Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Oh no, no, no." Maximos immediately corrected, he brought his hands up in front of himself, palms wide open as if trying to show his innocence against some horrible charge. "Teleportation is not something I do even casually. I dare say, I'm allergic to it, as Raven. The entire experience leaves me queazy and unbalanced. I was going to do something more mundane, like call some shadowy arms or have Walter carry you or..."

Max realized he should have listened to Tomorrow and covered his face instead of rambling. Sparks laced around Tomorrow's legs, and by the time Maximos realized what was happening, dust was kicked into the air, the ground trembled albeit less than he expected, and his large blonde companion had launched himself thousands of feet into the air and climbing.

The only thing Maximos could really even think to do was stare upwards in awe at the feat. While he was sure John's innate electrical abilities helped some, the raw power of the deed itself was awe-inspiring. For a moment, he wondered if he could make a facsimile of such an ability with an enchantment and then a voice boomed down, literally like thunder.

"MAX! DO ME A FAVOUR AND GO TO MY BIKE, AND GET THE LITTLE TOOL BAG FROM THE LEFT SADDLEBAG ON THE BACK!!" Even his lungs were powerful! Max laughed a hearty laugh to himself. Tomorrow was a wonder and a gift of a friend to have, he was proud to know this man. Without delay, he moved to Tomorrow's vehicle, and the bag on the left and fished for what might be considered a tool bag. As Max was still rather antiquated when it came to technology, this took a moment.

But, after a minute or so, gouts of black fumed from the soles of his feet and both launched and carried Maximos high into the sky, where he would come to a gentle landing on the cusp of his island and offered the tool bag to Tomorrow with a smile and a slightly cocked head.

"You know, and I mean no offense, you could get that healed. Almost every major medical or magical facility I've visited have some sort of regeneration chambers, I mean..." Max held up his hands as if something was written on his palms when nothing was. "...Even I could likely replace the limb, unless you truly prefer that device."

Maximos listened.

Because, in the end what else could he do? John was not stupid, but trying to explain himself to the other man seemed an impossibility of the most literal sense. He simply could not explain, himself. He could not put into proper words what he was, and yet he saw on Tomorrow's face that the other man likely thought him to be something far less than human.

Max was not human, true. He snapped his fingers and held out his right hand, a wispy black limb swirled from the shadows and caught the discarded piece of Tomorrow's limb and placed it softly in Maximos' waiting hand. But being something other than human, did not mean Maximos was inhumane. The marks on Tomorrow mattered. The pain of the other man, mattered. His role in it all, mattered.

A lion hunts and kills, but does it make it a monster? A wolf eats a rabbit, but is the wolf wrong? Fiendish? Evil? Max was only seen as something dark because his nature offended humanity. Humanity thought itself atop the world, and if something preys on it, that something must be terrible and fiendish. If Max was horrible in appearance none would thing twice. Max was judged for having two arms, two legs, and a head which apparently required him to perceive humanity as something greater than the rest of nature. And he did not. He simply was not one of them, not in mind or body. His physiology was different and...Maximos wanted to sigh, or shake his head, but instead he just looked down at the broken piece of metal in his hands.Its form and function were entirely confusing to him.

He was being judged. Even by his friend. Even right now. And it made him look very tired, the darker sleepless pits around his eyes a bit more evident against his pale skin. And all in contrast to the soft smile on his lips. As Tomorrow finished speaking, Maximos approached. He rolled the broken metal device to his left arm from his right, and if Tomorrow would let him, Maximos would very gently put his right hand, marked and scarred as it was, on Tomorrow's metal shoulder and softly say. "Will it last through lunch, and maybe our talk? We can visit my shop or my laboratory afterwards and work something out John, is that okay?"

In the end, Tomorrow could think whatever he wanted of him. Good, bad, hopeless, monstrous, powerful or weak, he was still a friend. And Max was still going to help.

And through it all, Maximos was smiling.

Something in all the battles these two men had fought had left a silent sort of conflict raging beneath the surface of their otherwise cheerful engagements. A conflict of interests perhaps? But more accurately, it was a conflict of natures. Conflicting forms, perhaps like oil and water, or perhaps just like the way the powder pools at the bottom of the glass until its properly stirred and mixed. But through it all, Maximos smiled.

He smiled as Tomorrow's hand engulfed his entirely. He smiled at the way the other man questioned lunch, and in that instance he added a reaffirming nod. And then, with more gesture than word, Maximos indicated the large windmill and the wooden door beneath and began leading John towards it still holding the busted piece of machinery from the other man's arm and then...

"How'd you get those?" Maximos immediately paused, and looked around a bit confused. "How did I get wha--"

"Oh."And then the realization dawned on him, John had seen the flowers and the manor, he had to mean something more direct, something on Maximos like perhaps...a stiff breeze and Max's hand sting.

"I'm really not left handed." Max said, somewhat casually while beginning to roll up his right sleeve. The burns across the front and back of his hand, inching into the palm, and all the way up his arm under his sleeve. The wounds were oddly a purplishly sort of bruised color, and did not appear in a pattern reminiscent of fire or oil or even chemical splashes. These burns took the same sort of curls, cues, and swirls as the jet black markings with which Maximos enchanted. "When I recieved this new body, I immediately lamented some of the things my old shell could do. Like, touch spirits for example. I tried give myself some of my old abilities. It worked on most other places on my person, but..."

Max lift his hand, rolling his fingers around, his face twitching slightly but his smile never faltering. "...here I failed completely. The enchantment immediately scarred me, and became a honest to Nocturne curse. I usually keep it bandaged unless I'm at home. It never fully heals, and the wounds have a tendency to open and bleed again when it wakes my..."

And then he just stopped.

Max looked down at his hand for quiet second. Like the flickers of a dying light bulb, Maximos smile was lessened and then returned just as quickly. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling. I really cant fully explain without going into a long drown out story about the origins of my race and kind and..."

"Nevermind." Was it Tomorrow himself? Was it their past, or their brotherhood? Maybe it was just a fluke but, as he stopped talking, his smile began to fade. It slid from his face like so many water colors dripping from a canvas leaving a blank stare. "...it doesnt matter to anyone who I am, or where I come from, just as long as I'm always shadowy, monsterous, and deadly."

And then, like waking from a dream, it was gone. Max's smile was forming back onto pale lips. He shook his head, laughed a bit, and then waved Tomorrow back over toward the windmill. "Come on John, the foods getting cold.

"Hey." John said, and Maximos did not respond. He smiled and began leaning into a step toward the windmill. And then John captured his arm. Literally as the majority of the elbow joint and forearm were entirely encased in one Aesir fist.

There was a time in which the very action John had taken would have likely cost him his own arm. A sword would have been drawn and a fight would have started here and now. John had to know this. No one experienced those times more than he. And yet, Maximos tense, or attack, or stir. He stopped his step, not fighting the grip, and yet not turning to face the other. Not immediately, but slowly his head turned back to Tomorrow. His eyes soft, his smile wide, relaxed, and empty.

"Bring him back." John said solumnly, his azure gaze burning deep into Maximos' mutli-colored eyes. Maximos returned a tired gaze which belied his bright smile. Confusion never crossed his face, only a moment of startled stillness and then, slowly but surely, his smile faltered. Like light shined on a shadow, it faded. No longer so practiced and convincing. His lips barely curved and he looked at Tomorrow as if he was suddenly a different person. "That man you just became - bring him back."

"I dont want the sugered-down version of Maximos. I dont want what you show everybody else. I want what you are, dammit. I want to see you be you, because that matters to me."

"I wanna know who you are Max. I dont want to be....scared of you. I want to know you."

Maximos took in every word. If there was a way for a face to soak in sound, Maximos face did exactly that. He stared at Tomorrow as if he did not know what to do or say. He was silent, and still, his arm limp in the other man's grip until Tomorrow let it go and then it just returned to his side, and Maximos continued to stare without blinking once. He had a rather intense stare at that. His right eye, a greyish white seemed to lighten. Not quite a glow, and yet it moved to just a few shades brighter than the white that surrounded it. Maximos stared at Tomorrow as if he was looking through him, into him. and yet completely devoid of aggression of any kind.

"...So gimme the story. Tell me about Maximos. Start to finish. ******** the food, we're not going to starve as you tell me." Silence. Nothing but the wind, the sound of breath, and the distant caw of some bird far below, grass swaying. Maximos was silent for more than the time it takes to make a situation awkward and then finally, he blinked. His mouth opened, a breath came in as if he was about to speak...and he stopped. Another breath and then...

"Re-" He began to say, and then choked. Not literally, but in a way most uncharacteristic of the Shadow, he quite literally froze mid-speech and had to take a moment to breath, swallow, look towards the ground and then back to the Aesir. And then Maximos spoke in a soft, almost wounded tone, with some level of apparent difficulty. "Re-really?"

Where a moment ago Maximos seem unable to find words, now he found himself cursed with an abundance. There were so many things vto say, where to begin? He was quiet for a moment again, looking at Tomorrow, at the ground...thought not at the ground itself so much as he gaze d at th e island beneath them. His home. His manor. His lab. Somewhere in all of this he found a grip, a grasp on something solid enough to anchor him in a tide of emotion.

Max raised his right hand, steadily, slowly. The burns visible on the back of his hand, and then as he turned the hand towards Tomorrow a black sunburst could be seen on his palm. And then, Max took a deep breath and decided to speak from where he left off. "The arm contains my monster, my truth.

Max paused, and touched that very same hand to his chest and said, "I am an Arian, more specifically, I am a Shadowlander of the Leus breed. I am a child of the Shadowfather. I am not human."

He pausd again, as if to let that settled then continued. "None of my people are. At the beginning of our world, there were three gods who we know today as, Luminous the Lightwatcher, Nocturne the Shadowfather, and Lilara the Heart of Aria. Luminous was a god of peace, goodness and pleasantry, and created the people of my world. He created the day. He created the goodness, while Lilara supplemented nature. Our plants and animals. She kept the planet alive, she was its heart."

For emphasis, Maximos touched his right fist to his heart. He paused to make sure Tomorrow's words werent just a courtesy, that the man wasnt bored or about to attack, and then he continued. "Nocturne was a child, curious and eager to please. Attempting to mimic his brother he gave our world the night. Luminous was furious, and Nocturne was given his own planet to play with. Attempting to mimic again, Nocturne created the Monsters."

Maximos immediately waved his hand as if trying to erase words from the air between both men. "No no no, dont think of fairy tale monsters or creatures of nightmare. Nocturne created a different sort of life, things with several limbs, or less limbs, things that did not have an organized genus or specie listing like animals. Things that looked...inhuman, and deformed by normal standards. These creatures were separated by their function. And has Nocturne quite literally hand crafted each one, they performed their purpose uniquely. For example, a Taros with humongous arms could lift huge things and help form shelter. One with powerful legs could assist in travel. But all Taros are built for strength. Inkel were built to design, communities and shelter. The Leus were hunters. Gathers. Suppliers. None of these creations were made to attack or threaten the 'people', but they were very....different..."

Maximos let the word sort of trail off, looking down at his hands again and then back to Tomorrow. "After enough years, Nocturne decided to bring his creations back to Aria. He wanted to show his brother and sister how well he had done. He transported a few of his creatures to a small Isle, the now dubbed Shadowlands. It was not an invasion, just enough to start a population, after all Aria was his home as well."

A distinct downward curve formed on Max's lips. "Luminous was furious. He sent his People and Paladin's and warriors to assault the Shadowlands and exterminate everything they saw. But no single man could match a Taros in brute strength, or a Leus in raw lethality. The People was being killed, the Monsters defended themselves. And of course...this started a war. A long and bloody war that ended in Luminous stabbing Nocturne through the heart with a knife."

Again, Max's hand moved over his heart. "Its said, that on that day, Nocturne's child heart broke and spilled forth the venom and darkness of this betrayal. Blackness gushed from the wound, and covered everything. Everything Luminous touched was tainted by darkness. Shadows...Aria was given its shadows, and Nocturne became the Shadowfather..."

Max's voice faded off, he shook his head and then looked back at Tomorrow. "I digress. You didnt want an Arian history lesson. The war did not end with Nocturne being stabbed, it worsened. Nocturne no longer cared for the costs, he gathered followers like his brother, made a religion all his own and began converting People to work with him and fight beside his monsters. Luminous damned himself and in the end, ever the spirit of balance, Lilara gave her life to end the war. Nocturne was sealed in infinite nothing and darkness, and Lilara...changed...the world. This became the second age."

Max reached up and poked his own face, and then pulled his own cheek almost comically, but he wasnt laughing. "We, the Monsters, were given this. This form. Like a natural sort of camoflauge, the People would not see what we are, and most of us would never know. But, with Lilara's passing, the planet would have no heart. And so, she gave her heart to everything, and..."

He paused, tapped his chin for a moment and gestured to Tomorrow. "...You can draw in energy from outside yourself, power or magic. I, we, cannot. Arian's are walking essence engines, we eat and put out essence. An Arian body asleep, burns through sustinence and calories at the same rate as a human in action. In turn, as that essence flows from us, it forms a stream. The stream keeps the planet alive. And so to assure that every Arian did his part Lilara gave us, The Hunger. I..."

Maximos seemed hesitant, as if something had spooked him or made him uneasy. And yet his words said the exact opposite. "Please dont be alarmed...I'm going to show you something. Its dangerous but, for you to fully understand you will have to see it."

And without further warning, Maximos took a step back. He closed his eyes, bowed his head and pursues his lips tightly. His hands were held close to his sides as if pinned and his fingers began to writhe like the legs of a panicked spider. And then, as if suddenly forced to do so, his eyes opened. The pupil of his right, white, eye warbled like an overstuffed water balloon, and then suddenly popped. The black of his pupil was suddenly swimming in the white like ink dropped into a body of water. The blackness was growing and spreading, and while the process was occurring in both eyes, though in the darker eye the entirety of the cornea was spreading and swallowing the milky white. Within seconds, Maximos now had two jet black eyes. Soulless and hollow black obsidian in his skull.

And then he smiled. Or rather, his lips pulled back over his teeth revealing a mouth full of pearly white fangs, where moments ago Maximos had teeth like any other man. He looked something like a shark, though without layers going back into his mouth. He looked like a monster, but more specifically Maximos looked like a particular monster with which Tomorrow had infact had dealings with in the past. Maximos looked like a Destroyer. Like THE Destroyer from so very long ago. A mindless killing machine. With the transformation complete, Maximos sighed. Though the breath came out ragged and gutteral like a rumbling growl. Maximos would meet Tomorrow's eyes, his head cocking slightly to the side. "You..."

He said, though the word was somewhat distorted by the large fanged teeth. "...you have experienced this before."

Maximos' breaths were steady and measured, at first the words came out warbled but slowly and steadily they straightened until Maximos sounded much like himself, although with an unremovable primality to his town. A darkness, as it were. As he spoke, Maximos' right hand began to twitch at his side, his fingers bending and jerking on their own. "This is what happens to an Arian who does not feed. By not intaking we threaten the safety of our world itself, and so we were given this primality...but, for a Shadowlander this means something else."

As if on cue, his right arm jumped up and lunged forward as if it meant to grab Tomorrow, until Maximos' left arm grabbed it and pinned it back at his side with an almost leonin grumble. "The Monster we were born as, and born to be, can awaken and..."

The arm jerked and fought for freedom, bending and twisting with its fingers writhing like an angry albino spider. "...transform the Arian back into the so-called monster. For me especially, this cursed arm is possessed by the monster within me, and is a link to the Shadowfather and his gifts. It is his way of making sure I do no forgot who I am. As are these burns. As are the gifts he's given me."

It seemed Max could barely hold his own limb, but in the moment before it broke free he stepped back. His right hand moved to cover his face and for a few moments he was save for a few heavy breaths. When the moment passed, Max's hand fell limp at his side and the Shadow's eyes and teeth had returned to normal. His arm, most of all, seemed to have calmed. Max took to shaking out the arm beside him as if it were a dusty carpet, but his eyes fell back to Tomorrow. He had told the story, or a part of it, and while Tomorrow likely listened he wouldnt be surprised if the other man hadnt liked what he heard and judged him all the same. But, at least he had said it.

"I didnt know all of this. I was very said, a broken man. I believed something was distinctly wrong with me, this need to hunt, to kill, to consume, and these shadows. I believed I was an abberation. A freak. A real monster." And then, Maximos smiled a rare and completely sincere smile. "But Raven changed all that. Nocturne came to her in a dream and shared the truth, which she shared with me. I understood what I am, who I am. That there is nothing wrong with me, I am not a monster or a Destroyer. I am exactly as I was born to be. For the first time..."

Max looked down at the ground and the slowly back up at Tomorrow. "...I'm happy. With myself. My life. All of it. But...I understand if you dont approve, or want to go..."

This wasnt a pleasant experience.

Maximos had never asked for this. He had never stood before Tomorrow and demanded that he should have such an effect on the man's life. He only wanted a friend, a brother even. A kindred spirit, and unfortunately he found one in difficult times. Torn between when he believed he was, and the truth, warring with himself, his nature, and his emotions. The Maximos that Tomorrow knew was a dangerous thing for anyone to be around. Unstable, confused, potent and armed.

No, Max had never asked for this, but there was no denying that the reactions he saw and the emotions he beheld...they were his doing. And like anyone who can truly call themselves a brother, the desire to make it better, to make it right, was very much real. He saw John wretch and cringe, and even cower at his face and yet he would not sugar coat the truth, John deserved better. When the big man asked for a moment, Maximos gave it. He didnt step forward or backward, he just waited. And when the other man called him forward, he came. His arms at his side and his steps calm and slow. He came up right beside the larger man and took a seat on the ground, folding his legs beneath him.

"Its not as scary as it sounds." Maximos said, smiling softly. He couldnt help but recognize that even like this, John seemed like a boulder, and Maximos a small shadow cast beside it. Max's tone was remarkably lighter when he continued. "The Hunger, even the monster, are not terrible things meant to destroy. But we are trained to repress and contain them constantly as if they are dirty, less-than-Arian things. Most who give in to the Hunger are put down. All who have given in to the Monster are killed. Shadowlanders are...disliked."

Max reached down, plucking up a few blades of grass, and twirling them around his fingers. "If either could be accepted, control is possible. Coexistence even. But, even in my time, Luminous wouldnt allow that. Now its even worse..."

All Max could imagine to do was talk. Paint the picture fully and honestly. Maybe just the sound of his voice outside of combat, or a threat, could help. Fear like this...he didnt understand it. He just didnt know it. "Luminous is an absolutist. He believes there is only black and white, right and wrong. Which is fine and well when tempered with balance. But Lilara is gone, and anything touched by Nocturne is indeed dark, and therefore wrong. He has drowned Aria in good and light, and peace. He has made it into a stagnant utopia where nothing goes wrong, there is no stress, food, meals, mating, even arts are medicated, programmed, and controlled. Aria today...is full of sheep, who have never tasted struggle or known strength, or growth."

And then, Max dropped the proverbial bomb. "Thats why I have to go back. I, John, have to wake my world up, and set it free. I have...destroy it, to destroy what he's made."

Max looked down at his hands, letting the blades of green slip back to the turf. "I'm actually rather glad we have the chance to have this talk I...dont know if I'll be able to come back."

Maximos let Tomorrow speak, though he knew from the very first question what his answer would be, and did not truly believe that Tomorrow would understand. But he would try anyway. As the larger man finished, Maximos' smile grew a bit although genuine now as opposed to the plastic mask of before.

"Because it is my duty, as a paladin to the Shadowfather. Because, while all of Aria hates my people, they love me." The mention of an entire worlds love should make a man happy, and yet with these words Maximos' smile seemed to falter, his eyes moved to the ground in some sort of shame. "I saved Aria before I was cast to Gaia. My companions and I defeated the Dark Lord and removed the last great evil from the world. Luminous took that as his opportunity to purge darkness from the world to create his stagnant utopia, and herald me as the Great Hero who made it all possible."

Maximos was quite literally frowning as he spoke. A certain disdain tainting his voice. "There are statues of my friends and I the size of buildings in the captial city, monuments to our names, stories, legends, arts, all about our tale and its greatness. Maximos is painted as the hero, where as the Destroyer is painted as the profile of what all Shadowlanders truly are. No one knows the truth."

And by the look on his face and the tone of his voice one could tell that Maximos was most certainly not bragging, this seemed almost like a curse to him, an insult. "I was their Destroyer. I did quest to save them, and in the end I faltered and someone else dealt the final blow. Its all a lie, a sham. And now I am the only one who can do this. My companions are scattered to the winds, save one."

He shook his head, looking down at his hands as if examining some old scar or stain and then looked back at Tomorrow. "I am the only one who can hurt them enough. To awaken them to the lie and destroy their false security so they can grow.. But..." A smirk formed on the edge of his lips.

"I never said I was going to do it alone." His smirk inturn grew to a full on wily grin. "I But there is no garuantee that the method used to get there will work in reverse. I cannot truly expect others to join me for all the reasons that yourself just gave for me staying. Neither can I ask good people to do bad things for my sake."