From his perspective, nearly everything was a drag, a waste
of effort he had no real interest in committing himself to. Fighting? Riches?
There was always a predetermined limit, an extent humans would never be able to
reach no matter how hard they tried.
In truth, the entire concept of Free-will was lost to
Luster. Whether it be dancing in his palm or the palms of those around him, it
didn't particularly matter. If you figured out what made people tick, what
pushed the right buttons, anyone could be turned into a monster.
And yet, there was a distinct randomness that didn't fit
into his very clear-cut view of life. Because humans were boring, because there
was always a limit, Luster chose not to commit himself to such things, after
all, what was the need when he already knew the ending?
But then came Lost from Light. By all rights, Luster found
him entirely uninteresting upon first glance. An emotionless machine with
unfathomable strength which represented the pinnacle of what was humanly
possible, his existence was partly the reason Luster didn't commit himself to
combat.
After all, what was the point in chasing a goal he couldn't
reach?
And yet, there was something uniquely interesting about him.
A man raised in the clutches of Clan Valor, one tempered and beaten into
submission by the manipulation of Morgan. To Luster, there were only two routes
to go from there. After all, that was human nature, no?
Predetermined actions always equalled a predetermined
outcome.
Dancing in the palm of an invisible being with strings being
pulled by an invisible force, no human was strong enough to cut their strings.
And so, Luster labelled him as something simple, as he did with most people in
the world.
Valor's slave.
But then he rebelled, freeing himself from the chains of his
master. It was an unexpected outcome yes but not something outside his
expectations. But a faint flicker of interest, a flickering flame in the
monochrome world that Luster lived in that represented something unique.
Hope.
Hope that he too could escape the predetermined binds that
led him to an outcome he could so easily predict. The world was built that way,
it had expectations of him he didn't want to fulfil yet was going to anyway.
There were things people wanted him to do, labels people placed on it.
They disgusted him.
The idea of Lost from Light taking revenge and biting the
hand that once fed him was a predictable outcome, something that Luster too
could read all too easily. After all, if he endured what Sunless had, he
wouldn't think twice about ripping apart the entire clan from its roots.
And yet, despite the predictability of his desire for
revenge, he found something else within that.
Happiness.
Revel, Seishan, Nephis. Moonveil. Silent Stalker.
Everyone.
How could someone who the world had tried its hardest to
break, escape from his chains and then go on to find happiness for themselves?
What gave him the right to go against the wishes of the
world?
What gave him the right to escape the outcome that was
determined for him?
What gave him the right to be free?
That wasn't what Luster expected. An emotionless machine,
yes. An unfathomably powerful monster, yes. A revenge driven maniac, yes. At
one point, he was all those things, and yet he was none of them at all. How
could such a contradiction be allowed to exist?
His freedom was an affront, a vile disgusting entity that
ripped away, spat on, diminished, defiled everything Luster viewed about the
world.
The chains that bound Luster to the people around him, bound
Luster to the world, they disgusted him infinitely. He was a cog in the machine
that was the world around him, doing whatever outside stimulus forced him to do
then fooling himself into believing he was free.
But he wasn't, his mind refused to let him acknowledge such
an absurdity as true.
It was wrong, it couldn't exist, it shouldn't exist, it
can't exist, it doesn't exist, it can't exist because it doesn't exist, because
it doesn't exist it can't exist, because it can't exist it doesn't exist.
Why is he not free? He had a mother and father who had
regretfully died, a sister who loved him and yet he wasn't free.
Was there something wrong with him? Why was his existence
such an anomaly? Why could the people around him walk around with such bright
smiles and act as though they are free when they aren't?
And then, it truly struck him.
It was all a façade, their smiles, their laughs, it was all
because they remained under the illusion of freedom.
If he managed to regain this illusion, remove the speck in
his vision, he could return to being happy.
And so, he began pulling the strings, if he didn't, who else
would have done it? He wasn't so arrogant to think that he was the only person
who had realised the vile existence that was Lost from Light, however he was
surely the person best suited to fix it.
He would rip everything from him, rip away all those who
made him happy all to ensure he fit into the monochrome world he lived in.
After all, this was his revenge, this was his retribution.
"You will pay for making me hope for freedom."
--
Walking forward merrily, Luster made his way towards the
veritable fortress that was Valor's outpost. In only a few weeks they had
conquered three citadels, using the hidden treasures that could be uncovered
within them for their personal gain as they prepared for the war.
Despite the heavy losses they had taken, Valor had recovered
almost instantly, at most, what it had done was weaken their reputation
slightly in the eyes of the public, but quickly such a message blew over as it
was clear Sunless was anything but normal.
The public's reaction to the massacre had been unanimously
hostile towards Sunless. They saw it as a genocide that could not be justified,
and so even the government had chosen to point their weapons in his direction,
training their military privately in preparation.
What this meant, was that Sunless was stuck in between a
rock and a hard place, unable to flee and return to the normal life which he
had once yearned for, he only had a home within the underworld, where he would
likely never receive peace until his death.
Sadly, Luster wouldn't allow such a future.
Frankly, he had never planned in the event that Sunless died
simply because he couldn't imagine it, however that didn't mean he wouldn't
dissuade all those who got dangerously close to accomplishing the mission.
Slipping a porcelain black mask onto his face, Luster smiled
widely before walking through the defences of Valor without resistance. To
them, he was "Echo" an enigma who had arrived from essentially nowhere with an
agenda towards destroying Lost from Light.
And in that, he and the sovereigns were aligned.
As he prepared himself to push open the heavy metal doors
which separated the head of Valor from the rest of his people, Luster took a
moment to sit down, enjoying the oddly soothing noise of soldiers training in
the background as he smiled to himself.
"I don't really see the hype; three sovereigns being allowed
to wield this much power seems a bit ludicrous. Well, if they didn't things
wouldn't be half as interesting, so I suppose thanks are in order. Oh well."
Finishing his mental assessment with a grunt as he slowly
raised himself to his feet, Luster smiled brightly behind his mask as he shoved
open the door forcefully, causing it to slam against the metal walls with a
ringing noise he was sure created an air of intimidation.
After all, he was an enigma, his strength was unknown to
these people. And that meant he would push his advantage as much as he could.
Locking eyes with the gruff looking warrior, Luster gave a
slight mocking bow as his eyes travelled toward Morgan who stared at him with
an impassive expression written across her face. But he could tell from the
slight tension within her right arm that she had just received good news.
'Something to do with Sunless. How exciting!' Luster
mentally proclaimed before he began. "Anvil! I hope you've been well, how are
your injuries? Lost from Light didn't hurt you too badly I assume?" He
exclaimed with a smile, completely acknowledging the fact he was being
irritating.
"I've been well, although I assume you always knew that.
After all, isn't it the duty of weaklings who can only work in the background
to be well informed? Echo."
Clutching his chest in mock outrage, Luster smiled as he
took an exaggerated step back. "Ah, if I'm a weakling for avoiding a head on
confrontation with Sunless, then we are in the same boat, no? Here we have a
weakling who works from the shadows and a weakling who hides behind armies. We
should be close due to our shared weakness, no?"
"Do not rope me in with—"
"In other news, I have some interesting information for you.
I'm sure you'll like it, hopefully if you manage to do this right on the first
attempt, something you have quite little experience in, you'll gain an elite
fighting force!"
In the face of continuous insults, Anvil narrowed his eyes,
his hand tracing the line of his sword as his muscles tensed. In response,
Morgan narrowed her eyes at Luster, she too preparing for an altercation should
the need arise.
"Ah, so quick to violence. Mordret truly is his father's son
then, no? Oh, I forgot you cheated on your wife and had her killed to cover it
up! Oh! I said too much!"
In the blink of an eye, Anvil's sword tore through the air, getting
dangerously close to his throat.