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With a final cry the last of Notha’s Exalted amalgamations fall to yours and Uaanta’s blade. Lock and Key have successfully maintained their barrier shielding Myalos, and have taken no injuries to themselves either. A smile makes it way across your face as you turn to Uaanta to celebrate a job well done. However before you can even get a single word out, the sound of Notha’s magics tears through the silence as she appears before you. She is alight with excitement as she has realized your plans. “Oh! You’re having Myalos reactivate the ruins! Very clever, all this to prevent me from reaching him? Well I suppose it works out for all of us…Can the ruins even still be activated?” she asks. “Its none of your business”, Uaanta instantly replies and you simply shrug along with her.
“Well, since we’re all still here, I propose an additional challenge then, if the ‘heroes’ are still up for it”, she says, while looking at you. It takes everything not to flush bright red at her attention, so you lean into the irritation that has slowly been gathering for each wave of abominations you’ve cleared. “What, still not finished?” You asked, narrowing your eyes at her. She smirks, “Whatever gave you the impression that I was?” She waves her hand, and a dark swirling portal appears between you and her. “This one is a project I’ve been working on for quite some time now”, she purses her lips a little, almost forming a pout “would you minding giving it a test run?” You grit your teeth, trying to banish thoughts about taking those lips between your teeth. She is evil and we can not have the hots for evil, you remind your brain and yourself.
The amalgamation has fully appeared in front of you by now, some sort of large glowing white orb, with a metallic gold and black fleshed arm attached to it. Within its clawed grasp is a large golden orb, and circling the white orb are 6 skeletal faces. Whatever this thing is, it isn’t natural, even for Exalted standards. You and Uaanta share a glance before she nods minutely to you. You spare a single glance at Notha as you ready yourself, and her eyes gleam with excitement and anticipation. Her eyes flick to yours, and she grins eager to see what you’re capable of. “Well hero?”, she asks giving you a wink. You blame the flush you get this time as anticipatory reaction to the fight you’re about to have and nothing more. You don’t tell anyone about how your heart rate immediately went up before you even performed a single move.
The twisted amalgam breaks into individual pieces as you land the finishing blow on it. As you start to catch your breath, you watch with morbid fascination as it fades away into nothingness. A “well done!” interrupts your thoughts as you look back at Notha. She is smiling, hands clasped in front of her face. “It’s a pity to lose so much work, but…such might…No wonder the Avatars-” She is interrupted by Lock announcing that Myalos is ready. Everyone turns towards them, before the earth trembles and quakes. You watch as a massive skeletal-like draconic being appears before your eyes. As you shield your eyes to view skyward, you get a sense of deja vu almost, like you’ve seen something like this before? Or mayhaps fought? You aren’t sure, and you know for sure you’ve never seen anything this big in your entire life. You hear Myalos’ voice echo throughout the forest, “No one will control my destiny but me.” The dragon turns towards you and your group and thanks you, before taking into the air at astonishing speeds. You lose track of it as it reaches the upper limits of the sky you can see, and wish Myalos eternal peace. Even if you can’t see them any longer, you do not wish to take your eyes off the sky. Uaanta breaks the silence first, “That’s the end, then.” You nod in agreement, “Still I wish there was something more we could have done for them.” Lock and Key reply to you in their contradictory way, something you are slowly getting used to.
“We did all we could”, “Did we?”
“I don’t think we could have gotten them to change their mind.”, you reply back to them. Uaanta replies as well, “I know I wasn’t about to force Myalos to stay against their will.” “Yes! You see? This is precisely what I talking about!” Notha interrupts your shared melancholy time as she continues on. “This is the balance we make for ourselves. The balance the Avatars fear. We make our own decisions, we consider our own Good and Evil.” You turn to her, meeting her gaze head on. “And what of Sinnocence? Was finishing it off considered balance? And Remthalas destroying Mr. Nameless?”
Notha chuckles, clasping her hands together again, smiling at you. “Good questions hero! First, regarding Remthalas, I am not his keeper, so I can not speak for him. However, if I could fathom a guess, he may have slightly overreacted. I can imagine he saw Mr. Nameless as entering the servitude of the champions of the Avatars, and thus sought to prevent that from happening in anyway possible.” She sighs, frowning slightly. “Its not my place to share his story, but know that he too served the Avatars at one point. And when he needed them, they were absent, abandoning him at his time of need.” Her eyes refocus on you, “as for Sinnocence… I did that for you.” Uaanta sneers at her, “we had it under control.” You ignore Uaanta’s reply.
“What did you mean by that.”
“As I’m sure you know, Sinnocence was suffering. His end was inevitable, whether at my hands, or yours.” She sighs before continuing. “If I let you follow through with your orders you would have simply been fulfilling your pre-ordained role. You would have been another obedient, unflinching pawn.”
“I was already asking questions! Your actions only caused more confusion!” You are struggling to wrap your head around her actions.
At your exclamations, she simply bows her head,”yes indeed, and that has led to many more questions. More doubts. Sounds like success to me.” She looks back up at you. “Questions are important. Seeking answers is vital. That is how we grow.” Her eyes narrow as a frown crosses her face. “But the Avatars don’t ask questions. They simply impose their will.” Her single-mindedness irritates you. You have seen them attempt to learn, it is a slow and rough start, but it is a start, and that’s what should matter. “I-We told you, they’re learning. At first they demanded we only destroy the Maleurous, and now they are willing to let us talk and reason with them. To…”neutralize” them.” The silence that falls after your defense is deafening. Notha has a hand under her chin as she contemplates your words.
“An interesting proposition. They are allowing you some autonomy, but perhaps it is out of fear. Perhaps they know if you were to oppose them, they wouldn’t be able to stop you.” “That’s not-” She stops you with a simple gesture of her hand. “And how long do you think they’ll remember these ‘lessons’?” She continues on, “how long until they ‘forget’ and being fighting amongst themselves, while the people of Lore suffer at their whims?"
You give her a deadpan look, not at all convinced. “Why not ask them yourself? They let Lock and Key speak.” She gives you a sharp look at that. “And for my risk, receive only half-truths and denials?” She closes her eyes for a brief moment to gather her thoughts. “No, they must be eliminated. There is no other certainty. The laws and decrease of those imposters are beyond worthless.” Her expression softens as she looks at you again. It is filled with concern. “Should you wish, my previous invitation is still open.” She reaches a hand towards you, as if beckoning you over. Part of you wishes take her offer, but the more reasonable and logical side wins out once more. You shake your head, eyes furrowing. “No. There is nothing left for you here. Not me, not Myalos, not the ruins.” She sighs, withdrawing her hand. “I understand. And I can tell when I’m not…wanted.” She turns to leave, “I have urgent business elsewhere, anyway.” She spares one more glance at you, (which the unhelpful part of your brain could describe as almost longing), throws a wink, before leaving you with a goodbye as she had done before. “See you around, champions of the Avatars!”
“I really don’t like her,” Uaanta says, as Notha disappears in a rush of magic. You’re feeling a little depressed after all this, and not a little confused to say the least.
“I just wish we could sit down and talk this out. We didn’t need to have any of this violence or conflict. But now it feels like we’re spiraling to where the only option left is conflict.” Uaanta claps you on the shoulder, hand resting upon it. She looks at you with concern, but there is hope in there as well.
“Have faith! My faith in the Makers will not be shaken, and you’ve shown be there are paths other than destruction.” You resist the urge to speak out that you shouldn’t needed to show her the other paths. Instead you lean into the hopeful mood she is trying to set. “Aww Uaanta, you do care about me!” She recoils at that, but still does not take her hand off your shoulder. “I suppose that’s one way to put it,” she says. As she opens her mouth to continue, Lock interrupts her.
“The magic stirs, we are being summoned.”
As you prepare to face the Avatars, you mull over what Notha has said to you. The reasoning behind her actions, and how she refuses to allow you to fall into the so called “fate”. You reflect about how Myalos chose their destiny, how they refused to allow themselves to be used. That they had the choice. You think about what Notha said, how she destroyed Sinnocence for you, claiming it as an act to free you. You think about how the Avatars were willing to listen to Lock and Key, and that despite everything they’ve done, they were, and hopefully still are, willing to take steps to change. But you keep circling back to what Notha said at the very end. How long would they remember these lessons, how long till they forget? And more disturbing, were they only listening because you were the one asking? Perhaps now was the time to get more answers. But you know whatever you chose, it was your choice.