What Gods Seek

Final Act

Chapter 5

"That is the fate that befell this world's God... Even to this day, Styrax lives. As it stands, you just met his human form." From the moment Kuro had started speaking, through the entirety of his tale, Bianca hadn't moved from her spot by his throne. It made sense to her now. Valeera, the nature of her dungeon, the reason for her gift, everything. Yet, the one thing she still struggled to believe was the connection between the Lord of the Four Winds and Kuro himself. 'He can't be that old, can he? He barely looks older than I am...' She had gone from sitting in a relaxed position with her back flat against the wall, but now, her back was hunched over so that her chin could rest on her kneecaps. And then came the final little tidbit he had told her. She had met Styrax. It had been him who Kuro had been conversing with. It was him that nearly speared her throat with his claws. And she now had the answer on how to stop him. With a careful voice, Bianca turned around so that she could gaze up at Kuro's face, noticing how he leaned his head onto his right palm. "So... If I were to give away the light... Would Styrax be sealed away again?" She asked with a sub-conscious rub on her shoulders.

Dead silence met her question, but that was enough of an answer for her. Lowering her head back down to her knees, Bianca felt her breathing hitch at the merest thought of her predecessor. "How was she? The previous hero, I mean. Has there ever been a dark lord? What if Styrax were to be freed... What is the right thing to do...? I just don't know anymore..." All the thoughts that tore through her mind involved her in some kind of way or attire. If she were to become a hero, then she would lose any and all power she possessed. Maybe even the gift she had received from Valeera. But if she chose to become a Dark Lord, wouldn't that simply make the entire world end and all her friends would become slaves of the demons? Just as a few stray tears threatened to fall from her eyes, the rattling of armor reached her ears as Kuro stood up from his throne. "I can make it end. All of it." His tone was calm, but even still, she saw his how tense he actually was. "It can all end. Like it has so many times in the past. In other worlds." Not once did he look back or turn around to face her, which made Bianca both happy and sad at the same time. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to lose the friends she had made because of the power she had received, but at the same time, she didn't want them to suffer just because of her selfishness. "Bianca. Do you want it all to return, back to how it was before all of this?" His question startled her enough for her head to bounce up from her lap. She couldn't believe what she had heard. Was that all there was to it? Did she just wish for it all to return to how it was before she went up to Mount Cornet? Before she had the chance to ruin it all by over thinking things, Bianca rose up onto her feet with her hands raised high and clenched together.

"Yes. I don't want this to end, I really like being here, but..." Biting back a saddened hulk, Bianca took a step forwards as she was still facing Kuro's back. "I can't let this world be destroyed simply because I'm selfish. So please, if it is within your power to do so, turn it all into how it was. Please!" She dropped down to her hands and knees with her head bent down low. Her pride as a woman demanded her to rise up and simply seduce the Gods of her world to reach an agreement, but the knowledge she had acquired through her journey told her otherwise. It told her that there was no way for her to simply seduce those that had grown resistant to it. Those like Kuro... "Raise your head, child." The ice cold voice that she had only heard once before caused her back to tense up, but she refused to raise her head up to face the man that stood before her. After a solid minute of no action, Bianca couldn't help but think that she might have overstepped some kind of boundary, maybe even broken some kind of rule, and as her head rose up to gaze at the armored man before her, Bianca felt a stray tear fall down the side of her face. "The gift that Valeera gave you... was twofold. The physical enhancement that influenced you with the Abyss itself... And the divine enhancement that you yourself have yet to notice. A part of the soul that was granted to her by the Lord... by me. The soul that belonged to one of my fallen comrades..." Despite her best efforts, Bianca couldn't resist the warmth that spread through her chest at his words, even though the words he had spoken seemed too far gone to be the truth.

"So I will ask you once again. Do you wish for a world without Gods? A world where there were no demons. Is that what you wish for?" Finally, he turned around to face her. Although, she almost wished he hadn't when their eyes met. She no longer stared into the red eyes belonging to the patient and kind hearted Kuro. The man she saw before her couldn't be any closer to a stranger than Styrax himself. And before she managed to hide her emotions, before she managed to restrain the single word she longed to say, Bianca looked at him with sad eyes as the truth poured from her lips. "Yes." A simple answer in itself, but at the same time, it couldn't have had more meaning than anything else. At once, Kuro's expression changed. The patience and kindness she had missed returned in force as he let out a lighthearted chuckle. "Then it will be so... I granted the previous guardian her wish, and so, I will grant you your own wish. If only it will make you happy." Before she had the chance to stop him, Kuro leapt forwards, his clawed left hand soon encased itself around her face as her entire world was tinted with a red gleam before it slowly faded away into the black nothingness that she had encountered so many times in the past. Right as her senses began fading away, the faint whisper of a familiar voice rang along her ears. "Sayonara, Bianca... We will never meet again." And with that, all light disappeared from her world as her body slumped in the iron grip of Kuro's hand.