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finalbows(this is an excerpt from a longer story called "hell's crucible." it's also the exact moment Kuja is pulled into Hugtopia!)
The interior of the Invincible greeted him like a ghost of a past self he’d long since shed.
The interior of the Invincible greeted him like a ghost of a past self he’d long since shed.
He followed his own decade-old footprints in the dust, eyes as wild as the harsh beat of his heart. He would stay calm, he informed himself, even as the agitation made his fingers twitch.
A tense bark of laughter haunted his lips, bursting out at every obstacle that presented itself to be brutally surmounted. This was it. This was his moment.
...Insidious and insistent, the running status of the ship eased into his chaotic thoughts like another eye or ear. It was a flood of information a lesser soul would be easily overwhelmed by. In the past he had disliked it. But now--
Ship’s crucible capacity at 68%. Density at risk level orange. Mist beings may arise from crucible without adjustment. Likelihood of rot and loss of soul viability risen to--
The entrance to the crucible opened up before him. He stumbled inside, a hand uselessly shielding his ear, as if it could block out a voice that spoke without sound. No matter... No matter! Time was finite. Any moment, Garland’s gaze could flit away from his little brother’s pitiful antics, and rest instead upon himself. And then the game would be up.. no, Kuja wouldn’t allow it.
In the past, he had disliked the prying voice of the Invincible; but now it lead him so graciously to right where he wanted most to be.
The crucible pulsed a painful red. The closer he drew to it, the more he could hear things, feel things – flashes of high heat and blistering cold, spikes of nerve pain dancing through his body as paper curling in a fire, voices pleading or screaming or whispering – all aflame, in a chorus of agony, ‘twas the roiling heart of hell at his fingertips. This was the seal of Garland’s power, the most powerful inheritance of Terra’s children.. indeed, it belonged to him. Inside these ruby red depths, there imprisoned were an innumerable amount of Gaian souls… and a lucky one was about to serve as the means of his ascension.
“To have lasted this long… I commend you all,” he chattered, reaching a hand right into the heart of red. “You have performed beautifully, awaiting my arrival. Now your long wait is over…!”
It was now that his loathsome status as vessel could finally be of use.
...As soon as his fingertips brushed against the crucible, the world went bright – then dark. He was dimly aware of his knees hitting the floor.
