Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"What would this destabilization entail?" The earth guardian asks.


"W-Well...I guess that's what he would've wanted..." The bat demon says mostly to herself, "Thank you. I'll, um...try to stay out of any more trouble."

 

"If something holding a reality together ceases to exist, the reality falls apart and collapses. In short, total annihilation."


"You all were told to go to admin if you had questions or wanted to explore the Mirage Palace. Why did you ignore us, anyways?"

 

"So...she seeks to kill one of our gods?" The air guardian asks, shocked.


"I guess we sort of forgot that part..." The bat demon says awkwardly, trying to give an innocent smile.

 

"Now you're up to speed, for the better or the worse," the harpy sighs.


"It's almost ironic... Petra joined the guard because her parents were killed by a succubus and an incubus. She wanted to avenge them, only to die to another pair."

 

"Well, she'd have to be able to kill one of our gods for that to work." The earth guardian says, sounding slightly confident.


"I...didn't mean for her to get killed. I just...didn't want my friends to get killed either..." The bat demon says guiltily. The eyeball seems to direct it's attention to her, though - as an eyeball - all it does is stare.

 

The harpy breaks eye contact with a somewhat guilty look, before nodding.
"That is true, yes."


"You show an uncommon amount of empathy, considering the others of your kind," Hawk comments, "Regardless, what's done is done. I pray the demon hunter mercenary group she was a part of doesn't try to take matters into their own hands..."

 

"I sense you know something more about this." The forest guardian says, suspicious.


"I've never really been good at my job...I was hoping I could do better here, but...now I kind of just want to go home. At least I can't die there, so when someone kills me I can just come back." The bat demon confesses.

The eyeball pats the bat demon on the back with a tentacle. Despite a lack of facial features to show more emotion, it looks sympathetic somehow.

 

“I know enough to be able to say The Golden Queen can singlehandedly kill one of your gods.”


“What is your job, anyways? Or, I guess, what do you want your job to be?” Hawk asks, seeming sympathetic, “If you have a hobby, there’s probably a job out there somewhere that uses the same skillset. Besides, I understand your concern over dying here, but you can always keep a guard with you if you want to be protected. I can’t imagine having to suffer through the pain of repeated deaths, though...”

 

The guardians give the harpy a doubtful look.

"I doubt she could take down Lady Gaia." The earth guardian says proudly.


"I worked as a sort of guard. I'd listen for people trying to escape hell and try to stop them early," The bat demon explains, "They'd often be pretty violent but...sometimes Lord Mortius would personally thank me for my work by taking away the pain and giving me a break once I'd revived. It's a lot nicer than one of my kin needing to kill me if I was bleeding to death. Sometimes they need a few tries..."

"I...like baking. I'm not very good at it though." The bat demon adds.

 

"Lady Gaia is the only one she hasn't proven she can kill, if that's any reassurance."


"See, as strange as it is; the beauty of being in a new place is that you have an opportunity to start over. Why not attend culinary school here? You get to do what you love, and you don't have to be put through pain," Hawk offers, "I know it'll never be your home here, but you've been given an opportunity only a handful of people have. Why not make the most out of it?"

 

"How has she proven she can kill any of our gods?" The forest guardian asks.


"I...thought I wasn't allowed to do that, though?" The bat demon asks, "I thought we were supposed to do contract jobs to better our relations."

 

"Our god of time has watched her do so an unspeakable number of times. I believe Chronos went to Temporus in person to apologize for the mass of sudden timeline collapses, at that."


"Contract jobs is just one way. Really, all you have to do is live here. Don't hurt anyone, and nobody will hurt you. You and your friends are all allowed to go to schooling instead, provided that you work at least a year after you finish in the field you studied. Or, better yet, go to school and have an employer pick you up as an intern. Then you've secured a job, trust, and a new skill to boot. I know things have gotten off to a grim start, but you're here to show that you're not like The Twilight Menace, that the locals don't need to fear you, that you aren't monsters," Hawk explains, "There's no one right way to show that you're not just out for blood. Which, by the way, if you do need blood from time to time, that can easily be arranged."

 

"I...think those were meant to happen," The air guardian pipes up, "I remember reading a book on the art of time magic, mostly for followers of our god of time. Those timelines were 'doomed' from the start, so everyone on them was going to die and the timeline was going to collapse anyway."

"Which is why our gods died." The earth guardian nods.


"That sort of impression probably isn't good for us demons, then," The bat demon says, sighing and lightly gesturing to the tentacled eyeball beside her, "We...sort of are monsters by definition. Lord Mortius preferred for us more human-like demons to volunteer, but he didn't stop anyone who wanted to come."

 

“For a stable reality, you sure have shit going down awful close to the alpha, then...”


“Monsters by definition, or by choice? I stand before you as a demon, engineered by the depths of purgatory to be a killing machine. We pose the same question to you the guard did me; do you want to be a monster, or something else?” Hawk asks, “Here, it is a choice - and that choice is yours and yours alone to make. It is not a choice that will make you any less of your own being either way, but if you seek a life of unending violence then I can safely say this is not the place for you.”

 

"Our god of time keeps those things in check...I think." The air guardian ponders.


"Well...I don't think I'm a monster, it's just the humans call us that," The bat demon says, "I've never been the violent type. I rarely even go to those fights in the big colosseum, though I heard they lost popularity since the succubi that used to announce them left for a new job..."

"I, um. I want to take that schooling option." The bat demon says a little confidently, returning from her tangent.

 

The music comes on again, and the attendees put away their weaponry as the incident presumably has been handled.


“There will always be someone calling you a monster. Unfortunately, that’s a constant for everyone - not just us demons. You’ll need to wait until initiation for the application process to start, but I’ll note that admin needs to point you down the culinary school direction,” Hawk says, seeming content with the bat demon’s spark of confidence, “Though, I do have one other question... is your friend here your spotter? You two seem to get along reasonably well.”

 

"That's not creepy at all." The forest guardian says quietly to the earth and air guardian, noting the scene change.

"Maybe we could go and investigate what exactly happened." The earth guardian responds quietly.


"No, though we've worked together in the past. My eyesight isn't actually bad, echolocation just helps since I can see with it a lot better. I'm just more vulnerable to sudden light changes since I'm used to the dark, so these guys help us keep track of people if they try to blind us with bright lights," The bat demon explains, "A lot of people seem to think we're blind, but we can see just fine."

"They're...sort of like mobile sentient security cameras." The bat demon adds, the eyeball's emotions hard to read.

 

“We cannot change what happened, so we try to make the most of what we have left. I have little doubt this will be a conversation piece for a week, though... Anyhow, if you insist on seeing what happened, go down to the bulwark and head straight down the hall. The incident took place in the sparring room.”


“I suppose the domain of the god of light doesn’t help you all that much, then?” Hawk chuckles, “I’d rather be in your scenario. Wound up burning all of my retinas during basic training and all I’ve left is glass.”
Hawk taps his glass inserts to emphasize her point, but it doesn’t seem to faze her.

 

"Will do." The earth guardian says, before leaving with his group to investigate.


"It was quite difficult to adjust at first, but I've since got used to it," The bat demon explains, "Can't you get new eyes? I mean, new...flesh eyes?"

 

As the three guardians head down, they see two “escorting” the incubus locked in hardlight out.

The first thing the guardians see as they draw any closer than that is a sign on the sparring room entryway that has four rules written on it; the first being “No fighting to the death.”


“And burn ‘em again? Seems a bit silly to put myself through more of the same pain. This way it’s just not a mistake I can make again, anyways,” Hawk says dismissively.