Fine.
Suddenly everyone felt waves of inspiration wash over them.
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Nope. Should be pretty amusing.
Oh, yeah, rush the entrenched position. Great idea.
True.
That she's an idiot? Go right ahead.
Your priest friend is a complete idiot. It isn't some arbitrary limitation of the gods that keeps her fire from being able to sew up wounds all day. Its the limitations of mortals. The gods simply gave her a small way around those inherent limits. There's only so much of a direct divine charge that a mortal soul can process. Some of it nourishes the body. The excess is absorbed or diffused as a byproduct of other biological functions. Its like filling up a funnel. No matter how much goes in the top, it can only go out the bottom so fast. Pouring more in won't help, and can actually be wasteful if the funnel overflows. The process is complicated, but as an answer to the problem of how to keep mortals from simply exploding when they come into contact with divine energy, it is rather elegant in its simplicity.
...I just tried to get you killed, and you're thanking me? What is wrong with you!!?
I did that. I figured if the thing was forced to stay close to you, it might just decide to keep hitting you.
Please tell me that wasn't supposed to be reassuring. He thinks his wife might be dead and you pretty much told him 'don't worry about it.' You're terrible at this...
Nobody missed you.
Of course not. Why would I want to do that?
He's a giant loser and you are all going to hate him.
Great! How about we get on with that? Two birds with one stone!
I hate you! Just let me die!
I don't want your help.
They are going to kill you.
You don't want to know him anyway. He's a sanctimonious a%+$%*#.
This is the alias for the fallen angel in Kel's head. For now, Kel is the only one that can hear her (unless someone happens to have Telepathy). I use Italics to denote mental speech and/or inner monologue. Nice to meet you all. I hate you. Please die.
Many things flow within me. None of them are righteous or just anymore.
Guardsman, I am older than the language you speak. I have watched the lives of more mortals than the number of stars you can see in the sky. I have trained entire holy orders. I was assigned to serve as the protector of the First Sword of Aroden during the Shining Crusade when the Shield broke and the Whispering Tyrant was locked away. I was the guardian of the Crusader Queen. I know what a paladin is. You might not think you've been chosen, or sworn, or follow the code, but you have and you do. If you don't believe me, then believe the sword. Radiance is an old blade, passed between many champions and has never been known to wrong. The righteous power of divine justice flows within you.
Look who's talking. Whoever heard of a Tiefling Paladin?
You already know about that. I could tell you anything you don't understand. Why the subterfuge?
Him. He may be able to help with our problem.
You just had to say it, didn't you…
Now you get it. The gods have no sense of scale. It doesn't matter if something is so terrible that you can't help but respond in kind. It doesn't matter if your will is ripped away and you are made into a puppet. All that matters is what you do. Everyone's limit is different. Some people lose themselves from practically nothing. Some people can bear burdens that would ruin others, but everyone eventually breaks. That's what evil is. Its the threshold where people finally stop caring. Its what happens when they can no longer deal with the things that happen to them. That's how good people become bad. That's what Anevia is talking about in there. That's how angels fall.
You're assuming there's always a choice. Sometimes there isn't. Sometimes things just happen, and they force you to do things. Sometimes people don't get the blessing of free will.
No, it isn't. That is really the most awful part is that it isn't wrong at all. If they started stacking hardships against each other the worth of mortal lives would be subjective. It would be open to interpretation. That would be more wrong than anything else ever could be. So its all equal. No one gets priority. The only things that are judged are actions. Not what happens to people, but what they do.
We all need help. That's the problem. To the gods every problem, no matter how large or small, weighs exactly the same. A diseased orphan dying in squalor is exactly as deserving and worthwhile as a king who stubbed his toe. The gods don't really understand matters of scale. They love everyone absolutely equally, and it isn't fair.
No. Not the words. Just what's behind them. She doesn't think any of this is fair, and she's right. The thing she doesn't get is that it isn't supposed to be fair.
Anevia. She's inside. Venting.
She has a point. She's not quite right about it all, but she still has a point.
Nya nya pththththth. :p
I can't make it out. It doesn't sound like a ritual I recognize.
They're summoning something. I can't make out what. Listen closer.
The girl with the broken leg was the first one to jump? What is wrong with you people?
Hope is overrated.
Worst thing that could happen is everyone else dies, and you survive.
What are you afraid of? The worst that could happen is you die. Not so bad really.
Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just surprised. You spend so much time talking about what's right and what isn't, and trying to be nice even when its a waste of time. I figured you'd want to try to build some kind of jail and pass them off to someone else to execute. I didn't think you'd do it. I'm kind of proud of you.
That was a bit cold, don't you think?
No! I let it in! Its part of me now because I got caught, and then could not resist. Its my own fault! In the end, it made me want it. That is how evil is. It isn't an infection. In the end it simply becomes what you are.
It is as vile and wreched to us as those infected with hideous plague is to you mortals, but even worse. Plague victims are almost never at fault for their plight. This affliction is always self-induced.
Exactly. Got it in one.
You really need to get better at not getting hit.
The angel's apology had started something. Whatever she had been intended to be, She would never become. She had been broken and might never be whole again, but she would also never be the monster they tried to turn her into. She was something else now. Kel hadn't done anything but try to be the best version of himself. He had an angel on his shoulder, and even broken, she was inspiring. For someone like Kel who had learned to thrive on adversity, that was enough. It was as if all the cruel and spiteful impulses he'd had his whole life suddenly had a new outlet. They flowed into the angel, filtered through her before they reached him. He still felt them, but because they seemed to come from her, they didn't seem so deeply ingrained. Suddenly they were much easier to spot and fight against. Suddenly the angel wanted to be more than she was. The apology was like the first crack in a dam that held back a flood. The simple realization that she had been a victim of purposeful corruption made her want to fight it. All the self loathing and internalization suddenly flipped. In his dreams Kel had spent the whole night holding and comforting a crying girl. It was like holding on to a comet. By the time morning came, the angel's catharsis was over. What was left was rage. Her power flared within him. They both awoke changed.
To corrupt it. The only thing demons love more than slaying goodness is breaking it... and letting it live... so they can... Kel, I'm sorry.
You just don't understand...
Yes it is. Too big. That is why good will never win. All the might of heaven isn't enough to stand against the vastness of the forces arrayed against it. Heaven can't even influence the hearts of you silly monkeys enough to make a real difference. What hope do we have when hell punches a hole straight into the world and starts sucking at it like a teat? Heaven can't do that. Heaven has rules. Heaven is smaller, farther away, wears chains of it's own making, and every last one of you is going to die for it.
I can't feel it anymore! I only have it through you! I would have let her die just for an excuse to slaughter them! I don't get to have this and I don't deserve it! I hate this, and I hate you, and I hate them, and... just leave me alone, alright!
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