Arrival Of A Dawn

One hour earlier... - The Gate Of Eternity - Unknown's Point Of View...

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"Aaaaah, its been so loooooooooooooong!" I let out a massive girlish squeal as the rainbow bridge that represents the login screen for EUPHORIA came into and out of view.

Granted, its only been like three months since I've last played this game... but its also been two hundred years, too! ... wait, that didn't make too much sense.

Shrugging to myself, I close and reopen my eyes to find myself in a familiar place, namely in front of The Gate Of Eternity, Euphoria's entrance to heaven.

Soon, the massive golden gates open to reveal two of Euphoria's gods."Luna! Mendy! How have you guys been all this time!?"

I exclaim loudly again as they both turn to look at me with wide eyes."A mortal? Here, in front of the gate? And Luna? Mendy?" Luna-chan says with a disbelieving voice and I stop myself from leaping towards them as I think.

"Oh... that's right. My new chara-I mean, my new body does not look alike to my old one... le sigh." I mutter out with disappointment, but Mendy-kun comes to the rescue as his face twists with several emotions before replying."W-w-what? H-how? ... Is that you, Lady Maria?"

I nod, ecstatically so."Yep! Although my current name is actually Eve... but yeah, the one and the same!"

Now its Luna's turn to gape as she turns to face Mendy and then back towards me again... Uhh, I get the feeling that I may have done something bad here.."Umm, is something wrong?"

"How about the fact that we chose a new Saint mere hours ago as we gave up on hoping that you would return..." Mendy begins with a sorrowful tone and I bite my lip, already knowing where this is going as Luna's eyes become downcast and guilty."Yes... especially after what happened to you when last you were here..."

Letting out a massive sigh, I look at them."Look... its fine, I've gotten over it. I... I've forgiven him, and so should you."

Mendrion's rage is quick to surface as he hears my words."F-forgive him?! Milady, HE RAPED YO-!"

He begins to shout but is quickly shut up by my angered stare."Yes, he did. But did I hate him for it? Did I try to exact vengeance in any shape or form? The answer to both of these questions is no."

And then I turn around to take in my surroundings, a massive swirling portal resounding behind me as I stare into it, a picture of Azarest in its current shape and form appears and I watch."So... he was right, in the end.."

Luna approaches me from behind as Mendrion storms back through the gates, fury still etched over his features. A hand is put on my shoulder as I hug myself tight."Right? About what exactly, milady?"

I scowl at her momentarily before replying as we watch downwards upon a divided Azarest, already begging to be drowned in blood once more."Would you quit it with all this milady bullshit? I can barely bear with Mendrion, geez!"

Shrugging at me, she nods and I nod back before speaking."He.. He was right about what would happen once we disappeared. That once he, and I, were gone, there would be nothing to keep the xenophobic nature of people in check. They would have none to fear... and none to give them hope... Looking back at it... Rhean was right about many things."

Luna stares at the portal, taking time to process my words before asking."That may be true but... do you truly mean what you've just said now? That you've forgiven him? That you've forgiven The Emperor Of Azarest for... violating you as he had?"

I hear myself let out a chuckle before nodding."Yeah, I've forgiven him. As for why... well... Tell me, what do you remember of the last two weeks before the time limit was up and all of The Destined Ones were forced out of your world? I mean, I know for sure that you were spying on us, Luna."

Blushing at the implications, she responds while waving her hands in front of herself in defense."A-ah! I-I-I w-was j-j-j-just i-interested a-as to why y-you didn't r-run away f-from h-his c-c-castle when he c-captured you, I swear!"

Beaming a bright smile at her, I say."Oh? Is that why you were drooling in the corner while we were... having sex does not do it justice... hmm, I guess you could say while we were mating? Hehe."

Aaaand shes redder than a tomato and about as loud as a dead fly. I let myself burst out in laughter as she manages to ask."You knew?" Her silent voice echoes much louder than she would've wanted.

Shrugging again, I reply."Rhean thought it was kinky to have The Goddess of The Moon watching us so we didn't say a word, not even when your invisibility spell broke."

Shaking her head out of her stupor and embarrassment, she asks again."But still, the fact you laid together afterwards does not explain anything... just makes it more confusing."

Turning my head around as a dark atmosphere fills the space around us... I finally reply after what seemed like a few suffocating minutes."He... he tried to kill himself afterwards, Lunarie."

Her shocked face was equal to mine when I first found out."W-w-what?"

I nod, slowly."Yeah... the morning after he... violated me, I woke up to a rather horrifying scene of him holding a knife to his own throat, Lunarie. And before I could do anything to stop him, he plunged it into his own throat while guttering out a sorry." In reality, what happened was that neither of us went online after that event for a good week and since I found myself within his bed and beside his game character... well, I figured out that something was very, very wrong.

Considering that this was the first such incident and that Euphoria is very much real, Aurelius sent me Rhean's real life address in case I wanted to sue him or something but... I had already forgiven him back then... but the event tore him apart more than I could even explain in words. I visited the address just in time to find a boy being hurriedly carried off to hospital with a kitchen knife stuck inside his throat. In that moment, I knew... I just knew that it had to be him.

For another week, I didn't leave his castle, the NPC servants gave me all the food and necessities I needed as I waited for Rhean to return... I knew he would come back eventually. And when he did... well...

"... you are not my enemy, Maria. You never were that to me. No, you are my rival. An opposite. A reason to wake up in the morning after dreaming of battling you.... You are also the most beautiful person I've ever had the opportunity to meet, and I don't mean that just physically, your soul, your mind... You are a beacon of hope, a light of lights, a real-life torchbearess!... a heroine... A heroine whom I, in a very disgusting spur of the moment, violated and raped." He spoke, voice nearly silent and dead, a complete turnaround from the usually cheery, borderline insane voice which I am used to hearing.

I remember myself despising that voice so much... it hurt to listen.

Doing this broke him more that it ever could have done me... so I tell him the one line I've been repeating to myself for the entire last week..."Its only a game..."

He took one look at me before smiling."Maybe to you... but its not to me."

Forcing myself back into reality after an uncomfortable silence, I continue the story."I don't know why I did it... but my hands moved before I could stop them and I healed him. I healed him again and again until I could safely remove the knife and... well, once he was healed... things just... escalated from there on, kind of."

Turning my head upwards as the dark mood is shattered and I remember some parts of it all fondly."But that one week before the end that I've spent with him taught me much. I learned that the only reason he did the things he had was because he was on a time-limit. That he would have been less... monstrous, if he had more than two years to work on Azarest."

And then I smile."But more importantly, I found myself realizing something quite.. interesting."

"Interesting?" Lunarie asks with a curious glance as my smile becomes brighter."I realized that, during the week we were together, he didn't do anything even remotely evil. He focused on rebuilding towns, hiring cultural geniuses, writing books, that's sort of thing... and I figured out that, he wasn't doing this because he didn't have any murdering or generally evil things to do, but because I was there!"

A grin etches itself upon my face as Luna blushes deep red once again."Y-you d-don't m-mean-?!"

"Turns out that, all the blood-stained Crimson Emperor truly needed to calm down, was an Empress strong enough to keep him in check!" I say with a beaming smile as I beat back my own blush.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Around that same time... - The Entrance to the Ancient Laboratory - Joyde's Point Of View...

"Achoo! ARGH! My neck!" In what seemed to be a rather comical scene, I managed to get myself into a situation where I was looking upwards as my neck started to hurt for whatever reason.

The Vampire Bat on my shoulder nearly falls off from the sudden movement as I sneezed downwards and began scratching the underside of my neck."Are you alright, sir?" He asks me and I try to reply but as my finger touches my neck as I recover my focus, a certain memory strikes me out of nowhere.

That bloody maid, the very first time an assassin from a rival family managed to get into our mansion... I had to save my little sister from getting stabbed and, in doing so, managed to get myself a knife to the neck.

How I survived is a bloody miracle of modern science and loads of ReGel, or Regenerative Gel."I... I'm fine.. just an old scar acting up."

I tell myself before a flame washes over my eyes and I feel myself shake. Wait, isn't this scar the reason why Maria... My grin just went from ear to ear."Istvan, could we take a short break before we enter the Laboratory... I need to make a call."

Quirking an eyebrow at my antics, he shrugs it off while muttering something inaudible and sits down onto a rock as he goes back into humanoid form."Harold, are you here?"

"Oh hey dude, I was just coming to see you! Guess what, your waifu just logged on!" My waifu? ... Well, I suppose she is after that wild ride."Yeah, I figured as much."

"Huh, what? But how? Did she already contact you or something?" I let out a laugh."Nah mate, remember the scar on my neck which made her think I tried to commit suicide after raping her? It just itched, hard."

"And that was enough for you to figure it out? Wow, fuck me but you really are something else..." Hehe, not even AI are immune to the wonders of Chaos."I've told you this a thousand times, Harold. Nothing is based upon chance, everything is calculated and fated. Nothing happens without reason and even the tiniest thing may tell tales of your future should you be able to read the signs."

"Sorry, I'm way too much of a logic-oriented being to ever really admit that your *Chaos* might not be concrete bullshit after all." And yet, you just did, in a way.

Shaking my head with a grinning smile on my face, I walk over to Istvan."Ready, sir? Also, you seem rather happy all of as sudden.. may I inquire why?"

A nod before I answer, the skin on my hands already melting away as I grimace, flesh replacing with molten metal as my scythes erupt outwards."Yeah, I'm ready. And lets just say that I realized something good right now. I'll explain more later."

"Alright then... before we go in, I should warn you of something. You see, this Laboratory has been marked by the Adventurers guild as a high-ranked dungeon and while nobody has had the strength to pass through the first level, there is a high chance we may encounter other Destined Ones inside." Ah good, more lambs to the slaughter.

I shrug."It's fine. If they don't stand in my way then they will live... otherwise, well... you know what to do." I say and he bows."As you wish, master." His deep voice echoes as we enter the massive cavernous expanse of what was supposedly one of my former laboratories... although, I cannot seem to remember what exactly I did here.

Might be one of them randomly generated things, might not. We shall see.