She Belongs To The Devil

"And you didn\'t stop there, Theodore. You kept on piling up your mistakes just because I was silent."

God gave a furious look to Theodore and threw in his other sins, "You may not have directly killed other Earthlings but you have led countless of others to their deaths – the witch of Mystic Coven, the villagers of Mihir, the maids of Edwin, the General\'s daughter… I can go on and on."

The almighty glanced at Adeline and back at Theodore. "I should have intervened the moment you shared your power with a human, that also a child at that. Yet, I turned a blind eye even when I knew you would end up falling for her if I let her be."

"Just like you took a pity on this child, I pitied my son." He paused for a while, despising his son whose hands were laced in the blood of one of his creations. "But that was a big mistake from my side. I should have snuffed the bud of love before it had even begun."

In the almighty\'s eyes, Theodore had crossed the divine order by saving the child whose lifespan was just three years old. He had caused turmoil in the path that was already set.

And he believed that saving Adeline was where everything started. He believed that it was Theodore\'s greatest mistake. And that small pity that Theodore took on Adeline caused everything to snowball and lead to today\'s unfortunate event.

However, Theodore did not think that saving Adeline from her horrible fate during her childhood was a mistake.

And even when he was in the wrong right now, Theodore defended his actions back then, "Father, I agree that I committed a great sin today. I am not denying that. But choosing to save Adeline was not a sin. We are allowed to choose our own fate, father. That is what I did. I chose my fate. I chose her."

His father abruptly shouted at him again in his terrifyingly resounding voice, "But at what cost, Theodore? At the cost of countless other lives that were sacrificed for her safety. At the cost of sending the destiny of countless other entities into disarray."

"A whole new reality was created because you meddled in the affairs of Earthlings like you always do." The creator sighed and put his hands behind his back.

He softened his voice a notch and said to his son, "But I let that reality play out because no matter how you are, you are still my son. And I thought that you would do the right thing without me intervening."

He heaved a sigh and said in a loathing voice, "But you always love to prove me wrong."

He turned away from that guilty son of his and stared out of the window. He looked very disappointed when he said, "How many times do I need to overlook your mistakes? How many times do I have to ask you not to meddle with the Earthlings\' affairs?"

"I didn\'t cast you down to Earth to have a love affair or marry a human. I sent you here so that the humans wouldn\'t misuse the Fountain of Youth." He turned to face Theodore again.

The Immortal then waved his hand in front of him and a view of King Dragomir appeared in front of Theodore. "But you are the one who is misusing it by bringing in the humans and saving their lives when they should have already moved on to the afterlife."

"This King should have died two years ago. But you kept on saving him time and again." He blew a gentle breeze from his mouth and Dragomir\'s image vanished like a puff of smoke.

For Theodore, Dragomir had given more love to him in the past couple of weeks than his father did in a couple of millenials. And when his father brought up the issue of all of his loved ones\' extended lifelines one by one, he could feel a knot at the pit of his stomach.

He felt angry at his father for always making his life difficult. He felt like shouting back at his father but he knew better than that.

But still, Theodore mockingly tried to use the \'God\'s creation\' card on the creator, "I did what I did because I fell in love with one of the very creations of yours which I despised in the past. Shouldn\'t father be happy that I now love your creation?"

This was the first time Theodore had courageously spoken against his father. He still held the grudge against his father for casting him out for uncountable years because of one small mistake.

"Yes, but you only love one in particular." His father let out a burst of frustrated laughter. "I didn\'t know you have become bolder than before, Theodore. You still have the guts to argue with me after committing an unforgivable crime."

He pointed at the dead body of Rebekah and chastised Theodore, "You already know that you cannot cross this line. I cannot forgive you when you have killed an Earthling."

"I am well aware, father. I have sinned and I am guilty." Theodore was in no position to ask for forgiveness and he knew it. So he bowed down and accepted his mistake instead. "Please, punish me in any way you see fit."

Theodore didn\'t want to extend his father\'s stay more than what was necessary. The more he stayed, the more \'mistakes\' his father was going to bring up and the more severe the punishment.

The almighty narrowed his eyes at Theodore. He had already decided on a punishment before even coming to Earth. And he said in an unrelenting voice, "A life for a life. That is going to be your punishment."

Theodore\'s heart jumped inside his chest the moment those words from his cold father pierced his ear like a sharp arrow. His eyes widened and his breathing got heavier and heavier. His heart turned freezing cold.

Being an immortal, Theodore never had to fear death. This was the very first time he was getting this strange feeling in his heart. He felt like he was dying just from the words of his father.

"So this is how my life ends… At the hands of my own creator…" the heavy words ran inside his mind like a thunderstorm.

If he had gotten this punishment before he had met Adeline then he would have simply closed his eyes and accepted his death. But he had dreamt about spending his life with Adeline. And the thought of having to perish away like this gave him unbearable pain.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat but it was going nowhere. The churning in his stomach became worse. And he felt like pulling his own heart out and throwing it away because of the coldness.

After taking a deep breath in, he asked his father while looking at the floor and trying to prevent his voice from breaking, "May I at least say my final goodbyes to Adeline?"

There was a deafening silence for a few seconds, which felt like years for Theodore.

Adeline, who had turned into nothing more but a statue, defied the freezing of time and dropped her warm tear.. But it stopped midways and got frozen in time.