[centre][img]http://i.imgur.com/eo3eaPg.png[/img][/centre] [color=ed1c24][centre][h2]The Adversary[/h2][/centre] [/color] [color=ed1c24][centre][b]Level 1: 4 Might 1 Free Point[/b][/centre][/color] The Adversary nodded at his brother in beauty, Zephyrion, and bade His demon fly up and beat the un-air with its wings in celebration. [color=ed1c24]“You words cut close to truth, Windy Cuz’! All is perfect by perfection’s nature, but nothing is without flaws -- and we are all the better for it! Without soft there would be no hard; without stasis there would be no change!”[/color] He called down His wyrm and let it snake around Toun’s legs, pure black against purer white. [color=ed1c24]“That your vision is of paradise is as maybe, but this paper is not your vision. You must learn the need for deficiency in this world, or send yourself forever insane.”[/color] He turned away and caught His serpent. He broke its neck and returned the body to Him. Meantime many gods concocted plots to change or steer the cocoon of Life that lay beyond Him. They were free to do as they pleased. He had no wish to mould life to His will; it was not His place to do so, nor in His interest. His passion lay in the path that life took after its inception. [i]That[/i] would be worth following. So He did not worry much for it, nor feel much sorrow when its egg shell hardened beyond His powers. But He felt moved at least to see it in greater detail. Mammon was thunderstruck. All the universe shrieked in glory, but Life in all its myriad hasty forms was as a flash of lightning in pitch night. It was a wonderful thing. Trunks, of flesh and plant, twisted tight around rotten bone and muscle. It was strong, strong against all that tried to move it...but very, very fragile, almost dead from its own great power. The Adversary felt a strange intentness for the thing. He stared deeply into it, then reverted to His early form. He laid a blackened hand upon its shell. [i][color=ed1c24]“Hey. Doe. Things are going to be rough. People are going to mess with you, more than they have before. They’re going to hold you hostage, change you, break you on their anvils and mould you to their paradise. You’re going to be flawed. You’re going to be full of grand mistakes. But you’ll be spectacular. You’ll forge a thing worth more than all the rest of us combined. And the things you make will do things more magnificent than any all of us could hope to dream of. So live, live and drink and eat and run.”[/color][/i] He paused. [i][color=ed1c24]“That wasn’t an attempt to change you. That’s just advice.”[/color][/i] He broke off when the one who would be king arrived. His protests were meaningless. The Adversary cared not whether creation was ordered or chaotic. He would test Logos’ laws of physics as much as Zephyrion’s laws of change. But one thing interested Him. [color=ed1c24]“You! Winged one from on high! Something of your mein has caught my eye. Tell me; are you Order yourself? Or is Order something different that you merely further?”[/color] He ignored him beyond that. Logos could not diminish the greatness of the universe despite all his attempts; no god could. So the King in Red, crowned in lead, gave little thought to Logos or the miniature war he’d started. But then another god spoke to him. [color=violet]“Greetings, my sibling!”[/color] she said. [color=violet]“Your power is indeed vast, far beyond what I could wield with my mind alone.”[/color] As if the Adversary cared for competition. [color=violet]“However, I think we will both find that, once the world is created, many of the same scholars who follow me will utilize your complex powers. We will have to work together."[/color] Mammon laughed, His coal eyes cold. [color=ed1c24]“Oh, Scribe of Scribes, many of those who follow [i]everyone[/i] will use my powers.”[/color] He smiled wide and licked His tongue around His teeth. [color=ed1c24]“Of course I will work with you. I will work with all. I [i]must[/i] work with all, to see them proofed. But, by that same line, you must work with me. In truth, it matters not one jot either way; if you refuse I shall bathe you in metaphorical fire just the same. I do not think you want to refuse. You crave knowledge; how can you know the strength of something until you break it?”[/color] He closed His mouth and ceased His licking. “I think there is no need to take this piece of paper hostage. We are done, or as near as needs little meddling. Agitated am I to see this universe to its beginning; anxious am I to get to the breaking and making.”[i][/i] [hider=Summary] -Mammon reaffirms the perfection of flawed things, despite Toun's resistance. -He is utterly enamoured by Slough and its Life -He considers and calls out to Logos whether he whether he [i]is[/i] Order, or whether he advances it -He answer's Vulamera's call to camaraderie [/hider]