This was a request from Sarota Peech!
Aftermath
I couldn't believe it, when it actually happened. It had to be…some kind of trick.
How could I lose?
Especially when so much depended on the outcome of this battle.
I was defeated. Forced to limp away with my tail between my legs, so to speak, and deal with the consequences. I am forced to surrender my carefully constructed world, built by my own hands, to these deviants.
An "Evil King", who has the gall to proudly proclaim his ridiculous name, Stan! Whose power I gave him. No…that is not entirely true…his kind draw power from something I did not make…But the fact still remains. He may draw power from elsewhere but it was I that made him!
The Hero…Rosalyn was her name. Always in denial, easily flattered, the hot tempered Heroine I created as the main protector of this world. It seems she did her job well.
So many others dragged into the dirt, so many others beginning to question what they should not because of…
Him.
That boy. The boy who defies my magic, defies Classification, and simply…lives.
A glitch. A malfunction. The deviant.
Ari. How I despise him. His influence corrupted my little Marlene, made her think…what should be left alone. Now I had to start over with her…!
Ah, but I did enjoy seeing his face. Yes, watching him stand by, helpless as always, while I choked the "life" out of his sweet Marlene, the poor boy doesn't realize he was out of his league. The doll wasn't real, and he didn't even recognize her as one. The fool. However, one question remains.
But where…?
Did his power come from?!
His power is so unfamiliar to me. So different. He draws strength from elsewhere, just like the "King", this insignificant bug who ignores my order of things.
All things are aligned. Fire, ice, thunder. You have to be one or the others. This boy defies that, he lives outside of that system, neutral.
But how? I'm certain if the boy hadn't been there, with his blasted voice recorder, I could have turned the two against each other. Rosalyn and Stan…I suppose names were not my strong point.
Even now, as I fade to my secret retreat, my power drained, I ponder my past.
My precious Marlene…Her mother had died giving birth to her. She was my only family, that girl, named after her mother. Surely, I had to protect her. She deserved a life without fear.
The problem was…how? There were so many different ways to obtain power, but to be free of death; father and daughter had to become immortal. Immortal from age and sickness. There was power to be obtained, if only I knew where to get it.
Then those fools to our home one day. Those visiting spirits from the Diablerie. How idiotic to expect human kind to accept them so easily. I promised I would help them find a way, but only if I could go to their world.
The Devildom had many secrets, and surely if these beings could float, cast magic, and generate copies of themselves…these beings had power, power outside of humans, correct?
So I lived among these…Ghosts for years, secretly scheming to find the source of their powers. Along the way, their strange world gave me the powers they had, but not what I was seeking, not what their King had. Addonexus became friends with me, that Devil King, whose mind was darker than my own, even if thoughts I did not want to follow the path of. But he was unimportant.
I finally found it; found it after so much searching.
The Spiritus.
It contained enormous power, and I did the only thing I could do at the occasion.
I didn't have the time to devote myself to coming up with a way to trap the energy, no…it was far too late for that! The Ghosts were on to me, and I had finally found my goal, the object that would protect my precious Marlene.
The Spiritus contained the energy that kept the Demon Realms stable, without it, I do not know what would happen to my hosts. I did not care. I simply absorbed the energy of this ancient artifact, protected for eons by the very beings that had accepted me…
Fools.
They should have known humans act in their best interest! Once I accepted the energy, the power was unbelievable…
This power could create, this power kept things stable…but it wasn't too big on destroying. That was okay, for my own powers, once combined with the Spiritus, would make me…unstoppable.
A God…
Yes, Marlene must not remember her time here. I have to share my power with her…keep her safe…
With this energy, which I named Classification, I was able to separate a world from the others. And in this universe, this tiny area, I could let Marlene do whatever she wanted. An eternal life of adventure, it was what she dreamed of. Like the knights in her story books I read every night.
Safe…
Evil Kings, Heroes, yes…they would all bend to my will. These beings will not question how the world acts, because since when did anyone?
There were exceptions. Pollack was one of them. The deviant had to be dealt with, but not before he ended up capturing the Evil King Stan. But that was alright, I suppose.
No…the main problem was when I lost Marlene. The real one. The world is safe; I have "programmed" it to not harm Marlene…hence why the "Bubble Evil King" did not harm her when the doll got captured.
Wait…I'm getting confused between the real one, and the fake one. I have to remember, the real Marlene is who I'm looking for!
And I will spend the rest of my life looking for her. If my suspicions were correct, and she somehow became an Ignored, then I have nothing left to do but hope that since the Classes have been removed, she will become easier to find.
I cannot believe I may have passed her without seeing her…
This is my story. This is what I spent my time doing, and now I will find Marlene. Even if I spend the rest of my immortal life looking for her.
However….
I did not know the Spiritus regenerates its power. Now, even as I return to my hidden abode in the World Library, I watch it glow brighter than ever before.
My human body has already changed so much from absorbing it the first time. A second dose may in fact kill me, since humans aren't meant to get this power. I watch it, and I do not know what to do with it.
This is so…infuriating…knowing I have all of this power and Marlene is still gone.
What has passed? Two seasons? Summer and Fall. The trees have lost their leaves now, in Winter, but I do not care…the world is empty without my Marlene.
I'm wandering along the road, listening to tales from others. A beautiful girl recently moved in with the Hero Ari at his home, in Tenel.
It's a long shot. But worth my trouble. I have all the time in the world, after all. I wouldn't be surprised…not much anyway…If Marlene is with him. The doll was drawn there, and animated by my power, and since she shares some of my power…she may have been connected to the doll.
How sad to know I could have been looking at that doll and at the real Marlene both at the same time…
I digress. I spoke to a girl on the road, a girl with blonde hair.
"Gee, you don't look so well. Are you some kind of traveler?" The girl said with a roll of her eyes.
"Yes." How long since I spoke out loud? "I'm looking for my daughter. She's lost."
Her eyes softened slightly, but her smirk was still in place.
"What does she look like?"
"Orange hair…red eyes…" Her red eyes were a fault of my own, the energy from the Diablerie did it to her, but this she does not know.
The girl gave a sharp intake of breath. "Please don't tell me her name was Marlene."
My heart skipped three beats. "Have you seen her?" I asked.
"Yeah. She lives with Ari now, as his girlfriend."
The deviant did have her…She must have went to him, seeing through the doll. My hunch was right, but I never had any basis before.
"Are you absolutely certain?"
"Yeah. I just saw her a few days ago, they have some friends over."
Friends. The other deviants. Ah well. The battle with them drained my energy almost completely, and I don't dare try to absorb the Spiritus again…
There is no reason to fight them, not if my daughter comes home with me willingly.
"Are you taking her away?" The girl said with a sneer. "I don't like her. She has an attitude."
That was my Marlene, I thought fondly. Before I lost her, anyway.
"I'll try. What's your name?" I had to remember her, she might be useful. Her jealously was clear, as was her grudging crush on Ari.
"Julia." She tossed her hair. "See you later, old man."
I didn't want her to have my name…its better she doesn't.
My name is Beiloune…and I'm not finished yet. Marlene will come back, even if she doesn't want to leave right now…
***
How was it? I'm not that good with Beiloune. Anyway, remember some details from this, it connects to the upcoming "Dark Tempest".