Little Russia

[SINIB]

Lubei

Lubei shook his head slowly. "No decision that is deeply and solely yours is unsuited to your person," he said, but a dark burden slipped into his tone. "This may lack persuasion, but I have trodden a like path before. To overturn the foundations of woe demands sacrifice, and guarantees nothing. Those who are not prepared to carry this karma will become no better than beasts, and lose all sight of their aspiration. To those who carry on will fall the demerit of drenching steel in their blood. These are the wages of rebellion."

The Ascendant Heretic Sunray had not been alone when he rose from the dirt to purge evil, and raised his blade to the celestial dome. He had companions who followed him in his grudge against the heavens, and whether by sharing his impurity, or aspiring too purely to the same deeds, lost themselves and became monsters of karma. Hollow of conscience or restraint, catastrophic in power, it fell to him to kill them. Lubei did not wish that on anyone else.

At least, the figure of Ivanna hiding herself from him stoked images not just of these times, but also of lighter things that taught him again what fondness was. He would keep this to himself, but she reminded him of his younger sister's tenderness. Perhaps that made giving this advice easier.

"If you are willing to fight for your freedom," he continued, "Then think carefully and calmly on what must be done. Consider the costs to others, and determine what you want to achieve, and who is your real enemy. Reflect patiently, think over your conclusions, and then come up with your plan."

Ivanna

"Hah! I know not of this path of karma that you speak of, but I sense that you speak truly nonetheless." Ivanna laughed boistrously. She sounded somewhat unhinged, lost, simply going along with the flow of her own sordid destiny. No, perhaps she was finally taking the first steps onto her own path, trillions of years after her creation...

The halo around her head began to dim, and in the skies above Little Russia, the clouds turned red and fire seemed to illuminate the night skies.

She turned around, revealing a manic grin. "It is already done—I have been rejected by my lord. For the first time in forever, I am alone. Heh. Hahaha!"

[YOLF]

Lubei

Lubei did not have what it took to hide his mouth-twisting wince. His delicate advice went through Ivanna like air. Maybe it was his fault, whether for lacking or for inadequacy. He understood the roots of her doubts, but he couldn't know what she was experiencing. What could he do now but keep by her side and watch over her?

"Even if you are alone, you have me," he said. His voice was a deep sigh, but Lubei rose from his crouch as a solid tower next to the seraph.

The request he had lay silent in the snow. There would be other opportunities, soon, he promised, but for now he supposed they should return to the palace. The demon just hoped that her people wouldn't take note of this sharp change and misunderstand just because he was with her...

[SINIB]

Ivanna

The falling seraphim turned to face him, looking up at him with a pitiable gaze. She held her hand against her forehead and groaned in pain. The halo around her head faltered, disintigrating into the void to be repossessed by her creator. The pure whiteness of her wings began to shimmer, the tips of her feathers darkening into a familar black.

Ivanna collapsed down onto the ground, as conciousness finally escaped her and freed her from her momentary obligations.

[YOLF]

Lubei

Lubei's expression stretched wide, and frost that adorned his cheekbones and brow crumbled to the ground.

"Shit," he said, quickly bending down and gathering Ivanna into his arms. Why did she have to pass out now? Was someone conspiring to make things even more uncomfortable for him? The demon lord shook his head as he kicked the dome of ice he'd raised around them for privacy, and hurriedly ran back the way he had come.

Lubei would push on, but sometimes he couldn't help but feel reality was more ridiculous than any cheap words on text conceived for amusement.