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[tantailizing]

[Haha, I'll... get back to actually doing this page at some point. Placeholder for now]

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[heartofthestar]

I find my daily life to be surprise enough, given that I ought not to have it. Which perhaps is an excellent way to begin this tale.

[tantailizing]

'Ought not'? Oh yes, please, continue.

[Because she's right, now he's very curious.]

[heartofthestar]

A very long time ago, a man made a rather foolish choice. He sent beings of his creation out, to ask the residents of other stars what the purpose and point of life was, in the hopes of soothing his own despair. Yet he failed to consider what might happen should he get no answer.

[tantailizing]

... Wait, wait, did he not remember to tell his creations what to do if they didn't get an answer?

[Also, can people stop creating people for purposes like this?]

[heartofthestar]

The idea that they might receive no answer never occurred to him -- so convinced was he that an answer existed, and he simply did not understand it. I would go so far as to say he depended on that belief to survive on a daily basis, such was his despair.

[tantailizing]

[Aha... not the question to pose when suffering depression.]

He probably should've realized everyone might have a different reason for living too, but yeah, okay, so what happened next?

[heartofthestar]

The Meteia -- such were there names, with the one remaining to communicate with them being Meteion -- encountered numerous dead or dying civilizations. Their confusion became a despair of their own, and their conclusion became that life had no purpose but suffering. And having so concluded, they believed it to be the greatest mercy and kindness they could offer to end life. To release all beings from the agony of existence.

It has a certain logic to it, if twisted and pained, and truth be told I understand the reasoning.

[After a moment's pause, Venat murmurs, a song born only of her voice.]

I close my eyes, tell us why must we suffer
Release your hands, for your will drags us under
My legs grow tired, tell us where must we wander
How can we carry on if redemption's beyond us?

[tantailizing]

Yeah... I mean, I could get why that'd be a conclusion, but they were also... you can't give that kind of responsibility to someone that doesn't understand what it means to live and die in the first place, or even comprehend it.

[But it does say something, that worlds seem to continue repeating the same mistakes for their answers. Silent while she sings, he wonders if he should wait for her to continue, or ask...]

[heartofthestar]

[Just those lines. Hydaelyn had many songs to choose from, after all.]

Yet when confronted with this... rather than stop them, Hermes chose to enable them. He sought to strip the memories of all present, including his own. Should mankind be worthy of surviving, he reasoned, it would find a way to defeat this danger, even as he rendered it unknown.

Do realize I am skimming over much of his difficulty. To explain Elpis and his role there would take quite some time, but suffice to say he found some unfounded parallels in his role testing creatures there, and setting mankind itself to the test. He was not a well man. Yet... he was not entirely wrong, either.

[tantailizing]

Oh yeah, I figured there's probably way more to explain, but I can take the abridged version for now. Still, damn... if he somehow appears here, I might punch him once. We can talk it out after, but just one...

[Because Zidane's just... has a big issue with those who create and leave their creations ignorant or... other things.]

[heartofthestar]

There is a twist here, but I shall come back to that. For the moment... soon enough, the Meteia -- the Endsinger -- brought chaos to Etheirys. The creations magics that were our birthrights went wild, causing untold calamity and despair. Many perished, many more suffered, until at last the Council came to a determination. By sacrificing half of all mankind, they would bring into existence a being of such power and ability that it could stabilize the aether of our world, and in doing so end what we called the Final Days.

[tantailizing]

Half of all mankind?!

[Please tell them they agreed to that... the half sacrificed anyway.]

How did that stabilize your world's 'aether'? And how did that stop the Final Days?

[heartofthestar]

That invocation created a being known as a primal -- a manifestation of faith given strength through aether. The first and greatest of Primals, Zodiark, possessed the power to shield the world from the song of the Endsinger. No more could the corruption that they emitted reach us, beneath the stirred currents of aether that it brought forth. Thus did the Final Days end... leaving behind a world ravaged and desolated.

[tantailizing]

Hrm... ravaged and desolate... and probably having no idea how to start rebuilding. What did they decide to do next?

[Also, that saved their world, but... could all the others have truly been dead or gone? Well, the song would see that they didn't he guessed... ugh.]

[heartofthestar]

The most obvious and logical conclusion, of course. Sacrifice half of the remaining population to Zodiark, to grant it sufficient strength to restore the world.

[Up till now, Venat could sympathize. Disagree, but sympathize. Here, however, is where Ancient society loses her. To take that path, rather than the hard and painful one of rebuilding...]

[tantailizing]

Wait, another half? But who's left at this point?

[He doesn't excel in math, but this is like... a fourth of the population now?? Also, he has no idea how many people there were to start. And what about their magic?]

[heartofthestar]

Far fewer than before. And so it was decided, at least by many, to sacrifice all the other living beings of the world in order to restore those who had sacrificed themselves to Zodiark.

[tantailizing]

... I don't think you could do that? And doesn't that just put them back to square one???

[heartofthestar]

Not in the least. The world would remain restored and protected, and they would have their friends and comrades back. After that, creating new beings to populate the world would be of no consequence. That was the purpose of Elpis, after all, to begin with.

A perfect answer... for those unable and unwilling to grown and learn from what pain they have endured. A retreat to a perfect paradise lost, rather than one rebuilt. Proof, in other words, that our society had failed. That it had no ability to handle suffering, to handle living -- that Hermes, for all his cruelty and folly, had not been wrong about us.

[tantailizing]

[... This isn't adding up for him.]

So... it's still back to where they started and completely proving Hermes right. Geez... And completely trying to forget what happened, but would they really try doing that?

[Why wasn't anyone angry? And how easily they decided to sacrifice their people... and just ignoring the problem wouldn't make it not come back?]

[heartofthestar]

"Return to us our perfect paradise." A direct quote, when I begged them to reconsider. Till the very end, I had hope. I believed that they might listen. But they did not... there were enough to enact that plan, had I and those who felt as I did not intervened.

But we did. To counter a primal, we summoned a primal. We could not match Zodiark stroke for stroke and blow for blow -- but we would not need to, if instead we shattered Zodiark and all things into pieces.

[tantailizing]

...

[She can't see him, but he does shake his head. It's all sounding familiar, just without a looming threat of a song like that...]

... So, you shattered Zodiark then?

[heartofthestar]

We did not -- I did not merely shatter Zodiark. All things, all people, the world itself, we shattered.

[Venat is quiet now, though no less wrought with conviction.]

This, you may, and ought to, judge me for. In that moment, I condemned mankind to suffering and misery. I stripped away the ability it had to soar to paradise, on the wings of creation magic; instead, I set it to finding its way by foot. I saw no other way for it to find the answer to Meteion's question, no other path for it to find the strength and courage to make meaning out of life's misery... but I do not deny, I do not pretend, that what I did was not horribly, unforgivably cruel.

[tantailizing]

All of it?

[Listening, frowning, his brows furrow as he listens and considers. Talk about taking extremes, but weren't the others already summoning Zodiark and getting ready to forget all about it? Both sides didn't exactly do the best thing, but they started with good intentions? He guesses...]

I mean... if it leads to a path to Meteion, it's probably better you did. They were only buying more time to ignore the problem.

[heartofthestar]

A decision can be correct and also reprehensible. And many might not agree that I was correct. Though my choice proved to work in the end, who is to say another one might not have? A more merciful and pleasant one for all? I did what I felt I needed to... but I do not and cannot ask anyone to forgive me or excuse me, when I permit neither for myself.

But it did work. Thousands of years passed, but at last my champion, the Warrior of Light, found the strength and courage to lead humanity on the path it needed to take. Thanks, in no small part, to having traveled through time back to the beginning of the tale, and having witnessed Hermes' choices and set me upon this path to begin with.