Aphrodite, or otherwise known as the Goddess of Light, was not the cursed one. She simply couldn't retain her memories after having created so many incarnations of herself.
With time, those memories would return to her. But initially, her incarnations might as well have been no different from the countless other girls in the universe.
Azmodeus, on the other hand, was... cursed.
He was plagued with something so powerful and permanent that it was impossible to be removed even if one's power exceeded the limits placed on the Grotto Realms.
Think of a building with only one block holding the whole thing up. If taken away, the building would collapse, and complete destruction would be imminent.
But the worst part about this analogy was that Azmodeus couldn't even do that...
The number of times he had met with an incarnation of Aphrodite was too many to count. And each time, she would fall in love with him, only hoping that he would one day feel the same.
However, each and every time, without exception, Aphrodite's incarnations would leave him after the curse's activation. Some died, some lived, but either way, the curse would take them away from him.
Many a times Azmodeus wished he could just die and get it over with. And many a times, he had tried and failed.
He could die, yes. But his core existence could never actually die.
Azmodeus would always reincarnate, and he would always meet one of Aphrodite's incarnations.
He wanted to fall in love but could not. They fell in love and then left him.
Aphrodite wished to end his suffering and stop sending incarnations after him, but there was a greedy, selfish part of her that yearned for that sweet and kind young man she met in the summoning circle all those years ago. While at war with herself, she kept on sending out more incarnations. Sometimes, even multiple at the same time.
However, besides those women, there were others. They were unfamiliar to the current Azmodeus, but the past versions of him would know exactly who they were...
The most beautiful and most kind women in history had gathered around him over countless eons. There were thousands upon thousands of them, and they all seemed to have the same look on their flawless faces as they stared fondly at the unconscious crimson-haired man.
"Do you remember what you said to me when we first met?" Aphrodite said dolefully. "You said... that I had a pretty name."
Her touches became ever softer as she caressed Azmodeus's face as if he were the most precious thing in the world.
"I have lived a very long time. A time so long that no normal Immortal would stay sane if they lived the same length," Aphrodite said with a hint of loneliness.
However, when she looked at every crease and curve on her husband's extraordinarily handsome face, her affectionate smile creased as she bent down. Her fluorescent pink hair fell over her head and covered Azmodeus in a curtain. In that curtain, it was just the two of them.
Aphrodite leaned her face just enough that her small button nose rubbed against his. "In all my life, not once had anyone complimented my name," she said lovingly. "They would always rave about my appearance and give out superficial remarks, but never had anyone cared enough about something that wasn't my body or face."
"That was until... meeting you."
The warmth and love permeating the air around her was on the verge of becoming palpable as she leaned in for a kiss.
Yet, just before her soft red lips could make contact with his, something ethereal and unfathomable prevented her from going any further.
Aphrodite's expression emulated her annoyance. "It seems like temporarily cheating the curse with that earlier kiss was a one-off thing," she said dejectedly. "One would think that I was not the Goddess of Love, but rather a victim of a curse from the actual Goddess of Love."
As the melancholic tension increased in intensity, Aphrodite pulled back from the man she loved more than life itself.
.....