who we are and all that we're trying to be
Zuriel, pleased with the attention, positively preened throughout Deimos’ pending lecture. For what it was worth, the Sword didn’t shy away from the sagacity or chiding, for he felt it was more than an annoyance, a restless irritation, that every winter there were scores of people left to be consumed by demons. That it was just accepted. That it was just something that happened. Natural, for the world to seethe and simmer outside their doors. His tones weren’t irreverent, calm, steady, stoic, stalwart, but his gaze didn’t hold onto hers, flicking back down to the ground, attempting to piece together explanations. “Because people are still dying.” Like Cera – warned, and vanquished, the Golden Prince left lying out in the void.
Even if they hadn’t divided, split themselves apart, would it have mattered? Would it just have been a similar pattern to the previous year, cycles and cycles and cycles of fools continuing to run around in the dark? The Sword lifted his head back to her then, shook it softly. “Not fight, just repel. To keep them away.” Better structures, better sanctuaries, then just not opening doors. No semblance in mauling his way within the storm either; he could recall Rexanna’s wounded, battered body, just from asking the monsters, the demons, meant to be once part of the Ascended legion. Kiada’s hurt form, body and soul, when she couldn’t complete her quest. He’d had no intentions of battering his way through the ilk; flying alongside Remi and feeling their pull, their claws, their sharpened edges had been enough.
Perhaps it was mortal inclinations to strive, to attempt to protect, to want to cease and desist a variety of horrendous, treacherous, terrifying endings. To ensure there were no knocks on the door, beckoning tricks and traps to willing souls. But that’s what he was, and always would be; perishable, corporeal, tangible, desperate to guard those in his care. Not unlike the Basin, the Hollowed Grounds was his home; earning his penchant for safeguarding, for protecting, for trying.
It takes dying to know
How to live as ghosts
