[ The day of the ordination dawns like a fairy tale itself. The first ascension of a cardinal in forty years; Perion Sov Vasilios, the man who will succeed the Pope. The hero of the people. Your friend, someone who looked at your divinity without envy and who wanted to help you find the truth of it.
You're nervous. Not for Perion, who shines effortlessly in front of the crowds. He loves the people, and they love him. You're still a little scared of people — you're scared of them being afraid of you. But you're excited, too. To face the world on your own terms, to hold onto that fragile sense of peace and pray that you can make this into a true blessing: for all the people in the world to be as happy and carefree as they are today.
The prayer is still on your lips as you hear the first cacophonous rumble. The ground itself shakes with the force of it even before the screams reach where you're standing by the gate as the knights frantically try to usher you into shelter. ]
The castle wall has fallen!
It could be an attack. Get the crown princess to safety—
[ It doesn't even register that that means you until Lira and the knights grab for you. Your mind is a tumult of chaos, thoughts cascading one into another. You know how many people were standing there. How many must be hurt. If you let them detain you here, how many more will die.
The lightning comes more easily to your fingertips now. You've never willingly used it on another person; today, you can't let that reluctance cost lives. It's Helio who spares them from injuries you're already apologizing for in your head when he thunders up on a horse, flinging you over the saddle in front of him as your heart soars. You didn't think he would understand. But with his help, you'll be invincible...
You are going the wrong way. ]
Marquess!! Please turn the horse around!!
Calm down! Are you trying to commit suicide? Are you out of your mind?
I'm of sounder mind than anyone! I want to save them!
[ For a moment, he hesitates. You know Helio — war hero, tactician, loyal to the bone to one person only. You know the calculations he's making, and yet you still hope for that one second. Then he spurs the horse onward. ]
Be rational, Psyche! What you were trying to do was too risky. The crown prince wanted to keep you in the palace to prevent you from displaying your divinity outside. Even if you get to the accident site, even if you use your divinity, he can kill the witnesses and fabricate the truth.
[ You know it's true. Even if you make it there — even if you can heal dozens, hundreds, until whatever source your power comes from at last runs dry and leaves you a hollow shell — they might all still die. Eros might kill them afterwards for his convenience, and anyone else who happened to see. They might still kill you, turn on you and tear you to shreds as the monster you are, before Eros can ever get to it.
The hesitation weighs on your heart like an ache, and Helio is still talking. ]
Do not be sad, Psyche. Letting a hundred people die right now may save ten thousand in the future.
[ Anger kindles in your chest. It burns away the hesitation, the doubt, the fear. What time do you have to be afraid? The lightning sparks at your fingertips again, easier each time. ]
What use is saving ten thousand people later? Who cares if the world becomes a better place? For the people who die today, their worlds disappear today. I'll save both. The hundred, and the ten thousand!
[ The lightning ignites, searing past Helio's shoulder and knocking him from the horse. You're sorry for your friend. But in the moment, your whole world is the feeling of the reins in your hands as you turn the horse towards the site of disaster and ride past rubble to where the knights are already laying out broken bodies. One at a time. A hundred. Ten thousand. You don't care. You will do this. ]
cw: domestic terrorism, death
You're nervous. Not for Perion, who shines effortlessly in front of the crowds. He loves the people, and they love him. You're still a little scared of people — you're scared of them being afraid of you. But you're excited, too. To face the world on your own terms, to hold onto that fragile sense of peace and pray that you can make this into a true blessing: for all the people in the world to be as happy and carefree as they are today.
The prayer is still on your lips as you hear the first cacophonous rumble. The ground itself shakes with the force of it even before the screams reach where you're standing by the gate as the knights frantically try to usher you into shelter. ]
The castle wall has fallen!
It could be an attack. Get the crown princess to safety—
[ It doesn't even register that that means you until Lira and the knights grab for you. Your mind is a tumult of chaos, thoughts cascading one into another. You know how many people were standing there. How many must be hurt. If you let them detain you here, how many more will die.
The lightning comes more easily to your fingertips now. You've never willingly used it on another person; today, you can't let that reluctance cost lives. It's Helio who spares them from injuries you're already apologizing for in your head when he thunders up on a horse, flinging you over the saddle in front of him as your heart soars. You didn't think he would understand. But with his help, you'll be invincible...
You are going the wrong way. ]
Marquess!! Please turn the horse around!!
Calm down! Are you trying to commit suicide? Are you out of your mind?
I'm of sounder mind than anyone! I want to save them!
[ For a moment, he hesitates. You know Helio — war hero, tactician, loyal to the bone to one person only. You know the calculations he's making, and yet you still hope for that one second. Then he spurs the horse onward. ]
Be rational, Psyche! What you were trying to do was too risky. The crown prince wanted to keep you in the palace to prevent you from displaying your divinity outside. Even if you get to the accident site, even if you use your divinity, he can kill the witnesses and fabricate the truth.
[ You know it's true. Even if you make it there — even if you can heal dozens, hundreds, until whatever source your power comes from at last runs dry and leaves you a hollow shell — they might all still die. Eros might kill them afterwards for his convenience, and anyone else who happened to see. They might still kill you, turn on you and tear you to shreds as the monster you are, before Eros can ever get to it.
The hesitation weighs on your heart like an ache, and Helio is still talking. ]
Do not be sad, Psyche. Letting a hundred people die right now may save ten thousand in the future.
[ Anger kindles in your chest. It burns away the hesitation, the doubt, the fear. What time do you have to be afraid? The lightning sparks at your fingertips again, easier each time. ]
What use is saving ten thousand people later? Who cares if the world becomes a better place? For the people who die today, their worlds disappear today. I'll save both. The hundred, and the ten thousand!
[ The lightning ignites, searing past Helio's shoulder and knocking him from the horse. You're sorry for your friend. But in the moment, your whole world is the feeling of the reins in your hands as you turn the horse towards the site of disaster and ride past rubble to where the knights are already laying out broken bodies. One at a time. A hundred. Ten thousand. You don't care. You will do this. ]