Deep breaths.
[12]You emerge on to the stage, feeling a little weak when all eyes come to rest on you. The low murmurs that fill the amphitheater end. The crowd is watching, waiting, with bated breath.
"The Great Work today has suffered the most significant loss recorded in our long history. Three days ago, The Holy City fell. SEED, our creator, in all its wisdom, destroyed itself with purifying flames rather than let its strength fall to corruption."
"SEED fell because we were weak."
You delay, looking out over the crowd—stern, unbroken, and cold. You stretch your willpower out, reaching as far as you can, making the Crusader officers in front go pale with your frozen fury. One faints. The crowd cannot meet your gaze.
"The Plague can create millions of abominations, thousands of beasts, with shells hard as steel, with twisting tentacles, with devouring teeth. They have no fear. They feel no pain. And they are dead set on ridding this planet of humanity."
"Humans are weak. You live short lives, filled with strife, with pain. You live short lives, falling prey to despair, to cowardice, to fear. How can creatures, so weak, so miserable, stand up to something like that?"
"This failure, it will stain our history until the end of time. I can no longer bear the name given to me by SEED. I can no longer bear the sin of this failure."
[18]The crowd looks morose, down beaten -- angry. Angry at you. You're on the verge of a full-scale riot. Your people shuffle restlessly, Crusaders included. You send out a pulse of your willpower, watching the anger turn to helplessness. People begin to cry.
"I will tell you."
[13] You pull back your willpower, conjuring forth a flicker of fire in the air behind you, a spark of light in the dim amphitheater.
"The Plague knows no fear, so they have never known bravery. The Plague knows no pain, so they have never known determination. The Plague is eternal, so they have never known the struggle to survive. The Plague does not know the value of human life."
[7] With each sentence, you let the fire grow in size, carving lines and crescents in the air behind you. You manipulate the light, so it burns weaker in color until a soft red glow illuminates you from behind.
"We will fight them like the weak have always fought the strong. We will rise to this struggle! We will rise to face them with bravery, with determination, with fear, with anger, with aggression! We will fight tooth, and nail like only the truly fearful know how to. We will get our revenge! We will scour this planet of these pestilent worms until nothing of them remains. Nothing but stories to frighten your grandchildren with!"
"We will rise from the ashes of SEED. We will use this tragedy to sharpen our blades and harden our hearts. We will become stronger from our defeats, until the stars quake beneath the step of our boots!"
The crowd is frothing at the bit, filled with aggression, with your anger, with bloody joy.
"I will rise with you. Out of our mutual sin. No longer can I be named Alphira. I cannot bear that name without feeling the pain of loss in my heart. Know me now as your new living God. Know me as Pheonix!"
"As your God I demand but one from you to reach Paradise! Should it all end, should we all fall to the Plague, it is your final duty as Crusaders, nay, as Humans, to spit in the face of the Beast. To defy it until the end. To die with my name on your lips! Is that understood?!"
[20+1 vs. 1+5] They hail your name as you make your exit. It echoes up to the structural supports and shakes the amphitheater. Dust drifts down from the ceiling. You could not introduce Emma and William, that is for another day. William is smiling a wicked smile. Emma, on the other hand, looks concerned and surprised.
If she has misgivings about your manipulations, she doesn't speak out about them. You take your elevator to your quarters, passing by the workmen that clean and fix the walls. You pay them no mind as they bow their heads in devotion. A null awaits you, and you cannot tell which number it is. They all look so similar.
"I have suggestions for the position of general, as well as a plan on how to organize the civilian government." He shows you two folders, and you tuck your head to a seat nearby.
"Wait."
He bows his head respectfully as you drop down into a chair, resting your head in your hands. You hated that. It felt worse than any war, any battle you've ever fought.
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Topic: McCreary's Planet -- (FINISHED) (Read 259794 times)