azontr
He/Him- 40,559
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- #24,041
"Eh, just open a portal. It's not like we're gonna see him naked or something." Kiara said with a shrug."I should open a portal to his location to speed this up or search normally?, I don't want to find him at an awkward time"
Metatron was still with Lance, simply floating against the wall with an indifferent look in his eye. The moment Raviathon came within range, his golden eyes darted toward her.Cullthane sat down and closed his eyes, the jungle around him unnaturally still, as if every living thing was watching him, and he was thinking, and thinking, and thinking... before the bushes rattled and the form of Raviathon walked through.
"You've been watching me awhile." Cullthane said, his eyes opening as he stood up
"We have a duty... Yet you do nothing..." Raviathon said, gazing at Cullthane with yellow eyes that glimmered
Cullthane laughed, "Duty? Duty to what, exactly?" Cullthane said, his eyes boring into Raviathon's own as the Archangel approached the Seraphim
"Duty to everything and everyone around you, to your cause!" Raviathon responded, getting closer
"And what's the point, exactly? I've seen more than enough to know it's pointless." Cullthane responded, before Raviathon made a magic attack that barely scratched his cheek, her face contorted in pain
"Is it shadowplay? Is that what this is-" Raviathon said in a shaky voice
"Enough. It's not shadowplay. And I'm sorry if that disappoints you." Cullthane said, Raviathon taking a couple paces back and circled around a bit to Cullthane's left side as the Seraphim wiped a small drop of deep purple blood from his cheek and simply looked at his finger
"We believed in you, we dedicated our lives to you."
"Not to me. To the Star Gods' cause."
"After they fell you are the Star Gods' cause! At least you were..."
"Oh?" Cullthane said, his blood dissolving into his finger as the wound on his cheek had already healed, simply turning to look at Imperius
"We're all trying carrying on without you, we, and them, want to create a better future for creation." Raviathon said, scowling as she couldn't meet her creator's eye
"Well then, off you go! Go build the brave and better new creation! Push! Push on! Forge ahead without me!" Cullthane said, pointing towards the exit a ways behind him
"..." Raviathon was silent for a moment "The moment you tell me this is all a trick- that "Cullthane the Nihilist" is some part of some larger plan- then we will all follow you." Raviathon said
Cullthane scoffed, a noise that was scathing, but he was silent besides that
"I've been watching you since I left the Desert about two hours ago, you close your eyes and you think and you think and you think. And you know what I think? I think for the first time in your life you don't know what your purpose is. Seraphim, servant of the Star Gods, historian, teacher- now what?"
"..." Cullthane had no response to that
"You could've simply laid low, yet you start to try and destroy everything- why?" Raviathon asked, her voice shaking
"When I said I'd destroy creation, when I would raise my magic against my brother to kill him, when that was in my mind a part of me didn't believe I meant it, but after I was brought out of that pocket dimension and had some time to myself, I realized that I did. If the world thinks you're a monster, what does it matter? The world is wrong. But when you start to think of yourself as a monster..."
"I've come to hate the person I've become. Yet I cannot leave that person behind." Cullthane said, scowling
"You're not a monster, and we all have wobbles. All of us, from time to time, we all have wobbles and we all question what we're doing. It's part of being alive, you've said so yourself... In years to come- when we've won- you'll remember this conversation and laugh."
"Years to come? The Star Gods made a ticking time bomb that'd grow to destroy creation and Kill-Gaia as he's know, with it. It's a doomed world anyway. We will not survive the end, nothing will. There's no point."
"I don't like to hear you talk like this."
"Why?"
"Because it's not YOU! The Cullthane who taught Countless generations of mages- the Culltuane who created us- that Cullthane we followed; the Cullthane we loved... what happened to him?" Raviathon asked, pulling her eyes that had tears growing in them to look Cullthane in the eyes
"...I don't know." Cullthane said, this time it was him who looked away, Raviathon eventually walking out of the Jungle and beginning to look for Metatron
"Speak you're business, child."
"Then don't express it, Ythala..." Okita said, effortlessly pulling Ythala closer to her. Softly, she planted a kiss onto Ythala's lips, savoring the taste of her flesh before pulling back a moment later."...Thank you..." Ythala said softly, her arms trembling in Okita's grip.
"Thank you...thank you...thank you....thank you....t-thank y-you....t-thank..." Ythala repeated the words, as if on loop, tears continuing to spring from her eyes. She let out a choked sob, lurching forward and burying herself into Okita's clothes.
"...I...I c-can't...c-can't...e-express...h-how...." Ythala murmured.
"...H-how m-much t-that...t-that means t-to me. H-how...h-how much...you...m-mean t-to me."
Ythala's own obsession, rooted in a lifetime of grief and loss, resonated with Okitas, the two twirling together like a tornado of flame. So long had she suffered under Adam's clutches, tortured by constant memories of Kill Gaia's slaughter...longing for a companion to pull her through the darkness, to ease the pain. Okita wasn't a person to Ythala...she was a divine being, at the level of the very gods that roamed the stars in eons past. In Ythala's mind, Okita grew into something more magnificent and beautiful than the cosmos itself. Only her master, the Seraphim she valued beyond life itself, could hold a greater place in her heart.