Date: 4:00 PM, September 2nd, year 1286 Location: High security dimensional prison, Headquarters of the Second Branch
Nyx was absentmindedly munching on a slice of potato when the door to her cell unlocks. Calliope floats into the room, followed by a dozen guards in uniform, including Julian, who nods at her.
- "Hi." Nyx greets them. "Are you already done?"
- "Already?... It's been three weeks…" Vanessa complains in her mind.
- "Right."
- "Yes, we are." Calliope answers, entering the cell and closing the door behind her. "Today, we officially communicate on the matter of you, Lady Night, and her church. This will be done publicly at the Parliament."
- "The Parliament? Oh right, where the government makes the decisions."
- "Yes." Calliope has a light sigh. "Much to my dismay, the House of Archmages wishes for you to be present, and will not compromise on this."
- "Okay, let's go then!"
- "First, I must ensure we do not claim different versions of the facts."
- "The stuff about Lady Night? Why would we say different things?"
- "That is… a different matter. I am referring to you being a god. Or should I say, the original God."
- "Oh. What about it?"
- "The kingdom simply is not ready for a revelation of that scale. In these troubled times, the last thing our citizens need is for their faith in Lord Solomon to be shaken."
- "I already told everyone in the courtroom though?"
- "We decided to officially attribute it to Judge Verissimus' magic misinterpreting the words of an incredibly ancient divine spirit."
- "A divine spirit? I don't think those were around back then…"
- "They are spirits who acquired some manner of divinity through worship, or were born from people's faith. From this day on, you are one of them."
- "But that's not true…"
- "Would you rather the kingdom of Specta be plunged in chaos and despair, as its very foundation crumbles before your eyes?"
- "...No, that would be very bad. I've seen that happen a lot before, and usually almost everyone dies at the end." Nyx frowns. "I don't wanna take risks."
- "I thought so." Calliope closes her eyes, nodding to herself. "You are free to speak the truth on other matters."
- "Oh? Okay then."
Calliope opens the door to the cell again, and they walk out. As the escort of guards surrounds them, Julian closes in to walk beside Nyx.
- "So, how are you feeling?" He asks. "Plural."
- "Me? I'm fine." Nyx replies.
- "I'm… kind of okay, I guess?" Vanessa adds after exchanging places with Nyx. "You really would hate how chummy Nyx is getting with your dad. Especially the… other one."
- "Yeah, he's still jailed here isn't he?" Julian sighs.
- "He does share my love for you." Nyx comments. "Granted his is… clouded. His affection for his own father engulfs any and all he could direct to his children."
- "Huh?! Where did that come from?" He starts, before noticing Nyx's irises had turned green. "Wait, that's you Nyx-R?... You can swap too now? At least give me a warning first…"
- "Noted." Nyx-R continues. "As for me, I have been recovering well. Granted, I would have appreciated it if you visited your poor father while she was injured."
- "Father?... She?..."
- "I am your father."
- "You are NOT." He pinches the ridge of his nose. "Yeah Nyx told us you got knocked out while buying time for Vanessa. Good job out there, at least."
- "Come here." Nyx-R opens her arms, effortlessly snapping her handcuffs and pulling Julian into a hug. The escort of guards immediately stops, and they point their hands at them, magic coursing through their fingertips.
- "By Solomon…" Julian almost hisses, before turning to the guards. "It's fine, stand down. Nyx, come the hell back before I stab all three of you."
- "Hm?" Nyx returns, her irises regaining their original blue tint. She notices she is holding Julian, and that the guards were still hesitantly staring at her.
- "Let go."
- "Oops." Nyx releases him, and looks down at her wrists as they resume their walk through the prison. "Guess I need a new pair of handcuffs."
- "We were going to remove them anyway, it's fine…" Julian sighs. His gaze stops on her left hand. It still had a large black scar on its palm that looked like a burn mark. It was usually hidden by the long gloves of her outfit, but in the prison jump suit it was fully visible. "You still have this?"
- "That? Oh yes, Vanessa told me she fired magic from that hand. I tried to get it healed, but the doctor said that it was too severe to fully disappear. And something about my damaged magic canals making recovery harder."
- "Well that sucks. And for once it's not even completely your fault."
- "I already apologized!" Vanessa chimes in, taking over for a moment.
- "Yeah sure."
They eventually emerge into the streets of Crystal Rose, and as soon as they exit the headquarters of the Second Branch Calliope opens a portal in front of them. After traversing it, they find themselves on a large, luxurious marble terrace. It belonged to an imposing castle that resembled a temple, made of marble and lined with a myriad of variously colored glass. At first glance, it reminded Nyx of Solomon's castle-cathedral. When she looks past the golden guardrail of the terrace, she is met with an ocean of people, producing a constant, loud chatter. She could feel their gazes converging towards her as they took notice of her arrival. Calliope floats over to the guardrail, and clears her throat. As she does, hundreds, maybe even thousands of her black portals manifest above the crowd, and a singular one appears in front of her mouth.
- "Good evening, citizens of Specta." She declares. Her voice comes out of every single portal above the crowd, and the chatter progressively grows quieter. "As you may be aware, the calamity that befell our city on July twenty fifth has been caused by none other than Lady Night. She had been preparing this attack for centuries, but her plans were thwarted by Nyx, an officer of the Arcane Guard."
- "Who's she anyways?!" An angered man yells from the front of the crowd. "How'd she know when you guys didn't?!"
- "She is a Divine Spirit. To be precise, she is a Divided Spirit of Lady Night."
The chatter from the crowd quickly turns wrathful, and much louder. The man yelled something else, but it was impossible to understand what he was saying.
- "As you were already informed, she chose to side with our city rather than against it. I am sure many of you recall seeing her battling Lady Night." Calliope continues. "She-"
- "Why're you talking for her?!" A woman yells, her voice being carried by her Wind magic. "Sounds like you're trying to cover up for one of your damn Irregulars acting up again!"
Calliope tried to answer, but the clamor from the crowd had gotten so intense that even her voice carrying through her portals had become inaudible. This is when she noticed someone else floating towards her from behind. It was Nyx, awkwardly hovering above the ground with a veil of violet energy at her feet.
- "Gravity's really hard to control…" She complains before stopping next to Calliope. "I'll talk to them."
- "...This is very unwise." Calliope lightly frowns. "You do not know-"
- "Yes but they won't listen to you, won't they?" She cuts. "Just let me do it."
Calliope reluctantly glides to the side, and Nyx floats to the portal she was using to speak.
- "Hello?" Nyx calls, and the crowd goes completely silent in an instant. All their eyes fixate on her, waiting with anticipation. "Thanks. So, you guys have questions for me?"
- "What'd you want from us?!" A man in the crowd answers. "What the hell do you and that Lady Night have to do with our city?!"
- "I don't want anything from you. All I know is that Lady Night wants to destroy all of you, and that I want to stop her."
- "How can we trust you?! You provoked her!" Someone else chimes in. "Why didn't you warn us?! My sister died!"
- "That's sad. But I didn't know she would do that. I thought that we could take her down right then and there, to save the future lives she would end."
- "That's bullshit! Aren't you supposed to be knowledgeable about her?!" The crowd starts getting agitated, as more and more people agree.
- "I couldn't have known. I know that you're angry, and I know that this is... my fault. I should've done better. Relied on other people more. But... if you try to fight me, you'll die."
- "So you're threatening us now?!!"
- "No. I'd never want to kill you. But first, you'll try to kill me, so I'll have to defend myself. If you do kill me, then, you'll kill your elites. Then, you'll kill each other, until everything you fought to protect is reduced to ashes. I've seen that happen enough times throughout history to know that much."
Confused whispers circulate through the crowd as they attempt to process what she just said. Their reflection is interrupted by a small, weak trail of flames rising from the crowd. It was a minuscule fireball, directed at Nyx. It had originated from a small girl with blonde hair, with an expression of pure rage painted on her face. She had heavy bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in days, and sparks were still emanating from her hands. A mage from the Guard dispels it before it can reach Nyx, and the latter looks down at the girl.
- "Why did you do that?" Nyx asks.
- "You killed my dad!" The girl screams. "You'll pay! I swear it!"
- "...Okay."
Nyx hovers past the guardrail and slowly floats down towards her, landing in the middle of the crowd. Calliope gives her a worried look as the small portal follows her down. Nyx lands in front of the girl. If looks could kill, she would be dead a hundredfold.
- "...You're hurt." Nyx observes, noticing the girl's hands. They were covered with burn marks, caused by the sparks eating away at her flesh.
- "Shut up!" The girl screams in return, launching another fireball at Nyx. It directly hits her in the stomach, but she doesn't even flinch, maintaining eye contact with the girl.
- "I know you're angry. And trust me, I am too."
- "What would you know?!"
- "...Twenty two thousand, four hundred and ninety two."
- "...?"
- "Not a single person that met their end that night deserved to die. If I'm being honest…" Nyx's magical energy surges around her in the form of an aura of white starlight, occasionally turning blood red. Most people backed off to safety, but the girl stood there, refusing to turn her eyes away from Nyx. Her voice became deeper, and resonated in the space around them. "Every time I think about it, I'm angrier than the last. And I thought about it a lot. It makes me sick."
- "You think you have it worse than me?! Dad died, we lost the house, and I can't even go to school like a normal person anymore! You ruined everything!"
- "I don't think I have it worse than you, no. But I know I'm much, much angrier than you'll ever be. That's why I'll track down Lady Night, and take revenge for all the people she killed. And I'll do that with everyone that's mad enough to seek revenge."
- "Revenge?..." The girl's expression slightly shifts, her furrowed brows relaxing in confusion.
Meanwhile on the terrace, Julian was holding onto the guardrail next to Calliope, looking down at the scene.
- "Oh shit." He comments. "This might be really bad."
- "It already is." Calliope replies.
- "You don't get it. She really doesn't process anger well, and the last thing we need right now is for her to spread it to the crowd. You might want to close your portals so people stop hearing her."
- "...Is that really what is happening? I doubt it. It seems more like she is… harnessing it."
On the ground, Nyx kneeled to look at the girl at eye level.
- "Yes, revenge." Nyx answers, the starlight around her bursting like flame. "I want to avenge everyone who died that night. Everyone she has been experimenting on. Everyone she had killed to avoid being discovered. I want her to suffer for it. And I want to protect the people she failed to kill."
- "...Me too." The girl replies, Nyx's starlight reflecting in her eyes.
- "Me… me too!" Someone adds nearby, as one of the people who stepped away walks back in.
- "Me too!! For my sister!" Another person adds from a distance.
The sea of enraged civilians progressively starts chanting "Me too!", "Me too!!", "Me too!!!" pumping their fists into the air. Nyx also raises her fist to the afternoon sky with them. She could faintly hear Vanessa's voice somewhere in her mind, but it was drowned out by the crowd's chanting. The star in her left eye had turned completely black, as if it was absorbing light instead of emitting it like usual.
- "Me too."