.’

His expression became strange.

The more he considered it, the less unlikely it seemed.

Lilith’s eyes narrowed.

”Choose your next words carefully.”

Simon put the thought aside.

”So more than one seed can exist in the same Daemon.”

”Yes. But they rarely welcome the arrangement. Seeds of Sin do not usually want to share their host.”

He glanced toward his heart.

”Apparently nothing inside me ever wants company.”

”Yet you keep inviting more.”

Simon did not deny it.

”So I could have more than one.”

The words were quiet, but Lilith heard them.

”Would that help in the long run?” he asked. ”Not merely with surviving today. With reaching the peak of power.”

Her faint amusement disappeared, and for several breaths, she watched him.

”Yes.”

Simon waited for her to explain more.

”But having more also makes progressing harder. You must nurture each one. You cannot embody one sin and expect the others to advance merely because they occupy the same heart.”

A crimson spark hissed against the ground between them.

”Their natures must remain part of you. Their acts must remain part of your life. Maintaining several is considerably harder than giving yourself to one.”

”So I can’t simply collect them and feed whichever is convenient.”

”No.”

Simon looked down with a thoughtful expression while folding his arms.

”So collecting several is useless if I neglect most of them. I’d have to genuinely live according to each sin and keep feeding them through my choices and actions.”

”Something like that.”

Simon nodded slowly.

It was simple. Having more seeds meant having more potential, but it also demanded more from the Daemon.

He looked toward the clouds.

The remnants of the tribulation dragon had thinned during their conversation. Its immense coils were no longer clearly shaped, but lightning still surrounded him and poured through his circulation.

Even now, there was enough power to attempt the Forged Heart breakthrough. Properly used, he believed it could carry him beyond a Minor Greater Demon.

He had not begun because the small presence inside his heart held his attention more firmly.

Whenever its outline sharpened, he felt something wrong in the stillness above.

Not the lightning.

Something beyond what he had already endured.

He felt a presence, a gaze trying to lock down on him.

No.

On the seed of sin that was about to form in his heart.

He then realized something.

”If I finish forming this,” he said, ”something worse is coming.”

Lilith remained still and did not respond.

”Worse than that tribulation dragon.”

His crimson eyes moved from the clouds to her face.

”You knew I would keep taking more. Enough to reach this point.”

She did not look away.

”When you said my bloodline evolution would be the most dangerous thing I had ever done, you weren’t only warning me about the pain.”

”No.”

”Or the Path of Origin. Or even the tribulation.”

Simon touched his chest lightly.

”It was what I might face if I formed a Seed of Sin here.”

Lilith’s expression became solemn.

”Yes.”

He lowered his hand.

For a while, neither spoke.

Thunder rolled through the dark clouds. A final piece of charred skin fell from Simon’s shoulder, revealing whole flesh beneath it.

The seed’s outline trembled again.

He considered the danger without looking away from it, then a calm smile appeared.

”More than one, then.”

Lilith’s gaze sharpened.

Simon looked toward the waiting sky.

”If forming one is enough to bring something worse for me, I intend to have more than one seed of sin before it arrives.”