LOCATION: Peninsula of Power, World B
OCCASION: One Week Prior to Cycle 14
Anger is a powerful emotion. Perhaps one of the mightiest we are capable of feeling. It fuels us when all others fail. It enables us to continue under the worst of circumstances. And with it, and by it, many marvelous things are accomplished. This story is not one of those. This is one of the fall of a miserable man, and how terrible and inconsistent his anger drove him to be.
After leaving Obsidian, I suppose you could say I spent a good month or two wandering the Heavens in an angry and drunken stupor. I recall vaguely that, during this time I fled a bar in one Star World after Kain Highwind and some woman showed up hunting Seymour Guado's festering spirit. After a long while, I found my way to the Sacred Nebula, and there was dragged, in my inebriated state, before Cid Lufaine Himself.
"Cidolfas Demen Bunansa," the robed God-King intoned, his voice not nearly so booming as the Gods' normally are, "I have heard much about you. Much about the service you provided The Gods in their campaigns. What reason does a hero like you have to be in so lowly a state?"
"Are you not All-Knowing? Know it, then."
"Do not aggravate your situation, angel. I am doing you a kindness by pretending you have free will. Now tell me, what has brought so low a man so proud?"
"Do you need me to say it? Then I will say it. You are everything that is wrong with Heaven. You are corrupt to the core, and your arrogance is the taint that poisons the other Gods. And it is this rotted, stinking corpse of government that drove us to plan your downfall. Yes, Obsidian, even now, plans the death of your domain, and if at all possible, the removal of the cancer that has for too long been infected this place."
"Is that so? And never once did you consider coming and asking me to mend my ways?"
"Isn't it presumptuous to counsel God?"
"So you would murder Him instead! Do not entertain the illusion that you are in some way superior, or even equal to, me! You speak of Obsidian as though you were still a part of it. Yet here are you, drenched in spirits and divested of honor, reeking in my throne room! What happened to lead you here?"
"Because I betrayed them. We set out to destroy you for strangling men, and snuffing out liberty, yet The Scholar himself has become what we hated. He, too, indulges in the manipulation of the souls of men. As his arrogance rises to match yours, he ignores how much like you he becomes."
"And so you foiled him. We see how that went, hahaha. Is your determination to see free all men so great?"
"Our lives are ours alone. How can one such as yourself impose limits on us? Aren't you meant to be enlightened by all your power? We are not toys for your entertainment! I would not see men slave for the delight of Gods for all eternity. This is not the way things are meant to be!"
"Even when many angels strive to please their Gods of their own wills? You would rob them of that which gives them such happiness?"
"I would destroy the illusion of happiness in slavery! When the eyes of all are opened, they will know how little they truly enjoyed being your dogs!"
"Would they? If all illusions were torn away, would the masses truly rejoice? What if the truth is far more terrifying than the lie? What if reality hurt more than the fantasy? Would you still press onward?"
"If that is the price to pay. The truth is always better than lies, and liberty in chaos is greater than safety in order's slavery."
"Interesting words for one called The Liar- oh, yes, your new name reaches even my ears- especially those concerning Order and Chaos. Tell me, have you yet heard of Cosmos and Chaos?"
"Only that they are a prime example of your evils, two Gods warring forever, wreaking havoc across time and eternity for an unknown, and likely nonexistent purpose. What of them?"
"I am quite the fan of irony. Bound though I am to be fair- and yes, I am indeed fair, and it is only your incapacity to grasp all I do that renders you incapable of believing that- I enjoy the occasional sentence which is ironic, and to the sentenced seems woefully unfair. It brings you all closer to me, and helps you understand what I feel.
"So, you say you would indeed rend from the hands of the many their happiness to restore what you view as 'truth.' You loath the manipulation of others, and yet with your own statement you confess your desire to enforce your view of truth over the joy of others. You lift up a conflict greater than your understanding as a paradigm of my sins, when within it lies my very absolution. You are proud, and so I shall lay you low. You puff yourself up over some manner of freedom, and so I strip you of it. You dare believe you can do better than your God, and so I offer you the chance."
"I'm sorry, what? You've gone off rambling in Godspeak again."
"Cidolfas Demen Bunansa, from you I strip the mask, and lay bare the truth. You will see the truth you wish to feed us all. And I will offer you the chance to end the tyranny you hate with your mouth, yet love with your heart. The power of the Gods hinges upon Cosmos' continued victory in the Endless Cycle. I hereby sentence you to serve Chaos, Her mortal foe, as the angel responsible for choosing His champions. Yes, in the very capacity you rejected you will find the chance to change the status quo. Should Chaos conquer Cosmos, the tyranny of The Gods will end."
"Begging your pardon, but hasn't Chaos been winning thus far?"
"Cosmos has escaped final defeat by repeatedly ensuring another cycle begins. Your job will be to make certain that does not happen again. Now, do you accept the judgment of your God? Will you enter into the service of The High Cid?"
And then, because I am a moron, I said those two little words which forever changed my fate, and indeed, the fate of the world. Looking back, I must wonder whether it has all been for the best. Oh, to be sure, I'm free of World D now, and much closer to World A, but the stakes are much higher as a consequence. We're so close now, and so dangerously close to absolute defeat as well.
"I do," I said, sealing the fate of all, and beginning a pathway fraught with mistakes so dire I shudder at their memories.
Cid Lufaine raised a robed arm and extended it toward me, in a gesture of "shaking on it." So I put my hand out on His still covered palm, and we shook. As we did, flame erupted from his arm and wrapped itself around me. Some kind of symbolic God bullshit, no doubt. After that, He ordered several Seraphim to escort me to Hell, where I would be placed in Chaos' care.
I was also ordered to prepare a 'Chaos Report' for presentation following the execution of the plan. It was to contain nothing relating to The High Cid's involvement in the project beyond His having sanctioned a 13th Cycle. Little did I know then the purpose of this Report, which would be read on what they now call The Day of Cid, when The Scholar began to truly move His insane schemes along. But then, at that time I didn't really know The Scholar's plans, either.
All I cared about was the chance to wreak some serious havoc. That The Scholar later became Cosmos' minister in the affair was only an added bonus.