Episode 3 (part 3): I’m Lazy?

I have put up with enough of the peaks bullshit for numerous years, and that is just from me being down here among my people. Imagine the torment it will feel like for me to have to live among the very people I vowed to bring to ruin? 

Dior is usually always right. She has led me out of many difficult situations and has proven to be far wiser than me on many occasions throughout our time shared on the hellcoast; but she's always been crazy. This idea of hers to send me to the academy has to be the craziest.

Dior: You have proven to me today that you are ready.

Titus: Proven? Ready? How long have you guys been plotting behind my back?

Tia: Oh not too long, Dior brought it up about a week ago when you were rampaging through the depths of the abyss yet again putting our village warriors in danger.

Tia greets us as the elevator to our secret underground base comes to a halt. Tito is always in awe when he tags along with us. He is forbidden to touch or interact with anything but the kid just loves being in our presence. To him, we are his heroes.

Tia is wearing her typical welding jumpsuit. Strips of corduroy material are stitched together as a makeshift velvet overall and a battered black tank top is worn underneath. She is our gadget master and my cranky older sister. A pair of tinted goggles rest atop her short blond hair. Her eyes are dark blue and her skin is several shades darker than mine, currently covered in grease from whatever project she had left to greet us.

No, our genetic differences are not because she is adopted, or because she is a half sister of some sort. She was actually created by mother. Not in a birds and the bees sense. Literally created. Tia takes after my mother in the incredible skill for creation.

My sister is a synthetic humanoid, or: synthoid. I heard that in the peaks they are used to do mundane tasks for the peakies and are forbidden to take the form of a human. They are forced to wear their bare parts for skin, the gears and gadgets showing through their plates and levers of steel parts. 

I couldn't imagine having to see my sister in such a humiliating state. She is lively and no different than us other than her amazing gift for creating any gadget needed. She is also immortal. I found that out the night of her decapitation. Her head was blown clean off with the gun of the inquisitor, but through Diors help of deciphering the manuscript left behind by mother, we assembled her back together like nothing had ever happened.

Titus: I don't even know where to start. I get it, alright fine. My methods of training aren't your guys' favorite idea but what else am I supposed to do? And the warriors of our shore are so useless, they should know better than to stand there like a bunch of fools, watching me do all the hard work. Tia, we were raised to run and hide when the ghouls approached us; why can't these idiots have the common sense to do the same?

Tia: They admire you Tyde, you are their hero, Tito's hero. Did you forget what your purpose is?

Titus: My purpose? Whose purpose are you envisioning really? I am not their hero and I am definitely not, father. How many times do I need to repeat that?

Dior: Then what is your purpose Titus?

I am filled with rage and at a loss of words. We walk in silence to our command room. Rows of evacuated villagers are resting in our shelters. The damned warriors from earlier tonight have probably been long trampled upon by the mechs or devoured by the fog and its ghouls. 

Titus: My purpose… has always been to overthrow the peak and reach my father. Either to allow himself to explain his innocence, or to kill him for what I know him to be guilty of.

Dior: And how is that going?

Titus: Fuck you.

Dior: No seriously. How are you planning to do that if you're not even half as great as your father was when he ruled and protected the coastal people?

Titus: I… may not be any good at protecting people or have any desire to be a ruler of anything, but I am not a coward like my father. I did not get dragged away by peakies, and I easily slaughtered an entire pack of divers.

Dior: No, you failed to even do that. And let me remind you, that whole sequence of events would not have been possible if it were not for my guidance.

Titus: Guidance? You fucking let her go! She was as good as dead. Don't you dare belittle what I accomplished today, you even said that I had proven to you that I was ready. Whatever that means.

Dior: You have, and you are. Let's get some things straight. You are enormously powerful. So much potential lies within what you do with your capabilities; yet you waste it on mindless slaughter frenzies of my people and their pets. You have grown lazy and complacent. I refuse to allow your repulsive therapeutic tantrum just because you went through some traumatic shit as a child.

I wince at those words. They're so poignant, cutting deep into my heart. She knows me too well to be able to flay my soul apart so easily with words. Tia notices the sorrowful expression on my face and puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

Tia: The reefers are not our enemy. They are Dior's people. We are merely caught in between the war of the reefers and the peakies, don't let your mind get muddy on who deserves our pain. We've trusted her all this time, and she has proven to deserve it. Let's end this. We believe in you Tyde. This is our shot at finishing what father started and what mother prayed for.

Titus: Oh you and your hope in our parents futile wishes; and Diors fucked up concept of righteous people. Your people have the same blood on their hands. Don't forget the cries of my people being devoured by the ghouls they repeatedly send to the surface. It doesn't matter if the ghouls are meant to reach the peak's garrison. The blood of countless hellcoast people can't be disregarded.

Dior: I'm sorry. I really am. I am not them and I don't condone what they do. Listen, we're all on the same team. Our objective is the same, only our methods to get there may have differing opinions; but you want something, and I have a way for you to get it. Are you willing to trust me?

The three of us have been through a lot together. Even throughout her mysterious existence within our inner circle, she has been nothing but a reliant helpful friend and leader. I do trust her, but I still want answers.

Titus: Yeah sure whatever. Just tell me what's up and let's get to it.