This is a free-verse poem of Zanza's inner musings right up to his decision to attack the Mechonis. I personally can't stand Zanza, but there was just something about his feelings of loneliness and betrayal detailed in his wiki page. Doesn't change my feelings, really; he still has an ego the size of a watermelon. But here it is — I hope you enjoy this rather poetic piece on Zanza, and more on other characters will be coming.
"Have you never thought about it? Never contemplated what lies beyond this world?"
"Beyond this world? Lady Meyneth once said that aside from the Bionis and the Mechonis, this world is filled with nothing more than a boundless ocean."
"…But what lies beyond that?"
When I gaze at the stars,
On those nights where everything seems rather dark,
I'm reminded of something.
Friends; I should laugh at that.
Klaus' friends; I should really be laughing at that.
But I'm not.
I look up at Meyneth,
With her gaggle of little machines
Who call her "Lady Meyneth."
She calls them her friends. How can a god have friends-?!
Perhaps, we are not…
No.
We are.
But then, how can she…
I don't understand any of this.
This unfair treatment.
My spawn don't treat me with respect
Or even notice me.
If I were to take a biological form,
I'd be yet another brat in their colonies
Or another freak in their air that they pollute with their every breath.
I don't want to take their grotesque forms
And leave this power.
They don't know me — I don't know how.
But, unfortunately, I know them too well.
I know their plans, their thoughts. They grow too eager to leave.
As Meyneth's spawn and mine converse philosophy
I listen
And I watch
With ears they never notice
And eyes they never see.
Despite my powers and absolute control over my creations
Why can't I wipe that smile off their faces?
That pondering look;
Such as
Why is our universe but an endless sea
With a boundless sky
With curious human mockeries?
This isn't the world I wanted.
Is this what Meyneth wanted?
Egil never asked about what lay beyond me —
— Why didn't he? Why did Arglas?
Why did my child-?
I don't understand this life, this world.
I'm beginning to understand this, though:
We were never meant to change it.
Eager creatures, indeed.
"Perhaps they took after you, Zanza."
I'm sure Lady Meyneth thinks that.
But my subjects don't
Because they don't remember me any more.
I can't allow them to grow.
I can't allow them to grow sentient in their thoughts and in their actions.
They'd live.
If they did, I will die.
Is this one of life's cruel trade-offs my father taught me?
I wish I listened more; maybe I'd have found out what to do next.
But a god doesn't need someone to tell him what more to do.
Do I…?
"…But what lies beyond that?"
He has no idea. None of them have any idea.
They all live in their little punitive lives
With their gaggle of friends and group of family.
They rely on each other;
They are my gaggle of family
But they don't rely on me — I rely on them.
Bloodsucking parasites.
They don't help me, they ignore me.
They don't obey me,
They scoff at my existence.
I know what I will do. What I must do.
Now I'm turning to them — or do I mean against them?
I don't think it matters any more.
They live on a wicked turntable
Where Lady Luck has finally scoffed at them.
I'll give you a reason to want to get away from me, Arglas.
Perhaps Alvis will do something worthwhile for me again
Besides being just an ancient computer Artificial Intelligence
With more Intelligence than the parasites on my backside.
The Mechonis can't prevent my actions.
The Homs
The High Entia
The Giants — oh, especially not the Giants! —
The Nopon
…I've made too many species. They're too diverse.
Perhaps the Giants can be the first to go? I should really be thanking Arglas,
Whose body feels so strong
And so powerful.
It's a pity he must lose it.
When I gaze at the stars,
On those nights where everything seems rather dark,
I'm reminded of something:
Only a god can stop me now.