Crest
Crest was somewhat curious as to why she was asking that, but there was no harm in answering her, “I don’t really know what it is. I can just kind of do it. I just… don’t want something to be there? I guess?” He pondered.
He never really wondered how his ability worked, he was born with it, and so it was a tool to use in order to live.
Although he did wonder about those dreams sometimes. “Speaking of abilities? How did you do that thing with the arrows, you a half demon? Or are you more watered down than that.”
Suiren
Suiren’s eyes flicked over to the new arrival and she held up a singular finger. What she meant was clear. Then her eyes refocused on the armored man in front of her, who continued to speak and put a hand on her shoulder. And slowly her hand was raised, and rested on his arm, keeping it in an iron grip and her eyes closed.
And the golden light around her collapsed into her fist hanging by her side, the world shook, dust began to spin around it and the light shifted.
His words… they were nothing but nonsense. This… thing could not be considered something that understood. It could not be called something that even understood life, or the state of being. All things struggle, all things continue on, all this, from the moment of creation endlessly walk to their end.
This is the Truth and the First Story. But yet, that infinite in-between, the time where the one walks, where the one makes their life have meaning, it is where ones worth is found. Because of this, no matter who you are, no matter how weak, no matter how strong, what matters is the will, the will to keep walking in this time. That is what defines them.
“I have seen,” Suiren began her voice quiet. “I have seen a man. He was nothing. He was born with no talents, no skills, no money, and no power. He simply was a man.” She seemed to be telling a story, something she was told rather than experienced.
“But yet,” Her voice cracked slightly, “This man worked hard. He pushed himself further, he aimed higher, and he sought what he could not reach. And despite being born with nothing, he became truly strong.” She paused, “He became ill, and yet he still perused it, his body broke, and he still perused it, he forgot why, but he still perused it. Because it was only through perusing it that he lived, chasing after that ever illusive thing beyond his eyes.”
“He was a foolish man, he was crude, and mean, and he would always have to have the last word.” Her voice seemed almost sad now, “He would always be there, every morning, in that room, and would do what he could until he spit up blood.”
“And he taught me so much…” Suiren did not continue, instead she trailed off into a silence.
Because she remember what that man said. What that man taught her. What it means to live. And then the air around her shifted. But she would not say it, because it didn’t need to be. Because anyone who lived understood.
The shaking around her intensified, the dust moved faster, the light shifted more. And Suiren’s voice shook, “Even the ones far weaker, even those live their daily lives aiming for greater heights. Even those, with no strength, that simply want to preserve what they have. Even they understand.”
She paused for a moment, the only sound being the rumbling of the world around them, and then she spoke again, her rage apparent and sadness gone. “But you simply don’t.” Her eyes opened. And the world no longer rumbled.
Instead it screamed.
An impossible weight, an impossible pressure, rested upon the world. And in response the world began to give, screaming out in pain. The origin was her fist. Her fist that carried the weight of her being, a weight that kept growing, kept surpassing.
It was the fist of the Empress.
And then, without any of the flair that accompanied its appearance, it vanished. And the world was calm again.
“We’re done.” Suiren stated, her voice still trembling with anger. But as she spoke it slowly subsided, replaced with a tentative calm. “We’re done; we have nothing to speak of anymore. Say another word and you will not leave in one piece. Say another thing and I cannot promise you would be able to say anything ever again.” She released his arm, pushed it off her shoulder, and turned away, her back facing him.
“Know that Suiren, the 7th Great Demon given the title of the Empress, shows you mercy.” She stated formally.
