Destiny

This soul is a story of destiny being shaped by the life you are born into. That circumstances of one’s birth and the events that unfold are more powerful than independent will. It’s unknown if his is a soul that is filled with a core of darkness or one of light. Every age in which he is spun lends to great ambiguity as to what sort of creature emerges. In one turning of the Wheel, a man is born called Azazel. What follows is his story for this Age and this Turning.

The Divine Watchers

Azazel lived in the pious and pacifist society that arose in the aftermath of the tyrannical rulers of the 4th Age. The violent and strict society that ruled the earth fell to the eons of time, and in their place arose a pantheon just as obsessed with control but this time over rule, order, and law. Every facet of society was governed. In their misguided way, entire legions of powerful beings were set to control the chaos, but the centuries led to an ever-tightening grip. Azazel was one such being that today are called angels. These beings weren’t what we believe them to be in legend, but instead they were clad in beautiful arraignment, were selfless and pure but also powerful and strong. Azazel was born to a destiny that would never be fulfilled, and his rebellion against who the gods said he must be and what he must do nearly broke the wheel.

He was a natural born Dreamweaver. A rarity in any Age, but something feared for its possibilities in this one. He was known by the gods before he ever discovered the extent of own talents and was assigned to the legions of Watchers as a result. He served under the command of their leader, the pure and all-seeing Samyaza who could discern the nature of all beings, reading them like a book. Azazel was taught to be noble among their order, sacrificial of self and desire, and devoted completely to his duty. In his role, he was astonishingly effective and served as Samyaza’s second in command.

Azazel was restless, though. He studied the lore of the past Age’s fallen rulers, and delved into restricted knowledge accessed only by the most senior of his order. In his position as second in command of the Watchers, he was granted access, but one topic drew him more than all others: warfare.

As Watchers, their order was the first line of guardians. Azazel himself trained the Watchers in defensive measures and advanced their skills with weaponry. By the height of their guardianship, the Watchers were feared as much as they were revered. They were warriors of light and goodness. In this, Azazel was intensely busy until the day came that there was no more to teach and no more training to acquire. A peaceful, quiet realm sewed restlessness in him, and he began to explore the wider, darker reaches of the guarded domains, lurking on the edge of all that was, and there, he wondered what waited beyond his grasp.

The Fall

He was already resentful by the time his companion and sworn master, Samyaza, met Naamah. The threats of old felt distant, and their Watch was quiet. Two-hundred men who foreswore their lives in sacrifice of peace were bored, and who could fault any of them the rise of the purest of all emotions: love. When Samyaza fell in love, Azazel accepted his new wife with quiet hesitation, and he bore witness to his men, each in their turn, falling to the seeming selflessness of love and fidelity. He did not think it such a bad thing. Nor did he turn a deaf ear to Naamah’s wisdom and wonder – for the same brewed within Azazel as well.

It was a small step-stone one to the other that led to the day that Azazel agreed that the call of their duty had come to an end. While his men lived out their lives on earth, chasing love and pleasure, Azazel finally explored the forbidden. He whispered the secrets he carried to those who needed them, and eventually, incited open rebellion. His army were the very children of his powerful brethren, but they were unruly and difficult to contain. The rulers of their pantheon dispatched a warrior, Gabriel, to stew the fires lit within the Nephilim, and soon, they turned on one another. It was the beginning of the end. Eventually, the other Archangels, the strongest and most powerful among them, came for him and Samyaza in turn.

Punishment

“The whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.”

His companion and long-term friend was captured by Michael and imprisoned in the stars for 70 generations, but Azazel suffered the worser fate. For his defection, dereliction, and depravity Azazel was captured by Raphael. Ironic given that Raphael was the angel of repentance, reconciliation and redemption. Perhaps he was sent for Azazel to ascertain if there was anything that could be redeemed within him. By then, however, Azazel was ferocious. He had taught the forbidden knowledge of warfare and weaponry to the very humans he once vowed to protect, and the innocence of the world was corrupted by his acts. They were bloody days, and the world was on course to revert to the very warmongering society of the previous Age, not to mention his talents may have broken Tel’aran’rhiod and indeed all of existence. There was nothing that could be redeemed within Azazel. He was stripped of his armor of light, declared a demon of soul, and his sentence to Dudael was harsh.

“Bind Azazel hand and foot and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert – which is in Dudael – and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there forever, and cover his face that he may not see light.”

There he was to remain until the Day of Judgement when he would be cast into the fire. His legacy is one of a demon of hell, and it is in his name that the Scapegoat is sent away.

“The wicked will putrefy in the belly of the crafty worm Azazel, and be burned by the fire of Azazel’s tongue.”

Other Lives

1st Age: Adrian Kane

2nd Age: Asristin Kyrineas Somneus

3rd Age: Arikan

5th Age: Azazel

6th Age: Morpheus