Scales of Retribution [Aegis vs Gloomlight]

[Shanal]

---

The clarion call of war resounds from bellowing horns, and the North stirs once again.

Adorned with gilded banners of azure and gold that pirouette amidst the winds, legions march forth from the icy tundra, while the ironwood vessels cleave right through the churning waters of the strait.

All bound for the plateaus and prairies of the Gloomlight. The forces skulk beneath the veil of night, dispersing by the daybreak's arrival—each path and route within the region is thoroughly patrolled, and even the southern seas bear witness to the inquisitive presence of unyielding ships.

And as the first morning rays embolden Aegis in its embrace again, the Hosts of Unreality would find themselves encircled.

Only a single declaration makes its way to the Bastion:

It is a cycle that repeats itself, time and again. Your yearning for appeasement and inaction persists—as you scheme behind the veil, as your mistakes unleash threats upon our realms, as you shield the vile, and as the facets of retribution and justice fall by the wayside.

We have endured, we have compromised, and we have bestowed our trust upon you.

Did not the Oracle assent to every term of the trial?

Did not the Archon vow to stand by it, even at the cost of her life?

Did not your own emissary renounce the representation of Goldlight?

And yet, when the judgement veers beyond the bare minimum for survival...

You forsake your convictions, you forsake your will, and you forsake your honor.

No more.

You shall have until our forces are primed to relinquish the Archon. And should you find yourselves incapable, rest assured, we will ensure that the justice is served.

And to those who are concerned for the safety of their loved ones, of their home; fear not. Ones who have broken their oaths stand within your city, not our ranks. We have but one target, and we pursue but one purpose—to serve humanity.

---

OBJECTIVE: Capture of Na'Ria

DATE: TBA

[Titania]

The answer from Gloomlight is swift, forceful, and intense. Lines of Bastion soldiers take the field, marching forward in silver and black to prepare themselves to defend the Keep and the land of Athelios's faithful. It is a stoic task-- not one done with the fervor or piety they have shown in the fight against the demon or the witch, but with a solemn sense of utter duty.

This is their home. This is the will of their Oracle, of whom represents Athelios. And these interlopers from a far-off land, much as they may be respected warriors? Are not to be allowed to interfere in the will of their God on Meranthe.

A statement comes, soon after, a speech heralded by little more than a standing at a podium and a sigh, from the current Oracle.

"Sak'noth."

"Mettadora."

"Xarxes."

"Ult."

"The Moonfall Witches."

"Atreylla's wayward, demonic spawn."

"The Tower, and all its' little games."

"All of these things you could throw yourself against. All of these more than righteous targets-- People you could slake your blood-thirst on and be revered as no more than the heroes you would rightfully have become for slaying them. Survivors of the Fel waiting for their chance to strike back and rebuild their empire, as you so vividly provide at this exact moment with this infighting. The last remnants of RISE after we and Xuefeng crushed it from existence, still following slavishly his masters' decrees, who did you the insult of attacking your own bloody renewal of vows. A new, interloping group of monsters and witches of the worst sort come to despoil and corrupt our land, take all they desire and spread their malign influence, and yet--"

"You are here to kill someone who has already been neutralized. Whose malignancy has been excised by scalpel-point. Who has been killed, and killed again, and reborn something utterly new."

"You are not the Lord of my lands. I do not serve Ualdir, and you have no say over the faithful of Athelios. Do you forget that His very will was invoked in the ritual to purify Na'Ria? Do you have some mistaken belief that my God is offended by our attempts to find a better solution, a way to ensure we do not need to raise our children unto warriors and killers? He? Who dwells in Helheim, spending his whole life wondering at what point a soul may no longer be redeemed, upset that we search and experiment to find the extent possibilities of such?"

"I allowed you to try her, yes. I expected you to be better than you were. I expected a fair trial, not a mixture of gish-galloping the defendant and transparently having made your decision for her death well before she even arrived. I expected you to actually treat her like a person. That was my mistake. If I had remembered properly who you all were, and what you all did, instead of assuming that you might meet me midway and actually consider what she was-- Had I predicted that the trial's verdict would be borne of babbling about how she's an undead without any semblance of free will while she actively invokes divine magic before you... I would not have wasted our time with this diversion. I would have settled it on the battlefield, as it seems you are quite insistent on doing anyways."

"In the end, I feel, this was inevitable. All I could do was buy time, I realize, despite my years of attempting to find some means, some common ground. I suppose, in the end, I am as much a zealot for my path as you are yours. You fight to annihilate all that is errant and wrong in this world-- I can respect your consistency. I fight to create a world where children need not draw steel, following the paths of their fathers. Where we have no enemies that we must dedicate our lives to the destruction of. I fight for a Meranthe where we have killed our enemies in the only way that truly matters-- by killing their ideals, their purpose, their legacy. By taking from them the reason they fight at all."

"Na'Ria is, as it stands, an important part of this plan. Because as long as she lives, we are able to offer demons the choice between salvation or destruction-- Her purifying light, else the ends of our swords, should they willfully and knowingly refuse it."

"Thusly, these two paths, unfortunately, are damned to conflict. That is okay. I am tired of running from it, pretending that I can arrange some manner of peace between two utterly conflicting priorities. We will see whose ideals are purer on the field of war."

"I will pray for you, Ualdirsson. You deserve that much respect. But you will not find me and mine wanting in our conviction."

"If you think you're a hero, come die like one."

And with that, the Oracle returns to Gloomlight Keep, all she needs said voiced.

War will come. War, in Athelios's name. So it has always been, in Meranthe, and it seems she's come to accept that.

Objective: Defend Na'Ria
Time: TBA

[lostrozen]

An open letter all the way from the Southern Seas makes its way all the way to the snowy peaks where the Ten's Citadel sits, addressed to the Warriors of Aegis.

You fucking idiots.

To think yourself righteous after that sham of a trial, when you are so blind to the realities of that which you seek to judge, when that which truly threatens humanity is out there, lurking, is the most abhorrent and disgusting thing I have witnessed; and I have ventured into the depths of Old Atlantis before. Consider this a feat on your part. When I had read that you have declared your crusade over, it was the most retching thing I have ever had the displeasure of reading, knowing all too well where those who would threaten the works of beauty and prosperous future hide.

All those years ago, when you had marched on Gloomlight because of Servant, I had made my attempts, similarly as the Oracle, to seek peace. And, just as back then, I will be prepared to fight tooth and nail for the safety of those you so desperately wish to see dead in pursuit of blind, narrow-minded justice.

The seas are not safe for you, lest you wish to face the injustice you have already wrought. Step aside, if you are so inclined, and never get in the way of those who continue to improve the world again. Otherwise, I shall see you when you make your pitiful march.

Amended to that letter, written by a different hand, comes a lightly more politely worded affair:

We believe in the cause of redemption for all that seek it. Na'ria absolutely does seek it, and given that the Aegis has accepted a witch into their ranks on the thought of redeeming them? I think we can safely say that the Aegis also believes in redemption. With that in mind, I echo my wife's sentiments...

This isn't about justice. This is about punishment. And the two are not the same. To that end, we shall support Gloomlight in their endeavours.

The Traverse defends its ally, Gloomlight.

[GSM]

A letter touches the hands of those who seek it, primarily. It is accompanied with a psionic compulsion, a real telepathic connection made Not, that travels throughout the heart of Meranthe and settles into the back of the skull.
Unlike the past, this letter is not restrained by any musings of arbitrary border limits; instead, those attuned to the narrative discourse would simply find this telepathically-charged letter, amidst their daily lives- not intruding one moment into their privacy, and manifesting when appropriate.
A frayed, cracked voice speaks in empty tones when the paper is held, emotionless as one could be, whilst the image of a winged figure of pure white lingers within the mind's eye.

The quasi-Divine being still named by the moniker of the past self begins to speak as follows;

This letter is writ to one Sabathiel Caewynn, son of Lyseroth and standing Exarch of the Ten's Citadel.

If it is not meant for your eyes, ears, or mind, then do not worry.

This is intentional.

x

I am the being known by your kin as Na'Ria, the Archon, and former Imperfect.

If you are unsure as to why I insist upon such a classification, it is because the past self has been killed, yet the memory remains;

I am not that Demon King that you once knew.

The reasoning behind my last posting of my woes with the mockery of a trial that was held was simple:

I was highlighting the fact that the trial itself was obfuscated, and bringing to light my experience with your tragically sophistic methods.

x

Yet it was labeled, in no unambiguous nor uncertain terms, a 'temper tantrum'.

Then you labelled me as if I were a child, when I was so extremely cognizant of a trial that the past self caused.

The trial that you were not there for, as an official.

For Palade Avincus and Edward Aubreen, who- had my past self's presence not been noted- would have been sent to a senseless, friendly-fire-rife war.

A moot was held, if you do recall; and before Skarnfel could be razed, the past forces of the fel moved to blitz.

x

You motioned for a counter-attack, fighting not on the front lines, but for the sake of liberating an island.[/url]

You did not stand on the front lines and watch Palade Avincus and Edward Aubreen die.

You did not watch Xarxes slay them each.

The past self, the Demon King, did, in its final moments.

x

I cannot blame you for it feeling unjust, but to label me as acting the fool is simply detestable.

I do not compare you to your father lightly; from what the past self remembers, he was an arrogant, prideful hedonist that took what he wished.

But he had a reason to act as he did.

x

You do not know my progenitor in anything but history books.

Merely his story.

I did not know your progenitor all too well.

But of what the past self informed me of, I would say I am not inaccurate in saying there is a resemblance between you and he.

And the past self remembers, in vivid clarity, of his rise to Godhood, and fall within the binds of godly chains.

x

Yet, to claim me as the exact same as he, to voice any dissent with your vocalization of my being as equivalent of being friendly with Sak'noth-

-it would be the same if I told you that you were the same as Lyseroth, and just because you carried his black hair, scarlet runic eyes, and wings of Mortyl's bone, as an inheritor of Misfortune's will-

you should be sealed in a locked box, thrown into the ocean, and forgotten about, whilst your loved ones grow old without you.

x

Do you think that is fair?

It is not, isn't it?

I do not have need to throw insults and ill-speak to prove a point.

I will treat you as the adult you surely must be, and I will expect that same result back.

x

This, though, coming from the 'ambitionless undead, trapped within a mortal frame'.

You did not have respect in it from the start, but I will continue to speak in obvious tones that you surely must recognize.

x

Do you wish to know why I broke that restraint?

It was because you named Azalea Aubreen a bad mother, when she pressed you on such.

It was because I did not feel safe knowing that someone that, in complete clarity of mind, said that disfiguring my body by removing horns and wings,

then removing my memory in full, and dropping me in the middle of indentured servitude to beings I would no longer remember-

knew my exact location, at all times.

x

I am not angry at you, Sabathiel.

I am merely confused.

Who hurt you?

Who caused you to be this way?

Why are you so insistent upon this path you take, to destroy and destroy without care?

x

You have a supposed coven to your direct western port.

New types of demons have made landfall.

You did not complete your crusades to say that your job was half-complete, yet you left it so;

Xarxes, Sak'noth, Mettadora, Vienna, et cetera, still yet live.

x

When the opportunity to stop Sak'noth's revival came, when confronted with challenging Xarxes to interrupt the ritual of the Wynne tome-

it was the people of Gloomlight that stood up and fought, and not yours.

When the Tower first struck, it was they who stood to investigate;

they have paid the price, whilst you worry not about a thing in the world, claiming it fear on its part.

x

People are now dying to the whims of a (what I presume to be; do not take this with sincere accuracy) Void-Beast, or being, within the Tower of Aetius.

Chaos has been resurging, and three inheritors of Catildre's Aspect remain.[url=https://chronicles-of-eternia.com/forum/thread-17537.html]

You know I have done nothing but endless good for the people I have spoken with.

x

I am the reason that demons have an option, an escape, from Hel's all-encompassing touch, due to my being a catalyst.

x

But half of a million coins is what you place upon my head.

You now involve innocent lives, magi or not, because you did not get exactly what you want:

one of humanity's possible greatest boons, dead at your feet.

And only with the insistence of Lirael Equisol did you bother to do the same for Xarxes and Sak'noth;

as if they were afterthoughts, amends to be made, by putting an arbitrary price tag matching mine, for their heads and blades.

x

You turned your back on my Father's asks, and made up your mind as a joint-effort.

I find this unacceptable, for a man that says he protects humanity from outside forces.

You are fighting a battle that only you wish to start.

x

You are murdering your fellow man, by initiating hostilities.

x

I will say it again;

I am not the devil you want for me to be.

And despite the vitriolic tone this letter may carry, I do not write out of hate.

x

I am concerned with a dogmatic man throwing caution to the wind for a single non-problem.

I am disappointed in a herald of protection enacting policies to ascertain their rule and silence the opposition.

I have children to raise; students to mentor; soldiers to train; kindred to foster; damned to cleanse.

They see me as mother; teacher; general; kin; saved.

They see me as human.

Just as you do not.

x

But if you continue your march, Exarch?

You will not like what you see on the other side.

I do not get angry, Sabathiel.

I do not hate.

x

I feel.

And what I will feel if you march upon these wonderful people-

x

The many will need to avert their eyes.

Na'Ria remains stalwart, without outside influence;
calling for a cessation of all hostility through contact.

[Zhonya's Hourglass]

I guess this was unavoidable, that it could not be helped. But, you do not aim a bow at the target, you fire knowing where the target will be.

What I would give to have evaded this detour. But I said what I said in the aftermath of the trial, and I have to stick to my guns. 

Some of us friends to enemies, and others, enemies turned to friends. I am the former, and it does ail me deeply to do this.

The hard times created strong men, and those strong men created good times.
These good times created weak men, and we, the weak, created these hard times upon ourselves.

The board is set, and I will do as my Ancestor would expect the Shengese to do. 

However, the unwilling will not be forced. You may retain your personal relationships and the ilk as we do not strike the innocent without reason, we go forth in hopes of reaching the Archon.
Nonetheless, the decision is yours. A majority of us will march in aid of Aegis, let us be done with this quickly.

Morality, after all, is in the eye of the beholder. No matter how good either believe us to be...

We're just Villains in someone else's story.

Xuefeng chooses to support Aegis.

[GSM]

Another letter.

Months before the war is intended to come, another letter touches the hands of all that seek it.

The script is slightly harder to read, the psi-connection bristling with doubts, and promptly greyed with a Null presence.

Those of Aegis. Those of Xuefeng.

Please. Do not do this.

The good people of Gloomlight, of the Aphros that sprang from the new, are a joy, and a light in my new life.

I am continuing to seek baseline communications so that this war may be avoided.

So that these people I have grown to care for are not injured by my existence.

So that we may work as a single, unified force, without the worry of friendly-fire and severing connections that can still be worked upon.

I am afraid for their sake.

While I do selfishly- and perhaps it is undeserved- wish to live and continue my works,

I would still wish to open negotiations for this battle to not happen to begin with.

Communications. A letter. Anything.

If Reason must be abandoned, then that can be accommodated for.

But please, do not make anyone fight for a war nobody else wishes to partake in but yourselves.

Problems still persist and arise upon the daily, with no signs of stopping.

Covens to your adjacent position.

Demons of an alien breed settling into our lands.

The unfinished problem that remains the currently-living Imperfects and Xarxes.

Chaos has resurged, and is due to attack these lands in but a few weeks' time.

Give me something to work with.

Do not make me do this.

I love humanity.

I do not wish for any of us to abandon it out of sheer, maligned hatred.