[IC] ANKL Chapter I: As if a Dream

[Chim]

Lana screamed in agony when Riley started to burn her eye. Or was she cutting it? There was no way for her to release what exactly was going on. The only thing she felt was intense pain. It even overshadowed the slumbering fear that was always present.

“N-No, w-wh-“ she managed to stutter when she saw her eye on Riley palm.

Fear immediately welled up from within her stomach to her chest and soon engulfed her entire body. Lana struggled as hard as she could in an attempt to break free but it was useless. And soon the screams came again when Riley started to torture her again. But this time it didn’t last long before Lana couldn’t hear her own screams anymore. She had lost herself to the darkness. She didn’t even know if she fainted or her powers came back to surface. It told her to lose herself, to accept the fear and fight back. Because no one was going to come and save her. She was on her own with no choice left but to give in into the hatred and make this bitch pay.

[Shamitako]

Riley

A storm of power surged up from Lana, tearing at Riley's arm. It hurt, it hurt a lot, but it was nothing compared to Riley's everyday. The more profiund effect, was the fear it infused in her. The energy of Darkness preyed on her soul, ripping into it and exposing her terrors. Her deepest fear, the fear of pain, welled up from within her and she simply couldn't hold her anger in. She pressed her thumb into Lana's eye socket with a furious howl, forcing the girl's screams to become twice as agonized to match. They shared a moment of mutual rage and pain before Lana suddenly went silent, seeming to have passed out from the pain. The storm died down, the pain and fear it inflicted ebbing away with it. Riley regained her senses, but not her calm. She glared down at Lana's unconscious face, anguish still clearly visible on her features.

"Well done." she spat, "It takes a lot to make me angry, we'll resume this tomorrow."

(OOC: And that's it for Lana this chapter, thanks for giving me the opening to knock her out, it saved a good bit of time. Other posts will happen at some later point)

[Shadow Sketches]

Lee

With a nod, Lee repeated the words that Eden had shared with her. Feeling slightly silly as she spoke.

"Heart and soul forever torn

Endless sea of endless hate

Reaching out to tear down scorn

This blade of mine does reach forever

Salvation is my true endeavor"

Immediately after the last word was spoken, the ground beneath her feet cracked as she felt the power of an Earth blade begin to surge through her. The cracks grew in size as bright white light shone from them and began to cover her body, the light twirling around Lee for brief moments before disappearing completely as the light burst outward in a magnificent burst of power to once again reveal the girl underneath.

The most obvious change was Lee's outfit. Her black combat boots remained although her legs were now only covered by torn, black stockings with dark brown shorts. The tears in the front of the stockings allowed one to see the pale skin underneath and the brown lacy design tattoos that now covered them. Her hoodie replaced with a black chestplate over a dark brown shirt with long sleeves to cover her arms. Her hands and parts of her arms was covered by bracers and fingerless black leather gloves that looked similar to her chestplate. Although she usually did not use cosmetics, her nails were now painted a dark brown color while her eyes were outlined with kohl.

After her transformation, Lee examined her new clothing curiously. Surprisingly feeling comfortable in her new outfit as a small smile appeared on her face.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Shadow Sketches

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

"I assume Layla knows how Mother Opium can help us, given that she brought us here," said Esyllt. "And should we need to convince her of our situation, I can transform. Fortunately that will be our last resort."

Esyllt visualized herself returning back to her uniform. Her orbs gathered towards her, including the ones that were imbued in the other three girls. The light softly enveloped her, before her uniform unfolded on top of her as if nothing had happened to begin with. Neat. She had no idea why Layla had brought them here, or what she was going to say to the head of the institute. Impatiently, she knocked on the door once more, this time louder than before.

"Mother Opium, this is Esyllt Morrianas," she said, announcing herself. "There is something that I'd like to have a word with you about."

[K_H]

Anna

Anna remained standing with the other three girls as she spoke up, adding to Esyllt's statement.

"Mother Opium, our topic is one that is rather urgent, and it's not just Esyllt who wants to talk about it. I, Anita Lotensio, would also like to participate in the conversation, as would our two roommates."

[Shamitako]

Layla

Layla shook her had apologetically.

"No." She said, "I have no w-way of finding my sisters. Nayru could s-sense souls and Alexus could just pick a d-direction and find something useful, but Kallisto a-and I do not inherently have a sense f-for the others."

Esyllt and Anna made pleas at the door and waited for just a moment before the door was tugged open.

Natalie

Natalie sat on her mother's bed playing solitaire. The bedroom was quite large, with enough seats for seven. It had a bathroom and a personal kitchen as well, the benefits of being the Mother of the school. Natalie had a room of her own, but she was here this evening because she wanted to ask for her mother's advice. She knew that her mother believed wholeheartedly in the goddesses, in fact it wasn't all that unlikely that she already knew about Kallisto, so explaining her godhood would be relatively easy. But how was she supposed to explain what she had done as a goddess?

Natalie was interrupted by a knock and some kind of muffled yelling from the door. Her mother was in the shower, so she went to open it herself. She could feel the tension permeating the souls outside. A tad nervous, she carefully turned the handle and pulled the door inward. The first thing she noticed was a tall girl, one even taller than herself. Next was a girl dressed in simple clothing with wavy black hair. Then Natalie's face lit up with a genuine smile when she noticed a familiar face.

"Arya!" She said happily, opening the door the rest of the way, "If you were looking to talk to my mom, she's in the shower.

She felt compelled to drop her bitchy facade when Arya was around, knowing that her shorter friend wouldn't take kindly to her acting the way she usually did. The two shared similar backgrounds, both having grown up under their fathers, so Natalie felt a sort of kinship with Arya. She hoped Arya wouldn't be pushed away by the revelation of Natalie's past life. Finally, Natalie moved her attention tot eh fourth girl. This one was extremely short and wore an outfit that gave Natalie the impression she was a Laylite. With how Laylites were. Natalie couldn't stand them, particularly not after realizing how they were supposed to be. But then she noticed something odd, there were four girls, but five souls. And the fifth was within this tiny Laylite. Natalie looked closely at her eyes, hidden carefully behind a pair of red sunglasses, the whites were not exactly white and the irises an electric yellow. Natalie's eyes widened in surprise.

"Laylasih?" She gasped.

"N-nayru?" Came the timid response.

Natalie actually felt tears come to her eyes at that. How was she supposed to explain to a goddess that her sister was gone?

"Why don't you four come inside." She said, turning away to hide her face, "We can talk better if you're not standing at my door while the sun sets.

(OOC: BTW, sorry if it seems like I'm favoring Arya, that's not my goal, it's just that I haven't had many openings to do things with the other two yet)

[Code: PIRULUK]

Purity

Rein felt an electric tingle along her spine as Kallisto lifted her up by her neck. As she ascended, she caught a brief glace of the Goddess' face, seeing a hint of revel in her otherwise stoic expression. As she flew, her head bumping against the table, heat flushed through her body, causing her to inadvertently release a soft moan. That look in Kallito's eyes... That... sadistic tinge...Rein shivered and started to drool. She had found...the one. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Kallisto was the one she had been awaiting. She would follow her Goddess to the ends of time. The conviction sent shudders through her as she curled up, panting in excitement.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

She smiled at the red head's greeting, it was nice to see at least one friendly face in all this insanity. Well, not that she had that many of them here to begin with, or anywhere, for that matter. But Natalie was still definitely better than none at all. But of course, before she could reply, lo and behold, the red head was just as embroiled in this as any of them. Of course. Why wouldn't she be. Arya had gotten past the point where she really questioned this stuff anymore than was absolutely necessary.

"Well, at least finding her was easy, I guess." She sighed. With a glance to Anna and Esyllt, she nodded to the room's interior before accepting Natalie's invitation, walking past the two goddesses. Though nothing was said to the mortal girls, the expression had been clear enough: just let the two deities have their moment of reunion now, while they could.

[Shamitako]

Haley

Haley slowly allowed the illusion to fall apart, causing their surroundings to melt back into the bloodied hallway. Haley nearly fainted when she saw how much blood she'd gotten on herself, and quickly dispelled the transformation to remove it. The best part of magical combat outfits had to be the automatic washing and mending. Her clothes sparkled and faded back to normal, and then she remembered: She'd been stabbed in her normal outfit. Though her body was healed, her shirt shill had a jagged hole through it. It was clear that she had no hope of chasing after the Eye of Hope with Lana now, she and Arturia were both worn out.

"Alright, I think we should head back to our rooms for the evening and regroup tomorrow after classes. As much as I'd like to find Lana and the Eye, it's been too long and we're both out of sorts." She said, "I know someone who can gets this blood cleaned up without a fuss. Well, he'll fuss, but he'll do it anyways, he's nice like that."

(OOC: Will Lexi post later today or tomorrow afternoon)

[Chevaleresse]

"Are you sure? I can keep going, I think. This is important, don't delay it for my benefit." Still, her hand unconsciously drifted toward her abdomen before falling to her side again. She sighed. "I have no idea what to actually do, though. This is all so fuckin' insane. . ." She looked around for a moment, thinking about what Haley had said. "Where did Lana go, any way? I was uh, kind of distracted."

(bleh, short post)

[Shamitako]

Alexus

Was it necessary? Probably not. But boy was it fun. The salty crimson rain still ran down Lexi's body, slowly congealing into a sticky mess of red goop. Lexi quickly sucked her fingers clean before the blood upon them dried up.

"I'm ready as well." Sharp said, her voice clearly disturbed.

"Right, then we should probably get going." Lexi said cheerfully.

She continued her march towards the exit, noticeably ignoring the others' concerns about the gore.

A short while later, they arrived in front of a small wooden door. It stood with no frame and had no handle on either side.

"Alright, we're here. The door will open once we defeat its guardian." Lexi explained, "As soon as I call it, we will enter into combat with a beast of overwhelming power. It is in fact so strong that I have struggled to beat it alone in past nightmares, and it becomes stronger each time I face it. This beast is so fearsome, that even a goddess such as myself was consumed by terror when she first saw it."

She raised her hand to the sky and shouted, "Doremi, come forth!"

A portal opened in the sky, it's purple-y-black expanse stretching to encompass half the sky. From its center evil, swirling dropped the horrifying beast of which Lexi spoke,

A single black field cricket.

Lexi screamed and took several steps back, shielding her face behind her hands.

Sharp

A cricket. This stupid goddess was afraid a single cricket. And even if somehow this cricket was some kind of super-cricket that could kill them with one chirp, Lexi said she was terrified when she saw it. Meaning that she would be equally scared of a perfectly average cricket. As the goddess cowered, Sharp stepped forward and launched a single fireball at the thing. He was unsurprised when the cricket chirped a single time and the fireball dissipated completely.

"Why? Why would you dream up a super-cricket?" He asked, baffled.

"It's not like I wanted to, the people who are messing with me made the door guard the scariest thing that I could imagine." Lexi answered.

"Right, so, fireballs don't work, how do we beat it?"

"I don't know, every time I beat it, it comes back with the weakness I exploited last time completely fixed."

Right. So Sharp was fighting an invincible cricket, in a crazy empty sand place, with in insane and useless goddess, and his nails were painted. He couldn't even imagine how it was going to get worse, but he knew that they would.

[Hiss13]

Sion

Sion's eye twitched. After the callous display of standing under a rain of blood and guts, there this goddess was pulling the obvious fear reaction. It was honestly hard to believe that a goddess was afraid of insects. The very sight in front of her seemed almost surreal in light of that mental barrier of Sion's. She had a multitude of snarky comments to make.

"Really…a goddess terrified of insects." She blurted out.

"Let's just get this over with." Sion pointed her index and middle fingers on her right hand to the head of the cricket. The rings on her arm lit up in sequence until the one on the wrist and an ice spear shot from her fingers towards the cricket's head.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Hiss13

[Jory]

Riv

At first the girl refrained from moving, her eye twitching lightly. She bit her lip, her eyes widening in fear. "Oh, nonononononononono...." she whispered to herself, backing away slowly. A cricket? she asked herself, continuing to move away from the small insect. If this thing is a test even for Lexi, then I'm not sure we can be of much help. Her brain couldn't help but flash to Mary Python's Holy Grail, in which a small rabbit unexpectedly decapitated several skilled (albeit wildly hilarious) knights. If this was anything like that, then they were screwed.

[Shamitako]

Haley

"I don't know where Lana went," Haley answered, "She ran after the Eye but that's as much as I can say. I hope she's alright."

They were a mess, that was the best way to describe it. They had just survived a scramble with a goddess where they could have easily lost their lives.

"To be honest, it's not just for your benefit." Haley confessed, "I don't really know what to do either and I just need to take a rest to sort things out. It's getting late, I'm tired, hungry, and scared. As important as this is, I'm worried that if we keep going now that we're going we'll just make a bigger mess than we already have. So I think we should both go rest. Tomorrow after classes we can meet back at the library and try to sort out what to do with all three of us together."

Haley decided to leave out for the moment that she was hoping to have Kallisih along, it would probably be a little much to tell Arturia right then that Haley's older sister was a goddess.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

That was more convenient than Esyllt could have imagined. Natalie Opium was the vessel of Nayru, which brought their search to an end. Esyllt suddenly swayed a little, as she clenched her stomach with one hand, and steadied herself against the wall with another. She moved to a spot against the wall that was not very noticeable, as her eyes carefully scanned the room. She tried to remain alert, listening in particular for Mother Opium. She wasn't particularly fond of running into her, as too many incidents of misconduct in the past had resulted in her being all too familiar with her lectures. Not only that, but Esyllt knew there was a refridgerator in here somewhere that she wanted to get her hands into. While the two goddesses were catching up, she could take this opportunity to filch something without anyone being the wiser.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Stalkerkain

[K_H]

Anna

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait too long before being let in. As an added bonus, they were let in by the person they were trying to find. Anna ended up just leaning against the wall in a relaxed manner. However, it didn't take long before she noticed that Esyllt had disappeared from the area, which irked her somewhat. She then headed to another location in the room in an attempt to find the girl and make sure that she wasn't doing anything too rash.

Edited May 25, 2016 by K_H

[Chevaleresse]

Artoria sighed. "This is just nuts. . . I really don't want to wait, knowing that Riley is running around with goddess powers and apparently gets her kicks from stabbing people, but you've got a point." She shook her head and looked down for a moment, before glancing back upward at Haley. "Uh, by the way, I was wondering a couple things. The first one is how to take this off." She gestured at herself, blood-spattered armor and all. "Can't really walk around like this." After waiting for the other girl's response, she took a deep breath. "And, uh, what did you mean by 'you don't love me?' I mean, no offense, I don't, but that still seems like a weird thing to say. . ."

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt carefully moved about the area carefully, as she knew she was treading dangerous grounds. Although Natalie may have allowed them inside, what she was about to do was unmistakeably tresspassing. She knew someone was trailing a little behind her, but she paid them no heed. It was probably just Arya or Anna. Eventually, Esyllt found her way to the kitchen, silently rejoicing at how close she was to food. As soon as she deemed the coast was clear, Esyllt beelined for the refridgerator. Upon opening the door, she choose select items, and not too much of one. That way, neither of the Opiums would notice a thing.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

Why the hell are you two going into the Kitchen? You don't fucking live here! despite her obvious objections, she only sighed as she watched the other girls almost instantly disappeared into the cooking space, turning away from the scene as she'd seen nothing. She didn't really feel like getting involved with something that would probably spell trouble sometime very soon, whatever they were doing in there. The only reason she could stay here in the first place was because of Mrs.Opium's kindness, the last thing she needed was to potentially mar her reputation as a model student by getting caught in the company of fools up to no good. Yes, yes, quite, because that would definitely make for a fun reunion with her father....

Seriously... those idiots must think this is an RPG or something, the way they're just inviting themselves in. I'd try and stop them, but sometimes it's just better to let fools suffer the wrath of their own folly...

In the meanwhile she pushed the thought away, tried to occupy herself listening for the muffled sounds of the shower. It still amazed her, all of this. Goddesses in the form of girls, Roomates who were as of now, quite obviously far less intelligent than they initially seemed, and an ancient curse that was apparently going to wreak havoc the first chance it got. Oh, and magical powers too, complete with mandatory, impractical combat attire. Couldn't well discount those out of everything else.

Well damn, maybe this really is an RPG afterall....

[K_H]

Anna

Anna waited for Esyllt to open the fridge door before sneaking up right behind the other girl, then speaking normally into her ear.

"I don't think you should be doing that without permission, even if you're starving. It's just not right to steal, especially from someone who willingly let you into their living quarters."

Edited May 29, 2016 by K_H

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt felt her heart skip a beat, as a familiar voice spoke in her ear. It had almost caused her to choke on her mouthful. She knew that someone was following her, but she had not expected that they had crept up directly behind her. At least it wasn't Mother Opium that was behind her. As she swallowed her mouthful, she grabbed an apple and a banana before closing the refrigerator door shut.

"With all this crazy stuff that's been going on, a girl's got to keep her energy up. There's no sense in going out to battle on an empty stomach," Esyllt said nonchalantly. She had no remorse about what she was doing, and lightly tossed the apple towards Anna. "Have an apple. Just think of it as an investment to our growing futures." Esyllt grinned, before she scarfed down the banana.

[K_H]

Anna

After catching the apple and putting it back where Esyllt had gotten it from, Anna shook her head and turned away from Esyllt.

"We'll see if I'm still hungry later, but I won't be eating stolen food anytime soon."

She then walked into the living room, and asked a question to the entire room after doing so.

"Is it OK for us to have a snack or a drink from the kitchen? I'd like to know before I could possibly do anything foolish, *cough*unlike-the-girl-that-has-just-had-a-banana*cough*."

[Shamitako]

Natalie

Natalie didn't pay any mind to the pair's disappearance, she had much more on her mind than worrying about fridge raiders.

"So, um, hello Laylasih." She said nervously, "It's been a while."

"Iit has, and I'm really glad to see you, Nayru." Layla replied, speaking in an unusually calm manner.

Natalie cringed at the name. Best to rip the bandage off, she supposed.

"I, um, I'm not Nayru." She said.

"What?" Layla said, dumbfounded.

"I'm sure it's no big surprise that the soul that belonged to the goddess chose not to destroy my soul. I am still Natalie, and although I have memory of being your sister, I am not."

"..." Layla was silent a moment, "No, it isn't. But it still hurts. I'm sure you can tell what happened in my case. If it's all the same, Natalie, I would appreciate if you would be my sister anyways."

Before Natalie could respond, Anna reentered the room and inquired about pinching snacks.

"Oh, yeah, take whatever, mom eats out half the time anyways." She said dismissively before returning her focus to Layla.

"So, how about we do a headcount." she said, taking the opportunity to dodge Layla's request, "I've got Kalli, the Eye of Hope, a Darkness Fury and Light Fury."

"A Water Shield, a Hope Vine, Eth- er, Eden's Curse, and... a Time Eye." Layla said.

"A Time Eye? How is that possible?"

"Well, from what I've seen of Arya, she hates the world even more than he does."

"Arya?" Natalie said in surprise.

"Yes, Arya one with the powers of Time." Layla explained.

Natalie then turned to her friend, a look of sorrow on her features. For Eden's Curse to give her this power, it showed just how much pain Arya had truly been through.

"Arya." She began, "Since you're with Layla I assume you know the basics of what's going on. I'm sorry you got caught up in this mess of a situation. And I'm sorry for becoming a symbol of this broken world. But I can give you at least some good news: Eden's Curse is not evil, the fact that it gave you these powers is a sign that it considers you to be a person who values truth. This world is wrong, and Eden's Curse is the only one with the power to change it. If you'd like, I can probably come up with an activation chant for you, just keep in mind that you'll be committing to a path that has been reserved for the descendants of Adam. It's no light decision, the power to change the world is one beyond that which Layla or I possess."

Helen Opium

Helen stood in the show, the warm spray of water washing over her body. It rushed over her closed eyelids, droplets splashing across her face. Behind said eyelids was not blackness, but rather a vivid picture of the room outside as seen through Natalie's eyes. She made a mental note to scold Esyllt for not asking before taking food. Helen had known for some time that her daughter was the incarnation of a goddess, but it was still a bit of a shock to hear her admit it out loud. The question now was whether or not she would continue to side with the Eye of Hope or choose a more pure path. Of even greater interest, however, was the revelation of Arya being a Time Eye. The fact that Ethan would give power to a woman, perhaps he wasn't nearly as hateful as Kallisto thought. There might be a chance to reason with him. In fact, it felt like Kallisto would be the tougher one to reason with at this point. The goddess had taken the responsibility for everything that had happened on herself, a burden which had clearly come to cloud her judgement in the past few months. Helen still remembered how lively Katherine was when the two had first met...

She sat across a table from a young Kallistle priestess, a girl considered to be a prodigy in religious study. Also a girl with views even more controversial than Helen's. Their shared dislike of the Kalo government was what had brought Helen to accept this meeting, but the words the girl spoke were unbelievable, literally.

"You're telling me that you're a goddess." Helen scoffed, "forgive me for not believing you, Lucille."

"Lady Opium, I know I sound crazy." The prodigy known as Katherine Lucille replied, "but if you'll just give me a chanc-."

"Alright, say you are Kallisto." Helen interrupted, "Why would you want to go in direct defiance of your own order of priestesses?"

"Surely you realize what a mess this world is, and it's largely because my followers have lost their path."

"And what's stopping me from going straight to Estole Syv and revealing your blasphemy?"

"As it happens, my mother is already aware of my claims. You think I managed to stick around in defiance of the church without giving her a damn good reason to keep me around?"

"Wait, you actually convinced Karen that you're the goddess?" Helen was so surprised she forgot to use the Estole's honorary name.

"Mother has become equally dissatisfied with the current state of the church as yourself since becoming Estole. When I began teaching my views, she immediately recognized them as those actually detailed in the original versions of the Kallistle scriptures. She is actually the one who suggested that I might be the goddess and caused me to awaken."

For Karen to believe that this girl was indeed Kallisto, no one was more well-versed in the scriptures than that crazy priestess. Helen didn't like the church, but its head was a different matter. As the Estole, Karen was the only person in the world who knew how to read the Kallistle scriptures in their original language. She was also Helen's close friend, although the two had to keep their relationship largely secret because of Helen's open dislike of the church. If Karen believed Katherine was the goddess, then Helen had to believe it as well.

"Alright, I believe you." Helen said finally, "What am I supposed to do with this information? I'm powerful, but not nearly as powerful as the Estole."

"That's where you're wrong." Katherine said excitedly, "The Estole is the head of the church, the only one allowed to learn ancient Kallistle, but she can be impeached if it is believed she no longer follows the right path. If she attempts to speak the truth she has learned in the scriptures, she'll be stripped of her position and probably executed. But you, you're a redhead, your influence is outside the church."

Helen nodded, "That does make sense."

"So I was thinking. If I'm here, why not the other goddesses? And what if we brought us together and stood up to the church and tried to fix things?"

"You'd seem four times as crazy." Helen joked.

Katherine laughed, it was a hearty, emotional laugh, "True enough. But I do still have access to some of my divine magic."

"You know, you could just show those off and anyone who saw would have to believe you."

"Alone I would seem a charlatan, especially after being so openly against the church."

"So we gather the other goddesses, how?"

"I was thinking we could try to exploit Alexus's luck to land us all in the same place..."

Eventually the two had worked out a plan to form the Opium Institute, the school that Helen now presided over. Kallisto had given Helen access to hidden powers. In return, Helen had supported the goddess the whole way with both financial and emotional support. Unfortunately, the emotional support seemed to be failing, as Kallisto slowly descended into a depressive state. Helen worried that by the time they gathered the goddesses together Kallisto would no longer care about changing the world for the better. The goddess was emotionally unstable, like a child who had lost their favorite hugging kitten. But now both Nayru and Layla were here, perhaps the recovery of some of what she had lost would prevent Kallisto from destroying herself just yet

[K_H]

Anna

Anna was starting to head back into the kitchen when she overheard Natalie refer to one of the people as "the" rather than "a". She decided to probe further into the matter, but let the girl finish speaking first out of courtesy.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice that you referred to one of the power combos as 'the' rather than 'a', but only that one specifically. Is there a reason for that, or am I just overthinking things too much?"

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

"Please, don't apologize for the world, Natalie," Arya began, almost cringing a little at hearing the other girl do so, ignoring whatever the hell Anna was going on about in the process. "symbols tend to have as much or little power as people are willing to give them, it's only a given that a few bitches will twist and warp that fact to suit their own purposes. Goddess or no, I don't see any reason why you should saddle the blame that's rightfully theirs. That's like the first physicists who discovered how to split atoms taking the fault for Nukes; when people see an opportunity for power, they'll do with it what they want, most of time regardless of what the original creators intended...but enough about that. I've already decided I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing, just watching as this place slowly but surely tears itself apart a little more each day. If I run away now, I'm no better than the people I despise, so... let's just get this over with."