Something was in the air about those two, Muriel and Urien. Ellianor didn't want to get between that.
'Now that I think about it, both sound dangerous, but have no aura.' They are completely neutral.
It made the discrepancies and similarities between them stand out more.
Urien was more open but controlled the talk and how much information was talked about him, focusing on making Ellianor talk about himself.
Muriel was openly aloof and gruff but left Ellianor to talk. Those two were similar in a sense, they sounded wise, and held the well-being of Ellianor as an objective, at least superficially.
Getting between them was not a pleasant thing, nor was Ellianor's intention.
"So. What topic do you want to talk about?" To guide the topic was to leave himself open for the prying of outsiders.
Ellianor learned it with Urien, so it would be better to leave Muriel to control the conversation, for now. "What about the corruption? You just had your first run with it."
Ellianor nodded, Muriel was not one to waste words, it was a good thing. "The Primordial Corruption. It is the thing that made the universe what it is. The big bang, and the void that was there before."
"We call it corruption, but it always has been there. It wants to converge the universe again and restart the Big Bang. It is a force, it wants the beginning and the end. In a way, like the eclipse." Muriel's gaze fell over Ellianor's locket.
The black-haired man held it protectively. "So you are saying that it is just… heat, energy, and mass from the start of everything?" Or the absence of it.
"More or less. It comes in black and purple, or gold and light. It is both the light and darkness, as the big bang filled the void, and brought the light into the universe." Ellianor winced.
Even the start of the universe was driven by an evil, or at least, amoral force. "Why do they want to do that if they continue to exist? They are already leftovers of the creation of everything, right?"
"Do an ant think of the role it was assigned even from before its birth? Was what they set out to do good or bad?" Muriel shut him up. For some detached and cold, he was a master of analogies and dumbing things.
"So the Primordial Corruption wants to fuse everything and make it go boom. Isn't this the most elaborate, petty, and destructive suicide in history?" There was no way they would survive the explosion.
Even if they were made from the primordial stuff that made the explosion, the sheer heat, scale, and power of it would vaporize everything. "Pretty much. They don't care about what will happen, only that it will happen."
"They apply that philosophy to what they fuse too. You have seen the mangled corpses. Given time, they would fuse with metal, dirt, cosmic dust…" This time, the one to wince was Muriel.
'Disgusting abominations.' He held his blade tightly, his hand trembling with rage. Ellianor was in a similar mood, but he didn't leave it to show up on his face.
The memories of two dead children came to his mind.
The memories of a monster.
"What are the relation between Demons, and Primordial Corruption? Is God and Satan real? Are there angels out there?" Since the corruption was both light and dark, it painted… a grim light for everything Ellianor once believed.
Muriel laughed. "No. No. Those demons are not Demons as in Samael, or Asmodeus. They are… things we can't describe properly. Different entities. We have no better word for them but demons."
Ellianor was relieved that Angels were something else, and so were the "demons "he was used to… but it brought up another problem.
'Not only there are demons like those corruption monsters, but there are also demons in the conventional sense.' The universe was dangerous indeed, it had a great catalog of how you could go out horribly.
"Magnamonte… is he a corruption demon?" Muriel nodded, tapping his blade slightly.
"He has been a thorn in our side for quite some time. Slippery bastard. There are more like him out there, sadly." Ellianor could only fathom how dangerous a monster like that was since it escaped so easily from people meant to hunt heresies.
"Demons are different creatures from the pale shades and abominations you fought. Some are on our side, others are enemies." Ellianor arched an eyebrow at those words.
They were contradictory.
"What do you mean with allies? Aren't they a hive mind? Like, working all for the goal of restarting the Big Bang? Why they would be our allies?" If the universe was restarted, everyone would die.
That reason alone placed Ellianor on the side of the Wardens. "Demons have something called free will, a thing we also have. They can have their opinions, thoughts, and morals." Magenta eyes turned to look Ellianor in the eyes.
"Some are evil, others are good, some want to uphold the Corruption's will, while others fight it. Don't judge them all by the cover, but… abominations." Muriel looked away. His gaze softened.
"They are robbed of their free will, twisted and mutated beyond belief into a new, horrible, and profane form. They don't have that will." Muriel's tone was heavy, and solemn, silently morning.
It was strange to see his voice suddenly painted by emotion, a voice that was deprived of any emotion beforehand. "You can maybe trust a demon, but you should always kill an abomination. Free them from their misery."
Ellianor had watched plenty of zombie media, and he recognized that tone. It was the same tone of those forced to kill a friend, or a loved one before they turned.
Even the distant gaze was the same.
'A thousand-yard stare, huh?' Ellianor looked at a big glass, it showed the vacuum of the stars, and that part of the station no longer turned to the star.
"In theory… can't those abominations also ascend with enough corruption?"
It was the primal matter of everything. It should be able to pull that off.