My Rotten Goddess [WW4 Training Arc] [Mana/Cali]

There was certainly a change taking place within that daughter of hers as The Ol' Queen lurked in the abyss of these murky depths of death. In her point of view, it only took moments for time to blink, shift and turn as that glowing, gold light of Cali started to shimmer like the violent gaze of a burning sun. It is in this moment that Mana felt a sense of warmth from that creature trying to otherwise melt through her own layers of emptiness.

"Ya really want it that bad, eh?"

Although there was a coy tone felt in her voice, it wasn't necessarily a sarcastic one. Mana was at a sense of disbelief on some level from the efforts her daughter put in to otherwise appease her. Apart of her almost felt obliged to otherwise indulge these suits of frenzy hungry. And so, that is what she would do as a mother.

It took only the command of her whim to summon forth a dense wall of shade flames which otherwise drenched itself in the ilk of Mana's own decay and death. In this way, she sought to consume her body within this abyss so that she may otherwise face the depth of her apathy, rot and slaughter alike. So while the skin of The Queen felt consumed by these flames, the numbing her own pain allowed the woman to otherwise gaze upon the visage of her daughter with intent desire as she asked this simple question:

"Now, tell me: why do you keep coming back for more, child? Upon the many grand layers of insanity, chaos, and hell which comes from knowing The Queen of Madness, why do ya' desire that torment for ya self? Even now, ya whole body is breaking down bit by bit, yet ya' keep comin' back for my embrace. Tell me: what is it that makes you yearn to push through my abyss, child?"

Her clawed hands gripped her mother with a fierce iron grip, though she didn't move any further at first. The flames that her body burned with would continue to burn upon her mother's flesh, the young one breathing hard as pitch black ichor began trailing from the sides of her mouth. Her innards burned, even if the rampant energy of death were being converted into something entirely new and protective. Though it hurt horribly, the demon did not think of her pain, her only concern was the being in front of her.

She barely acknowledged as black ick touched her body, being drenched in the ghastly negativity of her mother's being. Though the flames eased for a moment, it took only a heartbeat for them to suddenly burst and blaze brighter than ever, the previously dark air around them filling with flames that burned the darkness, however didn't get rid of it completely, flecks of shade existing even in the brightest burn. The burning sensation that she would inflict upon her mother would soon change in nature, instead of a bone-charring blaze, it would become a soft, warm glow upon her flesh.

Despite the area around them slowly being rendered into a still silence, Calypso herself did not fully reflect the blazing glory she put out. Her eyes had turned almost completely pitch black, only her bright irises spared from the tarring of her eyes. Black liquid ran copiously from her eyes, her mouth occasionally sputtering the larger volume of fluids. Calypso herself wasn't certain of what was happening to her, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered to her in the moment, aside from the only being she existed with, in this private mental space.

Her previously vicious expression had softened as she got close to her mother, and only softened more as she asked the child her question. Despite clearly suffering and dazed, her tar spewing mouth slowly turned into a soft smile, her agonized eyes filled with a softness toward the woman before her,

"Have you ever asked yourself why it has to be like that? Or have you just been living this entire time with the bottom line being, 'Nothing but tragedy comes out of knowing me'? Is damage the only thing you believe yourself capable of doing well in?"

The black tar that oozed from her eyes was suddenly changed; it looked as if Calypso was weeping the cosmos themselves, a magical appearance to the darkness being lit by small speckled lights, her darkened eyes gaining a similar appearance.

"I keep coming back, because you're my mother. Because I love you. Because you're a person just as much as anyone else, and even if you don't see it like that, there is hurt in your heart. And for as long as that's so, and far beyond that, i'm going to keep pushing through the abyss of your being, of anyone's, and give my undying love. Because not even the wicked Queen of Demon World deserves to drown in herself, alone."

Her tight grip would suddenly pull the woman into a forceful hug, her blazing wings softly enveloping her,

"My nature is to love and heal, so heal and love I shall, no matter how much I present myself to be an aberration of our fierce, emotional race. I'm uninterested in falling into the possibly infinite line of failures you have experienced in any number of your lives."

Her eyes blazed as she only further rained comfort upon her mother, her dulled gaze growing stern,

"I will not be a failure. Even if every inch of my existence is screaming and begging for death, I will not fall, Mother."

Stalemate. The two were in lock with one another in the abyss of their emotions, powers and inner conflicts of the heart and mind. So as the inferno of shade and light clashed against one another, the demoness of chaos looked into the eyes of her child to observe the words of question about the fate of being damned. Upon hearing those words, the thick layer of death's embrace bled behind the woman as her pale skin stood out in the abyss and those gem green eyes of hers once again pierced toward the direction of Cali as a firm voice called out to her.

"Ya' is truly a blissful tart. Most family, friends, allies n' enemy alike corrode n' die when their sweet embrace touches my soul. I've made my peace with that n' I inform all those who wish to experience my maddening touch of the hell they'll endure from my foul karma, darlin'."

While her voice was firm, the thoughts in her heart grew more distorted. Hazey memories of all the battles waged, lives lost, countries destroyed, lovers gone; it was all a maddening blur of wonderful rainbow hues and blackening depths of sorrow. Twas' as if an inferno of manic glee n' deep blues rotted in her twisted little heart.

"Oh, honey, I'm not denying I don't hurt."

With that typical southern bell laugh of hers, the woman's body unveiled the thousands of scars, cuts, and bruises which devoured her body from all the times she has faced combat.

"Ya really think I'll give those bastards the satisfaction of seein' my lovely soul so tattered? One should be so lucky."

There was then a wink of an eye that was given before those scars faded into her skin's pale white abyss as soon as they emerged.

"But, I can't exactly feel sorry for myself, can I? Oh no. I've played this game, I've milked my fun, I've seen highs mortals can only dream of. So to pay the consequences for this game I've played for many years is only fair. If the universe sees fit to claim my divine being, so be it."

A pause was given before Mana then kneeled over and merely embraced her daughter. Of course, it was a hard thing to do, but The Queen was so far gone in herself that it didn't matter.

"I'm a bad person, s'ugah. I ain't bullshittin' myself. But ya' don't deserve to suffer for my sins."

While she did own her shit to hell and back, there was still a sense of solemness felt in her actions, voice, and aura. Mana felt more than prepared for the bleak road ahead of herself from this maddening game of life, death, chaos, and fun; yet something within herself still felt some emotion or another for her spawn and those who dared to bare the name of Asthavon.

"But I'm proud of ya, kiddo. Ya at least are learnin' my spunk. Ya better not fail if you want to have a chance in hell of makin' in this dog eat world."

The child was exhausted to say the least, as she held onto her mother. Between the pain and radiant energy, it felt like her mind was getting harder to grasp, slippery, airy in nature, as she continued to try to keep herself focused on her mother. The sheer amount of new sensations she was exposed to were overwhelming, even if it felt like the best high in her life; She didn't want to slip gears mid conversation as the two of them met an evening in power for the moment. As the world around them swirled with ligh and shade, Calypso remained hugging her mother, and listening to her voice.

She watched as her mother's flesh was adorned with all manners of injuries from all sorts of conflict, the young one's heart twisting as she heard her words and saw such effects upon her being, and in that instant, they were gone, her pale skin back to being pristine as it had before. Her pained eyes would soon meet her mother's once again, the woman's words, and especially her underlying emotions, only continued to twist the young one's heart. She couldn't help it, her mother's words made her feel.. Unnaturally upset. She wanted her to stop saying that stuff, stop thinking like that, Calypso didn't want her mother to be taken away. The brilliance of her eyes seemed to slowly fade as her emotions rolled and boiled inside of her.

...I don't want Mama to d̵̟͈̟̀̏ ̵̢̔i̷̮̒͠ ̸̢̨͈͛̔̃e̷̪͇̼̔.̶̝̾̽

The tired state of Calypso was suddenly still for a moment. It would feel like her mother was handling a corpse, no, something even stiller than a corpse, an unnatural amount of stillness, even in this realm of the mind.

"..You've been bad-bad-bad..."

The young Asthavon's voice didn't sound normal, rather, the inflections in her voice sounded like an odd mix between an innocent child, and someone's who tipped a bit off their kilter. An unnerving amount of emotion suddenly radiated from her, as the brilliant flames around them, once prismatic, now slowly shifted into a calm, dark purple, being lit with the stars themselves. Instead of a warming presence, the flow of them tensed and relaxed constantly, as if reflecting their master's mental state, a lulling presence would exist in their relaxed state, and a sharp presence, as if being pricked by many needles, appeared during tension, but above all.. The energy radiated only one emotion consistently, and fiercely, a sickening glow that was like the most heart-thumping candy to the senses.

Love.

If Mana would meet her eyes once again, she would see that her child's eyes, while before only the sclera were swamped with darkness, now took the entirety of her eyes, having become liquid-dripping voids filled with stars, her mouth nearly featureless aside from being turned up into a feverish smile, one of her hand's fingers being placed in her jaw as she chewed on them, giggling softly as her nightmareish teeth gnashed and cut into her black, clawed fingers, though instead of bright blue blood spilling forth, a similar colored liquid to her eyes were produced by the wound.

"But it's okay-kay-kay, I still love you, even if you're bad... All i've ever-er-er-er wanted was to love you, and for you-u-u-u to love me.."

She slowly placed a clawed hand on her mother's face, gently touching her cheek with her thumb as her smile only got more demented. Calypso, for the moment, was completely swallowed in her own overwhelming emotions,

"Buuuut... I don't want you to die, Mama... I don't want you to... Heeheehee, so that means you aren't allowed to die or go away.."

For a moment, the calming aura around them would spike in intensity, as Calypso released a cold laugh, "And if aaaannnyyonnnneee or annnnyyyythiiiinng... Tries to take you away... I'll punish them, okay~? Okay~? Punish~! Like a new game! You aren't allowed to die, okay~? I won't let it happen~!"

She would suddenly pull the woman, until they were face to face, Calypso's void-like eyes boring far past her mother's own eyes, the sensation of intensity refusing to leave,

"So.. Don't... Let.. That.. Happen... Ever."

The atmosphere of the realm around them turned to something foul. It was if someone took ol' lassie out back, got the 12 gauge and shot the mutt's brain out. Yeah, this shit stank something foul and Ol' Mana couldn't ignore that stench even if she tried. So, a foul chuckle escaped her mouth which sounded akin to one of those ever-so-cliched villains having their overdramatic scene of laughter. Of course, that was soon followed with a questionable raise of the eyebrow after the child uttered something about her being bad, bad.

"Bad? S'ugah, I've been downright atrocious."

There was then another smug smirk given at the hints of pride beaming from her being. Mana owned up to her shit rather well and wasn't shy about the foul deeds she had done from her life. Of course, this wasn't out of some edgy sense of not having a sense of care about her actions, but rather it was easier on her own psyche to otherwise trivialize such things. It was far, far, far beyond the point to have second thoughts about whatever the fuck it is her twisted n' foul heart desired.

At any rate, none of that crap mattered at the moment. As all of it became a distant thought when her daughter turned into something you'd see out of a Stephen King novel. Hell, with how her child looked, she'd give Pennywise a run for his money. Granted, given the emotion bleeding out of the child through the seal, it was hard for Mana to feel threatened by this ghastly sight. After all, she's stared gods themselves down, so what was another unsightly gaze to her?

No.

What was more interesting had been the words spoken out of this creature. They were drenched in sweet sentiment that could make a diabetic kill over in their sleep from how loving they were. It was something which The Queen had an issue accepting: that love. Despite her entire essence being pushed toward the brink of collapse, the young creature still sought to cling to her parent like a lost child seeking love in this black world. Hence, The Queen allowed for her daughter's claw to grace her cheek as she set fit to remain her humanoid visage.

Still unmoved, Mana's face started to fade into a more neutral expression. It was if she were looking from the outside in and taking the time to analyze the circumstance despite all her manic glee not too long ago. Hearing her child's desire for her not to die and go away was a rather concerning thing. Could mean the girl was too attached for her good. Love made people do the maddest of things.

But, by the time Cali pulled Mana's face in closer, the demoness could only give a coy laugh before her jovial demeanor slowed faded back into existence.

"Ya can do what ya like child. If ya' are mad enough to love such a callous creature, that is ya' own prerogative. Clearly, my warnings won't do ya' any well, so traverse the depth of my black heart as deep as ya' wish."

Despite all her bullshittery, the woman didn't put up much of a fight against her daughter's love at this point. And it's why she ultimately just caved in to give her a hug before a grim chuckle escaped her lips.

"Love me however tight or loose as ya' will~"

The starry ichor only continued to drip from multiple places in which wounds have been laid upon her body, the air filled with her intense, obsessive love as the monstrous looking Calypso appeared to be listening to her mother, but really nothing quite got to her in this state. Her ears caught what she said, but it just drowned out in the incoherent, warm slurry that her thoughts had turned into. The girl's clawed hand only continued to touch her mothers face, giggles escaping her nightmareish mouth, until finally...

She blinked, a gasp escaping her mouth, her eyes suddenly back to normal despite having the black tar trickling from them. The next second, the girl would then move her head to the side and cough, a splatter of shimmering black spraying from her lips, the young one gasping for air as she noticed the position she was in. The area around them was now silent, the oppressive swirl of her love no longer present. She didnt understand what was happening, her thoughts lacked cohesion until this point.

"I... Wha.."

With such a confused statement, within the blink of an eye, she was gone from her mother's dreams; That was as simple as it would be for her to vanish if she so deeply wished..

Darkness, darkness, that was what she existed in. It felt like an eternity, but it truly was a second; That was the effect of dreams, despite the dream only really occuring for moments, it would feel as if years went by to the dreamer within the dream.

A violent twitch would come from the girl's body as she jumped awake, feeling the dirt shift underneath her, a small squeak from her as she then adjusted to the fact that she was alive and reality was a thing. She panted, and soon looked to her mother. The tail end of that dream fight was misty to her, but she felt odd, emotionally sore in a way..

What the hell did she do?

Dreams were finite fleets of madness that allowed the mind and heart to wander in whatever sense of pleasure or torment it yearned for. Mutterings of the subconscious were the truest pathways toward connecting to the essence of the true self. And in riding these inner routes to the honest ego, Ol' Mana connected Cali to the aspect of mania which lay dormant within herself. Bonding with that sense of madness was key toward awakening that sweet, accursed Asthavon power.

And so -- with her mind, body and spirit now ever so chained to The Queen -- her job was done.

Just as soon as this hellish venture began did it end.

In a matter of moments, the living body of The Demoness shook with a faint flicker of emerald green energy as her conscious mind projected itself back to its physical form. Still holding her young daughter in her arms, the woman opened her gem green eyes to see the world of infinite grey all around them.

Yet, a more somber expression washed over the demon as she regained her sober state of mind.

"Ya' venture is done, s'ug. Ya' life is fucked n' ya are properly bonded with me n' mah sweet manic power."

There was a sense of glum and sternness behind the woman's voice in this time as her cold eye turned back to Cali.

"Don't come whinin' to me if ya' come to regret this choice dear. I can feel that ya' heart is entwined with that madness, so do what ya' may with it."

With a grim chuckle, Ol' Queene decided to let go of Cali and stand up to gaze at the black rain which drenched around them as a sense of unnerving calm bled into the space around them.

"What ya' do with this knowledge', wisdom, power n' feelin'? That's up to ya self. I could think of a million different bullshit sentiments to express that wouldn't equate to anything, but just know the road ya' headin' down ain't gonna be pretty."

Then, with a snap of her hand, The Demoness opened a vortex that brought forth the golden light of demon world within it. Should Cali go there, then she'd be brought back to one of royal temples built by Khala to arrive in the central demon nation and otherwise pick up the pace of her normal life.

"Ya are free to leave now. I gave ya' more than enough."

With her arms folded, the woman closed her eyes and started to sit back on the ground as her body held it's warm emerald fire around herself. Almost as if she were shielding herself with it as the power felt behind such a force could make even the strongest of Captain's second guess coming close.

"As fer' me? Leave me be. I got thinkin' n' trainin' to before I leave myself."

As her eyes began to close, a sense of dread, love, fear, hostility, weakness, strength, compassion, disconnection, connection and all the many emotions which compromise this mad thing we call a spirit bled from Mana. The woman didn't know what the fuck to feel, where the fuck to move or where this chaos should be directed anymore. Hence, she needed her own form of self-care to maneuver the ever-changing mindscape of her demented hue of reality.

In the end, however, solitude is all Mana sought. There were many things to mull over. Things she desired not to be in the presence of anyone over. Clenching to that sweet, bitter madness of isolation; this radiance of love in her heart was quite the subject for her mind to wrestle with.


"Now go. Do not make my love a waste of time. Live fearlessly and establish your truth in the world."

Calypso felt as her own mother stirred from her slumber, not moving away from her gentle hold until she was to move. She looked around the previously horrific arena, now simply a grey void. Confusion pattered her senses as she wondered why there was such a dramatic change in appearance to this place. It felt rather quiet, aside from the mother and child.

Sensing her mother's rather bleak emotions only added to her confusion. She had never felt or heard her mother speak in such a way, why was she acting this way now? Calypso got up as she felt a drop of darkness run down her face, only for more to come down. It didn't hurt or anything, and thus the girl wasn't in shock or fear of it, looking to the portal her mother created, essentially shooing her off to leave her be.

"Who said my life was fucked? I certainly didn't."

She spoke plainly as she didn't take a single step outside of the realm they resided in for god knows how long at this point, "Why would I come whining to you about a choice I made for myself? I'm completely fine with this arrangement, or else I wouldn't have come to you."

She walked around her mother, not getting anywhere close to the green flames she had erected as a barrier it looked to be, her eyes narrowed, disposition calm.

"Being in here can be any amount of time, right? So what do you plan on doing for what could possibly be forever in here? Do you plan to numb yourself? Forget whatever you've felt through my time here? Do you really think I can't sense your bothered emotional state right now? Because I very much can. A blind man could tell you're not behaving as usual."

Calypso took a seat of her own, in sight of her mother, showing no interest in leaving as of yet.

"Why the drastic change in appearance? This place was a hellhole before, now it's just... This,"

She waved her hand in reference, looking back to the wicked queen, "I'm not going to leave until you talk to me, Mom. I'm not going to let you bullshit your emotions away or whatever the hell you were planning to do."

Was she here, or was there? Did this place exist, or did it not exist? With the power of a goddess, the fractured psyche of a million spirits and the will to usher in her desires into reality; it was quite the cluttered sense of perception to ingest for any worldly or non-worldly being to digest. Yet, from the tattered remains of this broken view did the eye of The Queen observe her kin and utter these words to her:

"You only have the balls to say that because I am here to protect you as a mother."

This voice -- was different. It wasn't that manic Texan Twang, nor was it the sound of that depressive apathetic witch. This tone, that expression; it all conveyed a sense of urgency, uncertainty and perhaps -- fear? Yes. This voice was far different than any which uttered before. It sounded as if the woman had aged many decades in a second, and even the sight of her hair overflowing to the floor around her signifed some type of change....

"What the hell will you do when I'm not here to protect from the gods and death themselves?"

Pain. There was a lot of pain in that voice. It was if she were struggling to figure out how to say something as her face scowled into something fierce.

"I can break you down, rebuild you and repeat as many times as you want because I have the power of a near goddess. You, however, do not. You do not have the luxury of being out of my grasp and sight. When that inevitably happens, do you really think my enemies will spare you from the torment they'd want to inflict on me?"

That's when the woman stopped, grabbed her chest and started to snarl as her own tendrils exited out of her mouth and bled a black essence. No, she wasn't dying. There was no signs there was anything physically or spiritually wrong with the woman. Instead, this was emotional pain. A great pain of a mother -- scared.

"You make me weak, child. What part of that don't you get? You give me a vulnerability I despise and I loathe these connections because what if I cannot be there for you when you need it? "

Disdain. Great disdain. So much disgust exited out of the mouth of Mana that even poison itself could be rotted by those words. Yet, she persisted.

"It's far, far, far easier to be an uncaring and cruel queen with the power of a god at your sight. It is so much harder to be loving to people I can lose, don't you get that?"

At this point, she lowered her head in disgrace as she clenched her chest and just kept her tears back as all of the different voices in her head blurred into a dim static.

Calypso's expression softened with her mother's initial sentence; well of course she had the balls to say anything because of their relation. They... They were... Family. It would be wrong to not say anything, and if anything, it was something she felt her mother needed. She needed someone who had the guts to call her out on her bullshit.

And so were those guts spilled, watching as her appearance changed, the sounds of her voice being one who aged right before her eyes. Her expression was kept stern as she listened to her mother get right to the bottom line; her desire to have the ability to protect her, and the burning question of what the hell would happen if she were to perish and leave her behind.

Calypso was.. Somewhat shocked, honestly. She didn't know that her mother even had that kind of worry. No, didn't know wasn't the right word, didn't fully realize it was a better descriptor. She wasn't used to viewing her mother as a caring being, she was just learning that her mother did have some essence of love in her blackened heart.

She could sense it, her worry, her pain, her fear, as she let her heart bleed to her child. The true picture of a mother's feelings for her child, and it honestly made Calypso well with emotion in return, but not a single tear left her eyes. She only sat there, listening to her speak her worries, her admittance that the girl made her weak..

The girl suddenly shuffled straight for her mother, regardless of whatever barrier she wished to place, pushing through and pulling the woman into a tight hug, her eyes tightly shut,

"I'm not going to die so easy, Mom."

She held the woman close, her eyes remaining shut as her heart poured, "Even if I don't have the strength of a goddess, I swear, I won't die, our family won't die. We have each other and ourselves. Even if... You're gone.. We'll be alright. No matter what, we will live. I promise you."

A hitched breath came from her, giving the woman a gentle stroke of the hair, "We. WILL. Live. Even if you're gone. Even if things turn to shit, I will do everything I can to fix it, even if it means learning to grow to your level."