[color=#BDBDBD][center][h2]【[u][b]The Uncertainty of Truth[/b][/u]】[/h2][h3]【[u] [b][color=#D3844B]Valerian[/color] & [color=gold]Golden Monkey[/color][/b][/u]】[/h3][i]~[/i][b]A Collab by [@Force and Fury] & [@yoshua171][/b][i]~[/i]
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They entered the hedge maze from a little ways back, and it was immediately and abundantly clear that the place was gorged with energy that should not have been there. In a word: magic.

Golden Monkey was wordless, the air swollen with an unspoken tension between the two men. His steps were light and ripe with the potential for action. His motions even [i]craved[/i] it, perhaps. In a nutshell, however, it did not come to pass, at least not at such an early juncture.

[color=gold]"A good enemy you were,"[/color] the yasoi admitted both suddenly and offhandedly. [color=gold]"You struck me. You figured out my gimmick."[/color] He let out a low, unsettling chuckle. [color=gold]"Not often that happens, and not from..."[/color] His face became a momentary sneer. [color=gold]"Someone like you."[/color]

There was an extended pause. Save for their magical senses, they were well and truly lost to the maze now, and perhaps that had been the intent. Perhaps there was something nefarious at play or perhaps it was merely the innocent wandering of a yasoi who was, after all, still just a person, much as he was a monster as well.

[color=gold]"Be honest with ya, I'm gonna."[/color] He nodded as if resolving himself to it. He scrunched his nose up in distaste and peered down at the shorter human. [color=gold]"The Twins wanted me to ply you with riches."[/color] He almost laughed as he shrugged. [color=gold]"But you're already rich and you don't care anyway."[/color] He sniffed the air. [color=gold]"They're a necessary evil, or this country becomes chaos and you get someone like the Jiang, who commit genocide twice and blame it on us."[/color] He snorted. [color=gold]"A black legend doesn't much bother me. I know the truth. I'm a killer, but with purpose I kill. "[/color]

His body language was antsy as a tamarin peered out from the hedges. [color=gold]"Fight you again I wanna. You fucked up the last time and you know it. Damn near killed your whole group."[/color] He shook his head. [color=gold]"Most of them are weak or don't really know fighting. Must've rankled to be the scapegoat instead of the hero. The whole lot of you might've even won, but you fucked up. I want a fair fight. No interlopers. You want another crack. I'd do it right here and now. Thing is, I'd squish you, one on one."[/color] He twisted and grinned with impish malevolence. [color=gold]"I don't brag, of course. I state facts."[/color] 

The pathways between the hedges were bathed in deep cool shadow and a different set of animals took up the background chorus as sunset loomed. [color=gold]"Make you a sanguinaire, I wanna. Give you your grandfather's power. Now [i]he[/i] was a legend."[/color] Golden Monkey shook his head eagerly. 

[color=gold]"You're nothing compared to him, Valerian Remi Leclere, but you [i]could[/i] be. [i]Paragons[/i], you could. You help us take out the selfish dragon. What makes him any better an option? Because he bows before the ogauraq for his betrayal and then throws them at us like chaff into the fire? Because he'd murder every sanguinaire for the crime of existing? And Ash? He'd force his religion on this country like they forced their religion on [i]my[/i] people."[/color] For a moment, his voice turned bitter. [color=gold]"And don't think that's some weakness you can exploit. I'm over it. Make no mistake, the Twins are tyrants, but Ash would be even worse. And the Nikanese? They seek only the ruin of a peaceful neighbour."[/color] He shook his head tightly and snorted into the golden air. [color=gold]"No. Those are all bad plays. Help us take them out. Then you gain power. I don't care what you do with it. Have all the time you need. Go change the world. Learn about it what I did."[/color] He twisted on the spot, walking backwards now, in front of Vel. [color=gold]"The weak don't rule. Not because they shouldn't - because they [i]can't[/i]. There's no one here worthy of your blood and sweat. Help us. Get something. Then fight me."[/color] 

Though the tension between them was palpable at first, things began to ease as Golden Monkey spoke. He was surprisingly honest and straightforward, all told, not that Valerian trusted him.

However, while Vel might have been amicable to some agreement, the yasoi made a critical mistake. He mentioned his grandfather. While Valerian hadn't had any particular relationship with the man, he knew that his father had only treated him as he had because of the sanguinaire's lingering influence. Had it not been for the way Marius was raised, Vel's brother would still be around.

Nonetheless, Valerian managed a smile, well used to having to display false emotions in court. As they walked he didn't meet Golden Monkey's gaze, even as the man walked ahead of him--facing him by walking backward. Still, it wouldn't do to dismiss the Blackguard off-hand, so Vel finally met the yasoi's gaze and tilted his head slightly.

[color=#D3844B][b]"What's on offer?"[/b][/color] He queried with a look of faint amusement. At the same time, Vel noted the strange abundance of energy in the hedge maze. He kept such senses sharply focused on every little detail, keeping track of the movement of energy all around them. If there was to be an ambush or an attempt at a sneak attack, he'd be aware of it well beforehand. 

[color=gold]"Power,"[/color] the yasoi said simply. [color=gold]"Made that pretty clear, thought I had. Same power as your grandfather. Not all legends are good. Maybe you can use it better than he did."[/color] Golden Monkey shrugged. [color=gold]"Power and membership. Be one of us. You'll never achieve anything by slamming your head into a brick wall again and again."[/color] He shook his head. [color=gold]"A monolith us sangs are not. The more decent people we have among us the more decent we are as a group."[/color] 

He'd halted now, forcing Vel to halt as well, and his expression fell oddly between scowl and a knowing grin as he took in the boy's paranoia. [color=gold]"A bloody demon that Progenitor is. Uses places like Vossoriya and Retan to farm people. For five thousand years, he's gone unchallenged on the sanguine council, but now the Twins have risen."[/color] He shook his head earnestly. [color=gold]"Now the fucker's scared. That's what started this whole mess and now you have bandwagon jumpers like Wu Long, Ash, and the Nikanese. He's trying to take the Tens out because they're something new. They're something novel. They work together. They care about their people, in their own way. It's harsh. It's oppressive, and they ain't half as nice as they act around that table, but they [i]do[/i] want the best for their nation and they're building a power structure independent of the Progenitor to do it."[/color] 

He spread his arms. [color=gold]"Listen: I could've killed you the first time that we fought. I could do it right now. Fact that I haven't should tell you that it ain't my goal. Changing this place the right way - bit by bit with the eternity I have to live - is. You know they're going to marry the Jiang girl? End the dynastic strife? Offer pardons to Jiang supporters? Liberalize our trade?"[/color] He shook his head. [color=gold]"A generation ago, never woulda believed it. Now, with the ten of us and the exemplars in the Twins' ears, it's happening. Ain't flashy or exciting, but it's happening. Other things we've got for excitement, like dealing with all of Retan's little problems."[/color] He traced a dragon in the air with a brightened fingertip, leaving a momentary burning afterimage. [color=gold]"And the big ones too. Those fuckers ain't good, and definitely not any better than us. You fight alongside them, I'll waste you. I don't wanna just yet, but I'll do it all the same, and you'll have died for nothing instead of lived for the chance to really achieve something."[/color] 

He let his hands fall to his sides. There was a great deal of ambient energy in the air, but it fast began to evaporate. [color=gold]"That's it. My peace I've said, kid."[/color] His eyes said the rest: 'Now what's it gonna be?' 

Valerian's smile slipped as a more thoughtful expression took hold. There was a lot to consider here and foremost among those considerations was whether or not he was being shortsighted. Further, was his decision based on a narrow view of things? One that was too idealistic, naive even? Was he moralizing a situation too complicated to be put in simple terms such as right and wrong? What did the history say? Retan’s history, the history of Perrence, or the other major powers.

The precedent did dictate that the larger a nation was, the harder it was to maintain order and quality of life without certain sacrifices. At the same time though, what did his morals mean if he couldn’t honor them just because things got complicated? Vel frowned, his eyes on the ground even though his senses were still stretched to their limits–just in case. Was it better to allow the Twins to continue their reign if it meant that–in the long term–ReTan was stable and that its people slowly gained an improved quality of life? Was it worth the terrible sacrifice of certain freedoms, and the not-so-quiet atrocities of oppression? Furthermore, what message did that send? Besides, what had his mission been? To let an oppressive regime persist?

That wasn’t what Ersand’Enise would want, they desired the freedom of magic so that such things could be further advanced and shared throughout the world. What of his fellow students? What if some didn’t accept the offer and he did and they then had to work together in the future? Would they trust his judgment? Then again, did they even trust it now? He [i]had[/i] almost gotten them all killed….

Valerian sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, his magical senses nonetheless focused. Could he, a single mage, do enough good to offset him making the selfish choice? If all of them made that choice, could they offset that harm collectively? If he made the choice…could he live with the knowledge that his selfishness had caused very significant harm? Could he live with knowing that his words to Wu Long–to the Ogauraq–had essentially been empty?

[color=#D3844B][b]“What of the Ogauraq?”[/b][/color] As he asked, he opened his eyes and met Golden Monkey’s gaze, his own expression serious, but otherwise unreadable. 

[color=gold]"What of them?"[/color] the yasoi replied. [color=gold]"Those who fight against us will be treated as enemies. Those who don't have nothing to fear."[/color] He shrugged. [color=gold]"I'm wary of them, to be honest. For hundreds of years, they've logged our northern forests to create more of the tundra they prefer. They've outright exterminated my people, who used to live there. There aren't many of us left these days."[/color] 

His nose scrunched up and he scowled. [color=gold]"I'm sure they shared their thought-pictures about how they were the innocent, oppressed victims. In their minds, I'm sure they are."[/color] Golden Monkey shook his head. [color=gold]"Unlike any of the Ogauraq you 'spoke' to, though, I was [i]there.[/i] I saw how they marched on the capital and occupied it, first in our name before turning on us. I knew of their demands: how they wanted the yanii to cede the north of Retan to them alone - to forsake the right to a land where they had both peacefully coexisted for thousands of years before the Jiang."[/color] 

He settled into a crouch, gazing up at Valerian in the burgeoning gloom with reflective golden eyes. [color=gold]"I was part of the army that stopped them, that freed our capital. We were being held hostage. They were so smug and morally superior."[/color] He leaned to the side and spat. There was an antsiness to the yasoi now. His fingers drummed the air idly. He bounced lightly on his haunches. [color=gold]"The straight answer is that we'll leave them alone as long as they leave us alone: same as we've always wanted. They fight against us, though, they die."[/color] He shook his head. [color=gold]"I'm not about to repeat history's mistakes."[/color] Finally, he rose. 

Listening to the yasoi, indeed watching what must have been a somewhat visceral emotional response from the man, Vel found himself somewhat at a loss. He was usually better about this sort of thing, able to sort through people’s motivations and the influences that had brought them to a situation. From there he could usually do what he felt was right. This though, this, was different. The circumstances he’d navigated before this were part of what he hated about the world. It all smelled of the duplicitous, complicated, fraught nature of decades of politics and conflict.

Openly unsure now, Valerian raised a hand and rubbed his temples before shaking his head. If he chose not to accept it could mean his own death and perhaps the death of his comrades. He couldn’t do anything in the future…if he didn’t have one. Further, every side of this conflict had goals and positions that made some degree of sense and while many actions were indeed deplorable, the motivations behind such actions were no longer so clearly vile and unacceptable. These things were not so black and white anymore, not even close. Further, he could not tell if he was being lied to. Every decision seemed the wrong one in that moment and in that moment a frown formed on his face.

[color=#D3844B][b]“Very well,”[/b][/color] Vel said even as he felt a deep sense of personal disappointment settle in his stomach. Was this a decision wrought from fear? Perhaps, but he had to admit…he didn’t want to lead, it just had never been where his aims led. Furthermore, who would replace the Twins? The Dragon, perhaps one of the many factions that were gunning for the dissolution of Retan as a stable country. Was the instability and horror of true war and revolution [i]really[/i] what was best for the Retanese people? He couldn’t see how it was. As to the minority of Yasoi, and of course, the Ogauraq, the reality of things was simple. Even if his decision was wrong, both decisions were wrong. Thus, the only thing that made sense was to improve himself so that he could make better decisions and help [i]more[/i] people in the future.

At least, that’s what he was telling himself.

Vel met the Blackguard’s eyes, a certain grim–resigned–determination in his features.

[color=#D3844B][b]“I accept.”[/b][/color][/color]