VII. Legacy

Showing the history of VII. Legacy across 2 versions
From 2022.05.31 (Season of the Haunted) to 2022.07.19 (Season of the Haunted)

Name

  • Classified
  • VII. Legacy

Description

  • Calus sees her as he remembers her. Young and precocious, energetic and ambitious. A mind full of dreams larger than his own.
  • Her intensity intimidates him. She imagines accomplishments he dares not entertain for fear of failure.
  • The Nightmare knows this fear. Its adolescent eyes meet his and bore into his soul, laying all his embarrassments bare. It sees him for what he is: a deposed ruler, entombed alive in a golden sarcophagus and left to rot in exile, replaced by one more beloved than he.
  • "Always seeking the adoration of others," seethes the Nightmare wearing his daughter's face. "Even from the Witness."
  • "Silence," Calus grumbles. He instinctively reaches for his chalice, but it has long since left his side.
  • "It will abandon you. Just like the Cabal, just like the Ghost Primus."
  • The Nightmare of Caiatl smiles, sweet and crimson and full of hatred. "Just like your daughter."
  • "I said be silent," Calus sputters.
  • His daughter's laughter is a knife between his ribs, as it always has been.
  • "No one hears your edicts. No one obeys."
  • Her voice fills his chamber and seeps into every crevice of his mind.
  • "She is empress now. You are nothing."
  • "I made her," he bellows. "I, Calus, the greatest emperor since Acrius. All that comes before me is a prelude. All that follows is my legacy. I am the sun itself!"
  • "A dying sun for a dead world. A legacy of ashes, soon to be swept away by the wind that is Caiatl."
  • "She will never surpass me!" he roars.
  • "She already has," the Nightmare sings. "And soon, you will be forgotten."
  • Calus's withered face contorts in anguish and angst. The Nightmare is wrong, he thinks. Caiatl will never be a greater leader. He will make sure of it.
  • Even if all that exists must pay the price.