DEIMOS
the ocean does not apologize for its depth
and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
The quiet musings of deeper understandings pushed and pulled, and the Sword couldn’t recall the last time he’d ever had to truly dig down into himself and pull out the rationale behind his actions, save for difficult conversations with Safrin. Surface level had always been safer. His eyes narrowed, and another breath was taken, so that it extended into a long curl of warm air, plumes within the cold. Entirely human and pathetically mortal. “I have had my monstrous moments. I once would do anything to protect my land and my people.” Not above murder. Not above vehemence. Not above cutting the world apart one by one by one to be certain those in his wake were secure. “And I thought I could do the same here, but far more controlled.” Except the fiendish wakes had come down into the vestiges still. “Continually sacrifice myself so that others were safe. Put their needs well before my own.”
The piercing gaze locked onto a log sticking out of the snow, then to Zuriel nearby, or Belial wandering amidst the canopy. “Sometimes I fall back into those old habits,” and he shrugged here, because it was a continual work in progress for a being who rarely regarded his own necessities in life. Who’d forgotten what it like to have any worth beyond what he could do for others. “But I genuinely want to protect those I care about. The people in these lands. Teach them to survive, defend and arm themselves, so they will not be lost too.” It’s what he’d done in the Grounds, and had continued to do so in Halo, until efforts sunk into more of the multitudes of pressing, brimming horizons. Into mistake after mistake, error after error, misjudgment and caustic imbalances.
As for righteousness, or Safrin’s meddling? “Probably both.” A soft sort of pause came over him, before he relented the next words. “I had warned Morgan many times about the Voice’s capabilities, of what she had done in the Grounds. And I worried about what would happen if she was allowed a further reach into Halo.” They’d clearly gone unheard, or into utter indifference, as the Glacier orchestrated her own means and measures into the fold.“Safrin provided information about Morgan’s betrayal.” And the task itself – which he was likely doomed to repeat. The goddess had known exactly where to press.
Then he lifted his chin, and stared back at the Lullaby. Here was a man he’d known as the Alchemist, who’d extended kindness, generosity, and acceptance into fault line after fault line – and truly after seasons and years, maybe he didn’t know him now either. Altered and changed, as they’d all been, by the events of Caido. “And what are your values?” Limits? Hierarchies? Had Remi not been towed along by those he cared about either? Place to place, world to world, land to land? What were the foundations now?
The piercing gaze locked onto a log sticking out of the snow, then to Zuriel nearby, or Belial wandering amidst the canopy. “Sometimes I fall back into those old habits,” and he shrugged here, because it was a continual work in progress for a being who rarely regarded his own necessities in life. Who’d forgotten what it like to have any worth beyond what he could do for others. “But I genuinely want to protect those I care about. The people in these lands. Teach them to survive, defend and arm themselves, so they will not be lost too.” It’s what he’d done in the Grounds, and had continued to do so in Halo, until efforts sunk into more of the multitudes of pressing, brimming horizons. Into mistake after mistake, error after error, misjudgment and caustic imbalances.
As for righteousness, or Safrin’s meddling? “Probably both.” A soft sort of pause came over him, before he relented the next words. “I had warned Morgan many times about the Voice’s capabilities, of what she had done in the Grounds. And I worried about what would happen if she was allowed a further reach into Halo.” They’d clearly gone unheard, or into utter indifference, as the Glacier orchestrated her own means and measures into the fold.“Safrin provided information about Morgan’s betrayal.” And the task itself – which he was likely doomed to repeat. The goddess had known exactly where to press.
Then he lifted his chin, and stared back at the Lullaby. Here was a man he’d known as the Alchemist, who’d extended kindness, generosity, and acceptance into fault line after fault line – and truly after seasons and years, maybe he didn’t know him now either. Altered and changed, as they’d all been, by the events of Caido. “And what are your values?” Limits? Hierarchies? Had Remi not been towed along by those he cared about either? Place to place, world to world, land to land? What were the foundations now?
for the space they take
and so, neither shall I
and so, neither shall I
