Burrowing ahead

[Anastasia]

Bel aids as well - it doesn't really matter here in which order.

The Guardian plays a fair game. A good game, a great game. It's still not enough of a game to challenge the two of you, and soon enough your knight claims his king.

[Corwin]

It's such a shame that their desires are so different. Were Bel and Gathgorian mortals, there would be a decent chance to show them a better way and channel their talents properly. As it is, however, she's learned from experience that fiends only reexamine their choices or natures when far down on their luck. Champions of Asmodeus would be the farthest thing from it. And why would they doubt anything, if their worldview is being validated in the strongest of terms at the moment? They would know of the countless others that came before them, but always feel that they are unique and they would never get discared in the very same way.

"It's been a while since I had a challenge like that," she tells the Guardian without hinting at her thoughts. "Thank you for an enjoyable game."

[Anastasia]

What Bel thinks about you is opaque to you, but he merely nods to the Guardian.

Your minds are sharp, yet you pity each other. Why?

Bel's expression becomes stormy for a moment, but calmness takes him. Instead he says, "Seira will never have true strength. She will never have the unyielding will to make the hard, cruel choices Creation requires."

[Corwin]

"We've gotten this far by working together and not hurting a single innocent soul. Our end goal is to save Creation from Shar's wishes of entropy and senseless murder." She shakes her head in frustration. "What we've done here can be used to save Creation as a whole. What Bel calls hard choices of cruelty are really the easy ones. I believe that the opposite is true, and I would like nothing more than to teach he and Gathgorian that."

[Anastasia]

"Every conquest, every murder, every extermination of the weak," Bel declares, "Leaves behind only the strength of Baator. Look on the weak mortals of Lifasa, look at how we tempered them and freed them of their weakness in our iron hands. We made the choice to bless them, to make them part of something far more important than anything else they had."

"Seira would let mortals do as they please." Bel points one long, sharp claw at you. "She is unwilling to take and transform them, only accepting what crumbs come to her. I will not tolerate crumbs, I will take all that is my due and more. I will break them and recreate them in the proper images of Baator. None will dissent, none will break away into weakness or demon worship. Had Taelfagn not shown his own stupidity, Lifasa would be a well honed blade plunged into the heart of my enemies."

[Corwin]

Ah yes. And there's that delusion. Hadn't they both fought against Aurora and lost shamefully?

"Free will is beautiful, and exercising it is never a thing to be afraid of. People are naturally decent, and will drift towards the right thing more often than not when left to their own devices. It's alright to show weakness, too. You're saying no true Baatoran would ever show it, but then what is true strength? If we try to define it perfectly, would we see an exact definition from the two of you? No deviation whatsoever from this ideal? No personal insights from your experiences of climbing to the top? No distinction before one another, as you are truly equal to one another in every way that counts?"

[Anastasia]

It is not Bel who replies, but Gathgorian.

"True strength is the purity of purpose to change Creation." He speaks almost quietly, his voice still loud because of his size, if nothing else. He holds his clenched fist up, "Mortals have so little purity of purpose, they meander about their lives, create spawn and die. Immortals stumble towards it, grasp a glimpse of it, but even they are far too impure. They do not dedicate themselves fully to a purpose. Everything I have done is towards one purpose. I will be the one who sees the Abyss crumble into oblivion. I will stand there when Arborea burns. I will be the one who sunders Limbo before it is consigned into nothingness. I am the remedy to chaos, the Answer to it. No other devil has reached the pinnacle I have."

[Corwin]

"So when a mortal like me comes along and acts far more proactive than established deities, does that give you pause in any way? What about the mortal judgement of the gnomish God-King? Mortals have fresh outlooks on life, and they help shape us as much as we shape them, given that we are all part-concept by now. I know that some feel they are the future, the path to the Answer. I know some, like you, who despise them and feel the mortals are beneath them. Me? I don't think it matters whether you're a mortal, a deity or anywhere in between. Having an expiration date for your current body doesn't come into the equation. So long as you love this Creation and work towards changing it for the better, no matter what, you have this... purity of purpose, but tempered with an ability to see past your tunnelvision. That's a better definition for strength."

[Anastasia]

Gathgorian smiles - all dreadfully sharp teeth and replies, "There are always worthy exceptions, who have a commendable purity of purpose. Afina of Aurora is one, even if her goal is foolishness. Eblis thought mortals are naught but ash and dirt, but he was wrong. Many are, but not all. The exceptions are as hard and strong as adamantine."

Alike but different. Yet you are united in spite of it, two fiends and one with the heart of a celestial.

[Corwin]

"If Zaphkiel and Asmodeus can genuinely cooperate to stop Shar for good, I can't shrink way from my part in it," Seira responds. "I'm not saying I want to save Creation at any cost. Rather, I'm willing to focus together on the true threat to Creation and because Asmodeus promised to Zaphkiel that atrocities like Lifasa and Benfal will not happen in the meantime. Should they try more subtle means, I think my companions here will find their checks and balances for drawing their focus away from the true enemy of Creation."

[Anastasia]

Checks and balances, you say?

[Corwin]

Seira nods.

[Anastasia]

I accept that.

You all will see Creation survive.

"Yes," Gathgorian agrees.

"It will endure. Changed, but it will endure." Bel seconds.

[Corwin]

"It will survive and thrive!"

[Anastasia]

Then that is enough for me. I will watch from afar and see who triumphs in this Creation, and if it continues towards the future.

Before all of you it appears, a divine seed that floats before all of you.