Bareshnum [Mazda, Arcadia]

Perhaps this was nothing more than a matter of necessity, but even so, Mazda did not relish the thought of speaking with Arcadia for even one second longer than was required for his efforts. Even if she showed him the due worship, her presence appalled him. A god who refused to bend herself to the rules of pantheon was not something that he would abide in his presence, and certainly not simply because she was considered dear to his former vessel.

"Arcadia."

He spoke nothing more than her name as he entered into her quarters, certainly not asking her permission and having no intention of seeking it. Even if she had demanded he leave, he would do nothing of the sort. After all, this was his domain, and more pressingly, this was a matter of...divine intervention, so to speak.

"Come. You and I will be traveling."

There was an air of animosity that lingered when she felt his presence approaching, it was like a gloomy sludge that floated above her given how impossible it was to escape it. In the place that she was residing, he was everywhere by nature of her perception of energy. A foul rust that walked the Earth and today she was not fortunate to avoid it as he loomed ever closer before entering.

For her to be seeked out intentionally meant that Arcadia had no good feeling about it. There was no comfort in his presence.

"There is no where in this world I imagine you wishing to take me."

It came ou as just a stating of facts while she let the dagger she was holding dissipate into golden dust and the wound on her thumb healed. Tempering objects to conceptually enhance them was a forging process especially when you wanted it to be perfect.

Arcadia rose and turned to face him. The same pose she had carried since that day with her arm over her stomach like it was still a wound she carried from her work in making the one that stood before her now. It was just phantom pain though and habitual at this point. Still, her red eyes showed how unenthusiastic she was. Mazda was like a spoilt child in her eyes, an error on her own part as a mother if she considered herself responsible for birthing him into the world proper.

"There is only one place in this world that I would wish to bring you, and it is only in these singular circumstances that I would ever think to bring you to it."

Taking her hand without any warning, and certainly without any consideration for whether or not Arcadia would agree to such contact. Her consent in these matters was irrelevant, given her character and her nature. Mazda would correct such things. With but a few of his divine words, Mazda brought them both quite far from the City of Lights, to a place where the sun had set and where there was nothing but empty tranquility. They stood within the ruins of an ancient city, much of the stone worn away, atop a mountain which in turn was surrounded by a great lake. It was silent, a desolate place, one not touched by human hands in a great many years. Mazda considered it better this way.

"Disrobe."

Mazda, of course, understood why he had brought Arcadia to this place, but whether or not she understood was wholly irrelevant to him. If she asked, he would elucidate her, but he saw no reason to waste breath on the inconsiderate. Here, in this holy place of Kuh-e Khwaja, surrounded by the sacred waters of Kasaoya and under the light of the stars, Mazda would offer a blessing of forgiveness to even this vile creature. Such was the benevolence of the sun.

There was no opportunity to object or even respond as her surroundings warped around her as though she had never been elsewhere beforehand. It only made her scowl more at the being she had come to regard as her own mistake. When he commanded her to undress there was an unimpressed glare, for a drawn out moment it stayed silent and tense for her before Arcadia's clothing vanished into the gold dust similar to the knife and fell apart around her.

"What are your intentions?"

Approaching him slowly while she asked it and giving off the air of absolute confidence despite walking a knife's edge whenever she was in his presence. Arcadia circled him if he'd let her while answering the question. Nice and close like this, a small insignificant bug next to a giant.

Her arrogance was almost enough to invoke Mazda's wrath, were it not for his intentions of mercy. But, of course, the sun was merciful, benevolent. He had already aimed to offer this cretin his forgiveness, and he would do so regardless of her attitude toward him. He doubted that she could comprehend the nature of his blessing, regardless.

"You will be absolved of your sins, and cleansed of your wrongdoings. Take solace in this blessing, for precious few would be given such kindness."

Bringing his hand up to her head, Mazda took hold of Arcadia, his palm upon her forehead as each finger held her where she stood. She would not be able to wrench herself from this grip, not without assuring her death. And that, certainly, would not have been the outcome Mazda sought.

"This place is one of rebirth, where the holy maidens will one day bring forth the manifestations of my will. You, certainly, are no maiden, but in my kindness I offer you rebirth still. A purification by the light of the sun itself."

"I object."

Her parade came to a conclusion after a lap around him and met his gaze head on. Even if it was nothing but dipping her in water like a baptism rite then she would still object. It was entirely because she did not acknowledge that she had committed any sins to begin with.

It didn't matter though what she said when he painfully grabbed on her head and held her. There wasn't any sort of resistance from her though, only a look of disappointment at the situation she was in where her only solace was the ability to speak her mind.

"I reject you. I am not your Angra Mainyu and how you handle your divinity for pales in comparison to how Cyrus did. A borrowed face and power from a witch who you answer to, your reverence doesn't even compare to the masses I've held on this planet before now and you lecture me."

There was a small apology in her head to Cyrus as she said it. Frustration and scorn were seeping out, Arcadia wasn't the type that liked to silence herself and if he wanted to force anything onto her then she was sure to make sure she said it while she had the chance. The loss of her tongue meant nothing if she could use it well for its last moments before he tore it out.

Mazda was not one to take the words of lesser creatures into any particular account, if they were not words of value. He did not care whether this vile woman objected to his methods or not. She would understand when he was finished with her, and that was all that mattered.

However--

"Do not think to compare me to a mere delusional child. His grasp of this divinity was nothing but mental disease, instability and weakness carrying him to power that was not his. I am my own power, and though you may have been that which freed me, I do not pretend that I owe you any kindness for this."

His grip tightened upon her, if only barely, as he was not one who allowed his emotions to control his actions. To bring her any harm ran counter to his aims, and Mazda was not a man who would give up on his goals.

"Your rejection is meaningless when your existence is so wholly clouded in sin. When we are through, only then will I acknowledge any rejection, if you still wish to make it. But know that to accept the sun's love and mercy is a far greater existence."

And, with that spoken, Mazda forced one of the fragments of his very being into Arcadia. With the point of contact between his hand and her forehead, it was not particularly difficult. He imagined that this would likely be something of an agonizing process, given the scope of such a purification as this. But such things were necessary. The holy flame did still burn those it blessed, and to create a more perfect being from this harlot was a grand blessing indeed.

"You are no more his tumour than he is deluded--"

Her words ceased and she recoiled even though there was nowhere to escape to with how firmly he held her head, even beyond the sensation of crushing her skull Arcadia barely registered the tightness of his grip with the pain running through her head. Hot irons might as well have been searing her eyes even though her teeth biting her lip had blood running from her mouth before she'd let it open to scream.

"Die. Die. Die."

Conjuring the same dagger she had less than ten minutes ago when it was peaceful and he had not decided to call on her, she tried to bury it into his chest from her suspended position even though she only had one attempt before the pain would make it drop and she reached up to claw at his hand as hard as possible in a vain attempt to get him off her.

In most instances, Mazda would simply have annihilated whoever attacked him with such ferocity. But it was understandable, given the agony she was undoubtedly in. He even felt the faintest degree of pity, enough so that he offered a brief few words of his Avesta to ease her suffering at least some modest bit. Of course, the wounds themselves were inconsequential to him, and his hold upon her did not lessen one iota as he continued to force this aspect into her being, to clear out all which was impure and which was sinful.

"Your blasphemy is forgiven. Accept this penance, even knowing it is agony. It will pass, and afterward your existence will surely be far more pleasant."

This was, of course, only the first step, but Mazda would not simply abide a sinner such as she to remain in his presence in the meanwhile. Her existence was a great benefit to him, after all, and he knew quite well that there had been a loss of life unlike any other in history not long ago. He had begun to accumulate those lost souls, the power of that fractured realm, but it would take more time than he was willing to tolerate Arcadia as she currently was. So, for now, he would simply bring her to salvation, create a more beneficial version of one who could yet be saved.

The aspect of the Skies slipped away from him, through Mazda's arm and into the mind of Arcadia before him. He knew that offering this to his beloved Helle had not been such a tragic process, but she also had not been so violently opposed to it, so filled with filth that needed to be cut away. He did not relish this torment, even upon one so despicable as the demon before him.

The act of lessening her pain only angered her further, that this mongrel had the audacity to give an act of pity for her. She glared at him through the gaps of his fingers and the visceral hatred did not lessen one iota unlike her burning pain through her body. If it was not him, Cyrus maybe she would've been more willing. Not him though.

Those eyes, she hated them and the foreign nature of them hurt the most. The borrowed face he had that filled her with scorn. It was him. It was not him. Those eyes were devoid of the light that she saw in Cyrus and was fond of.

"D- Die."

It hurt like last time, when she felt like she was being torn apart at the seams for Cyrus' sake only to be repaid with this mongrel. Everything she had given up for him and it felt more like she had given birth to a parasite that took everything away from them.

Reject as she would, it was only a matter of time before her inferior state burnt out in its struggle of atrition against Mazda and eventually it did when felt it end. The disgusting feeling of his presence making itself at home in her like he was violating her down to her core.

"Ughn."