The Light Fades As The Sun Sets [Arcadia, Cyrus]

The poor light, her poor light. A tragedy plagued the world he longed to protect and shepard of an ideal world who believed in free will, a silly notion as far as Arcadia was concerned. The people were sheep that needed a totem, an eikon to worship and find succor in but he disagreed.

How he continued to resist her and yet another tragedy, it was always after a storm little children needed someone to look up to. Tell them it's okay, love them and promise them to make it all better if they would just succumb to those more basic instincts.

"Ahhh, my poor Ahura Mazda. I can smell the foul scent all the way from here. A tragedy afflicted on your poor subjects, from a perceived ally of all things. That's what he was, wasn't it?"

Arcadia opened the moment he walked through the door into his own office. Her male form was far more common to see but on the off-chance people spoke of a woman that resembled him greatly around the City of Lights. That woman Cyrus was so familiar with sat before him while idly keeping her attention fixed on this peculiar dent. Did he punch his desk in anger? She wanted to know, what could cause Cyrus to damage this piece of furniture. His distress was the sweetest meal for her.

Her eyes weren't the eyes of a predator though. They were the eyes of sympathy and compassion, the kind that told him he was welcome to indulge in all the comfort she could offer him if he was willing to pay the price.

There was something about the presence of this woman which invariably caused the greatest degree of ambivalence in Cyrus. Her demeanor and her ideals were thoroughly at odds with his own, but her aims for the realms, and the assistance she could provide to him, were all too welcome. This was to say nothing, of course, of the simple comfort there was in speaking with another who understood the life of divinity, who did not deny it in themselves, but affirmed it.

"He was neither ally nor enemy. He and I saw eye to eye on the matters of Shadow Fall and other threats to the Earth, but our conflict was inevitable. This has simply accelerated the timetable on our own aims."

The answer Cyrus gave was so professional and so detached that, if one did not know him, they might simply have accepted it at face value. But those closest to him, and those who understood his divinity, surely knew that to see another god fall would weigh upon him heavily. It was all the heavier to know it had been one he swore to keep from this very fate.

"It is lamentable only that we have not been given the opportunity to remove him altogether. This sealing is but a temporary measure."

"I see. It's a shame when a vessel breaks, all the water comes flowing out."

Arcadia did not care for this realm, her end game was something she didn't tell many and the only person outright told was before her. She had a fondness of humans if only because she had spent time and given them help in creation of civilisation; they were like extended family in the form of adopted children but there would be a time when she said goodbye to this realm and returned to her own world and return it to its true and proper form.

The small game she played with Cyrus was another matter entirely, something for the intrim. Arcadia's overall power was low, distinctly different, but small. The point when he couldn't handle her anymore was the moment she achieved that sweet and succulent victory.

"You look exhausted from it all, are you disappointed in yourself? I suppose the fault lies with you. You knew of this threat and let it fester like an infection. If I were you I would have cut out the cancer before it became terminal."

He was too far away, Arcadia reached out and gestured with some of her fingers to coax him over to her on his desk. It was nice little small talk, even though small talk itself with her wasn't free of that foul nature she had.

"Yes, I suppose that I am ultimately to blame."

It was not guilt or self-flagellation in the way that he said it, but simply an acknowledgement of what he perceived as the truth. He had not only failed to keep his promise, but had failed to ensure that one of the greatest obstacles to their success was removed. What else might Cyrus feel but disappointment in himself?

"I did not have the ability to destroy him before, and I still lack it now. Even were I to burn away the whole of my existence for one single act, I do not think it would be nearly enough."

Against his better judgement, Cyrus did take his seat behind the desk, well within Arcadia's reach. She was everything that he was not, his polar opposite. She was, surely, the Angra Mainyu, and yet it sometimes seemed that she understood him better than nearly anyone else. How painful, and yet how comforting.

What a sad fact, the more feminine aspects afforded to her by this form only felt it all the more. It was more fitting for comfort though, though he might've preferred her more masculine delivery rather than how she engaged with him as a woman. Their interactions and relationship was more complex beyond divine nature; it was nuances of aspect against aspect. Mundane people didn't have enough words nor complex enough words to explain it.

When he took his seat she spun around on the desk to face him. The space was still to far for her and Cyrus got the sensation of her in his lap, straddling him with a sweet smile that was genuine but hard to understand if it was meant to comfort or to be a taunt. Maybe both with how many ways her actions could be interpreted.

"I see. That is unfortunate to hear, if I could do anything to help you acquire the power to destroy that taint. I would, my revival truly does remind me that such a plague doesn't just burden your realm but my own subjects."

Closing her eyes and leaning in closer to his face. She pressed her forehead into his, she'd never kiss him. He might let her but it would be hollow, if he was to fall into her then he'd need to do it of his own volition and so for a brief moment she just remained like that before her deep crimson eyes opened and stared at his own.

"So tell me what you are going to do about it."

Regardless of her aspect, divine mother or father she was decisive and didn't waste any time. Arcadia always remembered herself as being wise. Her choices were made instantly and entirely informed, normal people wasted time getting lost in their troubles. A God only needed a moment.

It was not especially difficult for Cyrus to simply ignore the suggestive manner in which Arcadia chose to interact with him. It was simply in her nature, he knew. There was no pleasure in the feeling of her body so close to his, no temptation even as she brought her face a hair's breadth from his own. It was simply the nature of how they interacted.

"Yes, I have little doubt that you would, particularly given the threat that he has posed to your own realm as well."

It took a touch longer to formulate his response to her second question, however. What exactly was his next aim? How was he to overcome this? He could not simply become stronger from nothing, and he had no means by which to force his body to adapt.

"For now, I must simply watch and wait. I will need to find something which can afford me every greater power, for I do not have the time to simply train as others do. I will certainly develop my abilities, refine my mastery of them, but that is nothing other than a stopgap measure. If I am to face off against those who hold the world in their hand, I have no option but to become able to steal it away from them before they might even notice."

"So your white witch is at her limits then? A shame, her power is so uniquely close to divine that it is a shame that weak body of her's cannot utilise it to greater extent."

Arcadia remained fixed on Cyrus, so he would be Prometheus and steal fire. There was one issue with that, he could not hold the world he stole if the faux deities that represented raw power as their greatest merit to the claim would just snatch it back from him. No, that was silly.

"It will suffice as a plan for the moment. As I see it, you are a cup not yet full. I recommend you consider filling yourself for when that time comes. I suppose what interests me most... where will you attain such otherwordly power to fill yourself with? Who?"

It was a vile suggestion but a legitimate one. As far as Arcadia was concerned Shirohime was dead, everytime Arcadia saw her try to hide the fact she had coughed up some blood in her hand around others and she had judged that power of her's to be valuable. At the same time, it was that power that denied the simple fact of reality. She was a dead woman walking. Taking that power was a death sentence but she planted the idea in his head nonetheless.

"I guess there's always me though, would you succumb to that need and take my life or ask for me that kind of help? Could you?"

"Shirohime is fragile, ephemeral. I will not ask anything more of her than what is absolutely necessary, and I believe that there are still yet other means by which to achieve these aims."

Cyrus was no fool, and he looked into Arcadia's eyes with clear displeasure at the implications behind her words. He would not make such sacrifices. He was the one who had chosen to bear the weight of these aims, and to burn the lives of others for the sake of his divine flame would only taint it.

"I will not take your life, or any other, simply as a means for greater power. I have promised to return the realms to their rightful state, and to ensure the security of all people in the wake of that. Such a thing entails the life of all men and women. Even you, Arcadia, merit life in your realm when that time comes. I will not expend life so casually."

He knew, certainly, that he could have asked Shirohime to simply make him all the more powerful. That he very likely could even have simply assimilated her power outright, and left her with nothing but an imminent doom. But such was simply not an option. He would not consider it for even a moment.

"I understand, I suppose her will to live is impressive. The pain of your body breaking apart at its seams as its gone so far beyond its natural limitations. Every step must be like agony for her. Though I find it cruel for you to allow her to suffer like that."

The fundamental matter that divided them, Arcadia would make a decision for someone because she regarded it as merciful and considerate. He would rather they suffer in their own free will. Such was the biggest clash of ideals that divided them. How unfortunate really.

"There are other ways. I merely couldn't resist testing you. You missed the most important part of what I said in looking at it to closely."

Letting her words sit on his mind for a moment while she stared into his contrasting oceans of blue eyes before smiling.

"I asked you. Would you ask me for help? What would you be willing to give me if I could help your little issue, no one even needs to die."

Arcadia was the Danava of Succession, her powers lay in advancement and growth. She was a God that created civilisation, advanced it. Perfected crafting skills that were rudimentary. To improve something on a conceptual level. She was a builder and an arcitect before she was All the World's Evil for this man but now she dangled it in front of him as a bargining chip.

The only issue was her own restrictions of power. Her vessel didn't have the energy required to do such a feat, he did though. He had the resources, knew the people to make it happen.

"So long as one still has their life, they may rest assured that good will still come to pass."

That was all Cyrus would say with regard to Shirohime. He knew how she suffered, knew how each day was a great effort for her. But he had sworn to her that they would make this new world together, and now, more than ever before, Cyrus would not dare to break a promise.

"I have already offered you your security, and the assurance that I will do all in my power to give you your rightful place in the realm of demons when that day comes. What more would you ask of me?"

Staring back into Arcadia's eyes, there was nothing accusatory about his tone, but simply a legitimate question. She may have so loved to tempt him, but she was not a fool. She would not demand of him anything which would compromise his morals outright, if only because she surely must have known that he would decline her offer.