Chapter Seventy-Nine: Ruby Red

Who Goes There?
Who Is That?
Watch it, T.
Or What?

Or what? You know I know you--you're still a Monster,
you have not changed.

Watch What Comes Out Of Your Mouth Next.

You no longer scare me, Old Timer.
I am the Designer.

You May Have Grown In Power, Sure,
But You Are Still Unsure Of It All.
Unsure And Nervous.
Meanwhile I Can Still Surface.

So--I noticed her noticing.
It ain't like the old days,
when you hid in plain sight.

Right.

Do you see her light?

I See Her Darkness.

As you always do,
you never change.

Change? No. I Evolve.

I wish you'd dissolve.

The Aether Is My Strength,
And You Are Not My Weakness.
This Will Always Be A Part Of Me--
My Family.

Strength In Numbers,
Or Did You Forget?
What Once Was A Kingdom?
Well-Set.

These Humans,
I See Their Pain For A Reason,
This Is No New Season.
You Call Me A Monster,
I Was Kept In A Cage,
But Do You Not See?
I Feed Off Rage.

You can't save everyone,
that is your problem,
you're just like Cass,
picking up strays.

The World Is Different Now,
Even Mother Can See.

I Am Free.

Or is it because I let you?
Because I enjoy to see you fall?

And Living Alone, Isolated, Is Your Way To Go?
I blame Cass for that, she should have done as I told her.
We are not good for people--
they will only get hurt.

Sure, Cassandra Opened Up The Portal,
We Are No Longer Mortal.
The World Sees Us For Who We Are.
I Do Not Need To Hide.

Yes, yes, the almighty god,
the original monster,
but you are just burnt bread in the toaster.

Careful, Mind Your Tongue, Editor,
I Am Still The Apex Predator.
The World Belongs To The Broken,
For They Are The Evolved.
In The End The Cockroaches Are Dissolved.

**********************

Ruby Red,
welcome to The Collective,
hope you don't mind the dread.
This Kingdom is built from pain,
and chaos.
But something tells me you understand what that's like.

In time you will learn more of the story,
that's true.
If you choose to stay,
that's on you.

I have yet a lot to learn, too.

And so the story goes on,
you've been here before dear reader,
the story of the Red Leader.

But this world is different than in the old days,
that's true.
This world is now at the mercy...

of Blue.

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