644. The Arbiter’s Distant Past Where It All began

644. The Arbiter’s Distant Past Where It All began

The fallout of Frost’s Corruption was minimal to everyone’s surprise.

She didn’t grow a horn, a new limb, or had pieces of her various Corrupted forms expressed on her body. Time would only tell if further changes would occur, but it seemed unlikely now that a few hours had passed.

There were no criteria to bring Frost back this time. It simply happened as soon as she reached her own epiphany about Michaela. Or was it the fact that Michaela’s admittance was what brought her back?

Frost didn’t know herself. All that she knew was the wrath mellowed unexpectedly. Her existence already had the ability to influence Corruption in others, so it was theorized that Frost may have self-Realized but without the extra baggage it usually came with.

It was only a joke, but there was perhaps some truth to it. A Corruption is fundamentally the collapse of oneself, bringing birth to a form closest to what a person truly was in that in that moment in time. A ball of emotions taking form in the shape of a person’s ego.

Nex, the energy of emotions was the source of this. The collective hatred of ‘Her’s allowed Frost to manifest various Corrupted forms. In that instance, she recognized that the Corrupted were also an outlet of one’s woes, carrying a purpose before their very inception.

She had her heart to heart with Michaela following her silent grief. The hours she spent on the Floor of Judgement was kept close between only her and Frost.

The others waited behind those doors with their hearts in their throats. They were allowed in as soon as Michaela was ready to begin explaining her side of the story, as well as Galia’s. Although, this audience was severely limited to only Frost, Jury, Nav, Anna, Galia, and Magus who was invited into the Floor.

As one expected, Jury was the first of the group to reach Frost – and the only one allowed to assault her lips. Tension immediately arose between her and Micheala over Frost’s Corruption, but seeing Michaela’s near ruined state made her reluctantly reconsider.

Michaela was torn threadbare, with pieces of her ribs exposed to the air.

The Triplets and Ignis were denied access. Knowledge of the old world did not concern them. That was until Frost urged them to be allowed in. They were, after all, core members of Frost’s group. Besides, they already knew of the existence of the old world.

It wouldn’t hurt to let them to hear this. The inclusion of Ignis was seen as strange by the Arbiter, but Frost insisted with:

“Ignis might still be young, but she’s at a point where it’s hard to keep treating her like a child. She’ll soon elapse my knowledge of physiology. If she’s waiting for those doors to open, then she’s already made her choice. Besides. Ignis has a lot of pent-up hatred towards the Impuritas.”

And so, Three Heads of Security, Ignis, Snap and now the Star Child answered Nav’s call and joined them as an audience.

Finally, and with bated breath, they all listened as Michaela revealed the secrets of her past.

* * *

Michaela allowed them to interrogate her memories. A fragmented window into her past sprawled for them all to peer through. Light refracted from the shattered glass between the branches of the tree of light that ran between each fragment.

She began from when it all ended.

“The death of ‘Her’.”

She recalled her last moments. Her every pained breath interrupted by her death rattle. Gurgled blood that tumbled down her chin. The tiny, frail hands that reached up to touch the face of the person that took their life.

“I’m sorry.”

“It was the first thing she said to me. Can you imagine? A dying child would scream for their mother. A frail girl would shout how scary the encroaching darkness was. The cold sensation of utter absense creeping in did not terrify her. She reached up to hold my hands with her fleeting strength.”

“I’m sorry that I never told you what I was.”

“Thank you… for not eating me… when I stumbled into your forest…”

“I had taken a bite from her. She did not taste like a human. What gave mankind their bitter, foul taste were the impurities in their blood. The Sins, as I’ve blamed mankind for. What coated my simulated tastebuds was like taking a bite into a ray of light. Her existence was special to the world in ways I could not begin to imagine. But all that mattered to me was that she was not alive, standing by my side.”

“I felt sorrow for the first time since my conception into this world designed for humans. Stars were never meant to mingle with mankind. Yet the design of it had allowed something of this girl’s make to exist. The corpse of a human that beared no ill qualities of man laid in my arms as I was surrounded by the misery of my elevation of mankind.”

“There were countless.”

“So utterly many more that needed to die in the wake of my rampage. When the blood of an Angel… no. A Star and beings of their calibre mixes with humans, it creates things we call the Faux Angels. Man was brought to be elevated. But only were their Sins wrung out from their bodies, taking on the hideous shape of a stillborn Angel.”

“There were many cities back then. But they all paled in comparison to the great bastion of mankind. Multiple cities fell by my presence alone.”

“Such was the power of Arbitration – those of us who were Stars that could harness the power of Primordial Factor.”

The scenery the Arbiter revealed was reminiscent of Sinder’s destruction. In the end, devastation was all the same. The methods, the process, the weapon – it matted not. It would all result in the same ending.

“Promise me something.”

“A voice called at the back of my mind. A small hand reached for my head.”

“That you won’t try to hurt these people anymore. Humans aren’t perfect. They want things they can’t have. They do things that are cruel.”

“Indeed they do. Even without shedding their skins, they were always evil beings.”

“You say that, but how can you judge a garden of roses from just one flower?”

“People are like flowers. Their experiences are shown from the colors of their petals. Humans don’t tend to choose which soil they grow on. They’re dependent on the world around them. Isn’t what shapes their experiences?”

“They are. Yet colorful lotuses can grow from murky waters. I didn’t understand why it was possible at the time.”

“Like a rose, a human can prick you with their thorns if you’re not careful. Humans did not choose to be born with thorns. They must live with it.”

“But regardless…”

A sudden explosion of light formed in the hand of the girl.

That same light was Absolution.

It was a power born from Nex, in a time when Nex did not yet exist.

“… they are beautiful things.”

“It was common for ‘Her’ to talk about humans like she was an observer. The memories of her came flooding back to me mid rampage. I stopped to stare at the sunless skies, grieving over her – she who was still cradled in my arms.”

Michaela lamented.

“There was nothing more I would give than to give her another chance of life, this girl who gave me the opportunity to feel these emotions. I, a Star, shed tears. The teardrops turned the world white like a poison. I knew that the next time she is brought into this world… That I must not be by her side. That was a mistake I have only just managed to rectify, thanks to you, Frost.”

Outside of her memories, Michaela gazed upon Frost, then, surprisingly, at Magus.

There had not been a time when the Arbiter had directly paid attention to him, so this caused him equal amounts of enthusiasm and concern.

“A Star came to me one fateful day. It was a Star encased in prideful gold and benevolent blue. Unlike those Stars that fell to wreak havoc like that of the all-ending Blue Star Kachina, the Black Throne, or I, the White Forest… This Star offered guidance. It offered divination to those who sought for it.”

Michaela faintly smiled.

“Sounds like a nice fellow.” Magus chuckled.

All eyes suddenly fell onto him.

“Hm?”

“A Star that immersed themselves with mankind longer than I can begin to imagine. The lost archives of humanity’s earliest days had always looked towards it.”

Magus tilted his head slightly, wondering why she had locked eyes with him.

“I do not know the extent of your past, but your existence is the same. Hope. You don’t remember it, Magus? The Wishcatcher. You were one of the Stars that sought to bring this dream to fulfillment.”

“Excuse me? Me? I, Magus?”

Magus was visibly taken aback by this claim. After all, he did not even know if he used to be human or a Star to begin with. The revelation that he was such a pivotal figure caused the symbols that represented his eyes to switch to question marks.

Then, they flipped to exclamation marks.

“Only you, Magus. You were one of brightest Stars.”

“Your name was Polaris.”