The Sleeping Oracle
February 14, 2026, 3:16 am | # | Reply
I see he’s learned how to not be unarmed again.
Garamondiel
February 14, 2026, 4:11 am | # | Reply
I think Metis would forgive him for feeding the dogs her decapitated body, if he had run away with Maya to live the more respectable life of a farmer.
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February 14, 2026, 4:16 am | # | Reply
Maya had one last shame, it seems. Unless, surprise! Incubus has fooled himself into believing his own lies.
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Oneirimancer
February 14, 2026, 5:49 am | # | Reply
How perplexing. Surely they both can’t be lying, even with all of the cosmic re-sets because Maya and Incubus are contemporaries. Maybe it’s irony that the awesome, melancholy, penitent swordswoman who is so formidable has a real crime up the sleeve of her kimono. Could it be that Maya, after confronting and ( let’s say ) slaying her master, then gave up an empire, gave up the sword, retreated from the world and then Incubus came to rip the power from her after killing her family ? For me, that feels emotionally true as Maya’s revenge motivation. Seeking vengeance for her long-dead family, not for Meti.
The other part of Maya’s penitent journey is also compelling. She admitted adopting the role of oppressor and used cruelty and violence to maintain power as a Sword Rule for a time. Maya’s agonized question to Allison lurks at the heart of the epic. “If the world rewards violence, are we forever doomed to be ruled by the brutal and cruel ?”
Meti’s answer was to give up power and live humbly as a beggar amongst the common folk instead of being a Sword Ruler. Maya is penitent, yet admits she doesn’t have a solution to Meti’s Question. That devastating question underlies so much of the K.S.B.D. epic and is tied to yet another question.
Who will break the cycle, and how ?-
The One Who Stands Alone Against The Wind
February 14, 2026, 9:06 am | # | Reply
“The Sword is evil” spoke the teacher. “Today we will learn Sword Truths of that evil.”
“The Sword destroys all that is not the Sword” the teacher said.
“This is true” replied the students.
“That which is not Sword cannot repel the Sword” the teacher said.
“This is true” replied the students.
“If the Sword were destroyed from all existence, existence would again create the Sword” the teacher said.
“This is the truth of the Sword evil” replied the students.“What is thus the one way to stop the evil of Sword from destroying all good that is not sword?” asked the Teacher.
The students were silent.
“Make everything of all things everywhere into Sword”, spake the fool from the window.
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Fleur-de-Lys
February 14, 2026, 5:22 am | # | Reply
So Maya’s bitter claim, “Incubus killed my master and fed her body to the dogs,” which was already misleading, because Met specifically asked that her corpse be fed to dogs, was actually just straight up a lie. It was Maya who killed her master, and insofar as it’s likely true that Incubus fed her body to the dogs, the way Maya said it accuses of Incubus of desecrating Meti’s corpse, when it is in fact Maya who failed to honour Meti as she wished.
OldManCrazy
February 14, 2026, 5:38 am | # | Reply
Well, can’t say that’s too surprising in the end. Blood swords are neat though. But in the end he’s just proving his master right with them, seeing insofar as he’s using his power to manifest them when you could accomplish much the same with an especially sharp rock.
The Ragged Queen
February 14, 2026, 5:50 am | # | Reply
Honestly I can’t say I’m exceptionally surprised. Power has never reacted well to having its authority questioned, and Maya was at the absolute apex (or so she felt) at the time. To strike out in violence at someone who dared to consider her the exact same as she was back when she was still just helping out at her parent’s noodle shop almost felt like a plot hole until now.
24 Concealing Gilded Rings in Unvirtuous Thought
February 14, 2026, 7:32 am | # | Reply
That’s….
…
I’ll give it to you Abbadon, that’s the one twist I wasn’t expecting.and yet it makes awful sense. it makes so much sense.
Incubus wouldn’t have had a reason to kill Meti. He’s a bit of a psycopath, but he got all he needed from her. he’d moved on.
Maya didn’t. Meti’s words stuck with her. They festered. They’re what made her into the woman she was, and they’re what torments her still, and led her into her exile from all she learned.
Out of the two of them, which would be the most scorned? Which would draw a blade in anger?
The terrible student, who doesn’t know how he’s the fool?
Or the scorned student, who knows every failure her master’s led her to make.
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