input(The Proposition (Part II))(ifeeltheeverblackfesteringwithinme)

“We did not save you, human. You did. The shard that is bound to your body has given you true connection to the ancient language. Your power awakened on that train and you created that barrier. That was when we first became aware of you.”

Miu shook her head in shock. There was no plausible reason that she could have been the one that saved them all. She was just a girl. Magical power was not something she had.

But then she remembered how the shards whispered to her and responded to her when she walked by… ArcanMizu raged like floods from her simple touch… Flames grew in rage when she became afraid or embarrassed…

“I don’t want to believe you… About any of it…”

Her gaze softened as she looked up at her captors.

“They told us you were the bad ones… I… They killed… They killed my Yuki… I…”

Tears returned as grief and abject shock overwhelmed Miu’s nervous system. Every aspect of what she had just learned was too much on its own merit. Now she was being confronted with a barrage all at once, and it was taking every ounce of her resolve to not break and collapse once more.

One of the Arcans rose slightly as its tendrils pulsed faint glows of golden light.

“Regarding your military holding us captive, see for yourself,” it said Miu’s stoic voice.

Before Miu could react, they were all in a different area. Without moving or shifting a single limb, the entirety of the group, including Miu, was relocated. Gone was the enclosed room where she had arrived. Now, the walls were opened and a muted cold greeted Miu’s exposed body. An open ledge was before them, and in the distance far below was an enormous barrier system. They were at the edge of the Arcan fortress, looking out at the real world.

Even from her curled up position, Miu could see the military vehicles and command stations down below. More importantly, she could see the multitude of weaponry and varied artillery that was all pointing at them. Many were currently firing. Only now did Miu hear the nearly silenced thuds and explosions as cannons, turrets, launchers, and rail guns all released munitions of death towards the Arcans.

But none of the attacks did anything.

Instead, each round was immediately absorbed by the glowing glyphs that lined the perimeter of the enclosure. As Miu watched, she stood without realizing.

None of the Arcans were firing any form of retaliatory attack. There was no cataclysm of magic being rained down on the humans. Thinking on the night that Yuki died, Miu recalled how every explosion seemed man-made…

“It was them… They dropped the bombs. They destroyed our home. They used the world-ender…” Miu whimpered as she looked down on her species with disdain.

“Why?... Why would they do this?” she cried in confusion.

“That is why we brought you here,” said another Miu.

“We were hoping you could illuminate us on your kind, and why they act so violently. But…”

As Miu processed everything she was observing, she did not see the glowing tendrils of light sliding around her wrists and throat. Before the touch even registered, the tendrils had locked around her and lifted her entire body out over the end of the ledge.

“I’ah…” a concerned Miu whispered.

Miu’s fingers clawed at the light but passed through them. Terror returned to her thoughts as she faced the cyan and white being that was now holding her above oblivion.

Though it had no eyes or face, Miu felt it was staring into her mind as she frantically looked back at its body.

“Let me go!!” Miu choked.

“You wanted death. Now, I will return it to you,” I’ah Miu growled.

“No!!” Miu cried.

“You do not wish to die?...” I’ah asked.

“I DON’T KNOW!!!” Miu screamed in dread.

Her heart was exploding in her chest, punching her ribcage with chaotic fear and wrath. Frigid cold stabbed at her naked body as she kicked and fought to no avail. Fiery agony began to build in her eye socket.

This wasn’t what she wanted. For whatever reason, she did not want to die now. Or, at least, not like this.

The distant booms grew in volume. Heat spread across her face and skin.

“MAKE A DECISION YOU FOOLISH CHILD! Do you wish to die now or do you wish to live?”

Every concussion and explosion brought a new level of volume until the violence was at its true audible level. Terror and destruction sang around them at full capacity, drowning out every thought and voice until all Miu could sense was violence.

“Let me go, let me go, let me go!”

“In what way? Let you go so that you can fall? Die now and let them win. Or let go down so that you can live, and let me show you another path while you help us understand your kind?” I’ah asked.

Its words tore through Miu’s focus and almost gave her clarity, but the fire was spreading. Down below, turrets were releasing thousands of rounds towards them, sending screeching death towards the glyphs. I’ah’s grip was too tight. Miu’s fingers were turning cold. Darkness was bleeding into the corners of her vision. All she could hear was annihilation.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

None of it.

Darkness was closing in. Miu’s eyes were rolling back into her sockets as her grip softened. Booms of explosions threatened to rupture her eardrums even as the attacks vanished without impact.

“What will it be, human? Death’s defeat, or the chance to help us and maybe find peace?” I’ah asked.

Boom.

That word.

Boom!

Miu hated that word.

BOOM.

Every time she had dared to feel that or pursue that or even desire that, the world had broken her even more.

BOOM!

She cursed the very concept of-

“Peace?! I don’t want peace, I WANT REVENGE!!! NOW. LET. ME. GO!!!!” Miu screamed as her body ignited in deep blue flames and her body exploded forward like one of the artillery shells from below.

The inferno’s awakening sent out a concussion that threw every Arcan backwards as Miu’s force struck I’ah and flung them both to the ground. Ecstatic pain seized her body once more, but this time she bit into her lip and forced herself to stand so that she could look down on the enormous crystal being at her feet.

“How?...” I’ah muttered in shock.

Cobalt flame whirled around Miu as her unkempt hair billowed in the cold. Piercing light shone from her murderous eye as tremors shook her body. Shaking limbs hoisted her pale from up as her muscles locked in hate.

“If you EVER touch me again without my permission, I will kill every one of you,” she growled as she wiped away her bloody tears.

I’ah chuckled to itself as it remade its body and rose before her.

“‘Ever’, you say? That would imply you wish to live…”

Miu scowled in anger.

“I don’t wish to live, I… I wish to hurt them. I want them to suffer… For what they did to us. You want me to help you, I will. If you show me how I can use… this… whatever I am. Whatever I have. So that I can fight them. So that I can take everything from them, just like they took everything from me…”

Miu’s spirit was shifting as she said those words. Something in her was gone. Beyond Yuki, another aspect of her soul had died. In its absence, an abyss was growing. It had found the jagged fissures of sorrow and despair that had formed in Miu’s psyche over all those years of hardship, and was now seeping into the gaps. This everblack void was festering and spreading, covering any remaining hope or decency left hidden in her until it was blacked out from warmth and touch. In their place, righteous cruelty and malice were blossoming.

Now, faced with so much new truth and the realization that her crystal eye might give her some measure of vengeance, Miu found herself wanting to live. After all of the sorrow and suffering, she found herself wanting to stay alive long enough to at least hurt others for how they had hurt her. It was time to hurl some of that agony back at the world that had so harshly discarded her and Yuki.

The Arcans all seemed to glance to one another before looking to I’ah, who paused, then rose to its full height.

“We are not murderers like your kind. We do not traffic in destruction like you. But if you help us, I will teach you to be in harmony with the shard embedded in you, so that you may better harness its language. Help us, and I will teach you what you wish. Help us, and we will let you fight your kind with our power.”