GIDEON
And now I cling to what I knew
I saw exactly what was true
He was stood on a wall dividing two houses, tall enough to give him attention but not so tall he couldn't make a quick getaway if he had to. As much as Gideon wanted to believe he'd be able to stand firm and take on any detractors, he was still weak from the attack at the Temple and he knew the Ascended had many tricks.
Always having had a talent for pushing his voice far and commanding attention, he quickly gathered a crowd before he began his speech proper. A rehearsed version had been memorised, but he had always believed in improvisation if it was needed. When enough eyes were on him, when they might listen to the truth he had to deliver, Gideon began.
"Too long you have allowed yourselves to be blind. To accept and tolerate beyond reason - to let the wolf into the pen in the interests of fairness." Surely they knew what he was talking about already. "The Ascended have wormed their way into your daily lives. The portals were first. Convenient, maybe, but do you know what the Voice does to you in that time you're in her mercy? What she learns about you?" Part of what he had to do was to just get the doubt firing in their heads, make them consider how much they were trusting this 'new' Goddess every time they travelled in her devices.
Pointing up to the Slagveld (which had seen better days, but he didn't know that), he continued: "An Ascended is working in your government. There was a shrine on the coast - did you know that? They built a shrine for their Goddess on Torchline's coast with no regard to what the people here wanted. Just like in the Greatwood, where they destroyed the Mathair. They don't care what we want. What matters to us. Why should we respect them when their respect is so lacking? Has the Voice ever considered the Gods she is trying to replace with cheap convenience and machinery?!" Eyes sweeping the crowd before him, he tried to gauge how they were feeling, how well he was doing; little did they know he had his best to come.
"Perhaps you think I'm overstating the risk. Let me tell you: Last week I found on this very beach a young woman dying, covered in her own blood--" He shouted, gestured, did everything he could to passionately ensure they understood his words. "I saved her by the grace of the Gods. She was put there by an Ascended. Their fangs that they use to take our blood aren't just for show. They will rip your throat out." Hand curled into a claw, he slashed at his own neck. Now that they knew just how violent the Voice's 'chosen' could be, he turned the conversation back onto them.
"How much further does it have to go? How many bled out like animals for their gifts? How many tempted away from the Gods? How many rendered sterile, inhuman and machine to satisfy her ends? When are you going to stand up and fight, Torchline?!"
That's why I hold with all I have
That's why I hold
That's why I hold
