Do The Ends Justify The Means

## A Story of Benevolence and Betrayal In A World of Malice

There has been a theme within the entirety of Azura, a war of vengeance and justice unspoken. When looking back now, our past and our future can easily be foretold, for it is the same as our history. We repeat the actions of our predecessors and those before them because we simply cannot understand each other because we simply cannot fathom why we are born of vengeance.

Perhaps taking the time to explain such a vision… such a way of life to those who come across this tome will truly elaborate as to why I did all that I had. Azura was once made from The Faith of The Five, beings who brought forth the creation of all and all in itself. They were the original faith, the first to truly be worshipped, yet they were betrayed for those that worshipped them saw them as evil for wanting to further their own ambitions and provide strength to their own selves and religious bodies of worship.

These rogue followers spiraled out of control, as they stumbled upon the foundation of a new religious platform: the gods. For many years, they believed the gods were just and true, worshipping them and asking for guidance. However, even the thaumaturges knew, that these gods had their own ambitions and determinations. Despite this knowledge, they continued to worship the gods. Thus, the spark of war between The Thaumaturges and The Recondites. These battles lead to the involvement of kingdoms and mass amounts of civilians, many lives were lost in the wake of their wars, for even The Sun Cult began tearing away at the lives of those who opposed them. However, much like the past, those that followed the gods ended up betraying them for The Spirits.

Despite the devotion they spent knowing that their god was out for their own gain and benefit, the thaumaturges betrayed their gods. Finding that they should be the ones to preach about peace and justice, despite the lives they had impacted and attempted to strike down. The religious cults, despite the lives they had taken or sacrificed, attempted to hide behind the facade that they too were lied to. Former Prophet Thaumaturges disguised themselves within the public, hiding behind the narrative that they were lied to. Yet, they were the ones who were closest to their god and still chose to further their gods' ambitions and goals. It is no secret that thaumaturges were able to communicate with their gods at Prophet, were able to directly ask their gods what their ambitions were, and were even able to continue to pursue their god's goals for the sake of maintaining their power. If Thaumaturges truly believed their gods were evil, then why choose to follow them still? Such hypocrisy within our land, and yet, we continue to believe we hold the right to preach about peace and justice.

After the betrayal of their faiths, these former followers sought out new worship within The Spirits. Believing they were just and unlike any of the gods or former paths of deities. However, even The Spirits sought to further their own goals and desires. It is the same as our history. We believe that we can preach about peace and justice, that we can determine who are the villains within our society, yet, do we not create villains ourselves? More explanation of this shall follow.

Villains are not born villainous in nature, they are crafted by the wrongs of society and formed to have their opinions contorted and bewildered to the point that there is no return. A man who was born into a family who only knew grief, strife, and struggle will know those as well. He will have his opinions and beliefs crafted and contorted, to where he shares their opinions. It is the same as parents raising a child and embedding their beliefs and teachings unto the child. This child will grow up in a world of malice and betrayal, such as our own. Having learned that it was okay to forsake those who they once worshipped or to betray those who they once supported for the sake of their own goals. With these teaching of our society upon this child, this child will eventually grow to betray those who had mattered most to them, creating a vicious cycle of malice. As they betray, families are torn apart, lives are altered and lost, and hate is spread.

When hate is spread, vengeance settles in. We have seen this time and time again, through the state of The Five, to the gods to the spirits. We believe that we hold the powers and rights to dictate what is justice and through these means, we believe that vengeance upon those who had wronged our beliefs is the only way forwards to a better world. However, this is only a fallacy and a facade to hide our betrayals and cowardice. For wherever there is light, there will also be shadows and darkness as well. So we believe that vengeance is justice, that we may lash out against those who we once worshipped because they desired to grow stronger and further their own ambitions. When vengeance becomes justice, spreading such justice will only ever create more vengeance, and when vengeance is created; betrayal and hardship will spread which shall lead to deaths and atrocities.

That is truly the sad fate of our world. We have grown to accept that only those who had betrayed the beings who they once worshipped, that those who had  committed cowardly betrayal, that those who had raised villains within their own society and sought to destroy them for learning what they were taught… that they are the only ones to have the rights to preach about peace and justice.

How is this fair? Perhaps telling the story of a villain raised within society and destroyed by those that created them will truly bring light to this.

As stated before, a villain is created through the toils of society. They are not born with hatred or villainous attitudes within their heart. Just like the teachings of parents upon their children, society places its teachings and hardships upon those who were not as fortunate as others. When these tainted and hurting children grow throughout society, they look towards their elders, who teach them that it is okay and tolerable to betray those who they are faithful to and that it is okay to lash out against those who had supported them. Our past and history educate those who will become our future.

When our past and history manifest its harsh lessons of betrayal and pain into our future, our children, then the cycle of malice will only ever continue. Our children will grow to learn that it is acceptable to betray and backstab those who they once supported. Every being within our world wishes to find happiness and through this happiness, they wish to further their own goals. Is this such a crime? And so, we create our own villains. As these villains grow and learn to spread hatred through the simple beliefs that were instilled upon them by those who they learned from, they are soon turned upon by their very teachers.

These teachers preach about peace and justice, despite teaching their students that it is okay to betray and take vengeance. As these teachers turn upon their students, who have now become what society deems: The Villains, they seek to destroy such for their own glory. Thus, the cycle of malice continues. This has always happened and shall always continue unless stopped… perhaps there is a future where we can come to an understanding of what it truly means to have unconditional loyalty and love. ***One day***.

Thus the beginning of **Us**. Society believes they dictate what is justice and what is peace yet they too commit betrayal and atrocities as well. This is the story of Us, how the villains of our society were created because of the faults of those who preach their “peace and justice”. These traitors attach their continuous acts of betrayal upon the very “villains” they created, deeming them immoral and evil. Yet, these “villains” only took shape off of the teachings of society. Those who once betrayed their original ideals and faiths, despite knowing that those who they were faithful to were out to further their own ambitions, attempt to tear down those who they created, aka, those who they deem to be the villains.

This never-ending cycle of malice shall always continue, for that is the tragic fate of **Us**. Those who betrayed created those who would be betrayed for the sake of the pursuit of vengeance in the name of justice. That is what **We** are, **We** are the teachings and lessons of society, the constant betrayals, and wrong-doings of those who preach peace and justice, the pain and torment inflicted upon the truly innocent from society.

**We Are Us.** We are the teachings of betrayal and pursuit of vengeance in the name of misguided justice from society. The villain's society has created and contorted are merely echoes of the dastardly and spiteful ways of those who knew of the gods and their plans. Society seeks to find a villain, to seek feats, and to rise up through the means of another's downfall. Hence, the creation and destruction of villains. ***Like before, how is it fair that those who betray, those who create malice, and those who enact vengeance in the name of misguided justice, be the only ones who can preach peace and justice?***

**The Story of Us** is a story of betrayal, how society formed and contorted the innocent children into becoming the villains that would soon be destroyed by the very same teachers who once raised them. **The Story of We** is a story of teachings society has raised and grown into, a story of teachings that betrayal of those who were once worshipped, despite knowing their intentions, is acceptable. Even upon the deaths of those who understand that society was formed upon vengeance at the hands of those who seek the deaths of others in order to continue to preach their peace and justice; the ideals of **Us** will always exist. For that is who **We** are.

**We Are Us.**

**For I Am, The Ghost of Zaouli BlackFyre.**