@csial: ❝ do you want me dead? is that it? the truth now. ❞ [ hi morax ]
The truth now.
He sits, blanketed in the gloom of night, his gaze fixed upon the twinkling city far below him. Subtle sounds drift upwards, a distant hum of life. This mountain peak is a favoured spot of his - a place where he can stand and observe Liyue Harbour from above, like a watchful guardian. That is what he is, what he will always be.
Amber eyes shift, settle upon the presence that lingers at his side. There is a tightness in the air that surrounds him, a palpable tension hanging between them. He knows there must surely be a raging maelstrom of emotion warring inside his mind, inside his chest. His features may betray nothing - for the moment - but Zhongli knows him.
Words uttered so directly speak volumes. This is a question that has played on Osial's mind since their reunion, no doubt.
He has brought him here for a reason. Here, they can be who they are. Here, he is not Zhongli, Wangsheng Funeral Parlour consultant. Here, he is Morax. He can shed the mortal guise, shrug off the identity he has adopted, and slip back into the one Osial needs him to be in this moment.
"My friend, I have never wanted you dead."
It is the truth Osial has asked for, and so it is the truth that he will deliver. Whether or not it is a truth that his old friend will accept, well... that is for Osial to decide. All he can do is speak from the heart and trust that they have not become so estranged that he can no longer recognise his honesty.
"I have many regrets across this long life of mine," he continues, his gaze remaining fixed now upon the guise of his old friend, "and none as fierce as those which concern the ones I have lost." How many gods lie beneath the waves, pinned beneath the rocks hurled from his own hands? How many friends were torn from his side? He mourns them all.
There is a flicker of rage from within, which tightens the words that next fall from his lips. "We were pitted against each other by design. There can only be one - by whose law, I ask? Why should this borrowed - no, stolen - power belong only to one? And what reward awaits the victor? A throne, upon which he can survey the carnage he has wrought to earn it."
He rises to his feet, looks out over the harbour below him. "The things I have done were... necessary. But that does not mean I enjoyed doing them. The day you fell beneath those waves... that has haunted me ever since."
And with that, he turns and faces Osial directly. "I have lost too much, old friend. Why would I seek to repeat the mistakes of my past?" A hand is extended between them - an invitation. "I did not bring you here to deliver your sentence, Osial. I brought you here in the hope that you and I can start anew." And there, in the night, is a smile.
"I have missed you, Osial."











