Starlit Heroics: A Spectrum of Hate

As Nintendria recounted the story, Telgard raised an eyebrow while Titania forced a smile based on everybody else's reactions. Queen Diana put a hand to her chin with a mild scowl on her face.

That is, until Zora raised her voice and gave her version of the story.

"I like her version better. Especially since it seems like she was actually doing something." - Telgard remarks with a sly wink as he leans against the chair he was sitting in.

"Not to be rude, but her version is more exciting too..." - Titania says as she takes another sip of tea.

Queen Diana waits until everybody else is done talking before taking her turn.

"Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but did you say Ranthael? So he exists in this universe too... I'm getting more and more intrigued by the minute." - She chuckles.

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"Yeah, no kidding. What kind of answer do you expect me to give other than 'mom made me that way?' I guess I'll give you a break since it wasn't out of malice, though..." - Candelabra says with a chuckle.

The rushing cold air causes Candelabra to huddle her arms against her chest.

"Hey. If it's not too much to ask, do you mind if I stay with you two? I mean, I don't really have anywhere to go in this place." - She shivers.

Nintendria huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, I was getting to that part!" he said. "But thanks for filling it in I guess."

Adanna clapped. "Wow, you guys all have some really cool stories. Where do you come up with this stuff?"

"Come... up?" Dante raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, are you guys like... part of a Castles n' Creatures group? Can I join!?"

"...where did you find this one?" Serafina asked Nintendria. He brought his palm up to his forehead.

"You... haven't believed a word I've said since we met, have you?"

Adanna crossed her arms and pouted. "Well duh, I'm not a little kid you know."

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"What?" Jack asked, suddenly defensive. "My friend Denzia was created to be the ultimate weapon by an evil genocidal group. Doesn't mean he does that. Just curious..."

He looked over at the shivering Candelabra.

"Um... sure..." He frowned. So much for his evening alone with Jax, but... he didn't want to be a dick and tell Candelabra no, especially since she definitely had no where else to go.

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"Hey," Kaj tapped Diana on the shoulder. "Wanna go necromancer hunting?"

"Dude, we literally just did that."

"Yeah but everyone else has just been talking. I'm not a talker. I want to go out and do things."

"You talk like, every post," Diana said. "Usually not in a helpful manner. And you had to come back to Zempheriea in order to decide this?"

"Timing... and maybe I wanted to see what those two were up to!" Kaj pointed to Bloodrain and Lutrine.

"Oh please, they don't have any plot going on."

"I have plenty of plot going on," Bloodrain muttered.

"You going to help me give exposition on zombies or what?" Kaj asked, putting his hands on his hips.

"Ugh, fine."

"This is all true, kid." Minuki grunted. "How out of the loop have you been for the past.....months?"

"Maybe she's from another universe too." Itsuki reasoned. "It makes sense.

"....I somehow doubt it." Minuki muttered.

"....What's all this talk about other universes?" Sephii asked. "Do we have like....aliens and shit?"

"....Not exactly." Itsuki said.

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"Yeah, you can stay!" Jax said happily. "Jack, you were planning on making spaghetti tonight, right? So....let's set one more place. And we'll let your clothes dry out and stuff and all of those things."

Zora's eye twitched at that reply, and she clung to Tempest's tail to avoid screaming about it and letting the broiling rage free. She didn't watch her family die, spend ten thousand years sleeping and crying and then get stabbed to death to be told she was making this shit up. She did not develop PTSD for this shit. Yes, just play off the sudden appearance of thousands of people both planets over as 'a good story'. Look at this scar you shit. Look at it. It's not done healing yet. It's been six months you ignorant dickbiscuit and this shit hasn't healed. Look at it. Yup, I sure am making up the suffering of millions of people including myself for your entertainment!!

Midnight 'looked' over at Zora and grimaced. Her aura, amid the electric grape that made her so recognizable, was flared up in the bright red that signified rage and the umber that represented bitterness, flickering and rippling like someone who was about to fly into a Berserker rage, but not quite ever getting to that point, and hazy with the static that represented anxiety. That was not a good combination. That was a combination that led to arguments, which led to shouting, which led to small Midnights getting beaten for being in the room. Gotta change the subject somehow.

"Yeah, aliens! I guess you could kinda call 'em aliens, huh? Right, buddy?"

"I guess so, yeah..." Zora was gritting her teeth.

"That's the spirit!!" It's not working. Keep at it. "You know I always wanted to meet some fuckin' aliens. Like real aliens. Not like... people, but not from this planet. Like real weird shit. Critters with five eyes, masses of tentacles and three fuckin' dicks."

"...Specifically three?" Tiamat questioned.

"Yeah, like, that's a weird number of dicks to have right?"

"Echidnas have four."

"Damn it, come on work with me here."

The Divixean trio notice Zora's palpable anger and shiver.

"... Damn. That's kinda scary." - Telgard remarks, still leaning against the chair.

"That aura sort of reminds me of someone we know." - Titania says with a chill going down her spine.

"I do find it interesting that young girl is skeptical of what's happening. I would demonstrate how none of us are making any of this up, but I'm afraid we'd cause more problems than solve them." - Queen Diana says.

Telgard glares at Queen Diana with a confused expression.

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"Hey, thanks. You're pretty nice after all. Don't worry, I'll help you out as much as I can in return." - Candelabra says with a smile.

She walks over to Jack and Jax but notices that she's a foot taller than both of them.

"... Huh."

Adanna continued to pout. "I'm not an alien!" she said. "Well... I mean I guess. Maybe. I'm from Ethernealrus, so... But it's not a different universe!" Adanna clearly hadn't noticed the inner torment by both Zora and Midnight.

"Aw come on guys, go easy on her," Serafina jumped in to Adanna's defense. "We were just saying how most people don't get to meet the gods or royal families. Besides, unless any of our resident goddesses have made large appearances in mortal Ethernealrus, it makes sense she's never heard of you." She walked over to Adanna and held her hand out.

"Hi, I'm Serafina, Princess of Magmarne. But honestly, most of us don't really consider our titles very much. We prefer being treated like normal people."

Adanna just stared. "...So which one of you isn't OP?"

Merrick, in the back still reading his book, raised his hand.

"I'm gonna... go talk with him..."

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"Yeah... thanks," Jack said, trying to hide his disappointment. But, maybe her helping out would be nice. She said she had fire powers... that could be useful?

"So uh, guess we should go back home to get you some warmer clothes, maybe something hot to eat."

Minuki immediately noticed Zor's reaction. Oh no, this would not do at all. AT. ALL.

"Okay, fucking listen buddy!" Minuki snarled, approaching Adanna, "I don't appreciate you fucking coming in here and fucking spouting some BULLSHIT about how THE LIVES WE LEAD are fucking FICTIONAL! Ethernealrus or not, you should've at least HEARD what had happened! Unless you're a backwoods fucking yokel!"

Minuki glared at Adanna again with fire in her eyes.

"I'm leaving." Minuki grunted, "I can't stand this stupidity anymore. Anyone who doesn't want to spend time with this assgenie can come join me."

And she left.

".....What is her problem?" Sephii asked.

"So....uh....." Itsuki muttered, trying to diffuse the situation Minuki definitely made worse, "....what was that about your universe having a Ranthael too?"

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"Yeah, totally. Jack's house isn't too far away, so let's go." Jax said.

That was as good an out as any for Zora to flee the room. If she left it wouldn't get worse, she wouldn't get worse. So she followed Minuki, her dragon squeezing out the door after her, and trailed her down the path.

"Fuck. Fuck. What the fuck was that?"

"That was... something very weird, indeed." Tempest replied. "That doesn't mean chewing the poor dear out was called for, however..."

"Not her. There's plenty of explanations for that. I meant my... getting so weirdly angry. That's never happened before... she just started not believing us and I just..."

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Tiamat looked between where they left, to Adanna, to the now-petrified Midnight, to Sephii, then back again a few times. Well today sure did go to hell. She didn't go songwriting at the bar for this shit?

"Soooo, that was Minuki. You can ignore her. She's kind of a hair trigger." Back to watching over the weird blood lady's shoulder again. "Gets angry over nothing. No big deal. Just let her go and forget that happened. Sound good to you? Sure sounds good to me."

Midnight sort of huddled up in her seat. No one else was gonna start screaming, right?

"Yokel. Well, that's a fun word. I guess I'll start using it now." - Telgard remarks as he shrugs his shoulders.

Titania sits completely still with her eyes wide open. 

"... Oh." - She says with a diminished tone.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" - Telgard asks.

"I-it's just... Why can't I stop shivering? It's not that I'm sick, it's just... after seeing that raw anger..." - Titania says, her cup shaking as she holds it in her hand.

Telgard puts his hand on her shoulder and gently pulls her in.

"Sweetie, it's okay. These guys are just... a bit kooky. You don't have to be worried about anything." He says with a reassuring smile.

"I know, but... Oh..." - She says with a shiver as he hugs her.

"Ah, yes... There's a Ranthael in our universe as well. Bit of a handsome man with long black hair... has black and blue rabbit ears from time to time... Would it be right to say that you also have a Puritus?" - Queen Diana questions with a sly glance.

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Candelabra walks behind Jack and Jax. She looks around and notices a large frozen lake off to her left.

"This place looks really pretty and all, but where exactly are we?" - Candelabra says as her attention is fixed on the lake.

Adanna was left stunned, her knees weak and tears rapidly forming in her eyes. She did her best to keep from crying, but even after Minuki and Zora left one could easily feel the tension building in the room.

Despite Tiamat's best efforts, Adanna couldn't handle being around everyone any longer. She bolted for the door without saying another word. Unfortunately it was the same direction that the other two girls took, so she made a sharp turn as soon as she exited the castle in order to avoid bumping into them again.

"Ah, wait!" Nintendria called as she ran away. Unfortunately, she was still kind of his responsibility, even though the point was to drop her off at the castle to release himself of that responsibility. He was about to run after her, but he stopped when something else caught his attention.

Did the older Diana just say rabbit ears? Ranthael, a handsome man (true) with long black hair (debatable, perhaps a bit longer than was fashionable in this particular decade) with... rabbit ears. This was something he had to further investigate. Well, not really, ensuring a young girl didn't get lost or mugged was probably more important, but... This, this was very important.

"I'm sorry, did you-"

He was cut off by Daniel. "Yeah, we have a Puritus. Kind of responsible for starting this corruption thing and breeding the most evil ruthless god in the history of like... ever."

"Yes yes that's all good but did you say rabbit ears?"

Meanwhile, Serafina seemed pretty miffed about what just transpired. Not just that Minuki unloaded on a seemingly innocent girl, but she was starting to notice a pattern...

"You alright?" Keith asked.

"Yeah... fine..." Serafina grumbled. "That's not the first time she's done that..."

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Jack scratched his head. "Mm, probably only a mile off from the capital. Or, er, how far away did you get flung into the air like that from? You know, in case you didn't know that you're in Glacientyr. Although, I guess all the snow and ice gave that away, didn't it?"

"Rabbit ears, hm?" Itsuki drawled. "Interesting..."

"Would you....uh...excuse me for a moment?" Sephii politely said, walking out the door.

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"That bitch." Minuki fumed. "How dare that fuckhusk bring back such traumatic memories? ....Zor, are you okay now?"

Minuki did a very uncharacteristic thing of her. She went and gave Zora a hug.

"You had every right to be angry. She dredged up terrible, terrible memories and then turboshat on them. I mean fuck....."

She saw Adanna exit the castle and make a sharp turn.

"Heh....she better run."

But then Minuki was pulled to the ground by an angry Sephii.

"Listen she-bitch, you KNOW that was uncalled for." Sephii yelled, holding Minuki down, "You've made at least two people cry in there and that's just unacceptable. And apparently this isn't the first time you've done this shit. You should be murdered by the Gods for your bullshit."

Sephii took her foot off of Minuki.

"But of course, the Gods don't really care much about mortals, do they?"

And then she started walking away from the castle.

"What was that about?" Minuki asked.

What did I just do? Sephii thought, as she continued walking down the path away from the castle. I dunno, felt good though.

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"Yes, this is Glacientyr. Are you....uh....new to the area?" Jax asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine... I don't know what the fuck set me off so bad, I just..." she had to pause to take a deep breath for but a moment. She was getting there, it was going back down.

And then Sephii had her little episode.

Zora blinked somewhat dumbly. What the fuck was that? What the flying fuck did that nobody just do? A low, audible growl escaped her throat as she cracked her knuckles and grit her teeth again. Violet and red energy crackled off of her person. Her bud, just looking out for her, and this loser has the cojones to tell her she should die. Yeah no. That wasn't gonna fly.

Tempest grimaced as best a dragon can, and picked her up by the collar with her mouth. "No." She held fast as Zora squirmed.

"Why not?!" The ex-divine snarled. "You don't just walk up to someone you don't know and chokeslam them! I'm gonna fuck her up!"

"No you're not. You're going to calm down and approach things rationally like a normal person."

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Tiamat stood up straight again, and turned around. Then, she began thunking her head against the nearby wall. "No. No. No. No rabbit ears. It's not that important. What's important is you taking the time to stop being a fanboy and go make sure that girl doesn't get hurt! all it takes is one mugger. Am I gonna have to do it myself? I'm gonna have to run after her myself, aren't I. Gods fucking damn it."

"N-no! No. I can go." Midnight stammered out. "I can! I can be useful! I can-"

"No, no... fuck, now you're having an episode too aren't you." Tiamat sighed. "Alright, I see where today is going. That's nice. Great."

"Things are getting pretty heated in here. Maybe we should leave..." - Titania shivers.

"Hmm... To be fair, if anything does happen, I'll take a punch for you. It wouldn't be the first time. Hah... Maybe I should go after the girl that ran away crying." - Telgard chuckles as he gets up from his chair.

"Just be careful, Dan. I don't want you actually getting hurt." - Titania says as she grabs onto his arm.

"It'll be fine, sweetie. Worrying about me will only get you more sick." - He says as he walks out of the lobby doors.

Queen Diana stares at the other Daniel with a confused look before shifting over to an amused grin.

"Now that's very interesting. The Puritus in our own universe was as kind and noble as Ranthael... so I'm curious as to what changed here."

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"Glacientyr? Oh man, I'm way far away from home. Oh well, it's not like I had much to do back in Librata." - Candelabra shrugs.

"Augh, fine! I'll go!" Nintendria shouted. "But I'm not done with this conversation!" He stomped out of the castle after Adanna, but stopped when he got to the entrance. Shit, which direction did she go? Along the path forward, Nintendria could see Minuki, Zora, and Tempest off in the distance. She probably avoided them. But... dang, she must have been running fast to disappear like that.

"Towards the city? Maybe?"

Back in the castle, Daniel chose to ignore the subject of Nintendria and his obsessiveness. "Kind and noble? Puritus?" He scratched his head. "I mean, I guess maybe long ago he was like that..."

"From what I understand of the legends, I can't really say there was one particular event that changed him," Dante added. "Hm, maybe someone like Danielle or Astra would know better. Or one of the eldest gods. But from what I recall of stories, really the first time he was described as evil was during a fight with Ranthael, but... I don't remember the story ever describing what they were fighting about."

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"Oh geez, you flew all the way from..." Jack paused. "...Librata? Where's that? A different continent?"

"Zor....Zor, it's fine." Minuki grunted. "I....I kinda deserved that. I mean, not that harshly....but....goddamn she's strong."

Walking forward, Sephii started feeling conflicting feelings. On one hand, it felt GOOD. On the other, she felt a twinge of regret. 

She looked back and yelled. No way was she gonna approach them and get rage bombed.

"Hey....uh....listen, I really have no idea what came over me just now. I'm...uh....I'm sorry? Like......that was weird....." 

She sighed.

"Alright, fine, just come and beat me to death, ok? Since you know, that's all I deserve, right?"

Sephii laughed, but it wasn't a normal laugh. It was....sad.

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"Never heard of Librata." Jax muttered. "Maybe it's a place up on Cerphixen....."