#riam

"Maybe that's for the best," Riam said. Devi turned her head slightly towards him. He continued. "It means you're still you. Don't you think it takes a special kind of fucked up and twisted soul to truly take enjoyment in others' sufferings?"

Devi paused for a bit then shrugged as she turned to leave. "Maybe you're right."

As the door closed behind her, it was quiet for a bit. Then Riam sighed and got up. He didn't say it, but his heart was bleeding too. Not only seeing his love hurt and be unable to help in any meaningful way was killing him, but knowing that he himself was the source of her pain... And no matter how many times she says that it wasn't his fault and he couldn't do anything, she said it right - it will never go away. But he couldn't say anything. It would be insensitive and would only hurt her more. Her pain was worse. She was what mattered. Him? He can take it. He is a man. The Man. As he opened the door to follow her, he understood that she would be most unhappy with the way his thoughts flew. But thankfully she was busy enough to read them, thus he could safely continue ignoring the voice of reason in his head.

She was standing by the window. Riam couldn't quite see her face clearly, but he did see the way her tears glistened under the starlight. He came up to her quietly.

"I'm okay," she said, trying to suppress the quivering in her voice.

"Liar." Riam put his arm over her shoulder.

A tear rolled down Devi's chin and splattered over her chest. "Damn right I am." She sniffed and held herself in her arms. "They just won't stop," she said. "No matter what, they keep streaming down, but..."

"But..?" Riam pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her.

"I don't feel... You know how when you cry, your eyes are burning, and you don't feel relieved at all, you just feel empty, and you end up feeling even worse... You know? Well, I don't feel that. I feel... good? Even though I can't stop crying, I feel... So light, actually." She looked up at him. "Maybe it's 'cause you're with me." She smiled, making more tears stream down her face.

Riam hugged her tightly and put his chin on top of her head. They stood quietly like that, gazing at distant stars. Riam tried to remember the last time he let himself cry.

Right, when was the last time he even cried..?

Looking into his childhood, the earliest memory Riam had was of his mother. He definitely cried a lot in her arms. He remembered how she'd always pat his head ever so gently saying that he must be strong.

When she died, he didn't cry. He remembered that clearly. All he felt was burning rage. And helplessness. And that rage burnt him all out, leaving nothing but complete emptiness in its way. He was way too young for this.

He didn't cry for a very long while after that. He matured way too early for a child, so when he met the man who would declare him his son, he was only too happy to let go of his presumed "strength" and get back the childhood that was taken away from him.

Until he got senpai killed. He cried for days back then. Of course he did - he was still 8. But he had to mature a lot after that again - the crew needed him to. Father needed him. And so he did, once again.

Then, when he was only 13, he had to watch his father getting executed. He cried. Yes, he cried, just barely able to stop himself from screaming. He just kept losing people dear to him.

Then... life went on. Riam thought, as hard as he could, but he could no longer pinpoint a single time he would cry. Not when his heart would break in pieces, not when it was ready to burst from happiness. Not stressing for his brother's life, not happy for his friend's dream coming true. Not watching the love of his life's heart being torn to shreds, not being finally able to touch her lips. Nothing could make him cry. For so long...

He looked up at the starry sky. After the crunches behind him, Devi's voice was gradually getting closer. "Okay, okay, I'm done now, did I make you wait long? Sorry, sorry, couldn't decide on the dress. Speaking of, does this blue suit me? I think it gives a weird tint in this lighting. I-"

"Devi."

"-think- huh?" Though Riam's voice sounded rather quiet compared to Devi's loud happy one, she immediately dropped the train of her babbling as she heard her name. She lightly got close to Riam, looking into his eyes. "What's up?"

"I think I forgot how to cry."

"Yeah, sure! I- whuh?!" She took a bit to actually process his words, but when she did, her eyes opened wide, looking at him from below. "Wait, what did you just say?" Her voice suddenly got softer, almost a whisper.

Riam kept looking up. "I can't remember crying since father died. I think... I can no longer cry if I tried."

Devi's expression changed. She looked concerned now. "That's... That's not good... All emotions are important! If you can't cry..." She stopped herself from continuing. She leaned closer to him. "Sweetheart..."

He finally looked down on her. "Yeah. I might be... actually doing worse than I thought."

"We need to talk," Devi said, her voice almost inaudible behind the sound of waves crashing against the shore.

Riam sighed. "I guess... Can I pick a spot for the date, then?" Devi nodded. Riam huffed with a smile. "Your dress looks beautiful on you under this lighting by the way."

Scope for Fantasy Devi x Riam Part 1 (you're here) -> Part 2 SCOPE FOR FANTASY MASTERPOST - coming soon...

CW: angst, hurt/comfort (sorta) WC: <1k

To be completely honest, Devi managed to forget.

She forgot how she burned on him. Forgot how scorching hot his touch was- no, not just touch, even looking at his shine used to burn her whole being. She also forgot being blind to him using it against her, to hurt her. And how he stopped hiding he wanted to hurt her.

It always made sense to her. He was Light, she was Darkness, of course it burned. They were never supposed to be together like that, so of course it hurt. Over her long-lived life she came to terms with that, so she never even questioned it when the burning-hot flames became the soft warmth again. Because she never actually knew this warmth - for her it always was scalding, painful. And she'd learned to avoid it, like it was just a natural part of their life.

Riam was the same. He never questioned it - of course he saw how it hurt her when he wasn't the one touching her, and he never wanted to be the one to hurt her, not after everything the one who wore his skin had put her through. So he made sure his light wouldn't touch her, wouldn't even reach her eyes.

So when they had no choice, when he had to step in to protect her... She didn't know why she flinched, why did she yank her hand back like it burned. Because... it didn't. She did have to squint but only because he was so bright, not because it hurt. And then she remembered. The pain, the fear. And that she was able to forget about it all, thanks to Riam's care. But it didn't hurt, not when it was Riam. The touch that she remembered was scalding, was warm and gentle now. Like if she was allowed to bathe in his shine too.

And it made all the old wounds reopen and bleed harder than ever. Because what do you mean it only hurt because he wanted to hurt her? Even when he looked so stunned and kept apologizing over and over and over again? No, it made sense. She had to remind herself that everything was fake. Of course he'd hurt her on purpose and pretend to care. Or he'd do it on accident but would be ecstatic to learn about that and see her suffer.

Of course Riam wouldn't. She knew it but somehow they both assumed that it was just the way it was - Light was deadly for Darkness. But reality was quite different. Despite what they were led to believe for the entirety of their lives, Light and Darkness weren't incompatible. There's only shade where there's light, and light's only bright when there's a shadow to contrast it.

And only when they come together in a perfect harmony... would Ada be born.

Next -> Part 2 SCOPE FOR FANTASY MASTERPOST - coming soon...

If you want to know more about my characters, feel free to send me an ask about them! I'd love to talk more about them!

Scope for Fantasy Riam SCOPE FOR FANTASY MASTERPOST - coming soon...

CW: angst WC: 3.3k

Riam grew up in a small village. He never knew his parents - his mother told him she found him in the small ruined house in the forest. She was the only person he ever knew.

Despite being an albino, he was growing up much faster than any other kid. Being barely a few months old, he already started to talk, and very soon started walking. By 9 months of age he could already read pretty decently, and being a year old he was already helping his mother with chores and work.

She was a tailor, and by 3 years old Riam was already as versed in that craft as a pretty good apprentice.

Their life was a rather nice one, but as soon as Riam went out groceries shopping, the reality reminded him what kinda world he lived in.

His mother was a very kind and gentle person, and everyone loved her. Despite that, she could never find love in that place. It was all because the country they lived in was very conservative, and once a potential partner would find out that she was infertile, they immediately started looking at her differently. Not necessarily with disgust - with pity - but their interest was always gone that same second. So Riam was a true blessing for her. Or so she thought.

Being born an albino, Riam could do nothing about it, but the village people were convinced that he was a cursed child. Too often it was that he overheard someone suggesting to his mother to get rid of him or "he would get her killed," and he always noticed those hateful glances. And when his mother wasn't around, people didn't hide their hatred.

Often, the store owner refused selling anything to Riam; other children were prohibited to even come close to him, yet alone play together; very quickly he figured out he wasn't even regarded as a human, yet alone a child.

But it all only got worse when one day he came home to find out his mother... murdered.

He was 3 years old.

A month prior, a beautiful woman came into the tailor shop. She was a neighbor country's princess. She heard about an exceptionally talented tailor, and wanted a dress for her wedding made by her. But after accepting the order, Riam's mother proposed he'd try his skills out. Incredibly happy, Riam worked sleepless to make the best wedding dress, and when it was done, the girl absolutely loved it. Of course she never found out who exactly made it, but Riam was just happy to have it that way.

Turned out, someone else didn't like that dress.

The country Riam lived in with his mother was ruled over by a young girl. She was just a puppet in the hands of her advisors, but they still made her every wish come true, no matter how selfish or cruel those were.

She was in love with a particular person. Well, as much as someone like her could love someone aside from herself. But he chose a neighboring princess to marry. The princess was too young anyways, but oh she didn't like if something didn't go her way. She ordered to destroy everything that had any connection to that wedding. Many people died in that fire, both countries of the parties participating in the wedding were destroyed, and they even got to the one who made a wedding dress for the bride.

All that which seemingly had nothing to do with Riam... took everything from him. "It was supposed to be me," he kept thinking, "I'm the one who made the dress. I should've been killed, not her..." But on top of all the pain Riam felt, he was left without his mother protection from everyone who hated him. They cared not for his pain, and didn't give him any time to grief. He was chased off the village.

Lost everything he had, Riam didn't know what to do. Everyone hated him and he didn't even understand what for, he had no friends, and the only person who loved him - his mother - died. Being a child, he had no concept of suicide, but he certainly was the closest to that state. His life lost all meaning, and he had no incentive to move forward, simply drifting through the days, only the pain in his chest serving as a reminder he was still alive.

In this state exactly, he saw her for the first time. In the dark of the night, under the bright moon, in the world that lost all color for him, she was standing there, like a mirage. And when Riam saw her, she slowly faded into the night.

For the first time since his mother died, Riam felt something. Curiosity. He had no answer to what he just saw. Was it a ghost? A mirage? Someone real? He didn't know, and he wanted to know.

She appeared again next night, and the night after that, each time appearing closer and closer, until she was right in front of Riam. She was almost see-through, but her eyes were gentle. But when Riam tried to touch her, his hand went through her. She smiled, and disappeared again. But next night... She didn't appear. Riam waited several days, but the mirage didn't appear again. Then he decided he would find her, no matter what.

He went on his first adventure. Soon, he would find himself in the mountains. He didn't find the ghost girl there, but he did find another girl. She wasn't afraid of him, and immediately decided they're friends. That was a first for Riam, so it took a bit of time for him to get used to having a friend. But they quickly became besties. They lived in the mountains for a while, doing whatever they wanted. Until the girl said that she should probably return home. So she left. Riam spent a bit more time in the mountains, but seeing as she was not coming back, he returned to his village. He's been gone for a year, maybe something changed?

The answer was no. Nothing changed. All he heard from others was dreading seeing him and confessing they'd been hoping he died.

But this time Riam was not giving in to the despair. If no one was going to be nice to him... Why should he be nice to them?

He found out he could just go into the store and take bread to eat, and no one will bother stopping him. He still paid, left coins on the counter, but he would always found those in the trash later. So it kept like this. He would buy food, the owner would throw away his money, Riam would then get that money back and use them next time to buy food again. He was paying, right? All is fair then.

He used people avoiding him to his advantage. He stopped trying to be nice and not causing others trouble, now whatever problems they had with him, was their problems only.

He found where his mother got buried. They didn't even bury her on the cemetery, just on top of some hill. That was fine with Riam though. He would come often to keep the grave neat and also talk to his mom when he was feeling lonely.

That continued until someone decided to approach him. It was a child, just a bit older than Riam. He was sick that his mother was nagging him about not ever getting close to Riam. He never understood why they couldn't be friends. He saw how lonely Riam was and decided to disobey his mother and came up to Riam. His cheerful attitude rubbed on Riam, and they became best friends instantly.

His mother wasn't happy about it. She constantly grounded her son, and Riam had to wait for his punishment to be over before he eventually would be let go and immediately broke all promises he made to be let out and hung out with Riam. His mother was furious. But there wasn't much she could do about that.

In one of such times when his friend was grounded, Riam sat by the forest, looking into the sea. He wanted to set sail one day. Recently, he saw a group of pirates in the next town. Their captain seemed like a very nice guy, but he couldn't take Riam on since he didn't even know how to hold a sword. So Riam decided to start training to one day leave this horrible island he was stuck on. But he didn't really know where to start, so he was just passing time waiting for his friend to be released.

He heard a weird sound coming from the forest. A few moments later he saw a tiny creature. It was bleeding, stumbling about. Without thinking, Riam carefully caught it and tried to stop the bleeding and apply tiny bandages. After a bit, the blood stopped, and it fell asleep.

When it woke up in the morning, its wounds were all healed. The little squirrel fox thanked Riam... and that's how he found out he could talk to animals.

But Rudy was not just your local animal, in fact, he was the Spirit of Time. And he said that he wanted to stay with Riam. At the time, Riam didn't understand what Rudy meant by "the one I'm looking for has her aura wrapped around you" but from what he did understand, he was fated to meet with the one Rudy was looking for, so it would be faster for him to stay with Riam than search on his own, especially since he already got hurt in the process once.

He had a dream then. Or so he thought at least. In that dream, another wounded creature came out of the forest and stumbled upon Riam. This time it wasn't a cute fluffy fox squirrel thingie - it was a woman. She was an albino just like Riam and seemingly recognized him. "...Riam..? Thank god, it's you. Please... Help me. I'm barely alive, I need your help." She lowered in front of him. "Can I rest with you for a while?" Not exactly sure what's going on, Riam said yes. "Thank you..." she said and then turned into a bright substance and went right into Riam's chest. He didn't understand a thing out of what just happened, but it didn't cause him discomfort, so he didn't mind. The experience was so bizarre that he was convinced it had to be a dream. He wouldn't find out until years later that it wasn't, in fact, a dream.

When his friend returned, he didn't tell him about the dream, but did tell him about Rudy, who was hanging around him from then on. Now there were 3 of them.

Playing around, boys made their way into the forest. It was the same forest where Riam was once found by his mother. He was curious to find that house she mentioned. They didn't find it, however they did find a pack of hungry wolves. But just as they were about to attack, they suddenly stopped and ran away, whining. Next thing the boys knew, they saw a man in front of them.

Apparently, it was Riam who scared the wolves, and the old man was so impressed he decided to teach Riam and his friend how to fight.

Next few years they spent deep in the forest, training alongside the old man. He said he was once a pirate, but some other very strong pirate defeated him and all his crew, so he had no choice but to retire on this island.

He was impressed by Riam's progress. Started from about the same point, Riam quickly surpassed his friend, and barely a few years in was moving towards surpassing his master. That being said, his friend was progressing really fast too, because he was fueled by the desire to catch up to Riam, so they both progressed incredibly quick.

On one of the nights there, Riam would meet the ghost girl again. He couldn't sleep so he just sat looking out into the sea. She appeared next to him, smiling. He thanked her for helping him move forward and meet friends, and went on how happy he was now. She never responded, but looked glad and understanding. Before leaving, she took out a bracelet and put it up Riam's arm. When she pulled away, unlike her, the bracelet became real.

Riam would go on to always wear it, and treasured it just as much as the hat that his friend got for him - the very first present he got from a friend.

Their master owned two swords. Their blades were black, unlike those of regular swords. They were Darkblades, weapons with their own consciousness and will. And although he warned the boys to not touch them, Riam still wanted to hold one in his hands. So when the other two were gone for water, Riam took one of the swords off the wall. Only much later will he find out he could easily die there - Darkblades were very much fans of cutting in half those they didn't like. Luckily, after testing Riam's abilities, the two swords accepted him as their new owner.

Soon, the old man confessed he had nothing else to teach Riam. His swords would be better at teaching him new techniques, and only real battle could progress him further. So all was left for Riam is to wait for his friend to finish his training and then the two of them planned to hop on the next pirate ship that docks on their island. So while the other stayed in the forest, Riam returned to the village.

And was immediately arrested.

After they ran away to the forest, his friends' mom turned to the princess, who by then was almost ready to take the crown. And taking into account the many complaints towards Riam from the villagers, he was to be publicly executed.

Riam could run away at any moment, but all he wanted was to look in the eyes of the person who killed his mother. And so he did, after which easily avoided being executed and ran away. But what he said there, revealing the truth behind that fiery wedding's tragedy, started a revolution. It ended with the princess's execution. But Riam knew she managed to run away. His heart was craving revenge. He knew his mother wouldn't be happy to see him this way. But he couldn't stop until the one who did this to her was dead.

He chased her to another country, and there, finally put a bullet through her head. He was 7 years old, when he got the blood on his hands for the first time in his life.

When he returned to the village, it was in shambles. Several parties were fighting for the throne, no one had time to care about him. Riam sneaked into the castle and stole a few rare books from there. He just needed to wait for a pirate ship.

Eventually, it happened. A ship docked in the next town, and the two boys practically assaulted the captain to take them along. Luckily for them, he was a very chill guy and gladly took the boys on board. As the ship sailed away, they could hear the mother being furious. The boys just laughed, finally feeling the freedom.

At first, they were simply the chore boys. But Riam quickly showed his extraordinary talent, when he asked the navigator to teach him navigation. In just a few months he showed the results that no other crew member could achieve. And soon he could fully put his new knowledge to use. Unfortunately.

During one of the raids, Riam got distracted, and almost got himself killed. The navigator protected him... with his own body.

That broke Riam. He closed in, not talking to anyone, even his friend - who by then was more like a brother to him - except the ghost girl, who was by his side the entire time he was going through it. Riam blamed himself, and even wondered if the people at the village were right and he really was cursed and everyone who got close to him were destined to die.

Eventually he agreed to talk to the captain, who helped him calm down, and explained that it wasn't his fault at all - the guy suffered from a terminal illness and been planning to go for a while. If anything, Riam allowed him do it in a way he wanted. Riam felt a bit better, but he still hurt. But as kind as the captain was, he could not allow Riam grieve for much longer - they lost their navigator in the middle of the sea, and Riam was the only one who could be allowed to take that role. So Riam had to suck it up and be strong.

Became the crew's navigator, Riam never once failed his comrades and the captain. Very soon, Riam made a name for himself - for his navigation skills in the crew, and for his fighting skills in the rest of the world. And soon, after the captain learned about Riam's past, he adopted him.

And soon after, Riam learned that his father was afflicted with the same illness as the past navigator.

By then he was convinced that everybody close to him were dropping like flies. But his father only laughed at that.

He kept sailing for 3 more years, until the signs of the illness started to show. He didn't want his crew to know and worry, so he decided to disband the crew, and asked Riam to do it for him. That was incredibly difficult for everyone - but especially so for Riam. No one - even Riam - knew where the captain went afterwards, he only found out at his execution.

After the disbandment of his father's crew, Riam eventually ended up on another ship, his captain being that same pirate that once told him he couldn't be a pirate. But this time, he was glad to welcome Riam on his ship.

He would travel with him for a very long time. The ghost girl would sometimes appear, in the night, when no one else was around. She never talked, just smiled quietly and listened to whatever Riam wanted to say. She's been with him through his toughest times, and with time, as he grew up and she grew up alongside him, he found himself falling in love with her. He knew nothing about her, didn't know her name, never heard her voice, but still, he decided to confess his feelings once.

That took her aback. For the first time she look shocked, then flustered, then she blushed and hid her face in her hands... and disappeared. Forever.

To say that Riam was confused is to say nothing at all. But what happened?

Living in the Real World, Devi's fantasies affected the whole universe. She created Riam in her fantasies - and fell in love with that fantasy. But for her he was just her fantasy, and that confession was simply something she came up with in her head. And it seemed so silly for her - she needed to remember he wasn't real and they could never actually be together. She didn't know he actually existed, and that her powers sipped through the anomaly, making the image of her appear next to him every time she was thinking about him. She couldn't know that. So she just decided to become more grounded in reality.

The truth was that she couldn't. And eventually, when she was especially lonely, she teleported him to herself. For her it's been a couple of years, but for Riam - a couple of thousands years.

He suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth for thousands of years, and no one could find him. But what no one including Devi knew - that was long not the same Riam they used to know.

SCOPE FOR FANTASY MASTERPOST - coming soon...

If you want to know more about my characters, feel free to send me an ask about them! I'd love to talk more about them!

When that Universe was born, it was all alone. There was only the Universe and an endless emptiness. The Universe was quite small and was yet to grow big like other universes. The first thing it wished for was to not be so lonely. That was the one and only wish that was granted to the newborn Universe by the Tianlong before they drifted away. Everything else was in the Universe's hands.

It called her Aredes, "little princess". She was the embodiment of perfection. Beautiful, adorable, pure. She became the first friend for the Universe - that is, if it ever understood what that word meant.

No one knows how much time passed. Maybe minutes, maybe millions of years. As well as no one knows what happened exactly. Did something go wrong or it was done intentionally? And if the latter, was it out of curiousity or boredom? No one knows for sure. Only the fact remains - the perfect balance within Aredes shifted, and she fell apart into two beings - the Aspect of Light, Andariel, and the Aspect of Darkness, Anorava. And it would be their rivalry that would shape the Universe into what it was going to become.

One day, a speck of dust fell into the Universe's hands. It wasn't just any speck of dust, it didn't come from within the Universe nor was it any normal cosmic dust. That speck of dust once belonged to a Goddess from another universe, and the Universe immediately realized the power that speck of dust held. It got curious about it, and decided to shape it into a human form. It called her Devi, "the protector of the lands". And it was planning to make her into what that name entailed - its guardian.

In its pursuit to make Devi as strong as possible, the Universe created endless amount of alternative timelines, all drastically different, to watch which one would nurture its creation the best, then picked a few that showed better results and altered them in a way that produced the best result. In the end, there were two it liked the most, and it erased the rest. However, in its contemplation of which one it should pick, the Universe got distracted and forgot it needed to pick one. And so...

Devi was born with the blood of both a human and a dragon. Half-dragon, half-human, she was the second Dragonborn. She lived in the age when there was a war between humans and dragons, one that humans were losing by a long shot, and it was her father who was supposed to bring hope to humanity, the first Dragonborn. But before his daughter was even born, he vanished.

Devi was born up in the skies, among the race of people who bore white wings on their back, like angels. Their bodies were way sturdier than those of humans, and they lived on an island that drifted on a cloud, and so they deemed themselves the clothest mortals to the Heavens, thinking they're above everyone else. But amongst them, Devi was a white crow. For one reason and one reason only: her wings were black.

Devi wandered the lands, seeking her father. She wanted the war between humans and dragons to be over, but she couldn't defeat them all on her own. So she roamed every corner of the world, but found nothing. In the end, returned back home, she found a book that had the answer inside all along.

Devi's grandmother was the one who noticed her wings starting to grow and was mortified. She forced the girl to hide them until it was no longer possible. And once others found out she was different, their attitude towards her changed overnight. She was hated. She was bullied. And her biggest bully was her very own older brother. Until one day he ripped one of her wings off and threw her off the cloud they lived on.

The book belonged to the Demon of Knowledge, and once Devi read it, she fell right into his trap, like her father did once too. In that demon's realm, she found her father, but she could no longer take him back with her. In fact, neither of them returned, not in the same era at least. Devi's father was angry with her for seeking him out, but not because he didn't want to see her, but because he knew that there was no way for him out of the demon's grasp. And her coming to save him only doomed her.

The fall was long, that was what Devi remembered very well when she woke up. It hurt when she hit the waves beneath, and that should've killed her. Alas, her body drifted to the shore, and she was saved by a kindhearted family who took her in and tended to her wounded wing, although they were seeing someone like her for the first time. But Devi's heart bled way stronger than her wing, the betrayal, the hopelessness, everything was just too much, she couldn't even appreciate the kindness that those humans showed her, something she never got from her kin. She saw no path forward. And so she went to the local church, and prayed to the Goddess whose statue stood there tall. And the Goddess answered.

The demon killed her. Not because it wanted to punish her or her father, not because she was a string to manipulate her father further, no, none of that. He killed her just because she came there and he could. Or, well, could he? Because he kept stabbing his tentacles through her chest, she kept bleeding, gagging on her own blood, screaming and crying in pain, but she didn't die. No matter how many times her heart stopped beating, it would always start beating again. Until a voice that was just too familiar to the demon asked him to stop.

Anorava poured the darkness into Devi's body, but overdid it, cracking her shell a little, damaging her eye and creating a fracture that led straight to her soul. But in turn that power healed her wounds (was she wounded?), restored her wing (did she have wings?) and granted her a great power for the low price of all of her memories. And so, when Devi opened her eyes (or one eye, to be precise), she called the Aspect of Darkness her mother. And the Aspect of Darkness granted her the name - Devianora.

In Devi's eyes, her mother was kind and caring. She told Devi that there was a monster that was laying dormant within the confines of the earth but woke up just recently. She told Devi that it was incredibly strong and even if all the Gods came together, they wouldn't be able to defeat it. She told Devi that the only way to save everyone was to seal that monster within herself. And that was what Devi did, not doubting Anorava's words even for a second. Why would she? She was her mother after all.

What she didn't tell Devi, however, was that she was the one to plant that monster there. That at the center of that world, Andariel was hiding, and she planted a tiny seed of darkness right next to him, so small that he never noticed, and it fed off his power, weakening him while simultaneously growing stronger until it was too big to hide underneath the crust. Devi sealed that monster inside her soul, believing she did the good thing, while not knowing that she was in fact just a puppet that Anorava was going to use to get close to Andariel, to extinguish his Light once and for all. She also didn't know that she wasn't the first attempt Anorava made to achieve that.

Anoam was Anorava's son. Unlike Devi, he was a creation of darkness, and was sent to Afiar when it was still the only world withing the Universe, not even inhabited yet. Andariel was already pretty weak, it took him everything just to keep Anorava away, so he couldn't defend against a threat that got so close. Thus Darinir was born. And he managed to ruin all of Anorava's plans because Anoam... took Darinir's side.

Heard about the battle between the Darkness and the Light, about how despite overpowering Andariel and forcing him to hide away, that wasn't enough and Anorava wanted him gone, Anoam thought that maybe he was on the wrong side. So he joined forces with Darinir in building up the Universe and keeping the balance.

And no one knew that the reason Anorava so desperately tried to kill her brother, was because he almost burned her to crisp from the beginning. No one knew, except her. But at that point, who would even believe her?

The truth was, neither of the Aspects were good or bad. Each of them had their own agenda - that agenda being to destroy the other - and they were going to use anything at their disposal to get there. That rivalry in itself maintained the balance, as effectively as Aredes once did, only in a more... harmful way. Harmful to anyone unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. And Devi ended up in the midst of it all.

But she tried her best. She rejected the notion that the monster was her mother's doing and dug into the root of the problem herself. And she came to the conclusion - not exactly a wrong one - that the reason they - the monster - awakened was because of the misbalance of the elements caused by humanity. And so she created - yes, created, something darkness wasn't capable of but Devi's nature allowed her to shape darkness in such a way that it became capable of creation - the Spirits of the Elements. At first, there were four - Erinir, the Spirit of Fire - took a form of a demon horse; Vinir, the Spirit of Earth - took a form of a driada; Amenir, the Spirit of Air - took a form of a phoenix with the feathers made of wind; and Urinir, the Spirit of Water - took a form of a sea monster. They were the first to call Devi their mother, and fulfilled her every request. And more, as soon together they created an entire castle for her to reside in, floating in the skies. As Devi learned more about the world - the one she'd call her home, Afiar - she created two more Spirits - the Spirit of Time, Nirudy (hereinafter referred to as Rudy) - taken form of a fox squirrel - and the Spirit of Life, Nirada - taken form of a lamia.

The last Spirit that she created was Nirali. She was less of a Spirit and more a friend that Devi so desperately needed. At that point she was acquainted with many but none that she could truly call her friend. She loved her mother, but she was more a benefactor to her, not a friend. There were Anoam and Darinir, but both were distant, wary, because she refused to sever her connection with Anorava. There were the Riots, her very own servants, already growing in numbers, devoted to her with all their lives yes, but that was exactly why none of them could be a friend to her, even Emy who was the closest to her and who Devi really cherished. And then there were the Spirits, her beloved children. And while Nirali was her child too, Devi took a completely different approach with her compared to the rest of the Spirits. Instead of giving her a certain path to reside over, Devi let Nirali choose something that she found enjoyable herself. For that purpose, they traveled together for a while, until Nirali figured out what was close to her heart. She was the first child that Devi raised herself, and for that reason Nirali was closer to her heart than anyone ever before, so much in fact that eventually they decided to merge their souls, so that Nirali could always be by her mother's side, so she would never be lonely again. As for the domain that Nirali chose to reside over... It was "Talent". Encompassing everything related to arts - art, music, dancing, acting - but also everything relating to knowledge and learning. And she could give a part of her powers to someone else - like Devi, for example, making her extremely good at dancing and singing - something she loved to no end but wasn't particularly good at - or making a newborn child a genius with just one touch - something she would find out she can do only after she'd do it to Eva.

The Real World. It was an anomaly created as the result of the monster that Devi had sealed within her awakening all that time ago. When they burst through Afiar's crust, they tore a part of it away, and it went flying outside the Afiar's bounds. Everything that was on it died, but with time it took a shape of a whole new world, a small one, but covered in a layer of anomaly that broke all established rules of the Universe. It was undetectable even for the Aspects, and it rejected everything that had anything related to magic about it. But at the same time, that world influenced the entire Universe. And no one would even know about all that had Devi not stumbled upon it. Well, not exactly stumbled upon, more like... crashed right into it.

The thing was... a lot of time had passed. Devi managed to build an entire system that worked without her intervention. Anorava and Andariel kept the balance, just as Ula and Lana (I talk about them and the rest of the Gods-related stuff here) did too, and the Spirits managed the rest. The Riots dealt with mortals and managed every danger, and Devi only intervened when there was something they couldn't handle. Once the system started running smoothly, Devi could finally relax and start thinking about herself. And there was what to think about.

She didn't remember her childhood. Actually, she was convinced she never had one, considering herself to be Anorava's creation. And she wanted to experience that. So she decided she'd get reborn and experience being a human child in another world. There were risks associated with that as she had to still contain the monster within herself, so she couldn't exactly erase her memories and start anew, so she settled to keeping all her memories and powers, and only affect her body and play a role of a child herself and see how it is. That was the plan, at least. But everything went to shit when she was transporting her soul from her old body to a new one, when it flew by the edge of the Real World, which was enough for the anomaly to interfere, breaking the pathway that Devi calculated and shattering her soul along with it. And so, when she opened her eyes as a newborn child in the Real World... she started anew.

Her memories were completely gone. She went on to grow as an ordinary human child... except she wasn't one. And that was not all. But Devi wouldn't know about that for years to come. But someone did. Someone whose soul was merged with hers, and though it separated too, it remained within her body, hidden deep inside, as well as the other two. That was Nirali, of course. When Devi's soul shattered, Nirali's soul got separated too, but Devi's own soul broke in three parts. One was Devi, who had full control of her body as the other two slumbered. The monster sealed within fell into a slumber too, luckily for everyone. But Nirali understood that one day they'd all wake up. And it was going to be a disaster not only for Devi, but for the entirety of the Universe.

Nirali tried appearing before Devi, but the Real World's restrictions didn't let her to materialize fully, and as Devi grew, she regarded Nirali as her childhood imaginary friend. Nirali stopped appearing as Devi grew older, there was no point - Devi had no memories of her or of anything that happened before, so Nirali let her live her new life, one that she wanted to experience, so it was the correct choice, right?

But Devi was too strong even for the Real World's anomaly. Someone like her should've never ended up there, really. Especially since she wasn't even aware of the power she held. Because...

The Real World affected the entirety of the Universe. Normally, such a world wouldn't exist in the confines of a Universe, nor in any proximity to the Fictional Realm, but it happened. The Real World wasn't covered in ada (read about it here) like other worlds, it was covered with a layer of anomaly instead. Which meant that world was absolutely devoid of any sort of a source of magic, but at the same time the people who lived there could affect the Universe with their imagination. They built worlds, crafted fates, determined others' emotions. The story didn't even need to be told - in a book or as a movie - for as long as it existed in someone's imagination, it became real outside of the Real World. And when it came to Devi... Unlike other people, she had the power, alongside her imagination. And her imagination could not only craft the future, it changed the past. She created those that she was already acquainted with but had no memories of - namely, Ula and Lana. And it wasn't her memories coming back to her - some of those things she couldn't possibly know about, and besides... Rudy knew. When the flow of time shifted and the past changed for seemingly no reason - none even he could see - he knew he had to find Devi, wherever she'd gone to. And he was quite lucky to stumble upon someone who had Devi's scent all over his fate - Riam (his backstory).

Riam was Devi's creation, an image of a perfect man that her imagination drew. She crafted all his adventures, all his struggles, all his badass moments, but even she never knew the entire truth about him. Where she left the gaps, they got filled in, and it happened in the worst way possible. Even she, the one who knew Riam the best, could never see the truth coming.

She didn't know that Darinir was the one to be Riam's father. That alone made Riam non-human, something Devi never knew herself. But it gets worse. Because Riam wasn't born - he was created, using a powerful sorce of energy as his core. Quite like Devi was created by the Universe from a speck of dust, Riam was created by Darinir from... Devi's broken wing.

When she fell from the skies, the wing that was torn off of her fell right after her. And while Devi's body drifted to the shore, the wing sank deep into the ocean. With time's passing, it could no longer maintain the same shape, but the energy within it remained. And when that energy fell into Darinir's hands, he didn't recognize it as Devi's, and so he decided to use it to create Riam.

Although she was the one who created him, or maybe exactly because of that, Devi fell deeply in love with Riam. So much so that her feelings seeped through the Real World's restrictions and reached Riam in a form of a phantom. She crafted the most heart-wrenching trials for him, but she always was right by his side through every one of them. From when he was a kid, her image nearby always comforted him, and he believed that the day would come when they would meet, wherever she was. And Rudy only steeled that belief, saying that their fates were intertwined.

And... well, they were.

Devi was lonely. She was... different. Could never really fit in amongst the humans. She was nice, and sweet, and caring, and everyone loved her. But at the end of the day, she would always sit alone in her room, dreaming about a world far different than hers, a boy that she could never quite reach. And she wasn't exactly mad it was that way. But she wished Riam was real. That he could hold her. And love her. And so one day... Her feelings got so strong that they tore through the fabric of reality, through the Real World's restrictions, and pulled Riam out of Afiar and right into her room. And Rudy on his shoulder. Only...

Only neither Devi nor Rudy knew at the time that the Riam that appeared in Devi's room... was not the Riam that she loved.

They say love is blind, and Devi was deeply in love. He wasn't exactly good at pretending, never even bothered to try too hard, but he didn't even need to, really, when Devi always came up with excuses for him herself. It was fascinating, really, watching her bend over backwards just to keep the picture in her head from shattering into pieces, even if it wasn't even similar to the reality before her. And no one else had the heart to open her eyes. It was hard to say what would shatter her worse - living in her own fantasy world or facing the reality.

She married him. Had a child with him. Then two more. Spent her every day in search of a way to get him back to his world, to his friends, to his family. Twenty years passed, and she finally found it. But the portal she created was incomplete, and could only open for a few seconds, but that was enough for Lana to swoop in and drag Riam back before the portal closed forever.

Devi was crushed. She'd dreamed about going to his world with him, but in the end, she was left behind. But in just a few days her sorrow grew so overwhelming that it tore through the fabric of reality, ignored the anomaly of the Real World, and opened a portal once again. And this time Devi couldn't miss the chance.

The decision had to be made quickly but it was not an easy one. Going through meant leaving her children behind, something she just couldn't do in any state of her mind. Sure, Eva was pretty much grown up by then, and she was accustomed to taking care of her little brothers, but it was one thing when it happened right under her mother's careful watch, and completely different if they had no one to turn to should the need arise. However, Eva couldn't let her mother wither away just like that, and she insisted Devi went. And so, she did.

Stepping through the portal was easy enough. Devi fell through and ended up at the center of the Universe where she could reach any corner of it with ease. She did not meet the Universe itself there, not yet, but... Once she was there, something within her shifted. She didn't regain her memories. Nor did the monster sealed within her awakened, thankfully. But someone did. And she immediately took control of Devi's body. So when Devi appeared in Afiar once again... It wasn't quite her.

Diano and Rodari. They were there two personalities that split from Devi's consciousness upon the impact with the Real World, ones that were in deep slumber until she came in touch with ada once again. She didn't even need to actually interact with it, having it around was enough for the impulse to shake her soul and awaken the two girls.

Rodari was the calm and passive one, and Diano was the passionate and aggressive one. It seemed like they represented two different personalities: the good and the bad, the angel and the demon, the holy and the evil. And the one that took control was Diano.

Much like "Riam", Diano wasn't good at pretending to be Devi. She tried, and it looked like everyone believed her. But one crucial detail escaped her vision: those people didn't know Devi. When she found Riam and he introduced her to his friends, the only person who knew the real Devi was him. And surely he'd know if she didn't act exactly like Devi would, right? So she must've been good?

However, she didn't get to play Devi's role for long. It lasted only for as long as it took Devi to come to her senses after losing consciousness. Even trapping her within her own consciousness didn't help, and Rodari didn't even get involved. Devi just easily freed herself, like getting out was no harder than... Actually, it made sense, because it was her own power that trapped her, so of course it bent to her will and as soon as she wished to be free, she was free. And taking back control was no harder than tapping Diano on a shoulder with "uhhhh sorry it's my body?" And that was the last time she was able to take control from Devi by force.

When it was Devi, everyone was able to notice how much different she was from Diano, but no one spoke the obvious part out loud. Even though it's been a long time since Riam's disappearance, he was trusted among his comrades, and seeing how infatuated Devi was with him, no one dared to seed discord between them.

Everyone immediately fell in love with her. She was very energetic and a little bit weird - in other words, she fit in perfectly with everyone else. And everyone closed their eyes on Riam's rather... odd behavior. And never even noticed the way Darinir looked at her, with not a word spoken.

Without the Real World's suppression of her abilities, Devi found out she could do nearly anything. She didn't remember how to use her powers, and couldn't draw their full potential, moreover, when she did, it didn't even look like Darkness. And with no one to tell her about it, she just assumed that it was because she was from the Real World, and it made her a God in Afiar.

Darinir knew who she was, obviously. But he - and consequentually Andariel - decided her losing her memories was for the best. If they could gradually change her and make her shift to their side, it would be another victory for the Light. However, Anorava was made aware of her return too, and wasn't planning to sit idly.

It was Akito at first. He attempted to make her regain her memories by forcing her to fight. It did work, to an extent. Devi didn't remember anything, but her body did. It remembered the thrill of battle, and she was growing strong quickly while also finding out she loved fighting. But that wasn't enough, it turned out.

Firstly, Diano found a way to escape her body, taken Rodari along with her. Devi didn't try to stop them - had no reason to. While Diano acted all tough and evil, she hadn't actually done anything bad at that point, and Devi felt bad having to keep her all inside herself. She thought that Diano and Rodari deserved to experience life too.

Second, Devi's quick growth spread across the world, and she caught an eye of someone she should've never been left alone with. Unfortunately, her power got to her head, and she thought that nothing could hurt her. And had to learn how wrong she was the hard way.

She came into his estate on her own two feet per his invitation. She even knew of his power - but didn't have the foresight to think how to counter it if he chose to use it against her. And definitely didn't expect him to use it right away, the moment she stepped inside.

She didn't return until years later. When she was broken beyond repair and gave up all hope of being saved. When she had not an ounce of dignity left. That man sucked the life out of her. But she returned not faded but fired up. Angry if you will. Determined. To get an answer - why the fuck was she abandoned, why had to suffer for so long, why had to push through all on her own.

He had the power to control her body. From the moment he saw her, he wanted nothing else from her but to make her his slave. It was too easy, breaking her. Day after day she endured abuse, only waiting that surely it will be noticed? That she's missing? If no one else, surely Riam would? He was the one who knew she went there, so it was just a matter of enduring it, right?

But no one was coming. She was all alone. And it took a while for the hope to fade completely, before she realized that if she wanted to be saved, she had to do it herself.

Every step was painful. Every smile forced. She felt like she was putting knives into her own heart, slowly, meticulously, with the way she had to pretend she started enjoying it, taking part in the play to convince him she needed him, that she loved him. Slowly, gradually making him believe, having the strings loosen, and then still not running away. It would be all over if she failed, so she endured, more, and more, until he let go of her completely. And only then, when he fell asleep next to her for the first time, trusting her completely, did she rise and walk away, her feet soundless against the floor. And never looked back.

She didn't even have clothes, only her faded hair to cover her. And she went straight to Riam, to see what he had to say for himself.

Up to that day, that was the biggest if not the only fight they've had. Turned out, not only did he not come to her resque himself, he'd been making everyone else convinced she wasn't in danger. But when she confronted him, not only did he not apologize, he spun it as if it was beneficial for her and even her own fault. And worst of all, when the heat left her mind... she believed it.

Things would only get worse from there. Because that situation did not leave her unscarred. In fact it would shape everything she was going to become.

At first, she was repulsed by sex. Even after making up with Riam, the whole idea of intimacy was impossible for her. More than that, even after convincing herself all of it was her own fault, something on the edge of her consciousness didn't allow her to view him the same anymore. So it was inevitable that they would drift apart, both of them convinced it was temporarily. And... it was. But that time period apart would change things forever, not only between them but for Devi specifically.

That was when she began traveling to other worlds. Met people that she knew way too much about - from books, movies, anime, games. Made many new friends... and not just friends. One attempt at a sex with someone else, and there was no way back for her. Her sex repulsion quickly turned into hypersexuality. And she could no longer stop. And it was really, really not about sex.

Other people gave her what she'd been missing in her marriage the entire time. The feeling of being loved. That was what she chased. Not sex but being cared about. Not the words of love but feeling like she was someone's most important person. Like someone would come for her sake if they had a chance back when she hurt the most. But even then, eventually, she'd always come back to him. Like he got her on the leash, and she'd always inevitably come back, to the idea of him that'd been living in her head, the one she still believed. Even if it broke hearts. Even if breaking hearts ruined her more. She still believed that she could never love someone as much as she loved him (she could never).

That was going on for a very long time, in human terms. Somewhere during that time Eva and Paul found their way out of the Real World (Eva's backstory). A while later Pete did too. Devi had another child with Riam (it didn't fix anything). Despite all the drama, life took a steady pace.

The entire time, Akito had been trying to reawaken her memories, but he could never push her far, and she'd been growing stronger at a much faster pace than him. Fighting actually became one thing that didn't bring her stress, and she lived it. But it was the opposite for Akito, his brother was most unhappy with his results, and was pressuring him to go for more drastic measures. Alphonse was already corrupted by the darkness that Anorava granted the both of them, and though it affected Akito to a lesser extent, he fell victim to it too and did something he went on to regret for the rest of his life.

Devi didn't see it coming. They'd been rivals for a while, and she was pretty confident she knew him well enough. And she'd never think he was even capable of something like that.

It didn't reawaken her memories, obviously. But it sure did reawaken her fucking trauma. Being trapped, unable to move and having her body used and abused certainly was her worst nightmare coming to life. Her body rejected even the idea of taking pleasure out of the situation. It was just pain, pain, more pain. Physical, emotional, and any other kind there is. And after what felt like hours, being left out in the wasteland of their previous battle, battered and broken, she finally lost her consciousness.

She woke up in the healing chamber of her castle, being submerged into the bath and surrounded by the Riots. They cleaned her body and tended to her wounds, both physical and mental. The cracks on the mirror of her soul grew a little thinner.

They called her 'm'lady'. They said that the castle belonged to her. They were devoted to serving her and it showed. But Devi didn't understand why. And how that could be possible. However, she conceded to accepting that as a fact. They insisted that after everything that happened she'd have a bodyguard. Devi reluctantly agreed, and chose the girl that saved her - Felicia.

Forgiving Akito wasn't an easy task. Devi didn't intend to do so at all - what he did was absolutely unforgivable. But thanks to the Riots' help that incident didn't have a lasting effect on her, and so he had a chance if he really decided to play his cards right.

Thankfully, the corruption didn't have the time to settle in, and Akito was horrified with what he'd done. But he was horrified even more so with his brother's approval of his actions. They had a huge fall out, with Akito going off to seek a way to purify the darkness within him, and Alphonse taking his spot as Devi's rival, attempting to return her memories once again.

That was when Andariel took the stage for the first time. But of course Devi never knew it was him - or who he even was.

After Devi sealed the Darkness Beast within herself, he was able to breath freely for once in a very long while. And when she created the Spirits, they gradually made the world recover from the aftereffects, making him able to slowly regain his power. His next step would be to take back from Anorava, and he had a perfect opportunity with Devi not even remembering her. If luring her on his side had been his idea for a while, he chose to execute it only then.

He integrated himself into one of the adventures she was having, became her friend, got close to her. He didn't do anything drastic - only was nice to her, gifted her a pocket watch, cared for her like a good friend would - and it was all it took for her to begin trusting him. It was too easy, even.

To save their friend, they ventured into the depths of the Abyss, and that was where she met Akito again. She was ready to kill him on the spot, but something made her pause. Maybe it was the way he acted way differently than normal, or maybe it was about him not making any excuses (or making it seem like it was her fault even, like someone else she knew loved to do). He was calm, and he straight up told her that she's in her full right to kill him if she feels like he doesn't deserve to live after what he did to her, only asked to let him help her first, because she needed his help if she wanted to save her friend. And maybe it felt refreshing to have someone act this way after all the abuse she'd endured, and - thanks to the Riots' help - it didn't leave such strong marks on her, so she decided to give him a chance to explain himself.

And Akito told her everything. He told Devi about the Goddess him and his brother had been in service of, how she granted them power, and how that power twisted them. Akito was lucky and recognised it before it was too late, and Andariel purified him, making him essentially a completely different person. But he felt great guilt gnawing at him for what he'd done under the effects of the darkness, and he wanted to at least try to make it up to her, or die of her hand if she felt like that was justified.

Devi then turned to Andariel - and asked him if what Aki said was true. Andariel confirmed that he was possessed by the darkness and he did purify him, taking his time to tell Devi just how vile and horrible darkness is and asked her if she'd join him in exterminating it - and of course she agreed, not even aware that she was the ambassador of said darkness. She had no reason to doubt Andariel.

Then Akito told her that the demon that her friend had a contract with and was dragged into the depths of the Abyss by was in all actuality his brother, Alphonse, someone Devi was already acquainted with. However, it wasn't Alphonse himself, it was a part of him that Akito managed to salvage, save from the darkness, something that still resembled his former self. Not physically, of course, it looked nothing like a human. But when Aki proceeded to step forward and gently asked the demon to let go of the human, the chains moved and released him.

It was up to Devi to decide Aki's fate then. And she decided to give him another chance, to prove that what he did wasn't what he was. And watched her say all that and how relieved it made his brother, Al spoke with her, proposing a contract. His terms? She had to kill him. Not him, but his real self, before he became a disaster. And in that time, he would offer his help to her in anything else. And Devi agreed. They sealed the contract, and Al helped all of them get out of the Abyss.

By then, Al made several contracts with humans, but not only were they unable to handle his power, they died to the contract's burden sooner than they had a chance to fulfill it. Devi, however, was much stronger than that. Using Al's power didn't harm her like it was harming humans, and once the contract's time was up, it was unable to claim Devi's soul, which in turn extended the contract indefinitely. Or until Alphonse was dead. But Devi didn't take Al's warning to heart, and didn't really try to kill him. She knew she could. She knew she was much stronger than him, but fighting him was fun, and if she'd kill him - would there be another rival to entertain her like that? And so she kept toying with him while his disdain for her only grew. And she would go on to regret it tenfold. But that wasn't going to happen soon, not yet.

After some hundreds of thousands if not millions years since Devi let her go, Diano showed up. And if the events before put serious cracks on the mirror of Devi's soul, that one shattered it completely. For the first time.

Devi was trapped, and this time all of her friends came to her resque. And she wished they didn't. Rodari, being under Diano's control (as Devi thought at the time), killed everyone who came for Devi, with just one touch. Devi could do nothing but watch as every single one of her friends who cared so deeply for her died. And she couldn't do anything.

That was what finally broke her. Her soul shattered into pieces, and in attempt to protect her psyche from further damage, she unconsciously put herself into a deep slumber. And then it started snowing. It snowed so much, that the snow buried the massacre underneath an incredibly thick layer of frost for many ages.

One day, a child playing in the snow found something underneath. It was Devi's body, frozen, unconscious, but alive. That information got to the Riots, and they came and dug up the rest of those who got buried. Turned out they were all alive and woke up pretty soon, but Devi remained asleep, and nothing could awaken her. Until the last piece of the broken mirror was put in place by Nirali's gentle hands, and Devi's soul came together once again, allowing her to wake up.

She was happy to see her friends well. She assumed Rodari managed to escape Diano's control and only put everyone to sleep, which made her glad. She found them both and sealed Diano inside her soul, so she wouldn't be a danger to anyone else anymore. Devi had no doubt that she did the right thing. At the time.

But Devi felt exhausted. After living for so long, enduring everything that she had, and having her soul reassembled from pieces, she felt empty. And thus she decided it was her time to go. Choosing to die wasn't easy, leaving behind everything, but she believed that the Universe would be fine without her. She made a lot of friends who wouldn't let her be forgotten, and she had her children to pick up after her and protect the Universe in her place. Especially Eva, she grew to be very strong. So she left in peace. And completely forgot about her contract with Al. And his warning too.

By then, Alphonse completely forgot why was he fighting Devi. He could tell she never fought him seriously and it hurt his pride. He wanted her dead. But when she was dead, it pissed him off. It didn't feel satisfactory. He had to be the one to kill her. And so he had to force her to return. And force her he did. And she had to return when he hurt Eva.

But she didn't come fast enough to be able to protect her. Eva lost her eyes, her hearing, and her voice too (once again, I talk about that more extensively in Eva's backstory). She was left all alone in the nothingness, and even with Paul being next to her every second, holding her hand, helping her with food and hygiene, someone had to help Eva learn how to live like that. And before Devi could teach her, she had to learn herself.

The training she put herself through was gruesome to say the least. Every day she spent training was a day that Eva was miserable. Every moment wasted was a moment longer for Eva to be all alone. The stakes were high, and Devi never pushed herself harder, never grew that much stronger in such a short amount of time, never felt the need to live more. Not until she stood with her eyes covered completely and could see her surroundings clearly. Not until Eva was able to walk along a busy street on her own again. Only then would Devi begin searching for ways to return Eva's senses - without results. And she would never stop blaming herself.

That was what made her finally take Alphonse seriously and become determined to kill him. She was no longer playing around with him. For the first time in her life, she exuded pure bloodlust, clear killing intent. Her steps never been so steady, her grip on her weapon never been so firm. Only then would everyone realise that she was insanely strong. But just before she could kill him, he escaped. She didn't chase him. She was scary in her anger like that - slow, meticulous, inevitable. She knew he'd come back, again and again, to give himself to her on the silver platter. And one time he won't be able to escape. She didn't need to chase him. She already was his worst nightmare.

And she didn't even regain her memories yet. But she would, soon.

Before that, though, she'd have another child. This time not with Riam. In fact, she wasn't planning to have a child. Normally, when she had sex, she could always ensure she wouldn't get pregnant (unless she'd try to). But something went wrong, and she ended up with a baby. And the worst part... it was with Akito.

Yeah she forgave him. Yeah they agreed that she'd forget what he'd done for as long as he never does something of similar nature ever again - and he was planning to stay true to that promise. The sex was supposed to be therapeutic. It was, Akito actually did a great job mending the wounds that were left on Devi's soul. But she wasn't supposed to get pregnant. As it turned out, she really wasn't. The child she had wasn't really 'hers' and even less so was it Akito's.

He came from a dying world, as its last attempt at salvation. Using a special technology, two babies were to be projected into the bodies of two different women in the moment of their conception. And Devi was automatically chosen as a target by chance - even if a moment later she'd make herself infertile, it was too late.

She named him Legath. He was supposed to kill his "mother" upon birth and then proceed to meet up with his comrade to then take over that world and its resources. He failed at step one, as his mother was Devi, and even being weakened by labor she was incredibly strong. Not even mentioning that all her labors before were much, much more taxing. He failed at step two too, as it turned out the system messed something up and the other child... was a girl. And in their race only men were warriors, which meant if he'd take on his mission, he'd have to do it alone. And he had one huge hurdle that was impossible to overcome - that is, his mom. So he quickly gave up on that idea and let Devi do what she wanted - that is, raising another child.

Being raised by Devi changed his mentality forever. His race's values were ingrained into his DNA, and they never changed, only shifted a bit. Instead of using his strength to forcefully take what he wanted, he learned to use it to protect those he cared about. Devi planted that seed into him, and it sprouted and bloomed when he started spending time with Eva, who was not only stronger physically, but he always admired her mental strength, choosing to stay strong and keep growing even when half of her senses were taken away from her. She was just that good at being an older sister.

Once Legath grew, he married Serasa - the girl that came from his homeworld just like him - and had a son, Tarrus. When he was young, they were able to go to their homeworld to find that it didn't die, and helped rebuild it together.

Around the same time, Eva also had a child (her own and not another little brother), Valinor, and him and Tarrus became inseparable, both as children, and when they were teens, after Tarrus returned from his homeworld.

Devi continued doing as she was. Fought Alphonse (and he kept running away before she'd kill him), fought other things and creatures that were threatening the Universe. Until she learned from Darinir that Darkness found its way into the world once again. Staying true to her word for Andariel, she was going to help exterminate it, so she went ahead to save a friend of Darinir's that got kidnapped.

That "friend" was Anoam. But Devi didn't remember him, not yet. But he remembered her. It felt weird for him to know her name, but Devi assumed it was because he was Darinir's friend. He was handcuffed, so she asked if he knew where the key was. He said it was upstairs, and Devi rushed up, missing his warning before going there. Which was most unfortunate, for the entirety of the Light's side. Because up there Devi finally met with Anorava.

When Devi's steps were heard again, Anoam could tell they met. When she stopped in front of him and gave him a look, her eyes were completely different to how they were before. She tossed the keys to his feet, throwing a "Help yourself" in a tone that was almost reminiscent with disgust. She didn't say anything else and left. In that moment Anoam realised that they failed in poaching her over on their side.

She then went straight to Darinir. One look at her was all it took for him to realise that her memories returned. Neither of them said anything for a while, just staring into each other's eyes. Then Devi said, "Don't you have anything to say?"

"Would you listen?"

"No."

"Then I won't waste my breath."

She only huffed in response. Standing there, in the middle of a group of people she called friends not so long ago, she realised that had she started anything, she would be the one looking like a villain, so she decided to leave instead. For the first time in ages, she felt all alone amongst the people she called her friends. She looked at Riam. She still loved him. And mentally prepared herself to never see him again. She took out the pocket watch that Andariel made for her. Squeezed it until it broke and threw to Darinir's feet.

And once she was in the castle, she fell onto her bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. You would think that having her memories back would make everything make sense. But in reality, she had only more questions arise. And most important one being, was she even on the right side? And was there even the right side for her to be on?

Anorava was her mother, so she never questioned being on her side. But she'd seen what Darkness did to others. How it affected her. Darkness inside of her had no effect on her, or did it? Then wouldn't it be right to be like Anoam and switch sides? But they also manipulated her. Did they want to use her against her mother? But maybe it was justified? The ends justify the means, or whatever? She didn't have an answer. She was confused. Even more so now that she knew the truth.

Felicia was waiting outside the door for hours before Devi called her. She asked her to call Emy - the Captain of the Riots and the one who created them in the first place, the one who was saved by Devi the same day she sealed the Darkness Beast within herself. And when she stood before her, Devi questioned why had no one tried to restore her memories. Emy responded that they were never sure that losing memories was unintentional on Devi's part, and avoided messing with that in case it was intentional. That was a reasonable assumption, so Devi couldn't be mad. And not only did Emy make such an assumption, so did Rudy and even Nirali - who should've known since she was right there the entire time.

Riam came. Devi fully expected Darinir to make everyone be against her, but it seemed like Riam wanted to talk to her. So they did. She told him what she is, told him what he is, and she proposed it herself - that they could never be together - as much as it hurt her. She was the Daughter of Darkness, he was the (grand)Son of Light. She didn't know that he already knew all of that, for a long while. And that talking to her wasn't why he came. It was Riam who said that none of that mattered and that he loved her. And it made her really happy.

Her friends all said that it didn't matter too. And Darinir couldn't sway them, or didn't even try to. It made Devi happy.

She continued traveling. Seeking something new, she traveled to not different worlds anymore, but different universes. It wouldn't be possible normally, but Erinir made it possible for her. He could jump between universes, but it always took him a while to recover, and he would never carry anyone but Devi. Rudy came along too. Most of the time, Devi tried to not get attention of the local Gods as she wasn't supposed to be there, while also experiencing all the different worlds those universes had to offer, until she circled back home. And as she stepped into her castle, she learned there was a crisis going on. And one that she was all too familiar with. In fact, she just came from a world where she had to avert a similar crisis, but it was on a much larger scale now.

Afiar got invaded by orcs from not just another world - another universe, and one - which Devi didn't know at the time - that didn't even belong to the same Area of the Multiverse. But Devi just came from a world where she sat with many of them at the bonfire and shared a (admittedly pretty nasty for her taste) meal and drinks. So she couldn't fight them - refused to.

She stopped the contamination that the orcs brought along, saved those that wanted to be saved and killed the rest, after which she gave the orcs a chance to repent for what they've done to their own universe and were about to do with hers - and offered a home for them in Afiar.

Orcs provided two important changes. First, they caught Felicia's interest in their art of shamanism, something that her ancestors practiced and which was lost in the catastrophe brought by the Darkness Beast. Thanks to that, she was able to not only revive the Riots' art of shamanism, not only become the strongest shaman amongst both Riots and orcs, but go on to create an entirely new branch in the Riots' ranks and become the Head Shaman of the Riots, nurturing and then leading a new generation of the shamans amongst them. And they would go on to save Devi's life many times over.

And the second change the orcs brought over... had to do with Devi herself.

She found herself enjoying spending time among orcs. Sure they didn't look the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye and smelled bad... and they ate gross stuff... and were loud and unmannered... Well, none of that came as a surprise to Devi, she already knew orcs were like that. But where most humans wouldn't look further, she saw a fascinating culture that she wanted to observe. And since the orcs owed her their existence, they let her in, something they would never do for an outsider, even from another orc tribe let alone someone who wasn't even an orc.

Orcs worshipped the elemental spirits, and since they came to Afiar, those were her Spirits, her children. It took time for them to decide to cooperate with orcs, but they eventually did, when a son of one of the tribes' chief was shown to them and they saw his talent and wanted to see how strong he could become with their cooperation. Especially since...

He was born in Afiar. Thanks to Devi, the contamination didn't affect him even though both of his parents were harmed by it, even if out of all the other tribes they managed to avoid it the best. And with Devi spending more time in their tribe than anywhere else, he took a liking to her.

He grew up on stories about her. How she freed the orcs, how horrified they were of her true form, and how kind she was in helping them find their new home. She watched him grow, become a shaman, complete the Coming of Age Ritual, and when it was time for him to choose who'd be his wife, he never hesitated before asking that of Devi.

That was the first time she'd marry someone else after Riam. Even though it wasn't exactly a marriage - no flashy wedding, no rings, no dress, no cake, no stamp - all the rituals made it feel way more real than her previous marriage ever felt like. From the ritual she had to go through in order to be accepted as an orc, to the mating hunt - a ritual that was akin a wedding for orcs - she went through everything needed. And more. She took part in every hunt, every ritual, every celebration they held. She got a wolf companion like any other orc in the tribe, honored their ancestors with them, mourned their losses and celebrated their victories. She learned their language, learned to braid hair like they did, and even came to terms with the taste of their food. And she never felt happier. Because in that relatively short time that she spent being the wife of an orc chieftain, she felt loved and cared for more than ever before. And when his mortal nature took him away from her, she cried harder than she ever cried for someone. She respected his wishes to join his ancestors, yet she mourned the loss like a part of her soul was ripped out of her chest along with him.

Once he was gone, she didn't have anything tying her up to the tribe. Her husband was dead. Their children took over the tribe after their father's passing without an argument. Her wolf - Asha - was also long dead. She could go back to how she was before the orcs came about. She had friends and family that were not orcs. It was fun while it lasted but...

She tried. She really tried. Came to Riam. Visited all her old friends, her lovers, but... She felt out of place everywhere. Nothing felt right. Nothing felt home. So she came back. That didn't feel right either, but if there was no difference, why not just stay?

Many generations passed. She had no reason to move, and so she didn't. She wasn't asleep, but wasn't awake either. No one in the clan even remembered who she was anymore. And as she never moved, gradually, her body started resembling one of an orc.

Eventually, she got bored. That was when she found out how she looked, after which she immediately went to see her dead spouse. Of course, she had to follow the rules and asked a shaman to let him know she wanted to see him before she came, but it turned out, there was someone amongst the orc spirits who wanted to see her. And that was Asha.

Devi saved Asha when she was a tiny pup. Her family got attacked by demons (whose lands orcs occupied too) and Asha was the only one who survived, thanks to Devi. But Devi couldn't keep her as a pet - the clan's orcs were very particular about their relationship with wolves - and so Asha got raised by other wolves who served the clan. But when it was her time to choose her companion, she didn't even hesitate lying by Devi's feet.

From a tiny pup that Devi came carrying on her chest, Asha grew into a mighty wolf, almost twice the size of Devi if she stretched real good. And as her lifespan came to an end, she died peacefully next to the person she swore to protect and never once failed. But her unwavering loyalty made her unable to pass away, and her spirit lingered, as if she still had something she had to do. As she found out from the orcs' ancestors later, that happened at times when the bond between an orc and their companion was so strong that the wolf joined the orcs' souls once their companion passed. The only problem was... Devi was immortal. And all that time, Asha waited, stuck on the border of life and death, unable to follow Devi yet unable to die either... Until Devi came.

Obviously, Devi brought her back to life, but so much time had passed that she couldn't return her soul to her body - for obvious reasons - so she simply gave her spirit a physical form. She would follow Devi everywhere like that until the nearest full moon when they would find out that Asha became a reverse lycanthrope - meaning she turned human every full moon - which granted her a physical body and when she turned back into a wolf she had one as well. With time, she learned to not be affected by full moon - not having to turn human during it and be able to do it at any moment - and learned to speak human language not only in her human form but in her wolf form too. But it took a lot of time by Devi's side before it could happen.

At some point, Anorava came in contact with her. And whatever it was that she wanted Devi for... Devi didn't feel like doing.

Devi'd been conflicted about the whole Light VS Darkness thing for a while. With everything she knew and everything she was put through, she was no longer certain about being on the right side. Things she'd been convincing herself about were making less and less sense, and she was starting to cave in to Andariel's arguments. But at the same time, she couldn't really trust him completely, so she was unsure of what she could do. But if life amongst orcs taught her anything, it's that things are allowed to be simple, even for her. She didn't have to be something big, didn't have to do something special, she was allowed to simply exist and be Devi.

And she thought that it was a great opportunity to test Anorava. After all, she was her mother, and surely her mother would understand her feelings, or at least take them into consideration. At the very least, there'd be a dialogue, right? Well... Let's just say that Anorava failed miserably.

That was when Devi came to realise that Anorava never even saw her not only as her daughter - as a person. And to keep her freedom and the right to choose what to do with her life, Devi fought her.

That fight altered her life forever. First of all, it changed her view on Diano and Rodari. While Diano was buried deep within Devi's consciousness, she never restrained Rodari in any way, considering her to be the 'good' part of herself. However, during her fight with Anorava, Rodari showed her true colors. She told Devi how to kill Anorava. At first it seemed like it came from good intentions, however...

Anorava was the Aspect of Darkness, and as such she could not die due to not having a physical form. The only way to kill her was to take the core of her power which was in her chest. That was normally impossible, unless it was done by someone who could reach into the Darkness within her - another being of Darkness, which Devi was. The core resembled a small bottle with black substance inside, and once Devi acquired it she, ignoring all the warnings from Anorava, downed the contents and crushed the bottle.

In that single moment, a lot of things happened at once. First of all, Devi became the Aspect of Darkness herself. The power that rose in her body was unlike anything she'd ever experienced in her life. It hurt at first, but it didn't kill her. And when it didn't, Rodari was surprised, which told Devi everything about her intentions. Then she entertained a thought that maybe the one who tried to hurt her friends in the past wasn't the one she considered to be her 'evil' self. In a time that was only enough to blink, she traveled down her memory lane and looked at Diano in a new light - someone who's been trapped inside her body and just wanted to experience life too. And if it was Rodari who actually was behind them putting all of her friends to eternal sleep...

But she didn't get to entertain that thought because the chain reaction inside her reached the deepest parts of her soul - where the Darkness Beast that was sealed within her was sleeping peacefully... until then. But she was lucky that didn't happen when she wasn't prepared, and she was able to stabilize herself and regain control quickly, after which she used her newfound powers to kill Anorava. She just didn't expect it to be that destructive.

The attack was so powerful that it destroyed everything in a hundreds meters radius. Everything, including Devi herself. Asha was the only one who was able to escape in time. However, obviously, Devi didn't die. But she was left without a body, and while she could contain Darkness in one shape without leaking for some time, doing it while she was being torn inside out by a monster sealed within her was not easy. She needed a solution and quickly. So she had no choice but to turn to Andariel. But even if she was no longer on Anorava's side, she wasn't sure she could be on his side either. And not just because he tried to manipulate her before, but also she couldn't be sure what his next step would be now that she was the Aspect of Darkness in Anorava's place. So she asked for his help and accepted it, but did so cautiously.

She wasn't sure what to do next. Up until then she was a prison for a monster and a warrior following orders, but now she was the Aspect of Darkness herself. And she had no idea what that entailed. So she had to set on a journey to search for her new purpose.

Eventually, she freed Diano and sealed Rodari. It turned out that Diano was just a huge tsundere, while really it was Rodari who manipulated the narrative. Devi agreed to let Diano out once in a while for as long as she didn't force it, and they became friends quite quickly. In fact, it was likely no one understood Devi quite like Diano did, at least Devi felt that way at that point.

And so, eventually, in search for what to do with herself, Devi finally met her creator - the Universe. However, it didn't reveal that to her, it only revealed the truth about Aredes and the Aspects, and gave Devi a new purpose - protecting it, her Universe. Not like Devi wasn't doing it before, but now that she had it spelled out for her, things became way simplier once again.

Time passed. Beyond constantly fighting with whatever new monster (or less so) came to endanger the Universe (from within or beyond), the list of Devi's lovers grew. She still loved Riam, but she felt more and more disconnected from him, yet not enough to separate completely. Something just made her coming back to him again and again. That was until she met someone who she felt especially connected with. So much in fact that she wished to marry them. And that was when everything fell apart all at once.

They married, and Devi was happy, for a bit. But someone else wasn't happy about that. It wasn't about her marrying another man - wasn't her first time, really, unless one doesn't count a union with an orc as a real marriage - which it absolutely was. Jealousy wasn't what led him to do what he did. Jealousy would imply he ever had feelings for her to begin with. No, he never did. In fact, he never felt anything but pure hatred towards her. It was about control. And he'd been feeling like it's slipping more and more with time, and that time was the last straw. He simply grew tired of pretending.

It wasn't just your good old scandal. No back and forth yelling at each other, no occusations thrown around with little thought. He yelled at her alright. She was just confused, tried to apologize, make it up to him. Because she felt guilty, she really did, and always made sure he was okay with everything she did - so why did he snap? Until finally he laid it flat - he never cared. He never loved her. Never wanted her to be happy. In fact, it physically hurt him seeing her smile. All he did was to make her miserable, attach her to him and then break. And attached did she become. And break her it did.

The realisation hit her like a truck. She went through every single memory she had of him, and rose-tinted glasses fell, revealing the ugly truth: it was all so obvious but she refused to see it. He never loved her, never was there for her, even in her toughest times, only said just enough to keep her attached. That's why she felt so good receiving affection from others, and why she could never really let him go - she hoped he could show her the same affection, yet he never did. And she broke. Really broke this time, shattering into million pieces, so small they could never be put together again. Her face lost its color, her eyes lost their shine, even her hair paled, as if all the color was drained from her when she lost the most important thing - the will to live. Riam was her entire world, and without him in it she couldn't find even a single reason to keep going. But neither did she want to end her life. She sat in one spot, neither dead nor alive, barely on the edge of existence. She didn't want to eat, drink, watch anything, play anything. She didn't even respond to anything.

It was Diano who was meticulously piecing her back together. Along with Al and Nirali, she slowly worked on putting the shards - no, not even shards, they were nothing but sand - of her shattered soul back together. Not perfect, and it could never be the same again, but it came back together, and Devi slowly came to her senses. Somehow, during that time, the Darkness Beast didn't break free. They could, but for some reason, they remained quiet. Until her barely pieced together soul was shattered again.

She avoided Riam, for obvious reasons. But he didn't avoid her. He relished in seeing her suffer. And so, they ended up fighting. That was the most emotional fight Devi'd ever had. She thought about it a lot, of course, and it made no sense to her Riam would act in such a way. And she was no longer delusional about it. She thought not about the Riam she knew, but about the Riam she created. No one else was that much different from how she created them in her imagination when she lived in the Real World, and it didn't make sense he'd be like that from the beginning. And during that fight, she found out why. Because the person she knew, in fact, wasn't the Riam she created. And he told her that that version of him was long dead.

Devi's soul shattered to pieces once again. The person she loved all this time... She never even met him. And won't ever meet him (or so she was led to believe). The mirror of her soul that Diano and others spent so much time piecing together fell apart once again. And this time... yeah, it was impossible to piece it back together. But as he laughed at her misery, Devi heard another voice in her head, voice that belonged to the real Riam, telling her that he was still alive inside there somewhere. And that was enough to fill Devi with unrivaled determination.

Devi found Riam inside his soul, chained at the bottom of a well. He remained there all that time, unable to do anything but never giving up on resistance. But unlike Devi who easily overpowered Diano, he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. And as it turned out, it wasn't him being weak, it was in fact Diano who had a huge weakness that never let her resist Devi.

Diano and Rodari were two consciousness separated from Devi affected by the anomaly of the Real World. And as such, they both inherited a feature of Devi's. Rodari got her wings, fixed their "imperfection" and turned them white with her. And Diano... She inherited a tear in Devi's shell created by Anorava pouring Darkness into her. It was a hole that led straight to one's soul, and incomplete like that, Diano could never have a chance to maintain control over Devi.

But he had no such weakness.

Devi fought him inside his own body, and although he should've been stronger on his own territory, Devi suddenly was so much stronger than she'd ever been. Even Light had little effect on her when normally it was her biggest weakness. He couldn't understand it, but obviously it was because she was fighting for the person she loved. And she won. And then freed Riam. And he finally opened the eyes of his own body once again.

Devi forgave him. Or rather, she never even saw what horrors Adam had put her through as Riam's fault. She wished only for one thing: that they could start all over again but this time together.

And her wish was granted.

Determination faded, and what was left was her broken soul, and the cage she once built for the monster she'd imprisoned within herself was no stronger than a straw hut. They could break free long time ago, and at that moment, they finally did.

They were scary at the time when Devi sealed them, but consumed the Aspect of Darkness core within Devi, there was no possible way to stop them. And the monster that was born to destroy fulfilled their purpose - they consumed the Universe. And the Wheel of Samsara returned to the starting point.

The Universe was reborn. It created Aredes. She fell apart, creating Anorava and Andariel. They fought, and Andariel hid, creating the first world - Afiar. Darinir, Anoam, Ula and Lana, everything was the same. But the Universe had no care about any of them - it set its sights to Devi only. Only she retained the memories. Otherwise, how would she change her fate? To be frank, the Universe didn't care if she did. It only wanted to see if she would. After all, it knew better than anyone else that fate was unshaken.

Devi sealed the monster within herself, created the Spirits, had Emy establish the Riots. Left to the Real World, had Diano and Rodari separate from her, but this time, her memories remained intact. She sealed Rodari and was left with Diano and Nirali to keep her company. And when she snatched Riam into her room, she immediately killed the one inhabiting his body - they went on to call him Adam - not giving him even a chance to ruin her life again. And that was where things became drastically different.

She thought she knew how it felt, being married to the man of her dreams. But she had no idea how it was being showered in love by him. Riam showed her just how badly Adam treated her. And the difference made good moments so much better.

Wonderful dates, presents just because 'this reminded me of you', extravagant wedding and the honeymoon out in the open sea, just the two of them. First pregnancy, and it went smooth. It made no sense why that part would change... but also, it did. And then she also got to witness Riam being an amazing father.

He was always there while Eva (and afterwards Paul and Pete too) were little, Devi never had to deal with the difficulty of dealing with a toddler (or two at the same time) alone. He spent all his time with his girls, and when Eva was 3, they adopted a panther that they saved from a circus - Bagheera. She was a whole new variable, something that never existed before. And she became an integral part of their family, playing with kids as they were growing up, and being their moral support when they grew older. And she also became immortal once she came along when the entire family returned to Afiar.

And that was when fate started catching up to Devi. And Eva became its first victim, once again. Despite Devi trying to ensure that Alphonse wouldn't get his hands on her, her mistake was believing there was a second chance she could give him. The circumstances were different, but he still ended up hurting her in the same way he did before. And then things only kept getting worse. Nothing bad happened, but certain things just kept retriggering Devi's trauma that she got before the reset. And eventually the burden of having her memories intact became too heavy to handle alone.

Riam caught onto it first. Devi couldn't possibly hide her distress from him. Eva was next, and everyone else who were close to Devi followed. But it didn't help. Because no amount of support could erase the fear that settled in her heart - if she couldn't escape her fate, then what was going to happen?

Devi tried to fight her fears, tried to purify her soul, and then turned to looking into the future to try acting before everything happened. However, the place she looked didn't predict the future - it showed the truth. Devi misenterpreted it and ended up only bringing it closer with her actions. And so, Adam was born within Riam once again.

She fought him. Again. And again. And he always kept coming back no matter what she did. Him and Alphonse. They became Devi's worst nightmares once more. And so, eventually, Riam proposed the only solution they had, but one that neither wanted to implement. To stop Adam from coming back, Riam had to die.

Devi tried to live on without him, really did, but no matter what, she was sinking deeper and deeper into depression. So eventually she decided it'd be better if she just went and died too. And that's when she learned about Nonexistence. Against her own will, of course.

Nonexistence was a realm that wasn't affiliated with any faction, existing outside any universe, and was less of an afterlife and more a prison made to kill those that couldn't be killed by ordinary means. And the Nonexistence's guards had their sights set on Devi for a long while. Unknowingly, she broke many rules, and her punishment was long due. However, they didn't act earlier because she was under the protection of her Universe. But when she decided to die and lost that protection, she was sent straight into Nonexistence.

A cell in Nonexistence had no borders, nor was it filled with anything. It was an empty space, and no matter how much you walked in any direction, you seemingly wouldn't even move from the spot. Only one person could be in one cell, and they couldn't reach other cells (or hear what's going on over there).

There were four stages of one's lifespan in Nonexistence. The first stage was the shortest one. At this point you'd think it's not that bad. While there's not much to do, you're not restrained in any way. You can move, you can talk, you can essentially do anything you want to entertain yourself. You can try to find a way to get out, or exercise, or sing and dance, anything really. Any abilities were suppressed but it really wasn't that bad, right?

The second stage begins when the loneliness starts to really weigh on you. For some it happened faster, for some it wouldn't happen for a really long time, but eventually it happened with everyone. That was when you'd gradually start losing your sanity. Rambling just to fill the silence, making up imaginary friends just to feel like you're not alone. And then... the voices begin coming back. And at this point, you're entering the third stage.

At this stage you're completely disconnected with reality. Your mind no longer works like it used to, and you gradually lose everything that once made you a person. 'Insanity' is no longer an appropriate term for where you've ended up.

And finally, once you've reached the fourth stage... There's absolutely no way back. You don't move, you don't think, your soul just fades away from existence while you're still conscious. Until you become one with Nonexistence, your voice in the cell fades, and someone else takes your place, going through all the same four stages.

Devi's time in Nonexistence was easily the most torturous thing she'd been put through. She had no idea how much time she spent there before the Riots resqued her, led by Felicia. But by that time she already reached the third stage. She could no longer comprehend what was happening around her or recognise familiar faces. Thankfully, with enough time and care she was able to gradually recover her sanity and self. And understood one thing: unless she wanted to disappear completely and to do so was ready to go through all that again, she no longer had an option of death.

She found Riam once again. And she asked him to return to the world of living with her. Because if she couldn't die, she'd rather constantly deal with Adam but have the person she loved the most by her side, than have neither.

At this point, she killed Andariel and Riam inherited the Aspect of Light powers, and they lived happily ever after. Well... except maybe for that time when she got into the Nonexistence again... That time went better - trusting that she'd be saved and already knowing what it was, she managed to slow down the process of going insane enough to be saved before she lost herself. And, well... she also fought Darinir, Adam, and Alphonse over and over and over and over... They managed to escape every time, never letting her have the taste of victory and never letting her out of the grip of anxiety. And even when they did, they just kept coming back, somehow. But other than that, she lived happily ever after. Well... At least until she got on the radar of the Gods beyond.

But that's a story to tell some other time...

SCOPE FOR FANTASY MASTERPOST - coming soon...

If you want to know more about my characters, feel free to send me an ask about them! I'd love to talk more about them!