The image of a pond over the stone platform now held fish that no longer looked like fish. Some of them had bubbling flesh that bulged out painfully, others had painful spikes shooting through bloodied skin. Aris had stood at the sight of the malformed fish writhing in darkened water.
“This is implying the Gates are openings that let in something that isn’t Solvent,” she said. “And that is why Gaians turn into Unseeing.”
“OH IT’S SOLVENT,” Mind said. “JUST A DIFFERENT KIND.”
“But you said Heart loved her people,” Aris said. “This doesn’t make any sense. The mortals in your story wanted more power. Heart showed them how to use it. It drained the Solvent around them and then… she opened Gates to kill them all?”
“No. I wasn’t finished.” Body opened his book again. Aris was starting to think he wasn’t really reading from it as he opened to an arbitrary page again. “When the Solvent dwindled, humans asked Heart to give them more as she was a powerful and benevolent god. She showed them how to open gateways to other worlds to let more Solvent in. It was the ‘right’ kind of Solvent for humans as well. Such gates allowed them to freely use their powerful abilities once more for a few more generations.” Body’s voice trailed.
“But it was never enough,” Aris murmured, echoing what Mind had said moments ago.
“No. Having one generation weaker than the previous was intolerable for humans. They opened more gateways to allow more Solvent into their world - it became a reckless endeavor. It was only a matter of time before they came across a Solvent that was poisonous to them.”
An image of tortured looking souls appeared on the platform with a dark Gate opening behind them.
“But many humans saw the risks as worth the reward. Despite not fully understanding what they were doing, they continued to open Gates that poisoned their Solvent and soon the humans started dying in droves. Soon it became obvious they could no longer live on their own world, so tainted the Solvent had become.
“Yet again they cried to the Heart for help. Yet again, Heart did everything she could to help them.”
The glowing being appeared again, this time her arms moved to embrace the huge crowd of desperate figures reaching out to her. They were enclosed in her warmth and suddenly they were moving together like a shooting star through the night sky.
“Heart and the other Parts took the humans away from their tainted world and found another they could live in. A place where the Solvent was safe and plentiful and where the material world was almost the same as their previous.”
The shooting star morphed into a very familiar scene. Aris immediately recognized the Aortic strait and the Academy island across from it. Despite the image over the platform being a hazy painting-like depiction of it, she was sure it was the capital of Gaia.
“The humans called this new home of theirs Gaia,” Body said.
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“And its capital: the Heart,” Aris murmured. “The Heart of Gaia. She landed here, didn’t she?”
“SHE DIED HERE,” Mind said. She sounded stiff. “FOR A LONG TIME, THE CAPITAL WAS BUILT AROUND A MEMORIAL FOR HER. BUT NOW THAT HAS BEEN FORGOTTEN.”
“So Gaians… we are humans from another world,” Aris said. “Transported here by Heart.”
“YES BECAUSE YOU DESTROYED YOUR HOME WORLD EONS AGO. AT LEAST, THE SOLVENT WAS RUINED.”
“How did she die?”
“DO YOU THINK IT’S EASY TRANSPORTING ALL THESE MORTALS TO ANOTHER WORLD?” Mind snorted. “IT COST EVERYTHING SHE HAD TO DO IT. IN THE END SHE SIMPLY EXPIRED.”
“Humans and Gaians view the Heart and the Parts as gods,” Body said. “But we all have limits. You saw that with Heel.”
“You and the other Parts helped her to bring us here, didn’t you?”
“Of course. She was the Heart. We would have done anything she asked of us,” Body said.
“Then why are you killing us?” Aris demanded. “Are you going to get to that part of your story?”
“EVER SINCE HEART BROUGHT HUMANS HERE, I HAVE BEEN ASLEEP,” Mind said. “BECAUSE IN MY DREAM I AM ABLE TO INFLUENCE CERTAIN HUMANS. IT WAS A SAFEHOLD FOR YOUR PEOPLE TO STOP DOING IDIOTIC THINGS LIKE OPENING GATES THEY’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO.”
“But right now you’ve been doing the exact opposite with the Bringers.”
“CORRECT. ALL BECAUSE I WOKE UP TO FIND NOTHING BUT TREACHERY AND DEPRAVITY IN EVERY CORNER OF THE MORTAL WORLD.”
“What do you mean?”
Mind didn’t answer and seemed to stew in silence. Body had to speak for her. “The same phenomenon of decreasing Solvent happened here as it did in the previous world. Except this time your people didn’t have a benevolent god to beg help from. Mind also kept away knowledge of the Gates. They naturally blamed it on those more powerful than them and soon the Parts were to blame in this power disparity.”
“DO YOU KNOW WHAT GAIANS DID?” Mind challenged her. “GUESS. YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER. YOU DID IT YOURSELF.”
Aris swallowed.
“TELL ME, DAUGHTER OF MOON, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU’RE CONFRONTED BY A POWERFUL BEING WHOM YOU BELIEVE DIRECTLY CAUSED ALL THE GRIEF AND TORMENT IN YOUR LIFE?”
“I’ve paid the price for what I did,” Aris snapped. “Many times over. And Heel admitted to what he did as well.”
“YOU KILLED MY BROTHER AND YOU CAN’T EVEN ADMIT IT ALOUD,” Mind jeered. “FINE I’LL SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU. THE GAIANS, BACK THEN, FACED WITH DWINDLING SOLVENT AND PRAYERS ON DEAF EARS KILLED THE PARTS FOR THEIR POWERS. WE WERE HUNTED, DAUGHTER OF MOON.”
“Almost all of us died,” Body said. “Except for six of us.”
“WE’RE NO GODS,” Mind continued bitterly. “WE’RE REMNANTS OF A FOOL OF A HEART THAT THOUGHT HER LOVE MEANT ANYTHING. WE’RE A PATHETIC EXISTENCE. HEART DYING TO SAVE YOUR SORRY SPECIES MEANT NOTHING AND I MEAN TO PROVE THAT.”
The scenery around them smeared into a blurry form. Even Body seemed to grow unfocused.
“YOU PEOPLE WANT POWER? YOU WANT GATES? I’LL GIVE YOU GATES. I’LL DROWN YOU ALL IN SOLVENT.”
The air pulsed with every tormented word the Mind spoke. It was then Aris knew just how deep the anger and madness settled in Mind - and when she realized it felt familiar.
“THIS IS THE ONLY STORY THAT MATTERS AND I’LL GIVE EVERYONE THE FINALE THEY ASKED FOR.”