And like that, Vargas seemed to leave that question behind. Perhaps it really didn't matter, or perhaps the issue would be raised later when he began explaining: but either way, Eurydome slowly settled herself down onto her haunches to listen.

"I do not want to know the details, thank you," she said. "This is acceptable, Master Vargas."

A breath, and she fell silent. Maybe this time, she would finally understand.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

He grunted, and nodded. "Very well." And immediately, Vargas stopped again, because he had realized that he might truly need to start with the fundamentals.

"Do you know the purpose of these caves-? Do you know why they exist, what purpose we all serve?"

Or--what purpose they'd been meant to. Why they'd been created.

If she didn't know this he'd need to move back one step; there was... a great deal, he was realizing, that he'd need to cover.

@Eurydome

This first question immediately struck Eurydome as... odd.

She took a glance around Draco. She could see why it would matter to someone like Vargas, who was in charge-- but to someone like Eurydome? "No," she said, and the bewilderment was threaded through her dehydrated voice. "I don't think it has ever been... my concern. I was made to entertain and that's what I did."

Until she didn't, of course.

But still, and she mulled on this for a moment-- should it be her concern? Was it not normal to never question why everyone was assigned to different things? This had merely been a way of life to Eurydome, but if Vargas was bringing it up now...

Dread sat in the gladiator's gut. She shuffled and fell silent again to listen.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas grunted. He turned, eyeing the rock to one side of him, and gestured idly toward it, snapping his magicka toward the Black Spire and tugging at its chaos. Maybe it'd give Eurydome a drink. Maybe it'd set him on fire.

Maybe nothing; it didn't matter much.

He coughed, instead, the magicka heating his phlegm into something else; he hacked it to the rock and shook his head. "Ignore that," he instructed.

He looked back to her.

"These caves were a nest of the Creator--do you know of the Creator? He is chaos. This nest--your master, all of the Masters--were always intended, instructed, to create armies for him, here. These armies were then taken to serve him in other places." He paused.

He was keeping it simple, and trying to gauge how simple was too simple, and how complex might overwhelm her.

"Your design would have made for a good soldier, taken from this place to fight His enemies. I suspect you were a copy of one of those, or perhaps a test. The arena battles, the Hydra trials--if you know of them--these were all meant to prove designs suitable for His soldiers. Master Jupiter was one of those creating such soldiers."

He took a breath, thinking.

"Some rebelled, in the end. They did not want to serve the Creator, and his Chaos; or they wanted their own freedom, rather than to serve the Nest for which they'd been created. Or they pitied the failures, all of whom were culled. Killed," he clarified, and then--for honesty's sakes--"My own task was often this culling, hunting down the failures--after Overseeing the trials." Strange to think that he'd been in the thick of it while one of Jupiter's own creations had no idea of the purpose for which the caves had even been intended.

"Some of the Masters rebelled, as well. Or drew back, and damaged the nest by omission." His tone, so far, made no indication of right or wrong. Surprisingly, perhaps, he did not seem to condemn either side: his tone was factual, steady, a slow stream of information intended only to do just that: inform.

But here was the final point he had to touch on:

"I suspect that Jupiter, Tamulus, both injected something other than pure chaos, destruction, into some of their creations." Ahh, his words were careful--so terribly careful--a tentative crystal construct that could far too easily be shattered by the right questions. "It is possible, but I've no confirmation on that; you may find that you do, in fact, have flaws that point you toward such things as sympathy and kindness. Mercy."

"That brings me to the here and now. All of us--every one--drifted into a long sleep, for hundreds of years--thousands, I do not know. When we began reawakening we found that others, new spawn, like those of Tamulus and Jupiter--that they had been cropping up of their own accord. Wild magic, I think, from a changed Spire, if you have seen that." Too much--there was just too much to tell. "They have been living free, drifting without purpose and leadership, for a generation or three, I think. Mostly we let them be: we have been trying, in these past few years, to wrangle the nest back into something resembling its purpose."

But not fast enough.


"Lord Dhracia--the Creator's Hand--came to this place not too long ago. Revisited it, now that we awaken, and she killed some of those who would rebel, who had rebelled. Punished others, for straying from their purpose. All of that rebellion put us all at risk, for the Creator would not tolerate a Nest that has gone rogue. One of those she killed was Jupiter."

No details, then. He left that hanging, for a moment--gave Eurydome time to process it. And at no point had he shown anything resembling emotion. Whatever cards he held were kept folded tightly to quilled chest, and he tilted his head, took a breath, and finished: "Do you understand? Do you have questions?"

@Eurydome

No matter how strange Eurydome found the act of Vargas spitting phlegm that seemed to be steaming with heat, she ignored it as instructed. There was much more for her to digest, now: a few thousand years worth of history spinning through her head that she had to chew through and understand.

The Nest was made for creating an army. Fine. Made sense. Eurydome liked combat-- maybe if it had all worked out, she would have been a good soldier for the Creator. Hell, if the arena was for proving the worth of creations, Eurydome must have been great.

But it was that word again: freedom. She did not understand it. "Why did they not want to serve the Creator, if they were made for it?" She asked-- because even now, years later, it still hadn't occurred to Eurydome that there was any other alternative to the hand that fate had given her, even when Jupiter told her straight-- even when Vargas was explaining what Jupiter had fought for. "What is... so desirable about freedom that some Masters want to abandon the purpose they were created for?"

And the news that Eurydome might have been created wrong was... concerning. Sympathy, mercy-- do I feel those? What did they feel like at all?

The pit in her belly when she thought of Lord Dhracia shattering Jupiter's stone between her hands-- was that sympathy? Protecting other rebels at the order of Jupiter, rearing young creations into fighters and grinning encouragingly at their progress, was this kindness? The longing urge to sit with Vakornol outside the arena as friends, what was that supposed to be?

Her gaze dropped, and then lifted back to Vargas. "If I have these things in me, am I a failure?" She asked, and although there was no fear in her tone at the thought, there was that sense of dread cloaking her shoulders again. "If I am a failure, are you to kill me at the end of this conversation?"

If that were to be her fate, she would face it with dignity.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

To the first: "I do not know." He had never been a rebel. Never understood the desire, even--not then. And though his opinions had changed, his viewpoints had been widened, he still could not say why those masters had rebelled. "I can only guess at their motivations. It may be that they did not approve of Chaos! They may have served Order or wished true freedom, the freedom to build a world of their own design. But the Creator's power is too great for that." There was so much left unsaid, so much that he couldn't say. "There are some who chafe against authority and wish power of their own. Perhaps it was that, for some."

And as to the rest-?

Vargas did not often feel... anything, not strongly. But Eurydome's final questions--she may as well have impaled him through the gut with her crystal sword, and wrenched. He took a breath, a little sharp. And if he could have grimaced-...

He steeled himself, instead, and was grateful yet again that his face had been made a rigid mask.

"No. I have made use of plenty of those who have awakened during our sleep. Some may be softer than I was used to--more insistent on bonding, on mercy--but there are still plenty of capable soldiers among them. You are not a failure, nor would I kill you unless you were a threat to the Forge-..." Ah. Had Dragon explained the Forge?

"I was elevated to Master to get this nest back into shape. I work here, with Totum, and we create for Lord Dhracia. Our output is still low. There is another Valkhand in Cepheus who oversees, from time to time, but for the most part I work with those I have gathered, trained or created. I call them the Chaos Forge, for what we do; you will find them around Draco, here."

He studied Eurydome. "I am glad to answer more questions. Or simply to speak, for now. But if you do wish new purpose I can find it for you, either within the Forge or without."

He made no mention of loyalty.

@Eurydome

True freedom, to build a world of their own design. Eurydome could see how this would be appealing to some-- but it seemed... arrogant, almost. It did not seem like the intentions of Jupiter in the slightest. There had to be something more, something that Eurydome was somehow missing even after all this time. If only she could just tell her. If only she weren't rotting somewhere.

She did not understand entirely, but she understood enough.

Vargas continued, and Eurydome was silent. His words gradually became fuzzier and fuzzier until they were little more than white noise against the sensation of her head spinning. It was a lot to take in-- too much, perhaps, for her head to handle. Even though the Master had said she was safe and wouldn't be killed, a distant part of her was longing for it.

The relief of jaws snapping her bones until there was nothing left. It seemed... tempting, almost.

One ear flicked back and forth and she brute forced herself out of that haze until she felt the feeling in her fingers returning. She shuffled again on the spot, claws clicking on the cave floor, and then fell still again. "I would... like a purpose," she admitted softly. "I don't like sitting idle."

It didn't matter where. It didn't matter what. Something grounding, something to take her mind off everything, something to stop her wallowing in the feeling that she was going to cry, or pass out, or vomit, or all three.

"I miss... knowing what to do. I miss feeling confident," she said, slowly scritching her neck. "Whatever I can do to help you and the Forge, I would welcome it."

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas nodded, just a little.

Enough of history and theoreticals, then. On to practical concerns. "Did you have training, outside of combat training--or do you know only how to fight?" Even as he asked, it occurred to him that Eurydome's prior betrayal of the nest might earn her a death sentence from the other Masters. He pondered this, suddenly unnerved.

What could he do--if anything?--to place her fully under his protection? Inducting her into the Forge would be a start but even if she wanted that, even if he did it, it might not protect her from the likes of Aethril or Farina. He'd need to be very, very careful how he went about this.

"Is there anything in particular you want to do? Things that you enjoy?"

And then--honesty, bringing back his thoughts from moments ago. "I will not lie, if there are those who recognize you as a traitor from those days, you may be in danger. I will vouch for you as I can, but even if you join the Forge, it may be wise to avoid some of the Masters and certainly the Hands."

@Eurydome

Training, outside of combat? Eurydome blinked very slowly, carefully. "I kept... watch. Guarded," she offered. "Over others, or their chrysalises as they grew."

Was this... something that she enjoyed? This question was more troubling than the information that other Masters and Hands might kill her on sight-- she had come to expect that, at least, but hobbies?

Scritch, scritch, scritch, claws over the fur on her throat, and her mouth pulled downwards into a frown. "I like to hunt," she offered-- but she didn't think this would really count. What she wanted to do was go back to the arenas, but that likely wouldn't help anyone at all.

Her nose wrinkled. Perhaps it was best to just be honest. "I do not think I was made for much outside of combat," she said. "I can... help train others, or keep watch over something, but I will do whatever you assign to me. The only thing I truly want is orders."

To do something mindlessly, without fretting over thoughts of walking into the Palace and getting obliterated by the local Hand. That would be nice. "If you think joining the Forge would be best for me, then I will, if you will have me."

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas thought all of this over, slowly.

"The decision as to whether to join will be up to you. We have our own rules, our own ranks. If you joined us you would be responsible for whatever tasks I assign you, and would need to follow any commands given by those of higher rank--though this is not usually problematic. Rights are earned, though I am not too strict with those who were not hatched among the Forge. But joining us might afford you some protection against the other Masters: if one of them recognized you, but you told them you are now under my command, it may buy you safety." He considered.

"If you were to join I would imagine the best way to begin would be to ask you to meet those already counted among our number, and perhaps to train with them. I could always use another to guard chrysalises that are growing, to train the young and to assess them. Desert Rose Thirty-Five is in charge of young but right now we have only two. I have one active Overseer--Overseer Cain--who looks after the training and command of scouts, spies and assassins. Not that we have need of the latter, generally speaking."

It was always good to be prepared, though.

"But the Desert Rose is not a large creature, and sparring with someone of your experience would do many of them good, I think. Have you met the Sentinel?" he asked.

He was wondering, too, if perhaps Eurydome might be useful with his Alpha situation. Any simple, normalized interaction would probably be good for it, but he'd have to be careful how he proceeded, there.

@Eurydome