wizardseason | Wizard's House

Wizard's House

"Hey"

The Wizard greets the evil-allured knights the same way every night, with the same word, while casually sitting on the steps of the porch outside of her little home. The building looks handmade, like it was built by people who cared about the place they were going to live. Surrounding it on all sides are fields as far as the eye can see. Vegetables of all kinds, with fruit trees and bushes placed throughout the landscape. Closer to the home are bigger trees, willows and others, providing shade from the strange three suns above. Wherever this is, it isn't the world that the knights know.

Plunged into the ground a mere few feet away from the steps leading up to the home is a handwritten sign that states the following:

Knight Rules:
- Tell others if you want
- You can't reveal others
- The world ends this year

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Haizea just stands there, and slowly lowers her arms out of their swinging position to hang limply at her sides.

"I won't do it. If you're really gonna end the world this time, I won't be a part of it."

The Wizard's expression doesn't falter, the smirk doesn't leave her expression. She gives no indication that she's disappointed at all, instead she just nods at Haizea's decision.

"I can't make you." She sets her mug down, there's no point in convincing her is there? She doesn't give any hint that she's not convincing her though.

"Should anyone be saved?" She asks, calmly.

"Everyone," Haizea replies instantly. It's her gut reaction, but even as she says it, she's second guessing herself. Should everyone be saved? Everyone on the planet? She's spent a lot of her life completely wrecking people who she considers deserve it. How can she say she'd save them now, when any other day she'd kick their heads in?

She doesn't correct herself out loud, but her face seems troubled.

Sorry, Haizea, the Wizard picks up immediately on that half-determined answer. She's not one to let that kind of wishy-washiness slide, not in a thousand years.

"No." She answers immediately, first, before her shoulders sag and she looks upwards at the edge of the porch rooftop above her.

"Would you save the worst? Those who harm others? Those who harmed you?"

"I wouldn't," she says quietly. "But. I shouldn't be the one to decide who lives and who dies. Many would say I'm not a good person, I can't be a fair judge."

She looks away and feels an uncertainty that she's only rarely felt before. "Before, you said 13. Is that... is that really the limit? Or can you save more?"

"All the more reason to trust your judgement." The Wizard answers, leaving it open-ended which part convinced her of her answer. It's the slightest reassurance masked in all this discussion of evil.

"I'll save thirteen that you ask me to." She tilts her head a little, her neck giving a soft 'pop' before she tilts it back and resumes her typical smirking expression.

Haizea runs a hand through her hair and grabs it in distress. It's down, instead of in her usual bun, and she's glad she has something to hold on to.

"Thirteen isn't enough. Even if we can pick thirteen each, it isn't enough! I have dozens that depend on me, and more that I've raised and can't bear to leave to die."

Ah, Haizea. Too much of a hero. The Wizard's tempted to make an offer here, but it was too soon. Too soon to promise salvation. Too soon for promises that could end up empty.

"Dozens who should never have been made to suffer."

This, somehow, snaps Haizea out of the fatalistic mindset she's been speaking from.

"That's bullshit," she says decisively. "Sufferin' is part of life. You'll never appreciate the good times if you haven't been through the bad." She finally pulls her hand through to the ends of her hair and tosses it over her shoulder.

"Y'know, I'm startin' to think this all might be bullshit. You're sayin' the world ends this year, but will it? Will it really? Or are you just makin' the choice to euthanize it 'cause you think sufferin' should be avoided at all costs?"

There were so many ways this discussion could be steered, but nothing would quell the rising fury she'd lit in the dragon knight. She looks Haizea over for a moment, settling back into her usual smirk as she decides to pinch the fuse where it's burning rather than let it all explode.

"You don't want me to answer you." She begins, casually approaching Haizea. She's going to get right in her face, here, a strange glow radiating from her space-filled eyes.

"You'd rather millions, billions are hurt each year. Traumatized by this 'game'. Despairing over the end to come." Her voice stays steady, calm, but there's the slightest accusatory note to her words. Tell her she's wrong, Haizea.

Haizea won't be intimidated any more. She's got like 7 inches on her, she looks down at the Wizard and meets her glowing gaze levelly.

"You're the one who started this game. Sure, the world had problems before, but this is a problem that YOU started. We suffered before and we suffer now, what's the difference, really?"

Nope, the Wizard's staying right here, watching the way Haizea responds. She's curious what it'll take to make her flinch. Which truth will hurt the worst. Which one will give her pause and make her question it all.

"I didn't start it alone, and I didn't start it without reason." Her small smirk is turning into more of a smile now, the slightest of excitement creeping onto her features for the first time.

"I could have left this world to burst, planets are beautiful when they fracture."

The Wizard is a little close for comfort, but Haizea won't be the first one to back down.

"Then why didn't you? What's it to you if the planet explodes, why get involved and make us fight in this game for the last 40 years?"

There's the question, the big mystery. The Wizard doesn't really care about who gives first, she's just entertaining all of this. She starts a slow walk around Haizea, her gaze staying up towards her the whole while.

"Everyone wants to be a hero." She answers, vaguely, leaving it open as to who she might be talking about.

"It wasn't supposed to last this long. It was supposed to be over."

Haizea follows her walk with her eyes, but doesn't turn around if she walks out of her sight.

"What was supposed to be over, the world? Did you just think the world was gonna end when you started this dumb game, but then it just kept on truckin', and now you're sick of it so you're ending it yourself?"

She does, in fact, walk out of Haizea's sight but she's back in it a few moments later as she goes in a circle.

"No. Try again." She answers, curious if Haizea will find the answer on her own.

She hates this, feels like a quiz. Not that she ever had much experience with quizzes, she never went to proper school.

"Is... the game what's gonna make the world end?"

"Our actions in this game will, yes." She gives a slight smirk, curious what the best way to answer this would be.

"It was not always a game, but it is easier to comprehend as one."

"What do we need to do in this, uh, not-game then to make the world end?" She specifically asks for the negative outcome since she's pretty sure that's what the wizard wants, so maybe she'll be straight with her?

And then Haizea can just. Do the opposite of whatever she says.

Clever thinking, Haizea. The wizard would have some interesting opinions if she knew that was the line of thinking she was going with here. Always the clever one, dragon knights.

"Kill the Protector."

That's simpler than she expected. Protect the Protector, then. But she'll continue on this line of questioning. Always best to case the joint beforehand.

"If we kill the Protector, what happens to the Princess? Will he be okay?"

She's been grilled by evil knights determined to be good, and based on Haizea's determination and thoughts so far she's not surprised that she'd be leaning in this direction. She won't hide the truth from her, though.

"He will be unharmed." Her smirk remains as she locks eyes with Haizea one more time before starting to walk away from her.

"I would prefer him left alive."

Ugh, Haizea doesn't really want to run after the Wizard like this, but she's got more questions still!

"That makes two of us. How do we kill the Protector? He doesn't quite just walk around or show up at ramen shops like you do."

Conveniently the Wizard isn't moving very quickly, instead just walking at a casual pace around the fields and flowers she's growing.

"At the end." She starts, reaching out to a flower to run her fingers along its petals.

"I drag him into the planet's center as it collapses."

Damn, that's pretty metal. If Haizea knew much about music she'd say so.

"Well, uh, it sounds like you got it on lock then? What do you even need us for?"

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