to recreate the world

[The recorder clicks on; Cyrus sounds, um, agitated at best, hysterical at worst.]

I saw you I saw you I saw you I saw you isawyouisawyouisawyou

Do you think you can escape so easily, do you think you can just flit at the corner of my eyes and run when I turn to look?! I see your little distortions, movements, the shadows you hide in, the holes you make. I will find you trap you chain you use you as befits me. You do not understand who I am! You think that you can continue your messy noisy worthless games with me. Even the Golbats see you in the corners, behind the walls. Hear your noises. Come out, come out. I will not fall prey. I see through your lies, I see .... No, no, no. Hahahaha. Where are you? Don't hide. You don't understand. We will make everything complete.

[This muttering fades away; then a sudden exclamation, loud but static'd and incoherent; there's the sound of a sharp crack and then a soft, cloth-y thump.]

[The chittering and wingbeats of bats and a very large bird until the recording times out.]



[ooc: Cyrus isn't taking the nightmares and moving reflections and ghostly happenings all that well; he attacked his own reflection and knocked himself out. If anyone would like, they can come check on him/move him; if not, the distraught and hungry Golbats might eat him~]

....

...Edward. And your ... brother. Assist me in relocating some indispensable equipment from the White Fang building to my lab.

...

There are your efforts for you. Blink and everything's shifted around again. Gone. Wasted. What a lovely nonsense world. Here is the vaunted normalcy you have striven for. A hollow relief.

The generators failed. They reverted back to their ... incomplete states. They should have worked. Sylar. You can see, can't you? Get over here. We will have power.

White Fang members. I trust you have retained your memories of the recent disaster?

Beautiful.

...

Those who participated in the attempt to curtail the destruction the fire wrought ... you did well in preventing ... excessive amounts of death. If anyone needs to discuss anything with me, I'll be ... out.

[ooc: out wandering around in the rain with his Crobat, reveling in the flattened ashen landscape :( ]

All you've worked for, turned to ashes. You see how futile this all is? No, keep fighting it. Pointless destruction.

....

....

Get to the lower level if you value your worthless lives. I suggest what's left of the river or the bath-house for cover, or one of the ... buildings made of stone and occupied by echoes. White Fang, please ... direct survivors to likely safe spots by any means necessary. It would be such a ... shame if anyone died. My methods may be unorthodox, but they will be effective. What's your name with the water I made sure to write down ah yes here it is Demyx and ... ghost machine boy ... Tsukasa, would you ... kindly report to headquarters so that you can be assigned to critical areas. Your abilities are now of the utmost importance.

It has come to my attention that White Fang's leader has recently departed this world ... so to speak. In lieu of this unfortunate news, and as a longstanding affiliate of White Fang and an ally and adviser to ... Citrine, I see no choice but to step in and help White Fang recover.

All employees will report to me now. If there are any objections, reservations, or suggestions, state them in a clear manner so as to avoid needless conflict. They will be considered and discussed with the regard that they deserve. Your objectives, of course ... remain unchanged. And we shall see what the future holds. It is, of course, a place of ... grand possibility. Ahahaha.

Sylar, what are you called ... ah yes Ed ... your aid is still welcome, of course.

[The terminal starts recording when it is bumped; a few minutes of static and barely audible muttering from Akagi can be heard. It gets louder when he gets closer to the terminal.]

Stay away from me, bat. You'll knock it over... Hmph. Better.

Going and coming, coming and going. We are not, we never have been. Will we be forgotten? Hell is repetition, they say. Three... four ... no, too many. One less. Come now, this is ... not such a complex formula that I might ...

If reports of a heat wave by the highly hysterical populace are true, I see even less need to leave this lab. Dust, though, everything ... so much dust. Hahahaha. The sort of ... repetition. An endless battle. Such is human nature. My sins? I see now I am ... as vulnerable to those traits I despise as all others. Is this progress? Does my single ... my blindness strand me here? Where are you, gods? Why did you leave me there?

...

...

...

[He quits muttering when he realizes it's being recorded and addresses the terminal directly.]

Tsk. Pay ... no mind to my ramblings; nothing of interest to you was said, I am certain.

...

Though it does now occur to me that I have need of a new lab assistant.

Your turn, Kyousuke? I suppose I do owe you a favor.

...



...


Distressing, ah ... desires. Lately. Somewhat similar to a Golbat, I would imagine. How ironic.I find this situation deplorable. However, I also see that similar incidents have occurred across the levels. An imbalance caused by the recent disruption? Ahaha. Hahahaha. Pitiful, unstable world.

...though my, as you so barbarically termed it, "kill" has also vanished. I assume the apparation took him?

[clattering; panicked fumbling with the keys, a minute of silence. Then Akagi speaks. He is obviously extremely distraught and is having trouble speaking intelligibly at all.]

You don't you think I know all of that I knew it you're the same disgusting rot accretion as everyone else don't you understand it would be better if there were nothing fewer particles instead of empty space within everything just empty space with no chance of condensing nothing nothing nothing nothing on any scale anywhere not ice or rock no not barren enough no darkness because there's no light

Kyousuke Kyousuke Kyousuke where are you don't be useless worthless shiftless dust particles like everyone everyone else.

Why did you run away, Mars!? Aren't things interesting enough for you?!

[Akagi starts to laugh again and doesn't stop. Eventually, the recording times out.]

[ooc: Road broke him. whoops.]

[The Golbats seem agitated; Akagi seems much, much calmer.]

Noisy.

Pests.

Stay out of my lab.


Or this will descend into an endless spiral of conflict.


[ooc: Akagi murdered Tomoe for asking Road to kill his Golbats. Or, well, he didn't murder Tomoe, the Golbats did. Akagi locked Tomoe's corpse into a back room, where Kyousuke found it. lmao.]

[Akagi raises his voice, clearly angry. For once, there are no sounds in the background.]

Idiots. You think you are worthwhile? Why do you care!? Come to the Riget and I will show you the truth.

...why do I still fall prey to weakness. Rage. Frustration. No. Silence. All of you. Be silent!

[There's the sound of someone striking the terminal, and the recording shuts off.]

[Some fumbling with the computer, mechanical sounds and the slight flapping of wings in the background.]

The Riget now belongs to me. If you wish to trespass in the future, please inform me first. Depending on your goals, I may find it agreeable to allow you access to certain portions of the Riget.

[He mutters something unintelligible under his breath --- something along the lines of "what was your goal" and possibly about a shadow world.]

Golbats, find something else to eat. Exhaustion will not serve ... get out. You're in my way. What? There's a Crobat ... odd, I don't recall... no, there's no point in conjecture. How frustrating. No. Ridiculous. I will not allow myself to experience such useless imperfections in the spirit again.

Ma-- Citrine. Where have you been?

Oh yes, there was another matter...

...

...

...ah.

Kyousuke, were you the cause of all that smoke?



[ooc: Contrary to his claims, Cyrus does not own the entire Riget, and he probably won't notice people going in and out, though Kyousuke might...? The basement lab has been cleared of monsters and turned into a area that's livable, if one doesn't mind the almost complete lack of creature comforts. There are still ghosts, and the lower levels are still infested with dangerous monsters. The Crobat is left over from his last time here :'D He just forgot about it. And it's a masochistic Crobat. Or ... something. ALSO SKIE I DECIDED ARBITRARILY that the smoke is from Kyousuke learning to cook. Tell me if that's not okay. :') ]

It's extremely difficult to concentrate with all of this commotion.

....

This is not that broken world.

No matter. One is much the same as another.

Fascinating.

Patterns and waves, affecting matter and reality.

I have an airship. I was going to launch it today, but then it snowed. .... improbable inclement weather, interfering with my plans.




Ah, yes, and I have been raising animals which are edible. Food has been scarce, I heard? But I have a better way to feed my bats now. Fickle as you all are. The world unravels and wraps around itself again, and you worry about funds? There isn't either a beginning or an end.


Oh, and I have explosives. I was left them. It was not a live bomb, you see, but that was easy to reconfigure. Minor faults in the wiring. I believe I remember which one it was, too.

This laboratory is satisfactory.

... The situation has not improved greatly.


There are five children following me. It is clear that they are not human; nor are they like the other creatures. Perhaps a relation to the ... hooded creatures.

Is that the source of the problem?

...

Of course it is. A child could deduce that. Have they? There is a new god here, isn't there? Has been, for ... how long?! I don't remember. Everything has been changing. Hera, wasn't it? Hera, you have no right to do this to me. Do you know who I am?!

I attempted to disassemble one of the children, but it vanished when I approached it. The others remain. That was greed. Greed? What do I covet, then?! I have no use for material goods! Who remains? Pride, sloth, wrath. Ridiculous. I only speak the truth. It is everyone else who is blind. I am not moved by petty emotions such as anger. ... I am not!

If I wait, this will pass. Is this just a waiting game!? How unfortunate that I find myself restless, then. Many of you speak about safety. An irrelevant concern. At worst you die, and even that is temporary. Whoever it was that killed my bats. You should know that they came back, after three days, though now they have all scattered due to hunger. I told them to return, and few of them did. Where have they gone? I have how many now? Crobat, and one for each not-child. But they won't touch the not-children, either.

Doumeki -- that is your name? -- you aided me. Aid me again.

I will note that if anyone else finds the slow, pink Pokemon known as Slowpoke, their tails are considered a delicacy. Furthermore, they grow them back. Though slowly.

Are there any working laboratories? I suppose I could make myself useful.

[Uncharacteristic fumbling at the keys, then silence for a moment before Cyrus speaks. He sounds extremely ill, in pain and on the verge of collapse, though more ... energetic than usual, and is accompanied by the fluttering wings of his oversized bats.]

.....

I am ... not ... well.

I left to find Mars. Where is she? Gone? When did she leave?

Is this all worth nothing? My efforts? No, it can't be. I would ... I was going to be god but everything keeps, keeps shifting ... will nothing be completed?! Get away from me! Find something else to eat! I don't care if you die!

[a smashing noise, then repeated crunching and a harsh scream. The fluttering bats, and something that sounds like a short scuffle.]

[Silence and heavy breathing, and then, like these words are more painful than the last:]

... I require assistance.


In return, I ... I can build or fix anything.


[ooc: Caught by a Mephisto. Effects? Pride, Wrath, Envy, Greed, Sloth ... Pride, Pride, Pride, etc.]

Beautiful.

[The recorder clicks on, and Cyrus speaks sharply; his words are clipped and almost angry.]

This city-- Purgatorium. What have you done to my Golbats? Is this how you purport to solve all problems? No wonder that you have been sent to rot here.

...

I will admit that it puzzled me.

Why am I here among you violent, failed, pathetic, emotional, frightened children? I will end all of you. Not as you have so barbarically ended the lives of my Pokemon; no, I will make it as if none of you ever existed. A fitting end to all of this strife. Turn to dust and blow away, all of you. Shadows. Flee.