"You don't seem very surprised," Ythmun said dryly upon seeing Cait's bland reaction. "You knew what they are capable of, and you still decided to go against them? I can chalk Garrett's lack of perspective on the bigger picture up to senility, but you two…" He shook his head, laughing. "And you call ME mad."
"Those 'powerful people' the Advanced will make out of your subjects aren't 'people,' they're monsters," Fate said, wiping the dirt out of his eyes as he raised his head. "All they will do is spread the pain and suffering they underwent to everyone else, so everyone has to suffer just as much as they did.
"That or they become emotionless killing machines, unable to feel joy or sadness, unable to live a life worth living. The few that don't turn out twisted and broken, like Cait over there, are the exception, not the rule."
Ythmun raised his brows, the crown on his head seeming taller as it was pushed up. "So that's how you know about them." He turned back to Cait, studying her more closely. "You were one of them, eh? You do have quite a lot of bitterness and spite in you, which fits the bill.
"But tell me, other than me, someone who is so much stronger than you that it's laughable, have you ever once felt that you would lose, that someone you fought was stronger, better than you?
"… Well, answer me. Or I'll drain that young man of all of his life force," he demanded, pointing a finger at Fate. Instantly, the drain on the latter intensified, his cheeks hollowing at a visible rate and the skin on his arms growing saggy.
Cait spoke up hastily. "N-no, I haven't. I've never doubted my abilities."
"And who gave you those abilities?" Ythmun asked, restricting the drain on Fate back to a trickle.
Cait gritted her teeth. "The Advanced."
"Exactly. Why would I not want this for my people? We've been pushed around for millions of years. It feels like every century, another group of invaders barges in and tries to enslave us and steal our land and our crops. This time it's you two, two hundred years ago it was the Advanced, before that it was the Treglogs, and before that, it was some other species of alien asshole.
"Each one takes at least a quarter of our population before we can drive them back, and that's with my assistance. In the grand scheme of things, I am weak. My subjects are weaker. Our planet is dying, and we are repeatedly beset by thieves who want us in chains and our food in their storage.
"A mass exodus to another planet will give us two, maybe three years before the invaders come once more, or the Advanced find us and make us pay for stealing from them. No, we need to become strong. Strong enough to fight back. And the Advanced is the way to do this."
"You'll regret it down the line," Cait spat. "You'll find your life to be empty and meaningless under their supposed 'care,' that you have no way to escape and no chance of ever being your own person once more.
"You'll be servants to them, slaves, with no way to channel your anger and sorrow into anything but the simmering pot of feelings tucked inside of you." The words flowing out of her mouth were said with such passion and assurance that even Ythmun paused at the words.
"But unlike me, no one will come to save you," she continued, her brown eyes seeming to glow as her aura rippled and waved.
"You and your people will be stuck in an endless cycle of torment, becoming another faceless cog in their machine of multiversal domination, stripped of your will and personality and becoming a mindless drone with no thoughts of your own. I can promise you; you'll regret it every second of every day, all the way until they recondition you into obedience."
"And yet you escaped," Ythmun said curiously after the short silence that followed. "Which proves that it's possible."
"I had help," she said, glancing at Fate. "And my Manifestation wouldn't let me forget what they stole from me. I always wondered what it was that kept me from becoming a thoughtless drone like my peers. The Advanced did as well, conducting several of their 'tests' on me to find out why. Now I know it was my Manifestation, fueled by my need, my *lust*for freedom."
She paused, her gaze boring into Ythmun's chest, to catch a glimpse at his heart. "You want what's best for your people," she remarked, meeting his eyes. "I can see that. But your Manifestation only wants to devour whatever it can get its hands on. It won't help you, not like mine did. And they won't give you companions to weather the storm like Fate had. They learn from their mistakes."
Her aura flared, the Divine Energy contained within compressing itself into a higher quality. At once, Ythmun's Divine Reach lost its hold on her, flowing around her seamlessly and not hindering her at all.
She didn't take this opportunity to attack, instead opting to merely stand and continue staring into Ythmun's eyes, conveying all of her emotions, her absolute certainty that he would rue the day he let the Advanced control him, and her empathy all with her eyes.
She had progressed in her comprehension, going from around 1.2% all the way to 2%, an astounding feat made no less impressive by Ythmun's overbearing aura. The monarch frowned, attempting to exert his control once more, only for his Divine Energy to flow past her harmlessly.
"Fine then." He said. "Then what do you propose I do? Because there is no future for us in this decaying world."
"I can help with that," Fate said, pushing through Ythmun's Divine Reach to get to his knees. He had to take advantage of the increased focus Ythmun had transferred from him to Cait, but it still was similar to doing a pushup in four times the gravity, something he didn't even know he could do.
"I know a guy."