#and spiders. and they’d want to look like lolth and she’s out there having eight legs

[swordmaid]

i want to start on the drizzt books for the drow content but so much of the drow infos I found from like the old handbook reeks of so much misogyny to me that i just want to stick to my own headcanons LMFAO

[go-truck-yourself]

The Final Goodbye

The battle ended seemingly hours after it had began, the remaining students panting as they held their wounds, staring at the sight before them. Takehiro stood, hand almost inside Menes' chest, the fallen prophets blood coating the acolytes arm. Takehiro had broke Menes' charm during the fight, mostly due to Ayates urging, and had managed to wrestle the maniacal mans blade from his hand.

Menes chuckled madly, as Takehiros eyes widened. Deep down, he'd wanted to save Menes. To pull him from this mire of madness he'd steeped himself into. He still believed there was hope, that Menes had just been being controlled, manipulated. Even now, He looked into Menes' eyes, blinking and worried. Those yellow orbs simply stared into his as Menes laughed. Takehiro opened his mouth, prepared to stammer out an apology, assure Menes that he was going to live-

"Ta...Ke...Hi...Ro..." Menes began to speak, his voice still laced with the honey that had eased Takehiros nerves so many times. "If anything, I'm glad it was you."

His voice sounded...tired, reserved. Maybe he'd expected this, or maybe he just accepted that death was coming.

"N-no! Menes, you c-cant die! You're..Y-you're going to face t-trial! For t-trapping us he-here! And th-then you can ge-ge-get help! Y-you aren't w-w-well!"

Takehiro had seen both sides of Mene's madness, assisting him through the twisted 'game', as he called it. Ayate had helped keep him from being fully in the madness that Menes preached, likely saving his life. He'd finally broken down and confessed everything to his love when Menes had ordered his death, wanting to solidify Ayate's allegiance.

It was Ayates plan to take the hemlock poison in the first place, after all.

Takehiro bit back the irony at revealing Menes' treachery through a Shakespeare play. Hamlet would have been more ironic, but still...

He'd seen Menes in a new light from that point, after Ayate explained his plan. He'd always been confident, kind, caring. It couldn't have all been an act, right? The kind, caring soul that had given Karin the confidence she needed to be herself, that had helped Hots deal with her issues of self worth, even bringing Arzexith out of their shell.

Arzexith...

Takehiro didn't want to spare a glance back at the cloaked figure. They'd gotten close to Menes, Takehiro knew about it. Arzexith thought it had been love, and maybe it was, they'd taken Menes' revelation of betrayal the hardest.

All of that, the warm voice that lulled Takehiro to sleep, the gentle hand who liked cinnamon and honey in his tea, who enjoyed honey mustard...

It couldn't have all been a ruse? An act?

"I-It's gonna be okay M-Menes!" Takehiro tried again, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. He believed that there was good in Menes, somewhere. There had to be.

The man simply laughed, madly.

"Indeed, it will be, Takehiro. For my message, my words are now inside all of you, for eternity." He coughed, a trail of blood leaving from his mouth as he spoke. The light in his eyes was dull, but still sparkled with that insanity. "I die, so that my cause may live. I had hoped my path would continue but-"

"You aren't going to die!"

Takehiro was surprised at the shout, he hadn't realized he was going to speak.

"You're going to fucking pay for what you did! For the people you killed!"

Ayate, storming forward, holding Takehiro around the waist, protectively. Takehiro leant into the embrace unconsciously, tired from the prolonged fight.

"For what you tried to make Takehiro do!"

Menes simply laughed, his silver voice groaning as he struggled to breathe.

"No, young Ayate. I don't believe I will."

He continued to laugh, as Ayate seethed. Takehiro spoke again, shakily.

"M-Menes...It's going t-to be...alright! W-we're going t-to get you the help you need! To he-help you s-see-"

"See what I did wrong? That my lord isn't real?" Menes cut Takehiro off, coughing up more blood. The ghostly forms of Menes' personas began to appear behind him as he spoke, his coughing worsening with almost every word.

"You would not be the first, to attempt to cloud my vision from the true path...I was destined to walk."

A skeletal figure, clad in tattered black cloth in tarnished golden jewelry. A leather tome in its right hand, flicking through the ancient pages with a yellow hand of ghostly yellow, staring at the remaining students with a single piercing yellow eye. Vecna, The Arch-Lich.

"I was born...To serve my king. Taken from those who had the honor of being my flesh and blood-"

A large man, muscular, clad in an armored skirt of Grecian origin. A jagged shoulder-pad adorned his right shoulder, with a similar gauntlet down his arm. He held a sickly looking spear, covered in points, looking to cause as much damage as possible. A horned helmet, with bloody red plume sat atop his head, glowing yellow eyes shining out from within. Deimos, God of Terror.

"And taught by the finest elders-" He coughed again, his voice shifting in pitch with every word, his pearly teeth staining pink with blood. "In the glorious words of my lord."

A hauntingly beautiful woman with deep black skin, adorned in robes made of gold and spiderwebs, a cruel smirk on her face. An eight headed whip loosely dangled at her side in a loose grip, an ancient staff in her other hand. Eight legs, tipped with cruel looking barbs extended from her back, idly twitching in the air. Lolth, The Spider Queen.

"The path I walk, is one I was destined to walk. Every step, every hardship i've faced has been for my King."

A twisting black mass of tentacles and sludge, surrounding a vaguely humanoid shape. Masks of tortured looking faces covered every inch of the inky fluid, bands of the same sickly yellow pulsing through it all. Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos.

"I have not lived- not lived for me."

The familiar shape of a Melampus appeared, a veil over his face as usual. The healing, soothing aura normally produced by the persona was strangely absent, though that was likely for the best. The loose robes fluttered, as he held his hands out in a welcoming motion. Melampus, Soothsayer of Pylos.

"All I have...All I am...is simply for my lord."

Menes coughed again, the light fading fast in his eyes.

Takehiro was crying now, finally getting a glimpse into Menes' thoughts. He knew that Menes was steeped, but he hadn't fully known the depths of his...friends insanity. For a brief moment, he saw the humanity in Menes Ultharian. A person who was only taught that the words of his lord were correct, and had them beaten into him.

For a brief moment, Takehiro saw himself.

The thoughts were bitter. Could Menes had been saved had he found someone earlier in his life? Not been born the moment he was? Could he have been rescued from the cold loneliness, instead of escaping into the depths of his insanity?

The air grew cold, the five persona turning behind them as a larger figure appeared.

A woman, clad in a simple robe seemingly made of the night sky, flowing around her body as she shimmered into existence, moving towards Menes. The other persona followed suit, approaching.

Takehiro gasped, and backed away, Ayate pulling him away, the knife coming loose of Menes' chest, still firmly in Takehiros grasp.

The woman continued to form as she approached, her hair a rich purple, dotted with ornaments of gold, pulsing with runes. Her eyes were a solid gold, staring at Menes' laughing body.

One by one, the Persona touched Menes, disappearing into a sickly yellow mist as they did so, the yellow spray being absorbed into the giant womans form. Finally, she laid a hand on Menes head, caressing him almost lovingly, before pulling. A sickly yellow mist left Menes mouth, eyes, from seemingly every pore of his body as he coughed up blood, vomiting onto the stone below him.

Moments later, Menes dropped like a puppet with his strings cut, the woman disappearing as she absorbed the mist, fading as she walked away into the void.

Takehiro rushed forward, dropping the crystalline dagger and choking back a sob. Menes' breathing was shallow as Takehiro rolled him over, blood covering the leather armor, staining the intricate designs.

"All...Hail...the King...In...Yellow..." Menes gasped, his voice sounding so...weak. Quiet. Takehiro had never thought Menes could sound like this. Tears flowed from his mismatched eyes as he tried to speak.

"M-menes..."

He reached a hand out, not sure what he was trying to attempt. Menes chuckled again, closing his eyes, a faint smile on his face. He slowly, painfully, brought a bloodstained hand up to hold Takehiros, staining the boys hands further with blood and pushing something into his palm.

"G...ood...bye...Tak..e..hir...o"

His voice was faint, and then-

His chest ceased to rise and fall. Menes Ultharian had died, and was looked over by the one who struck the final blow.

Takehiros tears were flowing like a river as he looked at his hands. Menes' charm lay in his grip, the holy symbol to his cult shining through the blood that covered it.

"Goodbye...Menes."