[hider=An excerpt from the written musings of "Second," the Architect on the Council of Seven] [i] I did not, at first, understand the depth of the Cup I had chosen to drink. Perhaps I should have asked a question: Why would a man, having found the Cup which humanity sought through the millennia past, decline to partake thereof, and give it to another? Who would value the company of Outcasts over the treasures of eternity? The depravity of humankind should have precluded it from the Beginning. I shudder to think what judgment shall pass upon those lips that drank of that forbidden Cup. Yet willingly I drank, and I do not regret. Only through the lens of monstrosity can I now see the landscape of humanity. The life of man is like a wisp of flame, here for but a moment, and gone as quickly as it came. A man may choose how he shall fuel that flame, for as tobacco and oak yield different rewards from the fire, so do the works of men from life. But a man may strive for a lifetime and a day and accomplish nothing but to feed his flesh to the earth. Even a whole host, striving with all their might, cannot light the way for humanity far beyond their generation. Give a century or two, and civilization is once again wreathed in utter Darkness. What I've come to learn is that it takes just a few good people to chart the course for the future. That tiny spark of Good, so easily smothered, can, with nurture and care, light such a fire as shall burn into legends. How many more lives could be bought if all they who burn were kindled? How far could the light pierce the darkness given a spark and a chance? So many precious souls, too many, meet their end bereft of any joy or accomplishment. I want to find them, embrace them, and tell them it’s okay to burn. I want them to burn and burn until the very equilibrium of good and evil warps in our favor. I want Good to start winning for a change. Such efforts lie far beyond the power of ordinary men. I believe I understand, now, why our adoptive father could not bring himself to partake of the Cup: he could not muster within himself the power to foresee a future beyond the murk of his past . Only children such as we, with no knowledge of the past and no thought for the future, could accept that kind of power and the responsibilities it entails. And I would drink it again in a heartbeat. [/i] [/hider] [hider=Origins] [i] [u]Preface[/u] Consider the following story an apology for my long absence. I've set myself a deadline to always write before or on Monday 4-5pm MST, so 3-week absences of this sort shouldn't happen again. Please enjoy this short story, set in Ruby's world prior to the events of The Backwards Castle. [/i] __________ The city of Midhaven was many things. It was diverse, for starters, and one almost had to take three semesters of Intercultural Studies to avoid offending someone. It was also one of the better-governed cities on the planet, which was why people [i]didn't[/i] need three semesters of Intercultural Studies to live a largely peaceful life here. What the city was not, however, was warm, in either sense of the term - as Erudessa quickly discovered when the fifth inkeeper in the area slammed the door in her face that night. "Nice to meet you too." She tightened her coat and trudged down the street to locate another inn. Xenophobia was surprisingly strong in this corner of the city. Throwing money around would bring more pickpockets than friends, and nobody would talk to strangers at this time of night. Finding a place to sleep, let alone any local connections for the hunt, was proving a pipe dream. Erudessa sighed and stared down a narrow alley. [i]Looks like I'm making friends with the dirt again. What'll I find there this time: villains or vagrants?[/i] Shadows flickered in the dark. There was something, just a hunch, perhaps, that told her to go there. [i]Only one way to find out.[/i] Her eyes soon adjusted as she picked her way through the alley. The graffitied walls, failed pentagrams, discarded pottery, and piles of waste suggested people once lived here. The new king's policies, it seemed, were working, and so (hopefully) were the vagrants. Which meant that the likelihood of encountering them in an alley was less likely. Erudessa touched a hand to the wall to place a warning spell on it. It couldn't hurt to have a little extra time should those shadowed figures choose to try her, if they dared. She found clean little corner and snuggled herself into it. A laugh soon found its way out of her throat. "The others would [i]so[/i] get a kick out of this, seeing me here," she muttered aloud to herself. As she chuckled at the idea of being caught sleeping in an alley, she lifted her gaze to the sliver of night sky above her. [i]It's definitely been a while since I last had to live like this.[/i] With a heavy sigh, she laid her head against the wall, closed her eyes, and listened to the sweet call of sleep. Before it could take her, a sharp headache induced by the warning spell forced her to her feet. Erudessa summoned a forcefield around herself and diverted mana to her palms. "Speak!" she commanded. The sound of labored breathing rose up from around the corner, deeper into the alley. She stretched two fingers around the corner and sent a mana pulse. [i]One soul, motionless, non-threatening.[/i] Erudessa rounded the corner to find young woman, stained black with blood and clutching a bundle in her arms. It took her a moment to realize she'd found one of her targets: Uroh Tei, a former covert operative, wanted for treason against the Council. The reason for that treachery lay in her arms. From the looks of it, someone else got to Uroh before she did. Erudessa dispelled her energies and knelt at the woman's side. "Are you okay?" she asked. A faint glimmer from the woman's face meant she'd opened her eyes slightly. Erudessa touched the woman's shoulder and asked again. "Are you okay?" Her head shook slightly, and she clutched the bundle tighter. Even traitors deserved a fair trial. She didn't deserve this. Her child didn't deserve this. Erudessa diverted energy to her palms again, this time for regenerative magic. "It's okay, I'm a healer. I can help." Uroh batted her hands away. "Let me help you," Erudessa pleaded. She raised the bundle slightly. In that moment, it struck her. [i]There is only one soul here.[/i] She felt sick to her stomach. Erudessa swallowed hard. "Wait, I don't think-" Uroh mustered her strength and rasped, "Please!" Erudessa froze. [i]How could she not know? I can't tell her. The knowledge would break her. If the passing were but a few seconds ago, I could have helped, but this child is long gone. What am I supposed to do, animate her like a zombie? I'm not doing that.[/i] The Ascended were not gods, contrary to popular belief. They could not raise the dead. But perhaps...perhaps it couldn't hurt to pretend. "Give me a moment." Erudessa moved back around the corner out of sight. She confronted a pang of guilt for the plan she was about to consider. [i]Would it be wrong? I could solve so many problems this way, but is it right to take...and to deceive like that? Would she be happy that something, anything of her child's memory would continue, or angry that it isn't whole?[/i] Erudessa folded her arms and mulled it over. [i]If she lives past the trial, I'll tell her myself. No lies.[/i] She cast a delayed teleportation spell on herself and returned to the woman's side. "I can help, but...there is a price." "Name it," Uroh whispered. "Give me the child." Uroh closed her eyes. Every second felt like a minute. At length, she nodded, and loosened her grip on the bundle. Erudessa lifted it into her arms and bowed her head. "Thank you, Uroh Tei. The child shall live. I swear it." As she left the alley, Uroh's only response was a slight smile and a wet trail on her dirty cheek. Erudessa came to small place near the city's edge, where a retired mercenary couple made a living in blacksmithing. They'd enjoyed a solid reputation as kind, upstanding folks, and they longed to have children, but were denied opportunity to adopt any due to their background. She gazed into the child's still, pale face. "In a few moments, little one, life shall fill your eyes once more. My only regret is that it will not be...yours." She knocked on the door, then touched her mouth to the bundle and breathed. A chill formed in her heart, small at first, and grew until her whole body became numb. All the colors of the world faded to gray and blended together in a blur of light before, at last, succumbing to darkness. The void beckoned, and she answered it. Then, she breathed in. The arms that clutched her vanished before the door opened. "Oh! Who left a baby on my doorstep?" said a woman's voice. "Whimpering whiskers! Where's your mother, little one?" Erudessa attempted a reply, but only a cry came out. The voice decided this meant that she was hungry - which she was, incidentally. Attempts at expressing this yielded similarly unpleasant noises. "Rodger dear! I found a baby!" The merc came stumbling to the door rubbing his eyes. "Julia! I knew you were canvassing orphanages, but you went and bought [i]that[/i] little chicken-fried f*cknugget from the agency?" Julia scoffed. "I found her on our doorstep, I'll have you know. Go get the applesauce out of the icebox. Little one's starving!" [i]I will live your life in your place, little one. Wait for me - I'll have many stories for you by world's end.[/i] [/hider] __________ The longer Kaath conversed with Walker, the more Ruby wanted to sink into the floor. She never meant to hurt Kaath. But the girl had to shoulder the burden of suspicion from the moment the party arrived, so Ruby's words, meant just as routine confirmation, triggered her frustration. Worse, there was nothing about Kaath besides a shadowed complexion to warrant such suspicion. Talkative, helpful, and easygoing, Kaath offered them aid in their time of need, only to be rewarded with glares and sour words. What if the experience made her wary of people ever after? What if she chose to smother the kindness in her heart because of this? Perhaps such a conclusion was unlikely, but humans sometimes turned to evil over lesser grievances. She would never forgive herself if that happened. She could not look Kaath in the eye for the rest of the conversation. An apology was in order, but she didn't much feel like embarrassing herself by apologizing within earshot of the others. Then again, the error was public; a public error demanded a public apology. But Kaath and Walker were still talking, and interrupting to make an apology would be awkward at best, and flat-out rude at worst. Ruby ran her hands through her hair. [i]What do I do? When do I do it?[/i] The opportunity arose when Violet summoned her and Walker to a private chat. Ruby waited until Walker was some paces away before speaking. She swallowed the lump in her throat and shifted to sit on her knees. [color=red]"Kaath...I want to apologize. You've helped us, helped me, more than I deserve, and I treated you with suspicion. It was wrong of me to suggest you hurt Violet. I don't-"[/color] The lump in her throat returned, and could not be swallowed without smarting her eyes. [color=red]"I didn't-"[/color] Tears began to well up. [i]Don't cry. Don't cry. Be strong. Don't cry now. Dammit![/i] She was not as strong as initially surmised, and the moisture threatened to spill onto her cheeks. Ruby bowed her head to hide them and plodded on. [color=red]"-please don't stop being kind just because of an old fool like me. Can you- can you- please forgive me?"[/color] She waited a few moments to learn whether Kaath would accept it. But she could not wait too long, lest the others wonder at the holdup and return to find Ruby in tears. At length, she wiped her eyes, got to her feet, and joined the meeting. For once, the ambient darkness proved a friend, enshrouding the signs of tears in shadow so what traces remained would not be visible. Ruby dusted off a section of the cold stone floor and folded herself on top of it. [color=red]"How may I be of service, Violet?"[/color]