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A Cosmic Knight met the edge of the cliff and didn't stop.

The way down was a steep slope, not a drop. The Changing Plains had broken like a wave here. Oriana hit the rock face with her heel and began to skid down, high stone grinding away her armour and threatening to make her tumble. Only her Astartean will gripped her and pushed her to balance.

The ground flew at her like a fist to the skull.

Oriana rebounded from the earth in a spray of rock splinters, crashing back into the rock and immediately curling into a wounded position.

She touched the flower that grew from her shoulder to make sure it was still alive. She opened her eyes and saw another flower growing just ahead of her. It was a deep red rose, an iron rose, growing with steel-coated leaves on a bed of haematite.

The sun hammered down at her as she lay. The bloodstones shimmered with heat. High above, the ogres were finding another way down, armed with the spears of her friends. As she watched, a pale glow rose from the petals of the rosebud.

She asked it, "Why?"

[colour=cornflowerblue]"Because I intended it,"[/colour] said Chiral Phi. [colour=cornflowerblue]"It was I who lured the ogres to your camp."[/colour]

She scrunched her crying eyes. [i]"Why?"[/i]

[colour=cornflowerblue]"Who am I, Oriana?"[/colour]

"You said you were a God of Empathy," she spat. "Liar."

[colour=cornflowerblue]"I am the liar and the mother of lies,"[/colour] said Phi. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Thus it is written in the Great Book. But I am also the God of Empathy."[/colour]

"How is this [i]empathy,[/i]" she said, forming her teeth into a growl. The mandibles that passed for her lips slavered. "Bitch."

[colour=cornflowerblue]"I am giving you what you asked for. Didn't you ask for this?"[/colour]

Oriana raised herself from the ground on her fists. "I [i]never[/i] asked for this. I [i]never[/i] asked for this!" She rammed her fist into the rock, creating more fractures. "I asked for glory! Camaraderie! To chase the stars! I thought I would die at Lifprasil's side! [i]I thought I would die![/i]" Her halo shone pink, healing bent bones. "I thought I would die and I was [i]happy[/i] until [i]YOU[/i] came!"

[colour=cornflowerblue]"Die then,"[/colour] said Chiral Phi. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Do what you came for."[/colour] The light winked out.

[i]"...raaAAH!"[/i]

Oriana lashed out, and the rose was nothing but a trail of shredded feathers on the wind. She looked down at her hands. She scrunched her eyes and curled up on her knees.

One beautiful thing in the wasteland, and even that was gone.

[i]"AAAAAAAH!"[/i]

The ogres came and Oriana went to them. Her halo flared yellow. She'd lost her weapon long ago but, like the rose, her armour was nothing but thorns.

Oriana raged and gouged and ripped and tore and gnashed. The blood covered her as she killed with her shoulders, drew blood with her teeth. Everything was red. Everything was violence. She caved the last ogre's skull with a rock and smashed it until stone hit stone.

She sat on the body of the clansman and put her head in her hands. "...I was wrong," she whispered. "Just take me back."

Phi blinked back into existence. [colour=cornflowerblue]"You're alive, Ori."[/colour]

"I don't want to."

[colour=cornflowerblue]"You made a mistake. I know. I kept you alive through your rage, and I'm sorry, Oriana. I'm sorry."[/colour]

"Why did you do it?"

[colour=cornflowerblue]"Because I don't want anyone to make a mistake like yours. You're still suffering."[/colour] The light swirled. For a moment it seemed to form the shape of a woman, gazing out into the distant sunset, but that was just pareidolia.

[colour=cornflowerblue]"I won't lie to you any more, Ori. I'm not better than him. In many ways I'm much the same. In fact, I'm worse. But I'm [i]not[/i] him. Enough is enough, Oriana, daughter of Tyufik. Don't spend your eternity living your mistake. You can run. Run away from your pain and never come back."[/colour]

Oriana said nothing. 

[colour=cornflowerblue]"In the morning I'll guide you away from this place. I'll take you out of the Changing Plains, and show you the way to wherever you want. You can go anywhere. I will not stop you. But I'm hoping you'll stay with me."[/colour]

"...Why," she said. "I don't want it to hurt."

[colour=cornflowerblue]"So you can guard my flock,"[/colour] said Chiral Phi. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Teach them that there is no god worth dying for. And how to treasure themselves. Teach them how to love truly, and how important are the lives of others. Teach them that there's no god worth dying for,"[/colour] she repeated. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Not even me."[/colour]

And the indigo light winked out. Oriana daughter of Tyufik was left to stare at the moons and wonder at her future.