Azazel/Stories

General Stories Misc

Quotes

When Entering Dragon's Roost

If you covet my strength, then show me your pride.

Do you desire truth? Heh.

Have you come to pay your respects to my ebon wings?

After Receiving a Gift

I may be fallen, but I pay my debts. I bid you take this.

The devoted must be rewarded.

After Bond Level Increase

You are an eccentric one to care for me as you do. I have come to appreciate it.

There are indeed some noteworthy specimens among mortals.

Idle After Bond Level 1

No matter the stains of my flesh, I will still fight for the sake of that which I would safeguard!

These dark wings are a mark of my treachery—proof of a pride that led to my disobedience to my god.

You are naive, yet your heart beats true for your comrades. It is...agreeable.

Idle After Bond Level 10

I respect most those with noble souls of conviction.

A fallen one such as myself does not engage in frivolous— Ho there! Do not touch my wings so!

The chaos of this castle makes it pleasant, for strict order is not always the right way of things.

Idle After Bond Level 20

You are a soul seeking truth. I assent to an alliance, that we may oppose false gods.

Meeting you has opened a way to the future—a way to see my desire fulfilled. Pray continue as you are.

There was a time mortal love was completely unknown to me. Even now, I do not grasp its nuance.

Dragon Story Episodes
Lost Overseer

Long ago, there were dragons who
maintained order in the Ilian Church.
These beings were known as angels,
and among their number was one
known as Azazel.

He was an overseer; a conveyor of
the Goddess's words to the Auspex.
He was cold and aloof, and had
been feared by generations of his
charges.

Dragons were a proud species not
known for consorting with mortals,
and Azazel was no exception, finding
little meaning in the Church's dream
of coexistence.

Azazel carried out his duties coldly:
No more and no less. However,
when he met the thirteenth Auspex,
he found that she was not afraid of
him as the others had been.

The thirteenth Auspex was an odd
one even among her predecessors.
No matter how much Azazel resisted,
she drew close to him, took his hand,
and made as if to be his friend.

Azazel thought this irrational, and did
not understand why a human would
indulge in such meaningless action.
Despite this, the Auspex continued
to treat him with great warmth.

The lives of dragons and mortals are
equal, and so did the Auspex wish
to tread the path of coexistence
espoused by the Goddess along
with Azazel. This was her dream.

In the time they spent together,
Azazel often heard about this ideal.
And with each passing instance,
he began to feel a curious emotion
stir within his breast.

When he asked the Auspex about
such feelings, she dodged the query.
This only made him more eager to
interact with her, that he might
plumb the depths of the mystery.

As his bond with her deepened,
Azazel realized mortals were a fragile,
confused mess of emotions—and if
they did not forge bonds with others,
they could not survive.

But it was precisely because their
hearts could feel for others that this
woman's hand was warm.
Mortals did, indeed, have something
to be cherished. ...They had love.

After learning this, Azazel began to
wonder if this Auspex might perhaps
be able to lead mortals and dragons
into coexistence after all.

Soon, he had acknowledged the
pure and saintly Auspex as the
noble soul she was, and began
to feel a deep peace about the
time they spent together.

And yet, her soul was to be trampled.
Soon after Azazel had grown used to
happiness, the Auspex was not to be
found in the church where she ought
to have been carrying out her duty.

Instead, he learned the Auspex had
been sentenced to death by the
Archangel for the crime of treading
upon forbidden ground.

This sentence was handed down
by an angel with a voice full of icy
indifference that Azazel recognized
all too well.

Azazel's duty was to convey the
Goddess's words to the Auspex.
Though normally aloof, he opened
himself to the thirteenth Auspex
over the course of their relationship.

But then, a revelation: The Auspex
had trespassed upon forbidden
ground, and so been relieved of her
station by the Archangel and
sentenced to death.

Azazel rushed to the the Archangel
and petitioned for the release of the
Auspex, asserting the punishment did
not fit the crime—but the Archangel
was unmoved by his words.

For not only had she trespassed on
forbidden ground, she had also
discovered the mystery of God—
and thus did God decree that her
life would be forfeit.

Azazel was stunned. For if the angels
would put her to death for learning
the mystery of God, of what use was
the Goddess's ideal of mortals and
dragons living together?

If this was God's will, what reason
was there to obey? Instead, Azazel
declared he would obey only the
noble pride burning in his own heart.

Thus did Azazel abandon his duty as
an overseer. And to save the Auspex,
he opposed not only the angels,
but God as he spread the mighty
wings of insurrection.

The battle between Azazel and the
angels was fierce, and he took
a great wound. And as he fell from
his station, his once brilliant white
wings were stained an ebon black.

Though he saved the life of the
Auspex, their pursuers would not
relent. And while she fought for
them to stay together, in the end,
only she was brought to safety.

The captured Azazel was accused
by God of insurrection. After being
interrogated for seven days and
nights, the fallen angel was locked
in a prison of everlasting darkness.

How much time passed inside that
Stygian dark? Centuries? Millennia?
He did not know, but at the end of
that uncountable period, a soft
voice called out to him.

It was a female voice, and familiar.
And as it rang out, God's seal was
undone. From the direction of the
light came a palm outstretched.
A palm both soft and warm.

But when Azazel raised his head,
he saw not his old friend the Auspex,
but a girl most unfamiliar. However,
he also detected a trace of the old
Auspex hiding behind her eyes.

Azazel responded to the girl's appeal
by taking her hand, and he swore an
oath on his pride to lend his strength
to her for as long as was necessary.

And so, alongside the girl who held
the key to perdition, Azazel once
again returned to the world, that
they might cast the truth of the
Church into the bright light of day.

There are none in the modern Ilian
Church who recall the name of an
overseer called Azazel.

But Azazel has held fast to the honor
that burns within him, and he fights
on even today that he might make
known the mystery of God.