Take Up the Cross – Chapter 73: Remembering Fate ☆

A dark night has cocooned Petripolis.

While the rest of the city is quiet, the sloppy sounds and regular moans leaking from abandoned baths in its western section prove that sleep isn’t always as interesting as procreation.

The light that is cast on them has a slightly reddish tinge to it now.

“… Oh… ooh… Adris…”

One figure on the ground wrestles the other, despite being strangled by a green tail. The girl who demands he keep going without speaking of the need has already given him ample encouragement with her fangs.

Still as passive as when they began, sweet moans are her only contribution as he continues to slide inside of a squishy love canal. The boy’s balls continue to mildly burn, despite being soaked in their mixed juices as they’re squeezed out by tired thrusts.

(… This is… mmm! The last time…! It has to be…!)

For over two hours they’ve been locked in brief spurts of horrendously pleasureful copulation followed by periods of recuperation. Every time he finishes inside to delirious cries of her thanks, the fire in his blood and dick extinguishes a bit more. With this last drive, he may finally be able to escape without throwing himself back at a lewd, snake body.

“Ave…! You’ve gotten tighter…!”

“… Yesh…! Ave… trying…! Ave can’t… want to be… anywhere else…!

… Loves…! Please… hug me…!”

She uncoils only a little bit so he can hug against her small cushions with one arm. Even though he’s sick of this personal hell, he cannot bring himself to hold anger against the one responsible because she’s been dedicated in her adulation.

As he increases his piston, she rakes sharp nails across his now exposed back again to leave more light scratches. That pain is meaningless in comparison to the soreness of his thighs, feet, and dick, for he’s been trapped for so long that they now grow numb.

Slow, deep, methodical thrusts add to the heat which is ready to tip him over. When one hand comes from his back to snake down to her pussy, he feels a finger slip over its mark to hit his cock before returning.

Her slutty breaths beckon as she eagerly rubs against a tender clit. This slightly selfish ministration tells him that she’s ready too, urging him to time their releases.

“… Sooo… tender…! Want… more!? … Uhh, again!?

Adris!

Adris!!

Adris!!! AAAAHH!?”

With the squelching sounds of her fingers and the gyration of her hips egging him, Adris succumbs to the rhythmic squeezes her broken-in pussy inflicts. She starts to shudder again while crying out, causing him to add his own voice.

“… MMMM! Ave!”

A rampaging current of pleasure breaks through the soreness for the last time as he starts groaning. Though little semen should remain after four releases, the venom afflicting him proves its supernatural ability to refill him.

Toes curl as he launches the last seed he’s willing to offer for her to gulp up.

(Gaaah! … This girl is… starting to squeeze too muuuuch…!? TOO PERFECT!)

As if she’s aware of the finality, the snake elf arching her back and crying out in pleasure also discovers the ability to tighten her passage at the worst possible time. Adris bites his tongue while laying his head on her and twitching.

Rivulets of white are laid out before her hidden treasure room, with Ave cooing as she begins to calm from this fresh height.

“… Adris…”

She manages to say his name before she collapses once more into a stupor.

With her prior orgasms, the selfish girl gave up and forced him to wait to continue again while they talked of nothing, excepting for seductive encouragements.

“… It felt good…!? … Adris… do you… feel good?”

(She’s so submissive, but also desperate for validation! … I give her a little bit, and she wants ever more…!)

Only now does she seem fully satisfied.

When she drifts off while panting, Adris does his best to work her tail with his arms. Using his escape skills, the space he makes eventually lets that menacing rope of coils plop to the floor, followed by Adris grunting as he lifts himself away from her to pull out of this pleasure den he’s been trapped within for hours.

“… AH… ah… mmm…”

“… Hoh!”

The moment he frees himself, the cool air on his dick causes him discomfort. Her sopping pussy and his member are both red from the amateur joining, leaving this innocent partner twitching and revealing a pained frown as he quietly steps away.

(… I need…something to drink.)

Within his pack is both alcohol and water, the two necessities that will allow him to survive this latest attack.

Slowly crawling toward it, he sighs as the enormity of what has happened cracks through the lingering pleasure.

(… Why…? Why did I…? She made it happen, but I… I still wasn’t…?)

To have sex with Ave is a wonderful step in controlling her, especially since she surrendered so valiantly to his total authority.

But, like Neesiette implied, there is a danger building in his mind over it.

Especially since…

(… She bit me…!? Not even the Castillo’s curse felt like “pure attraction” coursing through me!?)

This danger was unpredictable.

Its potential re-occurrence compels him to quickly flee.

(I should… leave her here and go get Still. She’ll know what’s going on, then I can… face her with—)

“… nn… mmmm? Ah?

AH!?

AAAAAHHH!?”

A shriek of pain springs up behind Adris as he nears his clothes to find a towel.

The once maiden’s screams betray panic the likes of which he’s rarely experienced, even from abandoned enemy soldiers left to die.

He whips the cross up, turning to confront the monster assaulting—

An emerald blur strikes Adris, knocking into him before they roll together.

“DON’T! PLEASE!”

This desperate plea comes from a sobbing elf as she clings to him.

“… A-AVE!?”

With full power put into her arms, their unfathomable strength crushes his body until he goes limp.

“PLEASE!? PLEASE DON’T GO AFTER!?

PLEASE, DON’T… DON’T ABANDON AVE, TOO!?

UWAAAHHH!”

All Adris can do is put his hand to the back of her head as she sobs at full strength. Crushing him to the floor, the elf girl only avoids harming him by dint of some rationality at the back of her scattered mind.

(… What is… this…?)

She cries until she begins to hiccup, staining his bare skin with saltiness that causes him to reject her from disdain for the emotional insecurity, while also inviting him to hold on and never let go.

“… Ave. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Uuuuuh… r-r-really…?”

“I promise!”

The elf holds her head over his shoulder, refusing to let go even when he promises. All of his authority cannot overcome such terror as she feels.

“I was going to wipe off and dress! … We shouldn’t stay naked here. I also… also…”

Such reasons do nothing to quell her panic. Trying desperately to think of one compelling enough to separate them, he then goes “ah” and fishes something out of his jacket.

“There was something I was going to give—

… No, there is a token I wished to bestow to you, but the time… the time never matched my designs until now.”

Though much of his self-esteem has been temporarily broken by her passive assault on him, he finds an easy way to try to recover it.

“I do not flee from what belongs to me. How can you conceive of me holding you as I did and then showing fear of it? Is that not foolish of you?”

“… Sorry! Oh…?”

A bird of paradise “takes flight” from Adris’ hand to hers.

Ave’s red eyes go wide as she takes in the beautiful hairpin.

(… I’m not just a schemer. I can also make people feel happy. Provided I want to…)

The idea that she would expect betrayal from him scratches in a dark place.

“I will never betray you…!”

His yell brings an out-of-place stare from Ave. Her mouth is open when he finishes his demand.

“… So…

… don’t betray me...”

“… Ah!?”

A low voice without his usual confidence comes with a turn of his head, causing the elf to fall silent again as she looks back to his present.

(… Shit. That terror she had is infectious. … Ave wouldn’t run—)

“… Yes… Okay…! Ave will be there for you…”

She nods while promising this to him, robbing him of his worries with her choked voice.

Feeling quite confident with his choice, if not his current mood, Adris admits that presents for females are often difficult to choose for a long relationship.

(Serras was a hard person to pick a gift for. With you? I get the feeling I can find out without asking.)

Another step in his plan to put Ave under his thumb appears to be a complete success.

So complete that the girl begins to cry softer tears while cradling the gift.

Scooting closer, she pushes her head against his chest as she sobs.

(This is… a pretty impressive reaction!? Are you that overjoyed at a simple—?)

“… Ave can’t believe you found it.”

Adris starts at this strange opening line, not understanding the longing in her voice.

“‘Songbird of Jalĕnto’, crafted in the Second Age by a forgotten tribe of wood elves, did you know that? Ave hasn’t… seen this since she…

… had to sell it.”

(… Impossible. So impossible.)

This wistful tone is painful now, because it proves just how powerful Avenalliah is.

Through “sheer coincidence”, Adris “discovered” the “perfect gift” for this elf on the very day of their date.

(That means that… my actions then were “controlled”? … How many of my actions tonight…?)

His deep reverie now seems suspect.

Escorting this dignitary through the town was supposed to be for his benefit, but it seems like it was her dream, in retrospect.

A luncheon with a closest friend to show off a “not boyfriend” came next, earning the merchant’s adoration and respect.

(Followed by a wonderful play that I concocted for my own purposes, yet ended up favoring her propensity to garner attention and perform? Raiding the apiary on a whim to show her “how spontaneous, suave, and daring I can be” ended up being something she enjoyed more, since she was allowed to “be bad”…?)

The thought of fleeing the city and starting over somewhere else runs through Adris’ mind.

Even if it means risking the cross’ wrath, the “divine” girl next to him is overwhelmingly…

“… Adris really is… the perfect man…?”

A kind hand strokes from head to neck, prompting her to sigh as he pets this obedient girl.

Fear seeps into him further with him understanding that he now values these sorts of compliments.

“When I saw something as beautiful as that, I knew it was wrong that it did not exist in your hands already.”

“… Ummm! … Thank… thank you, Adris!”

Her hand rubs on his body as she lays there being petted.

“… Why did you… sell it?”

“AH!? … Ave… No, I… didn’t want to! It’s just, it’s not my favorite piece of my collection, and I… no, we needed the money.”

This pained admission causes severe embarrassment, felt through her shivering as he rubs.

(Who has been funding these four? Is it really… just…?)

While Adris knew that Avenalliah has provided funds before now, he’d assumed that the others also chipped in.

(I know Still does, but what about Neesiette and Kol?)

“What were the others forced to give up?”

“Hmm!? … Um… Still already gives peca or tablets when she can, so I couldn’t… And Neesiette doesn’t use anything, so she says she doesn’t need to contribute any more than… her expertise?

… Honestly, Ave can’t fault that. Neesiette has to spend money on crystals for her rods, money she earns herself. Not once has Neesiette ever asked for anything from others, at least not from Kol or me. And…

… and…”

When the topic comes to the most aggressive member of the group, Adris gnashes his teeth.

(Kol, you are… disappointing. You also “borrow” money from this girl, too!?)

“You’re the sole supplier for the group, Ave.”

“AH!? … I… I… well… I was the only one that had money… to begin with, so…!

Ave is… useless otherwise, so it felt okay to…!”

“Stop giving them money. Value yourself more.”

“EH!? … Adris…!? … Ave can…!”

Scooting down, Adris lifts the girl’s face to his as they lay beside each other.

“Avenalliah.

Stop.

Giving.

Them.

Money.”

“Hiie!? Oh… Mmm… Okay, Adris~.

If… you say so…”

While he expected her to resist further, a servile grin flashes when she readily agrees. Waiting for him to calm, Ave then blinks expectantly before scooting down to bury her face in his chest again.

Her tails creeps up to wrap the end around one of his legs, prompting him to start petting with renewed energy.

(… What is… this?)

The girl who is normally skittish being around him is now…

“… Um… Adris… if you want to clean up…?”

A dainty hand takes up his softened cock, lightly stroking and pulling juices off of it.

“Ah!? Ave…?”

“Uwaaah, it’s really sticky!? … Okay…”

Adris is lightly rolled onto his back before he can protest. Opening his mouth, he holds his words when he watches Ave humming and bringing up hands to the left side of her head.

When she pulls away, a new ornament proudly hangs in moss green hair.

“Hmmm, hmmm~? … Adris… Ave wants to… help, okay…? Oof…!”

The cowardly snake cringes while moving, with a hand going to her crotch.

“… Uuuuhh… so sore…”

“Ave…? What? If you—

AH!?”

Before he can finish, she lifts his equally sore cock as her head comes to it.

With that commonplace, unsettled expression creeping in, she furrows her eyebrows bravely and opens her mouth.

“Ahhhn!?”

A forked tongue exits lewdly to coil around his cock, with the wet muscle traversing his length as she cleans it. Though she winces briefly, she still approaches the half-hardened head.

“Oomph!”

Only the head is plunged into her warm mouth, with lips closing around it as she begins to pull back and forth.

(MMM!? I can’t… get hard but, that still… ooooh, really feels comfortable!?)

Despite lacking any training at this, Ave’s biological adaptations puts the girl on a clear path to matching Lycia’s own capability as a semen demon who plunders with her tongue. The obedient way she does it while glancing at him for approval is honey slathered on that sweet bread.

“Good! Ave, you’re… a natural…!”

“MMM!? … Puah!”

The unexpected compliment causes the girl to pull away, blushing furiously as her tongue begins to uncoil.

“Bleh…!

Um… rea-really!? … Ave… isn’t bad…!? It’s not getting… big, though…”

When that long tongue retreats, she crinkles her face at the work she did despite looking proud of serving him well.

“… Is that not something you like doing?”

“We-we-well… the taste… Kol… said… it was the best… thing ever, but…”

Trying to maintain that fragile smile she usually has, Ave then frowns while shedding more tears.

“… Well, the… the… theeee ‘white stuff’ feels… better inside than it tastes…?

Ave is sorry!”

“… Ah? Ave isn’t… supposed to ask for blessings for herself from Pellaeon…”

A conversation begun within the baths for the purpose of understanding her powers completely quietens for a moment as Adris stares up. The girl follows his eyes with tired curiosity.

Much like for Traveler, clouds are parting for a round object in view. Its color is only slightly similar to the thing Zennians call “the sun”, though of a much deeper red and not nearly as bright.

This second orb’s light wars with Traveler’s, though the violet moon appears impassive to the feud.

“Does Zennia have two moons?”

“Hmmm… Yes, it’s called many things, but most people call it [Pilgrim] (INVADER)… It doesn’t appear up as often as Traveler…”

(“Invader”? This again!? Why does the moon have its own hidden meaning?)

“… ehhh, there’s so much… inside me… it feels… naughty and gross… but… also…”

After Ave’s mania calmed, the girl has grown embarrassed enough to stay silent except when he asks questions or she complains about something; yet, even though that source of the embarrassment is…

“Ave… can’t believe she said and did…!? That she threw herself at…? No, but it was perfect in every way!? How… how will Ave continue living after telling a boy she… tou—touches herself…!?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”

… how she acted with Adris, the girl’s arm remains locked with his as they begin to shuffle back to Welcome Web.

Not even for a moment will she let go. Luckily, she’s also incredibly obedient with his questions.

(Clingy. Too… clingy…)

“Who told you that you shouldn’t use it for yourself?”

“… An evil woman… Ave listens to what she’s told to do… even Neesiette’s advice, what was it?”

She starts whispering as she remembers what was forgotten.

“‘Keep enticing him to touch you, men like touching women, but do it…’ blah, blah…

… ‘Don’t go near other men and touch them in front of Adris…?’

… ‘Stop referring to yourself by your name, it’s childish. Also: stop talking in front of others in another language, because they will hate you for it…’

… Ah… AHHH!?”

That very boy spoken of nearly collapses with the elf as she stumbles in horror.

“… I… I… did… nothing but…!?”

“Ave, I can’t… think of many nights in recent memory that I’ve enjoyed more than this one.”

Adris pats her arm affectionately, causing her to gain back life force.

“Thank you!? … Av—AHHH!

… Me, too…”

Adris’ escort promptly resumes when Ave calms while grinning, until she finally reverts to being miserably exhausted.

“If you only do it for others, then the blessings you speak to Pellaeon are to provide specific help?”

“… Yes, sometimes. Everybody says my blessings have saved them from circumstances in their lives, so I want to keep giving them aid… It only left me a bit tired at first, but there’s a lot of people now…”

(Of course there are. They know the benefits you can bring.)

Even now, a dignity radiates from Ave that has only recently begun to dim.

“Do you ever… ask for blessings for the rest of the girls?”

“Hmmm… AH!? Yes, all the time. Though Neesiette pretends not to care, I think sometimes she wants to stand close to me…?”

A smirk comes with that observation as she rubs her head against him.

“Still doesn’t like my blessings, but Kol loves me wishing her a safe and profitable trip. Oh, though, Still just yesterday was getting me to… touch parchments and charms with her saying ‘think vibrant, helpful thoughts’ while she stood far away? I was happy to do so, but honestly it felt… like I was getting nibbled on by something?

… I didn’t like it.”

(She has an idea of how to use her? I mentioned “undead”, so she’s… ah, acquiring a “holy power” to fight with.)

“What about for today, Ave?”

“… Hmmm… well, I asked Pellaeon to protect a lot of people? I feel tired… yes… oh, but mostly I… well… there’s one… sort of selfish thing I did…”

(… So you admit you “blessed” yourself do—?)

“… I had… a… someone who… I wanted to be extra safe today, so I… made a little selfish request…”

A bit of energy seeps into her coquettish whisper before she sighs again.

Adris just keeps blinking as they traverse the western quarters.

Rather than for herself as Adris assumed, there was a blessing made for the benefit of…

(… I… wanted… all of that to happen?)

If luck didn’t intervene for the sake of Ave, then all of his “good fortune” of the day was instead for the benefit of her because he desired it.

This mystery and contradiction is hard to resolve: doing for others when he always does for himself violates his reason for existing, unless it did exactly what he truly wanted to occur.

(Who let some… god decide what I want to do!? “Luck” makes its own assertions about my life!?)

Only the kindness of Ave and his need for it prevents him from forswearing all further contact with divine powers.

Even that kindness is being tested, for Adris’ testicles are throbbing along with his neck.

“… Whoever that was probably thanks you.”

“I hope so… My blessings can do many things in Pellaeon’s name, so long as he’s willing to do it.”

(What about a [benediction] (INVOCATION OF THE DIVINE)?)

“I’ve heard that Mr. Salmeron can call upon faith to make water a bastion against fiends and specters… is this true?”

“Mmmm, yes. Lord Zsinj and Pellaeon can do that… [Compassion] and [Freedom] both respect the waters which bring life. It’s not hard to do, either, but it’s a bit strange to work with water for me…”

(Excellent. That was all I needed to know.)

With the full extent of her power witnessed, the particular usage he has in mind is now a viable offense.

Avenalliah is the linchpin in his particular tactic to take down Lycia, one that is strong after her confirmation of capability.

“… Huh!? Adris… where did these come from…!?”

Ave pulls him to a stop as her hand caresses the wounds she gave him not so long ago. Still inflamed, even a touch causes him to shiver at the tenderness.

“You… don’t know?”

“Eh!? Why would I? … Did someone attack us!?”

Her dumbstruck expression is either the most believable acting Adris has ever witnessed in his entire life, so finely tuned that the experienced conman cannot detect her tells, or…

(You crazy snake elf! You don’t even remember biting me!?)

The panic in her eyes tells Adris that she has no idea what she did.

His suffering was purely an instinctual reaction to a request he spoke.

(Elves are scary! If I tell you I want children, you’re going to bite me again!? … Does she even know about the perfume?)

Unsettling most of all is the idea that Ave has done all of this by mistake.

A body that is near collapse being a casualty of error makes Ave more karmically dangerous than even Kol.

“It’s just an insect.”

“What kinda insect does that!? That’s scary! It… leaves welts that big…?”

“… It’s a large green one that was hiding in the grove.”

“Scary! I’m… going to have to clear it out again…?”

They continue under the red moon as he hurries her along.

(There’s only one thing I haven’t accounted for. While I have the weapon against Lycia and an idea of the battleground to deploy it to, actually wearing her down is difficult to imagine. I also have no way of dealing with Black Birch before they act, too.)

“It can be dangerous having too many enemies, Ave.” A philosophical smirk settles onto Adris’ face as he holds her tighter to him. “Let’s not make nature one, too.”

“… Right? It seems like the four of us run into people we dislike all the time. That’s… mostly Kol’s fault, probably; but, sometimes…”

(I wish I knew how to fix this! How can I deal with both of them?)

“… sometimes, I wish our problems could just resolve themselves without us having to do anything about them, Adris…

… I’m not lazy, am I…?”

A wonderful chill runs up Adris’ spine as he halts in mid step.

The sweet, exhausted voice of his comrade bounces inside of his skull as his answer materializes into the rough draft of his plot.

(WHY SHOULDN’T THEY SOLVE EACH OTHER?)

“… I guess sometimes I am— MMMMPHH!?!?”

Before her self-denigration begins in earnest, the elf’s lips are swiftly stolen by a boy’s as he grabs her up in his arms.

When he opens his eyes again, she’s drunkenly swaying while licking her lips.

“… What… what did… Ave do… to get another…?”

“You just inspired the greatest plot I’ve come up with in many years, my beautiful accomplice.”

“… O-O-Okay… beauty… -ful… is…?”

While the elf is left almost running into an unlit torch post, she can still be guided at Adris’ leisure.

(I have so much to plan. Still, Echo, Anaxis, and the slayers all need a talking to. But at least now, I have the perfect solution to both problems!)

That thought leaves him feeling high, running on that juice that leaves the air tasting crisp. Adris feels able to take on all of Zennia while that comforting surety remains.

But in a moment, it evaporates when his plot finalizes its core details with Ave’s help.

In its place, the cross begins to drone about “repercussions”.

When he notices that change in the air, whispers come from all around. The shadows that hide from Pilgrim’s red eye do not spare envy or hostility right now.

Instead, they in unison speak of a warning for his sake, as one “friend” to another.

But it’s too late to heed the warning to run and hide.

Because Adris’ body is moving according to its own designs.

Even if his thoughts continue along without expectation of suffering and his body longs only for sleep, Adris’ soul is preparing for the change fomenting.

With the comforting surety vanishing, its replacement is a forlorn dread that speaks of an inescapable meeting.

This thing that plays with the very wills of the living is not a balancing force. Instead, it seeks to upturn all intrusions into its domain and line up all the tiles in play.

His mind “coincidentally” misses the first important warning while locked in his grand, intoxicating plot. Waving banners that bear a cross with a V symbol on the end of its longer southern arm line the avenue in the direction they travel, familiar if he would only notice.

“… Hm? Adris… this street… leads to…?”

His body and Ave’s “coincidentally” both miss the figures that creep up to surround them while Adris shifts his attention, at least before they step out.

(… Just… fucking kill me…!)

The cross “coincidentally” rings to warn him too late to avoid the all-consuming presence stepping out around a corner to greet them.

“Ave, be ready for anything.”

“Adris!?”

Dressing quite like the rest, this boy’s garb is a bit less conservative.

Where they wear inscribed, padded scholar’s robes with cowls low and pearly V-pointed crosses over their black tabards, the youth with short platinum-blond hair that interposes himself between Adris and safety wears much finer regalia over his black alb, determined to leave an impression of his importance.

Slightly taller than the bearer of a black cross, that stature cuts deeper for it.

“Though wise men once prepared to spend an entire night fruitlessly searching for perpetrators, could our Fate (ABSOLUTENESS OF OUR WILL) be amending itself for the good of all?”

A benevolent, even voice cuts through the softness of a Petripolis midnight, firing all of Adris’ nerves as he hears past the finely cultivated sense of dangerlessness the older boy has crafted.

Like Adris, this boy can sound pleasing to the ear; yet, it’s all only a formality to the honed judgment of a seasoned criminal.

The arm sleeve that shifts free of his long cope carries a sculpted scepter with two ends that stretch out into curving fangs of sleek metal, with a disconnected, floating crystal blade locked between each set. Lined-runes of a language Adris cannot read form pathways across this tool’s surfaces, yet they seem to hum like lightning in his senses rather than flood with fake aura.

When he grips it tighter, a force Adris has only experienced radiating from Devotion marks fills the street with its oppressive certainty, while the green crystal blades bathe the three of them in their malignant light and the runes glow white hot.

“Share and share alike, so that all secrets may be revealed as not secrets, but universal truths merely hoarded without cause, will you not?

But give only certain answers, lest we all tempt falling into depravity by spreading untruths.”

“Certain”, to Adris’ mind, becomes the word to describe this evil creature that hides behind a faultless smile.

Details on his clothing call back to a dream of towers.

The boy’s golden cope is wrapped by tendrils of pearly light descending to caress the cities drawn upon it in muted grays at the bottom. Where brilliance reaches, gray is replaced by stitched, streaming cloth of pure white.

An enormous half-cape made of sewn purple scales, ones of indescribable age and unknown origin, covers his right side. Though seemingly a light weight upon this lad, Adris senses that nothing should penetrate the cape, unless it’s something that wasn’t supposed to exist to begin with.

The golden symbol of the Granescian church is proudly emblazoned, affixed to the scales by tight, black metallic threading.

(The dream ran out. Ave’s luck ran dry at the worst moment.)

With only a cross and a quivering girl as his power, Adris is cornered by people he now knows he should’ve ever avoided.

(All the coins finally paid up. My luck took over.)

Only the boy appears “alive” like Ave does. His impression is the only one that matters, because Adris witnessed a similar white light in the distance while playing at a giant statue’s feet.

(There are Great Evils in the Grand Game, but there are also Lords of Light! No…)

“Why so quiet, he who treads with monsters? Do you fear your own truths, now, when it is almost too late?

Will you seek repentance so that you can walk with us, once more?”

A well-articulated question cuts deep, despite the forgiving smile and puppy-dog green eyes. No boy who looks this beautiful could be anything other than kind.

“… Though, isn’t that troublingly unlikely, [living contradiction] (INCARNATION OF BEYOND)?”

(“INVADERS!”)

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