=Am I Evil 23=

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGf2b1H91JA

>Your foot burns as you step over a dead scorpion and plant it down in the hot sand.
“Fuck me…”
>Ahead you saw the others trudging along through the sun blasted landscape.
>All around you the Mild West stretched as far as the eye could see in infinite planes of sand and pockmarked mesas reaching up to the sky.
“Guys, hold up, I need to stop…”
>”Come on Anon, just a bit longer…” Sombra says, stopping to offer a hand to you.
>The five of you had been marching along for hours now after having your tour bus let you off in Appleoosa and following Chrysalis’ wonderful instructions of “go southwest.”.
>You take Sombra’s hand and pant. 
“I’m not build like you, Sombra…I’m not an immortal…I need a rest.”
>The Crystal King grips your hand tight and pulls you up a bit, turning towards the front of the line.
>”Hold up! Anon needs a rest!”
>Artemis and Eris both stop, turning back at you with equally haggard expressions.
>Chrysalis just keeps marching into the sunset.
>”CHRYSALIS!” Sombra cries.
>The Changeling perks up and turns around. “Huh? Oh, is he okay?”
“Water…please…
>Eris hurries over and holds a cantine up to your lips. “Drink, husbando.”
>You swig the ice cold contents down your throat and cough a bit.
“F-fucking weeb…”

>Chrysalis turns and covers her eyes, looking at the setting sun in the sky. “I feel like we should have found him by now…”
>Artemis goes and joins her. “We followed the rite as it was written…we SHOULD have.”
“Anyone want to explain for the non-magician here?”
>”Finding The Child is…harder than it sounds, Anon.” Eris says.
“Why is finding some kid so hard?”
>”He’s not a kid, he’s a man.” Sombra says. “As old and as powerful as Tirek and Grogar, watching from his mother’s womb in the stars while they shaped the earth and hearing their liturgies.”
“…Hardcore. But why is he out here?”
>”Best view.”
>Artemis sighs and steps forward, raising a glowing hand. “Well at the very least I can cool us off…”
>Using his magic, Artemis grabbed the moon from the other end of the horizon and went through the practiced motion with his sister at the other end of the kingdom, lowering the sun into the sky and raising its celestial cousin.’
>The last rays of orange light disappeared over the horizon, but their glow remained along with the strumming of strings.
>The lot of you cover your eyes for the moment the glow is blinding, and when you lower them you spot a campfire as the source.
>Around the campfire are several logs, and on one of the logs sits a man of fiery hair in a tight outfit strumming an acoustic guitar. His gaunt features jagged face scar momentarily distracting you from eyes so deep that they gave you vertigo.
>”You seek the Child of Stars…you have found him, Neon Knights.” He says.

>”Please, sit.” He says, strumming his guitar.
>Eris is the first to approach him, her mouth agape in awe. “You’re real…you’re really real.”
>”As real as any of us are, darling.” He says with an upper class accent.
>Eris squees or giggles or something.
>The rest of you approach and the Child frowns. “There is disharmony in your souls…I feel it.”
>The band exchanges glances. “You could say that.”
>”I have long existed on the fringes of your world.” He says. “Walked the fields of Eden and harmonized with the leylines of this magical place we call home.”
>He strums once on his guitar and you feel the universe breath in. “You seek me, as others have before you, to quiet this disharmony.”
>The band sits, Artemis taking a seat next to him. “We do indeed, wise one…we feel our music suffer.”
>”We were once so strong but now it feels like we’re…lost, like we can’t go any further.” Chrysalis says.
>The Child pats Arty on the cheek. “Artemis. It has been many years since your sister came to me, seeking absolution for your banishment. Fate would have the good humor to send you to me.”
>Artemis blinks. “Celly was here before?”
>Shit, what WASN’T she ahead of?

>The Child strums his guitar again, not listening to Artemis, and fishes around in a small bag by his feet. “Lifeforms are never simple, but the complications we make of ourselves serve as our eternal muses and shape the world around us. As we grow older, we learn to bury our complications far beneath ourselves.”
>He pulls out a roll of…some green plant or another wrapped in a cloth. “We must coax it out.” He says handing it to Artemis.
>The night prince turns it over in his hand. “…What is it?”
>Sombra takes a piece of it and sniffs it. “…It’s peyote.” He sniffs it again. “And it’s chock-full of mescaline.”
>”You want to get us HIGH?” Chrysalis exclaims.
>”In your transcended state, your truth will arise.” He says.
>Eris squeezes your hand next to you. “Anny?”
>You think for a minute.
“…We’ve tried everything else and it’s not working. If there’s something we’re not saying and this gets it out…”
>All eyes look on you and think for themselves. 
“It’s for the band.”
>Artemis nods and hands the peyote out. “I’m sold.”
>”Same.” Sombra says.
>”We’re going to wake up with no clothes, I know it.” Chrysalis remarks, taking her node.
>You and Eris share one as Child of Stars picks up his guitar again.
>”Let my sound be your guide.” He says as you all take a bite and he strums a chord.

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH_sQq89ILk
>Your entire body feels heavy. You can’t move, can’t breathe, can’t think. Hundreds of tiny gnats’ swarm around you and pick at your body, each taking a small piece of you away with them as they go.
>You swat at them, plead with them, and eventually offer yourself of them freely. Surely that will appease them? 
>It does not. The drone of guitar calls you towards an escape of infinite blackness, you rush towards it headlong and escape the gnats.
>However the veil of shadows is thin and you reach the other side. The gnats now buzz off in the distance, away from you, yet their swarming cacophony remains. You cover your ears and try to distract yourself, but the weight of the gnats cries for your flesh cause you to curl up on the floor, back into your mind, back into the blackness.
>You lay on the cold, familiar, ground, your home for as long as you remember. Above you lie the void of space with the twinkling orbs of perfection out in it.
>You wanted those orbs more than your next breath. You reach out for them, but your arm is not long enough.
>That would not matter, you would build a glistening tower to put yourself closer.
>You build and build and when you can build no more, you reach again. But to your horror, the perfection that was your birthright remained out of your grasp.
>Thinking quickly, you contract others to aid you in building, and your tower rises. You rise and rise until you are the tallest thing in the world, and then do you reach again.
>Perfection was closer, but still beyond you, you had to build more.
>But now, your aid builds the tower in other ways. Sideways, backwards, further down. All but the direction you wanted, needed to go.
>You lay again at the top of your tower, cold and hard like the ground that was your home, and wonder if it was at all any different.

>There were so many beneath you.
>From your position towering over them you watched them play out their little lives of duty and diligence. It was mesmerizing from on high, but constantly something nicked at the back of your mind.
>This one wasn’t doing the right thing, that one was going where it shouldn’t, this one here would hurt itself.
>No.
>You, go there. And that one here. And this one go over there.
>You put your hands in the throng of your lessers, why did you care about them so much? Without them you were nothing, that’s why.
>You turn their heads and direct them, but they continue to come.
>No go here.
>Pick that.
>No, stay away from that.
>Why are you all slowing down? Why won’t you stash food? You’re going to starve. You all need to go over here and eat.
>You turn all their heads towards food and direct them, but as they crawl over it, they melt away.
>You shriek and gather up the few you can, hiding them in your palms and running for the shadows where you nurse them back to health.
>Now the world was different around you and the ones you kept safe were gone. You would have to steer those you love more next time, the alternative was disasterous.
>You can feel first the first time in a long time and you feel afraid.
>Your joints pop and crack as you move them, and you go hide in the woods to gather yourself.
>She was there, she was so kind to you, she helped you and made you like outside.
>Eventually you left, you found something you liked and did that. It felt good to do things again.
>You did that thing and did it and did it, finding other things you also liked.
>But you didn’t know why.
>Everything was so much different, and everything you used to do scared you now. You wanted to feel forever, you wanted to be around, none of that old stuff would work.
>You watch everyone around you change, but you don’t, you stay the same as you had been.
>You look down at your feet and see them turning grey. You scream, but your throat closes up.

>The wind howled at your face, ripping away at your skin and eyes.
>You don’t know where you are, you don’t know how you got here, you don’t know where here is.
>You are lost.
>You do the one thing, so you did it.
>The ground beneath you shook and rumbled as great shapes walked along the horizon towards you. The bent down and plucked you from the crust of the earth, carrying you with them.
>To your surprise, they imitated you, doing what you did as you did it.
>You danced and celebrated with these entities, so large that their footsteps turned to valleys in your wake, but all was not well.
>One bumped into another, which bumped into another which bumped into another.
>Soon these titans clashed and quarreled, yelling in their incomprehensible language at one another.
>You gripped tight, trying to shout them down, but what you could do was naught but watch.
>These were the beings who made you feel welcome, helped you find yourself in this madness. You wanted to help, them but could not, and that killed you.
>One titan bumps into another, sending you flying through the air.
>Again, you are alone and lost in a place you did not know, helpless and insignificant in the scheme of it all, your company having abandoned you.
>And then all was black.

>You groan and rub your eyes.
“What the hell…”
>Pawing at your chest, you see you still have your shirt.
“Hah…Chrys…you lost that bet…”
>You open your eyes and immedietly wish you hadn’t as the Mild West morning sun beats down on your face and lights your eyeballs on fire.
“Oho! Fuck!” you exclaim, rolling over.
>You hear the others around you groaning and rising up as you blink the spots away.
>”Where…the hell is Child?” Artemis says.
>Chrysalis gets to her feet and stumbles over to where you remember him sitting. “There’s a note…”
>”What’s it say, Chryssy?” Eris asks.
>Chrysalis’s eyes drift over it. “It says ‘This was fun, loves. But I have an 8:30 pint with Ronnie. Kisses.’ And the I’s are dotted with hearts…”
“Who the hell was that guy…”
>Sombra stands and rubs his head. “Do you guys…remember saying anything last night?”
>Everyone is quiet. You all did.
>”I remember…that you think we’re holding you back.” Eris says, kicking dirt.
>”I wouldn’t put it like that…” Sombra says.
“Yeah? Then how would you?”
>Sombra sighs and puts his hands in his pockets. “Ever feel like…I dunno, you’re not supposed to be doing what you’re doing? That you’re meant for something MORE out there?”
>Eris is quiet for a few seconds. “…Yeah, I did…but that got me in a -lot- of trouble and I don’t ever want to be like that again. I just want to live my life and be happy but everything changes so fast. I dunno, maybe I’m getting old.”
>”I just feel like I should be doing MORE.” He says.
>”Tch. Welcome to the club.”

>The three of you turn and look at Artemis who’s sitting on the ground with his head resting in his hands. “You have no idea how liberating it’d be to be deposed…Every day I’m out with you all, doing what I love, but there’s this awful nagging every time I set my guitar down that I should be hurrying home and picking up my pen to write some royal decrees. I mean for Tirek’s sake! I’m a head of state and I’m in a -rock band-!”
“Not everyone expects you to be your sister, Artemis…”
>”Yeah well maybe they should.”
>”What about you, Anon?” Sombra asks.
>You reach back and scratch behind your head.
“You all probably heard what I said…”
>Each of their eyes looks through you as you sputter.
“You’re all…I mean every one of you has already made your mark. You launched a coup, some of you almost killed everything on the planet, some of you wrapped everyone around your finger and I…I play guitar.”
>You roll over and sit on your butt, looking at your toes.
“It’s just…I feel like the new guy in a group of superstars already, like in fifty years there might be a story about “that band of bad guys and that one no one remembers with no face”.
>You know, like Ringo.
>You feel someone tug at your arm and get under it, Eris sitting next to you. “I think you’re a giant.” She says before she kisses you.
>”…Phrasing.” Sombra says.
>”BOOM!” goes Arty.
>They high five and you chuckle.
“Ass. You hear these muscleheads Chry-“
>You look behind you and see Chrysalis standing where Child was, tightly gripping her arms with her head down.
>If she saw what you saw…SHIT.

>You get up and run over to her.
“Hey! Hey! Are you okay?”
>Tears streamed down her face through her gritted teeth. “I just need a minute.” She says.
>The others hurry over as you pat her shoulder and she falls into your chest.
>”They’re dead. They’re all dead and it’s MY fault.”
>You rub her back.
“Chryssy, no…”
>”I tried and-- my family died, that was the worst day of my life.”
>The others comfort her as best they can. In no time, you feel all of you get pulled together.
>You look and see that she’s pulled everyone closer. “And the best was when I found my new one…”
>A chuckle escapes you as you rest your head on top of hers, the five of you smiling like goons and hugging in the desert.
>”…Now what?” Sombra asks.
>”Do we all kiss?” Eris questions.
>She gets five “No”’s in response.
>Sombra had a beard, that was gross.
>The five of you separate, Chrysalis composes herself.
>”This isn’t going to be wrapped up with a musical number and a hug…but I know I don’t want to be anywhere else right now.” She says.
>You nod, Artemis pats her back in agreement and Sombra nods once.
>Chrysalis nods too. “We know now and we’ll…work on it, come back stronger than ever, you hear? We’ll temper our iron into steal.”
“Here here!”
>Eris scratches her stomach. “So…what do we do now? About our careers?”
>Artemis digs something out of his pocket. “I actually have an idea for that…”
“Whassup, Arts?”
>The night princes presents a glitzy looking gold flyer.
>”Who wants to play the Grand Glittering Gala?” he asks.