“Shit! Too much blood loss,” Elias said as he strolled through a terrain bristled in the pool of blood. Corpses piled up, forming mountains of rotting flesh.

Sun shone as it reflected his blood-stained, heavy black armor. Blood spat down from his torso as he walked, clutching one of his injured shoulders.

Red eyes, along with black hair, drenched in blood. Elias looked like a warrior who survived thousands of battles.

The terrain itself had a cold, malevolent air to it.

The light slowly faded from his eyes as he fell to the ground on his knees. Red fog enveloped the battlefield.

Splash! Splash!

He gathered up some strength and looked in front; there was a guy around 6-feet tall, wearing golden armor covered in blood, one of his eyes bleeding, missing one upper limb, blonde hair with barely any light left on his blue eyes.

Elias, looking at him, flexed his facial muscles and gave a light smile, “Ah! If it is not the glorious hero,” The hero also fell on his knees, with brief life left on his body. He asked, “All these battles, all the bloodshed, why? Why are you so desperate for power? Why could you not be happy with what you had? Why could you just not live peacefully?”

Elias, with the little strength he had brewed a smile and replied,

“Oh, hero! Was it really me who started this was?” he continued. “Recall the day when I skinned your wife alive?

Oh! How she sobbed and screamed. It still rings like a lovely song in my ears.

She begged and asked, ‘please spare me. I am bearing a child right now.’, but I buried her alive and let her suffer,” He added. “Then it was you who sought vengeance, you who gathered armies, united nations, all for what? Peace? No, it was retribution.

You could have moved on. I was not a pillar standing in your way. All I desired was power; when I got what I needed, I left, but you just could not move on and started this war. What did it result in? All of your remaining allies getting slaughtered, your brother getting burned alive by me, your kingdom crumbling into ashes.”

The hero’s pupils widened as his veins bulged in a fury, “You fucking killed my wife and my child, my unborn child!!! How could I let you walk away with that?!!” He cried in rage.

“So what if I killed them?” Elias added. “In your path of vengeance against me, just how many lives were lost? All those lives lie on your shoulders. If you can sacrifice so many for your sake of revenge, why can’t I kill people for the sake of my power?

You walked your own path. I walked mine; you sought vengeance; I sought power. In the end, the only difference between you and me is, I know and accept I’m a monster while you still cling on to your glory and sense of heroism,” Elias continued. “if for the sake of strength need I sacrifice bonds, women, children, old, innocent or even myself, then I shall do it with no hesitation because that’s the way of my life.”

“You hypocrite,” proclaimed the hero as the light from his eyes dulled, and he fell to the ground on the pool of blood.

Looking at the hero’s corpse with an indifferent expression, he said, “Yes, a hypocrite, a lunatic, a demon, many used those words to describe me, maybe I am what they say I am, but now they are dead while I am here, looking down at your corpse.”

Gathering up his strength, he stood up and started walking. He was now the sole survivor in this realm, ‘I won, given time, my body should heal. I can leave this realm after that,’ he thought as he planned where to go from now on.

Bright light rays gathered up in his eyes, he lifted his hands blocking the beams, the temperature suddenly rose, his armor melted on his body, his skin burned along with his clothes,

He saw a crystalline whitish-blue star more immense than the entire realm colliding on the land. Instantly, his body vaporized.

In many stories, we see how even an ordinary man can grow into a hero. How even a fallen man can redeem himself. How even the feeblest can become the most courageous. This is not that kind of story.

A wise man once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

But what if the change you wish to see is pure chaos? Not all men want to see the world flourish. Some just want to evolve themselves. The world can go destroy itself for all they care.

Then again, someone might ask, But if the world perishes, then what of the sole one who survives? Will he/she spend their time in solitude forever? If there is no one else, then what’s the purpose of even being alive. Won’t everything become meaningless?

Yes, it would become meaningless. Then again, what’s the purpose of life for anyone? One might never know.

By Earth’s norms, the meaning of life is to pursue human flourishing through communication, understanding, and service. But this is not Earth.

The aspirations that drive the individuals in this story are not the same as the ones on Earth. Their goals are diverse, the way they find their pleasure is different, the things they can do are different.

The morals and values that constrain the people of the Earth cannot be enforced here.

History has proved, again and again, goodwill always trumps evil. For examples,

Adolf Hitler came to power to establish a new racial order in Europe dominated by the German “master race.” But what happened to his plan? It failed. His exact reason for death is still unknown, but the most spread fact is that he committed suicide by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin.

But it has also proved, not all men get what they deserve,

Joseph Stalin, for almost 30 years, reigned with terror and violence in the Soviet Union. His decisions led to a famine that killed millions. Forget enemies, he even killed families of people who were fond of him. Under his rule, over 1.5 million German women were raped, and in all, he easily killed over 20 million people. He once said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is simply a statistic.”. Ironically, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 & 1948.

There are many incidents throughout history, which all prove various things.

This is a story about a vicious man, a story where good could not triumph over Evil. A story where the villain got a second chance.

In this life, he died, but once again, he shall get born, and with his rebirth back in time, the course of history shall change, and the demon will rise again.