Chapter 158: A Terrifying Admission

- The Place Between, Palace of the Goddess of Mercy, Several Months Later - Rose's POV –

[You’re done.] - Love

[Huh?] - Rose

It came suddenly. One day, while I was fending off Love’s Incursion, he suddenly stopped as if frozen in place. Over the last few years of near constant training, both in reality and my mind palace, I’d become fairly comfortable with the busy schedule. I became used to the mundanity of what was, more or less, extraordinary circumstances. I settled in, as it were.

Which is why I was so surprised when we suddenly halted my training as if it hadn’t been occurring in the first place. Since I’d begun my training, poorly I might add, I’d grown to the point where I could put up a good fight against Love’s incursions. Now, to be fair, I never actually reached the point where I’d win against the far more powerful being, but I hadn’t expected to be able to drive him off, he was over 5 billion years old after all. Regardless though I’d gotten skilled enough to force him to use brute force most of the time to actually overwhelm me rather than skillfully doing so, an accomplishment of which I was quite proud.

Which is why I was so surprised! Yes, I know I already said that but it’s important!

[What do you mean by that exactly?] - Logic

[I don’t remember giving lowly beings like you permission to address me but, if you must know, I mean exactly what I just said. Are you so unintelligent that you can’t understand the spoken language?] - Love

[Pfft!] - Wrath

[It’s okay, Logic. Love, I think what he meant was why, not what you said. I mean I’ve improved yes, but I’m clearly nowhere near strong enough to protect myself yet. So why?] - Rose

There, that was the crux of the issue. While in the beginning Love had mostly kept my training, and that of my aspects separated, we’d begun to work together as we got more advanced in technique and we’d learned to almost read each other’s minds, an easier feat for the two conceptual beings than it had been for me. Either way it was extremely sudden.

[What is your goal? With this training, what are you trying to accomplish?] - Love

[Huh? But you started this training, not me?] - Rose

[It does not matter, in general, why are you getting stronger? Why should I continue to train you?] - Love

[I...] - Rose

That was a good question, I had a loose goal, becoming strong enough to protect the ones I loved, but I didn’t have an end point for that. Sure, Love had started training me to allow me to protect myself but what was his incentive to keep doing so? What kind of argument could I make that would convince the amoral demon that he should continue to teach me?

[I want to be strong enough to defend myself.] - Rose

[If that’s what you’re after then you’ve already reached that point. No one at the same level as you could break your mental defenses no matter how much they tried.] - Love

[You can.] - Rose

[Yes, but no one of my age and level of power is going to actually take you seriously enough to use their full force.] - Love

[What- What about Grampa Mor? He’ll be here within a year or two. I need to be able to beat him to stay with the ones that I love, otherwise he’ll take me with him.] - Rose

I could tell immediately that I’d come to the right answer as a wide smile crossed the demon’s face, one that, I could’ve sworn, was a bit manic.

[Oh? So, what you’re after is the ability to defeat my Lord? Is that right?] - Love

[I-I... yes?] - Rose

[Hahahahahaha! Hahahaha!] - Love

I was no longer sure that I’d said the right thing now that his smile had grown even more. Filled with desire and excitement I nearly backed away, only holding my ground by the barest of margins. Suddenly, the laughter that had filled the room with its discordance ceased, as his head snapped to mine.

[You actually believe you can do it? Don’t you? You two, leave us!] - Love

[…] - Rose

Silence seemed the best answer here. Especially after he forcibly banished my two aspects. I’d seen him do similar things in our training and basically, he’d put the two in “time out” as he called it. Regardless of whether they were there to back me up, however, the truth was that I was absolutely sure that I’d never beat that old dragon. I was well aware of his power, of how insurmountable that mountain was. When I’d challenged him at first it had seemed the only answer, the only way to keep my current life, but, as the emotions had cooled over the years, I’d realized just how impossible of a task it was. I could only hope that grandfather would go easy on me rather than truly endeavoring to force me to go with him.

[Smart answer. But the question is, since you know how impossible it is to defeat my Lord, what exactly is your plan? Were you maybe hoping he’d go easy on you?] - Love

[Geh!] - Rose

[It seems that I got it right. I’ll tell you now, he genuinely believes that you will be safer with him. He will not go easy on you.] - Love

Dammit, is he reading my mind?!? Every time we’ve ever talked for any length of time, he’s been the one in charge of the conversation. It was as if I were a child in front of him. Although that wasn’t far off, as old as Love was his life experience was so far beyond mine that I may as well be an ant in comparison.

[Dammit! Then what do you suggest?!?] - Rose

[Oh... Well, if you are dedicated to beating my Lord, truly resolute, I have a deal in mind.] - Love

[Deal? What deal are we talking about exactly?] - Rose

Now I was on edge, sure Love was menacing at the best of times but somehow, the way he said that, made all of my instincts scream in terror all at the same time. The way his voice suddenly became more seductive, more compelling, only served to make a part of me more alarmed while another, thankfully smaller, part was already falling under his sway.

I’d need to be extremely careful here.

[I offer you... myself, all of my strength and experience at your disposal. I’ll subsume myself into your Mind Palace and become your aspect instead of my Lord’s. In return... let’s see... I’ll aid you in defeating your foes.] - Love

[I... don’t... what are you...?] - Rose

[Well, do we have a deal?] - Love

It was like my body wasn’t my own, a numb pressure at the back of my head moving my hand to take his as I watched on as an observer. This wasn’t right. Something... Something...!

Karen!

[Gaaaah! Hah.... Hah......!] - Rose

[Oh? You broke free? How unexpected...] - Love

[What... What did you just do?!?] - Rose

[Exactly what I said I was doing, offering you a deal. Although I did stack the deck a bit in my favor to be fair.] - Love

[A bit? A BIT?!? You controlled my damn body you insensitive prick! Why the hell would you do that?!? I thought you were under orders to protect me?!?] - Rose

Goddess that was close! Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I managed to break free but no matter what I couldn’t do it again. It was only the thought of never regaining control of my body that allowed me to overcome whatever Love just did. That damned demon!

[Heh... Rose, what kind of aspect am I?] - Love

[My... nam-? Wait what? What do you mean? You’re the aspect of love... right?] - Rose

[True, that is certainly the aspect that I broadly encompass, but more specifically, what kind of love do I represent? Have you figured it out over all these years I’ve been training you?] - Love

I think that was the first time he’s ever said my name. And the seriousness of his expression isn’t one I think I’ve ever seen before, I honestly wasn’t even sure now whether that last “deal” was malicious or not now. Regardless though, what did he mean? He was obviously love... right?

[Let me phrase it a different way. Do I act in any way that most people would associate with the feelings of love?] - Love

[No...? Huh? No, you don’t.] - Rose

Wait why is that? Wrath was definitely an aspect of her namesake that, while not obvious, was unmistakable for what it was. Logic was the same and, while I’d not seen any other aspects, the research that Logic had done had been very clear on the fact that aspects must represent their emotions or concepts. It was supposed to be a universal truth from what we’d read. So why?

[What... are you?] - Rose

[So, you’ve finally asked that. Did you never wonder why my Lord left me with you? While you’ve never met any of his other aspects, I’m sure you thought that he might have more than just myself, right? Didn’t you ever question it?] - Love

[W-Well yes, but... I mean... you’re the strongest one?] - Rose

[Hahahaha! Congratulations, child, on your attempt at flattery. It was a blatant attempt but appreciated, nonetheless. But you are most definitely correct, I am, of all of my Lord’s aspects by far the strongest. In fact, I am nearly equal to your grandfather in power.] - Love

[Well, he wanted to protect me after al-] - Rose

[You are not thinking deeply enough, you need to consider all of the angles. If I am nearly my Lord’s equal then why, pray tell, would I have acquiesced to serving someone much weaker than myself? Why would I diligently follow my Lord’s orders?] - Love

[What did you just try to do to me? What was that deal for?] - Rose

A chill ran through my body at his words as I thought back to his “deal” from before and what I’d only just managed to escape from. Finally, for the first time in several years, I truly felt fear for the smiling-faced demon. That mirth that disguised a terror unheard of in a mortal.

For what could I possibly offer such a being that would equal to the power he was offering? What was he going to take?

[Now you’re getting it. You ask me what I wanted? What I made the deal for? The answer is simple yet so far beyond what I’m currently capable of. Freedom.] - Love

[Freedom? Freedom from who? Grampa Mor?] – Rose

[Correct. I believe I’ve told you about my past as a Demon before my defeat at the hands of my Lord. Well, it goes a bit beyond that. In truth it was my own obsession that led to my defeat, thus my aspect was given.] – Love

[Your… aspect?] – Rose

[Yes. I represent Obsession, the fixation on one thing above all.] – Love

I-I don’t understand. This entire time I’ve thought about the demon by his stated name as Love and now he’s telling me that he doesn’t represent that at all? Wait…?!?

[What exactly is the obsession that you’re focused on?] – Rose

[Everything. I want to possess everything within myself. All things. Everything that interests me shall become an object of study and love!] – Rose

[Wait! Wouldn’t that make you an aspect of Greed rather than Love?] – Rose

[Hahahaha, what makes you think they are different? I truly love the things that interest me, I want to possess them, I want to hide them away from those that would take them, I want their entire existence to revolve around me!] – Love

Geh! Love?!? No, this wasn’t love. He was right to say he represents Obsession, his smile, which had grown to cover his entire face, was filled with a maddening desire for all things in his sight. I might have suspected that aspects could also not be all that straight forward but, looking at Love’s insane expression, I never could have thought it would be that far from the norm.

And then it was over. Suddenly, as if his mad smile had never existed, he stared at me with a blank face.

[So, do you have an answer? Why did my Lord leave me to protect you? I’m certainly the strongest of his aspects, enough to give any of his rivals a kick in the ass, but I’m dangerous. He knew that when he had me watch over you, yet he did not warn you, he did not tell you about me at all. Why?] – Love

[I…?] – Rose

I didn’t know. Why would he do that? Clearly, he limited the actions that Love could take, his maddened face from before made that very obvious. If he’d been given absolute freedom, I’d already be a puppet of this Demon. So why?

Could it…?

[This… was a test?] – Rose

[Hmm? Go on.] – Love

[This was a test, and a lesson, to show how dangerous even a friendly face could be. He wanted to tell me that trusted someone that helped you can sometimes be the one thing that ends everything in an instant. And… I think he also wanted to warn me against taking something that was too good to be true at face value? How’d I do?] – Rose

[Good. Good. A little rough around the edges, as expected of one so young, but a well thought out response. It makes me want you even more!] - Love

The more I spoke the more confident that I was. Grampa Mor had made his intention to keep me safe extremely clear, he also likely knew of my threats that could end my existence in a single encounter, the presence of Love himself made it clear that there were many things of incomprehensible strength in the universe that I was not ready for. On top of that the ungiven, but obvious, advice was to avoid things that sounded like they had no downsides. A friendly face could be even more deadly than an unfriendly one. I had just one question though…

[W-What would have happened if I’d said yes? If I’d not fought back and just taken your hand?] – Rose

[Oh that? You’d have ceased to exist. I would have taken everything from you and effectively taken your place.] – Love

The nonchalant way he said that, the uncaring void in his eyes, shook me to the core. Dragon Lord Mortem Restisis, Grampa Mor, what exactly are you?