"It all started with a desire, a dream... to live for Eternity."
Leonel began with a heavy tone. His eyes going dim as though just remembering everything was slowly killing him from inside out. And indeed, it was. Not literally, but it was practically chipping off pieces of his heart over and over. It was an accursed stigma that he and all others who knew would have to bear for the rest of their miserable existences. And now, his sister would know as well. It nearly brought him to tears just imagining her distraught face as she is finally faced with the truth.
"It is not wrong to dream of Eternity. Everyone in the countless worlds dream of it. But the same could not be said for our people. We, alien as we are, have been driven mad by this singular desire, this... obsession."
As Leonel spoke, his right hand subconsciously moved. It reached across his chest and held onto his left shoulder, gripping it tightly as he grimaced from a phantom pain that never once went away in the many centuries he had been in Corrin. And from the left shoulder, one would find small protrusions of crystalline rocks muddled with a hazy bronze colour. This was technically his mutation. This was Leonel.
"The core leadership of our people, they were called the Luan Legatis. I don't know how many of them there were, but they were a rare breed. They were so pure and powerful that they had gained the ability to wield Lua, the very world we strode upon – our home. They learned to command it, to manipulate it, and even... create it. This is the blasphemy of cora mundi! This is the sacrilege of Lua!"
Leonel's loud voice quivered in both fear and sorrow as he stared directly into the eyes of his sister. She was attentive, listening to every word and every tone, but it was clear that she was far from truly understanding the gravity of all this. His eyes, burning with indignation, softened just a bit as he turned his gaze toward the bangle still on Lily's wrist. It looked so beautiful and harmless that even he did not want to vilify it. It was a work of art made with great care, but he knew that it hid an appalling truth.
"Is that it? I don't understand. You still haven't told me why you're afraid of these Legatis. And why do you hate Prisma?"
"I'm not afraid of the Legatis! I am afraid of what they might do again. Because this time... I don't know if we'll be able to survive..."
The silence that followed was deafening. As the seconds ticked past, Lily slowly processed all the things she had heard from her brother. And although she still did not understand his fears and his anger, she was starting to feel a looming dread. It was as though something was stuck in her throat and it was slowly suffocating her. But she fought through it. She had already come so far, heard a lot. She must hear the rest.
"Brother, tell me. What happened to our people? What happened to our world?"
"Our... world?"
Leonel suddenly began chuckling which then turned into a full-blown laughter, but it was clear that there was no humour in his eyes. There was only pain, self-deprecation and scorn. Indeed, he scorned his sister. He scorned himself. And most of all, he scorned their entire people. Leonel's laughter soon died down as he stared coldly at Lily.
"There is no 'our world', little girl. You were a newborn when everything happened so I cannot fault you for that, but do not dare say that again. Lua was a sanctuary that offered the stray refuge. And what did we do in return...?"
Leonel ripped his shirt off, showing Lily his left shoulder. The rocky protrusions were lit like a torch, blazing with a fury that reflected Leonel's own, but there was something different about it. It looked vibrant, too vibrant. It was though the rocky protrusions were more alive than Leonel was.
"We tore her apart! We wore her flesh like it was our own, fashioned an entire civilisation from her grieving carcass! And as if that wasn't enough, we dared seek Eternity.... You've always wanted to know why we are in Corrin. Let me tell you why."
The more Leonel spoke, the more he lost control of his emotions. And to reflect that, the rocky protrusions of his mutation slowly began growing and spreading. At some point, it had managed to cover his entire left arm and was already creeping toward his chest. It glowed more intensely, like a furnace fueled by only one thing – rage.
"In their pursuit of Eternity, the Luan Legatis devised a plan. They sealed every one of our people into Lua. We who thrived without flesh could no longer survive outside a vessel, outside of Lua's cold corpse! And in a final act of madness, the Legatis shattered her, casting countless shards of her body across the cosmos!"
From beginning to end, Leonel never stopped gripping his shoulder. The rocky mutation now no longer looked like some out of place aberration, but rather an unwilling parasite sealed within another host. Lily then understood what the light glowing brightly within the rock was. It was the true face of the man named Leonel. And as she realised this, her own hand travelled downward, touching her lower abdomen where similar rocky features were present, hidden behind her clothes.
"This human skin we now wear, this is not us... this is something we inevitably stole upon our descent into Corrin. We are not Humans, Lily. We are... were Alma. And now, we are... Prisma."
He spoke that last word with the most palpable hatred that he nearly choked just trying to do it. He bore such intense humiliation that he felt like he was drowning in self-hate and shame. Eternity... how he loathed that word. It was the curse of existence that drove their people to madness. And because of it, their once beautiful race that lived harmoniously in a world that granted them a safe haven was now reduced to these abominable forms. Unlike many who yearned for Eternity, Leonel longed for an End.
"Lily, who gave you that thing?"
He asked hoping for an answer but fully expecting nothing. His sister was strong of mind. She was much stronger than him who caved in from the shame of their history. But at the same time, she did not get to live through that great exodus, that blasphemous exile across the cosmos. She may have lived for over seven hundred years, but how much of this ugly world had she truly seen? She was not mature enough, not ready to survive on her own in this unforgiving world. Or at least, he thought so.
"His name is... Galeon."
Lily's voice was meek as though she could not reconcile that kind and gentle man with the same sinners who defiled an entire world and continued to defile another. She did not want to believe it, but the bangle on her hand said otherwise. She looked at it with a conflicted gaze, her heart aching and threatening to break when she heard her brother speak once more.
"Galeon..., the Divine Blade of Finality? He's a Legatus?"
Leonel knew not only the name but the man himself. He was the physician of the Governor's family after all. He was there when the Governor hired a Contractor to resolve a crisis for Melchior. The two of them got along quite well. But he knew the man to be G413 back then. And just earlier today, Leonel had met with the Governor and a man who claimed to be the same Contractor G413. His name was Galeon. And he was no longer the Dancing Blade. Ordained by the Radiant Knight herself, he was now the Divine Blade of Finality.
As a revelation unfolded in one small corner of the world, in another, events were progressing without much suspense. In a hidden room somewhere on Corrin, a meeting had just ended. They too had some rather shocking experiences with the execution of one of their members. A man's head lay upon a pool of blood as the rest of his body had collapsed a few feet away. This was not a hologram. It was very real and it left the others in both fear and stunned silence.
"Alright, that's all for today everyone. Remember that there will be a major operation in a few days. Do make sure everything is ready by then. I'm sure none of you would like to follow our dear Silver, right?"
The remaining Directors nodded at Ruby's words before each leaving the meeting, their holograms flickering out until all that was left Ruby in the silent conference room. But she was not alone for long as a man walked to the deceased Silver's chair, kicked away his body and sat down. He took off his glasses as he brushed his hair back, revealing more of the crystalline rocky protrusion on the left side of his forehead. It glowed with a deep rouge colour which Ruby seemed entranced with.
"Master, preparations for the Ascension Project are mostly complete. We're only waiting for Valerya to finish her part and we can finally begin."
"Good work, Ruby. At last, our dream is close at hand. I can finally be rid of this wretched name. Kincaid, how distasteful. Once the Alma, no... once the Prisma begin ascending, Corrin would be the new Lua. And I shall reclaim my name."
Ruby's hologram flickered as it slowly began manifesting real flesh. Out of the obscurity and anonymity of the hologram, she stepped toward Kincaid in person, her gaze full of reverence and a hint of crazed obsession. She quickly knelt down toward him, her knees and dress being tainted by the blood of Silver. Her hands clasped together as though in prayer, she looked at Kincaid with adoration.
"Your will be done, Lord Cheyulah."