Chapter Text
If what gave you power is not loyal, it will just as readily aid another in their quest, whether that is to stop you or something else entirely. All it takes to dethrone you is chance, isn't that a scary thought?
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What does it make you, holding the fate of not one but two worlds in your hands? It is his desicions that will shape history, and he will see it so it takes the form he's always envisioned, whatever the cost may be. It's been a long path, and not an easy one, but he has always been dedicated, resourceful. It's almost time, only one loose end to tie up.
"Hey Philip, what do you think should be our first game? I've been meaning to try new ones, but after so long everything might as well be new. Oh! Hey, do you think we could play hide and seek? It's been ages since I've done that. I've never once lost!" Yeah, that. The Collector was, of course, incredibly valuable to his plans and ascend to power, throwing ancient knowledge and forbidden spells around like gossip. But they were also only a child, no matter how many years they'd technically lived. Easy to manipulate, desperate for any human connection as they were. Really, for all the Titan had tried to keep him in the dark about runes, it could have significantly slowed if not halted his plans by allying itself with them.
He didn't know their history in detail, only that they'd fought, ending with the godlings defeat and subsequent imprisonment. And yet they did not seem to hate it, or anyone, really. Called it mean at most, as though it hadn't condemned them to living hell. Despite his best attempts to instil his ideology they'd happily take any player in their games, be that witch, human, demon, or something else entirely.
Titan, they gave out anything in exchange for one of those silly promises of theirs, and while that had served him excellently until now, just one person would have to find out how guilable they were to turn them against him. After all, they clearly cared for the fun much more than the players or rules. The moment he lost the upper hand of being the only one to talk with them over the celestial being, nothing would be predictable anymore. He'd worked too hard to have his glorious victory be thwarted by a kid.
"I'm afraid there's been a change of plans. You are not on the guest list of the final event." How does one kill something hailing from when time first began to flow? It had taken him a while to figure out. Everything, regardless of how powerful or weak, is bound to the source of what they are. In most cases flesh and bone, their body, magic, or anything similiar. Most books, however, referenced them as a 'Child of the Stars' , and he'd found they really did bear a strong connection to those distant bodies. When they weren't talking about their newest idea of entertainment they'd be going on about how they missed the sky, how the felt themselves growing ever weaker kept apart from it.
Meaning that, though they might have once been immortal, he combination of their shackles and seperation from the physical world would leave them vulnerable to full disattachment, if not actual death. In any case, no more contact with anyone outside the Inbetween, a plane without known entry or exit. Even if someone did manage to find their way inside, they'd likely have gone fully insane by then and keep them there, his plans unchanged.
"Excuse me?!"
"You have given me what I want, Collector, I have no more use for you, and I cannot allow your knowledge to fall into the wrong hands. Goodbye." Their anchor, that mirror, appeared ridiculously fragile for something that carried a spell between worlds. It wasn't, though. At first he'd thought it was more like the lock on their chain, wary of damaging it, but over time it became obvious that would have doomed the Boisling Isles long ago. What if it fell down a hill and simply shattered? The Titan wasn't stupid. Instead it had made sure that their remaining connection could be easily broken should it come to it. Well, easy might be a bit of an overstatement, simply throwing it on the floor likely wouldn't work. No matter, he had a hammer and strength honed by Titan's flesh.
Ignoring further complaints, he'd dealt with more than enough insults and worse in his ascend, he swung down. The first few impacts did nothing to scratch its shiny surface, but he saw the being flinch in its rant and refused to relent. Ten, and first superficial cracks started to spread from within the moons center, two more and what might have been coherent words developed into franatic screams as they surged deeper. Cleary, the Collector was not unaffected by the artifacts damage. Good. That meant it was working.
"Why are you doing this, I thought we were friends? You said we were friends!"
"It's nothing personal, kid. Just can't have you meddle with what we've built on your naivety."
Suddenly there was silence, broken shards of glass strewn across the floor.
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He had never given death much thought. Why should he, having never had to face the possibility? Whatever he was, he did not age, he did not simply die, no matter what manner of blows were struck. Stardust will always reform, scattered as it may be. Even the Titan could not overcome that cosmic law, could only lock them away. They knew pain though, agony even. This was nothing like it, this wasn't measurable by any language that had been spoken since their birth, could not be compared to anything. Being sealed was nothing compared to this, being lonely and clawing at the walls was nothing compared to this.
Why? Every word they'd been told about how to play better games, about how to actually make friends, all of it had backfired spectacularly. This had to be death, hadn't it? They didn't want to die yet, though, hadn't gotten to apologize for how foolish they'd been. Spending so long in timeout had helped them think, after all, excessive as they thoght it to have been. Now there wouldn't even be a chance to grant it that last request.
No! They had not survived this far, that torture, just to give up now. What did Philip know, anyway? Yes, he was weak, so what? Their weakest was still far beyond his comprehension, they would not be defeated by a mere tool! If only they had access to their magic- But that was still locked tightly behind the Titans chain binding their every limb. No matter. Their treasured mirror was gone? They'd find its remains again and glue it back together if they had to, but it was not their only connection to the isles, could not be.
The cubes they'd created to at least view something were fairly useless in that regard, they established no real connection beyond a visual image. Probably the only reason they worked at all, on second thought, allowing no interaction of any sort with the outside worlds. Another cord extended somewhere, however. Sliver thin and yet never tearing, as many objects here tended to behave. When someone else had come here, it had attached itself to them, unremarkable and unnoticed amongst the much larger, much more important rope ready to reel them back. Perhaps it was simply this wretched place's desire to keep one more person here, his loneliness ingrained so deeply it extended to the plane itself.
Either way, it presented them with a last way out they hadn't dared to consider before, hadn't considered fair. Against the rules as well as dangerous. But how can you play and win a game fairly having perished? Despite all their quarels it could not have wanted such, they knew so. It valued hard earned redemption over punishment no matter what, as it repeated time and time again.
Having made their desicion, they pulled at the silk, followed it blindly while what used to be their body writhed in pain, every imaginary sep draining them further as they slipped away from their locked up magic.
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Somewhere else entirely, in a place much more real than the Inbetween had any right to call itself, sat a lone human girl shivering against the nightly cold. Luz had climbed on the roof with an ice sculpture glyph forming something akin to ladder. Not her best choice in hindsight, it had been plenty slippery and she'd almost fallen twice, but the sight was worth it all. There was something familiar in the mere act, she found. Back home she'd done the same thing, though of course with a real ladder, during those long and lonely nights she couldn't sleep, a million thoughts running through her head at insane speeds.
They used to be about how she wished she could share her interests with someone, about what sort of adventurers she would get into if she could visit the world of her favourite book series. Turns out she'd want to just be able to go home again, huh? Funny, that, humans seemed to always want what they couldn't have. She'd been granted her greatest wish once already, a second time would be pretty ridiculous. And yet she couldn't help but hope and dream, could she?
The Day of Unity was drawing ever closer, everyone preparing for the clash to come. She was trying her best to assist, of course, but there's only so much she could do. Eda and the other adults repeatedly stated they didn't need children fighting their war for them, and she couldn't argue with that, but wasn't it their war, too? Weren't they just as endangered by the draining spell, if not more so? Belos would destroy them whether they bore a coven sigil or not in the end, if they were all that was left of witchkind it wouldn't matter either way. Why take that chance to at least try from them? Standing idly by wasn't going to fix anything, only make her feel worse. Yeah, she might not change anything. At this point, she couldn't make it worse, so why not at least give it her all?
She sighed, sending another ball of light towards the sky. Did they even stand a chance? So many factors and forces were against them, it was terrifying. Yet giving up wouldn't change anything either, wouldn't even grant them a kinder end. Them. He'd made an offer to her, one she'd told no one about. One more charge left, one more portal. Should she choose to accept his offer, she could return home to mom. Could she? Was it even really home anymore, after everything she's found and done here? Everything would have to be left behind, he would not allow her to 'taint' the human realm with any sort of magical. What proof would she have it was all real? Would she forget, start to doubt herself eventually, lose even the last precious memory?
Could she really risk that? It was something she pondered more and more as the days went on.
At least the moon wouldn't judge her for her musings, silent and stoic as ever, almost full tonight. Closing her eyes she could almost imagine it smiling, touching down to meet her, reassure her that everything will be alright, that she was safe. A nice thought, if only another fantasy. Enough time wasted contemplating life, she really had to get at least some sleep if she wanted totrain tomorrow.
And if her shadow looked somewhat deformed, mask of an agonized scream only just ending painting its features, who would she be to notice, tired as she was?