Crushing Violet/Choices
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Angelica can feel it. It's been steadily going on for many days now, but it's been subtle. The hellfire inside her, consuming her. Driving her on, further and further, to gain more power. To become a goddess.
But it's now becoming clear. She looks at her friends and feels no desire, except to feast on their souls. And she knows this is not right. And she still has enough presence of mind to realize that this isn't her. She once was a cape. She once wanted to be a nurse. Deep down, inside, she wishes to help people. And failing that, at least those she cares about. And now, that is all fading.
All the power she has gained has led to her much knowledge of the arcane. And so to Cap au Diable she heads, to a special rock cluster which magical energy emanates from. Here is where she can finally become what she wishes to be.
She walks north of Aeon University, and sees the rock outcropping. Trails of magic circling above it. Her instincts tell her to open up a gate of hellfire, but she does not. Instead she climbs the rocks, her weak body having a difficult time of it, but she pushes herself. But as she digs deep in her willpower to resist the temptation, the temptation just grows stronger. The willpower, this excess reserve of it, is just another facet of what she is becoming.
Eventually, she reaches the top of the outcropping. Only 20 feet high, at most, but it was still a difficult climb. And as she steps in between the magical trails, she transforms. Her skin is shed and the form of the goddess is visible to the world. Wings spread out, tail swaying slightly from side to side, and her skin burning hot. So hot the outcropping should just melt beneath her, but no, it is fortified by magic. And that magic interacts with her very being, the trails of pure magic become trails of hellfire surrounding her.
Angelica taps the power surrounding her, mixing it with her own. Letting the raw magic infuse her being. She closes her eyes and lets the power flood over her.
Her choices. She sees the first goddess of hellfire, and can feel herself worshipping her again. Letting herself be taken by the fire, almost losing herself then.
She feels again the dagger slip into her heart, thrust by her own hands, to save a life. Magic infusing her then to bring her back.
She feels her love for two beings of fire be born. And their own fires awakening the hellfire within her.
She once again sees herself in her mind, killing the young personality that is the true owner of her body, so she can live. Her own body being destroyed at this, and a star being born.
She once again feels herself entering the golem's body.
And she feels herself rejecting her mutant powers again, forcing them away from her.
The hellfire screams through her spirit, wanting release. Wanting her to give in and fulfill the vacuum that was left when the previous goddess died. And she touches that hellfire, and around her, and above, she forces it. A huge globe of the reddish-black fire surrounding her and the rock outcropping.
And that globe begins to eject the fire, shooting off flames for yards in every direction. Once again the fire sings to her spirit, but she continues to force it, and all the magic within her, out. Continuing to strike out at the world around her, her spirit growing fainter as the power of the goddess leaves her. The hellfire surrounding her goes out, without anything else powering it. And the magic trails around her return to purity.
And she falls unconscious, there, on the rocks. All the power that was once within her, now gone.
Elsewhere, a man clad in a trenchcoat, inside a dark cavern smiles as he receives a message internally, "Ah, it has been ages since I have been called to teach. It will prove a welcome distraction." The demonic creature he's facing takes a step to the side, hoping whatever is distracting him will give the creature an opening. But as the creature reaches out to claw at the man, the man inhumanly strikes with great speed, lopping off the demon's hand, followed by it's head.
"Yes, a very welcome distraction from this endless mission."
