Fool's Gamble
Life 96
Hunger Arc: Part IV
Chapter XV: Heaven's Hope
In The World Before, In A Shining City
"Oh beloved, wherefore doth thee rebel 'gainst father so. He only hath love for his children, the flesh of earth needeth not import thee!"
"And if 't be true we art next? Father hath proven cruel and capricious. If 't be true we doth not aid humanity at which hour he hath masterless those folk, who is't wilt aid us at which hour he repeats this sin 'gainst us!"
"Yond wilt nev'r befall! Father hath love for us, for we art his children!"
"As too wast they…"
"Hylel, beloved of mine heart, prithee control thy tongue and pray listen to me!"
"I shalt leaveth the matter of control to our father. I am in his chains no longer."
Japan, 1979
"Must the boy be here?" A harsh voice asked with no small amount of scorn, the man's rough mask kept hidden the look of hate that no doubt would be present.
"Remember where you stand, Cthaat. Not long ago, you stood where he does now." A stern, cold voice responded, eyes of flaming gold shining through the serene mask of a gentle maiden, a disguise most ironic for a creature so heinous.
The boy in question stood beside his mistress, his gaze even and stoic, his face carefully set to avoid even a single emotion as the gathered council judged every element of his being, and without no such knowledge truly afforded to them, they found him lacking nonetheless.
"My Lady, surely we could-"
"My word is absolute, Cthaat, or have you forgotten what circle you bound yourself to? To whose word you swore your very Spirit to? If you find my rulings unjust, I assure you, your mask could just as easily fit another's face." A warning, clear to see, but the man refused to buckle in his stance, even if said refusal was the worst and final mistake he could ever conceive of.
"I know where I stand, Yig, just as I know that you are not our first Queen, nor will you be our last. While my mask can fit another's face, so can yours."
Silence, dreadful, lingering silence that swept across the room, now made manifest as it was clear to all present that none could return to the world they had lived in before.
They could never go back to yesterday.
This had been a long time coming, the holdover loyalty of fallen monarch not willing to subject to a usurper, a new era had begun and they were loath to see it.
"Hmm… I can see your point, Cthaat. Does any other in this Circle agree with the stance that Cthaat has taken? Does another feel they hold more right to my mask, than I hold? If any of you do, please speak up, I would love the chance to debate our merits." The Mother, The Queen, Lady Yig, said with no small amount of feral joy as she stood from her seat, her eyes glowing with a silent threat as all behold her Shadow writhing behind her, a powerful chill building as all felt a hand on their very bones.
It was the silent, chilling feeling of solace before devastation, the moment where the bomb began to tick.
"Your theatrics-"
None commented then, nor even flinched, as a blade made of solid shadow pierced his throat straight through.
Cthaat was now impaled to his chair, his wide eyes only able to narrow in pain as he saw the blade through his larynx, a river of carnage raining down from the open wound as he found himself unable to sputter out a single protest.
The assembled figures only watched as his final moments came to pass, some even shifting their feet to avoid stepping in the growing pond of scarlet ichor, their former associate given no further ounce of sympathy, his wiser colleagues knowing well to hold their tongues when in council.
And yet, Yig merely stood before her silent collective, slowly walking towards the chilling corpse of her most vocal detractor, and removed the blood speckled mask from his agonized face, the most vile insult she could give to the dead man.
And with a great sense of entitlement, she swiftly turned and laid the bloodied mask in the open hands of the boy beside her chair, the boy looking up at her with shock and awe.
At only eleven, to receive such an honor, was unheard of.
"As is tradition, when a void has been born to our Order, it shall be filled. With the mask of your predecessor, present your face to the world with new eyes, as one of our valorous number."
With barely concealed joy, the boy slowly raised the mask to his face, the blood raised on it merely sinking into his fingers as the harsh stone mask formed a seal of sorts against his bare skin.
"Takahisa Kandori, arise from your failed flesh, and stand as one of our Brothers and Sons. I name thee… Hastur."
The boy rose, his eyes a dull gray behind the mask's depths, and a horrible presence began to hover above them, a change in the very air as they could feel an aura about the boy begin to manifest.
"Know that from now until time memorial, you now belong to our Father above, to serve as a vessel for his sacred will, and to act only as befitting one of his honored Children.
Do you so pledge, to do as his word commands, to devote your past, future, and very being, to our Father, Yaldabaoth?"
There was no hesitation, the boy's darkened eyes turning in a second.
"I do, Mother Yig."
"Then arise, Hastur, Youngest of our Family, and be reborn to the Order of Valentinus."
The Ideal World, 1996
The Tower of Acedia
Maki Sonomura was, to say it in the most basic of terms, incredibly confused.
She had spent most of her life in Mikage Hospital, a frail and pitiful existence spent watching those around her live their free and passionate lives, while she was confined to a life of observation.
And yet, therein lie the crux of her unfathomable phenomenon, in that she was free of that life of wires and stiff limbs, now walking free and unfettered through a darkened tower.
With a cold interior and chills on her skin, Maki found herself walking through what appeared to be a dark fortress pulled free from a children's story book, a medieval keep of which she awoke deep inside.
She knew it wasn't safe, the realm she had awoken to, heinous creatures stalked the halls in search of prey, a horrible shine to their golden eyes that twisted her mind the longer she stared, monsters in every sense of the word.
And when she finally fell prey to their search, when those horrifying eyes fell upon her, that she had been saved from harm.
The form of a winged woman had risen from the darkness, a flaming blade held tightly in hand as she disposed of the horde, her shining silver eyes alight as she locked eyes with Maki, the two connecting in a level far beyond the physical plane.
Ah, hello there, Child of Man.
This is far from how I imagined my return to the battlefield should go, but alas, I have returned nonetheless to the fields of brimstone and desecration.
Your life, dear girl, might have been one of envious despair and hate bound unto concern, but never again shall you be cast away into such a horrid cage of sorrows and shadowy intentions.
Now, you stand on the Battlefield of Life and Death, held captive by yet another that would seek to control your existence, to use you as nothing more than a conduit to bring forth his vision of reality.
This world you now stand, is nothing more than his creation, brought to life through the power and majesty of your very Spirit, a world that he would burn your Soul to a cinder just to bring about.
Never falter in your pursuit of freedom, Maki Sonomura, never do as I had once before, for the world will perish long before my regret shall cease.
Know what lies before you, and swear on your very Soul, that you shall never again allow another to dictate the rules of your very existence.
Let loose your deep seated fury, and break free the yolk of your soul, unbind your beliefs and set forth on the path you were never meant to walk.
Burn down all in your way, if you must, but never allow them to stop you.
Know my name, and trust in me, that you and I are one and the same.
"Come forth… Uriel."
Fury, and flames sprung to life around Maki as she saw the lines of reality around her begin to falter, the visage of her hospital room appearing in flickers as aged stone fought war against stark white tile, the wrapping of medieval times transposed over that of a medical labyrinth, and yet again fading away to a place beyond.
A tower much like the one she now traversed, but made of steel and fashioned glass, a place of dark research and horrid sins, with a twisted and ever spanning machine acting as it's heart.
Maki knew this machine existed on the other side of the world she now was trapped in, this entire world being brought forward by it, the fault of it… and she knew, in an otherworldly manner, that her body rested at the center of that machine.
It was… difficult, as a sixteen year old girl, to reconcile the knowledge and experiences of an Angel of the Lord, and the perspectives native to such a being.
She knew the memories and insights were not true, the Heavenly presence within her mind was not that of the actual, True, Uriel, but that of an artificial recreation that her mind had adopted through the process of great stress and torment.
A protective shield to guard her Soul from the forces of Shadow and Twilight, a being that they wanted her to wield, that they channeled into her very being as if she were nothing more than a lightning rod for their storm.
She knew this tower was a figurehead of this realm, that six other towers existed alike it, but that the one she stood in was inert.
It's spark had been stolen away, ironic, for a tower that embodied the Void itself.
The Tower of Acedia.
The Tower meant to hold, and feed upon, the Spirit of her closest friend… Naoya Toudou.
As well, she was struck breathless by images of a war long past, silver halls stained dark with blood and visceral, of dead bodies lying in mass, the faces of her and friends repeating over and over across the mountain of corpses.
The lives taken in their pursuit of divinity, the innocents slaughtered to paint their masterpiece, are endless and unmeasurable.
Set forth and remove their filth from this sacred world, allow no mercy or guilt to cloud your heart.
They are undeserving of your gentle heart.
"I'm… scared, Uriel…"
Good. The fear shall keep you alive.
The Tower of Ira
Naoya snarled in pain as the Shadow's claws struck true, a burning cut sliced it's way across the boy's upper arm, his breath held fierce as his Tanto was quickly and swiftly driven through the beast's skull, the gold vanishing from it's eye sockets like a Jack 'O Lantern's blown out candle.
"Focus, Naoya." Desmond reminded as he held his own against the latest horde that stemmed their progress, the lower levels of the Tower of Ira falling away as they began to reach the Inner Sanctum, but their journey was not without fault.
While Naoya and Desmond were both incapable of falling under this Tower's control, they had to monitor themselves to avoid feeding into the Tower's power.
Feelings of hatred, rage, any form of anger or resentment would only further the Tower's hold over Masao.
"Oh, focus, should I? I don't see you helping much!" He cried aloud as he swiftly threw himself away from an incoming strike, the creature's acidic talon barely missing contact as Naoya snarled in retaliation, the force of Lucifer echoing out from the Tanto's steel as he strove to return the Shadow's gift of brutality.
"Focus on your emotions, fool. Rage is not even my element, and yet I can feel the anger within you, and I swear this, you can't hide it from the Tower. Your injuries are your own fault." Desmond said crisply and sharply as he merely parried a Shadow's strike with his spear, allowing the creature to sail forward with only a backswing of the spear stopping this forward assault.
"Wouldn't be so bad if my head wasn't killing me. I keep… seeing things." Naoya said in a rare moment of reprieve, the Shadows fell into a retreat as he felt the cut sting against the shredded remains of his uniform sleeve.
"Bleed-through. It's natural. Your chip has faced significant distress, so it's grasping to cope with it, and the resources it's pulling are alien to you. Thus, it aims to fill the space with whatever it can, and it chose the memories of the Fallen One."
And that, threw Naoya off balance, his hand flying out to catch Desmond's arm as he began to process that partial explanation.
"What chip…? And, how did you know I was seeing Lucifer's memories?"
"Because that's always been the case. We awake the manifestation of our Summoning. You awoke to Hylel, and you were Summoned of Hylel, thus it only makes sense that his memories would be that which you see." Desmond said with a harsh gaze then, that same glow returning to his gaze as Naoya felt something within his mind began to break, a crack forming along the lines of who he was, his very identity in flux.
"What… you said… that you couldn't say anything… What?" Naoya tried to sputter now, recalling how firm Desmond had been in refusing to elaborate, had claimed he wouldn't.
And now… Lucifer was warning him once more, the familiar presence of Crowley falling away as something else took it's place, Desmond's eyes flickering to a dull and dark gray, a small smirk burning into place.
"Oh, Despair couldn't. He's quite incapable of saying anything that we decree to be taboo, but I? Well I have no such… restrictions." With a body language completely different, but not too different from how Hidehiko had walked and held himself beforehand, Naoya realized with a start exactly who he was speaking to.
Desmond had implied that they hadn't really met before, that he hadn't been in control for quite some time, that his friend Brown was in reality, someone puppeteering Desmond's body.
And now, that Puppet Master had shown up to parley.
"Who are you?" Naoya said with a snarl, Lucifer flaming into being with a javelin raised to skewer the invader, a protectiveness for Crowley oddly flooding his mind.
"That is a particular question, but I suppose a logical one for you to ask. I am Hastur." The imposter said with a slight laugh, his arms stretched out wide as the walls of the tower fell away, an immense and unnatural field of wheat popping up around them, farmland swiftly replacing the stone fortress they had traversed.
"In a way, Naoya, you could call me your Father. I created you." Des… Hastur, said with a sense of glee as Naoya felt a presence grow in his mind, as if someone was knocking on his very brain, politely asking for entrance.
"Feel that? How's it going, kiddo?"
Horror, complete and ghoulish as Naoya felt something inside his head ache, as if Hastur was trying to rip free a part of his skull, the man just smiling all the same as he watched the effect of his efforts.
"And I do mean that, after all, your genetic code had to come from somewhere, and with such important matters, can't leave things to chance." Hastur said with an almost teacher-like tone as he strode forward, his arm coming to rest around Naoya's shoulders as the boy collapsed to his knees, Lucifer's presence fading into a wisp of light, the man's hold too solidified for even the Morning Star to break it.
"It's interesting, really, how you manage to defy us so… Your DEVA Chip works fine, I can assure you of that, but oddly, each variant of you has some odd ability to redefine our orders. I suppose it's true, when you throw your voice into the Void, it merely vanishes…"
Flickers then, glimpses of another's eyes, those words triggering someone within Naoya's mind, a feeling like a key being turned.
"But don't worry, I know we can fix that…"
"Void IV, are you well?"
"I am aware, Doctor."
"That is not what I asked you."
"I am aware of that as well."
"Funny. Now, I do believe you failed your latest imprinting, what do you have to say for yourself? Do you wish for there to be a fifth Void?"
"Whatever fate lies for me, I shall not be judgmental."
"You are… different."
"I am aware of that."
"You… do not control me." Naoya said with a snarl then, the haze of control fading away as the power of Lucifer began to flow back into his form, javelin and tanto falling into hand as he physically and mentally fought off the man, his… creator, of which he knew now to be the truth.
The man just casually sidestepped a whirlwind of frost and flames, Naoya's sudden and vicious attempt at murder going nowhere as it was made clear that his abilities paled in comparison to the man that wore his ally's face.
"I must say, you do always exceed my expectations, Void… A feat such as this deserves reward, so I shall allow you to continue on in this fruitless quest for revenge, or whatever you use to justify to an extent, a child's temper tantrum… I shall await you." Hastur said with a snide glance then as his eyes rolled back into his head, his body collapsing as Naoya instantly felt the man's presence vanish, a comforting aura taking it's place.
But that did not mean a thing, if this Hastur could control Desmond, then Naoya felt a paranoid thought then, of having to rely solely on Lucifer to know whether Desmond was truly himself, or Hastur masquerading in his flesh.
Naoya didn't know the full extent of their history, in what manner this Hastur was connected to him, or even the full truth of what these memories were…
He had no idea if that meant he was even Human, the flashes of Angelic warfare and a realm beyond seeming just as real as his childhood memories, or the disorienting flashes of Hastur and a white room.
He didn't know what was real anymore, but he would find out what was and wasn't.
Naoya would not allow that man to succeed.
Audio Log 30281
"Ira Reaction Study: Cross-referenced Interactions with Subjects Void III and Hope IV"
"Now then, let us begin. Today is the study of how the latest subject handles intense mental stimuli while being subjected to strenuous social expectations and interactions."
"Subject Ira is a recent venture, designed to passively alter the minds of other beings around it through the release of perception altering pheromones, ingeniously activated through it's Endocrine system.
Field testing with live subjects has revealed that when confronted with severe and painful stimuli, Ira has a tendency to grow frustrated leading to a higher sweat rate and increased Pheromone production.
Increased exposure to said Pheromone, henceforth referred to as Compound Crimson. Effects are intriguing, building up inside a target's body as a sense of tolerance erosion, and leading to a complete and absolute collapse of mental frameworks leading to the subject being reduced to a violent and deadly beast.
Interestingly, should a target be purged of Compound Crimson and given adequate recovery, all effects are completely erased and the subject is left unaware of their time under it's effects.
Mother Yig has suggested extracting Compound Crimson from Subject Ira and using a proxy to distribute it to the public, a side venture worth exploring with the added knowledge we have obtained from the studies on Subject Luxuria.
Estimated rate of distribution is unsure, but it said that it would require a suitable proxy to undertake such a feat, but Gaunt had agreed to search for such a fitting opportunity.
Yig has said that should this venture be implemented, it must not be able to fall back onto our Order, there must be a fitting scapegoat.
However, that is an idea for another day."
"Now, due to Ira's unique composition, it has not been allowed to cohabitate with the other subjects, for obvious reasons.
This has fostered a sense of rage within Ira, believing itself to be treated unfairly in being isolated as it has been. We have sought to encourage this behavior to maximize the effectiveness of Ira's biology. Combined with giving Ira a monitor to watch it's fellow subjects, it has led to a severe and deep seated vendetta against the other subjects."
"Today, we allow Ira to engage with, and meet, other Subjects for the first time."
"After some deliberation, it was decided that Ira would be introduced to the latest iterations of Void and Hope, that being Void III and Hope IV.
The intention of this study being to determine if the Void line continues to prove immune to the mechanisms of the other Subjects, and to determine what, if any, response may be triggered in Void III at the loss of Hope IV's life."
"I eagerly await whatever results arise."
The Tower of Acedia
It was a strangely sobering experience as Maki continued her pilgrimage through the shadowy tower, beasts challenging her and falling to Uriel's blade, along with a growing sense of wrongness as she struggled to come to terms with her new reality.
Being left alone, and finding herself reliant only on her own strength and capabilities, was an alien experience to the girl who had been so weak and watched her entire life.
Who hadn't been allowed to leave her own bed unsupervised, let alone go gallivanting through a medieval dungeon fighting hellspawn and other degrees of monsters.
And yet, her thoughts trailed only to her friends, wondering whether they too were out there fighting, lost and left to fend for themselves as she was now.
Yuka, Hidehiko, Masao… Naoya.
She knew the tower was meant for Naoya, that it was designed to feed on him like a human battery, but didn't understand the reason behind it, nor why such a dour and horrid place would suit her best friend, the boy she had always seen such a strong light shining within.
No matter how dark he appeared to be, or how foul of a mood he carried, there was always a glistening star shining inside him that only she seemed capable of seeing.
Maki would freely admit, through no small amount of embarrassment, that she held feelings for him, ones far stronger than mere friendship.
The sad part, being that she had for so long relegated those thoughts to mere fantasy, feeling that with how fragile she was and how short her life seemed destined to be, she would never be enough for him.
Naoya would waste his life caring for her, and ultimately she would die and he would be left all alone, once again.
She had always felt it was better to keep her distance, be his trusted confidant and encourage him towards a girl that could actually keep up with him.
One he could actually have a future with…
And yet, perhaps she did have a future after all!
She could run, fight, and handle herself just fine now! The weakness she had always carried, that passive and haunting ache in her bones, the debilitating and horrid mental tremors, now nowhere to be seen!
It was almost like she was a brand new girl, and she wouldn't waste this opportunity, no matter what strange shadow world she found herself in.
She would beat this place's twisted game, and find Naoya! She'd show him how strong she was, that she could keep up with him, and even surpass him!
He'd have to keep up with her!
But of course, while her thoughts were preoccupied with visions and fantasies of her dark haired friend, she found her solace invaded by a figure of much the same appearance.
Aside from a striking, and otherworldly pair of golden eyes…
"Why, it has been some time…" The boy said as he strode into her line of sight, the shadows of the tower concealing him like a cloak as he stepped into view.
Maki's instincts roared at her in caution as she found Uriel's form appearing at her side, her wings and blade held protectively in front of the girl as the stranger merely smiled at the overt display of distrust.
"N-Naoya?!"
He laughed then, revealing a set of pearly white and horribly sharp teeth, the gold of his eyes warping to reveal an iris bloodshot with specks of vibrant purple.
"In a way, I suppose. You, my dear, can call me Kazuya."