In A Flash

[23:05] What is your purpose?

If you sought to live you had naught but run and hide yourself away. But then... what does it mean to live in truth? To wage war against the passing days? To pray to the unseen for a few breaths more? To raise grand cities from stone, and spawn new life in turn? Mankind has done this, yes, and more. But is the tapestry you weave truly of your own design?

Siegfried's energy magic has proven difficult for him to control over the past several years - until recently. And it is only recently that he has come closer to being at peace with himself.

It isn't too difficult to stitch together that which he found likely - that the two went hand-and-hand. That the rationale for all that he'd struggled to do with magic came from the constant state of inner turmoil that he was in. That same desire to leave, to panic, to flee, to fright.

And so, in order to thrive in the war that was to come...

He must master that desire.
(Siegfried)
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[23:21] Some are easy to fathom, they go on living from simple fear of death. But not all. Some welcome the end with arms outstretched, while others come to face death incarnate, arms in hand.

I ask again, what is your purpose here?

Siegfried's combat speed is the only notable aspect of his fighting style. Nothing else was even remotely noteworthy. Examined from nearly every angle, he is simply someone who aims to strike very quickly, and respectably hard. At the young age of twenty, the strength that he is able to invoke is commendable. There were thousands upon thousands of Agarthans, and many of them never reached this level - if they were even of magical talent at all.

But those that hover above, those that reign above all, they are greater. And they are all that matters, when one sought to change the world. To challenge the masters of all that currently was, and cow them with superior strength - that was the failsafe, when words would fail.

The energy magic that he so struggled to properly utilize all of this time flares to life...slowly. Deliberately. Blue kindles of flame occupy his orbit, willed to life by his magic circuits, and are given cohesion, given form.

The chaotic sparks that had battered and singed at his skin are reigned in. That which had flared with his emotions, saved him and also condemned him in the heat of deadly combat, is suppressed. Brought down to reasonable levels...and then below.

Clara...

Siegfried forgets love.

Ethan...

Siegfried forgets the lost.

Taiga...

Siegfried forgets his life.

All that there is is the fight. He has to keep moving. To stop moving is to die. He is dancing - in the plains, in an empty field, he moves with a streak of afterimages behind him, but no visible aura.

Mastery over self...Absence of fear.

Calm, deliberate movement, fast as the winds.

---

He sees Taiga. And he is running, running, unable to catch up to the man, even as he merely walks. Every time Siegfried has this dream, it ends the same - Taiga slips into an infinite expanse of blackness, no matter his efforts...

But now, long after Taiga is gone, he does not stop. He is still running, running.

So you know that we're out there,
Swatting lies in the making,
Can't move fast without breaking,
Can't hold on or life won't change...

---

With speed that breaks the sound barrier, he leaps off of a cliff, like a bullet fired from a gun, against the infinite backdrop of the skies. Nothing is left in his wake - nothing but him. Phantasmal images, the sheer speed at which he moved conjuring the fable that he was everywhere at once.

The sun is rising. It is a new day.
(Siegfried)