The Three (DC Comics) [Chapter XX]

[Miracle]

Miracle head turned and violet eyes watched as the darkness formed just outside the city's wall. It was like looking through a window into the past and her heart skipped a beat as she feared they were finally out of time. The High Priestess slowly rose back up to her feet and looked on in shock and amazement at what she was seeing. A child entering the holy city with all the power of the Arashi behind them. Was this the End? The Third and Final Aspect to be seen by the eyes of humanity? A child? Was it meant to be a slap at her? Was this the yang to her ying as Veran was to Yahweh? Or was it just a crude irony?

Her belief that it was the End would be short lived as both Sincara and Lord Yahweh was taken off guard by the child's appearance. Yahweh even going as far as demanding what she was. He called her a demon so it couldn't be an arashi. But if he had to ask what she was then he had no understanding of what she was. Demon was just the only thing he knew what to reference her as. The High Priestess was now just as confused as they were. If the other Arashi were gone and this was not the End. Then what could it be?

[Legion]

Shock and dismay drifted through the air of the holy city as the three were left in awe from the sight of the Fourth Aspect. Even a former omnipotent being was unable to comprehend the full scope of the anomaly that stood before them. It just wasn't something they could conceive. It was never meant to be. A fourth Arashi, a Fourth Aspect. There were only meant to be three. The messenger, the will and the end. There was no room for a fourth. And there was no role for her to play. She was simply “the lost.” As such, no answer would come from the demon child's lips. The three would be left unsatisfied as instead she would be the one to ask the questions. The questions that had plagued her mind since first being brought into this world. A world of famine, disease, and heartache. First, a question that all sentient life throughout history has asked.

“Are we... alive?”

[Sincara]

"You don't know?"

This whole situation was puzzling and it wasn't like they had much time to figure things out. Even Lord Yahweh was at a lost here and he was the one responsible for the creation of the Arashi. If he didn't know what it was that suggested their creation happened after he became a mortal again. But by who? How?

"What makes you think you aren't?"

[DC Comics]

"What do you mean are you alive? Of course you're alive. You're standing here aren't you?"

Of all the questions... No. Yahweh would not tolerate these childish questions. She would be the one to answer him. Even with no authority over Jherra he still had authority over Aircano until the Third Aspect entered the holy city and he would not spend his last minutes on Genesis being denied. Legion would answer his questions one way or another.

"I am THE LORD! The God Almighty. You will respond to my questions. What are you!?"

[Miracle]

Miracle could feel the goosebumps shooting all across her body in the face of this demon child. Her presence alone was enough to remind her of that day in Crystal City where she saw Veran for the first, and last time. The face of God, a dark side to him that she never thought possible. To make matters worse, just as Veran reminded her of God, this child reminded her of herself. As if someone had gone and created a dark incarnation of her. The High Priestess didn't like that thought, nor did she like the sight of this girl. But she couldn't look away. She was too afraid to look away.

"Yes. You would not be able to ask that question if you weren't."

[Legion]

Legion appeared as little more than a statue even in the face of Yahweh's anger. The only movement that has been seen so far since she stopped her advance had been from her lips. Her voice sounded as if it was enchanted, echoing across the morning's air as light surrounded the city, as if heaven itself was descending upon them. Time was of the essence but there were questions still to be answered.

“The Essence...”

If one was observant enough they could see that the shadow beneath Legion's feet wasn't that of a little girl. It was taller, wider, and as if she was wearing a cloak instead of a dress. When the wind picked up and blew at her skirt, the shadow didn't reflect it.

“Breeds nightmares. Indefinable, unavoidable, undeniable nightmares...”

As quickly as it began to blow the wind stopped, the shadow behind her started to steadily grow in size as Legion continued to speak of the messenger that began all of this eons ago when he was chosen by the Ghost to don the face of God.

“Are we nightmares?”

Her eyes gazed into Miracle's.

“Are we hers?”

[Sincara]

Sincara's eyes widened in shock when she realized what the child was insinuating as she turned away from Legion to look at Miracle.

"You..."

Sincara turned back to Legion, noticing the shadow and how it moved. It caused her to keep a steady hand on her revolver but other than that she showed no hostility towards Legion.

"You believe yourself to be a creation of the Nightmare?"

[DC Comics]

Yahweh's eyes went over to the shadow under Legion's feet, recognizing it immediately as the First Aspect. The ex god dismissed it as a mere illusion as he knew that the First Aspect would have been destroyed by The End and that was not something one could return from. Not even a fellow Arashi. His attention returned to the child in full when she asked her next question, just as taken aback by the question as Sincara was. He glanced towards the High Priestess and then back at Legion. Unsure on how to answer as he remembered the day Miracle was exposed to Veran but as far as he knew Miracle was not infected with the Nightmare.

"Why would Miracle create a being like you?"

[Miracle]

"Wh-what are you saying?"

Miracle looked towards Yahweh and Sincara before looking back to the demon child. Shaking her head roughly with a distraught expression on her face. Just the idea that she would or could create something like that, Nightmare or no. It was unthinkable. She would never, NEVER create something like that.

"I don't know what you are but you have NOTHING to do with me!"

[Legion]

Legion looked into their minds, reading their thoughts and stepping into their pasts. All three of them had experience with the Arashi, perhaps more so than the others on Jherra. One being the creator, the next a human conduit and finally the hunter who sought them out for vengeance. And yet all three of them remained woefully ignorance of the full scope of The Essence's powers. Only going to show that it was indeed indefinable as she said. Did Legion, the demon child looking for answers, really know more than the three combined?

“When Miracle looked upon the face of God shadowed in darkness, her greatest fear was realized. She knew then what the First Aspect was. What God could be. Two sides... One coin... She was terrified, dramatized and exposed to The Essence. We believe The Essence has manifested that fear through her. Creating us.”

Legion never took her gaze off of Miracle. She denied it, which only suggested that deep down the High Priestess saw truth to such a statement. Not wanting to believe it as it stared her right in the face. Not even blinking. The potential, ugly, truth. That everything Legion has done was her fault, and hers alone.

“We are both conduits for the Arashi. Ying and yang. Light and dark. We share the same relationship as Yahweh and Veran. We are... soulmates...”

Legion's eyes finally left Miracle's and then settled upon the former god of Jherra.

“Are we nightmares?”

[Sincara]

Miracle was exposed to Veran's essence as much as the rest of the people who were in Crystal City at the time were. It was possible that Miracle could have inadvertently created this being. What other explanation was there? Aside from it being artificially created but if humans had the power to do that Sincara didn't want to think about what the consequences would be. She was here to protect Genesis whether it'd be from foreign invaders or its own people. Sincara would have a lot of shooting to do if something like this could be created by man. And there was one city on Jherra that would be crazy enough to perform such a feat.

"Well?"

Sincara turned to face Yahweh.

"Is she nightmares? Because if she isn't a result of the Nightmare, and she wasn't created by you then that means there's only one explanation for her creation. That means she was MAN made! So which is it?"

[DC Comics]

Yahweh was left speechless by the revelation laid out before them by Legion. To think that the Nightmare has evolved to such lengths that a victim of it can create an entire being and give them memories and set them loose without even being aware of it. For once the God of Jherra had no idea what to say. He did not have an answer for Legion or Sincara. He said nothing until Sincara suggested something that was ludicrous.

"The Arashi man made? Impossible! No man on Genesis or outside of it could ever take something as complicated as the Arashi and engineer it."

[Miracle]

Miracle's body began to tremble each time the demon child spoke. Reaching a point to where she could barely firmly hold her own staff. The things she were hearing... That the two of them were... were SOULMATES! It was enough to incite her rage until finally the High Priestess has had enough.

"NO!"

Cried out the High Priestess while raising up her staff over head and charging it with her holy energies as she spoke again.

"You and I are NOT soulmates. You and I are nothing alike!"

Miracle slammed the holy staff into the ground and release the holy energy towards Legion.

"NOTHING!"

[Legion]

“Are we nightmares?”

The demon child asked again. A hint of anger and frustration sounded in her voice. She had came all this way, abandoned her quest for Vulture and a most interesting challenger that could have tested her limits all for answers from the one responsible for the Arashi's creation and nothing. Nothing at all... Lord Yahweh stood there in awe of the child's existence and in awe of the revelation uttered by her lips. He could not answer her question. He had no answer. It was unthinkable. To think the god of Jherra and Arashi knew not nor understood not the question of her own existence. It was insulting to the demon child. It engulfed her in rage.

Then came the High Priestess protests. She too had been engulfed in rage but for a different reason. Was the demon child just impersonating what she was experiencing? Would it even be given an answer? To know the truth about her own existence? If Miracle was to die right now would Legion cease to be? Or would the Nightmare carry on as long as the Arashi continue to exist? Could she die? Miracle plunged her staff into the ground and sent a blinding, burning ray of holy light into the face of the being. Legion could be heard crying out in agony only to be cloaked by The Essence. Protected. It would not allow her to die. Just as it refused to allow all victims of the Nightmare to pass away. Nor would it allow even the holy light of God to shine down on the demon and purify her. To abolish the evil within and let the child be given peace. No. It would keep her alive. It would keep her moving forward. She was as much a victim of the Nightmare as all others to come before her, and the unlucky few to come after.

When the holy light faded away Legion continued to stand unharmed, her eyes pierced the soul of the High Priestess as a dark tendril shot forward to impale Miracle through the chest and lift her up as the Son of Man was lifted up, through the air and forced to look into the one thing she didn't want to look towards. Memories of that night in Crystal City rushing back as it was the abyssal eyes of Veran who stared back into the child's soul. The question being repeated while the tendrils forced open an even bigger wound on the holy child of Yahweh. Not caring for the consequences of damaging the human incarnation of God's will.

“Are we nightmares?”

[Sincara]

"You sure about that?"

Sincara kept an intense stare on Yahweh as she asked him that question. The sheer arrogance coming off of the god after everything was amusing but to be expected. Gods were prideful creatures, perhaps even more than humans. If they really were made in God's own image then the pride they shared was certainly evidence of that. The hunter would be pulled away from her stare as she saw Miracle attacking the demon child with her staff.

"No!"

When were they going to get it through their thick skulls that they had bigger issues on hand than each other? Regardless of their personal feelings of Legion she was here and if she wasn't attacking them then it was possible she could make a valuable ally to stop The End. Sincara caught the tendril that was sent towards Miracle after her attack failed and Sincara threw herself in front of the High Priestess squeezing her trigger and producing an energy shield to block the tendril.

"Stop this at once, both of you! We have bigger problems to contend with right now. If The End succeeds in its task then none of this will matter and you will never have your answers."