What is destiny? Some would argue that it is an unseen force which guides the life of an individual so that they may accomplish a great task, but to Erika destiny was just a force which pushed against her belief in freedom. She didn’t wish to be a slave to destiny, she wanted to forge her own destiny even if it wasn’t the best outcome for her, because being her own person was more important than a just a plaything of fate. Sadly, in her obsession to rid herself of destiny Erika felt the pull of it every day towards the fateful encounter with her father, and this had made her a puppet of destiny, she had so much hatred towards her father that she just couldn’t let go, in many ways it was all that kept her going. Her life up to this point was a grueling set of tasks she had to overcome, from escaping the lab to learning magic to helping another be safe from her hated enemy Erika’s life was focused around the sole goal of killing off that which she hated so that she might finally be free. When she decided that it might be best to gather allies in a more villainous sense and turn the nation of Fiore against her, she figured that is exactly what she would do, but it didn’t give her anything. That’s not true it did give her something, but it wasn’t in the way she had expected. Somehow the stupid elf had become predominant in Erika’s life after Erika had tricked her into killing herself just for a new body, just so Erika on her other identity could get a nation to fear her, it sounds stupid but it worked for the most part, except that now Erika had a feeling inside of her that was weird to her. Erika felt guilt over it, perhaps she was losing the bite she used to have but a few months ago. Erika used to go out of her way to show off to others and occasionally kill them without any remorse, since most of them were just humans anyway but now she got, for lack of a better word, lazy and just figured it wasn’t worth it. Erika tried to justify it to herself as her being so far superior to them that she didn’t need their acknowledgement, but that wasn’t it, Erika was just afraid of herself. She hadn’t done anything but cause misery wherever she went, was that really the legacy she wanted for her life, was that really the main reason for her living? For all her talk of being perfect she really did screw up often, even if she killed those who were “evil” as she had learned their past at a touch it didn’t really justify the killings, and it went against how she viewed herself as perfect as perfection would never make a mistake in the first place. Perhaps Erika just wasn’t herself anymore or at least the girl that had left the underground safety of her father’s vault. Having to remember what it was like to go through her young life wasn’t good for her motivation, or rather the good side of motivation, all it did was stir up repressed memories of hatred, and make her question a few things…
If she really was just an experiment, did that mean she was nothing to him? How could she be nothing, Erika was allowed freedom which no other experiments were allowed and was basically his assistant? She hadn’t thought about it before but it didn’t make any sense, why was she allowed to do so much when the others were all confined. Being able to pause her hatred she pondered why it was that such an occurrence was possible, compared to everything she knew about the man it would have made sense for her to be confined and worked on rather than just allowed to roam around, that combined with when she was very young his attitude being different towards her, had Erika thought wrongly about the man all these years? Part of her just couldn’t believe that, she just couldn’t let go of her anger, of her loathing towards him and how she had desired nothing but revenge. It was as if half of her was telling her to let it go and be free, and the other half was saying to hold onto the hatred that she had used to live for the few years that she had been free. Perhaps, she was right to try and let all of it go, she was better than just the sum of her hatred and anger, but if she gave it all up what would even be left of her, she’d be like all the others who just wandered through life or tried to give others charity, and Erika wasn’t the type to really care about others, especially those of lesser birth than her, even though Erika was pretty sure she wasn’t born at all. Still being that of a dragon, she viewed many beneath her just upon natural instincts, she didn’t believe that she was wrong to do so, but started to believe it didn’t make her any better to express it, maybe that why she was losing some of her punch. Perhaps this is what they call maturity, not having to show off all the time to be better than others perhaps? Erika wouldn’t try and argue with that thought, rather she would just accept it, she was probably growing more mature, and her earlier exploits had just been her lashing out like a stupid kid, or maybe she was right all along and she had just gotten too used to living among humans and their culture. The second was a vast possibility as she had tried to infiltrate many a location in the past and replace those she viewed could be valuable. Only recently had the better part of her conscious taken over and brought them somewhat back to life so she could let them go back to their lives, though she should admit, Erika is a bit worried about the potential kids she had made while she tried to keep the act up, at least no one knew it was her so she wouldn’t need to pay support or anything to a family whose husband or wife she impersonated for a bit. That was a scary thought to her…
Just how much of her life had she lived by proxy at this point? Aside from the parts in the lab most of her life was spent in hiding to stay safe from others who would mean her harm, or she perceived would mean her harm. She was constantly on the lookout for her father attacking her to get her back or kill her off, but no matter how much she moved around he never came. Did he not care about her? Erika wasn’t sure if that pissed her off more than if he did care about her. More importantly, if she was ever going to face him she had to do something she didn’t want too, as it put another she cared about in harm’s way just to make sure she was prepared. Despite all Erika has done in the past, this action felt the most out of character for her in the moment, was strange she never cared about hurting others but for some reason, with this individual she cared about hurting them, well that’s not necessarily true there was another she had grown a bit of fondness towards but it more out of a sense of duty right now than anything else, had to at least stop her from eating so much paste all the time, wasn’t good if a guild master just died out of nowhere due to paste overdose. That, like much of this was a different topic of discussion entirely, and sadly Erika knew that today she would have to make a difficult choice one which she didn’t wish to make right now, but if she was ever going to stand a chance against the man she hated she would need to be fully prepared in every sense. She didn’t know if she could defeat him, but at the very least she had to give it a shot, had to try and clear her mind even if at the end of the day she wasn’t alive.
Deciding to finally get out of bed, Erika’s attitude mirrored a zombie, as she just went through her routine in quick succession. The sun was barely on the horizon as Erika hadn’t really slept through the night. She felt it too closely, the nagging that her father was almost completed with his work, and how now was the only chance she had to stop him. She thought back on the people she knew, Erika grew a little soft, she felt bad, Faeral, Astrid… wait that’s really it? Wow that was a little sad, she didn’t have much in the way of people she could call friend, damn, well never mind guess not that many would miss her if she never came back and the world probably wouldn’t care, or rather would be better off. That was a bitter pill to swallow as she finally prepared herself for the first portion of her task, to ensure that her mind was focused but to do that, she had to do something terrible, something she had already harped on, she was going to need to use Sharp.
Thankfully Erika didn’t have to search for Sharp because she knew exactly where the host for what was left of her energy was always, part of the benefits of making the vessel in the first place, a vessel which for a limited time had spied on a former guild, accessing the threat of a certain guild master. Thankfully Erika deemed her to be inconsequential due to morals, same for another now that she came to think about it. The only real threats were the dark guilds, they seemed to be filled with more determination and grit, even if they lacked as much power at the current moment. Only time would tell if she would need to try and infiltrate anything again, and if disposing of this vessel would be a mistake. Tearing open a portal Erika walked through it near where the body holding Sharp was located, apparently, they were on a job for some local group, Erika didn’t really care. Warping down into the small alcove that the targets of the vessel had been located, Erika made sure to not step on any of the gore around the area, she had just gotten dressed and didn’t wish to sully her clothing with some useless dude’s guts. The camp was matched the environment, a jungle like hideout, hmm to go so far just to stay away from her past? The vessel was amusing. As Erika wandered through she spotted her, dark black hair, red eyes, yes that was the correct one, and as the vessel vanished from her sight, Erika felt the cold sting of steel upon her throat.
“Just who are you?”
“Activate Recall code violet”
Suddenly dropping her weapon, the vessel went numb and Erika sighed. It was a great display of strength, but Erika didn’t wish to bang up her own creation, even though it would probably vanish with the rest of Sharp, a sacrifice just to ensure Erika could take revenge, a sacrifice which Erika already regretted having to make. Surrounding her hand in some of her more primal energy, Erika reached into the now debunked vessel and dragged out what appeared to be a fading spirit within. Chains stretching out of the body Erika noticed she how weak Sharp looked and her heart sank. As the pink haired girl opened her eyes Erika felt her own tear up a bit.
“Hello Sharp.”
“Omega? Is that you?”
“Yeah it’s me, we don’t have much time, and I need you to help me.”
“You need me to fortify your resolve don’t you?”
“How did you?”
“I can see peoples desires, their emotions, of course I know what you want, and feel sorrow because I’ll pass when I do it.”
“I thought you would restore energy, but instead you just seemed to weaken, he was stronger than me, I let you down.”
“You tried your best, how could that ever let me down?”
“I failed.”
“You didn’t fail, because of your action we can talk one last time, I don’t see how that is a failure.”
Erika couldn’t bear to look her in the eyes.
“Can you make it so I won’t lose my mind if I confront him?”
“I already have.”
Erika’s eyes widened as she looked up towards Sharp who was starting to fade away.
“What do you mean you already hav--- wait, Sharp you couldn’t have…”
“Yes, I was making sure your conviction was strong, last time you couldn’t even control yourself, and you need to have your dream fulfilled right?”
“But because you did that you weren’t recovering your strength! You could have lived!”
“What good is a life that doesn’t help those around them, I’m happy this way, you finally have the conviction to let go and fight, that’s what matters.”
“I should be the one dying, not you… your much better than me in almost every way.”
“I wouldn’t say that, you are pretty good at being arrogant and I’m terrible at that.”
A little chuckle escaped Erika as she saw Sharp’s body all but vanished.
“You just had to ruin the mood didn’t you?”
“Can’t have you crying for the big fight now can I? Now go, I’ve stalled you for long enough…”
Disappearing completely, the vessel she was tied too and Sharp’s body simple went up towards the clouds, and for a good while the only sound within that unnamed valley were the sobs of a poor soul who had just lost something precious to them. The cries were loud and liberating, as the who had lost so much now stood up from their sorrow and narrowed their eyes, Erika was going to finish this once and for all.
With a swipe of her hand the young girl threw open a portal to the dreaded place where her father was located. He had moved locations frequently, but the last time they had met she had made sure to leave a tracker within him, one which resonated with his energy so he wouldn’t notice, and now it had paid off, he had been throwing around his power like crazy so it was easy to locate his base of operations, far on the other side of the world hidden away beneath stone and steel. The security would surely be tight, but she could handle it, and the battle would be long, but she had to do it. With a swift run, she dashed through the portal and prepared to engage him head on, to kill the man she had desired dead since she was a young child. What she was greeted with however… it defied all her expectations.
She didn’t appear in the lab, instead she appeared in the middle of a crater with nothing but smoldering ash and fire surrounding her. The bastion of her father was destroyed already, leveled to the ground, and she could feel the energy in the place was all gone. What happened here? Did he destroy it so Erika couldn’t gain anything from it at all? That information was rightly Erika’s in the first place, how dare he destroy it to keep her from it. Then she felt it, it pulsed within her veins, the feeling of hatred and loathing that had kept her living during her years with him, the feeling of his magic. Looking over her shoulder Erika spotted it, out of the corner of her eye, underneath the rubble he was there, she saw it, part of his suit. Teleporting over to the location, Erika used some threads to throw the rubble from on top of his body and onto other parts of the crater. With a loud thud, they fell and she saw him, the man she hated with every fiber of her being sitting there, defenseless, unconscious, alone. Reaching into another dimension Erika grabbed what looked like a pistol with just one bullet in it, a bullet designed to kill only one individual. A labor of love, she had carved his name into it. Reading the trigger Erika slowly brought the gun up towards his head and grimaced towards him with the most despicable glare she had ever given. There he was, ripe for the taking, he was ready to be killed by her, all she had to do was shoot. She felt the voice in her head scream out in joyous vengeance, let him know the cold embrace of death, finish him with one swift strike. As her finger squeezed downward on the trigger she felt herself getting increasingly excited, this was it the moment she had been waiting for the bastard would finally die!
With a loud bang Erika’s eyes widened as her mind snapped. Her index finger let go of the trigger and she felt wrong. The gun hadn’t fired, why hadn’t it fired, why didn’t she shoot him? She wanted this didn’t she, with every fiber of her being she wanted to kill him so why didn’t she pull the trigger. Aiming the gun up towards his head again Erika went to pull the trigger but found that she couldn’t. Was it nerves? No that wasn’t… Sharp… what she had done. Erika had her conviction, she had her target all she had to do was pull the trigger but now she couldn’t. This was her dream, her life goal, right here what was Sharp thinking trying to stop her from killing him. Had she been corrupted by him? Was all this just a play? Well if that was the case if Erika couldn’t kill him right now till she solved whatever this problem occurring in her mind was, she would simply take him away and grind all the answers out of him. Having a portal appear around him she threw him into her main lab, tied down by layers upon layers of defenses. Heading back their herself Erika began to work on what had happened to her.
The man stirred within the horrific chamber which for some reason seemed to have padding everywhere. His wounds were killing him, but he was happy to be at least a little safe, and then he felt it, the familiar sound of a gun barrel being pressed against the back of his head.
“Have a good nap?”
“Yes I did. Now go ahead and fire.”
“Not before I get answers”
“I have nothing to indulge to you, you already know all of it.”
A loud smack could be heard as the back of the man’s head was hit by the barrel of the pistol.
“Yeah right, you, who is the smartest person I know doesn’t have anything he could tell me, yeah right. Why was that lab destroyed? Did you want to deny your knowledge to me? You playing me right now? I hold all the power for once, so you better answer.”
“You don’t hold anything... now just kill me.”
“Not until you tell me the truth, everything, what happened and why you are trying to deceive me right now. Did you fail becoming a god for your perfect world huh? Did you fail at that just like you failed when you made me? Huh? Did that give you a big laugh, playing fucking dad to me, acting like you had the RIGHT to be over me, the RIGHT to tell me what to do, like I was just some trash to be used and discarded? Well, speak.”
A sigh escaped the man’s lips as a small amount of water dripped downward onto the floor. Erika smiled at that. He was giving up, finally this was what she wanted, to see him broken before her, to know that he could be broken.
“I failed to become a god become a man cannot become a god, the definition of a true God is so far above the perception of us that it’s impossible, but more importantly I did fail you…”
“Failed me? You failed me? You think you even have the ability to say you even tried to succeed?”
“It was twenty five years ago…”
“Twenty five years? Have you finally snapped, the hell does that mean?”
“When I met your mother.”
“You mean when you meant the woman who you took DNA from to make me? The dragon you stole from, like you told me?”
“No, I didn’t steal DNA from her, I married her.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes you are, even in this situation you desire to lie to me!”
Walking around to the front of the man, Erika grabbed his shirt and pulled his face in close to hers, her anger was palpable upon her expression.
“Say that to my face.”
“You have her eyes, and that’s what frightened me.”
Slapping him across the face Erika turned around and looked towards the door. Closing her eyes and breathing slowly she tried to process the level of anger inside of her and how he could just lie like that, but then he spoke up again.
“She was beautiful, smart, and for some reason shared my vision of the future, or so I thought. Those few years I had with her are some of my most precious memories, though now I can only feel it was my fault, all of this was my fault.”
“OF COURSE EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT!”
Turning to look towards him Erika’s expression didn’t change, and his heart seemed to sink.
“I know, I tried my best, but I realize now lying to you was a mistake, telling you that I made you, it was a mistake…”
“You did make me, I saw the experiment notes.”
“Of course you did, I wanted you to believe that you had no connection to me, and I did it because I couldn’t stand for you to know about your mother.”
“Alright, say I believe you, that you didn’t just make me but I was born, then how do you explain what I really am huh? I’ve done my own diagnostics, I’ve seen it, I share nothing with you.”
“Another part of my plan, make sure you couldn’t figure it out, change your make up, make it so your mother couldn’t find you.”
“Yeah, of course you saw everything, sure why wouldn’t you have, of course you just predicted everything right?”
“I didn’t predict how stupid I could be.”
“No one can predict that level of stupidity… but fine, tell me your story and I’ll see if I can even humor it.”
Focusing the man cleared his throat.
“As previously stated, twenty five years ago is when I met her, we got together three years later and we believed that we would change the world for the better. I was just some guy from an old clan which dates to before the dragon wars, and she was something else entirely. In our love, we decided to try and have some children, but when we finally conceived she started to change or maybe she had just been lying to me this entire time. After all these years and recent events, I would say she was. She was obsessed with the idea of making our children as strong as possible to assist us, I didn’t want that I wanted them to grow up with their own dreams, she seemed to resent me for it.”
Clearing her throat Erika interrupted her father.
“Children? You mean child right? If you actually had me the normal way then it would just be me right?”
“No, I meant my words, you have a twin.”
“I have a twin? Now I know you have gone crazy.”
“Why do you think I made it so you couldn’t know your own origin, if you couldn’t know then surely your mother and sister couldn’t know either.”
“Why would my mother and sister care about me at all? What happened.”
“After you two were born, she took away your sister after saying I had gone soft.”
“How could you have gone soft? You? The biggest jerk I know.”
“between the two of you, you were the frail one, almost as if your sister was trying to steal everything from you in the womb, she was mad that I wouldn’t kill you, and said if I didn’t she would leave and complete our mission. I told her no, and so she took the strong one and left me with you. You wouldn’t have made it so I altered you a bit both for your protection and so you could live. You two aren’t really… supposed to be in this world. The unity of a creature like your mother and me had some strange side effects.”
Erika’s voice seemed calmer as she spoke.
“What was mother then?”
“Unlike me, a human who had some of the old dragon blood within me, she was the real mythological deal, a phoenix. I didn’t know till after we were together, but I suspect that she just wanted me for my heritage, so in order to keep you alive I had to unlock the potential from me and avoid hers, though I see some of it has slipped through.”
“How has some slipped through?”
“I know you have been using clones in order to cheat death on occasion, it’s why it was impossible to locate you, the ability to use such bodies I took from your mother, it’s adapted for use by me, but it has allowed you to use them. Unlike me however you don’t age when you transfer to a new body do you? You shouldn’t rebirth is in your nature. Regardless, I lied to you because I couldn’t face the shame of what I had done, how I changed you just so you could live, and what I had done to make your mother leave.”
“So you made me hate you for all these years? You made me your personal servant all these years all because you couldn’t face the shame of your divorce and saying one of your children lives!?”
“Yes, I did it all for myself…”
“You didn’t let me down, I now realize why it was that Sharp prevented me from pulling the trigger, you aren’t worth the bullet, none of it is.”
“You believe me?”
“Your story was so pathetic how could I not believe it. And to think I believed you were strong and a threat, but really you are just some broken human that is before me who has now lost everything.”
“I haven’t lost everything.”
“You have lost your lab, your ambition, your power, what else do you even have?”
“I know you are safe, and that’s enough.”
“That I am safe? You care about others, who in the world would believe that the knowledge of someone else being safe would be worth…”
She couldn’t finish the sentence, in her mind Erika knew that she also felt that, and it’s why she couldn’t help but cry just a few hours ago when she saw Sharp vanish before her eyes, why shouldn’t bare to lose someone who was close to her and probably why she kept everyone at a distance. She supposed there was some value in that, and though she really hated him, Erika put the gun away and let go of the restrains on him. It was probably foolish, he was probably going to attack and kill her, but she couldn’t go against what she now knew was the last wish of Sharp, something that wasn’t for him, but her.
To her surprise he didn’t attack her, instead all he did was dust himself off and stand up, legs a little wobbly.
“I take it you believe me then? I’m sorry to have been such a terrible father.”
“Whatever, you can’t undo what you did so just leave alright.”
“I will, you won’t see me again, don’t worry about it.”
“You aren’t getting off the hook that easily, you are teaching me how to unlock what I really am, AND you are going to start acting like a proper dad damn it.”
Shocked he adjusted his glasses but a smile came across his face.
“Alright, I wasn’t sure if I should, but you believe you can handle them, then…”
Reaching into his pocket the man pulled out a worn book.
“This contains all the research regarding your body, procedures and all, I kept it on me just in case I was killed. Sounds dumb I know, but I had it magically hidden because I knew you could find my body easily and the seal would open to you. Here, this should allow you to obtain your true abilities, but be warned they will be able to find you afterwards.”
“Yeah, and if they beat you they are pretty strong, but it’s okay, I have a few allies now as well, we should be able to win, but more importantly I’m going to actually give you a chance because of that experiment you threw away alright? You better be grateful.”
“Everyday I’m grateful for all of my creations, but out of all of them, I am glad I had you. I’ll see you soon Erika.”
Handing her the book he opened his own portal using a small magical device from his pocket, and with a bit of a smile on her face Erika held the book.
“yeah, I’ll see you soon Dad.”
WC: 4972/4500
If she really was just an experiment, did that mean she was nothing to him? How could she be nothing, Erika was allowed freedom which no other experiments were allowed and was basically his assistant? She hadn’t thought about it before but it didn’t make any sense, why was she allowed to do so much when the others were all confined. Being able to pause her hatred she pondered why it was that such an occurrence was possible, compared to everything she knew about the man it would have made sense for her to be confined and worked on rather than just allowed to roam around, that combined with when she was very young his attitude being different towards her, had Erika thought wrongly about the man all these years? Part of her just couldn’t believe that, she just couldn’t let go of her anger, of her loathing towards him and how she had desired nothing but revenge. It was as if half of her was telling her to let it go and be free, and the other half was saying to hold onto the hatred that she had used to live for the few years that she had been free. Perhaps, she was right to try and let all of it go, she was better than just the sum of her hatred and anger, but if she gave it all up what would even be left of her, she’d be like all the others who just wandered through life or tried to give others charity, and Erika wasn’t the type to really care about others, especially those of lesser birth than her, even though Erika was pretty sure she wasn’t born at all. Still being that of a dragon, she viewed many beneath her just upon natural instincts, she didn’t believe that she was wrong to do so, but started to believe it didn’t make her any better to express it, maybe that why she was losing some of her punch. Perhaps this is what they call maturity, not having to show off all the time to be better than others perhaps? Erika wouldn’t try and argue with that thought, rather she would just accept it, she was probably growing more mature, and her earlier exploits had just been her lashing out like a stupid kid, or maybe she was right all along and she had just gotten too used to living among humans and their culture. The second was a vast possibility as she had tried to infiltrate many a location in the past and replace those she viewed could be valuable. Only recently had the better part of her conscious taken over and brought them somewhat back to life so she could let them go back to their lives, though she should admit, Erika is a bit worried about the potential kids she had made while she tried to keep the act up, at least no one knew it was her so she wouldn’t need to pay support or anything to a family whose husband or wife she impersonated for a bit. That was a scary thought to her…
Just how much of her life had she lived by proxy at this point? Aside from the parts in the lab most of her life was spent in hiding to stay safe from others who would mean her harm, or she perceived would mean her harm. She was constantly on the lookout for her father attacking her to get her back or kill her off, but no matter how much she moved around he never came. Did he not care about her? Erika wasn’t sure if that pissed her off more than if he did care about her. More importantly, if she was ever going to face him she had to do something she didn’t want too, as it put another she cared about in harm’s way just to make sure she was prepared. Despite all Erika has done in the past, this action felt the most out of character for her in the moment, was strange she never cared about hurting others but for some reason, with this individual she cared about hurting them, well that’s not necessarily true there was another she had grown a bit of fondness towards but it more out of a sense of duty right now than anything else, had to at least stop her from eating so much paste all the time, wasn’t good if a guild master just died out of nowhere due to paste overdose. That, like much of this was a different topic of discussion entirely, and sadly Erika knew that today she would have to make a difficult choice one which she didn’t wish to make right now, but if she was ever going to stand a chance against the man she hated she would need to be fully prepared in every sense. She didn’t know if she could defeat him, but at the very least she had to give it a shot, had to try and clear her mind even if at the end of the day she wasn’t alive.
Deciding to finally get out of bed, Erika’s attitude mirrored a zombie, as she just went through her routine in quick succession. The sun was barely on the horizon as Erika hadn’t really slept through the night. She felt it too closely, the nagging that her father was almost completed with his work, and how now was the only chance she had to stop him. She thought back on the people she knew, Erika grew a little soft, she felt bad, Faeral, Astrid… wait that’s really it? Wow that was a little sad, she didn’t have much in the way of people she could call friend, damn, well never mind guess not that many would miss her if she never came back and the world probably wouldn’t care, or rather would be better off. That was a bitter pill to swallow as she finally prepared herself for the first portion of her task, to ensure that her mind was focused but to do that, she had to do something terrible, something she had already harped on, she was going to need to use Sharp.
Thankfully Erika didn’t have to search for Sharp because she knew exactly where the host for what was left of her energy was always, part of the benefits of making the vessel in the first place, a vessel which for a limited time had spied on a former guild, accessing the threat of a certain guild master. Thankfully Erika deemed her to be inconsequential due to morals, same for another now that she came to think about it. The only real threats were the dark guilds, they seemed to be filled with more determination and grit, even if they lacked as much power at the current moment. Only time would tell if she would need to try and infiltrate anything again, and if disposing of this vessel would be a mistake. Tearing open a portal Erika walked through it near where the body holding Sharp was located, apparently, they were on a job for some local group, Erika didn’t really care. Warping down into the small alcove that the targets of the vessel had been located, Erika made sure to not step on any of the gore around the area, she had just gotten dressed and didn’t wish to sully her clothing with some useless dude’s guts. The camp was matched the environment, a jungle like hideout, hmm to go so far just to stay away from her past? The vessel was amusing. As Erika wandered through she spotted her, dark black hair, red eyes, yes that was the correct one, and as the vessel vanished from her sight, Erika felt the cold sting of steel upon her throat.
“Just who are you?”
“Activate Recall code violet”
Suddenly dropping her weapon, the vessel went numb and Erika sighed. It was a great display of strength, but Erika didn’t wish to bang up her own creation, even though it would probably vanish with the rest of Sharp, a sacrifice just to ensure Erika could take revenge, a sacrifice which Erika already regretted having to make. Surrounding her hand in some of her more primal energy, Erika reached into the now debunked vessel and dragged out what appeared to be a fading spirit within. Chains stretching out of the body Erika noticed she how weak Sharp looked and her heart sank. As the pink haired girl opened her eyes Erika felt her own tear up a bit.
“Hello Sharp.”
“Omega? Is that you?”
“Yeah it’s me, we don’t have much time, and I need you to help me.”
“You need me to fortify your resolve don’t you?”
“How did you?”
“I can see peoples desires, their emotions, of course I know what you want, and feel sorrow because I’ll pass when I do it.”
“I thought you would restore energy, but instead you just seemed to weaken, he was stronger than me, I let you down.”
“You tried your best, how could that ever let me down?”
“I failed.”
“You didn’t fail, because of your action we can talk one last time, I don’t see how that is a failure.”
Erika couldn’t bear to look her in the eyes.
“Can you make it so I won’t lose my mind if I confront him?”
“I already have.”
Erika’s eyes widened as she looked up towards Sharp who was starting to fade away.
“What do you mean you already hav--- wait, Sharp you couldn’t have…”
“Yes, I was making sure your conviction was strong, last time you couldn’t even control yourself, and you need to have your dream fulfilled right?”
“But because you did that you weren’t recovering your strength! You could have lived!”
“What good is a life that doesn’t help those around them, I’m happy this way, you finally have the conviction to let go and fight, that’s what matters.”
“I should be the one dying, not you… your much better than me in almost every way.”
“I wouldn’t say that, you are pretty good at being arrogant and I’m terrible at that.”
A little chuckle escaped Erika as she saw Sharp’s body all but vanished.
“You just had to ruin the mood didn’t you?”
“Can’t have you crying for the big fight now can I? Now go, I’ve stalled you for long enough…”
Disappearing completely, the vessel she was tied too and Sharp’s body simple went up towards the clouds, and for a good while the only sound within that unnamed valley were the sobs of a poor soul who had just lost something precious to them. The cries were loud and liberating, as the who had lost so much now stood up from their sorrow and narrowed their eyes, Erika was going to finish this once and for all.
With a swipe of her hand the young girl threw open a portal to the dreaded place where her father was located. He had moved locations frequently, but the last time they had met she had made sure to leave a tracker within him, one which resonated with his energy so he wouldn’t notice, and now it had paid off, he had been throwing around his power like crazy so it was easy to locate his base of operations, far on the other side of the world hidden away beneath stone and steel. The security would surely be tight, but she could handle it, and the battle would be long, but she had to do it. With a swift run, she dashed through the portal and prepared to engage him head on, to kill the man she had desired dead since she was a young child. What she was greeted with however… it defied all her expectations.
She didn’t appear in the lab, instead she appeared in the middle of a crater with nothing but smoldering ash and fire surrounding her. The bastion of her father was destroyed already, leveled to the ground, and she could feel the energy in the place was all gone. What happened here? Did he destroy it so Erika couldn’t gain anything from it at all? That information was rightly Erika’s in the first place, how dare he destroy it to keep her from it. Then she felt it, it pulsed within her veins, the feeling of hatred and loathing that had kept her living during her years with him, the feeling of his magic. Looking over her shoulder Erika spotted it, out of the corner of her eye, underneath the rubble he was there, she saw it, part of his suit. Teleporting over to the location, Erika used some threads to throw the rubble from on top of his body and onto other parts of the crater. With a loud thud, they fell and she saw him, the man she hated with every fiber of her being sitting there, defenseless, unconscious, alone. Reaching into another dimension Erika grabbed what looked like a pistol with just one bullet in it, a bullet designed to kill only one individual. A labor of love, she had carved his name into it. Reading the trigger Erika slowly brought the gun up towards his head and grimaced towards him with the most despicable glare she had ever given. There he was, ripe for the taking, he was ready to be killed by her, all she had to do was shoot. She felt the voice in her head scream out in joyous vengeance, let him know the cold embrace of death, finish him with one swift strike. As her finger squeezed downward on the trigger she felt herself getting increasingly excited, this was it the moment she had been waiting for the bastard would finally die!
With a loud bang Erika’s eyes widened as her mind snapped. Her index finger let go of the trigger and she felt wrong. The gun hadn’t fired, why hadn’t it fired, why didn’t she shoot him? She wanted this didn’t she, with every fiber of her being she wanted to kill him so why didn’t she pull the trigger. Aiming the gun up towards his head again Erika went to pull the trigger but found that she couldn’t. Was it nerves? No that wasn’t… Sharp… what she had done. Erika had her conviction, she had her target all she had to do was pull the trigger but now she couldn’t. This was her dream, her life goal, right here what was Sharp thinking trying to stop her from killing him. Had she been corrupted by him? Was all this just a play? Well if that was the case if Erika couldn’t kill him right now till she solved whatever this problem occurring in her mind was, she would simply take him away and grind all the answers out of him. Having a portal appear around him she threw him into her main lab, tied down by layers upon layers of defenses. Heading back their herself Erika began to work on what had happened to her.
The man stirred within the horrific chamber which for some reason seemed to have padding everywhere. His wounds were killing him, but he was happy to be at least a little safe, and then he felt it, the familiar sound of a gun barrel being pressed against the back of his head.
“Have a good nap?”
“Yes I did. Now go ahead and fire.”
“Not before I get answers”
“I have nothing to indulge to you, you already know all of it.”
A loud smack could be heard as the back of the man’s head was hit by the barrel of the pistol.
“Yeah right, you, who is the smartest person I know doesn’t have anything he could tell me, yeah right. Why was that lab destroyed? Did you want to deny your knowledge to me? You playing me right now? I hold all the power for once, so you better answer.”
“You don’t hold anything... now just kill me.”
“Not until you tell me the truth, everything, what happened and why you are trying to deceive me right now. Did you fail becoming a god for your perfect world huh? Did you fail at that just like you failed when you made me? Huh? Did that give you a big laugh, playing fucking dad to me, acting like you had the RIGHT to be over me, the RIGHT to tell me what to do, like I was just some trash to be used and discarded? Well, speak.”
A sigh escaped the man’s lips as a small amount of water dripped downward onto the floor. Erika smiled at that. He was giving up, finally this was what she wanted, to see him broken before her, to know that he could be broken.
“I failed to become a god become a man cannot become a god, the definition of a true God is so far above the perception of us that it’s impossible, but more importantly I did fail you…”
“Failed me? You failed me? You think you even have the ability to say you even tried to succeed?”
“It was twenty five years ago…”
“Twenty five years? Have you finally snapped, the hell does that mean?”
“When I met your mother.”
“You mean when you meant the woman who you took DNA from to make me? The dragon you stole from, like you told me?”
“No, I didn’t steal DNA from her, I married her.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes you are, even in this situation you desire to lie to me!”
Walking around to the front of the man, Erika grabbed his shirt and pulled his face in close to hers, her anger was palpable upon her expression.
“Say that to my face.”
“You have her eyes, and that’s what frightened me.”
Slapping him across the face Erika turned around and looked towards the door. Closing her eyes and breathing slowly she tried to process the level of anger inside of her and how he could just lie like that, but then he spoke up again.
“She was beautiful, smart, and for some reason shared my vision of the future, or so I thought. Those few years I had with her are some of my most precious memories, though now I can only feel it was my fault, all of this was my fault.”
“OF COURSE EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT!”
Turning to look towards him Erika’s expression didn’t change, and his heart seemed to sink.
“I know, I tried my best, but I realize now lying to you was a mistake, telling you that I made you, it was a mistake…”
“You did make me, I saw the experiment notes.”
“Of course you did, I wanted you to believe that you had no connection to me, and I did it because I couldn’t stand for you to know about your mother.”
“Alright, say I believe you, that you didn’t just make me but I was born, then how do you explain what I really am huh? I’ve done my own diagnostics, I’ve seen it, I share nothing with you.”
“Another part of my plan, make sure you couldn’t figure it out, change your make up, make it so your mother couldn’t find you.”
“Yeah, of course you saw everything, sure why wouldn’t you have, of course you just predicted everything right?”
“I didn’t predict how stupid I could be.”
“No one can predict that level of stupidity… but fine, tell me your story and I’ll see if I can even humor it.”
Focusing the man cleared his throat.
“As previously stated, twenty five years ago is when I met her, we got together three years later and we believed that we would change the world for the better. I was just some guy from an old clan which dates to before the dragon wars, and she was something else entirely. In our love, we decided to try and have some children, but when we finally conceived she started to change or maybe she had just been lying to me this entire time. After all these years and recent events, I would say she was. She was obsessed with the idea of making our children as strong as possible to assist us, I didn’t want that I wanted them to grow up with their own dreams, she seemed to resent me for it.”
Clearing her throat Erika interrupted her father.
“Children? You mean child right? If you actually had me the normal way then it would just be me right?”
“No, I meant my words, you have a twin.”
“I have a twin? Now I know you have gone crazy.”
“Why do you think I made it so you couldn’t know your own origin, if you couldn’t know then surely your mother and sister couldn’t know either.”
“Why would my mother and sister care about me at all? What happened.”
“After you two were born, she took away your sister after saying I had gone soft.”
“How could you have gone soft? You? The biggest jerk I know.”
“between the two of you, you were the frail one, almost as if your sister was trying to steal everything from you in the womb, she was mad that I wouldn’t kill you, and said if I didn’t she would leave and complete our mission. I told her no, and so she took the strong one and left me with you. You wouldn’t have made it so I altered you a bit both for your protection and so you could live. You two aren’t really… supposed to be in this world. The unity of a creature like your mother and me had some strange side effects.”
Erika’s voice seemed calmer as she spoke.
“What was mother then?”
“Unlike me, a human who had some of the old dragon blood within me, she was the real mythological deal, a phoenix. I didn’t know till after we were together, but I suspect that she just wanted me for my heritage, so in order to keep you alive I had to unlock the potential from me and avoid hers, though I see some of it has slipped through.”
“How has some slipped through?”
“I know you have been using clones in order to cheat death on occasion, it’s why it was impossible to locate you, the ability to use such bodies I took from your mother, it’s adapted for use by me, but it has allowed you to use them. Unlike me however you don’t age when you transfer to a new body do you? You shouldn’t rebirth is in your nature. Regardless, I lied to you because I couldn’t face the shame of what I had done, how I changed you just so you could live, and what I had done to make your mother leave.”
“So you made me hate you for all these years? You made me your personal servant all these years all because you couldn’t face the shame of your divorce and saying one of your children lives!?”
“Yes, I did it all for myself…”
“You didn’t let me down, I now realize why it was that Sharp prevented me from pulling the trigger, you aren’t worth the bullet, none of it is.”
“You believe me?”
“Your story was so pathetic how could I not believe it. And to think I believed you were strong and a threat, but really you are just some broken human that is before me who has now lost everything.”
“I haven’t lost everything.”
“You have lost your lab, your ambition, your power, what else do you even have?”
“I know you are safe, and that’s enough.”
“That I am safe? You care about others, who in the world would believe that the knowledge of someone else being safe would be worth…”
She couldn’t finish the sentence, in her mind Erika knew that she also felt that, and it’s why she couldn’t help but cry just a few hours ago when she saw Sharp vanish before her eyes, why shouldn’t bare to lose someone who was close to her and probably why she kept everyone at a distance. She supposed there was some value in that, and though she really hated him, Erika put the gun away and let go of the restrains on him. It was probably foolish, he was probably going to attack and kill her, but she couldn’t go against what she now knew was the last wish of Sharp, something that wasn’t for him, but her.
To her surprise he didn’t attack her, instead all he did was dust himself off and stand up, legs a little wobbly.
“I take it you believe me then? I’m sorry to have been such a terrible father.”
“Whatever, you can’t undo what you did so just leave alright.”
“I will, you won’t see me again, don’t worry about it.”
“You aren’t getting off the hook that easily, you are teaching me how to unlock what I really am, AND you are going to start acting like a proper dad damn it.”
Shocked he adjusted his glasses but a smile came across his face.
“Alright, I wasn’t sure if I should, but you believe you can handle them, then…”
Reaching into his pocket the man pulled out a worn book.
“This contains all the research regarding your body, procedures and all, I kept it on me just in case I was killed. Sounds dumb I know, but I had it magically hidden because I knew you could find my body easily and the seal would open to you. Here, this should allow you to obtain your true abilities, but be warned they will be able to find you afterwards.”
“Yeah, and if they beat you they are pretty strong, but it’s okay, I have a few allies now as well, we should be able to win, but more importantly I’m going to actually give you a chance because of that experiment you threw away alright? You better be grateful.”
“Everyday I’m grateful for all of my creations, but out of all of them, I am glad I had you. I’ll see you soon Erika.”
Handing her the book he opened his own portal using a small magical device from his pocket, and with a bit of a smile on her face Erika held the book.
“yeah, I’ll see you soon Dad.”
WC: 4972/4500
