Liberated

I know what happened next. I do not need to see it again.

(I rend Mother's flesh.)

Do you not hear me?!

(I remove Father's head from his neck.)

This is madness!

(None escape my wrath. Not even the little ones. Not even civilians. The city watches in horror. They know what I am.)
This must stop!

(Their faces inform only of relief.)

Stop!!!

(Their faces inform only of relief.)

I COMMAND YOU!!!

(Their faces inform only of relief.)

AHHHHH!

(The Sapphiric Sun implodes.)

PLEASE!

(Lubrae is cracking. Lubrae is shattering. Lubrae is upending. What have I done?)

I CAN'T—

(Your Luster. My Glaive.)

—-Relive it.—-

NOOOOO—

(They've turned against me—my Regime. They've perished by my hand—my clan. They call me a monster. They put me in a cage. They seek my execution. But your Luster—I see it, even though they took you from me.)

(You guide my hand. You free me of these chains. You find me again. You return to me my Glaive—no longer Rheliksbane. Serving only one final purpose: Lubrae's Ruin.)

(A shattered sky. A planet convulsing. Our existence, upended.)

(Their folly was their intended salvation. Siphoning light from the Sapphiric Sun itself. I use your Luster. Turn their technology against them, like a backfired pistol.)

(After serving them. Protecting them. Fighting for them. Suffering for them.)

(A shattered sky. A planet convulsing. Tearing apart.)

(One Lubraean remains—me. But not for long. What have I done? I stare into the Abyss. It has opened—truly opened this time—to show me what lies beneath: death. I drop your Luster. I drop Lubrae's Ruin. I let myself fall in. And then I… I… and then I am… )

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

Here. With you. My… Witness.

—-And what do you feel now? Devoid of family. Devoid of The Regime. Devoid of Lubrae. What do you feel here, in our embrace, now that they are gone and you are left?—-

Rhulk opens his eyes. Crawls forth through the blackened solution that engulfed him all this time. Emerges from the wall of obsidian-like miasma to find his Luster. To find Lubrae's Ruin. Taking them, he rises to his feet.

—-What do you feel, my child?—-

"Relief."

Lamented

Category: Book: Shattered Suns