Rui hacked and cleaved through the narrow, underground halls of the Fallen Star Cult with nothing but a long rectangular-bladed sword he stole from Thanatos’ chambers and the black robes his mother made for him so many years ago. He’d waited six years for this day. Six years of relentless training from Ares, mental torture from Zelos, and empty adoration from the Cultists he’d been forced to live alongside for so long. On the eve of his eighteenth year, Rui Payne descended.
He started abruptly and without warning. Making his way to the crowded dining hall and slaughtering every man and woman present. Then, he went from room to room, killing anyone who’d been foolish enough to confront him. Of the hundreds of people he mowed through, only a few fought back. Fallen Star, the hideous Curse that’d been forced into his body at birth, had taken care of them. Normally he’d keep that beast chained and caged in his Mindspace where its power couldn’t be touched, but so high was Rui’s anger that he hadn’t fought against the Curse’s desire to join in on the slaughter.
After an hour, it’d become clear that the people of the Cult had been prepared for this to happen – to some degree. Everyone Rui and his Curse had killed ended their lives with words of praise for Fallen Star. They’d praised Rui for taking his first voluntary steps as the “God of Destruction”, thanking him for killing them. Most unsettling was the interaction he had with the final man Rui’d killed – his own father. His hair was black instead of silver, but Rui saw his eyes in the man. Rui had attempted to reason with the man, perhaps get him to leave the Fallen Star Cult, but to no avail. The nameless man was a Cultist through and through, without the need for Limos to warp his mind. He’d even spoken about Anya as though everything that happened with her was for some greater purpose. And those were the last words Rui allowed him to speak. Rui imagined how his mother must’ve felt walking past a man who saw her as nothing more than an object to be used by the cult. As he looked over the flayed corpse of his father, Rui felt nothing but satisfaction.
Following the slaughter, Rui made his way up the narrow, dimly lit staircase that led out of the facility. With each step up the brick walkway, a new memory played in his head. He recalled his earliest memories with Anya. The time she taught him how to bake cookies. Learning about the outside world. Playing hide-and-seek with Limos. The day he’d learned where babies came from and how they were made. The day the people he’d considered family turned their back on Anya. The deafening chants they’d made for her death. The look of utter disinterest from the man he’d considered a father as he finished off his mother. How quickly they’d returned to the status quo as if they hadn’t called for the death of one of their own. The first time Zelos and Ares brought Rui outside to destroy a city. The looks of terror on their faces as Fallen Star turned that quiet village into a sea of gore and rubble.
The moment Rui reached the top of the staircase, he gripped the hilt of his sword as aura flared in his body. He hadn’t been entirely surprised to see the black-robed man standing in front of the industrial steel door. Quite the opposite, Rui had been hoping the man would be here.
“Where are you going, Fallen Star?” Ares questioned. He ran a hand through his white hair while pointing lazily at Rui with the other. “If you need someone to clean those bloody robes, you’re going the wrong way.”
“I’m leaving,” Rui said, taking a step forward. “And don’t call me Fallen Star. My name is Rui Payne.”
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Ares smiled. “It’s finally time, is it? That’s good. I would’ve been disappointed if you’d never attempted to leave after one bad attempt.”
“You bastard!” Rui roared, lunging at Ares with his sword.
The man caught the blade with a finger. “Don’t mistake this as my way of stopping you, Fallen Star. I’m perfectly fine with you leaving. Zelos may not be too happy about it, but that won't be my problem. It’ll be yours.”
As much as he wanted to rip his sword through Ares’ hand, Rui knew he was severely outmatched. He sheathed his sword and narrowed his eyes at the man. “Why are you okay with me leaving?”
Ares smiled, pointed two fingers at Rui, then lifted them toward the ceiling. Just like that, the Brand on Rui’s chest activated, forcing out more of Fallen Star’s power than he could physically handle. Rui and Fallen Star’s voices blended as the two roared in agony, the pain strong enough to force Rui to his knees.
Ares knelt beside him, lifting Rui’s head by his hair and speaking in a low tone. “Because no matter where you go, you will always be Fallen Star,” He leaned closer. “And you know that. You can’t ignore the truth of what you are forever.”
Rui gritted his teeth and growled. “I’ll kill you…! I will… kill you! All four of you!”
“And I look forward to the day you're strong enough to try. In the meantime,” Ares began, casually deactivating the Brand with a snap. As Rui heaved and gasped for air, Ares continued. “This place will always be your home. Your safe space. No matter where life takes you, this facility will always be open to–”
Despite the Brand being inactive, Rui and Fallen Star’s voices once again combined as the two roared, punching Ares in the face with all the strength they could muster. Even though the man was visibly unaffected by the strike, neither could deny the satisfaction they felt when the punch connected. Ares, as it seemed, was just as satisfied.
“That’s the spirit, Fallen Star! That’s the kind of progress I want to see out of you!” Without warning, Ares slammed a fist into Rui’s stomach with enough force that his consciousness threatened to fade. “But you have a long way to go. If a punch that weak can garner that kind of reaction from you, you aren’t ready to kill anyone but an errant Curse. Now get up, get out there, and destroy. Do what you were made to do.”
Rui struggled to his feet. “What I want to do… and what you want me to do are… two different things.”
“No, they aren’t. You yearn for the power to kill me, and I yearn for you to see that the power to kill me already exists inside of you. You want to wipe the Fallen Star Cult from Minashire, and I look forward to the day you return here and become the ‘God of Destruction’ Limos had these people believe you to be. Nothing you want is possible without doing what I want you to do. Consider those infiltrations Zelos and I had you do. Consider how powerful you felt. You’ve had twenty-two iterations to perfect yourself, Fallen Star. You are more than capable, Fallen Star. You are perfect. Now go, Fallen Star. Make me proud.”