#tara pathos

Looming over him was a terror to behold, striking fear to anyone looking at it. Large and shadowy in nature, undecipherable except for its luminous white eyes. There stood Deimos itshis true form, growling in its his monstrous immensity.

     As the viewers backed away from the new contender clenching Helena with its shadowy guise, worry and confusion ensued. Why was the beloved Fear Patho's familiar doing this?

     Slowly, Achlys turned to her sister, a cry of anger creeping out her throat— 

     The seat was empty.

     A new kind of darkness consumed the sky, further concealing the stage from view. Another one of Theoi's magicks. 

A loud screech of a moving throne echoed, but she dared not look back as she heard her father order his soldiers in a quiet hush. 

     "Patrol the area...Do not let anyone out for now…Find Theoi...lock her in her quarters…

     make sure that child dies at all costs." 

     Her heart stopped. Cursing a wildfire, she joined the crowd a group of soldiers immediately following her beck and call. Alchys shoved past patho from patho, searching and getting more impatient and desperate by the second...

     Then she spotted them. A person clad in a black cloak, holding a quivering form. They turned, looking around, and as fierce blue eyes met frightened violet, she lunged towards her sisters— 

     BANG! A person rammed into her. 

     She was quick to shove them away. Just then, another pushed against her, with the same glint in their eyes.

She looked around, blinking rapidly with a frown. It seemed that some people filled with this maddening change in mindset, turning against the other with vicious cries. 

     She struggled to go through them unscathed. Another almost shoved her down before soldiers held the patho back, along with other people as they begged the person to see reason.

     How dare they cause a ruckus now of all times! She thought, gritting her teeth in anger. What would ever drive them to be influenced by such wrath— 

...Wrath. 

     "Told you she would be the better person between us." A voice quipped. 

    She turned to see her brother, smiling ruefully.

     In a flash, she stretched out her own heart wrenching despair throughout the crowd, directed to all those idiots, and most especially her brother, who took it in with open arms. Instantly, the chaos stopped. The people froze, some people sobbing, a state of confusion through tears. 

     But even as the situation was handled, she knew better. They failed.

     Theoi and Helena were nowhere to be found. 

     She clenched his shirt with her fists and stared him down. His pathetic heaves of sadness were nothing compared to what she felt. “What have you done.”

     Marcus lurched back, surprising her. Despite being consumed with emotion, he answered in a cool, even tone, "What we should've been doing the whole time." 

     She had tried to do the right thing. She had tried to avoid her. She had tried to forget all the times they spent in the library, as she scoffed at her youngest sister's taste of literature, the times they snuck into the kitchen, or the time she proudly wore a sloppily made flower crown before it was taken away by her rightfully cautious maids. 

     Theoi had sneered at Helena. Bullied her and called her a monster and such horrid things. She had tried to spark a dark flame in her heart, and hate her and make her sister feel the same— 

     Yet her sister refused. She kept on smiling, even as tears started to form. She said that it was fine, that she understood, and despite everything...she would continue to love her, for Theoi was family. 

     She couldn't find it in herself to continue the act.

     And so she visited her dear sister for the sole purpose to help and bring her comfort the best that she could the rare times that she was able to sneak out. Usually she would sneak in food and tell her about what happened the past few days and complain about her siblings while Helena told her the simple, quirky stories that she made to pass the time, or they would just sit in silence, finding comfort in one another's presence. 

     But it seems that fate had other plans tonight. 

"It's named Arcadia, right?" 

      Theoi freezed. Deimos looked up to her with curious hollow eyes, tilting his shadowy head. "Whatever do you mean, melilla?" She whispered back. 

     "Arcadia," She said the name wistfully, as if it were a forbidden word (and it was, in a way). "That's the name of the other kingdom, right? Where the Light Pathos come from...Where I come from." 

     Theoi looked down, suddenly interested in rubbing Deimos' head. "I suppose so." 

     "If it's okay with you, Thi, can you tell me more about it?" 

     She shoved Deimos. 

     Wincing at his growl. she tried to calm him down, as she tried to calm herself down as well, with the sudden question. 

     Arcadia...that wasn't something you hear everyday. The pathos in the empire treated the name like a curse. 

     "I just thought since you're smart and read a lot of books, maybe you'd be able to tell me how it differs...from...here."  Helena trailed off, looking at her sister nervously. 

     Judging from Helena's flinch, she hadn't covered up her shock very well. She cursed internally as her sister started to panic. 

     "I mean, if it's okay with you, y'know? It's just— Well, I overheard some guards talking about it, how I might be sent there after something— Of course, it's up to you— Never mind, it's nothi—" 

     "They say that it was like Elysium for Pathos." 

     As her sister's rambling came to a stop, Theoi closed her eyes, trying to imagine the place. 

     "In the morning, the skies were always alight with rays from the sun, basking the lands with a golden glow. Even at night time, they were blessed with a far more heavenly sight to behold.."

     A place filled with light. A true opposite to the Alastorian Empire, where the sky was bleak and gray, sparing little to no of the sun's rays. Yes, the lamps and wisps helped, and the stars were beautiful, but always in a dark and gloomy way. Not as happy or as friendly.

     "But that wasn't the only thing. Their houses are also said to be laden with jewels and gold. The trees danced gracefully in the wind, along with the many colorful flowers and plants scattered in the meadows and gardens. There would always be children's laughter echoing throughout as they...played." 

     Played. Another foreign concept in the Alastor Empire. They did have ‘activities’, but they were practical in nature. Being a negative pathos, it was required for them to know the rules of society by heart.

     She put up a smile for her dear sister. "The people who live there are truly different. They wore beautiful clothing with such bright colors and lived each day filled with abundant bliss and joy. No doubt, you would be happier there, melilla." 

"...But would you be there?" 

"I— 

"Would be there with me, Thi? Would we be in that place together?" 

"No."

"...Then I won't go." She looked up, heart still, as Helena continued with a newfound confidence. "Even if that place was the Isles of the Blest, if you won't be there, then I'll never go." 

Helena looked back at her and smiled softly. "I wouldn't trade you for anything in the Boundless Realms, Sister." 

Our character, Theoi, is a Fear patho, making her a primary negative patho in the royal family (or whatever you call people from an empire). She is the third child. She has three other siblings, Achlys, [oldest, Misery] Marcus, [second oldest, Wrath] and Helena…a sickly optimistic child.

Pathos find out what emotion they represent when they undergo a situation that makes them invoke said feelings. Like. Really, really intense. Usually, they gain their name after finding out their emotion, but the Empress insisted on giving the youngest a name beforehand, as she said it wih her last breaths.

One day, her youngest sister [optimistic gal] that was like 290 years old (12 year olds) found out her own emotion.

Good news: it was pretty important.

Bad news: It was positive. 

Lo and behold, her emotion was Hope, and the whole empire was appalled.

Positives and negatives do not match. And since they basically quarantined each other from ever being in their presences, it was like an allergic reaction. 

Now, Theoi may have been raised to be cruel, but this was her sister. And after eavesdropping on an emergency secret meeting her older siblings and the council held, she found out that they planned to get rid of her young sister. And as she held her weeping sister that was filled to the brim with fear, she decided nah. Hence, they escaped the empire and journeyed to the positive kingdom.

So after a prettty hard journey, they were able to get an audience with the royals there and.... 

Let me make this clear. You know how the negative pathos were cold and cruel? The positives were somewhat nicer, but very snobby and pathosist. Despite hope being an impotant emotion, they were also apalled, for she was 'tainted' for living with negative pathos. 

Oh, and did I also mention that both dynasties were very unfair to their people and created an unfair system in which the rare emotions were poor and treated unfairly in such a way that they were never able to be powerful, even though they are all emotions and all important in making any living thing feel, no matter how seldom a certain feeling occurs? 

So....quest to take out both of these unfair monarchies. Yep. Expect comfort,,,,and ANGSTTT

(Possible plot twist in which the reason why both positives and negatives tolerate each other is because if one side doesn't exist, then apathy will be stronger

YEP THOSE 'MONSTERS' ARE APATHY)