Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Manipulation

The god's face was burnished gold with power, and stern with annoyance, less the annoyance of one peer to another, but more the long-suffering exasperation a parent has with their child. Across from him, who still managed to look childish in comparison, despite the hulking, one ton power armor that elevated him a good head and a half over the Maker's head.

"You need to stop this." The first man said, a pattern of golden light flickering over his angelic face.

Adam Vir did not break eye contact. Despite the fact that Adham was literally thousands if not billions of years older than Adam, he still managed to look younger.

Stress, time, and the Vir Family's unfortunate tendency to grey early made sure of that.

"You need to explain yourself."

Adham sighed deeply and rubbed at his eyes, "I understand you think you are trying to help, but you are really just getting in the way.... Look at it from my perspective. Say you are me, and you work for law enforcement, and there is a crisis of some sort, a domestic incident that you are trying to stop, and a child comes up to you and insists on trying to help, but instead of helping they just get in your way because they are, in fact, a CHILD and are incapable of understanding the gravity of the situation that they are in?"

"It would be a good analogy if it weren't complete shit."

The Maker pulled back eyes narrowing as Adam stepped forward.

"Lets use your metaphor here for a moment. Suppose that child has the capacity for rational thought and access to weapons that can destroy solar systems, not only that but for whatever reason the first responder, being you in this stupid metaphor, won't listen when the child tells you that there is a real ass monster in their closet who has the ability to cause immediate madness upon seeing it, and all of the child's friends have been murdered by said monster, but for some reason you, the first responder, seem not to give a shit."

Adham rubbed at his temples, golden light rolling down his arms and into his sleek suit of armor, glowing pearl and humming with golden power, "I know this is hard for you to understand, but there are bigger things at stake then..... than behemoth. I know it seems like the end of the universe to you but compared to what the architect has us dealing with Behemoth is.... Is the vicious toy poodle yipping at the heel of the real threat. We are locked in a war that you can't yet imagine the scope of, so forgive us if we can't jump at your beck and call."

Adam raised an eyebrow arms crossed over his armored chest, "Than why did you answer my call?"

Adham's lips pulled tight in annoyance, "Because what you are doing is objectively dangerous. There is a reason that your anima is dampened inside a construct. IN fact, you are lucky that this entire ship didn't explode with the little stunt you pulled." Adam opened his mouth to speak but the Maker held up a hand, "No, you need to stop playing with things you don't understand or someone is going to get hurt, and absolutely stop trying to engage your anima." He stepped forward and prodded Adam in the chest, "It is inexperienced, uncontrollable and underdeveloped."

Adam barked out a short laugh, and the juxtaposition between the two men only grew more odd as the crew watched, one glowing and golden in the prime of his life, young and angelic, the other also young, but scarred, an eyepatch over one eye, hair white a gentle orange glow beginning to pulse in his veins as the dormant void sickness sensed conflict, their appearances at odds with their argument.

Adam's laugh died into mild incredulity, "So, you wont talk to me because I haven't hit space puberty?"

Despite the situation, a chuckle rose up around the crew.