The Recreant

The Recreant: PEACE Vol. 1 Issue 1 draft 2 PART 1

The Recreant: PEACE
Volume 1 Issue 1
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[Lev standing in front of a grave]
What makes a person in the eyes of others a man? Is one determined a man by age, accomplishments, or maybe failures. For I fit two of the previous categories, I only pray that one day I can add accomplishments to that list as well.

Lev: “Today I embark on a journey, a journey that only men travel. This path that I am forced to travel was placed in front of me not by choice but by fate, the same uncontrollable fate that took you from me. Mother father, the sadness and the images that continually flow through my mind forever haunt me. But they say that traveling down this specific path will take me out of the darkness towards redemption. Please forgive me; they say that the past nine years of training along with the arrival of the seventeenth year of life that I am able to fight the demons, the same demons that possessed me the day I took your lives. I do wish for redemption, I wish for you two to still be with me and I am prepared to do what I have been trained for, to earn forgiveness from the Mythos and to earn forgiveness from you. I miss you, I love you.”

The tears continue to outline my cheeks and the lump in my throat prevents me from speaking more.

[Flashback of the murder]
It seems only fitting that before I embark to fight for the crusade that I remind myself why I am forced to fight in this war. Nine years ago a horrible act was committed upon my family, an act that took the lives of my parents. This horrible crime I was told had been committed by me, but I have no recollection of that specific incident. The only thing I remembered was my eyes looking on my parent’s slaughtered bodies and my own struggle against the “darkness!” I thought I fought valiantly and won, that was until I saw the ocean of red at my feet, and there I sat wadding in my own lineage.

[In a crowd of people (army) dressed similar to Lev]
The name I was given at birth is “Lev.” I barely remember my last name, for it is banned and considered blasphemy because of the evil that I committed towards my own family. Here I am labeled as “Faithless,” or a “Recreant.” In the company that I am forced to keep it is not flattering to be known as someone who lacks faith.

After I slaughtered my parents there was only one place I could go. The Order took me in, raised me, trained me, put me on the righteous path, and now my life is dedicated to its cause. That’s what they tell me at least.

[Close up of Lev and three other soldiers]
Gau: “Lev, it’s time, Redemption. You have been punished by sadness for nine years, its time to protect others from the demons. The village of Norka needs Cleansed!”
Soldier1: “Gau why do you waste your time talking to the Recreant?”
Soldier2: “The order should of left him to die, he is worthless!”
Gau: “The Mythos would never turn their back on one of their children!”
Soldier1: “He is faithless, not loyal to the Mythos, anyone who butchers his parents as a child is Pure Evil. He is not deserving of forgiveness by the supreme Mythos!”
Commander: “Company 24 designated for the cleansing of Norka, Move Out!”

[Army marching]
They are right, I am evil. The order has taught me that I was not always evil; I was born from the pureness of all the Mythos to be part of the Order. Somewhere between birth and that fateful afternoon, I was tainted, plagued by some kind of demon. The Order is forgiving though, not just with me but forgiving of the whole world that the Mythos created. There is a war being waged between the Order of the Mythos and those who are now tainted by the demons.[Close-up of determined soldiers]
Years ago the world was created by the Mythos. The world was alive. The Mythos then cultivated the world and created all living things. The world was living and this was good.

[Army marching into village]
The world was good, evil did not exist and this bored some of the Mythos. So it is said in the manuscript of the Order that humans were given some of the skills that only the Mythos possessed. The Mythos enjoyed watching the humans with their new gift of “creativity,” but still some were still not satisfied.

[Mothers hiding children and villagers running for cover as the army fills the streets]
A small group of unsatisfied Mythos decided to share one more of their many powers; they gave their children the power of “free will.”
This combination of creativity and free will had unexpected consequences, and this is from where the first demons were born.

[Army slaughtering everyone in sight searching for the tainted]
A war was waged on the demons created by the humans. The omnipotent Mythos quickly disposed of the demons and punished their own who gave the humans the ability to create such things.

[Gau beginning to cleanse a family as Lev looks on]
The small mischievous group of Mythos were banished from the world to live just outside the sky trapped along with their power to create demons in a fiery cell called “Sol.”
Gau: “In the name of the Mythos, I cleanse your of your demons!”

[The Commander standing on a pile of bodies]
Commander: “People of Norka do not resist us, we are here to cleanse you and your addiction to the machines that draw power from Sol. Sol is the home of the demons; the Mythos placed them there to protect you. You have done injustice to the Mythos by going against their will, and for this faithless act you will be cleansed of your technology that draws power from demon’s prison in the sky.”[Gau now finished with the parents stops to speak to Lev while the a child weeps over the death of his family [ Lev is having a flashback of his parents when Gau speaks]
Gau: “Lev! Why are you just standing around? The Mythos will never cleanse you of your own demons until you prove your faith to them.”

[Lev looking at the young boy]
Lev: “Don’t you ever think that the Order is wrong? why would the Mythos want us to kill our own kind, or a whole village because one person may have been using technology?”

[Gau and Lev]
Gau: “Technology draws its power from Sol, and that releases demons. You of all people should understand. You were possessed by a demon, do you want someone else to go through what you did?”
Lev: “I never used technology. I feared the power of Sol… I still fear the power of Sol.”
Gau: “See Lev, this is why the whole village must be cleansed! You never used technology but you were still possessed when you took your parent’s lives!”
Lev: “I was possessed for but one moment until the battle with the darkness was over.”
Gau: “Damnit Lev, the others were right. You are hopeless, you have no faith, and you deny that you still have demons. I am done trying to help you “friend,” may the Mythos have mercy on you. Just stay out of my way while I do what the Order has deemed right, I will not be misguided by a Recreant.

[Gau raises his sword to cleanse the child]

[Lev blocks the blow with his own sword, saving the child]
A Recreant, a man who has lost faith.

[Lev, with many battle wounds, and the child walking away from a village engulfed in flames]
Again I wonder what makes one a man, accomplishments and failures? To which category do I add this newest situation? To the child I am a hero, therefore an accomplishment. The Order on the other hand, will they also see that I saved one of the Mythos’ children, or will I have another failure caused by my lack of faith. I was told that if I slaughter demons in the name of the Order and survive that eventually it would also kill my own demons. The Mythos do not always have to redeem you and remove your demons, instead you would be killed in battle. The Order may have labeled me as faithless, but the Mythos has yet to take my miserable life and for this I do not mind being called the Recreant, for I am unsure what to have faith in!

End issue 1