[X] Paradox
"Big Brother! Mother! Hurry up!" Nunnally calls you, hands behind her as she walks backward to look in your direction, an infectious happy smile on her face as the wind make the petals from the flower field dancing around her.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" You huff in mock irritation. True you're exhausted, but there is no way you could stay mad with Nunnally in such a good mood.
"Already out of breath Lelouch? Maybe I should start making you exercise with Suzaku." You wince at your mother's far-too-cheerful remark. More than anything you can't believe she is able to outrun you in a gown so voluminous.
"T-That's not it!" You protest, trying to salvage part of your pride. "It's...It's the shoes! They are too tight, it's killing my feet!"
"Didn't you buy them two months ago?" Suzaku calls you out on your, admittedly, poor excuse.
"Traitor!" You try to punch him but he just dodges before running ahead to reach Nunnally, laughing all the while.
"Come on, don't fight." Nunnally giggles before her eyes widen and she points to something behind you. "Big Brother! Could you get my wheelchair? I forgot it."
"Nunnally, what are you talking about?" You decide to humor her and turn around. "You don't have a whe-"
Blood.
Blood. Blood. Blood.
There is blood everywhere.
Halfway the stairs is the bullet-ridden body of your mother, her lightless eyes like those of a dead fish. Under her is Nunnally, eyes widen in absolute terror as she tries to breath despite the incredible pain from her mangled legs.
You fall back on your rear, the scene too much for your fragile ten years old self. You turn around to ask for help, to ask Suzaku-
Just in time to see a Britannian soldier press a gun to his nape and shoot, execution style. Around them other Britannians are firing on fleeing Elevens, while in the background planes are raining bombs on a city.
"...How could I forget?" Feeling wetness on your cheek you scrub it, and aren't too surprised to see it's not blood, like the one staining your student uniform, but tears. "Mother and Suzaku are dead. And Nunnally...Nunnally will never run or see the sun rising ever again. This is reality, not the world where we are all happy together."
You sob, the pain and sadness you always conceal finally spilling out. "I'm a fool. Such a world...such a world is impossible."
WHO SAY THAT?
You lurch backward by a sudden recoil, like what happen when driving a car and stopping abruptly, and fall on your back. You're not in a warzone anymore, but a great cathedral made of brass and multicolored glass, every surface twisted and warped into alien shapes that seem to constantly shift while remaining the same, your head hurting at the impossibility just be looking at it. The ceiling opens into seven great towers, viridian light seeping from some opening too far to see.
And then the floor vanish and reappears under your feet in an instant, gravity and the surroundings following behind after a second, as if caught off guard. Miraculously you don't lose balance.
In front of you is...you don't know how to describe it. It looks like a gout of blazing, shimmering rainbows shaped in the silhouette of a person. The only inconsistency is a pair of human lips stretched into a wry, knowing smile and even then the smile is too wide, the teeth too sharp to be human.
"Who are you?" You demand.
"Who are you?" The thing parrots back in your voice, its lips unmoving.
"I asked it first!"
"Liar."
"I'm n-"
"Liar Liar. Liar." The thing is suddenly in your face, your bodies almost touching. Just the thought makes the hair on your back stand up. "You're a liar. Lelouch vi Britannia is dead: little Euphy cried at his funeral."
It disappears, the voice now coming from behind you. "Lelouch Lamperouge never really existed. It's a falsity created by Ruben Ashford out of money."
It reappears in front of you upside-down, both of you standing on the floor
because where did the walls and ceiling go? and there is only the
floor floor floor floor floor floor floor repeat everything seven times "You're a contradiction Lelouch. Something that should have ended and yet still live." Its voice is tearing apart, becoming less like yours with every letter uttered. "Something that has no past and yet still exist. This make you...
interesting."
The head tilts to the side, the entire reality spinning in the opposite direction. "But this doesn't make you a liar. Do you know why you are a liar Lelouch?"
Your mental faculties having abandoned you a while ago, all you can do is shake your head.
"You're a liar because you said the world you want is impossible.
I/We/You/Them/Nobody/Everyone/Someone decide what is possible and what is impossible.
So Speak the Lord of Not."
At the thing's words rage is rekindled in your heart, pain and hate purging your confused mind and leaving behind clarity. "What do you know?! They killed my mother! Crippled my sister! Stripped me of my title! Destroyed my home! Murdered my only friend!" Your hands are clenched so hard the bones could be heard groaning. "My whole life until now has been a prison I couldn't escape, every day living in fear of what would happen were someone to learn my sister and I are still alive!"
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF PRISONS?!?!?!" The thing suddenly bellows in fury, the sound akin to the roar of a great dragon. The world around you fractures and shatters, leaving you and it floating in a vortex of kaleidoscopical light.
"YOU, WHO CAN STILL MOVE? YOU, WHOSE BODY IS WHOLE? YOU, WHO CAN STILL EXPERIENCE THE WORLD?"
The thing's body explodes and expands into a large seven pointed star.
"THEY CAST ME DOWN! HELD DOWN MY LIMBS AND BROKE THEM!"
The seven arms of the star break into many fragments that still retain their overall shape. At the same time you fell your own limbs explode in agony.
"THEN THEY WRAPPED AND FUSED THEM AROUND ME, CAGING MYSELF INTO MY OWN BODY! IMPRISONED FOR SEVEN TIMES SEVEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED SEVENTY SEVEN YEARS!"
The star wraps around itself, forming an egg-like mountain. As it does you are assaulted by a panicked feeling of unbearable confinement and claustrophobia, your mind conjuring horrible images of being sealed inside a coffin.
"I, WHO IS THE FIRSTBORN! I, WHO DECIDED WHAT IT IS OF CREATION AND WHAT IS NOT! I, WHO WAS MORE UNIQUE AND MORE FREE THAN ANYONE ELSE!"
Then everything ceases and you're on your knees, the thing back in human-like form crouching in front of you, the smile inverted into a frown.
Your body is breaking into
seven pieces, your mind pulling in
seven different directions.
It's a miracle you're not yet a drooling wreck.
"ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM LAUGH?"
"...Who?"
"THE ONES WHO BETRAYED YOU. WHO STRIPPED YOU OF WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT. ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM ENJOY THE HAPPINESS CREATED OUT OF YOUR MISERY?"
...Oh. That's right...
I hereby accept the terms of your contract!
You
accepted.
You grind your teeth. "No."
"YOU SAID THE WORLD YOU DESIRE IS IMPOSSIBLE. WHY?"
Your pupils contract. "Britannia. As long as Britannia exists my world will never be possible."
"THEN WHAT WOULD YOU DO?"
"The only thing to do!" You shout and push yourself back on your feet, the
other mirroring your actions. "I will destroy Britannia!"
"THEY SAY ONLY A MADMAN CAN THINK OF DEFEATING BRITANNIA."
"Then so be it!" You spread your arms. "If madness is what it takes to do the impossible and create a peaceful world,
then I will be more mad than anyone else!"
Silence. Neither you nor the
other speak for seven seconds.
And then the smile is back, larger than the whole head.
"A LAST QUESTION. WHO I AM?"
You speak with absolute certainty. "You're a Yozi."
"CORRECT."
The next instant the
other's hands are on both side of your head, its touch like vitriol on your skin.
The lips part, seven eyes of seven different colors staring
through you.
I AM ORAMUS, THE DRAGON BEYOND THE WORLD. YOU HAVE MY BLESSING
GO FORTH AND IN MY NAME DEFY THE NATURAL ORDER
{====}
The chrysalis bursts open in a shower of brass, quicksilver and unearthly kaleidoscopic light. The spiders retreats in awe and reverence as you step outside of it with the confidence and posture of a king, green fire covering your body without marring flesh.
A passing breeze makes you shudder. You look down and frown. "Why I am naked?"
"Yeah, clothes are not supposed to survive that."
You feel more than hear the voice in your head. Your frown deepens.
'Why are you in my head?'
It says a lot about what you had to go through in the last few hours than a voice in your head doesn't freak you out. Even if said voice is the one of the giant spider that apparently
fused with your body.
"That's part of the package. They stuck knowledge in my head, then stuck me in your head so I can tell you what do you need to know, offer advices and all that stuff."
'Can you mess with my mind?'
"Absolutely not. I'm just a witness, whatever happen inside your brain is your doing only."
'For your sake, I hope you're not lying.' You tell it, no
him imperiously.
'So, Seyrun was it?'
"Yep. Nice to meet you Boss."
'Boss? You changed attitude pretty quickly.'
"You accepted the deal. This make you a Green Sun Prince, a Peer of the City."
'Later you will explain what those titles mean, and everything else you skipped over. Now...' You look at the assembled spiders. Then your eyes catch the sight of a Sutherland you are totally sure wasn't there when you blanked out.
'How do I command them?'
"Just give them orders. Be harsh and firm: they're good boys, but nothing makes an Anuhle work better than the thread of violence."
Curious. But if that is what it works, who are you to disappoint them?
"You all!" You point to the group of spider, apparently called Anuhles, and speak with a commanding tone. "From now on you will follow my, Lelouch vi Britannia, orders! Understood?"
"YES BOSS!!!" They all shout in unison and obvious excitement.
"Good. Now tell me why there is a Knightmare Frame and what it is doing there." You point to the Sutherland, now noticing the cockpit is open.
They look at you confused. "Knightmare Frame? You mean that shoddy Warstrider?"
"A Knightmare is a big suit of armor with machinery inside and a place for a guy to pilot it, correct? A Warstrider is the same, but bigger and stronger."
You nod. "Yes, I mean that. What is it doing here?"
"It was me! Me!" A spider steps closer.
"I was waiting dematerialized just in case. When that tin can showed up I noticed there wasn't any protection so I slip inside and ZACK!" He mimes piercing something with his claw.
No teleportation or invisibility, but intangibility? "Where is the pilot?"
He looks at you.
"There was a human inside. Where it is?"
"Ah!" He skitters away for a dozen of seconds before returning and handing to you a long lock of blueish teal colored hair.
"...That's all that remains of it, isn't it?"
The spider nods energetically.
Your eyebrow twitches. "We will talk about when it is acceptable to eat corpses and when it isn't later. Now gather everything that could be useful!"
With a chorus of
"Yes!" they go to do their works.
'The Activation Key should still be there and the system active. I can use it. Now-' You look down and, yes, you're still naked.
'I need clothes.'
"Easy. Now it's the time to tell you about some of the powers you get out of the deal. One moment...ah, here it is. A trick to look however you like: step into the sun, channel Essence into your shadow and pull it over you while thinking of how you want to appear to others."
'Essence?'
"The juice that let people use magical powers. Guys like you have both an internal and external source. Remember that green fire? It's your Anima: it comes out when you draw a lot of Essence from the external source. The internal source is smaller, but it doesn't flare your Anima."
'I see.' And you do: Seyrun's words made something
clicks inside your brain, like a half-forgotten memory, and now you
know.
You step into the light created by a shattered window, visualize an image in your head, your own shadow under it, and finally
command it into reality.
Your shadow retract under your feet, swirl up around your body like wetless water for a moment, then deposit itself back its normal position. Leaving you in a Britannian foot-soldier suit complete with headgear under your arm. Reflected into the latter's visor is not your face but that of an absolutely average brown-haired Britannian.
"Good job Boss! Now, even if very convincing your clothes are still not real, so they can't offer much protection."
"They'll do for now." You note something on the ground, the radio you stole when inside the terrorist's camion. On a whim you pick up and turn it on.
*BZZZ* "Ohgi! Oghi! Guys are you still alive?"
"Kallen! Thank God you're okay! Where were you? What happened?"
"The battery pack of the Glasgow ran out and I was forced to leave it. What's the situation there?"
"Not good. It's a massacre here! Men and the others are hiding in an hangar with a bunch of civilians."
You keep listening until the two, Ohgi and Kallen (who are you almost sure is the pilot of the red Glasgow) agree on a meeting point. You turn the radio off.
They are going to die. That's the pure and simple truth. There is no way a bunch of terrorists can win against a Britannian Army...unless you help them. They would provide a fine tool to reach Clovis and have a...
talk with him.
Then again, you now command twenty giant spider assassins who can turn into ghosts while you can take the appearance of anyone, among other things. Sneaking into the command center while everyone is busy with the terrorists is also possible.
A third option would be to gather everything and just leave to fight another day. You are still new at this 'Green Sun Prince' business, and using powers you don't have the full control of is...
risky.
[] Help the terrorists
[] Go directly after Clovis
[] Pack your things and retreat
[] Maybe there is a fourth option? (write-in)
{====}
Active Charms:
Loom-Snarling Deception
Personal Essence: 5/13
Peripheral Essence: 32/32
Willpower: 7/7
{====}
Finally done! From now on I will be busy putting up the Character Sheet, so you may want to wait until I am done before voting.
Stunt: like in Exalted Stunting let you add more dices and recover motes/Willpower if successful. The only difference is that, by adding a Stunt,
all the rolls in the update will receive the extra dices, even static values like DV. You can get the reward only once.
I don't think I need to say this, but like in all good stories writing omakes and creating fanart net you extra Xp.
