Introduce Magtanggol earlier? Solomon too.
[put a redirect button to the actual Hive stuff? just in case people don’t wanna check prologue]
10 months passed since Barzil igi-bala betrayed them all. Since he took the lives of the innocent, ripped away the bond of blood that Zephyr and him shared. The found daughter that he rejected, that he abandoned like a pile of trash for a family that was long dead. Throughout that time, Callicudes Zephyr isolated herself within the confines of her domus, reflecting, wondering where everything went wrong. She'd come to a realization that trust brought her to this point. That she was foolish to think that there could be good gods between all the corrupted tyrants of the world. That's when she had an illumination, the culmination of all her losses, the pain of war and destruction.
All gods had to die.
That was the final judgment, a punishment for all the evil they brought upon the world. But Zephyr alone could not destroy all gods. She had to devise a way to create the perfect plan. A domino effect of resentment that would lead to radicalization… and change the Iron Fist once and for all. That's when she had the idea of consulting the ancient tomes, knowing that they'd guide her to the answer…
—-—-
Helios ran through the corridors of the Domus, each step raising his adrenaline higher than the previous. He had been looking for Zephyr for hours, desperately trying to comfort the person he viewed as his only family. A door, then another. No soul in the dining room. Nobody was on the patio either. The weaponsmith coughed, his voice starting to crack after shouting her name for so long. Looking around, he quickly glanced at the disapproving faces of the guards around him. Just because they conceded to let him here, looking at his friend, didn’t mean they did it in good faith. He sighed. How could he be the only one to show concern about the person who led the revolution?
The heavy breathing didn’t stop, the weaponsmith not being able to remove the grim thought from his mind. Helios lost so many people he cherished during the war, so many souls claimed by the two-faced god, then by the many deities they tried desperately to vanquish. He was meant to create the weapons that would lead them to victory, so that nobody would ever suffer the grief he faced after the massacre. Yet, no matter how many swords he forged, no matter how many bows he sculpted, people kept dying, people he couldn’t protect. Away from the battlefield, he used to dread every news coming back from the war, fearing he had lost yet another family member. But now, without any relatives, every day felt dull and uneventful, the pyrrhic victory adding to his apathy. One by one, his relatives fell, up to a point where Zephyr was the only person he could call family.
She was the revolution leader who took him under her wing, training him, comforting him. She was the protector who comforted him for each person he lost, helping him move on and helping the people he needed to assist. Yet, now that Barzil igi-bala left the cause, betraying the people who trusted him to save their kin, even her optimistic zeal turned into the same apathy that overtook so many of them.
The weaponsmith stopped running to lie down by the wall, sweating heavily. His muscles twisted themselves, reminding him of how long he had been running around without a break. Every corner he had access to, Helios had searched thoroughly, without success. Now at the remotest part of the wing, he knew there was only one place where she could be. Despite being certain she was in her room, the man hesitated. No matter how much he worried for her, Helios had always refused to enter her room without warning, desiring to respect the grief of a broken woman. It wouldn’t be the first time she locked herself away from the rest of the survivors.
Yet today was different. Zephyr was nowhere to be seen, having disappeared in her quarters for days without seeing anyone, even her own daughter. It was no ordinary case. The man took a deep breath, resolute, and began walking up to her private room, desperately trying to grasp on to the last piece of optimism he had left. Whatever was happening, she had to move on from the hatred the traitor induced in her, for the sake of the few people she had left in her life.
—-
Zephyr was hunched over a tome, sorting through the pages quietly. Each tome depicted some kind of image detailing what looked to be a phenomenon being controlled by a human being. When Helios stepped in her room, she abruptly put away her study material. She looked gaunt, her body having lost significant weight and her once bright blue eyes looking lifeless.
“Helios.” She called his name, her voice barely a whisper.* “You shouldn't be here.” Zephyr added soon after. “I'm reflecting… I'm alright.” *Yet she clearly wasn't.*
The weaponsmith sighed in response, the distress still present. “Alright? Zephyr, we haven’t seen you for DAYS.” He retorted as he walked deeper inside the room. “Have you thought about your daughter? You’ve never cut yourself off from everyone else for so long before. Daedos be damned, have you thought about ME?” He pleaded, now close to Zephyr’s chair.
“I… I’m worried for you, okay?”His face went from angry to anxious in the blink of an eye. “You’re clearly not okay… I know what happened. It’s making you wither. I can’t let you rot like this… You’ve helped me so much when I lost the people I cared about… Please let me help you in return.”
Zephyr turned away from him, walking by the window and observing the environment outside. The ruined homes, the stench of decay within Hoofstad were ever present. The sight only deepened her resolution, the plan harboring in heart. “A woman dies when her children and husband are taken away from her.” She cryptically said. “I'm already a dead woman, Helios. This is the point of no return.”
She stared down at her hands, briefly conjuring the sight of blood staining them. “But you don't need to worry,” Zephyr added soon after. “Because I found a solution to all of this. You will all get to live in a peaceful world devoid of this rotten evil. I swear it.”
Helios’ eyes widened as Zephyr responded. “You’re talking as if you lost everyone… I’m here for you, and you need to be here for us too!” He took a short break before adding. “We’ve all lost people, Zephyr, and we all felt that betrayal deep inside us. He left us, but we cannot let him win, okay?”
Helios approached the woman’s desk, glancing at the esoteric glyphs and cryptic sheets of paper she was reading just a moment ago. “Is it really what you want, coping by sheltering yourself in the occult? Don’t you remember how you vividly stopped me from taking the same path when I lost my father? And now… You’re taking the same obscure path, you’re not even talking to the people who are left anymore. Is that your solution? Cutting yourself from us? We need you here… And we’ll be here for you.”
Zephyr turned towards him, reaching out to briefly hold his face, tracing his soft skin with her calloused hands. It's as if she's memorizing it all, before her eventual plan takes action, knowing what will come. “Helios, you're young. You have to focus on living for yourself, for the remains of Hoofstad. This… is just a step I'm willing to take, as the leader of the Mercury legion.” She let go ever so slowly. “I'm your mentor and you must listen to me… At least for tonight.”
She put a hand on the writings Helios was trying to examine. “I promise you that this pain of mine will be temporary… Once I begin my plan for the freedom of humanity, everything will return back to normal. I will… return. I will not leave you. I promise.” She did not look at him, her expression concealed by the shadows. “Trust me, then. Like you've done all these years.”
Helios looked far from relieved. He took a step away, quickly glancing around. “You don’t sound like someone who can take care of herself Zephyr. What are you even doing here?”
Bending to catch a sheet of paper, he showed its content to the woman. “I’m not a Presbiereus, but I can safely say these things look very much unholy. What kind of wicked witchcraft have you stumbled upon? Don’t you remember their teachings? Just because we killed the gods doesn’t mean we should turn ourselves to something like this…”
Turning the paper to face the scripture, Helios’ face displayed concern. The weaponsmith quickly put down the paper on the desk, as if the paper was corrupting him at touch.
“These were given to me by the elders.” Zephyr reassured, her gaze softening to put him at ease. “I would not do something that could endanger me or you, Helios… These scriptures belonged to our ancestors, who fought threats as dangerous as the gods. If I study these, we can finally end this war and put all the innocents who died to rest.*
Zephyr got closer, embracing Helios warmly. She caressed the back of his head like she used to do. “Everything is going to be okay.” She whispered, sounding vulnerable. “I just need you to not doubt me. Can you do that for me?”
“I… I don’t think I can Zephyr.” Helios responded, distressed. “Look at yourself, you look like you haven’t eaten in days! This… grief, it’s consuming you from the inside. I know that feeling all too well.”
“Why won’t you let me help you? You were here for me when I lost the people I cherished, yet you cannot move on from your own demons. Did you forget your own teachings? I… I don’t understand Zephyr. It’s as if you didn’t care for anything anymore.”
Zephyr remained silent, her expression unreadable like usual. Eventually, she smiled. “Then… I promise tomorrow I'll come out. We're going to hunt and cook a nice boar together. I'll teach you how to use my bow” She took his hand in hers, rubbing his knuckles gently. “Okay?” She ruffled his hair. “I'm sorry I left you for so long, Helios. I won't scare you like this again. You're right, we can do this together…”
Helios sighs. “If you promise… I’ll get you some food in an hour, you still need to eat.” He conceded, before leaving the room without adding a comment.
———
Screams, the screams of a thousand people can be heard all throughout the domus. Blood is staining the marble walls, guts and flesh scattered all over. At the center of it all, there is Zephyr… She wields a ritual dagger, her gaze empty and dead like a corpse’s. At her feet, there is the body of Solomon, the leader of the Jupiter legion of the Iron Fist. Poor man, she thought, too peaceful and cowardly for his own good. He'd argued against her new beliefs, argued that a radicalization of their system was an insult to humanity itself. Zephyr wanted to avoid this, but she's never particularly liked obstacles nor annoying insects and Solomon filled both of those criteria in this moment. He had to go.
“… It's not time yet.” *Her voice shook, in her hand she held onto the limp, decapitated head of the man she just killed. A crowd of people surrounded her. They were here people, her soldiers, tired and unmotivated from the betrayal. But most of all, shocked at the sight of one of their leaders being dead, at the hands of the only woman who stood above them.
“Men and women.” *Zephyr began, as she tossed the head on the ground.* “We are tired of suffering, tired of living in a cage of our own making. Godkind has used us, abused us and toyed with our minds for too long. Gods feed off of our worship to further extend themselves, to cause pain and massacre us. That cannot be forgiven.” She took a breath. Her weakened body twitched in a terrifying manner. “Barzil igi-bala was the last straw. The dirty blooded god who renounced humanity to become one of them. He planned to abandon us from the very first moment… That is why…
That is why all gods deserve to die. Without gods, humanity will never suffer again. We will reign supreme in this forsaken land that ripped our ancestors from their homes. We will conquer it all until we will become one with the Backrooms itself.” Zephyr paused, her pupil dilating before she let out a laugh. “Death to all gods! Death to all gods at last! We will no longer submit, men and women! Shout it to the earth, to the sky above!”
The crowd erupted, an insanity of cheers and desperate agreement from broken minded people. They chanted for freedom, for bloodshed. But that was only the beginning. That was the match to light everything on fire.
“… One down.” *Zephyr murmured to herself, as she slipped away in the halls like a dazed mannequin. Solomon wouldn't be the only one to oppose her, no… Magttangol would come later, the leader of Mars would go along with the flow… All that was left, was Helios. Her sweet, beloved Helios.
Surely he would see her vision of freedom.
And then, she could finish her plan with that last step.
—-—
Alerted by the screams, Helios was one of the many people who immediately stopped what they were doing to rush to the source of the voices. With only a few hours of sleep, the weaponsmith struggled to keep pace with the other citizens, despite his otherwise athletic nature.
Zephyr. That was the only thing in his mind right now. She wasn’t the kind of woman to let herself be harmed, but with her lack of sleep and nutrition, Helios couldn’t help but fear for her life. Did an assassin of Kushim try to finish the job? Or worse, was the traitor attacking what was left of the resistance?
Finally arriving at the crime scene, Helios was first relieved to hear the voice of the person he cared so much for. As he made his way through the bystanders, however, his relief morphed into horror as he witnessed Zephyr covered in blood, the corpse of the former Jupiter leader onto the floor.
She was the one holding the knife.
Mortified, Helios rushed to Zephyr, jumping past the dead body.
“Zephyr! What… what happened here? Did he try to harm you? Are you okay? Is Barzil igi-bala here?” He shouted.
Zephyr breathes heavily, her eyes fixed on Helios. She stepped towards him, half panting and trembling. She's not in a good state of mind, everything came spiraling down today. This was the only way, she reminded herself, the only way to stop this carnage and avenge her children… her beloved husband… “Helios…” Zephyr embraced him, just like she did yesterday. “I'm fixing it, Helios. I promised… Yeah? I'm going to fix this. I'm going to… kill all the gods… Eradicate them all… until humans are the only ones left.”
Zephyr’s breathing grew progressively quicker the more she spoke. “Solomon was against that. He had to die. But you won't stop me, will you? You understand… Because you're my brother, my family…” She grasped at his face. “Tell me, Helios. Will you betray me like he did?” Her tone dropped into a sinister whisper. "Answer me.”
“You… you killed him without warning?” Helios whispered, horrified. “You… Zephyr what’s going on? What are you doing?”
His face morphed into anger. “You promised me you would look after yourself! Is this what caring looks like to you? Murdering people like the very gods we fought? Spitting on all we achieved because you cannot let the past go?”
The weaponsmith stood despite Zephyr’s sharp glance. “What madness are you creating? This isn’t like you Zephyr, I don’t know what eldritch tomes you read yesterday, but you’re not yourself. I cannot let you hurt any other in your rage, let alone yourself.” He continued with zeal.
More resolute than ever, Helios finally took a step forward, raising himself between her and the bystanders. “You’ve been brainwashed by something. The real Zephyr would never turn on us. I don’t know what’s going on but… I know you’re still here somewhere. Please… Whatever it is, fight it, fight it for me.” He finally pleaded.
“This is the truth!” *Zephyr yelled, her eyes widening in fury. “I'm tired of letting them manipulate us! I'm tired of enduring this madness! Gods are the plague of this world and those scriptures are the key to a new light for the Iron Fist!” She held onto his shoulders tightly. “Don't fight me, Helios. I am a woman who wants to protect humanity. I won't let you stop me. I won't…” She was losing control. “I'm going to grant us all a good life, Helios. All I need is for you to step away and let me finish this…”
She couldn't be reasoned with, not anymore. For too long she suffered and endured in silence. Kushim turned her into a broken soldier, nobody respected her enough to stabilize her. Now…now it's the end. She's reached her limits.
“But YOU are getting manipulated!” Helios shouted as his breath started to speed up. "Whatever it is, it lied to you and you know it. Solomon didn’t do anything! If you can't fight against yourself then I will fight you until you find the strength to do it yourself.”
Helios took a battling stance, weaponless, ready to save the person he cared about from whatever madness she created.
Zephyr froze in place, his words triggering her deeply. It's almost as if she lost all the air in her lungs, unable to think or speak any longer. Zephyr would never hurt him, Zephyr loves him. He's the only part of her family left. The boy she raised to grow into a strong young man. How can she live in a world without Helios? How can he live in a world without her?
But he won't live in a world without Zephyr by his side. No, she will make sure of it.
Zephyr held him closer, burying her face against the crook of his shoulder, almost as if to blind herself. “I'm sorry.” She apologized, apparently for nothing. “You must understand I am a horrible, selfish person.” Her dagger was pointed behind him back, but he could not see. “But I love you, brother.” Her voice cracked into a thousand pieces. “And that is why I'm sparing you from living without me.”
With a sharp motion, Zephyr stabbed him right in the heart, slowly twisting the knife. Tears drip from her eyes, but her expression is vacant. “Forgive me.” She asked no one. “My sweet brother.”
Helios’ eyes widened one final time as he coughed blood, falling onto the floor. Trying to formulate one last sentence. “I’m… sorry… you couldn’t…” before he exhaled his last breath, as she picked him up.
Zephyr's mind tore once he stopped breathing, she cradled him like she cradled her dead children years ago, during that painful massacre. Now, she had nothing holding her back for the greater good… for the final act of this performance. Zephyr covered Helios with her cape, whispering him goodnight, before she limped towards her bedroom.
She'd reenacted the plan over and over again, exactly as how she memorized those scriptures. The ancient writings of how to control the Backrooms and its phenomenon. All it took was the will and the conjuring of all those particles making up the world as is into the physical world, messing with probabilities themselves as if they were physical values. The ancients mastered this manipulation to learn perfect no-clipping, but this was far from what she intended to do.
With a quiet hiss, she kneeled and pointed the knife at her neck. She'd have about a few minutes to act, as she carefully planned. Magttangol was coming, she heard his footsteps from the other hall… Good, she thought. As she traced a line of blood, she closed her eyes and truly focused. Hundreds of particles, values, physical substances swirled in her mind. She felt herself manifesting them closer, grasping at them with her thoughts, one in particular. Forced immortality, a phenomenon that only affects those about to die, to reduce them into immortal husks in eternal agony. But she did not plan to keep herself alive forever, no… This was merely a mediator.
The bulky warrior stepped into the room, his voice gentle at first. “Zephyr… I heard shouting- Zephyr please tell me you're alright… I've been told the others were killed and-” Before he could muster up any other words, he saw the woman he'd been in love with for years, his blue eyed warrior, piercing herself in the neck and spilling blood. He let out a choked yell, rushing to her, but he was stopped.
The woman pointed towards him, smiling. It was a smile devoid of any emotion, an haunting face. “Survive for me, my beloved.” She said. “Make the gods suffer for this.” With those words, her form went limp, her hand dropping down as she passed.
Magtanggol let out an ear piercing wail, holding her close as she helplessly bled out. “Zephyr!” He called for her. “Oh Zephyr! Zephyr! Zephyr!” He sobbed, as he caressed hee face, his big hands trying to wipe the blood away. “My gust of wind… My.. my Zephyr… Why?! Why?!” He couldn't wrap his head around her insanity, the extreme irrationality behind her actions. How could this have happened? Had he been too much of a fool to see the signs?
In a desperate attempt, he tried to slit his throat to follow her in the afterlife. However…
He could simply not die.
Any cut, any attempt. He would not die…
And then that's when he realized. That he would never be able to erase his guilt. Never.
Zephyr trapped him in this life forever. A puppet for her plan of change and he had no idea.
———
by Nikuchan/Praetor, fix the lame stuff later