· · · · · · ·
As any nation did, dragons had stories about the tragedy of fallen kin. The art of tragedy wasn't just an art to dragons, it was lesson and virtue and purpose. Not faith. Dragons did not need faith, they had seen the gods and knew their law from their own voice. Even at the death of their god, they had known what to do.
Last year, he wouldn't have blinked at someone claiming the gods were amoral. He might not like it, but understood how that was an issue to humans. One might as well throw god and devil together, see what happened. The universe was a joke worse than anything Milgazia could tell.
He wanted to be as far from that joke as possible, so he had holed up in the shore station. When Rangort had restored it, he'd taken advantage of the room reformation to claim one as an office to hole up in.
How long he was there he didn't know. There was no window, he didn't need to eat yet, anfd the only interval was whenever someone came to ask something.
Today that was Azonge, requesting help with finding the lost Knight of Siephied. She had run off under peculiar circumstances and taken the Sage of Siephied.
"You don't need me for this."
Azonge hunched down besides the chair. "Milgazia, old friend, you can't let yourself waste away here."
"Surely there are better people for a search party, like the apostle of chaos."
"Lina Inverse and her cronies want stay close to the machine and keep working," Azonge said, half a snarl.
"So we're doing the leftover work," Milgazia said. "I see."
"Okay, enough." Azonge hauled Milgazia up by the shoulder. "You need to do something now or you'll drown in this ... whatever is."
He let himself he pulled outside the station while Azonge babbled on. There, where a group had gathered around the spot Luna had last been seen.
Milgazia might have pulled it off for the sake of Azonge and Memphis, but it turned out Xelloss was part of the search too. He was probably here to harass Filia some more, which was exactly what went down the moment he arrived.
At a distance from the rest of the search party, they quietly argued.
"I will get used to this, you know," she said, her nose sticking up and turned away. "But sure, use up all your ammo."
"I'm sure with the way you are, I'll get new ammo in no time," he said.
This is what the War of the Devil's Descent had come to. A devil and a dragon walk into a bar had once been the lowest kind of joke, because everyone understood this could only mean sin and death. And then Xelloss and Filia had the nerve to happen, and keep happening, even after Xelloss had, ... no, she had invited him to go full out dragon slayer on her, only to get back to their ridiculous game.
She either did not care or was oblivious to how this looked like to the dragon clans. The revelation that all of their romance was just an act did not make it any less kinder. If anything, it was worse. Ragrairyos had told the clans that they weren't lovers and had never been, and it would royally irritate her if the mood was fouled with further gossip.
But see, that was the problem. How to gossip now? They could believe that Filia had fallen victim to the machinations of an older devil. Such things were warned against in old myths and cautionary tales.
What tale did they have to explain a dragon intellectually seducing a devil into playing everyone, the devil's master included? To boot, with a god sitting by endorsing it. Gods just did what was most practical. Maybe it'd be practical to leave the dragons behind one day. It was already happening.
The eastern dragons, all dead. The southern dragons, nameless faith militia. The western dragons, under the wing of a dictator.
Vrabazard, a maddened monster without his sight. Valwin, now relying on a simple human for guidance. Rangort, life, strict, efficient.
In the middle of this, Filia fooling around with the dragon slayer. The final insult.
He approached with that thought stuffed away, unsure whether he wanted to say it or pretend it didn't exist.
"Hello, Filia. I was told Luna acted strange before she took Lassandra away. Can you tell me more about it?"
"I told Azonge already," she said. "Didn't he brief you in?"
Oh, that would be what Azonge had been saying on the way here.
"Right, yes ... say, your hands move again."
"Oh, they're better now, miss Luna helped fix them." She held them up, turning them clearly.
From a distance, Xelloss made an affronted cough.
"You don't get credit for breaking them again just so your mistake could be fixed at all," Filia said.
She didn't even look back, just looked away, but she smirked. Oh, gods. Milgazia didn't need to be told she'd reached the point of making light of her situation. Already. This was too soon. Anytime was too soon, but really, what was wrong with this dragon?
"Should you be so casual around him already?"
"I'm making the best of it," she said through gritted teeth.
Xelloss ran by, quacking incessantly.
Filia succeeded for all of five seconds to not break out in laughter. "Curse you, Xelloss!" she shouted between chokes.
"That's not a nice thing to say to someone trying to cheer you up."
She got control of herself again. "I am in mourning, I don't need a better mood!"
"Is it some ancient law that people in mourning are not allowed to laugh at all?"
She teleported herself and Milgazia up the cliff, and out of the pest's sight.
"When the best situation is making friends with an unrepentant killer whom you couldn't stand before, then the best isn't good enough. How can you tell whether you're not compromising your tolerance or morality or sense of self? Right now, you don't have a choice but to be here and adjust to his presence."
"What do you want me to do? Throw down everything and die? I didn't forget," she snapped. "I know that once it comes down to the final decision, Zelas may very well sic him on me, but I don't think he wants to, so I reserve the right to resent Zelas rather than him. I've been over this with miss Luna already! I don't know what else I'm to say!"
"You talk about the future, but the past hasn't gone away, has it? Your hands may be healed, but what about your mind?"
"I very well know what happened. Should I curl up in black robes and cry it all out? I don't have time for that."
He started to get a clue what was wrong with her : she survived. All things considered, she shouldn't be doing that. Dragons were to be holy servants of order and existence, be that with or without god. Everything else was distractions.
Filia caught herself shouting and looked taken back or embarrassed; he really ought to get better at reading human expression.
"If laying down is what you need to do for peace, you don't have to help us find miss Luna. Despite what I may act like, I do understand the gravitas of mourning, and I know what it must feel like to see the murderer of your people hover around us. It's obscene, really, and I hope you don't get used to it. It's bad enough I had to."
"I won't have a hard time not doing that," he said. It really just involved leaving things as they were, the only thing he could do right about now. And the only thing he should do, yet despite common sense he asked it anyway.
"What are we dragons going to have to be in the future? Keeping peace in the world isn't clean cut anymore and we have no idea what world Lina will leave behind. We just live and that's it?"
"There's no easy answer, lord Milgazia, nor one that's right for everyone. I wish I had a clearer way to help the world and live my life, but I don't. I can't give you one."
He hadn't been aware that's what he'd been asking, but now she said there was nothing to be given he knew. He should give up.
"Alright. Let's at least see whether we can find your friend."
"Thank you," she said, now with a smile. That she could still do that, which was more than he could, other than imply a lie.
· · · · · · ·
He was too tired for everything, be it future or present. He sent along his people, handed control to Azonge and returned to his room despite Azonge's protests.
The best out of awful situations : he was alive despite being imprisoned in one of the infamous 'restaurants' of the devils. Most of his friends had been dead before that. Hell wasn't ruled by a devil anymore, it could be worse. They couldn't change anymore, however. If he joined them like he was now, could he hope it would get better?
If he died here, maybe he would be haunting this tiny little room on this cursed island forever. He'd appear when future tourists came, tell them jokes. Ah, yes. If he had died last year, he wouldn't have learned that. He'd have been too arrogant to see ... that had been arrogance, right? Or just obliviousness. Dragons were so detached, he rarely stopped to really consider the people around him.
So he'd tell jokes as a ghost and that would be his legacy.
He laid his head on the desk and waited for nothing, so it came as a surprise when something arrived.
A pleasant sensation of holy presence washed over him, accompanied by a whistled tune. When he forced himself to look up, he saw Luna leaning against the doorframe.
"Hey, Milgazia," said Luna Inverse. "What's with the frantic search party?"
He sat a little straighter and said, "It is for you and the Sage of Siephied, actually."
"Huh? Why?"
"You were last seen taking the Sage somewhere and next we know, your friends show up worrying about your strange behavior."
Luna shrugged. "I just had a bit of an existential crisis. Unlike Zelas, I do not flip out. I just kidnap someone to pour it out in peace. Done now, I'd like to get back on the island. Filia and Xelloss are there, right?"
"Where is the Sage?"
"I let her wander off. She's gonna find herself another holy tree, start another sect. Should've known talking with her would be pointless."
He was about to get up and call off the search, but Luna walked over and sat down against the wall, next to his desk. It confused him enough that he sat down, waiting for an explanation.
"You know, I think I'm scared. Lina, Zelas and Ragradia taking over the world? None of those people are really into justice and law."
"What do you mean, taking over?"
"Oh, yeah, you're not in the real loop ... you remember Claire was really eager about me not talking to Rangort? It's not just the devils who will get remade. See, the other three gods are going to be killed once the machine turns on, their power merging with Ragradia. Two deities for perfect fusion magic, so once Lina changed the laws we're still gonna have those with all their powers. Lina's gonna try to turn the tides too, so that makes three. Right when I found out, I was gonna warn Rangort, but they got me convinced to see what'll go down. I'm still not sure I want this, though."
"This ... if this is true, it would be betrayal of the gods. Ragradia is not greater than the others," he said, reciting old teachings, but his heart wasn't in it. All together, it did not surprise him at all.
"I know that feeling," Luna said. "I wish I could change this all ... say, if you could change anything, what would it be?"
"I want the world back to its simple order." It was out before he caught himself. "I want the gods to be good and the devils evil, because then there's hope one day the righteous can win. This all is becoming more and more complicated ... I don't know what's right anymore."
"I don't either," she said. "Wanna help me figure it out?"
"What do you mean?"
"There's an easy way to figure out what Lina is going to do. You can help me. I've got some trouble sleeping lately and it's easier anyway with dragons : we walk into her dreams. There we will learn what she means to do."
"Is that why you took the Sage?"
Luna nodded. "She didn't wanna help me, though. Will you?"
"I should not invade people's minds," he said, because that had always been the right answer.
"Hmm."
Luna sat in silence for a bit, but just as Milgazia felt ready to really talk, she continued.
"Did Lina ever tell you how she destroyed Hellmaster Fibrizo? Tell me what you know."
"We never were under the impression she did it herself, we believe she somehow caused it. The spirits of nature reported a great power around Sairaag that vaporized everything. Lina Inverse herself had been presumed dead, as her friends were seen mourning, but some power or another saved her. Over the following time, it became clear that Hellmaster Fibrizo is dead."
The smirk that Luna gave was both unsettling and assuring. "You must have a theory about what went down."
"There was a lot of speculation, the most prominent being that she is host to a piece of Shabranigdu."
"My little sister cast the Giga Slave. You understand what that is? No, I bet. She never tells anyone. The Giga Slave isn't just borrowing power of the Lord of Nightmares. Her power is her mind, her mind is her power. Lose control and instead of the spell disintegrating, She takes over the caster's mind. That day, Lina lost control. She cast it just to save Gourry. Gambled the entire world for one man, and paid with her existence. Something was returned that looks and acts like her, but bears the gold of Lucifer."
The Apostle of Chaos wasn't just some fancy title Zelas had made up?
Luna grasped his arm, urgency in her holy aura. "Help me figure out whether my little sister still exists. Whether putting the world in the hands of the Nothing. Let me in."
"Yes, I will help you."
· · · · · · ·
Milgazia woke up to the same hollow reality as he'd been in for months, but he understood it now. The world had gone wrong some time ago. Lucifer was merely some distant force that people ascribed more personality to than needed. Perhaps it had mind somehow. So did ants, who did not compare to the reasoning of dogs, and dogs did not compare to the reasoning of humans, and humans did not compare to the reasoning of dragons. The difference being that this primordial soup was the root of the world's fabric.
Lucifer did not need respect or tribute. Wisdom and fairness could not be expected from it, nor of any of its immediate creations.
It had to change.
Luna sat on a desk opposite of him, one leg over the other. You'd mistake her for a queen on the throne, but she really was just a soldier for the greater purpose, just like he was. He wanted to help her make a change.
"Tell me what to do."
"Wow. It took longer for myself to convert," Luna said. "Anyway, let me introduce you to Lei Magnus."
· · · · · · ·
Luna led him to some cave near the shore. She had cast a barrier there, which he sensed nothing of. Fusion.
Sitting on a rock beyond it was Lei Magnus, barely recognizable in his casual clothing. Now under the shield all the force of devil radiance hit him. Milgazia nearly gave in to the instinct to flee, but fought it down with rationality. He had to be here if he wanted to changed the world.
"Isn't that the leader of the northern golds?" Lei said.
"Yep," Luna said, patting Milgazia on the shoulder. "He's going to help us."
"Why would he?"
"We converged a bit. He gets it now. Dragons are really inclined to serve gods and I'm the godliest they got here."
"You brainwashed him?" Lei asked. Now his eyes bore into Milgazia, it sunk in.
The man before him bore the responsibility for every death in the war a thousand years ago. He had hated enough for a devil king to be pour through his soul. Without him, his god and clan would live and the world would be better. Without him, Xelloss would have been in some city, irritating an icecream shop owner rather than massacring his people.
He hated him with every holy fiber of his being and every bit as a person too. Yet, he didn't want anything bad to happen to him, not right now. He was needed, Luna had said so. It didn't make sense for him to only want to be here. At the least he should tell Azonge or someone else, but he didn't want to. He wanted nothing else than to help, and now this desire become pressing, burning like he's never known.
"We prefer to call it purification," Luna said.
· · · · · · ·
Milgazia's job was to get Lei Magnus on the island without anyone noticing. That was terribly easy. When Milgazia approached Azonge with renewed energy, Azonge was all too happy to take his new search plans and run with them. And of course, if they were on shore they could bring in some new food stock for the island, ha ha, Lina and her people ate like the world depended on it, right?
Milgazia stuffed Lei Magnus and Luna in a crate full of magical fruit, and Luna cast a few miasma dampening spells on it. A layer of fusion designed to cancel out magical radiation was the final touch. Milgazia himself accompanied the stocks back to the island, arranged for the elves to be occupied while it opened, and closed it after they were out. No traces left.
Luna and Lei went down an empty hall, to where Milgazia's room was. Not Luna's, in case anyone would check there again. Milgazia followed behind them, making sure nobody had caught a hint of them. Few people with a sense of magic remainder, and those that did were likely to blame any wisp of darkness on Zelas's pack of stray cult members.
The moment they were in relative safety, Lei started picking squashed fruit off of him; Luna did the same but at a slower pace.
"I may have gotten caught last time I sneaked onto the island, but at least I had my dignity," Lei grumbled. Unable to clean the shirt, he burned it up in a fit.
It sent a fresh wave of devil energy over Milgazia's senses. Every instinct screamed to flee as the astral plane drowned in devil power. He didn't want to flee, though. He wanted to stay and help more than anything, so he suffered through it.
All was well. It was. Really. Ultimate Evil was twitching mere inches before him on the astral plane.
"You don't mind if I take some of your clothes, do you?" Lei asked.
"I do mind, but it's more important that we move on," he said.
While Lei Magnus got picky over Milgazia's limited wardrobe, he muttered about not believing anything this ridiculous had even worked.
"I can believe it," Luna said. "Milgazia is perfect because nobody really pays attention to him."
"They'll notice if he vanishes or starts acting weird."
"Oh, don't be so pessimistic, Lei. Nobody's gonna think about Milgazia when Vrabazard is about to kick up a storm."
"What?" said both Milgazia and Lei.
"Ah, yeah. While we were fixing Vrabazard, I infected him to be obedient to him. I already had an inn from when I got Raugnut going on him, I just adjusted it a bit. Filia and Xelloss unwittingly helped me there, it was fun."
"And what exactly will he be obeying?" Lei asked.
"Any time now."
Nothing happened for three minutes.
"Are we going to find out anytime soon?"
Luna groaned. "He's supposed to go berkserk just around now, I gave the cue when we arrived. Should empty the main hall of most pesky powerful people."
Twenty minutes later, a sound came from outside some an exploding tea kettle (Milgazia knew all about those because Xelloss sometimes had rigged Filia's stuff).
"There we go. Milgazia, check whether the central hall is empty," Luna said. He wanted to obey, so he did.
As anticipated, one god had already left the central hall. As expected, it was the Aqualord, who might be able to cast a restraint on Vrabazard; they did not expect anything worse than a tantrum to be the cause, if the murmurs of the devils and dragons around were any indication.
Also notable, Filia and Xelloss had arrived and were chatting with Lina.
He returned to Luna to report this.
"Who is Filia Ul Copt?" Lei asked.
"Siephied's channel, Xelloss's fusion magic partner. You don't wanna meet her if she's got Xelloss around to cover with fusion. They've got a few tricks up their sleeve that make power levels irrelevant."
"I'll separate them," Milgazia said. "It should be easy."
"If you can bring either of them here, I can wipe them away easily. Though, I suspect the gods will notice if I kill that dragon, so make that Xelloss," Lei said.
"No. No no no ... I don't want him gone ..." Luna muttered.
"The best way to get rid of our enemies is to empty the astral plane. He can't exist in our new world, Luna, he might as well die now. If you want funny people, I assure you there's less dangerous ones."
"I just don't ... I don't know," she said. Milgazia wasn't an expert at reading human expression, but he was sure the clenched teeth indication conflict or hostility.
"I want ... nothing. Just. I'll do it. Lei, Xelloss can teleport. He'll get away the moment he sees you, but I have a better idea," Luna said. "Milgazia, go tell Xelloss your best joke. Once you reach the end of it, start again. Oh, and details. Give lots of details about the environment and everything."
Lei took a full five seconds to respond to that. "Is this a joke?"
"No, his jokes are eldritch," she said. "Especially to someone like Xelloss, who likes to have fun. Xelloss won't see it coming since Milgazia got cautious about telling jokes around him."
Lei took another five seconds. "Alright, but is this a joke? All of this? Is someone gonna jump out with party poppers while gloating about the trap I walked into?"
Luna took Lei by the shoulders. "Dude, listen. We live in a world where my bratty little sister is the Apostle of Chaos, mothers are universally either dead or bad, all the parents of every host ever just happens to be inspired to give their kids names starting with L, and Siephied goes around with a curse that makes people disbelieve her. How does it sound too surreal that a dragon tells paralyzing jokes?"
"Well, those are actually excellent points. Proceed. Just know that if there's party poppers I won't be surprised."
Luna spun around, shoved Milgazia in the back, and he obeyed. "Talk about a strange chain you found, it's in that storage room a level down where the talisman used to be. You put it behind a barrier for safety."
He nodded and walked out.
Filia and Xelloss had separated, with Filia still speaking with Lina. They argued about whether Lina should search for Luna and talk to her. Xelloss meanwhile tried to bribe Dilgear into using his nose to find her.
"Xelloss!" he said when he was close enough not to draw attention from the other two.
The devil looked back with a frown. "Do you have news?"
"Yes. We found something suspicious. You should come, we do not know what it is. Some sort of chain with holy magic. I secured it already, but we need to investigate further."
"Must you dragons put everything behind barriers? Take my word that it's not dangerous."
"Then you know why it has blood on it?"
Xelloss cracked an eye open. "Alright, where is it?"
He brought to the storage room, where Luna had prepared an actual chain, down to the blood on it and two holy barriers. Just like Milgazia himself could cast. She was up on her game.
"No guards?" Xelloss asked, looking round rather than at the object.
"Yes. You should hear this joke. There was a dragon with a soap bar. He walked down the street. There was a street because a commission for equal footing had been put through a few years earlier. This was about the elves and the dragons. The street was at the foot of a mountain. The mountain was named Blhaham. There were five more streets. This was the biggest street. It was made of square stones ..."
Xelloss froze up, opened both eyes and began twitching.
"Stop that," Xelloss hissed.
"... The dragon dropped the soap bar. This was because he was startled. It was by a noise from the right and a little behind him, about thirty meters ..."
Xelloss's projection started twisting and shimmering. Milgazia personally cast a barrier around Xelloss, then appealed to his devil pride. "Surely you can break through this on your own. Now ... The dragon stepped on the soap bar. It was squished because he was a dragon ..."
Luna slammed the door shut and enforced it with magic on the astral plane. Xelloss scratched away at Milgazia's feeble barrier only to slam into a more thorough one. More and more, he flickered.
Milgazia backed away while he kept talking, out a door that he hadn't known was there before, but the trail of white feathers told him it was. Luna had made another exit just for the occasion, which she closed up once he was out.
"Why didn't we just kill him?" Milgazia wanted that almost as much as he wanted to obey Luna.
"I don't ... it's not part of the plan. It doesn't need to be," she whispered. "It ... One is bad enough."
What little he knew of Luna told him she shouldn't sound so uncertain. She had no doubt when dealing with Zelas or gods, what was up with her?
Or himself?
Luna moved again, pulling him along with her sheer will.
"Let's try Lina next. That is part of the plan. Bring her to my room, say you found something strange there. If she doesn't listen to you, don't try again, just come back."
Again he wanted to obey, even as it made him sick to his stomach. She hadn't outright told him what they'd do, but he could guess. Bloodlust in the air.
Filia was gone too by the time he returned to the main hall.
Naga stood atop a golem to work on a higher part of the control panel, somewhere with Zelas. Lina herself was at a hole near the bottom, messing around with crystals. It looked like nonsense to Milgazia, neither the rhyme of magic spells nor the reason of technology.
"What are you doing, lady Lina?" he asked, not because he needed to, but because it would make sense.
"Adjusting the machine to work better. I don't have enough talismans to handle a struggling Shabranigdu, so we gotta make extra sure it's safe. Especially since the gods are still acting up," she said with a nod at the racket outside.
"I see. Could you come with me for a moment? I'd like to ask you something."
"Does it need to be now? I'm busy."
"It's a matter of faith," he said.
"Sounds like it can wait."
That just irked him so much, he raised his voice. "I'm sure for you it can, but your sister seems rather upset."
That got her attention. "You found her?"
"No, but there's something in her room that you might want to read."
"What is it, Lina?" Naga asked from above. "Are you just slow, or does that dragon actually have something important to say?"
Lina pondered for a bit, then said, "I think it's important. Keep going, I'll be right back."
Milgazia turned back already, expecting Lina to follow, which she did.
"So what'd you found?"
"A few teenage elves on a dare went through her room and uncovered a diary. It fell open and there were strange theories about magic in it and speculation on Lassandra, but after removing them we did not press further. It seemed indecent for strangers to do."
Moving as quick as he could in ordinary walked, he led Lina to Luna's room. Somewhere nearby Lei would be hiding, but it was far enough for Lina not to notice.
The door stood wide open.
"That's weird, I left the door closed," Milgazia said. He hadn't, but it was part of the pretense. He wasn't even sure how he knew the plan's exact details.
Luna sat on the floor, cross legged and completely in the open. She even had a book on her lap, feigning a diary. "Hey, little sister."
"Luna? When did you get back?" Lina asked.
Luna looked up, bangs falling away and eyes streaked with tears.
"It's not going away ... " Luna said. "I can't, don't want to work against it, but I still, I still feel like this. You can't want emotions away, but I have to want to cut them off."
Lina took a step back. "Luna, this isn't like you."
Chaotic power whirled on the astral plane, alert for anything that Luna might do. Lina paid attention to her, ready for whatever came. It would be the thing of legends : an epic show down of the good sister and the bad sister. Chaos that favored life versus the passionless order that Luna embodied, by nature or will. Someone laughed in the back of Milgazia's soul, a joyless laughter. She'd been here for a while, but only now he truly heard her. Another phied, better than his own.
It was a story that he had no role in, but unexpected things always happened. Chaos was like that and not even Lucifer could control it perfectly. Good legends don't end with insignificant bystanders killing the hero before they ever land a blow.
He wanted a weapon against the Apostle of Chaos, and he was a dragon, strong even in human form.
Careful, he set his hand on Lina's shoulder as he took a step closer. She didn't respond to the touch of a friend. All her caution was on Luna.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked.
"I don't even know, but I know someone who can find out."
Lina turned around. He moved his arm along the motion, reached for her neck with one hand, the other aside her face. For a dragon, snapping a human's neck was as easy as breaking weak wood, he could do it in the same movement as knocking her out. Overkill wasn't his style, but then again, neither was murder.
She slumped down unceremoniously.
Lei Magnus entered behind Milgazia, still shielded by fusion. He shot a red flare at Lina's body to burn it up, leaving only the talismans. Part of the fire licked at Milgazia's shoes.
"Do we still need him?" Lei asked with a nod at Milgazia.
Luna shook her head.
Another flick of his wrist and the fire flared out, consuming Milgazia. It last only a few seconds of pure agony before he died.
· · · · · · ·
When he next came to his senses, white blue light pulled him somewhere. Ah, he wasn't going to be a grudge bound ghost after all.
The eternal blue flame was purely peaceful. If he didn't know better, he might imagine it paradise.
Well, except for the part where Lina grabbed him by the nose horn and shook him. "W-why the hell did you do that?"
"I don't know," he said.
"You don't know? I defeated three demon king pieces, Dugradigdu, Volphied, and faced down Chaos itself only to have my neck snapped in some backroom? And you don't even know why?"
Milgazia tried to pull away. Not that he wasn't already dead, but Lina was terrifying everywhere. Too bad she refused to let go.
"Luna was in on it, wasn't she? Did she tell you anything?"
"I do not think Luna really wanted to. She was able to avoid killing Xelloss because it wasn't a specific part of the plan, unlike your death."
"What plan?"
"I don't know. Most of the things that happened were either said by Luna, or I just knew them. Something about remaking the world."
"We're not getting anywhere," Lina said. "Dammit, I need something to work with."
"Lei Magnus was with her, but I don't think that's something you can use."
"Lei-what? Chaos dammit, Luna!" The blue around Lina tinted gold as her anger flared. "Zelas said she'd rejected him! Why is she coming back on that now?"
He could keep saying that he didn't know, but what good would that do? "If that was all, I'd appreciate it if you let my soul move on."
"So you're just giving up?"
"I can't give up if there is nothing in my hands to give," he said. "I am literary dead."
"So what? That doesn't mean you should just stop trying."
"How much deader do I have to be before you let me rest in peace?"
"A lot more. We're not in hell yet!"
They might not be, but they were in a blue flame with absolutely nothing to hold onto, let alone to change fate with. Lina tried using that golden magic to do something to the stream, but it didn't work. Without body, she could cast no spells.
It did however draw a lot of attention. Other ghosts came closer to see, including something red from up ahead. This red light struggled to meet them, inching closer. Milgazia recognized her first. The Sage of Siephied, now sporting wings like Siephied himself, except colored to match her bright clothing.
"Lina! Here!"
"Stretch your wing, Milgazia," Lina said.
He did as told. Lina held onto the tip and reached for Lassandra, helped her pulled into the same substream as them.
"You're dead too?"
"No, I'm on summer vacation," Lassandra said.
"Did Luna do it?"
"Not at all."
"Do you know why?"
"Take your pick : 1. clown rains, 2. Volphied virus in Luna or 3. hula hoop sun."
"You're kidding me. How?" Lina groaned. "Ugh, nevermind. What do we do about it?"
"Wasn't there something ghosts can do to stay stuck to the world?"
"Yes, but she kicked me in here already, so it's too late for that."
Lassandra's grin told otherwise. Wings unfolded on her back and she grabbed Lina by the collar. "Six thousand years of experience."
With one massive swing, she threw Lina upstream. Screaming, Lina vanished from sight.
Then she came to fly before Milgazia. "Did Luna make that hole in your soul gate?"
He nodded. "She asked me to share a dream."
"May I enter?"
"Why?"
"Because I can't help," she lied.
He needed help. He didn't quite want it, but he didn't want to stop random god souls from it either.
"Let me enter," she commanded, and it was difficult for a dragon to disobey the pull of holiness.
Her soul didn't enter like he'd expected. Rather, it felt like his own soul expanded to encompass hers.
Nothing happened until he wondered why nothing happened. Like remembering something, words came to mind.
I can implant knowledge straight into your mind, without the judgment process. Wonderful! I'm not making any claims, I'm just storing information. Not my fault it's not quite my own mind. Aaaaaah! Anyway, I am Flare Dragon Siephied, reincarnated into human form. Hello, Milgazia. I need your help.
The last few months were full of massacre, torture, loss of faith, murder of friends and possession. Now Siephied was in his mind celebrating and asking for his help. This was not funny. Really. Could the universe stop now. Please. Hadn't he had enough mockery yet?
Normally Megiddo has me reborn immediately, but I need to stay for a while. Preferably in a soul who isn't headed to hell. Notice how you're going very slow? You're much better than I am at confusing Megiddo with whether or not you're grudgy. Get to being pissed off, go on. The world hasn't been fair to you at all, you have yet to chew out my children and you don't want Memphy to go unsupervised while she runs off with a human lover, right?
Well, no, but he didn't quite want to do anything, except maybe for the world to stop. That'd be nice.
Ooh order, do I have my work cut out. Pay attention. You were infected by Volphied's virus, as was Luna Inverse, in Valgarv last's effort to undo the world. It's like possession, exploiting weakened minds, but more subtle in that it alters your mind rather than take over your body directly. It's the same principle that controlled the AI Val, but adapted to work on a creature with a soul. Your inertia is no longer controlled by your own desires, but by theirs. There are ways to get around that.
Now I have you here, one of her victims. Let me just see whether I can unravel what my god damned sister created? If it works, you will need to grow new motivation, however. Hey ... do you understand?
He did and somewhere deep down, it angered him. All of this game. Of all the things pushing him around, Megiddo was the least. God within his mind, he stood at the end of the world and in the hands of the gears that kept it spinning, now grinding to a halt.
Siephied's demeanor changed. Though he couldn't read her expression so well, the way her wings folded around his head radiated care. She seemed tiny as a human yet infinitely greater as a spirit. He did not know how to bow, but that was alright. She did not need to. The further Siephied seeped into his mind, the less he could revere her. She required no sanctification, but alliance and cooperation the way he would, and should, have done with elves and humans and any other living being.
He should have seen the way. She thought the same about herself.
I have tried to take care of my world as best as I can, but it has been too late. I created the four gods wrong and I was not much better before that. I should have seen everyone alone.
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