10 of Swords - Riel III

I just can't leave well enough alone. I figured if I was going to do this, I should do it right, and try to create something I'd be happy to print and keep. So, I've depricated version 2 and started from scratch.

X Swords - The Martyr - The Dark before the Dawn

Jack Riel - where to begin? Son of Eva (second wife of Adam), sired specifically to be a weapon against Lil. Eva's favorite, but by mistake also her most neglected. With the exception of Cain, Riel is the one Evason to taste fully of the Tree of Knowledge, and he is the one who wore in the paths deep in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. For all of his experience, he cannot see Lil as fully evil, nor Eva as fully righteous. He knows he is a tool of both, a knight caught between two queens.

Betrayed by his first love, Melody, betrayed by his mentor Katherin, betrayed by his son Saul, he must also betray the world he clings to for the greater cause - he uses the Key of Adam to foil Lil's rise to power, knowing well that it will usher in the Apocalypse of the Angels and end the modern age of man, causing more death and destruction than Lil ever did. He must trust Eva that the world is a phoenix - that it will rise again even stronger.

[Edit: Bah - no more versions. I seem to have some overwhelming desire to continue working on this picture, so I'm just going to overwrite this version.]