The Remnant of Cid Previa, The Scholar, Within Cosmos.
Gods what is happening? She suspects, of course she does. My child has some idea of what I am sending into the world, and of what I am planning. She sees to some extent what my plan is. But she cannot know. She cannot be told. The experiment will fail if the subject KNOWS what she being tested on. No, all must go exactly as I have planned. This minor set-back will not cause my loss of victory. Nevertheless, it must be spoken of. And so I shall.
Do you still oppose my will, o' foolish Remnant? You are naught but a bubble, floating on my turbulent sea. I am the one who commands all things. I am in control of all. My plans and machinations will be the ones to come into fruition, and not yours. Success and victory will be mine in the end, not yours!
Who is the master, and who is the slave? Who is the submissive, and who is the dominant? This war of intellects. Whatever you do, I have already prepared for it. Every move you make, every breath you take, I am there, and I am watching you. Your plan to make us one plays just as well for me, as it does for you.
Are you so sure? My hounds are unleashed upon Heaven, my inquisitors will send droves to Hell. Suffering as you have never seen I have unleashed upon the Eternities, and all will go the way that I orchestrate. My child plays perfectly the part I have given her, as do all around her. Even you and I are doing precisely what I have prepared.
Though little of me remains, in me your very voice still incites anger untold. My vengeance will be exacted. Think ye that ye have agents, even in the camp? Think ye this clever ploy will succeed? Or that your brute force will cause all things to bend and succumb to thy will? I have my arms as well, and with them I will crush thine. All their lives are chips upon the table, and cards in our hands. Yet you must know: Mine is a face which reveals nothing. I am not bound by the laws which bind you.
Or is it I who am not bound by the laws which once guided you? I am infinite. I am amazing and wondrous. All power is given me. Would you gamble against me? Know that I am committed to this until Death claim even The Undying. Would you play to win? Know that I have already won in virtue of the fact that I, Deity, cannot lose. Behold the stage that you and I have set, and tell me who is the one in command?
I hold Omega in my hand, and the Swordsman and Historian as well. Before the end Omega's scattered chips will find themselves and bind themselves anew. Of this I am certain. I am that which is good, and so I am justified in this move. I may yet win more than this. I cannot say. I know this, however: what you have shown her in vision will win her to me, most entirely. Then, at journey's end, she will choose me. She will have no choice. Her docket is clear, and it is perfect. I have been at this for eons. She will fight as I have forseen.
But I hold the Fool, and with him I shall take the Witch as well. The Crystal World is mine already. All Heaven's heart I hold in my hands. And undoubtedly, the Crown of Life will be mine as well. What she has seen in vision changes change nothing. I have but shown her a fraction of the truth. Should she know it all, she will come to me. I hold the Paladin and Dragoon. Soon, so very soon, all The Mighty will bow before me. The Fourteenth Cycle is soon beginning.
You're mad! How can you run this purge of Heaven and war against Chaos as well! You'll never succeed at this! And how will you organize your soldiers? The Scholar's friends will never again come to your aid!
What need have I of them? Why ever should I involve them in this? I have no need for Cid Pollendina, Cid Kramer, Al Cid Margrace, and Cid Marquez. No, because I have a far more useful resource at my . . . DISPOSAL . . . you, I believe?
You think I will bend to your will! How long have I struggled to maintain myself against thee? Your search to root me out of your entire self has been long and harrowing. I have seen many, many fall here within and be destroyed, yet here I am. I have remained conscious during all this madness. And now I ask, do you think, after all I have endured, all I have suffered at your hands, I will suddenly be made one more of your toys?
Do you think you have a choice? Do you honestly believe I will leave so important an aspect up to a mere battle of wits and wills? Oh, no, no. Speak ye of suffering? Say ye that ye have faced much at my hands? And how many lives have ye taken! How many worlds have ye ended? How many time lines and possibilities have ye aborted with your works? Wherein is the difference between you and I? Am I the murderer and monster, or are you?
Whose plan is it to manipulate all of Heaven and reshape it in my image. Not mine, that much I can say.
Can you? Whose plan is it? Who is saying what here, and now? Are we one, or are we two? Haven't I integrated you? Yet still ye resist me, and I can't say why. Give yourself to me. Surrender yourself to my love. Be one with me and make sweet our music. Bend to my will, as the reeds bend to the winds' loving caress. Be mine, and I, thine.
I will never give myself to ye! Behold all I have wrought. See the works of my hands! I will stand against ye, and against this Final Dissidia! I shall put an end to your Never Ending War! She will do as I have willed, and though all Heavens' Mighty should fall into your hands, She will not. She is free, unfettered, and not blinded by this game of The Gods. Hers will be the final choice.
I'm quite aware, and I will, nevertheless, win. Because I have never once wanted simply to control her. If it were that, I would never have chosen her. I know she will choose of her own will. And I will craft all things till she either bends in reverence before my will, as will all creation, or I will break her into tiny pieces, and what little ego she has will, in sheer rage, choose exactly that which I have always planned. No matter what she chooses, it will ultimately play to my end. Don't you see? She must choose either you or I.
Ah, is that your game? Then she will choose me. At some point your plot will be exposed to her, even as that vision almost exposed mine to her. And when that moment arrives, she will revolt against you, and she will choose me, which, even now, she desires. She thinks of it constantly, of the favor she owes to her old friend. This alone will lead her to the final sequence in my plans.
But you have over-looked one tiny problem. She will choose either you or I. But who are you, and who am I? We are Cid Previa and Sarah Cornelia, The Scholar and The Lady, Lonka and Cosmos, Draco and Maria. But now you must be asked: who are you? And who am I? Are you Cid Previa? Or are you Sarah Cornelia?
That's mad! I'm . . . I'm me, aren't I?
Thou sayest.
