Age of Strife

The ascetic of the Lidless Eye stares the soldier down.
"If you knew... If you had but a GLIMPSE of what the humans did to us. You would understand. We were massacred. We were led to the slaughter and there was nothing we could do. They wiped us out because to hide from their guilt."
"Now I will how you what the humans have brought upon them"
The Eye dilates.
The soldier's mind is assaulted.
A thousand voices scream defiance in his ear.
The soldier's hand moves up to his neck and he starts strangling himself.

Adar reacts instantly grabbing the soldiers hand and wrestling it from his throat
Adar then positions himself in between the soldiers hand and the soldiers neck
Adar stares at the hand, his eyes flare bright with life and energy
Adar speaks, "Peace, you know not what you are doing, instrument of flesh"
The hand seems to hear Adar's powerful words and relaxes slightly, but not fully
Adar keeps a strong grip on the hand, and speaks calmly at the Ascetic, 'Humans are not as weak as they seem.....an old friend of mine told me that, before I was killed that night....a horrible way to die, via another's hatred..."

The Ascetic spits.
"Humans are weak. They are the scum of the earth. Then they die. Then they become something"
"We have died. We have died by the humans' bloody hands. Now we understand."
"There can be no peace, while the humans rule the earth"
"Be this our end or yours, you will mark my words"
"Now die"
The Ascetc takes a step forward.
He unleashes the full force of his thousand minds on Adar.

Adar closes his eyes tight as the waves of thousands of voices hit him
Adar staggers to the ground, but makes no movement to retreat, "Humans are not weak, they are strong, the scum of the earth are beings who decide to kill whenever they want because of their own selfish needs, I know....for the beast is like that, and you are no different from him, there will be no peace with anyone else ruling this earth, creatures like you cannot rule this place, it would become like the void, empty....."
Adar focuses his mind on a dark place within the back of his thoughts, and there he finds some protection from the relentless wall, of voices tearing and crashing into him
Adar stands his legs shaking slightly, but he forces his way forward, towards the Ascetic, taking even steps, one after the other
Adar opens his eyes, they are still green, but blood tears drip from them, "Let not the hatred take you, it destroys, that is all it does, it brings more harm than good, it destroys lives....you cannot come here and act as though you are a judge to these people and carry out a judgement by killing them....you have not the right to do so, who gives you such authority?....the void creatures are no better than humans, there is no one greater than another....besides I cannot die, I can only die one way, regardless of the power or the method someone tries to kill me, if it isn't the right one, I live on...."

"You speak but you do not know what you speak of"
"even a fool appears wise if he keeps his mouth shut"
The assault on Adar's mind ceases
"I am not a void creature. I am a massacre. When someone dies, they pass into the void. They go mad because they cannot cope with their death. When thousands die at once, they have a chance of figuring it out, together. They don't have to go mad. They don't have to become horrors. If they manage this, the power of these combined people is enormous. Only three times has a massacre survived the initiation into the void"
"Do you see now? Do you understand!? The humans killed us. But we survived!"

Adar looks determined, "Then perhaps you should be celebrating and happy about the fact that you survived, not chasing down some foolish endeavour of revenge on the ones that killed you, I was killed by a human, yet when the beast brought me back to life I didn't go out and kill the one that had killed me in foolish revenge....One cannot be wise when they commit such foolish acts, revenge leads to nothing, just emptiness......"

"I am above revenge. I act out of thought. We will stop the humans before they can harm any more. We will replace them with people who will use this world for good. Who won't take it for granted"
"And maybe, in the cold, and the dark, and the horror of the void, they will learn integrity and serenity"

Adar stares at The Ascetic, "These humans survived through things, thought impossible, that proves that they are not weak, they deserve to live on the earth they have been killed and suffered over, the darkness caused much grief, and about ten other cities were lost, but not these ones, humans have strength, the void can teach survivors like this nothing....they have endured suffering and hardship, and prevailed, why must the be subjected to the void also, the curse has ended, can they not live....humans deserve chances they make mistakes....if we killed everyone for their mistakes, there would be none of us left....what you are suggesting is not justice towards the humans....it's murder!..."

"Prevailed have they? Prevailed by slaughtering the City of the Three Moons? I was there, Adar. I am the City of the Three Moons. This is what your strong, prevailing humans did. The bit where they killed us was the best part. Then came the void. the nothing. then the horrors. then the Black watch. Then the years, and years of defending the people who murdered us, so they could sit around in our world moping."
The Ascetic looks at the ground.
"If what you say is true, then why on earth are the Black Watch and the Arha out there dieing to save them? Aren't they worthy of the world? Or do they 'deserve' the Void!?"

Adar sighs, "No one deserves the void, and if you truly are the city of three moons then understand this, it was not the humans who were to blame for your massacre, it was the Twelve, we murdered the royals and leaders, and placed them near your city, the humans only reacted to it....the Twelve needed the City of Three Moons out of the way, so the beast could rise, so if you are wanting to punish someone for your suffering, then let it fall upon me, I am a member of the Twelve, and I was there, manipulating the minds of humans, playing their thoughts against each other, it is our fault you suffered in the void, not the humans, they were but pawns in a bigger picture"

Adar goes to continue speaking

The new information passes over the Ascetic like a ton of bricks.
He clenches his fists.
He stares at Adar with cold hatred.
A tendril of telepathy drives into Adar's mind.
It twists and reels.
The pain is unbearable.
"TELL ME YOU'RE LYING!!"

Adar fixes his green eyes on The Ascetic and speaks telepathically to him, "I have allowed you to read my thoughts, you have seen with your own eyes, that I speak the truth, my thoughts cannot lie to you, I was there, and I was responsible....and I'm sorry, Arca is the only remnant of your kind left, is he?"

The Ascetic slumps to the ground.
The eye remains where it is.
The pupil dilates, and out of it flies swarms and swarms of crystal blue butterflies, one for each slain person at the City of the Three Moons
The the Eye closes
The butterflies flutter about a bit.
The BOOM.

Theron wakes up where he was.

Adar wakes up on a shore line.
"I have every right, and every power to kill you. But somehow I don't want to. I look at you and I see the potential for wisdom - better wisdom that we ever had."
"So I offer you 3 things: Freedom, Information and Power.
That blast broke your curse. You are no longer bound to the beast. you are a free man.
I must tell you these things: The time of the invasion is near. When the Black Shadows fall, it will begin. You must unite the world or it will fall. The leader of the Black Watch is yet to reveal himself. He is called Samael.
Finally, you have showed us the error of our ways. You made us realise all this time it was our vengeance that drove us. We have nothing left to live for. Take our life, and use it to set the twelve free. Then save the world. We command you."
The butterflies rise up out of the ocean and into the sky.
Adar feels himself surge with power.
The strength of the Ascetic of the Lidless Eye, the City of the Three Moons, is now at his command.

New Thread!!!??

<=========

(new thread means you post on the new thread)