Master of Myths

"How useless"

YuJu was not one bit happy with her attitude, for a pawn that sought its own benefits was a burden, but with the situation at hand he could only depend on this selfish pawn

"She will try to keep herself useful up till the end but that doesn't change anything, she will talk if she wants to live"

That much was guaranteed

Since the lead on his hunch was on hold he shifted his focus onto another important matter

"Aminta should be expecting me to show up anytime now"

It was about time he fulfilled his promise of unmasking the goal of Genus Insania, something he himself did not want to delay, and thus he made the short journey toward Hortus once more

.....

"How long is that bastard going to make us wait!"

Flared up Gremm

"That's like the ninth time you complained already, have more patience"

The rattan who was always at odds with this angry feline replied, something Gremm did not bother to start a fight over like he usually does for some reason

All the generals as well as Aminta were still seated ever since agreeing to the alliance, waiting for Ephai to come back and fulfill his promising words

"Have I kept you all waiting for too long?"

Like always the trader's voice filtered in out of nowhere, as did his smoke, manifesting into the usual vague figure of a body

"Indeed you have my friend, but it is all worth the wait if you have come to complete your end of the bargain"

"And that I shall oh elder root"

Still being called this sure made Verbrand uncomfortable, but put up with it he did, everyone was trying their best to tolerate this infuriating wisp of smoke

"Before I start may I ask, what do you believe their objective to be?"

He motioned for all those seated, including the silent commander

"Taking over the tower of course"

Replied the Gremm as if it was the most obvious thing

"I would believe them to have greater aspirations than that, since they stayed here despite their kind thriving by killing then there must be something worthwhile, something in Hortus that we do not know of yet, and these new underground floors just might be that"

Latvia analyzed, drawing her conclusion from the most recent discoveries

"I agree with what Latvia said, must be something in the new floors"

The rattan conformed with her

"I am in disagreement, they came after us and we did not even know more floors existed, they could not have known about this matter, their goal must be related to the insects above them, perhaps that is why we have not heard of those dominant creatures ever since they took over the middle floors"

Basu thought otherwise

"Too vague"

Gen put down his two cents worth

"Hmm, no matter their goal their actions prove to hold ill intent, and thus they must be purged from the tower"

<br/>Verbrand worked his way around answering the question 

All that was left was the silent Aminta, yet she seemed keen on staying silent and not joining this small game of his

"Well, I guess that sums up the possible opinions? Sadly I would have to tell you that you're all.."

It was obvious that they were wrong, and that was okay since that is what he was here for, to enlightenment them on the truth

"Correct"

"Huh?!" "Say what?" "Hmm?" "Oh my"

Everyone had a reaction of their own, only Aminta remained steadfast

"Are they here to take over the tower? One could say that was the original goal, do they want something from the lower floors? Why yes of course, are they aiming to make use of the insects on the upper floors? That is exactly what they have been doing all this while"

Shockingly it turns out Genus Insania was harboring more plans than they thought they would be

"But to know why they were doing this, what brought them into this tower, one must go back, way back, to a time before all of you existed, a time when those who ruled this tower..."

His figure merged with the surrounding smoke, expanding and shrinking to form a scene to aid his tale

"..were fairies"

A small child with wings flew around a much more flourishing Hortus, one filled with similar creatures at every corner

"It was a time when the fairy race still ruled the kingdom, a time when Vencula Hortus was exactly what it was built to be...."

The tower appeared before them, barbed an ominous

"A prison!"

The same fairs could be seen patrolling with barbed whips in hand

"A prison unlike any other, what it housed were not wrongdoers, not creatures who act out against the law of morals, but creatures who went against the law of nature itself"

On cue a being burst through the tower's doors, its massive vined form riddled with injuries as it bled while trying to escape its life of imprisonment

"Yes, beings if blood and nature, something that born into not a single path but a mixed one, a choice it did not make but one it was damned to a life of suffering for"

These fairies lashed out with their whips, pulled it back into the confines of the tower while it opened its mouth to let out unhearable screams, ones that surely told of agony over the unfair world it was born to

"And this was how it has been for all roots of blood, until one day, when the fairies attacked those they should not have"

With their wings carrying them up in the sky the little things rained down death upon large lizards, one exactly the same as the Gardelos

"In their own delusional world of unfair justice they sought to annihilate whatever went against the aesthetics of a beautiful natural world, provoking the true nemesis of their kind"

The Gardelos tore and shred the fairies as they fought back, turning them from a docile state into an infuriated one

"Fed by the root energy of the Fairy race the Gardelos became maddened monstrosities, boasting strength leagues above what they once were"

The mad Gardelos thrashed the kingdom of fairies, toppling down the tall trees and poisoning the lush land, leaving behind nothing more than a dead desert

"Amid all this chaos only one structure remained to tell tales of the old hegemon of the land, one tower, protected by the very dwellers it was supposed to imprison, the sinners of blood that the Gardelos had no advantage over"

The tower remained unharmed while the horde of Gardelos ravaged the land before slowly falling out of their maddened state, dying due to over exhausting their body after pushing it beyond breaking limits

"And so the era of these two races ended, not without losses for everyone however"

The land was barren, creatures dead, a war with no winner, a war with only losers, as even the prisoners took their final breath

"The future seemed bleak, as barren of hope as the desert, until..."

One withered plant bloomed at the bottom of the tower, it was but a lone survivor, yet this one grew, by the blessing of blood it grew on the corpses of its enemies, its comrades, evolving and becoming what the fairies imprisoned it in fear of seeing, a creature of sin

"Free of shackles but its own blood the survivor built his own legacy, trying to become infinitely more powerful than the limits its blood brought about, experimenting with whatever guest the tower invited from the constantly growing land, for none could stop its craze for strength"

And finally, the scene shifted to the present, three factions fighting over the tower, each their own designs yet all seemingly fitting into the grand plan of what this survivor hoped to achieve

"And that is all my dear viewers"

The smoke came together to form Ephai once more, overlooking the solemn faces

"What your role is on this game, whether you break free of your own pre-decided shackles, and whether you manage to tide through this alive is all up to your own discretion"

He slowly vanished away

"But know that The Vanguard is here for you when you need it the most"