Taken from the Book of Narai, one the sacred texts of the Narian Faith. One of the myths and legends from the world of Rhea.
1
Before the world there was only chaos. And from chaos came the Two that are One. Narai, the Mother and the Father.
From the One came the emanations that have brought forth creation and all that is or ever was.
And among the divine there are two sides, the ahuras and the angras, spirits of the light and spirits of the dark.
2
Above them are the Twin Goddesses Araylea and Salome the direct daughters of the One, the two who are co-equal in power.
The ahuras who work to bring light upon the world have endured throughout all time, residing in temples, grottoes, and secret caves. As for the angras, they too have endured but have done so by working evil into the world as servants of Salome, their duty is to curse the world and all who live in it.
3
And so it was among these two sides in the divine war there were three spirits. Two ahuras, and one angra. Cassiah was one of the two ahuras. a female being, she was beautiful to behold, perfect in every way and she had earned the attention of two males, the ahura Lotharious the warrior prince and Rashan an angra and demon of Salome.
Evil of heart, Rashan was the Lord of the Winds and Plagues, bringing sickness wherever he went, cursing all mortals to die of what was then known as the Scourge. A disease, in which one slowly and painfully broke out in red boils, boils that burned like fire leaving their victim to die in agony.
In the olden days, he was called upon by dark sorcerers known as mainyu to bring curses upon the world. An ancient demon, he has been worshipped by heretics and evildoers alike, bringing darkness upon the world.
It was the angras who were once ahuras who turned from the light and embraced the dark, joining Salome in her rebellion, thus it was that war broke in the heavens and upon the earth for as it is above, so it is below.
Lotharious and Cassiah were in love and it was during the Age of the Sun and Moon that this love took place. But Rashan was offended by their love, finding it to be utterly distasteful. He hated all forms of love and saw to it that he would cause strife and discord wherever he could, and so it was that Cassiah and Lotharious became victims of his evil designs.
4
Ahuras and angras cannot be killed in the true sense of the word, but they can be wounded, reduced to a form in which they exist as the weakest spirit. More often that not, the angras play tricks on the ahuras, deceiving them in the hopes that doing so will undermine their agenda.
The ahuras act as divine messengers and were among the first to teach the vaesir the ways of magic, writing, and civilization. And for that reason the angras came from hell and spoke to the vaesir, trying to seduce them into turning their back on the Goddess of Light and Narai the One.
But they are deluded to do so, for they like all are but manifestations of the One. A lesson that all angras fail to learn and so they live in an illusion. Evil is the delusion of all delusions, the delusion that one is not part of the world and therefore is not under the same laws as everyone else. Such is the way of the world.
But it is at the heart of this delusion that the hatred of evil originates, since it perceives itself as outside all that is and ever was, it must hate all that surrounds it, even though what it actually hates, is itself.
There is no worse hatred than self-hatred.
5
Cassiah’s favorite spot was a forest on the edge of Zenovia, an area that would later become one of the human kingdoms of Rhea. But at that time it was a wild and uncultivated land, a land flowing with prosperity and wildlife.
Lotharious saw her and it was here that he first gazed upon her loveliness and fell in love with her. He revealed himself to her. He was handsome, dressed in his silver armor; it glinted under the sun.
“How long had you been there?” she asked.
“Long enough to know that you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“Many men have said that to me. What makes you different from the rest of them?”
“I will show you,” he said to her.
For the next few weeks he showed her, through his courtship of her. His consideration for her and for others made her reconsider her original hostility. And she began to return his feelings.
At this time another was looking upon her and it was Rashan, the demon.
Rashan wanted her for himself, not because he loved her, but because he was jealous of Lotharious. Lotharious was easy to be jealous of, handsome and heroic he seemed to have everything Rashan didn’t have, but what Rashan did not realize was he could have had all those things had he not at the time of Salome’s Rebellion turned to her side. When that happened the beauty he once had died with his goodness and he became wretched and horrible to look upon. He was ugly and he knew Cassiah would never want him. He could shape-shift but how long would he hold that form? He would not be able to forever. She would see him for what he was and flee like everyone else. His only companions were the other angras and the sorcerers who summoned him from time to time.
Not all angras were so ugly, some could manifest themselves in ways that made them exceptionally pleasing to the eye of the beholder, but Rashan could not. So he was left to hate all of those who had more than he, jealous of their success.
Riding upon the wind he swiftly took her from one of the grottoes that she inhabited. He held her in his arms and she tried to wrest herself free, but to no avail.
He took her to his palace; a foul place that was more of a black pit of death and decay than an actual home. He flung her into that pit and transported her to a realm outside of Rhea, a realm of pain and misery, a realm of his own making.
Cassiah was lost forever, lost to Lotharious and to the world.
Lotharious could not find her after that. He searched and searched, lamenting her loss. A spirit that lived near the place she was taken told him of how Rashan had kidnapped her.
With no hesitation Lotharious went to save her. Armed in his sacred armor and wielding his holy sword he slew many demons and monsters on the way to save her only to find the monstrous Rashan seated on his throne with no Cassiah in sight.
“What have you done with her?” Lotharious asked.
“She lives inside that pit. Dare to save her if you must,” the demon answered.
Lotharious leapt into it. Rashan cackled with joy for it was a trick. There was no Cassiah to save, not anymore, for she would be lost forever in the realm of suffering in which Rashan imprisoned her.
And so another gate opened and Lotharious fell into it, being lost in his own dimension, his own nightmare.
Rashan had won.
From that day on, Cassiah and Lotharious have been separate from one another for all time, for all eternity, lamenting their loss, forever prisoners in their own nightmares. And when the thunderclaps it is from their shouts of agony as they cry to one another, forever searching for one another and doing so in vain.
So ends the tragedy of Cassiah and Lotharious, the ahuras who dared to love.