Atzila sat at her desk in the depths of her main laboratory, wrench in hand as she constructed a small metallic device with four crystaline pylons on each side. She is a diminutive High Elven woman of a pale complexion, her flowing waist-length hair being the colour of pearls and her narrow slitted eyes a vivid shade of teal. She dresses in faux-regal indigo attire made from expensive velvet. She spoke in a soft and silken drawl. Left next to the machine in progress was a pulsing black sphere, in fact a glass bauble containing the entity known as the Phage. Upon the Phage's ressurection, Atzila had swiftly sealed her away using the chi technique that was referred to as Banshou. The Phage spoke in a posh, upper-class accent that contrasted with her casual, albeit still theatrical mode of speech. It was a voice that she had appropriated from the Thespian, previously known as Renita De'Seras. "I've been thinking...", the Phage spoke from within the bauble, the Banshou field just weak enough now to enable her to talk. "Hmm?", Atzila replied idly, casting a glance toward the Phage's sealing bauble as her device neared completion. "...I believe that I've watched you long enough to figure out how this ''honour code'' of yours operates and I've just managed to find a technicality which I think means that you have to let me go", the Phage continued. "Really?", Atzila asked cynically as she turned another screw on one of the base of the machine. "According to your ''rules''...", the Phage began, yet was quickly interrupted by Atzila. "...no, according to the laws of objective morality, but please, continue...", Atzila corrected before allowing the Phage to carry on. "...whatever, as I was saying, according to those ''laws'' which you are so intent on following, you are obligated to treat all people equally, regardless of past evil, acting as if the slate were forever clean, right?", the Phage inquired. "The slate is always clean, yes, unless a person is living in sin presently. As soon as a person begins living justly once again, their slate is made clean regardless of their past. Sapience could not exist as a logical concept if the potential for redemption did not exist as a logical concept also, so in order for one to value their own choice between life and death, that person must also acknowledge the capacity for change in others in order for the concept of own's own freedom of choice to remain sanctified", Atzila clarified, nodding twice. "So...why are you still holding me here?", the Phage asked expectantly. "Two reasons", Atzila began to answer, "The first is that you are not a person, you are an anthropomorphic representation of the very concept of evil, which means in your case that you have no self to call your own, given that evil in it's purest state is the opposite of self. While you can steal the identities of others and wear them like a cloak, that is not the same as true selfhood. In short, you are not sapient. You may be sentient, but you are not sapient. There is a fine distinction. Ergo, you have no self to violate in the first place." "And the second?", the Phage asked impatiently, waiting to hear the full response. "The second reason...", Atzila finished, "...is that you are literally evil incarnate. You cannot even fully comprehend the concept of good or redemption, not even if you tried and I do believe that you have at least tried to grasp the concepts in the name of refining your performance. In other words, you cannot renounce sin on account of the fact that you are sin, quite literally. Every single moment of your existance is spent striving toward your omnicidal ambitions, it is in the very fibre of your being." "Right, so what you're saying is that it's not ''immoral'' to hold me prisoner, since you can prove scientifically that I am incapable of reform?", the Phage queried. "Precisely", Atzila answered with a single nod, "If there was even a sliver of doubt, I would have to undo the seal. As it happens, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your inclination toward evil is a bonafide mathmatical certainty." "And it's not that you lack the courage to do something that might lead to more evil on my part?", the Phage asked. Atzila chuckled softly before responding. "First...", Atzila replied,"...the concept that I am somehow responsible for the thought processes of others is utterly absurd. I can no more think on behalf of another as I can breathe for them, it is simply not something I can do. The notion of a person whose thoughts belong to another individual is an oxymoron by it's very nature, an inherent contradiction. Ergo, I am not responsible for the actions of others and the very idea that the will of another individual is somehow mine to decide for is one of sheer presumption and an affront to all that is good and pure. Second, there is an old Combine saying that I believe summarizes my philosophy on the subject, ''Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus'', which translates as ''Let justice be done, though the world perish''. In other words, one cannot preserve the course of Good while betraying the very essence of what Good represents, which is the unbound will and wellbeing of the individual on a universal scope, that would also be a contradiction in terms. If the only way to prevent one evil is to commit another evil, Good as a cause has already fallen and any attempt to remedy the situation using evil means can only compromise the cause of Good even further and thus advance the cause of Evil as a result. All one can ever do is to remain morally pure, rain or shine, even if it means the destruction of oneself and all that one holds dear. That is justice." "And justice is blind?", the Phage sneered. "Without shame or regret", Atzila answered with absolute conviction. "Words", the Phage replied mockingly. "Not simply words", Atzila replied, "I forgave the Tianzi, remember? He was feared across multiple realms and caused a great deal of suffering, yet when he renounced his crimes, I lowered my fists and showed him charity. It could have been a deception on his part, but it was not my place to judge him guity before he had first recieved the opportunity to prove himself innocent in the here and now." "Oh, yes. Now I recall. How tediously heroic of you", the Phage responded with a sigh. "Keep in mind that after the Thespian defeated him, the Tianzi's original intent had been to tail her all the way back here to Norrath and challenge her to a rematch. So I may well have been paving the way for hardship on my part, had the Tianzi not been truely repentant", Atzila added as she fitted the final screw on her newly constructed device. Putting down the wrench, Atzila breathed a sigh of relief, "All done." "So now you won't have to carry me around anymore?", the Phage asked. "That is correct. Like I explained earlier, I need only charge these crystaline structures with chi from the Banshou technique once a week and they will continue to sustain the seal on whatever is placed on the display stand until the energy depletes itself. As I intend to recharge the crystals on the dot whenever reserves begin to run low, you should never have an opportunity to break free in future", Atzila clarified. Atzila raised her right hand above the four crystaline pylons and focused a pulse of chi energy from the Banshou technique, causing each of the crystals to emit a bright yellow glow. After the process was complete, Atzila took several deep breaths in order to compose herself following the intense exhaustion that came with using the Banshou technique at even it's lowest energy output, grasping the side of the desk with her left hand in order to steady herself. "Sooner or later, you're going to miss that deadline, y'know", the Phage commented. "Not likely", Atzila uttered weakly, feeling as if she had just run a marathon. "I should have my own stage act, y'know...", the Phage mused out loud as she began to sing an improvised theme song, "Who's that crazy kook destroyin' the world? It's Renita! Renita and Pals!" Having now steadied herself, Atzila reached for the Phage's bauble and placed it onto the newly constructed machine's display stand, chi from each of the four pylons automatically firing down onto the sphere with an electrical crackle. "Gah!", the Phage exclaimed in discomfort, "Not going to silence me, huh?" "That would be a waste of energy. If I were to set the output high enough to prevent you from speaking, I would need to recharge the device with far greater frequency", Atzila explained. "Lucky me!", the Phage replied sarcastically. Atzila leaned back into her chair and breathed another sigh of relief, her immediate task now completed. "So...what is the Great Atzila Kol'Olmin going to do now that her mortal enemy is safely locked up?" the Phage inquired. "You've been watching these past few days, I shall simply be doing more of the same", Atzila answered, eyes closed. "As I recall, this mercenary group of yours isn't going very well", the Phage observed. "It was worth the attempt", Atzila responded. "Is that all you can say?!", the Phage balked. "Yes, why do you ask?", Atzila queried, curious as to what the Phage was getting at. "You seem to be expecting your legend to carry everything!", the Phage answered. "Pot, meet kettle. Your whole M.O is founded on the back of accumilated legends", Atzila commented. "Yeah, but that's just not you. You live in the moment, unless that's changed since I last checked?", the Phage responded. "That has not changed, no. Self cannot be borrowed from anywhere. A person is not their past. A person is not a static image frozen in time. Life is motion and the moment a person ceases that process, it is no different from being dead. And all of the results in the world cannot guarantee that a person retains that same degree of potential in the present. Self is will and a person is only ever the product of what they alone can will themselves to be", Atzila answered, explaining herself. A moment passed before Atzila opened her eyes, widening as a realization dawned upon her. "And the copper drops", the Phage observed with a faint chuckle. "I've been drowning in my own legend...", Atzila uttered to herself, "...ever since I returned from the Lucid Realm. I have ceased to be a creation of the present. Oh my..." "And there's the Atzila who I wish to wear as my identity!", the Phage spoke. Atzila smirked. "I knew there had to be a reason why you were attempting to give me advice. You are incapable of genuine concern, so there had to be an agenda behind your semblence of it", Atzila replied. "Right as always!", the Phage explained, "The greater your legend becomes, the more power I stand to gain when I take your identity from you. At present, your legend is fading, meaning that you're not as useful to me now as you might have been back during the 2nd Rallosian War or your travels across the outside worlds. Don't get me wrong, you're still my first choice of replacement self, but I'd have preferred to have you at your peak." Atzila shrugged. "Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of who speaks it or their intent behind giving it in the first place", Atzila mused. After a moment longer, Atzila laughed. "I suppose there is a first time for everything", Atzila commented, "Thank you."
