"I still can't believe that Lirale lost a fight against Jarren." Whispers rang through the air, the subject of the conversation sitting in silence in her own chair. The Arcane Archives was much more talkative han usual especially when Lirale came into the fray.
Vhorren sighed, casting ugly looks that gossiped and whispered around them. "Do you people think that you would have done better than her. If so then go and fight Jarren and prove it." The murmurs died down, those insinuating the conversation moving elsewhere.
Lirale had been in the Arcane Archives for the past three days, buried in tomes and books of libraries. Still the defeat clung to her like an unwanted guest refusing to leave and Vhorren stayed with her for the entire duration of it.
"Look, you have it your all so don't beat yourself up for something that was completely out of your control." He chimed in, resting his hand on her shoulder. She have withdrawn from the outside world for a dangerously amount of time.
And with the rampant deaths of students happening, it was dangerous to leave her alone especially in her lowest. As for the victor, he too had fallen into seclusion with Timothy for the past couple of days, their activities a mystery to the entire academy.
"I appreciate your support Vhorren but can you leave me alone. Just for a day." Her voice distant yet warm. His eyes graced her body, the bruises that coated her skin had now healed but the damage was still there. She knew that it was part of the game but that didn't mean that it wasn't painful to endure.
"If you say so. Just don't do anything stupid." And with that he unwillingly took his leave. Some around the academy felt pity for her, other fifth year students disdain for losing. The dug her fingers hard into her palms, blood seeping through as she let out a disgruntled cry followed with a defeated sigh.
The heavens that she cursed at watched her, understanding her frustration but could only watch and do no further. With a monster like Solon lurking about, even the gods of the world dared to interfere, reduced to nothing more than playthings in his sadistic game.
Her resolve wore thin, contemplating about Saevin and her death. Her fury had yet to cease and yet here she was, forced to admit defeat to the man responsible for it. Her chest heaved, her demeanor slowly unraveling as she broke into a maniacal laughter.
'What's the point?!' Her mind broke into a frenzy of questions, some making her wonder her purpose and worth in the life that she lived. She had it all, status, money, the privilege to choose and yet what did it mean in the face of absolute power. But before she fell into a maniacal stupor, she managed to calm herself down.
Already knowing the words Vhorren would shoot at her, she finally managed to regain her cool. As for those above, some wondered whether to kill her or spare her and let her play.
...
"Should we kill her or..." Crimson asked, her posture fitting for one seated on a throne of bones it horrors above concepts and logic. She had been under Orsen's tutorage and she grew more potent in her skill of blood and flesh. Undergoing multiple rebirths and revelations.
"It's best not to interfere with Jarren's work. After all who knows what he has in-store for her." Orsen sighed, her gaze spamming over the entire third dimensional plane. Some gods shuddered at her gaze, others falling into eternal madness but she stood above it all with a look of apathy on her visage.
"I couldn't help but wonder, should we play as well given how... playful Solon is." She posed, in her hand the head of a horror that bothered with resistance. "We will but not where he is l. Besides I have to choose my own toy to taunt." Crimson paused, wondering the relationship between Orsen and Solon.
At first it seemed like a casual situationship between a master and his slave but from the prior conversation, it was clear that it was much more complicated than that. "I still don't understand what is it between you and Solon. You say that he's a monster and yet he treats you like an equal." Orsen paused, her face usually calm rippled with bewilderment.
"At first it was simple, his puppet and he was the one pulling the strings. From there it devolved into games that made lose more than I can recall then nothing. He simply left without a word but he left me everything before coming back but changed. I still don't get what goes through his mind and I prefer not to know."
The process seemed way extremely convoluted. "Does that mean that he may have developed emotions for you?" Crimson couldn't help but ask. "Hahaha!" A sharp laughter was her first response which died out. "Emotions? A freak like Solon to actually care? Hahaha!"
Crimson kept her face flat, unsure whether the room for such a possibility was lacking. "Well that it would seem that that's the case. You gave him an ultimatum and yet he agreed to it. Maybe you should give it a chance." Orsen had fallen out of her frenzy laughter spree and now replaced with something somber.
"I don't know why he chose you to be here but he'll toy with you and move on. You're not the first he's done this to and you will definitely not be the last so enjoy it while you can." She finalized her thoughts, grim and dark. "For a horror above comprehension, you certainly are extremely fragile. I get that he did some horrible things to you but it would seem that he's giving you a second chance. Definitely better than the first."
Crimson recalled the first time she encountered Solon, helplessness, fear and masked rage overwhelmed her but as time dragged on in her purgatory, she came to terms with the situation. True power was what dictated the order of things. Both on the scope of reality and above the veils of logic.
"So you have him compromise his entire nature just to make it up to you is definitely a change you should take. After all who knows till he changes his mind and moves on." Orsen looked at Crimson, her face filled with indifference. "So that's why you're here, to convince me to give in. He's already taken so much from me and now you want me to simply give in like you?"
Her voice started to lose her cold composure, lower realms of reality shattering at her rage. "How about we play then maybe I'll be able to convince you. You claim that you have done this for longer than me but here you are, still strung to his strings so rather than fight it wouldn't it better to submit."
As much as she wanted to lash out and end Crimson on the spot, she couldn't refute the truth in her words. She had always fought back and yet nothing changed for eons under his shadow. The more she fought back the more he poked her, stretched her will and tested her resilience. "I can see the flame of revenge still lingering in your eyes however we both know that it won't be satisfied. It'll keep on burning till the end of time so submit and if you do pass on,, wouldn't that be better?"
Orsen held back her laughter, scoffing in her mind. 'You really think that he lets his toys go the moment he grows bored of them.' Her fingers drummed the veil of logic, each of her ripple ending worlds with a tap. "...Fine. I've played his game for eternity so what is the point if he grows bored of me? At this point there's nothing more to me so what is there to lose?"
She looked back at Lirale, seeing some semblance between her and the girl. "Fuck it!" With a short snark, she finally made her decision. "What about Clomere?" Crimson added as her eyes landed on the horror Jarren had claimed. "She'll be one of us sooner or later. But with Jarren it's hard to determine that will be or not."
She laughed at the absurdity of it all. She wanted control, revenge and independence. To be free from his shadow but the more she fought him the deeper she sunk into his game to the point she became his personal gem. She wondered whether to laugh or cry at her situation.
She had told herself that she wouldn't resist anymore however her actions said otherwise. Her eyes burnt with something far older than revenge, her teeth subconsciously grit at his words as her entire being tensed with his mere presence. The lie that she had diluted herself into was that there was a chance to get even with him but deep down she knew that that's wasn't true.
A lie she had told to not only herself but those Jarren would pick to be above the rest, to be players than pawns in his game and yet they all faced the same fate of eternal hell in his mind. A sense of self hatred gnawed her, wishing that she never came to be but that wasn't plausible in her case.
Whether she died or not she knew that Solon would keep on wearing his maddening smile and move on, he had done with the rest as she wasn't that different. "Thanks Crimson, for realizing just how pathetic and helpless I truly am." Her words lacked vigour. "Well I didn't think that it would be fair if I was the only one who realized this."
Her mockery apparent however she let out a friendly laugh. "So should we play now or do you want to wait a little bit more?" Orsen tilted her head towards Crimson, for a newly born horror, she had the nerve to taunt something that could wipe her with a single thought without care. "... Fine, I'll let you pick who we should be."
Crimson looked at Clomere, a myriad of thoughts swirling in her mind. "How about revenge? After all that is what Guinevere would have done." Orsen paused before nodding in agreement. "Fine, but do we really have to kill them? We could do so much worse." The two viewed morality as a line that they could breach at a whim.
What they did would be supreme in the grand scheme of things with Jo opposition. If death was divinity then it would be. "I guess Jarren has rubbed off on you." The two rose up, ready to shift back to the third dimensional plane. "I should say the same, queen of divinity and evil."
The harshness of the statement felt familiar and Orsen welcomed it. "Okay, maybe I stand true to my statement back then calling you the Crimson Queen." The two brushed it off their shoulders and their figures vanished in an instant.
Horrors all over the spectrum of logic and madness shuddered at what had transpired. The queen that went against the epitome of madness and chaos finally bent the knee and alongside her another queen of horrors had been born. The Crimson Queen that painted the veil of reality with golden blood of gods.