>>5946865“You learned from spirits!” Izzy protests. “It’s how you ascended so quickly, how you achieved so much!”
“Those were fairies!” you hiss, keeping your voice as hushed as you can. “True Fey, Bonum Chaoticum, Demigods of Chaotic GOOD. Not… Not…!”
You can’t even bring yourself to say it, but you understand exactly what Izzy is confessing: that she and this horrifying child of darkness caged in the basement of the elven race’s strangest sect share a teacher… And that teacher is a spirit of darkness, a shadowy entity in service of the dark gods.
“It calls itself The Nothic,” Izzy goes on to tell you, and describes a winged, gelatinous near-humanoid with an ovoid, egg-like body and a single great, lidless eye. “I didn’t go looking for it or anything… It just found me, between reals, when I was… Exploring.”
“Which is why just slipping into the space between realms is DANGEROUS!” you say, throwing your hands up in the air. “Obviously!”
“It taught me a lot,” she protests. “And it might be a follower of the… You know, THOSE gods… But so is the Dragon King, and these Reptilians we’re helping.”
“And you HATE them,” you point out.
“Because they poisoned me and deformed me,” she points out. “They ruined my life and killed my parents, Tips! The Nothic didn’t DO anything except teach me. I didn’t even KNOW it was associated with… With THEM until just now.”
“You suspected, or you wouldn’t have kept it secret.”
Izzy looks away, tucking her hands into her pockets and attempting to look small. It doesn’t work—aside from being taller than you, she still glows brilliantly with that inner light and life. It isn't lost on you that this is the legacy of yet another reckless decision made in pursuit of power, and knowledge. Why is she ALWAYS like this??
“What was the cost?” you ask.
“There wasn’t one,” she assures you.
You take a deep breath, calming yourself.
“…Except…”
(Oh, here we fucking go…)