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GRIEF HAS AMBITIONS.
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What existed beyond the rift was a colossal chamber with a beating heart in the center, that from which the decorated chains sprouted- though, the chains melded together to form one, pierced by an unholy halo that strung around them like a washer on a bolt. She did not know what to make of the fleshy scenery or the gale that whipped out from the other side of the transparent walls, those which shone outward brilliant whispers of the cosmos and its stellar landscape. It seemed as if she was inside the belly of a demonic entity, that which birthed projections and smaller versions of itself in a line down to the region. As if it were nesting dolls without a twist opening.[break][break]
Perhaps this was her conscious displaying fears of what existed in the Ultra Deep Sea, those claims her dear friend told her of a god having conquered its wretched activities and manifestations. It brought pained fear painted pink in her chest to imagine all of that could be real. Slowly making her way to where the chains formed into a single string, she tried to pull on it to no avail; of course, they would be too difficult to break, ultimately too strong to saw. With each tug, she manifested it would release, but as her strength ventured out of her muscles and into the air, she was beginning to lose hope.[break][break]
"Please break," she said as she pulled, the halo turning to perceive her with sprouted eyes,
".. snap. You can't hold up forever.."[break][break]
It caused her to naturally become frustrated, and pained, ultimately wishing to secure love by allowing the pulse to return to those she loved above all. She wanted to tear this place from the bottom up; it was her ultimate goal, to bring ruin to those that wished to bestow grief onto the world. Specifically this- but love was no longer an option, for ethereal concepts as these needed counters. A scream manifested from her heart, gut-endowed, bringing the rift to the other side to fluctuate. To her surprise, an army had amassed under her control in this current time. Yet, nothing made sense, how could it?[break][break]
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One by one, Shiinotic and their smaller Morelull counterparts plopped into the portal and made their advance. It felt correct, being surrounded by the creatures she knew more than any other of the forest; there had to be thousands, weaving vine branches to stand on the edges of the walls and look out to the edge of the universe. Their emergence brought a plan, one that at the moment seemed like the only solution. They seemed to understand her wishes without question, too- to illuminate the walls and the core with thousands of
DAZZLING GLEAMS all at once, to cast away all the darkness that lurked within.[break][break]
And that they would; channeling the illuminant energies within their mushroom caps they shone outward, imbuing the entire chamber with light the likes of which the pinkette had never seen. She gasped as the floor began to tremble, melting its physicality and slowly reducing it, alongside the chains and everything that had once existed in the chamber to stardust. The chain of projections down to the ruins of Slateport poofed one by one, and soon she and the thousands of mushrooms were released into the cosmos- and the demon's sole remnant, the darkened halo. She smiled as they slowly fell toward the portal, hugging the largest Shiinotic of them all with all the love in the world.[break][break]
It was freeing- and deep down she knew, with the chains destroyed, all of her loves were okay. They had to be free now. A tear fell from her eyes and released into the stars as she imagined it, leaving with them and bringing love into the drained world once more.[break][break]
But she wasn't clever enough. The darkened halo fell with the gravity pulling them back into the portal, interlocking around her neck. It was the consciousness of this entity, tightening as it took her vision piece by piece. It consumed her, draining her so quickly she had no choice but to sit back and watch. Everything had been taken in seconds.[break][break]
"Taking the consciousness of my vessel is something that lacks glamour, wouldn't you say? We will exist as one. Just as I have become you, you will become me. I will complete the cycle for you."[break][break]
The portal leading to the destructed world brought her to the other side, where she fell to her knees in the rubble. Eyes closed as she listened to the four, she and it both could sense that they had been freed from their virulent shackles- they looked at her and shared their sincerities and pleasantries, but she could not bring herself to move or speak. Not yet, it would not let her. It had to think of the perfect thing to say, pushing Desiree into the corner as it took control.[break][break]
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GRIEF IS HER FRIEND. NOT BY CHOICE.
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The universe melded until she was all the way back in her bed, stained glass windows overlooking the forests of Fortree. Demons were left in the place where she had met them, the grim veil was torn with the essence of forgiveness and a wish to prevent. Lumine, her partner mushroom, walked up to nestle her side with its illuminant cap; yet all she could feel was the lack of the darkened halo around her neck, for it had never existed here, bringing that reddening sensation. Despite how real it felt, all of it was simply a dream. Unless it was more.[break][break]
If that were to depict a potential fate, she wished to turn against the turning of time in that direction. She had something to prove, now; a motivation to never have to bear it, to slice the rotting blossom in half and supplant an illuminant one in its place. To secure the concept of love in a bleak universe, she needed to act accordingly.[break][break]
Alongside the training she endured, she wished that gathering more and more Shiinotic could suffice. But in the end, what could suffice, being the ethereal threats that resided within the vast cosmos?[break][break]
It brought her to cry tears that could seemingly never stop, the grief of killing her father and all her other previous mistakes cast out by cosmic fear. Wherever it was that she had traveled through the thrusting into the rings, she never wished to see it. She never wanted to see it. It was terrifying.[break][break]
Love needed to be preserved in the cosmos,
but how, when grief seemed to be its closest friend?