Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"My role as a goddess is often misunderstood... While I admit, I'm not a... particularly rule-following god, I have my place. If it weren't for me, many realms would fall to creatures with intentions more sinister than the Hive Master." She says defensively. "Many see me as a destroyer for fun... that's simply not the case. So many would love to see me fall..." She sighs.

 

"A lot of... looking through their own eyes only, I guess?"

 

"That's why my brother keeps me in check by keeping me from leaving my palace when I get into a fit of rage. He only wants the best for me, but I feel bad when I distract him so badly..." She says.
"...No matter. You want to see why I never got off the ground in the fight?" Xlentia asks, placing Crystal on the ground next to her.


As she reluctantly stands, a deep gash down at least half of her stomach is wide open, her bone and flesh visible past the scale.
"My enemies have kept me from any Void Flower they can, for that reason. Now, you promised not to tell. I'm holding you to that."

 

"Your brother? And how'd you get it?"
Crystal realizes that he's just asked two different questions.
"Oh, sorry. And, uh, yeah."
Crystal shifts, making a zipper over his mouth and zipping it shut.

 

"You haven't met my brother? His name is Virei'tus. He's the Deity of Divine Judgement. Anything that goes beyond mortal affairs tends to go to him. As for the wound, somebody didn't like the fact that decay and destruction are also vital parts of the cycle of life."

 

"That's a simplified version of what happened, right? Like, no one's that dumb to do that?"
Crystal asks, committing to the joke by making zipper teeth appear when he opens his mouth.

 

"No, it's not simplified. Mortals have always rebelled against the gods. You likely know an orphaned or widowed god, at that." Xlentia says, serious.

 

"Wow..."
Crystal says, surprised, mouth turning back to normal.
"But decay and destruction aren't your jobs, are they?"

 

The Shadow heads back to the mines, heading back down the walkway.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" One of the higher up looking Shadows says, noticing the Shadow heading down.

"U-Uhm, just going to check with the w-workers sir! As long as they're happy, I'm happy. And besides, a happy worker is an efficient worker!" The Shadow flat out lies.

"Hm...very well." The higher up looking Shadow says.

The Shadow hurries down deeper into the mines, heading back down to where the slaves are. A lot of them look close to death as they weakly chip away at the rock. One of them faints trying to lift a pickaxe, falling to the side.

"Oi! Who said you could have a nap!? Get back to work!" The Shadow says, storming over to the fainted slave and kicking them awake, and then a bit more after for effect.

"I-I c-can't...I'm t-too w-weak..." The air guardian slave says, her voice extremely weak, barely able to look at the Shadow.

"Then if you're such a fan of lying down, I'll get you a job where that's all you do!" The Shadow says spitefully, kicking the air guardian in the head one last time before heading back to the passage, removing the fake rocks and crawling through. Once in the small room, the Shadow writes a letter.

"We want all the slaves you got. As many as you can get in two days plus all your current ones. We can pay you big for them. No shifty tricks, just all the gems and money you could want for each and every one of your slaves. Besides, would the Slitthroats ever do you wrong? We've got a high standing and a good trade union with the Ash Wolves and Black Dagger. You don't want to be the one on the wrong side, and we certainly won't be.

City exit. Midnight. Two days.
Slitthroats."

The Shadow puts the letter on the ground, along with a shiny red Ruby to prove his point, before exiting the passage and walking back to the weak air guardian, some of her feathers from her wings falling off.

"Get up." The Shadow demands, kicking the air guardian.

The air guardian doesn't move, her face looking very pale.

"I said GET UP!" The Shadow shouts, kicking the air guardian again, harder this time.

When the air guardian doesn't move, it becomes clear she died from exhaustion.

"Ugh, useless fucking slaves." The Shadow complains, picking up the air guardians corpse and walking over to a weak looking earth guardian.

"Hey. You're hungry, right? Eat this." The Shadow says, throwing the corpse next to the earth guardian.

"W-What?" The earth guardian asks weakly, looking at the corpse, and then the Shadow.

"Eat. This." The Shadow says, hand turning into a claw as he tears off some of the corpses flesh and shoves it into the earth guardians mouth.

The earth guardian pukes, shaking.

"Eat up, unless you want to share her fate." The Shadow says, serious, pushing the earth guardian onto the corpse with his foot as he heads out of the mines.

 

"No, it is. See, if something gets so out of hand it threatens too much of existence, I must destroy it. If something dies and its successor keeps beating its corpse, I erase it to end its pain. I also wreck stuff if my brother needs law enforcement."

Alice opts to slip out of the errand boy and into the higher-up shadow, body of darkness indistinguishable from the atmosphere of the shadow realm.

 

The higher up Shadow watches over the working earth guardians in the higher levels of the mine, looking well equipped and hardly tired compared to the slaves in the deeper parts. He gives the Shadow Alice was just hiding within an odd look as he rides off again.

"That Shadow's been awfully suspicious lately. Been too friendly with the workers, it seems." The higher up Shadow says to his colleague.

"Eh, he's not causing any trouble." The Shadow's colleague says.

"Well, if an inspector comes around these parts, I won't stand for him scurrying around the mines. Might make us look bad." The higher up Shadow says, before resuming his duty of watching over the earth guardians.

A sweaty earth guardian walks up the walkway toward the higher up Shadow.

"Sir...could I please take a break? I've been working...so much, and I'm...so tired." The earth guardian says between heavy breaths.

"Alright then. You have been doing an awful lot of work today. You can go get a drink of water from the water guardian's in the refreshment area if you need to." The higher up Shadow says, pointing to a small stand, a few water guardians working behind it.

"Thank you...sir..." The earth guardian says, walking off toward the shack.

"That Shadow was right about one thing." The Shadow's colleague says.

"What's that?" The higher up Shadow asks.

"A happy worker is an efficient worker." The Shadow's colleague says.

"True. I'd hate to be working these guardians like slaves or something." The higher up Shadow says.

 

Alice seems satisfied, waiting for the other shadow to return, assuming that the palace already knows about how the mine is managed. Upon returning, Alice continues to be a worm within the runner, surprised of his... usefulness.

 

The Shadow unfortunately doesn't return, the higher up Shadow and his colleague becoming slightly suspicious of his absence.

 

Alice slides a subconscious thought to the higher up shadow and his colleague that they need to check out something going on in the mine, hoping not to blow her cover.

 

"I'm going to check on the workers, make sure everything's alright." The higher up Shadow says to his colleague, heading down the walkway and missing the passage to the slave area, heading into a larger part of the underground mine where a lot of the workers seem to be, walking around and checking on each worker to see how they're doing.

 

After he's done, Alice slips him the location of the hidden passage.

 

The higher up Shadow shrugs, heading toward the slave area the Shadow went to.

Oddly, none of the slaves appear to be there. There's still puke from the earth guardian, however, but the higher up Shadow explores the area regardless.

"Hm. I guess I forgot we mined this part out," The higher up Shadow says, heading toward the back of the mine, "Guess there ain't anything here though. No wonder this place is abandoned."

The higher up Shadow turns around, just missing the fake blockade of rocks, leaving the slave's area.

 

Alice slips him the secret passage as he passes.

 

The Shadow pauses for a bit, seeming to become rather suspicious.

"I know you're there." The Shadow says suddenly.

After a long pause, the Shadow leaves, "Heh, that aught to deter any mind readers." He says, laughing to himself.

 

The thought still lingers.