The stunning emptiness remained, a impartial observer. The buzz of the circuit paused after Devon's refusal the continuous melody now interrupted by a solitary discordant pause. Flavio's tear-marked expression shifted from broken awe to thoughtful inquiry. He viewed Devon not as an opponent but as an unexpectedly defined factor.
"You looked away " Flavio remarked, awe evident, in his tone. "You glimpsed the ideal and you… opted for the experienced flaw." He moved nearer the weight of the void easing somewhat as if allowing them room. "Do you realize what that signifies about you?"
Devon stayed kneeling, completely drained his gaze fixed on the faded carpet design inches away, from his face. "Exhausted."
"More " Flavio insisted, his voice that of a researcher nearing a breakthrough. "You are the paradox. The will that comprehends the incline senses its draw recognizes its reasoning… and still through some process sets its feet firmly. Your exhaustion is not a condition. It is a defiance of the very serenity it desires. It is the embodiment of friction itself."
He indicated the circuit. "Kane, Croft, Vogel… they were logicians. They observed the equation. Embraced its conclusion. You… you are the residue. The affection that opts for the injury. The 'mistake' you mentioned.. In this fresh calm world that kind of thing is not a defect. It is the cornerstone."
Flavio's gaze burned with a dread-filled insight. "The Grand Conjunction requires a foundation. Not a dormant one,. A dynamic constant. A resolve that deliberately unceasingly maintains the balance between craving peace and embracing conflict. That balance, controlled would steady the realm eternally. It would be a realm not of lifelessness. Of visionaries. A soft endless serenade, marked by your heartbeat as its rhythm."
He reached out his hand not as a menace. As a gesture of giving. The greatest gift.
"The seat of honor Devon. Not as a casualty. As the foundation. The Pillar of the Calm Realm. You wouldn't lie dormant. You'd be… the sentinel of slumber. Sensing the draw every moment resisting it every moment and through that silent devotion fueling tranquility for all others. Your fatigue would, at hold significance. It would transform into the force behind repose."
The terror of it was exquisite. Flavio proposed to transform him into a saint, a martyr and a power source simultaneously. He would be sealed within the core of the living circuit his ceaseless inner battle employed to soothe the outside world eternally. His exhaustion would be sanctified, his conflict utilized. He would turn into the anguish-filled core of a realm.
"You would be the person who nurtures " Flavio murmured, his tone entrancing. "So others won't have to. You would bear the pain allowing the world to mend. It is the form of love one could conceive."
Devon witnessed it. The calm expressions within the circuit maintained in their tranquility sustained by his continuous silent torment. He alone would keep struggling his battle serving as the energy, behind everyone 's capitulation. It was the rational distortion of his exhausted heroism.
He gazed at his shaking hands. They held the power to finish it. He could agree. His private battle would conclude. He would gain a mission, a revered mission. His existence spent hunting monsters would reach its peak in becoming the guardian of the world.
The emptiness, beyond Flavio appeared to throb anticipating his choice. The circuit buzzed, ready to incorporate its crucial element.
The heaviness of the proposal was, like the heaviness of the world's slumber. It vowed to at last shatter the tiring solitary load of his own sleeplessness.
All he had to do was accept his place.