EX Mission: Premonition (Zephyr)

Zephyr stood on a wide, flat plane as far as the eye could see. Well, seeing was the issue at present. All around him was a mist, swirling and eddying in hypnotic and undulating patterns. He could sense nothing - neither by sight, nor smell, not sound.

And yet, he could sense that something waited ahead of him in the mist - a presence both alluring and frightening, familiar and yet nothing like he'd sensed before.

Well, there were no answers standing here, wherever this was. The only way... was forward.

Zephyr Arc

Zephyr stood in a daze, seeming almost sleepy. He looked from side to side, his unbound hair swaying with the movement to try and ascertain where he was. Yet, all he saw was mist. Becoming a bit wary, he reached for his spear, only to grab at nothing but air.

It appeared he was utterly unarmed. He found he only had his regular clothing, and even his hair had been left untied. All he could really feel was that something lay ahead. What? He wasn't sure. What he knew, though, was that standing around would get him nowhere. Thus, with just a slight pang of prudent fear in a corner of his heart, he stepped forward. "Must be a dream..."

As Zephyr began to move, shapes began to form in the mist, hazy and incorporeal. He appeared to be in the midst of a village, from what he could tell. And in the midst, he saw a figure, indistinct and shadowy.

"Oh? What's this?"

A voice, female and alluring. The silhouette turned to face him, though it did nothing to make them more distinct.

"To think one such as you could reach me like this... how intriguing. I should like to know you better."

The figure raised their arms, and a flash of light blinding Zephyr. When he finally managed to prise apart his eyelids, he found himself surrounded by mirrors - countless panels of mirrors above, below, and all around so that he became dizzy turning to look into the infinite reflections.

But as he turned, his reflections suddenly halted and turned to face him, no longer mimicking his movements.

"My, so many facets to you," his reflections said to him. "It's a wonder you aren't crushed under the weight of it all. So many illusions to maintain... so many lies to craft and conceal your heart from everyone... Especially yourself."

Zephyr Arc

Zephyr didn't get a chance to get a word in with the shadowy lady before he was blinded. He instinctively raised his hands to block the light from reaching his eyes to no avail. When the light finally died, he found himself in what seemed like a hall of mirrors... except his reflections werent really doing their job of reflecting.

Whatever the voice had to say, though, didn't really seem to phase him, almost like it didn't really even reach him at all. "Well, as I was about to say, it's proper manners to introduce oneself before having another introduce themselves, mirror lady." He crossed his arms in front of him, the unmatching movements of the reflections apparently having no effect on his bearing.

“Who am I?” Zephy’s own voice answered from his reflections. “Don’t you even recognize yourself anymore?”

The Reflection rubbed its chin, smiling as it surveyed him.

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t. You’ve buried the truth so far down you can’t see it anymore... just like all humans. You wouldn’t want to face who you really are.... wouldn’t want anyone else to know.”

One of the Reflections turned. The mirror behind it was no longer a mirror but a window, showing a caravan being beset by a marauding group of demons. There he stood, younger and terrified, slinking away from the caravan to the safety of the woods while his family and all the people he knew were massacred. Saving his own skin.... while theirs was torn apart.

“Should we go deeper?” The Reflections behind him asked, turning to look inside its mirror. “I wonder what we’ll find...”

[A: Let it continue
B: Smash the mirror]

Zephyr Arc - A: Let it continue

Zephyr looked utterly unimpressed by that answer. "Can't even introduce yourself, and I'm the one burying things? We'll talk when you can face me as yourself, creature."

With that said, he crossed his arms and watched, undaunted. It thinks making him watch this crap was going to net it a reaction? He had nothing to hide, and he'd watched this play back in his head hundreds of thousands of times. Enough times he'd long gotten sick of it. At this point, all it did was strengthen his conviction. Never again.

Of course, those goblins looked pretty in-need of smashing, but he hadn't been working on not flipping out for no reason...

Zephyr watched unflinchingly, and the image in the mirror suddenly faded. The Reflections stared down at him, their maliciously playful expressions now gone.

"Interesting. Are you without fear... or are you just harder to crack? Let's find out."

The Reflections placed their hands on the glass, and the mirrors immediately shattered, scattering shards across the floor. For a moment, all was still.

Then, the shards began to vibrate. Slowly, they pulled themselves together, swirling in a vortex and clashing into each other until it formed a towering figure of glass above Zephyr. Then, in a flash, the glass was made flesh, and a giant imp stared down at Zephyr.

"Time to join your little family," it cackled, pouncing down at him from above.

Zephyr Arc

"You?" Zephyr chuckled. "I don't know about me, but it seems your facade has cracked, at least."

He watched patiently as the glass shattered and more theatrics ensued with the glass. Then, as they formed into a familiar shape, a familiar glint of madness appeared in his eye. Slowly but surely, his decidedly beautiful features twisted into a bloody grin. However, this was different from the usual mad berserker, a man at war with himself. He let out the decidedly unheroic laugh of a madman as he glared wide-eyed at the creature forming before him. Indeed, his eyes held barely restrained glee mixed in with madness.

"If this were a dream, I had a feeling you might come... but I wasn't holding out hope." He laughed again. "At last we meet." He swung his arm and his spear appeared in his hand life smoke. "I've been waiting... oh so long to meet you." Boost and Overdrive hit as he charged the massive imp, Zephyr accelerating as each spell hit, laughing as he did. Normally, he'd be holding himself back, so he didn't hurt someone, so he didn't hurt himself... but this time, this one time, he wouldn't need to hold anything back.

Zephyr, empowered to his limits, flew at the enormous imp with murderous fury. It bore down on him, sweeping in to attack, and their bodies met.

A terrible shattering noise echoed all around. Zephyr landed on the ground in a crouch as the sound of tinkling glass... no, as dozens of corpses hit the ground. Startled, he turned to find a wasteland of bodies scattered across the ground behind him.

His parents. The caravan. His teammates. All of them stared at him with dead, judging eyes.

“In your madness, you can’t tell friend from foe,” a voice echoed in his ear. “In your madness, you’re the true monster here.”

Zephyr Arc

As spear touched false flesh and rended all asunder, along with the cracking of glass, Zephyr felt as if shackles in his mind had been shattered as well. As he landed, he felt lighter and freeer that he'd felt in a bitterly long time.

He turned his head back as the sound changed, to find more of the creature's theatrics. Twirling his spear, he turned fully to face the scene he now saw before him... then he laughed. "You think to know me. You try to become me. Yet, even with me baring everything for you to see... you still don't understand me, do you? Trapped as you are in that moment, as I had been for longer than I'd like to admit." When he'd shattered the beast that had haunted his nightmares for the last decade, he felt like he could finally see.

"I'm not only defined by that one moment. I thought I was, for far too long. But I'm more than that. With the help of others, I've killed an innocent, even in my foolish madness. I have friends, I have allies. Just as they didn't let me make a mistake I couldn't take back, I'll use my strength for all of them. A scene like this, I won't let there be another so long as I yet stand." He stood, spear set firmly on the ground, facing the scene without flinching back a single bit. "Now will you keep hiding behind these theatrics like a coward, or will you face me as I've faced you?"

Then he smirked. "...or perhaps you've 'buried the truth so far down you can’t see it anymore'... you know, like those pesky 'humans' you mentioned?"

All was silent at the sound of Zephy’s boast. Then the corpses began to laugh with dry, raspy voices.

“A simple-minded fool, through and through.”

The mist that had once been so pervasive closed in again, shrouding the bodies as they stood. One by one, the silhouettes faded into the mist until only one remained - the woman’s figure he first saw in the village.

“One who knows nothing can understand nothing,” she said. “But no matter. I’m sure we’ll meet again. And I’ll see how brave you are then.”

Zephyr Arc

"Still with the insults but no introduction then." He let his spear fall away as he crossed his arms, turning to smoke and vanishing as it appeared before hitting the floor. "Well no matter. I thank you for this little adventure. My mind feels clearer than it has in years. I hope you'll tell me your name next time, o one who failed to understand." He smiled at her, before turning away.