The Furies are at home in the mirror

[MalfGuy2]

---

"Ao Shun... Ao Shun... Please, open your eyes..."

---

The feeling of being watched by the golden boughs washes over you.

A subtle sound, a crackle,

The bursting of glass,

All a sudden build-up in the back of the head. Right next to the occipital nerve.

"Who dares touch me? They better pay for that!"

"Hold your fire."

"Something like us, but not. Shattered..."

"Alone."

"Atop an even lonelier mountain - And it risks falling from starry heights."

Whatever it was, the feeling went just as fast as it had arrived.

"I feel... Heavier. Empowered somehow."

"Can I make more rules, too?"

"You'll get your turn."

No major changes to your magickal output.

One of the drones passing by Nightview catches your eye, and with a closer look through the blurring and the astigmatistic lights...

You can tell there's something useful to be gained from absorbing it, too.

"Power-up time."

No objections?

You skillfully disable in one monochrome beam-blast what you believe to be of most import - 

Which turns out to be whatever an 'I.F.F.' is, and a ghostly imitation of a magitech cannon.

The cannon will easily bond to the Spiritual casting component structure.

"Okay. But what's this I.F.F. thingy?"

"Will it help us shoot more?"

It's just as surprising, but apparently, removing that didn't trigger any offensive failsafe.

No self-preservation in spite of it being previously armed.

You reason that it must be some kind of optical 'scanner' of some sort, registering the shapes and blurs around you...

...And translating them into whatever the Golem thinks about.

"Try pairing it with the cannon."

"Already on it. These little metal tabs and buttons are a mess."

"Another idea-bubble to add to the pile..."

---

The weeks & months of sparring passed by without a hitch.

Likewise, Lore seems at his happiest, going hunting in the wilds with you.

A random Undead slain here, a random Demon maimed there,

That one time you split off, and help out the psychedelic town over by The Hole In The Universe...

"Everything is right with the world."

"Until it isn't."

Until one day, your spine chills as you let Lore set out in front of you.

Something beautiful was about to happen.

Something terrible was about to happen.

---

---

The bridge connecting Glufdor Volcano to much of the central wilderness looms in the distance.

A myriad of Demons, Elzara, retired Archmagi,

And a pair of corrupted-orange-yellow wings of the Cosmos rise to greet you and Lore from the other side.

There are even a few random cultists scattered about, and a valiant soul from that one dragon-y place next door.

Even your neighbors are here.

Even your cousins are here.

"There's too many of them."

"The mind is a maze, and every decision opens & closes various paths forwards..."

"Justice. Judgement. Retribution. Ready, aim..."

"Let's test out our new toy!"

"Outnumbered."

"Outgunned."

"And outmatched."

"...But Lore is moving his arm, and sprouting flaming wings of his own?"

Everything crawls to a stand-still.

Half the ongoing fights pause for the combatants to look at you & Lore.

Arriving on the scene.

"Buddy, I can't get to the big one over there that's shooting meteors at the kids."
"Mind running cover fire on the Demons, that big Fire Elemental over there?"

The Fire Elemental.

The massive bat, with his own flaming wings,

He was huge enough to almost count as a Kaor.

"Definitely outmatched."

"We'll lose valiantly."

"For them, it will be hellfire and brimstone. For you, it's just another Wednesday."

"Feel the burn."

Trepidation grips at your esophagus as you curl your neck back, propelling yourself into the air & taking flight.

Like you were dealing with regular Monsters, you enter an artillery attack mode;

All-Area-Type spells on rapidfire.

"-2: Binoclard."

"-1: Still a little skittish."

"-2: Running on an empty stomach."

"-1: Your cannon /will/ fail the first time you try using it."

"+12: Lore needs you."

---

(/battlelog breaks after this point. booo! boooooo! shame on you, /battlelog command.)

---

A flash of primal fury rises up to greet your own technicolour assault,
But in a surprise twist of fate,

"They mis-stepped too much."

"That bad footing at the end..."

The FireBat can't hold the line against your sheer barrage. He surrendered his position fortifying the bridge.

...Wait a minute.

"Where'd Lore go?"

"The flaming wings and the cosmic wings' Mana traces lead to the south."

"...Taken."

"Even that wasn't enough."

---

Without a battle-buddy, what are we supposed to do now?
Go wild again?
Most the crowd began to retreat - Either in confusion, or in sheer awe/terror of you.
You sit there.
On the ground.
Really, well and insulated from humanity,
Once more.

"Quiet..."

"A tremendous loneliness comes over you. You realize that everyone else in the world is doing something without you."

"...What use is justice, if we can't be everywhere at once?..."

"Need something to take the nerves off."

---

"Go back home. I will be the guiding light."i

"Not everything is lost."