» every broken promise

You've thought a lot about that night under the tree, where rain fell down and left light on your body, and a figure just as fickle drew the dark from your heart. From the moment the amorphous, unpredictable God entered your solitude, you have felt.... not kinship, nor even understanding- something closer to pity, perhaps. Pity, rising like smoke from the simplicity of your anger, mixing with deepened curiosity and a need to know more, a want to discover. It's not that you care what Kisamoa does - you care why. Because you don't understand anymore, and that frustrates you. It was easy to hate him when he was just a monster, a murderous mouth full of snapping teeth. It's harder to loathe someone you've shared a conversation with - especially for such a sap like you. So this the next time a crowd gathers, drawn by the presence of Godhood, you, too, find yourself on the bank of a dark river, watching a monster weave through the wake. Half of you wants to approach him; the other half is too anxious, too afraid of what you'll find if you continue to scrutinize your enemy. You compromise by staying on the outskirts of the still small group, trying to keep an eye on him while also avoiding detection (and no doubt failing, because between the moisture on your wing and the lightning on your back you literally glow).  In the crowd you spot familiar faces, nodding and half-smiling at Volterra and Otem and more children who you can only assume belong to the Indomitable, because at this point you assume all children belong to the Indomitable. Except, of course, yours- and where are they, your son and your brother, the ever curious pair? You scan the crowd for their familiar figures, but in your distraction barely register the other ones you know. There is something - a flash of white and black and gold that brings up a memory from long ago, tickles and bites your brain. But before you can pair the shape of Zahra with the feather in your hair you catch another eyeful of Kaos and are drawn back to the events at hand. You've drifted closer. Your efforts to remain on the sidelines have completely failed, and now you find yourself standing very near one of the bonelights, a cream and gold filly with a fiery crown of feathers questioning Kaos at your side. You glance at her, trying to smile, trying to wash the unease that haunts you out of your stomach and off of your face, trying to be the you you usually are, even though it's very hard to be cheerful when you have a feeling something both beautiful and terrible is about to go down. Because part of you can't forget the thing you asked for, the gift you demanded of this crooked God, and the fact that he did not deny you, that, in fact, he promised to do what he can. And while others ask for answers, what and why and how, you find yourself wondering who - who caused this, who is it for, and if you're right, and if he's right, how deeply will you regret what you asked for? How much of the pain it is going to cause will be, undeniably, your fault? Or will it be beautiful, perfect - everything you ever dreamed? Probably not. It's probably going to be a shit show, and that's definitely going to be because of you. Oh, Zero, you selfless boy - until you can take the fall for something. Then suddenly you become self-centered as fuck. "Is this- are you-?" you ask the demon God, a furrow set between your eyes, hope and fear a warring force upon your face. You know he knows what you're getting at, what you're both desperate for and terrified of. Bone lights, a river of crying souls, a promise still not yet fulfilled- Are they all down there, your lost ones? Is he going to raise the dead? Zèklè What if I'm far from home? Oh, brother, I will hear you call

image | coding

Nods to Otem and Volterra, glances at but doesn't register Zahra, and goes to stand by @Kiada, feeling anxious af