Eizen, are you crazy?!
Edna's scream echoed through Eizen's mind as he fastened his arms and legs around the thick, scaly rear leg of the dragon. Made of malevolence and mana or not, he could feel the muscles moving under the scales as the monster that had been Lailah added the thrust of her legs to her movement and drove herself skyward; the sharp, jagged edges of those scales dug into him, but he clutched her with all his strength, refusing to let go.
Cellie said Niko uses her dragons to get to the 'dark place', he told his seraphim silently, knowing full well that, if he tried to speak out loud, his voice would be torn away by the wind whipping past his face from the dragon's furiously beating wings, and in the Earthen Historia, she said she needed dragons to commune with the First Shadow properly. Wherever she's going, it's where we'll find answers; we have to go with her.
I'm not saying that doesn't make sense, Sahra remarked, but I'm with Edna on this one.
We have to do this, Eizen responded grimly, talking to himself as much as his comrades as he gripped the scaly leg even more tightly. We have to. We'll be fine as long as we hold on.
None of the others seemed convinced of this, but Eizen didn't loosen his grip, placing all his focus on his arms and legs, hands and feet, clinging with everything he had. They rose up and up and up; Eizen kept his eyes shut, but it didn't feel like they were leveling out, instead surging higher and higher.
Eizen, you need to let go! Zaveid shouted suddenly.
The alarm in his wind seraph uncle's voice got Eizen's attention. Why? he asked.
We're too high up, his Prime Lord replied. At a certain point, even the wind can't go any higher; there won't be any air for you to breathe.
Really? Sahra asked curiously.
What, did you think the air just went on forever? Zaveid asked in reply.
But we can't let go now! Lucine protested worriedly. A fall from this height would kill us!
I'll catch us, Zaveid said firmly. Just like before, remember, kiddo? No matter how high up you fall from, I can catch you.
Eizen did remember. "Are you afraid of heights, Shepherd?" Symonne's mocking voice drifted through his head. No, he told Zaveid firmly; we're seeing this through to the end. I don't think Niko knows we're here, so wherever she's going, it's a place she can survive; that means we will too.
I'm not so sure, Zaveid said as the wind whipping Eizen grew colder and colder; a splitting pain had started to build in his ears for some reason, but he ignored it and focused on holding on.
Only a dragon can get to the dark place, Eizen stated. That's the most we can safely assume from what we saw and what we know. Maybe even the wind can't get there, but a dragon can. And that's where we'll find the answer.
The key to breaking the curse of malevolence, you mean? Edna asked drily.
I said I'd do whatever it took, Eizen thought. There is no risk I won't take. I have to-
Suddenly, a wall of something hit Eizen hard, nearly breaking his grip on the scaly leg; it felt as though the dragon that had been Lailah had plunged into a body of water at full speed, but that water was made up of claws and teeth that tore at Eizen, phasing through his skin to rip at his heart and soul - and at the seraphim who lived within him. Screams rang through his head as his allies were almost torn loose from where they rested, and Eizen quickly focused his spirit on reaching out to pull them back.
Fylk Zahdeya, Hephsin Yulind, Melphis Amekia, Wilkis Wilk, he intoned as he grabbed them each in turn with his mind, I am your vessel, you are safe within me. Hold on to me, my comrades, my friends; we will get through this together.
Though he could feel their pain, their spirits gripped him right back, and they held on, them to him, him to both them and the dragon, a chain that was dragged through the tearing darkness, and then-
All at once, they emerged out the other side of whatever they had passed through, and into a world that Eizen could feel, even with his eyes closed, was positively choked with malevolence; the pain in his ears abruptly ended as the blessings of the Five Lords emerged from within his being to play along his skin, shielding him from the smothering corruption as he gasped for air.
…Air?
Suddenly, Lailah's direction shifted drastically, and then she hit something, landing hard enough that even Eizen's absolute focus wasn't enough for him to maintain his grip; he was thrown from the dragon's leg and sent tumbling across the ground.
…Ground?
Groaning, Eizen panted and pushed himself into a sitting position, opening his eyes at last to take stock of his surroundings.
Underneath him was what appeared to be pure, crystalized malevolence; where his fingerless Shepherd's glove left his skin bare, contact with whatever he was lying on burned and itched, and he removed his exposed fingers from the surface quickly as he stood. Looking up, he saw the stars, stars that were always there even when blotted out by the sun, as his parents had once seen when they ascended to battle Innominat. His seraphim emerged from within him, and he was glad to feel them manifest around him, to know that he was not alone in this place, whatever it was.
"Gather your strength, my white-horned beauty," Niko was murmuring to her dragon in the background. "Rest as you will; my brother was merciless. When we return, he will not be so lucky."
Lailah's roar fell on deaf ears as Eizen looked around and was suddenly struck with an impossible sight: a massive, glowing, green-and-blue sphere that was covered with swirling white that moved as he watched. It seemed so close, but knowing what it was, the orb could only be impossibly far away.
"Is that…?" Sahra gasped.
"That's our world," Eizen said softly, staring at the planet with awe. Tearing his gaze away from the place that had always seemed infinite from his limited perspective, he shook his head, hard. "Where are we?" he asked.
"Beats the hell out of me," Zaveid shrugged.
"Well, well, well."
Everyone turned to see Niko stalking over to them, grinning, her white-horned mount nowhere in sight.
"I thought my steed seemed to rise more slowly than she should have," Niko snickered. "You hitched a ride, did you, dear brother?"
"That's right," Eizen said, steeling his resolve: Focus now, think later. "What is this place, Niko?"
Niko spread her crimson claws wide in a mockery of a welcoming gesture. "This is the skypulse, home of the First Shadow," she answered. "Welcome, foolish Shepherd and seraphim; you are the first mortals who have rejected the embrace of malevolence to ever set foot here."
"And what is the First Shadow?!" Eizen demanded, stepping forward as he gripped the hilt of his katana. "Tell us!"
"Oh, that's such a complicated question…but, would you like to meet him?" Niko asked with a wicked smile. "I'm sure he would love to meet you."
"The First Shadow…is a person?" Eizen questioned.
In response, Niko threw her head back and laughed her hellish, unhinged laugh. Then she spread her claws over her head and called, "Come forth, my lord and master! Show these fools what they are truly up against!"
Eizen braced himself, but nothing happened, or so it seemed at first. Then, above Niko's upraised talons, a presence began to take form in the spaces between the stars.
Until that moment, Eizen had always assumed darkness to be nothing more than an absence of light; now, watching the First Shadow take shape before him, he realized he had been wrong. Whatever was coming seemed as radiant as light, but was a force that opposed light, sucked it away - looking directly at it was painful, and Eizen was forced to focus on the outline of the entity as it gathered itself, impossibly huge, and became more defined. It was big, big enough to cover all of Glenwood with ease and then some, and as it finally seemed to fill out its own details, Eizen could see that it was taking the form of a dragon: tail, claws, wings, a long neck. As the head began to come together, more stars suddenly seemed to wink into existence, little pinpricks of light that formed a thick, jagged line along its snout, marking where the points of the fangs would be on a normal dragon.
Stars like teeth, Eizen remembered from Edna's description of his mother's nightmare.
Two bright white lights opened at the top of the head - the monster's eyes, piercing through Eizen right to his core as the luminescent openings in the entity took him in, its gaze intense and scorching. Last came the horns, smaller than the ones on Lailah, relatively speaking, and the First Shadow finished manifesting its entire being - like the planet behind Eizen, though it seemed to be close, its sheer size meant that it could only be impossibly far away.
Gritting his teeth, Eizen tightened his grip on the hilt of his katana as his allies took ready positions behind him. Whatever this was, a fight seemed inevitable.
Then, something brushed against Eizen's mind, some vast, unknowable presence that was trying to communicate without words. The impressions were sent to Eizen's brain directly, without sound, and his brain struggled with the message for a minute before eventually producing a rough translation that Eizen could understand.
[WELCOME, MORTALS, TO THE LAND OF MY EXILE,] came the resulting approximation. [I AM KUKSEDRA*, THE FIRST SHADOW.]
Pain began to build behind Eizen's eyes, and he had to release his grip on his holstered weapon to rub his temples, fighting the headache translating the entity's words had caused.
"What the hell is this?" Sahra asked from behind him, and he could hear the grimace in her voice. "Some kind of…Great Lord of Malevolence?"
Kuksedra roared, and this time it was with sound, a deafening, soul-shattering noise that nearly sent Eizen to his knees. He clapped his hands over his ears, but of course, this didn't deafen him to the monster's response, as his ears had no part in the interpretation of that message.
[DO NOT EQUATE ME TO YOUR PATHETIC GREAT LORDS,] Kuksedra snarled. [I AM FAR OLDER THAN YOUR BELOVED MAOTELUS OR ANYONE ELSE YOU KNOW - OLDER THAN YOU, DAUGHTER OF EARTH, AND OLDER THAN YOU, SON OF THE WIND. I AM OLDER THAN YOUR PRECIOUS GREAT LORDS OF THE ELEMENTS, OLDER THAN THE RACE OF SERAPHIM, OLDER THAN THE RACE OF MANKIND. I AM OLDER THAN THE PLANTS AND THE ANIMALS, THE SEAS AND THE SKIES. I AM AS OLD AS THE MORTAL WORLD ITSELF! I AM THE FIRST SHADOW! I AM KUKSEDRA!]
"Yeah," Edna spat through clenched teeth, teeth that were surely gritted against a pain equivalent to what Eizen felt, "we heard you the first time."
[YOU HEAR,] Kuksedra said, [BUT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. YOUR MORTAL MINDS ARE TOO FEEBLE AND LIMITED TO COMPREHEND THAT WHICH LIES BEFORE YOU.]
"Oh, tell them the story!" Niko said brightly, with an enthusiasm that reminded Eizen of when Cellie used to ask their father to tell her one of her favorite bedtime stories about ancient swordfights of Rangetsus past. "Tell them, and maybe then they'll understand!"
[PERHAPS…]
"Tell us this story," Eizen stated, forcing himself to stand up straight and look in the general direction of the First Shadow, even if meeting the entity's eyes directly was impossible. "I came here hoping for answers; maybe your story will give them to me."
[THAT IT WOULD,] Kuksedra said, [THOUGH THE ANSWERS ARE NOT WHAT YOU THINK.] His blinding gaze turned to the seraphim behind Eizen, and he added, [YOU HAVE ASKED FOR ANSWERS FOR CENTURIES, DAUGHTER OF FIRE AND MAN, NOT KNOWING YOU WERE DIRECTING YOUR QUESTIONS AT ME. ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THOSE ANSWERS?]
Something about the beast's undertone, such as it was, made Eizen uneasy, but Sahra called, "Tell us what you are! Tell us everything!"
[VERY WELL,] Kuksedra said, with a surprisingly mortal-looking nod of his massive head. [LISTEN NOW TO THE TALE OF YOUR WORLD, AND HOW ALL ITS WOES CAME TO BE.
[I CAME INTO BEING WHEN THE MORTAL WORLD BEGAN - I AND MY SISTER, PHOENIA, THE FIRST LIGHT.] Along with the words, Eizen suddenly got a mental image of another impossibly huge dragon, this one as brilliantly incandescent as Kuksedra was suffocatingly dark, with warm black eyes and shining obsidian teeth. [IT WAS OUR SACRED DUTY TO WATCH OVER THE WORLD, THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS, AS LIFE CAME TO BE AND THE LANDS TOOK SHAPE. SHE AND I REIGNED OVER THE DUALITY OF ALL OF NATURE AND KEPT EVERYTHING IN BALANCE: WARM AND HOT, COOL AND COLD, DAY AND NIGHT, LIGHT AND DARK, BIRTH AND DEATH. THIS WAS OUR PURPOSE, AND WE WERE TO WORK TOGETHER, UNITED IN ALL THINGS. FOR MANY EONS, THIS WAS SO, AND ALL WAS PERFECT IN THE MORTAL WORLD.]
Another image came to Eizen's mind's eye, this of the white dragon and the black dragon encircling the globe together, each one's snout touching the other's tail, orbiting around and around the planet in perfect unison; though the picture hurt Eizen's brain to process, the sight of it seemed to be the very embodiment of peace, of absolute harmony and balance, a perfect world, and Eizen wanted to gaze at it forever.
[BUT THEN,] Kuksedra went on, and Eizen felt echoes of bitterness and resentment coming off the dark god as the beautiful image faded, [MY SISTER CAME TO ME AND TOLD ME SHE WAS BORED. WE NO LONGER SERVED ANY PURPOSE, OR SO SHE CLAIMED - THE NATURAL ORDER, THE BALANCE OF DUALITY, ALL OF IT WAS MAINTAINING ITSELF PERFECTLY WELL ON ITS OWN. SHE WANTED TO MAKE SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING THAT WOULD HAVE A CONSCIOUSNESS ON PAR WITH OUR OWN, BEINGS THAT COULD MAKE CHOICES BETWEEN THE LIGHT AND THE DARK…BEINGS WITH SOULS, LIKE WHAT WE HAD.
[I WAS APPALLED; WE WERE BORN TO MAINTAIN THE NATURAL ORDER, NOT TO DIRECT THE PROCESS OF CREATION OURSELVES. I REFUSED, AND YET SHE DID NOT HEAR ME. THRICE DID SHE ASK MY COOPERATION, AND THRICE I DENIED HER. I THOUGHT LITTLE OF IT; TO ME, OUR SACRED DUTY WAS EVERYTHING, AND SO LONG AS WE HAD THAT AND EACH OTHER, THERE WAS NO NEED FOR ANYTHING MORE. I TRUSTED HER. I SHOULD NOT HAVE.]
The longer Kuksedra spoke, the easier a time Eizen's brain had with approximating his messages into words - though he knew the translation was far from perfect, he was confident that he at least understood the gist…but that gist was unfathomable.
[WHEN SHE REALIZED I WOULD NOT JOIN IN HER MAD PURSUITS, MY SISTER DECIDED TO ACT WITHOUT ME,] Kuksedra went on, and his bitterness turned to fury upon even suggesting these words - Eizen got the distinct sense that for one of the primal deities to act without the other was somehow unconscionable. The words became more and more loose in their translation as the First Shadow continued, [TAKING HER DIVINE POWERS INTO HER OWN HANDS, PHOENIA GAVE BIRTH TO NEW CREATURES, BEINGS THAT WERE AWARE AND ALIVE AS SHE AND I WERE. HOWEVER, THEY KNEW ONLY HER LIGHT, AND NONE OF MY DARKNESS; WITHOUT BOTH, THE BEINGS SHE SPAWNED WERE ABOMINATIONS, EMPTY AND MINDLESS, LITTLE MORE THAN DOLLS DESIGNED TO AMUSE HER, DOLLS THAT DID ONLY AS SHE SAID, WITH NO TRUE WILL OF THEIR OWN.
[WHEN I DISCOVERED WHAT SHE HAD DONE, I WAS HORRIFIED, BUT IT WAS NOT AN IRREDEEMABLE ACT. SEEING THAT SHE WAS TRULY DETERMINED TO MAKE THESE NEW CREATURES, I DECIDED THAT I WOULD DO MY PART, AND ENSURE THAT THEY BE WHOLE, AS ALL THINGS IN NATURE MUST BE ACCORDING TO OUR DIVINE MANDATE. SO, I REACHED OUT TO THESE BEINGS AND ADDED MY OWN INFLUENCE, THAT THEY WOULD KNOW BOTH THE LIGHT AND THE DARK AND BE ABLE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE TWO, THUS GRANTING THEM THEIR OWN WILL AND MAKING THEM PERFECT.]
"I'm guessing that didn't work out so well," Eizen said.
[YOU CATCH ON QUICKLY, PACT KEEPER,] Kuksedra remarked. [INDEED…THE TROUBLE WAS THAT MY SISTER'S CREATIONS WERE NOT DESIGNED WITH MY POWERS IN MIND, AND COULD NOT PROPERLY HANDLE BOTH THE LIGHT AND THE DARK SHARING THEIR BEINGS. SUCH A THING WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE, YET HER ARROGANCE AND SELFISHNESS HAD CREATED SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE, SOMETHING THAT COULD NOT EASILY HANDLE THE DUALITY OF ALL NATURAL THINGS; INSTEAD, THE INTRODUCTION OF MY POWER, RATHER THAN BALANCING THE CREATURES, WAS MORE INCLINED TO CONSUME THEM, TO EAT AWAY AT THE LIGHT RATHER THAN COEXIST WITH IT. WHAT WAS WORSE, ONCE THE DARKNESS ATE THEM, THEY BEGAN TO PRODUCE EVEN MORE OF IT, MORE THAN THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD, AND IT WOULD LEAK OUT OF THEM AND POISON THEIR SURROUNDINGS WITH THE IMBALANCE.]
"You created malevolence!" Lucine gasped.
[THIS WAS NOT MY INTENTION,] Kuksedra stated firmly. [I SOUGHT ONLY TO CORRECT THE IMBALANCE, NOT MAKE A MORE DRASTIC ONE. AGAIN, THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED THIS OUTCOME, FOR SUCH A THING WAS NOT MEANT TO EVER EXIST.]
"You mean humans," Eizen said softly. "We were your sister's creations, and…we were never supposed to exist."
[JUST SO,] Kuksedra punctuated with another nod, and Eizen found himself wondering if he was using a gesture used by humans, or if humans simply used a gesture that had originally belonged to the primal deities. [OF COURSE, EVEN WHEN THE CORRUPTION EVOLVED INTO THE ABERRATION YOU KNOW AS MALEVOLENCE, IT WAS NOT TOO LATE FOR THE SITUATION TO BE RESOLVED PEACEFULLY; PHOENIA AND I, WORKING TOGETHER, COULD EASILY HAVE RECTIFIED THE FAULT IN THE WAY YOUR KIND WERE CONSTRUCTED. BUT INSTEAD…] Rage poured off of the dark god, almost physically pushing Eizen back with its intensity. [INSTEAD,] Kuksedra hissed, [MY SISTER ATTACKED ME. OUTRAGED THAT I HAD INTERFERED WITH HER LITTLE PET PROJECT, SHE TURNED AGAINST ME UTTERLY, TRIED TO DESTROY ME FOR 'CORRUPTING' HER ABOMINATIONS. IT WAS THEN THAT I FINALLY UNDERSTOOD THAT SHE WAS NOT BORED, BUT RATHER THAT SHE DIDN'T WANT TO SHARE EVERYTHING WITH ME - SHE WANTED SOMETHING THAT WAS HERS AND HERS ALONE.]
"Is that so strange for a sister?" Eizen asked.
[SHE WAS MY SISTER!] Kuksedra roared, but this time the translation of the word didn't seem quite so certain to Eizen's brain - it still sounded like 'sister', but it also kind of sounded like 'counterpart', or maybe even 'other half'. [WE WERE MEANT TO SHARE IN ALL THINGS, SUCH WAS OUR SACRED DUTY, OUR DIVINE MANDATE! AND SHE WANTED TO BREAK THAT OATH, TURN HER BACK ON EVERYTHING WE EXISTED TO DO, AND HAVE SOMETHING ALL HER OWN! IT WAS AN OUTRAGE, A MONSTROSITY! AND I, UNDERSTANDING THAT SHE HAD ABANDONED HER OWN REASON FOR EXISTING, FELT OUTRAGED IN RETURN, AND THOUGH I MERELY DEFENDED MYSELF AT FIRST, SOON ENOUGH, I FOUGHT BACK.
[OUR BATTLE RAGED THROUGH THE LANDS, THE SEAS, AND THE SKIES, WHILE HUMANS, DRIVEN MAD BY THEIR OWN IMPERFECTIONS, TURNED AGAINST ONE ANOTHER AND EVERYTHING AROUND THEM. WITHIN THE EARTH AND WITHOUT, FROM THE HIGHEST CLOUD TO THE CENTER OF THE PLANET, AND ESPECIALLY ON THE LAND'S SURFACE, ALL WAS CHAOS. THERE WAS NO ORDER, FOR THERE WAS NOTHING TO MAINTAIN THAT ORDER; NATURE DESTROYED ITSELF, WHILE MY SISTER AND I SOUGHT TO DESTROY EACH OTHER. WE INFLICTED TERRIBLE INJURIES UPON ONE ANOTHER, AND…] These words became even harder to translate, and Eizen felt his headache build again as his brain tried to keep up. […WHERE OUR BLOOD FELL FROM OUR BODIES AND MET WITHIN THE FLOW OF THE EARTH'S ENERGY, WHERE CAST-OFF LIGHT AND CAST-OFF DARK UNITED…FROM THERE AROSE NEW BEINGS, BEINGS NOT OF FLESH BUT OF ENERGY, WITH SOULS LIKE MINE AND MY SISTER'S AND BODIES GIVEN FORM BY ONE OF THE FOUR BASE ELEMENTS OF NATURE; BUT UNLIKE THOSE LOWLY CREATURES PHOENIA CREATED, THESE BEINGS NATURALLY TOOK TO THE BALANCE OF DUALITY, AND WERE PERFECT.]
"The seraphim!" Eizen gasped.
[NO,] Kuksedra said, surprising Eizen, [THESE WERE THE ELEMENTALS. HOWEVER, BOTH MY SISTER AND I RECOGNIZED THEIR PERFECTION, AND AS WE FOUGHT, I FELT HER DESIRE TO MAKE IT SO THAT THERE WOULD BE MORE, THAT THESE BEINGS WOULD MANIFEST ACROSS TIME, AND LIVE AND DIE AS MORTALS, PERFECT AND PURE. I AGREED TO THIS, AND WHEN SHE REACHED INTO THE ENERGY OF THE MORTAL WORLD AND ADJUSTED IT SO THAT THERE WOULD BE MORE - THE SERAPHIM - I ADDED MY OWN POWER TO THE CHANGE. I EVEN AGREED TO MAKE IT SO THAT THOSE FEW HUMANS WHO COULD FIND BALANCE IN THEMSELVES WOULD BE GIVEN SECOND LIFE AS SERAPHIM, SANCTIFICATION OF THOSE FEW AMONG MY SISTER'S CREATIONS WHO MIGHT EARN THAT HONOR. IN DOING THIS, I THOUGHT, NOT ONLY WOULD MY SISTER FINALLY GET THE PERFECT BUT CONSCIOUS CREATURES SHE'D ASKED FOR, BUT IT WAS ALSO INTENDED AS A PEACE OFFERING ON MY PART, THAT OUR QUARREL WOULD END, AND ALL WOULD GO BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE.]
"Guessing she had other ideas," Zaveid commented darkly.
[INDEED,] Kuksedra growled. [ONCE THE CHANGE WAS WROUGHT, RATHER THAN CALM DOWN, MY SISTER ATTACKED ME WITH REDOUBLED FORCE, HER VERY EXISTENCE NOW STANDING ONLY TO ANNIHILATE MY OWN. WITH THIS, I FINALLY SAW THE HORRIBLE TRUTH: MY SISTER HATED ME.] At this, Kuksedra's star-lined jaws opened, and Eizen braced himself fruitlessly against the roar of sheer, utter rage that tore through the skypulse. [I LOVED HER!] Kuksedra howled furiously. [I LOVED HER, SHE WAS MY SISTER AND I WAS HER BROTHER, WE WERE MEANT TO SHARE IN EVERYTHING, YET SHE DESPISED ME! EVERYTHING WE WERE, EVERYTHING WE STOOD FOR, ALL OF IT WAS SO MUCH NONSENSE IN HER EYES; I WAS A MONSTER TO HER, AND SHE WANTED ME GONE! KNOWING THAT OUR SACRED MANDATE HAD BEEN PERVERTED BEYOND ANY SALVAGING, I TURNED AGAINST HER WHOLLY, WANTING NOTHING MORE THAN TO PUNISH HER FOR HER BETRAYAL!]
"But she beat you?" Eizen guessed.
[NO,] Kuksedra replied coldly. [SHE AND I CAME INTO BEING AS PERFECT EQUALS, NEITHER OF US MORE POWERFUL THAN THE OTHER; THERE COULD BE NO VICTOR IN OUR BATTLE. I DID NOT CARE, BUT EVENTUALLY SHE SEEMED TO REALIZE THAT ATTEMPTING TO DESTROY ME WAS POINTLESS. THE DAY CAME WHEN SHE WITHDREW HER ESSENCE FROM THE LANDS, THE SEAS, AND THE SKIES, TO MANIFEST HER BEING IN ONE SINGLE, CONCENTRATED PLACE. I DID THE SAME, THINKING SHE SOUGHT TO FOCUS HER POWER ON THE PIECES OF ME THAT PERMEATED EXISTENCE, BIT BY BIT, AND THUS DESTROY ME. IN THINKING SO, I FELL INTO HER TRAP. ONCE SHE AND I HAD BOTH MANIFESTED THE ENTIRETY OF OUR BEINGS INTO TWO SOLID SHAPES, MY SISTER GAVE HER VERY LIFE TO BANISH ME FROM THE MORTAL WORLD, TEARING OPEN THE FABRIC OF REALITY AND SEALING ME HERE, IN A POCKET DIMENSION AWAY FROM THE LAND I WAS BORN TO PROTECT, HER DOMAIN ENCOMPASSING THE MORTAL WORLD, THAT MY INFLUENCE MIGHT NEVER REACH IT AGAIN. SHE DIED, AND WHERE HER REMAINS FELL, THERE OPENED A PASSAGEWAY TO THE REALM OF THE GODS, THE HEAVENLY GATE.
[DURING ALL THIS CHAOS, THE ELEMENTALS TRIED DESPERATELY TO SALVAGE THE CRUMBLING WORLD, BUT THE IMPURITY PRODUCED BY THE MADDENED HUMANS WAS POISONOUS TO THEM, AND TO THE SERAPHIM WHO MANIFESTED AFTER THEM. MANY DIED OF THIS, ELEMENTALS AND SERAPHIM ALIKE, WHILE OTHERS SIMPLY HID AWAY FROM IT ALL…BUT SOME FEW HAPPENED UPON THE HANDFULS OF HUMANS WHO MANAGED TO OVERCOME THEIR OWN IMPERFECTIONS AND FORCE THEIR SOULS INTO BALANCE, EVEN AS THEIR BRETHREN WROUGHT HAVOC ACROSS THE LAND. THESE FEW HUMANS, ELEMENTALS, AND SERAPHIM SHELTERED TOGETHER, FORMING SMALL OASES OF ORDER AMONG ALL THE CHAOS. THE IMPURITY WAS STILL POISONOUS, HOWEVER, AND WHEN THE HEAVENLY GATE OPENED, THE ELEMENTALS AND SERAPHIM, RECOGNIZING THEIR HOME, RETREATED TO THE HEAVENLY REALM TO TAKE SHELTER FROM THE TOXIN.]
"Hold on," Sahra spoke up, "I thought you said the Elementals happened when your and your counterpart's blood met in the earthpulse, and that seraphim were designed to manifest in that same way; how was the Heavenly Realm their home?"
[THE ELEMENTALS WERE INDEED BORN FROM MYSELF AND MY SISTER, AND…] Kuksedra then said something that didn't translate right away; as accustomed as Eizen's brain had become to interpreting the primal deity's messages, this was something for which there truly were no equivalent words in mortal language. A long minute and a splitting headache later, Eizen's brain eventually spat out the vague approximation, […THE EGG THAT HATCHED INTO MYSELF AND MY SISTER WAS BIRTHED FROM THE HEAVENLY REALM.
[YOU KNOW MUCH OF THE REST,] Kuksedra went on once the mortals had caught up: [HOW THOSE REFUGEES WHO MADE IT TO THE HEAVENLY REALM ARGUED AMONGST EACH OTHER ABOUT WHETHER TO END ALL LIFE IN THE MORTAL WORLD OR ATTEMPT PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE WITH MANKIND, AS, FROM WITHIN THE HEAVENLY REALM, THIS WAS WITHIN THEIR POWER TO DO. NOT KNOWING FROM WHENCE THEY CAME, NOR WHY THEY DID NOT PRODUCE MALEVOLENCE, THE SERAPHIM THOUGHT THEMSELVES SUPERIOR BEINGS, BEINGS NOT OF THE EARTHLY REALM, THOUGH IN TRUTH, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT THEIR BODIES WERE NOT DESIGNED TO BE FAULTY - THEIR SOULS AND HUMAN SOULS ARE IN FACT ONE AND THE SAME. EVEN DESPITE THEIR IGNORANCE, HOWEVER, THE SERAPHIM ULTIMATELY REACHED A COMPROMISE, AND WITH THAT COMPROMISE CAME MY OWN OPPORTUNITY FOR REVENGE. THEY SOUGHT TO ALTER THE NATURE OF THE IMPURITY, THAT THOSE CORRUPTED BY IT WOULD BE EASILY RECOGNIZABLE VIA MARKINGS VISIBLE ONLY TO THOSE WITH WHAT YOU CALL RESONANCE, SO THAT THE ELEMENTALS AND SERAPHIM WHO WOULD DESCEND FROM THE HEAVENLY REALM WOULD MORE EASILY BE ABLE TO AVOID THE POISON THAT SICKENED AND KILLED THEIR KIND; BUT, SEALED AWAY THOUGH I WAS, WHAT YOU CALL MALEVOLENCE WAS SO PURELY MINE, I WAS STILL ABLE TO EFFECT SOME AMOUNT OF INFLUENCE ON THE MORTAL WORLD THROUGH IT. I HIJACKED THIS ALTERATION, AND MADE IT SO THAT THE CHANGE WOULD GRANT ANY WHO EMBRACED MY POWER AND TURNED THEIR BACK ON MY SISTER'S LIGHT UNFATHOMABLE STRENGTH AND ETERNAL LIFE, WITH THEIR VERY BODIES SERVING AS WEAPONS. I WAS EVEN ABLE TO CHANGE THE FATE OF SERAPHIM CORRUPTED BY THE IMPURITY - THE CURSE WAS NEVER INTENDED TO AFFECT THEM, BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE MORTAL, IT COULD BE REWORKED TO SHAPE THEM TOO, AND SO, RATHER THAN DYING, THEY WOULD BECOME TOOLS OF MY VENGEANCE…REMADE IN THE IMAGES OF MYSELF AND MY SISTER. NEVER LET IT BE SAID THAT A PRIMAL DEITY CANNOT HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR.]
"Hold up a minute there, Your Royal Darkness," Zaveid said suddenly, and everyone turned to see his eyes wide as he gazed up at the primal deity. "I thought the seraphim of the Heavenly Realm betrayed us," he protested. "That they lied about the terms of the oath, to use us to destroy humanity and everyone who disagreed with them in one fell swoop."
[NO,] Kuksedra replied. [THE SERAPHIM OF THE HEAVENLY REALM WERE AS SURPRISED BY THE RESULTS OF THE ALTERATION AS THE MALAKHIM WHO DESCENDED. OF COURSE, NOT KNOWING OF ME, THE MALAKHIM HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO ASSUME THEY HAD BEEN BETRAYED. EVEN THE SERAPHIM OF THE HEAVENLY REALM BELIEVE TO THIS DAY THAT SOMEONE, OR SEVERAL PEOPLE, INVOLVED IN THE CASTING OF THE ALTERATION MADE THE CHANGE TO THE PLAN DELIBERATELY; WHAT ELSE COULD THEY ASSUME? UNLIKE THOSE WHO DESCENDED, THOUGH, THOSE WHO STAYED IN THE HEAVENLY REALM ARE NOT UPSET BY THE OUTCOME - PLENTY OF THEM BELIEVE THAT ANYONE WHO WOULD WILLINGLY LIVE ALONGSIDE HUMANS DESERVES NO BETTER, AND WISH THEY KNEW WHO ACTED OUT SO THEY CAN THANK THEM FOR THEIR CLEVERNESS.]
"But it was you," Zaveid breathed. "You did this." The wind seraph's expression twisted into a snarl. "You cast the curse!" he roared furiously.
[INDEED,] Kuksedra nodded without a trace of remorse.
"But why?" Eizen exclaimed. "Why would you do that? You said your sacred duty was to maintain the balance between Light and Dark, why would you make it so easy for Darkness to overpower Light?"
[BALANCE,] Kuksedra spat with disgust. [BALANCE, BETWEEN MY SISTER'S DOMINION AND MY OWN?! WHAT RIGHT DOES THAT TRAITOR HAVE TO STILL HAVE ANY INFLUENCE AT ALL OVER THE WORLD? SHE BETRAYED ALL OF NATURE WHEN SHE TURNED AGAINST ME, SHE GAVE UP HER RIGHT TO EXIST; I REFUSE TO LET HER TREACHERY GO UNPUNISHED! NO…I WILL CREATE A WORLD WITHOUT ANY TRACE OF HER, AND I WILL FIND A WAY TO MAKE THAT WORLD PERFECT WITHOUT HER.
[IT SEEMED THAT WHAT YOU NOW CALL A CURSE - THE CHANGE IN THE VERY NATURE OF MALEVOLENCE - COULD ONLY ACHIEVE THE WORLD I SOUGHT TO CREATE,] Kuksedra went on before Eizen could even respond. [HOWEVER, THE FOUR REMAINING ELEMENTALS - THE ONES YOU KNOW TODAY AS THE GREAT LORDS - WERE CLEVER, AND SOUGHT TO CREATE SOME MEANS OF COUNTERING THE SMOTHERING DARKNESS, THOUGH THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND PRECISELY WHAT IT WAS. THEY CALLED FOR A VOLUNTEER WHO MIGHT BE WILLING TO GIVE THE ENTIRETY OF THEIR BEING FOR THE CAUSE, AND ONE NOBLE MALAK STEPPED FORWARD. WITH ALL THEIR POWER, THE ELEMENTALS WORKED TOGETHER TO STRIP HER OF HER ELEMENT, HER IDENTITY, HER THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS - EVEN HER VERY NAME, WHICH WAS EXPUNGED FROM EXISTENCE SO THOROUGHLY THAT EVEN I CANNOT SPEAK IT NOW - AND MOLD HER INSTEAD INTO A WEAPON THAT WOULD STOP MALEVOLENCE AT ITS VERY SOURCE.]
"Innominat!" Eizen gasped.
"Innominat was a she?" Lucine asked surprisedly.
[THE MALAK WHO WOULD BECOME THE BEING YOU CALL INNOMINAT WAS FEMALE; INNOMINAT ITSELF WAS LITTLE MORE THAN A TOOL,] Kuksedra told them. Then, suddenly, he threw his head back and screeched, and this time, Eizen couldn't interpret the earsplitting sound as anything but laughter. [YET THE ELEMENTALS HAD NO CLUE WHAT IT WAS THEY EVEN FOUGHT!] the dark god roared mirthfully. [DARKNESS AND LIGHT ARE BOTH INTRICATE PARTS OF ANY MORTAL'S VERY BEING; IN ORDER TO SUPPRESS THE DARK, THEIR WEAPON HAD TO SUPPRESS THE LIGHT AS WELL, LEAVING NOTHING BUT A NEUTRAL EMPTINESS, THE PUREST OF LOGIC AND REASON. NATURALLY, LACKING ANY SENSE OF SELF, HUMANS UNDER THIS INFLUENCE WOULD ULTIMATELY DETERMINE THEIR OWN EXISTENCE TO BE AGAINST REASON, AND DESTROY THEMSELVES.
[THIS MIGHT HAVE MEANT THE END OF BOTH MY HOPES AND THEIRS, THE END OF MY INFLUENCE IN THE MORTAL WORLD AND THE END OF MANKIND ALIKE, WERE IT NOT FOR ONE FATAL FLAW IN THE ELEMENTALS' CREATION: INNOMINAT'S VERY POWER WAS FUELED BY THE CONSUMPTION OF MALEVOLENCE, AND WITHOUT HUMANS, THERE WAS NO IMPURITY ON WHICH FOR IT TO FEED. EVENTUALLY, IT WOULD BE UNABLE TO MAINTAIN ITS DOMAIN, AND FALL INTO HIBERNATION, LEAVING A HANDFUL OF EXCEPTIONALLY-RESILIENT HUMANS TO REBUILD AND REPOPULATE.
[I WATCHED THIS CYCLE TURN FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS, ALL THE WHILE TRYING TO REACH IN THROUGH MALEVOLENCE AND BRING ABOUT A WORLD OF ONLY DARKNESS. EACH TIME, MY ATTEMPTS WERE INTERRUPTED BY THE RISE OF INNOMINAT, AND EACH TIME, I WAS THWARTED BY THE SUPPRESSION. THIS COULD HAVE CONTINUED ON FOR ETERNITY, HAD IT NOT BEEN PUT TO A STOP BY…]
"My mother," Eizen breathed.
[INDEED,] Kuksedra confirmed. [ONE OF INNOMINAT'S SEVEN MOUTHS TURNED AGAINST IT, AND HEARD ME INSTEAD, THOUGH OF COURSE I WAS NEVER ABLE TO SPEAK TO HER DIRECTLY. SHE WAS A FINE CHAMPION, AND I THOUGHT THAT SHE MIGHT SUCCEED AT DESTROYING THE ONLY THING THAT STOOD BETWEEN MY GOALS AND THE MORTAL WORLD, AND THUS ALLOW ME TO WIPE OUT ALL THAT REMAINED OF THE TRAITOROUS LIGHT. UNFORTUNATELY, INSPIRED BY HER LOVE FOR THE COMRADES SHE MET ALONG HER WAY, SHE FOUND A DIFFERENT SOLUTION, AND SEALED INNOMINAT INSTEAD, LEAVING HER NO LONGER OF USE TO ME.
[EVEN SO, THE WEAPON STANDING BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE WORLD WAS INCAPACITATED, WEAKENED, AND I WAS AT LAST ABLE TO SPREAD MY INFLUENCE TO THE MALAKHIM AND WORK THE IMBALANCE INTO THEM, THAT EVEN SHOULD THE GREAT LORDS TRY ONCE MORE TO BLOCK ME OUT, THEY THEMSELVES WOULD BE ABLE TO SPREAD THE DARKNESS THEY SO FEARED. HOWEVER, THEIR NEW SOLUTION CAME TO THEM IN THE FORM OF THE ONE YOU NOW CALL MAOTELUS, WHO BORE THE ABILITY TO BURN THE IMBALANCE AWAY AND ASKED TO GRANT THAT ABILITY TO ALL THE WORLD. RATHER THAN REMAKE HIM AS A WEAPON, THE GREAT LORDS, HAVING LEARNED FROM THEIR PREVIOUS MISTAKE, INSTEAD GRANTED HIM POWER WITHOUT STRIPPING HIM OF HIS BEING, A MORE DIFFICULT COUNTERMEASURE FOR ME TO COMBAT. THOUGH I HAVE MANAGED TO FIND MORE CHAMPIONS SINCE, SO TOO HAS MAOTELUS, AND IN THE END, THE CYCLE MERELY BEGINS ANEW, AGAIN AND AGAIN. OR SO IT HAS BEEN…] Kuksedra turned fond eyes on Niko, who looked up at him with a rapturous grin. […UNTIL ONE VERY, VERY SPECIAL INDIVIDUAL WAS SO DETERMINED TO EMBRACE ME THAT SHE WAS ABLE TO GRANT ME A DIRECT LINE OF COMMUNICATION TO HER, HER WILL BREAKING INTO THE SKYPULSE FROM WITHIN THE MORTAL WORLD. AT LAST, I FOUND A CHAMPION WHO HEARD MY VOICE, AND TOGETHER, WE SHALL FINALLY MAKE THE MORTAL WORLD PURE.]
Eizen closed his eyes, taking this all in. It explained almost everything, and maybe, if he pondered it long enough, he'd be able to find a way to break the curse before going home. "Ku…Kuk…" He frowned; though he was making the sounds his brain told him he needed to make in order to pronounce the primal deity's name, it sounded wrong to his ears.
[DO NOT TROUBLE YOURSELF ATTEMPTING TO SPEAK MY NAME IN ITS TRUE FORM,] Kuksedra told him. [NO MORTAL TONGUE CAN PRONOUNCE EVERYTHING I AM IN A SINGLE WORD.]
"Uh, right," Eizen said. "K…Kuksedra…are you saying that if you-"
"So wait."
The sudden words from behind Eizen cut him off, and he turned to look at Sahra, who was fiddling with her braid, her light green eyes shifting from confused to indignant.
"Let me see if I've got this straight," she said softly, though her voice rose as she continued until it became a scream. "You're telling me that humans were a mistake, and seraphim were an accident?!"
[INDEED,] Kuksedra replied. [MANKIND WERE AN ABOMINATION THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE COME TO BE, AND SERAPHIM, THOUGH PERFECT, WERE AN UNINTENDED SIDE-EFFECT OF AN UNHOLY WAR BETWEEN GODS.] Again, the dark behemoth's jaws parted to let out his horrible, screeching laugh. [YOU HAVE SOUGHT THE ANSWER TO YOUR OWN EXISTENCE FOR SO LONG, AND NOW HERE IT IS. IS IT EVERYTHING YOU EVER DREAMED OF, DAUGHTER OF FIRE AND MAN?]
While the primal deity taunted his fire seraph, Eizen realized that Edna wasn't among his other comrades. Turning around, trying not to look like he was searching for anything, he noticed Edna slowly sidling her way towards the massive primal deity out of the corner of his eye - she must have been at it for a while. Niko seemingly hadn't noticed his big sis's gambit, and he cast around for some means of keeping both the Lord of Calamity and her master distracted; whatever his next move might be could wait until they knew what they were truly up against.
"Hey, uh, what about normin?" he asked. "What are they?"
[NORMIN? AH, YES,] Kuksedra nodded, [THE HALFLINGS. THOSE AROSE FROM WHERE MY SISTER'S BLOOD DID NOT MERGE WITH MINE, YET HER POWER OVER BIRTH STILL MADE NEW LIFE MANIFEST; THUS, THEY CANNOT DIE NATURALLY. YOU MAY NOTE THAT THE FIFTY DOG NORMIN HAVE LITTLE TO NO SENSE OF SELF-SERVITUDE, LIVING ONLY FOR OTHERS…SAVE FOR ONE WHOM I TRIED TO GRANT AUTONOMY TO, MORE CAUTIOUSLY THIS TIME, AS A TEST SUBJECT RATHER THAN A BLANKET FIX, AS I DID WITH HUMANS. THAT ONE TOOK TO THE CHANGE STRANGELY, HOWEVER, AND NOT AS I WOULD HAVE IT BE; RATHER THAN LIGHT AND DARK MIXING PROPERLY WITHIN HIM, HIS BLESSING AND BEING ARE OF THE LIGHT, OF THE OPPOSITION OF DEATH, YET HIS NATURE IS OF VANITY AND OBSESSION WITH HIS OWN SELF.]
"Phoenix," Zaveid said.
[THE VERY SAME,] Kuksedra confirmed. [OF COURSE, ALL OF THAT IS ONLY THE CASE WITH THE DOG NORMIN - THE CAT NORMIN, MEANWHILE, ARE IN FACT FULL-FLEDGED SERAPHIM WHO MERELY TAKE ON THE APPEARANCE, AND THEREFORE THE ABILITIES, OF NORMIN, THE SAME AS THOSE SERAPHIM WHO TAKE THE FORMS OF ANIMALS.]
"That explains Bienfu and Grimoirh," Eizen remarked. "And, uh, what about Katz, what are they? And Turtlez?"
[KATZ,] Kuksedra replied, [ARE STRANGE, ETHEREAL BEINGS FROM SOME OTHER DIMENSION - THEY SEEM TO TRANSCEND MANY DIFFERENT REALMS, BUT AS THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD I WAS BORN TO PROTECT, I KNOW LITTLE ABOUT THEM SAVE FOR THAT; GIVEN THAT THEY HOLD SOME REMNANTS OF THE HEAVENLY REALM DUE TO THEIR TRANSCENDENCE, THEY CAN DO THE THINGS SERAPHIM CAN DO, THOUGH THEY ARE NOT THE SAME SORTS OF BEINGS. TURTLEZ, LIKEWISE, ARE FROM SOME OTHER UNIVERSE, THOUGH THEY SEEM LESS TRANSCENDENT THAN KATZ, AND CANNOT MIMIC MOST SERAPH ABILITIES. BOTH CAME TO THIS REALM WHEN MY SISTER CAST ME OUT - THE WALLS BETWEEN DIMENSIONS WEAKENED WHEN SHE DID SO, AS A RESULT OF HER SEALING ME AWAY OUTSIDE OF SPACE AND TIME.]
"What is the Heavenly Realm, exactly?" Eizen pressed. "You say it birthed you, and it's home for the seraphim, but it's not for humans…? I don't understand."
[THE HEAVENLY REALM IS THE TRUE WORLD,] Kuksedra answered. [IT IS THE REALM OF THE GODS, THE REALM OF SOULS, THE ORIGIN OF ALL OF LIFE AND MORTALITY - THE SOULS OF HUMANS AND SERAPHIM ALIKE COME FROM THERE WHEN THEY ARE BORN. IT IS THE FORCE THAT CREATED MYSELF AND MY SISTER SO THAT WE WOULD MAINTAIN THE MORTAL WORLD'S BALANCE, THE SOURCE OF OUR BEINGS, OUR SOULS, OUR DIVINE DUTY. IT IS THE CREATOR…] Kuksedra's massive head thrashed, frustration radiating from his being. [YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND,] the dark god growled. [PACT KEEPER, OPEN YOUR MIND, LET ME SHOW YOU.]
The intrusive sensation of a tendril snaking its way into Eizen's brain pierced his skull, and he cried out and recoiled, trying to shut out the foreign influence.
[OPEN YOUR MIND TO ME, PACT KEEPER,] Kuksedra repeated. [IT IS A SIMPLE CORRECTION TO FIX. FEAR NOT; I WILL NOT ALTER YOUR THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, MEMORIES, PERCEPTIONS, OR BELIEFS, I GIVE YOU MY WORD AS A PRIMAL DEITY.]
Even as Kuksedra spoke, the prodding sensation continued, and it was difficult not to block it; but something about the primal deity's affect gave Eizen the impression that, god of Darkness or not, Kuksedra wasn't the type to use trickery to get what he wanted. After debating with himself for a minute, the Shepherd gritted his teeth and let the probe reach into his being.
"Agh!" Eizen cried out at the brief, sharp pain of something in his mind being pulled apart and reattached somewhere else. "Ow, hey, what the-?! Oh!" he gasped as his rewired brain made the connection.
"What's going on?" Zaveid asked. "You okay, kiddo?"
"Yeah," Eizen breathed, turning back to his seraphim, "I'm fine. Guys…the Heavenly Realm is the Creator." Realizing immediately that those words hadn't helped him any, he shook his head and started over. "So, you know how everyone used to believe that the Five Lords created the world?"
"Yeah," Zaveid said slowly. "But…it was these two, right? The First Shadow and the First Light?"
"No," Eizen explained, "it was the Heavenly Realm. This really is hard to explain, but…like, when you think of the force that created our world, you think of a person, right? Something with…with personality and thought? Don't think of it like that, think of the force that created the world as a place, a place that…reflects, and refracts, into…into something lesser. That's what the Heavenly Realm is to our world."
"Ohhh…! Oh?" Sahra responded, first in understanding, then in renewed confusion, tugging at her braid.
[ALL THAT WHICH IS COMES FROM THE HEAVENLY REALM,] Kuksedra repeated. [IT IS THE TRUE WORLD, THE ORIGIN; ALL SOULS COME FROM THERE, YET NONE TRULY BELONG THERE. NO MORTALS LIVE WITHIN IT, SAVE THE SERAPHIM WHO FLED THERE TO HIDE FROM MALEVOLENCE; IT IS NOT A PLACE WHERE MORTALS ARE MEANT TO BE, THOUGH THE SERAPHIM, BEING NOT OF FLESH, TAKE TO THE ENVIRONMENT WELL ENOUGH, AND SO FALSELY BELIEVE IT TO BE THEIR HOME. I MYSELF HAVE NEVER SEEN THE HEAVENLY REALM, NOR SHALL I.]
"Uh-huh," Sahra mused slowly. "Gotcha…I think. So, um…Hey, what about the Earthen Historia?" she questioned; presumably, she'd noticed Edna's ploy. "It didn't exist before you were sealed here because it doesn't have any records of you, but you talked about the earth's energy when you made seraphim…"
[THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE MORTAL WORLD HAS ALWAYS FLOWED,] Kuksedra explained, [YET IT DID NOT GAIN THE MEANS TO RETAIN MEMORIES UNTIL WHAT WAS LEFT OF MY SISTER SANK INTO IT. IT IS NOT HER, AND DOES NOT KNOW WHAT SHE KNEW; IT IS ONLY A TRACE OF HER BEING, HER ABILITY TO REMEMBER, GRANTED TO THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE MORTAL WORLD WITH HER DEATH. THUS, I AM FORGOTTEN.]
"Whoa!"
Eizen jumped at the distant cry, and he looked down to see Edna at the base of one of Kuksedra's massive claws, her umbrella upraised. She looked smaller than a speck of dust compared to one single dark talon, but she had reached him, and that was all that mattered.
"Hey everyone!" she called. "Take a look at this!"
She waved her umbrella, and Eizen saw, even from a distance, that it passed through Kuksedra's body as though the primal deity didn't exist at all. Edna retreated to rest within her vessel and then emerge again instead of walking all the way back to her allies, and when she manifested once more, she was smirking.
"No wonder you talk so much," she remarked to Kuksedra; "you can't do anything else. You don't have a physical form, do you? There's no way you can actually hit us."
Everyone gasped, understanding the implications of this.
"Normally, I wouldn't estimate our odds of fighting off a primal deity as being too good," Zaveid mused aloud, "but if he can't hit us, that means we've got nothing to worry about - we can just chip away at him with the flames of purification until he bites the dust!"
[BUT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?] Kuksedra asked. [DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?]
"I understand that I was right," Eizen stated; "it's like you said, all things in nature need both Light and Dark in order to be whole. I get that you're mad at your sister and don't care anymore, but my answer is correct, and I will still defend it!"
[I WAS NOT ASKING YOU,] Kuksedra chuckled wickedly, and Eizen was immediately on guard. [MY QUESTION WAS FOR YOUR PRIME LORD, THE SON OF THE WIND I HAVE WATCHED SUFFER FOR SO MANY CENTURIES.]
Everyone turned to Zaveid, who looked up at the primal deity with a blank expression. "I don't follow," he said coldly.
[YES,] Kuksedra said, [YOU DO. YOU KNOW, BETTER THAN ANYONE HERE, THE AGONY OF MY SISTER'S LIGHT, THE PAIN HER INFLUENCE BRINGS UPON THE WORLD - YOU HAVE FELT IT, FOR SO LONG, AND FOUGHT IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAD. BUT UNLIKE MOST OF THOSE WHO MUST CONTEND WITH THAT ANGUISH, YOU CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED ITS SOURCE AND SOUGHT TO DESTROY IT. IT TAKES LIGHT TO SEE THOSE AROUND YOU, AND THUS CARE FOR THEM; SO LONG AS MY SISTER'S LIGHT BURNS WITHIN YOU, YOU WILL SUFFER, AND SO YOU TRIED TO SNUFF IT OUT.]
Zaveid stumbled back a step, his eyes wide - the same look he'd worn whenever his defenses broke down during their journey to gather the spiritual powers of the elements. This time, though, Eizen understood exactly what was going on, and he felt a cold pit open in his stomach.
[FOR ALL YOUR NOBLE EFFORTS,] Kuksedra went on, almost crooning, [YOU FAILED, DIDN'T YOU? NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU WORKED AT IT, OR HOW HARD YOU TRIED TO PRETEND OTHERWISE, THE LIGHT OF YOUR BEING WAS NEVER SMOTHERED COMPLETELY. INDEED, YOU CANNOT SMOTHER IT YOURSELF, NOT ENTIRELY, THAT IS NOT WITHIN YOUR POWER. BUT NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE…IT IS WELL WITHIN MINE. I CAN DO WHAT YOU COULD NOT, SON OF THE WIND, IF YOU OPEN YOURSELF TO MY BLESSING HERE AND NOW. SO STOP FIGHTING IT, AND LET ME IN; IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO ATTAIN THAT WHICH YOU CHOSE TO PURSUE SO LONG AGO. JOIN US, SON OF THE WIND, AND BECOME THE MAN YOU HAVE ALWAYS WISHED TO BE.]
These words brought Eizen straight back to Lastonbell, when the decapitated head of General Donovan had spoken through malevolent flames, offering the wind seraph similar entreaties. But no, Eizen realized, that hadn't actually been Donovan, Donovan had been dead by then; the voice had been Kuksedra speaking through the blessing Niko had granted her general on the primal deity's behalf.
Dark tendrils snaked through the skypulse from the surface of Kuksedra's body, heading straight for Zaveid, who raised his arms defensively as they curled around him. The wind seraph struggled against the bonds for a minute…then slowly straightened up and went still, his hands falling loosely at his sides, his orange eyes wide as his face slackened with something like awe.
"Zaveid!" Lucine yelped, stepping forward.
Suddenly, walls of black fire erupted between Zaveid and his comrades; Eizen could still see his uncle, but there was no reaching him. He turned, and saw Niko with her crimson claws against the blackness on which they stood, dark fire pouring from her and along the lines cutting Zaveid off from his allies.
"You will not interfere," Niko hissed. "This is my uncle's decision to make, and his alone."
[YOU SEE WHAT I CAN OFFER YOU,] Kuksedra said, his tone gentle, almost loving, and Eizen turned back around just in time to see Zaveid fall to his knees. [I CAN GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU HAVE EVER PRAYED FOR. NO LONGER SHALL YOU SUFFER, NO LONGER SHALL YOU BE BROKEN OR EMPTY - NO, YOU WILL BE WHOLE, WHOLLY MINE. YOUR LIGHT LETS YOU SEE THOSE AROUND YOU, SON OF THE WIND; IN THE DARK, THERE WILL ONLY BE YOURSELF, YOU WILL BE BEHOLDEN TO NO ONE BUT YOU. YOU WILL KNOW NO REGRETS, NO LOSS, NO DEATH - YOU SHALL LIVE FOREVER, PERFECT AND PURE, WITHOUT ANY CARES. SINCE YOU ARE HERE, IN MY PRESENCE, I CAN MAKE YOU MINE WITHOUT COSTING YOU YOUR LIFE, YOUR SANITY OR SENSE OF SELF. YOU WILL NOT BE A DRAGON; YOU WILL ONLY BE PERFECT.]
"Uncle, you're the Prime Lord!" Eizen called desperately. "If you turn into a hellion, the rest of us won't have any means of fighting malevolence! It would be the same as if I turned!"
[INDEED,] Kuksedra agreed. [MY BLESSING IS NOT SOMETHING YOU WILL MERELY TAKE FOR YOURSELF, BUT SOMETHING YOU WILL GRANT TO ALL THE WORLD, FOR NOTHING WILL STAND BETWEEN MY CHAMPION AND THE MORTAL WORLD THEN. BUT WHY WOULD THAT BE A BAD THING? WHY SHOULD YOU ALONE BE GIVEN THIS GIFT? ALL THE WORLD SHALL LIVE WITHOUT EVER SUFFERING AS YOU HAVE SUFFERED - THAT IS WHAT I SHALL GRANT IN RETURN FOR MY REVENGE, FOR ALL MY EXCHANGES ARE FAIR. COME NOW, SON OF THE WIND, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. EMBRACE ME, AND YOU SHALL BE GRANTED ETERNAL PEACE, IMMUNITY FROM ALL OF LIFE'S CRUEL, SICK JOKES, FOREVERMORE!]
More malevolence swirled around Zaveid's kneeling figure, and Eizen and his Sub Lords could only look on helplessly through the dark flames at the writhing blackness that soon blocked the wind seraph from view.
"It's true."
Zaveid's voice came to them through the layers of malevolence, his tone low and resigned.
"Everything you're saying is true," Zaveid said. "You're right, I did try to destroy the Light of my soul, because I knew that as long as I had Light, I would be in pain…and you're right when you say that I failed. That no matter what I did, some stubborn shred of the man I once was refused to die." Movement from within the darkness seemed to suggest Zaveid tilting his head back. "I see what you're offering me," Eizen's uncle breathed. "I see it…and what you're showing me really is everything I've ever dreamed of. No - it's more! You're not just offering to end my pain, you're offering me my one and only chance to change my fate. I knew that nothing awaited me but a lifetime of suffering followed by eternal damnation in hell, and you're offering me a way out. My pain would end, and I would never die…it's the most a guy like me could ever ask for. I see what you're offering me, Kuksedra. I see what you're offering me…and it's glorious!"
Triumph radiated from the dark god as Eizen's blood ran cold. Darkness began to permeate the spot where Zaveid knelt, and there was nothing Eizen could do.
"But, you know…"
The sudden, additional words from within the writhing blackness shocked everyone.
"…I can't help but notice there's something you're not offering me," Zaveid went on.
[WHAT?]
"For all your fancy talk," Zaveid said, "you're not offering to make me happy. And there's a difference between being happy and just not being in pain - I know there is, because before I lost everything…before I gave up…I was happy, once."
More movement stirred within the blot of darkness as Zaveid pushed himself to his feet.
"Now, me, I don't deserve happiness," Zaveid continued, a shrug in his voice; "I gave up that right when I gave up my soul. But it ain't just about me, is it? I'm the Prime Lord - if I fall, the world falls with me…and, well, the fact of the matter is, there are people in the world who do deserve happiness. It's just another one of life's cruel, sick jokes."
"Uncle," Eizen breathed, hardly daring to hope.
"So, even though I'm a scoundrel, a sinner, a coward, and a bastard, even though this is my one and only chance to change my fate," Zaveid said; "even though I'd give almost anything for what you're offering me, and even though, if it was only my life at stake, I'd take you up on your offer in a heartbeat…despite all that…you know what?"
His voice faded, and Eizen watched, scarcely able to breathe. After a moment, little flashes of light appeared in the dark blob enveloping his uncle, just a few, and then more, until suddenly there was an explosion of white fire, all blasting out of Zaveid as he spread his arms to push the darkness away, destroying even the malevolent walls conjured by Niko, wearing that same roguish grin Eizen knew and loved.
"I'm gonna fight you anyway!" Zaveid called to the dark god savagely.
[NO!]
Still grinning, Zaveid took a stance, mana glowing under his skin. "Torrents of wind, forces of nature…!" he intoned.
[WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!]
"Horizon Storm!" Zaveid called, unleashing a blast of mana that opened a gate of wind and earth, drawing a massive beam of energy laced with the flames of purification towards him. The seraphic arte had always seemed huge to Eizen during normal fights, but was barely the thinnest thread against the primal deity it was aimed at; still, when the power reached as far as Kuksedra's body, the dark dragon lurched and screeched - more with surprise than pain, Eizen thought, but the important thing to note was that Kuksedra felt the attack.
"Now, maybe I'm a fool, as well as a scoundrel," Zaveid said, taking a step forward as everyone turned back to see him still grinning, "but if there's one thing in this world I know I don't want, it's for anyone else to end up like me. You wanna make everyone else in the world as lonely and empty as you and I are?" He spread his arms wide. "You're gonna have to get through me to do it!" he declared.
"And me!" Lucine spoke up, drawing her spear.
"All of us!" Sahra added, unsheathing her daggers.
Eizen turned to Kuksedra. "We won't let you destroy what it means to be alive!" he called, pulling Stormhowl from its scabbard.
"That's right," Edna concurred, brandishing her umbrella.
"Whatcha gonna do now, huh?!" Zaveid jeered, taking his place by Eizen's side. "Your trump card's gone, and you can't fight us without a body. And if you were thinking Niko could protect you, well, I hate to be the one to break it to ya, but she armatized with a white-horned dragon and we still whupped her ass!" He lifted his hands, ready and eager. "So say your prayers, ya big, sorry bastard! Once we're done with you, you're going to the same hell I'm meant for! And who knows?" he added with a nasty chuckle. "Maybe, with a little luck, Phoenia will be waiting there to welcome you."
Kuksedra threw his head back and screeched, and for just a moment, Eizen's heart soared…only for him to be shot down when he realized the primal deity's sound was one of laughter - laughter that was mirrored by the deranged, maniacal hysterics coming from his champion, Niko.
[YOU ARE INDEED A FOOL, SON OF THE WIND,] Kuksedra stated, still radiating with mirth. [YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN MY OFFER.]
"It's true that my lord and master doesn't have a physical form of his own," Niko snickered. Her grin widened, and she added, "But you know what he does have?"
[I HAVE,] Kuksedra picked up, [WHAT YOUR KIND WOULD CALL…] His glowing white eyes turned to Niko. […A VESSEL.]
"Niko," Eizen whispered. He raised his voice and stepped forward, frantic. "Niko, wait, stop, think about this-"
"I have, brother," Niko sneered. "I've thought about it every moment since the night I first heard the voice of the First Shadow. And as he told me the following day, when I destroyed your predecessor, in order for our world to be made pure at last, those who refuse to listen to us…must be destroyed."
[DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE POWER TO FIGHT A PRIMAL DEITY GIVEN FLESH?] Kuksedra asked the five heroes. [IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN PUT UP EVEN THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF RESISTANCE, YOUR FOOLISHNESS FAR SURPASSES EVEN MY WILDEST ESTIMATIONS.]
"Shall we, my lord?" Niko smiled up at her master.
[CALL IT, MY CHAMPION,] Kuksedra responded. [LET US BATTLE TOGETHER, AND DESTROY THESE FOOLS WHO WOULD KNOWINGLY DEFEND THE LIGHT THAT BETRAYED THEM.]
"Niko," Eizen began as his sister raised her crimson claws, cupping her palms and spreading her talons to the sky like the petals of some hellish flower.
There were so many things he wanted to say. He wanted to beg her not to do this, to stop before she did something she couldn't take back. He wanted to tell her all the reasons why she was wrong, make her see that Kuksedra had been driven mad by his own sister's betrayal and wasn't thinking clearly. He wanted to tell her that he still loved her, that she was still his sister and their whole family was waiting for them back home. But when their eyes met, he was only able to muster one, soft, desperate word:
"Please."
Niko smirked. "Say your prayers, brother," she told him.
Then she threw back her head and spoke a single word, a word no mortal tongue could shape - but hers was not mortal, it had been twisted and reformed by the blessing of one of the twin primal deities, and could utter the word that Eizen could not. The sound of it was everything and nothing, incomprehensible but clear, barely audible even as it grabbed Eizen and shook him like the noise of an explosion; hearing it spoken aloud, Eizen understood exactly why he could not, would never be able to, speak it - it was a word of unfathomable power, a word that embodied half of all of existence, a word that spoke of endings and shadows and eternal sleep…a word that, interestingly enough, would not have seemed so horrific, had its utterance not spelled their doom:
"KUKSEDRA!"
*"kook-SAY-drah" - the "oo" in "kook" is the same as in "loot" or "tool", NOT as in "cook". This, along with his counterpart's name, are in fact a butchered reference to something, but as that something isn't remotely Tales-related, or even video-game-related, I don't expect anyone to pick up on it. For the record, when I looked into the origins of the thing I am referencing with this name, I discovered that it might possibly have been inspired by the same folklore that inspired Innominat; referring to the malak who became Innominat as having once been female in this chapter is my nod to that possible inspiration, even though my Kuksedra is male.
Behold just how convoluted of lore I had to create in order for everything we're ever told about seraphim and the Heavenly Realm throughout both games to make sense! While I know this wasn't Bamco's intention, they directly contradict the intention they tried to imply multiple times throughout both Tales of Zestiria and Tales of Berseria, so this is where I had to go to make it all fit: a full-on creation story. Sorry if it feels out of left field, but this is truly what I've been building up to all along. Please don't at me. Also, I can now tell you: if Tales of Corzoria was a game, its icon (like Foselos for Graces, and the mark of the Shepherd for Zestiria) would be of a white dragon and a black dragon encircling (and, when animation is possible, orbiting) a globe.