[Yukijou-minato ~ Snow Castle (Main Keep 1st Floor ~ Hallway)] (Megumi, Adam)
"I see. I am merely doing my duty in trying to ensure M'lady's safety, that is all," Megumi calmly explained as she stood beside the entryway. She reciprocated the boy's bow, "It was my pleasure."
The maid stood at the ready by the door, waiting for Adam to return from the bathroom. She frowned as another nondescript guard walked by, the same direction and pace as the last. Her hand drifted slowly to her belt. There shouldn't be this many soldiers walking about the halls at this time she thought as the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise.
Megumi returned to her graceful stature when she noticed Adam leaving the bathroom. She nodded when he stated he was ready to go back. She glanced him once over, "Right, follow me," she said, taking the lead.
They made their way down the hall when one of the sliding doors opened up and a guard walked out, heading down the hall in the same direction they were heading. Both Megumi and Adam got a good, clear look at his face. The maid faltered a bit, paling slightly. Could my eyes be playing tricks on me? She turned towards her charge, "I must ask you a question, young sir," Megumi said with a hint of urgency, "This may seem odd, but... could you describe that guard for me?"
[Forest] (Ruka, Tagui, Ferisen)
Ruka suddenly found herself alone in the woods. "Ari? Gon? Anybody?" she called out into the fog, to which none responded. A brief pang of panic overtook her, followed by another pang in her chest. Clutching at the pain, Ruka stumbled blindly through the wood.
Her vision started to fade to black, causing her to trip and fall over a tree root. Slamming into the ground, she watched as everything was overtaken by darkness as the pain blossomed in her chest. Nooo... she thought as her mind was overwhelmed by it all.
The next thing she knew, she was standing under a tree in a different part of the woods, heart racing. She paused to catch her breath and looked down. Her wounds were gone, the pain in her chest had dissipated, and her sheer white suit was in pristine condition. Dumbfound at this turn of events, she began to notice some people talking nearby.
Through the trees, Ruka noticed someone matching the stereotypical description of a Victorian-era fairy, lavender haired with green butterfly wings and a matching dress, though of a more human stature. Near her was a large box and a bald man garbed in robes and leaning on a staff, a monk perhaps?
Ruka tentatively took a few soundless steps forward. It was most fortunate that there were others nearby, the alternative would have been to aimlessly wander through this strange, foggy forest. "Hello!" she cried out, alerting them to her presence, waving towards the pair as she continued to make her approach.
To dream is my right
Forest.
More deeply interested, Tagui heard Ferisen speak of a path that he couldn't see... and neither could she now. That made him doubt his plan, for as far as he knew they could walk downhill for days and end up in the same spot they were. He was also curious of what she would do with her cart, and whatever it concealed. Was that the source of interference he sensed earlier? He moved one step close as the mage did something to it, and both radiated with energy, the box moving as if compelled by some unnatural current. Limping back scared and almost losing balance, he watched with awe as the box defied gravity for a moment, and looked deeper towards the presence in it. Its frequency was blurred by the box and overshadowed by the winged woman's magic, but it carried a wavelength that was almost like one of her composite frequencies. "What..."
She then asked for help carrying that thing, as if noticing that his height and frame were no very far from hers, or how much he limped due to his "bad" leg. Not that he would carry it even if he could, as far as he knew there was a corpse there. "I couldnt help you even if I wanted to.", the young monk replied with a frown.
Turning towards the noise he heard, Tagui once again stepped back when he saw Eve was gone like dust on the wind, this time moving towards Ferisen and losing his balance as he stumbled on a rock. The breath knocked out of his lungs as his back hit the dirt, he barely had time to register the third strange woman there before dropping his staff and desperately turning his focus to his robe's skirt, trying his best to adjust it in a pathetic attempt to hide his prosthetic leg.
"Why me? Why is it always me?", he muttered, grasping his head on his hands when he finally admitted to himself that he couldn't make his situation any less pathetic.
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
[Snow Castle]
Alice collected the papers and studied them; from her nod, this seemed to be about what she'd expected. Except for the tart recipe Gliosem had offered. They didn't have rice there? Then again, Gliosem also had wings and three toes. So Alice's grand unified theory of the cosmos (which she would certainly not be sharing) endured. Sensing the magic in Gliosem's paper, Alice handled it particularly carefully. She could, and did, suppress her usual deleterious effects on magic with an effort of will, though it was clear she had to try, and visibly found found contact with the paper unpleasant.
"So," she said, unconsciously rubbing the fingers she'd used to touch the magical paper, "I am now going to ask you all to take a look at your cohorts writing and answer me two, maybe three, simple questions. Given the ingredients and machinery, could you go back to your homes and use the recipes? Could you use the spells? And if the answer to the first and second question are different... why?"
She glanced at Nick and added, "and you and the captain have a point; what someone uses usually isn't as important as how they use it, and what they do with it..." and here she lowered her voice to a stage whisper and added, "provided it isn't using them, of course."
Drummer Boy
[Ritter Clinic (parlor)]
"That's—that's quite a story, Henry. Are your brother and William doing well?"
Heinrich frowned. "William... now there's a familiar name. Do I know anyone who—well, Wilhelm is a rather common name where I come from. My mother-in-law is named Wilhelmina, actually. Was named that, I suppose I should say. She passed away a few years ago, and—WAIT! THAT'S MY SON!" He clutched the sides of his head. "My God, I've been resurrected for this long and I haven't asked my brother a damn thing about my children! What is wrong with me? I'll have to ask him as soon as he gets back. Unless—Henry, did Friedrich say anything about my children before I got here? They must be doing wonderfully. Friedrich may be a grump and he always says he's bad with children, but he's not that bad and he's too smart to really go wrong."
[Blizzard]
"Hopefully it's nothing worrisome. Snow playing tricks on you, maybe? But let's keep alert."
Friedrich glanced quickly at Iveya, trying to gauge her mood. He could go on and on about the benefits of venting to people, but he was still bad at making himself open up. It was always done in fits and bursts as he hesitated, attempted to assess how much more the recipient could tolerate, made himself start again. "Let me know if I'm testing your patience. And take notes, because the last thing you want to do when you get to be my age is sound like a bitter asshole all the time. But with Heinrich back, I guess... things are looking up. He was always good for my mood, and far more gracious about my atheism than most. It can be an ordeal talking to other Ibraic sometimes. There are the annoyingly zealous ones—sounds like you'll know what I mean by that—and the others... we just don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. But zealots are the worst, by far. Funny how trying too hard to serve God can loop back around to you doing everything He actually wouldn't want you to do."
The flames appeared again—less amorphous, more humanlike. Its hands tried to pluck Friedrich's sleeve, but it passed straight through the fabric. The child's face—or rather, the part of its head where its face could be reasonably expected to be located—turned towards Iveya. The Eyes and Teeth would find it to be a manifestation of the ancient energy that had been clinging to Friedrich this whole time. A cursory inspection would reveal that it had little mind of its own, but somewhere, deep within, was a distinctly human soul—not Friedrich's, but they had too many common nodes for the similarities to be coincidental.
[Marble Corridor]
"Speed bumps? It's called being prepared." Seilaan shot Mazra her own Look and pulled her entire hair mass over her shoulder, running her fingers through it to comb it. "No, I should have been clearer, they weren't trying to kill me, just kidnap me and deliver me to an enemy nation. It was a complicated plot involving a tangled web of mind control, other sorts of trickery, and... stuff. That episode ended with me jumping off a ship and getting stranded in a fascist hellhole country for a couple years. It wasn't great. Buuuut I met my boyfriend there, so... that part's pretty good. Our relationship is plagued with serious issues that threaten to completely tear it apart, but I guess I'm still glad that... I met him at all? And also he's cute? I'm trying to learn to look on the bright side of things."
Why did I say... any of that. To her. I really need to rein it in, but it's been so hard to keep my composure in this stupid dream. Oh, come on, that's no excuse. Deep breaths. You can do this. Just stay calm.
[Farmhouse]
"It isn't her choice to begin an argument that I take issue with here, though that comes with its own host of complications." Ren Yangchao watched Min carefully. "It is the way she is conducting this argument against a projected image of her opponent, not the opponent herself. I wonder if you—all three of you—have more in common with each other than you think. And with that, I will take my leave. I have regained my connection to her. It would be in her best interests for me to pop over and make sure she isn't committing homicide."
They vanished.
edited 26th Feb '17 1:45:30 AM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Forest (Ferisen, Tagui, Ruka)
It was clear that neither Tagui nor Eve were willing to help Ferisen with her latria. It seemed odd to her that Tagui would blatantly insist that he did not have the means to help her with it, especially if that supposed reason was the mechanical leg that she briefly caught a glimpse of when he stumbled backward. And Eve... had disappeared entirely, as if consumed by the strange mists. Though Ferisen figured that she may have just woken up, as people were wont to do in a dream world.
"Hello!" Looking toward the source of the new voice, Ferisen saw someone who she thought was Gliosem at first judging by the short blue hair, but then again, said hair was straight and her clothes were too light and her skin too dark to be her sister, not to mention the lack of wings. In fact, looking at her, she sensed a sort of unrest in her aura, though hidden beneath a layer of passive calmness.
"Greetings," said Ferisen. "I presume that you too are lost in the woods? Such appears to be the fate of all three of us - we are trying to find a path to civilization as far as I know."
Then a thought occurred to her. We are trying to find a path... but what if one can be made? And so, she positioned herself behind the large box on the cart, and withdrew from a hidden pocket on her snugly-fitting dress a simple metallic wand - the same one she had used to play her latria during the performance at the Twilight Ball. Facing an empty spot of forest, she raised the wand and let it hover over the box, where she closed her eyes for a brief moment to focus. And when she opened them again, she spoke, gesturing the wand over the box and towards the trees.
"Sai sen etren-me wani-to, sio pa okona suni-ya!"note
With the incantation she raised the wand higher, where music of a sort rang out from within the box. But this music did not come from any physical sound - more like an ethereal musical presence that played directly to the soul. And to the trees, apparently, for just then the exact trees she was pointing at parted, darkening as the mist thickened and formed a dim path descending downward into an uncertain abyss.
Putting the wand away, Ferisen placed her hands on the handle of the cart, staring down the path in a mild surprise. "Well... I didn't expect it to be that easy." Although, she knew deep down inside that it may have been the nature of the dreamscape - since by now she was quite convinced that this was not Eldarien, nor was she quite astral projecting. Indeed, when she tried to focus on her body, she could no longer detect any trace of the Twilight Ball - somehow her body, and every other part of her, was fully here.
And then she looked at her two companions, stepping backward towards Tagui and offering a hand to help him up. Looking between him and Ruka, she spoke again. "Well then, shall we see where that path leads?" Here she gave a slight nod to Tagui, and then took a light bow and placed a hand on her chest. "By the way, I am Ferisen and this is Tagui. Who might you be?"
I have no plans for where we end up, so feel free to come up with anything you see fit, or else I'll have to think of something by the time we reach the end of the path.
edited 26th Feb '17 2:37:47 AM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[Blizzard]
Iveya nodded and said, "the sandstorms back home are well known to trick and deceive; I see no reason for snowstorms to be any less troublesome." Then she considered Friedrich's words. "You said you were once... an atheist?" From her startled tone, one might think Friedrich had just confessed to being a former pickpocket. Then she shook her head. "No, no; I suppose if I were surrounded by zealots, I might be tempted into..." she paused, clearly having to think of a diplomatic phrasing, "that sort of worldview."
She seemed about to say more, but stopped when the child-like creature reappeared and looked at her. "...Ancestors," Iveya said. "Do you see what I see?" She indicated the glowing thing. "It's some sort of... humanoid light creature. And for some reason," simply because the Eyes and Teeth didn't feel like giving her anything useful, "I can't make our what it is with my magic. But I think it wants to communicate with you?"
As to the Eyes and Teeth, wariness and hunger struck a precarious balance. It wanted to crack the mysterious creature open and devour its memories. But at the same token, it knew better than to assume it had easy prey. Maybe the child-thing was uniquely vulnerable and could be torn open and devoured with a good strike. Or maybe it would send this fragment of the Eyes and Teeth screaming back into Unreason.
[Yukijou-minato ~ Snow Castle (Main Keep 1st Floor ~ Parlor)] (Rin, Gliosem, Gwenafer, Magdalene, Nick, Jackson, Alice)
Rin glanced over both papers, taking it in. She crossed her arms and thought for a moment. The Admiral decided to answer Gliosem's inquiry, "I merely wrote down the instructions for casting a spell, one that creates a small flame, not the spell itself. The circle is an illustration of one of the necessary component for the spell." She stood up and took a position a few feet away from the others. Turning to face them, she held out her hand, palm up. "Allow me to demonstrate."
Focusing in the memorized circle, the Admiral began to form it, pushing a small portion of energy into forming a glowing version of the circle above her palm. Closing her eyes, Rin manipulated the air and focused more energy into the spell. A tiny flame flared into existence, dispersing the circle before flickering steadily, greedily maintaining itself off of her pool of power. After a few moments, Rin relaxed her concentration, causing the flame to flicker and die out in a puff of black smoke, deprived of fuel.
She looked at the others. "One can learn to do what I did with practice. Some may be able to do so easier than others, and some may find it to be incredibly difficult, but it is merely a skill that can be learned," Rin looked over at Gliosem's scroll, "such as reading or writing. For example, I cannot read whatever language you write in, Ms. Gliosem. But I could learn how to read it, with proper training."
She then turned towards Alice. "I am fairly confident I could possibly produce what is in the recipes, though I cannot guarantee any semblance of quality. I am admittedly... not skilled at cooking. Nor do I trust the rice cooker in the kitchen to function properly." The Admiral glanced over towards the scroll, "As I indicated, I cannot read Gliosem's language, and therefore cannot make the recipe or perform the spell."
"As for your method," Rin said as she looked at Gwenafer, "it is an interesting, if slightly impractical means of casting magic. Given time, I might be able to cast one of my spells using that method."
Rin picked up on what Alice had whispered. "I wholeheartedly agree. Of course, if there was something … malevolent controlling magic, I would seek to find the means to eliminate it at the soonest possible time," she stated, before sitting back down to finish her tea.
[Twilight Ball] (June, Amiluet, Lauren)
June decide not to give Lauren a chance to speak, immediately answering Amiluet's questions "Yes, Earth has a fair number of spell chuckers runnin' around, few as good as me though." She grinned before before continuing, "and to answer your second question, yes."
June energetically swayed from side to side, looking around the room, her ponytail whipping back and forth. She looked back to the sumiri bard, who she noticed had gotten distracted by her magic trick. June snapped her fingers to get the woman's attention. "Say, I do wonder where your sister went off to. I'm sure it was somethin' about astral projectin', but I don't see her around anywhere..." she noted.
edited 26th Feb '17 9:36:40 PM by WillDeRegio
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Snow Castle - Room (Rin, Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson, Gliosem, Alice, Magdalene)
While Gwenafer was working with the paper experiment, Gliosem decided to comment on Magdalene's question about souls, noticing Alice's witty remark (at least it sounded that way to her) about not having one. "The flower queen is correct," she told Alice. "Although, it is not unheard of for certain malicious forces to do odd things to the soul and the nature of life. I once heard a legend about someone who died and acted like a regular person, despite having no soul at all - he had to borrow those of others to function."note Then she looked back at Magdalene. "I am sorry for seeming touchy. The state of racial affairs on Orenya is... quite tense at the moment." She decided not to mention the war for now, as there were currently other matters at hand. "King Messy reminds me of the fabled soul guides who gather the spirits of the dead to ease them into the afterlife. But why give those souls to you? It seems odd that he would prefer to keep them in the mortal plane rather than let them move on."
Then she noticed that the teenage boys seemed rather left out of this, apparently being inexperienced with magic. "I do have a question about those glowing lights for later, but..." presently Alice was moving into Phase 2 of the Spells and Rice Experiment. This time she asked everyone participating to compare notes. Rin went first, remarking about how spells and recipes alike can be mastered with practice. Gliosem nodded in agreement with that, but frowned a slight bit as she watched her make a circular motion with her hand in order to conjure a flame. Is that what that complicated diagram was about?
After finishing off her cup of tea, Gliosem inspected the other papers for a while, and then spoke up, first to Rin. "I couldn't read what you wrote either," and then she looked to Gwenafer, "but it seems you could somehow." She could tell by the lack of confusion in her aura while she was interpreting what they both had written. "I don't suppose that has to do with that ink? Oh, and I can't seem to make out what you wrote either," she added as she took another glance at the paper. "How odd, since we seem to understand each other's speech just fine. So your spell looks like transfiguration, much like my writing, though of a more advanced sort. With a pen like this and an accompanying spell dealing with change, it seems possible to replicate." She briefly held up the pen she had used to write with, which, instead of using actual ink or graphite or something, acted more like a wand, using magic itself to change the color of the paper in a specific spot.
Then she looked back to Rin. "Yours is easy." She held a palm before her, on which a small flame exactly the size of Rin's appeared, before flying up and spreading out into a ring of candle flames before disappearing. "Pyrokinesis is a simple psychic technique widely taught on Orenya, especially the dark world of Zurem. I agree with you on the recipes though - with the right ingredients and equipment, anyone can follow one."
And finally she looked to Alice. "I think I see what you're trying to get at. The main commonality between spellwork and cooking is how adaptable to creativity they both are. However, food recipes are more structured by their nature, since they require specific ingredients and equipment to make something tangible. I don't quite understand why individual spells need specific instructions," and here she took a brief glance at Rin. "There are many different ways to cast one, and the only 'ingredient' it requires is intent. There are incantations, but those have no specific wording and are only there for focus - one skilled enough with certain spells will eventually not need one. Same with shapes. After all, most often a spell's effects are intangible, and highly fluid. If I were to teach someone how to use a spell, I would simply encourage them to think of how the result would manifest."
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
It's a bird.
Snow Castle (Gwenafer, Magdalene, Nick, Adam, Jackson, Alice, Rin, Gliosem)
Gwenafer gave her companions a curious look, and pulled the paper and the scroll over to her side of the table. "What do you mean you can't read..." Huh?
Upon closer inspection, the text was now replaced with a collection of strange symbols she didn't recognize. More dream weirdness? She blinked a few times in confusion, but the symbols did not change again. She turned to Alice.
"Uh, the recipes?" she said. "Sure. Shouldn't be too hard. For the spells... no idea."
She scratched her chin, listening to the others. Magdalene and Gliosem discussed some more, vaguely necromancy-sounding stuff. Gwenafer tried to ignore it and took another sip of tea, emptying the cup.
"Like I said, I ain't a mage. Are you saying that magic works differently in different worlds? With all the weird stuff I've seen today, I'd expect that, to be honest."
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
[Castle (Room)]
Nick saw the signs and symbols, but like the others, had no idea what they meant. He was even more lost when they started talking more magic mumbo jumbo. This was always his least favorite part of running into mages; learning new magical terms.
Instead, he turned his attention to Gilosem.
"If you're wondering why they're glowing," he said, "I can't answer that, cause I have no fucking clue either. They're usually a source for most of Jacky's inventions, and they only way they even work is if you put a lot of force on them."
"I got these back when I lived in the UK," Jackson said, "And not once did they do this. That's why I'm trying to figure out what's going on. So far, I have nothing."
[Castle (Hallway)]
"...Ms. Megumi?" Adam asked, noticing her reaction to the guard, "Are you ok?"
He gave the guard a look. He didn't seem threatening, so what on earth was causing her to panic? It was all very sudden, and made him more confused. Still, he gave the guard a once over.
"Well," he said, "He's dressed...like the other guards we saw outside before we walked in. I-I'm sorry, I'm bad at this."
Mr ship
[Twilight Ball/Lauren]
Lauren watched as June phased a dagger made of fire and explain that humans can do magic too. "From what I've seen there is a small amount of what you'd call magic among the human race. My husband has some that actually keeps him alive for much longer than he's supposed to be."
When June mentioned the missing sister it got Lauren to question it too. "She's right where is your sister?"
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
The Graveyard
Though the Golden Being noticed the peculiar events around Sinistrina and her doll, whilst ignoring the madness speech of the quickly descended human... The intensity of his nature still focused on the so-called Sentinel and the thing that calls her heir. Letting it speak uninterrupted, to see if it something meaningful to say, the truly unnatural entity wearing the skin of another 'simply' frowns.
Making a show of glancing the imitated Anti-Soul Behemoth's head over all present, his conceptual 'frown' more upon seeing how Patches & his host have yet to recover, it finally settles on the being intertwined with the Sentinel. Then the Golden Being, the Royal Heart, the Exalted Gift intones through the reality of this strange realm for all to hear.
"Your pet could do nothing to help us. Her power is based on a most raw and absolute manipulation of Existence Itself. Whilst such is undeniably potent, I am still utterly unnatural unlike the progeny of Existence. She had proven her knowledge of my... Kind lacking, thus all she would of accomplished was destroying him if she tried. That, of course, is under the assumption she wouldn't try tearing us apart."
The visage of the Anti-Soul Behemoth fading away, the original vagueness the Golden Being appeared with hovers in front of the Armory Knight. Looking at his twisting and grotesque form of metal, the Golden Being almost seems to 'hang' defeated before intoning once more- Without moving away from his precocious host.
"I have always been with him, from the very moment his soul came into being. Thus we have always been one, and I have always protected him upon being called. So if you intended to fix our problem by breaking us in two, he would forever lose my power... And that wouldn't do anything to change his altered body, leaving him trapped in this useless form your actions have caused."
Appearing at the same height as the entity guarding the defiler, the Golden Being simply seems... Exhausted for lack of a better term. "He can't fight to claim anyone's soul like this, and I cannot use those shattered souls Sinistrina had kindly brought to me unless what was done is reversed. Thus, right now, I cannot repair his soul- Even if I did decide to try tearing apart the souls here for parts. I hope your sense of pride is strong enough to ignore condemning a soul to truly eternal madness, becoming some base and instinctual predator..."
???
When Caleb and Half tried reaching out to the Golden Being through its visage of the Anti-Soul Behemoth, something else reached out instead. " Stop what? I've been a good boy, not my fault the whispers of the damned disturb the single-souls. Though, what pray tell are you two? I've never noticed anything like you in this place of nightmares... Of course, you're not in my world are you? I must say, this is a new experience for me, having something else invoke my form in a nexus universe. "
Though the presence seems to be gone once the Golden Being dispelled its form, the true Anti-Soul Behemoth echoes within them. " I would like to meet the both of you, that potential... It needs to be realized, and what better gift than helping someone transcend their limits? Unfortunately I cannot arrive anytime soon, and this was all I could do before the connection ended. Still, how so curious... "
I'm do everything else later, Horizon Zero Dawn is so much fun.
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
To dream is my right
Graveyard:
"You thought too much without thinking enough.", the spirit noted with a voice that seemed to come from the distance, pulled in towards him instead of surging from inside. "The sum of experiences is deeper than one alone, the interaction of forces reaches a more complex effect." With that they raised two hands in front of their chest, and each cast a light, a breeze, a soft mists. From the conjoined winds and reflecting glow an image unfolded between then, a small flower of prismatic light with fractal petals dividing into infinity, which them frayed and blackened around the edges as if comsumed by invisible fire. "Her power is not. It is weak, unreal, easily denied. Keys that do little if you chain closed the doors. This" they said, turning to the restless form of the fallen knight, "is what happens when you gave something raw and absolute to her, and used it to harm."
The flower now was no more, and the spirit seemed to fade a little in that world. Truly fade, not like it was moving away, but like mist in the sun evaporating away. "If you had allowed her to act no souls would be needed."
They them drifted closer to Armory Knight, and said "You can try to return us to the vague expanses of Is Not, or you can lend your spark so my heir can awaken and possibly do her work. I do not care."
edited 3rd Mar '17 5:13:30 AM by EternaMemoria
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
Drummer Boy
[Blizzard]
"I thought you already knew I'm an atheist. Present tense. You know, since I don't believe in any sort of god? Is that not what the word means where you come—"
She's seeing a what now?
Friedrich stopped and turned around. The child finally took a structured shape, albeit with an ethereal, ghostly quality to his glowing form. He wore a loose long-sleeved tunic and long, puffy trousers that were gathered at his ankles. His bare feet rested on top of the snow as if it were firm ground. Loose curls framed his thin face.
"Oh, this is Abadal," Friedrich said, absentmindedly patting Abadal's head as the boy's huge eyes panned over Iveya. "He—or rather, the entity his soul is linked to—is the source of my powers. Abadal himself died two thousand years ago, but his connection to the... thing lets him persist in this fashion. He doesn't talk, all I can do is try to read the pulses of emotion that he sends me. But it's highly unusual for him to show himself to another person. I wonder...."
Friedrich knelt in the snow, trying to make eye contact with the child, but he continued staring at Iveya. "He seems troubled by something. Something... near you?"
The Elder was not a complicated being. In the absence of any commands from a user, the mass of energy would stagnate around its host—currently Friedrich—and was driven only by its programmed survival instinct. Abadal, sensing that he might be vulnerable, refused to probe the Eyes and Teeth in the hopes that it would lose interest. He tensed up for an altercation anyway, hoping that the Elder's amorphous nature would allow it to avoid or resist whatever attacks the Eyes and Teeth was capable of making.
edited 2nd Mar '17 2:02:01 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Blizzard]
Iveya decided to let the theological topic drop right now, though it seemed like Friedrich and Iveya had different definitions of atheism.
The Eyes and Teeth, meanwhile, was in a good mood, insofar as a timeless horror defined by its bottomless hunger and infinite self-loathing can experience such a thing as a "good mood". Amorphous, non-physical beings were its favorite prey. Hiding wasn't worth it any more. This chance was too good to pass up...
And suddenly, it withdrew with a metaphorical "yelp" that the magically sensitive would be able to discern as Iveya, in a great display of willpower, forced the small fragment of the Eyes and Teeth to withdraw and leave Abadal alone. "My... apologies," she said, looking to the ground. "I... still don't have the discipline to always properly control my magic. My teachers tell me it's because some... burden fills me with doubt and corrupts my powers." She didn't sound like she entirely believed that. "They say I will have to learn in time, but there were... accidents. Before." Then she looked up at Friedrich and hurriedly added, "no deaths! But a few people I meant to stun or confuse suffered more than was necessary. I... maybe it was some unresolved anger?" Again, she sounded uncertain. "It's been a very long time, though, since I've had any problems. I thought I had it under control. But... I'll make sure to be more aware." As she'd have to be. "Maybe it's this new land, making me lose my focus?" Her mind presently held the Eyes and Teeth on a short and tight leash, but in its mindless cleverness, it had learned not to strain, not to alarm the mage that had not yet embraced the benefits of feeding its hunger. It knew it was better to wait.
Eager to change the topic from both previous lines of conversation, Iveya asked, "so, anyways, Abadal... an ancestor of yours?" Realizing the possible definitions of ancestor were many, she added, "not a blood-ancestor if he crossed to the Spirit Realm at his apparent age, obviously, but I mean, a clan-ancestor?" There was a hint of envy in her voice; she wasn't entirely sure, with her mother disowning her, if her own clan-ancestors were hearing her prayers. Then again, she wouldn't be the first disowned to reclaim her clan if she could prove her mother had shamed it... she shook the thought away as an other occurred to her, and she wryly added, "if so, it seems your clan finds the spirit world's roads more... smooth than most."
edited 2nd Mar '17 4:35:11 PM by KillerClowns
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Graveyard (Moreena, Sentinel, Golden Being/Armory Knight, Patches, Caleb, Half, Sinistrina, Friedrich, Gabe)
For a while, Sinistrina and Friedrich stood in stunned silence as they watched Misery Manor crumble away, leaving only the cellar beneath a pile of rubble with several zombies crawling out from underneath - and hopefully none of them were whatever person had entered the manor. Now that Sinistrina's soul had left that manor, she could no longer tell if any visitor was inside it - but at least they would no longer be tormented by its curse, and with that she was content.
But why am I still here? she wondered. With the manor gone, I should be either mortal again or a motionless corpse.
As she was wondering that, she heard a voice speak, and turned around to see the possibly lifeless form of the Sentinel (though her divine existence couldn't be quite called "alive" in the first place) with some sort of spirit hovering above her, saying something about "the Beyond" being responsible for the state of the souls. Here Sinistrina had to roll her eyes. Of course - blame the magic rather than the magician.
And then, surprisingly, the Anti-Soul Behemoth faded away, the Golden Being instead mourning the loss of Armory Knight. From what he said next, Armory Knight had become irreparable by this point. Sinistrina had to admit that the Sentinel made a good point about not allowing her to act, especially with the surprising mention of being somehow able to help Armory Knight without any ether. Suddenly she felt a guilt well up inside her, causing her to bow her head - and yet, in that moment she felt for the Sentinel, in that someone could have been helped if not for the anguished reactions of another.
She thought about talking to the Golden Being, who had by then returned to his amorphous form, but though she was standing still, she felt as if she was already on her way over to him. Looking up, she could see Friedrich walking in that direction. Now that's odd... Out of a lingering suspicion, she closed her eyes and turned her focus to her soul, as she had done before from Misery Manor.
And through the both of them, Friedrich stopped before the fallen Armory Knight. "I wish it hadn't turned out this way," Friedrich told the Golden Being, sounding notably gentler than before, remorseful even. "It seems that we are in the same boat - two beings with our souls connected, desperate to heal from what we became as a result, and punished for using our destructive abilities. I wish there was more I could do to help... but that was all the ether that was in the Deathly Glade." He gestured over to the fragile souls flying around. "With Armory Knight in this state, what will become of you? Will you be destroyed, or will your soul live on in his near-empty shell?"
Both he and Sinistrina just then realized that he was speaking for the both of them. A look of surprise spread on Friedrich's now-unbroken face. That's what that comet was! Of course! Like Armory Knight, his own consciousness had been compromised as a result of this whole endeavor. He had felt as if he had merged with something bigger... and that "something bigger" was Sinistrina's soul, contained entirely within him now that Misery Manor was no more. He had previously thought that his soul and Sinistrina's were connected somehow, but never realized that it was part of her soul being present in him all along.
Sinistrina was surprised too, as she opened her eyes once more, having heard (and in a way, said) everything that Friedrich had said to the Golden Being. At the very least... though I did not return to my mortal self, at least my existence didn't cease completely. And with that, she nodded and turned away. It was then that she decided to address Moreena, who in many ways looked like her and had similar abilities (the healing factor, the black blood and attire, the conjuring of shadowy tendrils and shields), but seemed so different with regards to morality - in a way that made Sinistrina seem evil by comparison.
"I understand your sentiment-" she began, but found that her voice was very hoarse. Even when she tried to clear her throat it was still very dry, just like the rest of her body, such that it still sounded raspy when she continued. "-Regarding the dead... but those souls otherwise had nowhere to go. Had I not done anything, they would have been stuck in the Deathly Glade for all of eternity." She decided not to mention that this was a dream anyway, as that would potentially render this entire battle meaningless. "Still I admit my selfishness in the matter - that Golden Being offered me a chance to return to a mortal life, which I had been after all along." She looked Moreena directly in the eye, red ones meeting black ones. Though as she did, something at the back of her mind nagged at an untruthfulness in what she just said. "Haven't you ever longed for such a return?"
Meanwhile, as if having heard Sinistrina's complaints of dryness, a zombie man (dressed like a butler, appropriately) was walking towards the group, carrying a goblet and two of the wine bottles from the cellar.
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[farmhouse]
For a second, Tsadro stopped fixing his hair as Ren Yangchao followed up an oblique-sounding remark with a farewell. They continued to talk, buying him more time to give them one of his flat stares, only for them to disappear without comment. He blinked, now staring at the empty spot in disbelief, and finished with his hair.
Vince set his spoon down. "Was it so hard to leave without throwing in a vague quip like that?" He took a flatbread off the stack and started tearing a piece off. "Y'know, I agree. We all know not to go on a wild goose chase upon hearing something like that." He smiled and ate the piece of bread. "How about we take a walk around the farm once you're done?"
Lise perked up and padded over to the table, paw raised in anticipation.
edited 3rd Mar '17 10:58:56 AM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
It's a bird.
Graveyard (Moreena, Patches, Sentinel, Caleb, Half, Sinistrina, Friedrich, Gabe)
Moreena met the necromancer's gaze, studying her for a while. There's was no point to being subtle anymore.
"I wouldn't know," she said. "I've never been mortal." She glanced up at all the lost souls, and then towards the Golden Being and the strange spirit near the Sentinel's broken form. Perhaps some kind of peaceful solution was still possible?
"Stuck in the Deathly Glade?" she continued. Once this was all over, she would have some work to do. "And you thought that letting them be scrapped for parts was a better fate?"
Moreena's voice was still cold, but now there was some genuine curiosity among the anger.
"I am Moreena, the Goddess of Death. I'm sure you can imagine why neither option sounds very appealing to me."
She turned back to the Golden Being. "It would be wise to do as she says," she said, and waved a taloned hand towards the winged spirit. "If she is right, there's no need for any of us, the souls, or your host to suffer."
edited 4th Mar '17 5:21:50 AM by Corvidae
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
the cutest lizard
[Farm – Farmhouse (Min, Varris, Vince, Tsadro)]
Min simply stared at Ren Yangchao as they left, rolling her eyes after they’d fully disappeared. Well, that was just weird, coming all the way out to the farmhouse and then leaving out of nowhere like that. She wasn't too heartbroken about it, though.
“Yeah, that’s fine with me,” she said to Vince, hastening to finish up the rest of her food after realizing that Varris was already done with his. After a minute she set her fork down on the now-empty plate and stood up from the chair, warily taking a few steps back from Lise. “We’ve been here forever. Don’t feel like sitting still anymore. So, what else d’you got around here?”
edited 4th Mar '17 1:49:47 PM by VioletN
She turned her eyes to see the ship's fins - they are rising upward to the ring again...
[Graveyard (Moreena, Patches, Sentinel, Caleb, Half, Sinistrina, Friedrich, Gabe, Dark Priest)]
The Dark Priest quietly observed, pausing only to note that Gabe was stirring. The otherworldly fool was finally awakening, though he wasn't quite up yet.
Instead he spoke to the Golden Being. "You would do well to listen, little brother," he said. "If you truly wish to cling to this... state, that is." He turned to spirit and said, "how did you say it? Ah; 'the sum of experiences is deeper than one alone'. A greater truth lies there."
Finally Dark Priest turned to Moreenea, studying her thoughtfully. It was a question that ought wait, but he had to know. "You oppose the destruction of souls. Why?" His question betrayed genuine confusion. "Are you a Goddess of Death, or merely a warden of disembodied souls?"
If the others bothered to pry with enough magical powers, they would notice two things about the Dark Priest. Cloaked in enigma as he was, it could be seen that was that he was no progeny of existence. He existed before/after/outside creation and time. Another was that he could harm no thinking being — unless one counted harsh words — without their permission. Why a being would give him such permission, however, was not so easily discerned.
Alice will come later.
edited 5th Mar '17 9:11:26 AM by KillerClowns
[Snow Castle (Gwenafer, Magdalene, Nick, Adam, Jackson, Alice, Rin, Gliosem)]
Alice looked at Gwenefar when she gave her theory about Alice's experiment. "Got it in one!" she said. "Yeah, that's the bleeding heart of it all. A recipe is, as my old friend Isaac says, the lovechild of chemistry and art. Art's got room for difference, people being people, but we can all agree the chemistry keeps on working." Then she looked at the various spells and said, "the magicky bits on the other hand... it is a bit unnatural, ain't it?"
Then she looked over at Gliosem and Rin and added, "that said, you're kinda putting a chink in my grand scheme." She didn't seem offended — if anything, she was a bit impressed. "You've got a point that it could, theoretically be that different magical traditions are more like different styles of..." she paused, reaching for a familiar metaphor, "music, perhaps. You can't read each other's spell descriptions and don't exactly agree on how a thing ought be done, but maybe, just maybe, just as music is acting on the same sorts of ears and same sorts of waves..." she paused, apparently at a loss for words for once.
edited 5th Mar '17 10:57:44 AM by KillerClowns
[Yukijou-minato ~ Snow Castle (Main Keep 1st Floor ~ Hallway)] (Megumi, Adam)
Megumi scowled. "It might be nothing..." her voice dropped down to a whisper, "but I've seen that exact same guard three times in the past five minutes." And I can't describe his face... she refrained from adding, not wanting to cause further panic.
She clasped her hands together and smiled, "Well then, we should be getting back to the others. No sense in standing around in the hallway." She turned about, and began back towards the parlor.
[Yukijou-minato ~ Snow Castle (Main Keep 1st Floor ~ Parlor)] (Rin, Gliosem, Gwenafer, Magdalene, Nick, Jackson, Alice)
Between the apparent fairy psychopomp, the boys and their glowing crystals, and, if she was hearing this correctly, Gliosem brute forcing a spell with her mind (and the possible implications that came with it), Rin was starting to wonder if the sleep inducing drug Megumi used on her had been inadvertently contaminated with mold. At least everything is still colored normally, she thought. Looking down at the earlier spell Gliosem performed, Rin amended that thought, For the most part.
She cocked an eyebrow in mild amusement at what Alice had said. Grand scheme? Rin took another sip of her still warm tea. While this exercise had been to prove a point of Alice's, apparently she had stumbled upon an unexpected result. Fascinating.
Snow Castle (Magdalene, Rin, Alice, Gliosem, Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)
Magdalene frowned in thought upon hearing Gliosem's question.
"He says the world's dying. I don't know why, it seems okay to me...." she eventually said, "Anyway, he's having me hold on to the dead fairies, because he says they'll help him fix it. I don't get it."
All the mumbo-jumbo about magic and spells and rice had been flying over her head ever since that conversation started. Instead of bothering to make sense of it, she instead turned her attention back to the glowing rocks Adam had pulled out of his pocket. She took her scepter and started poking them with it. In the process, she flashed a big smile in Jackson's direction.
"Aw, he calls you 'Jacky?'" she asked, before giggling, "It's so cute~"
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Forest] (Ruka, Tagui, Ferisen)
Ruka fluffed her electric blue hair, "Yeah, I suppose I am lost... not sure what happened, but I ended up here." She idled by as the woman began some sort of incantation, accompanied by some pretty eerie music which permeated the compact clearing, if one could call where they were a "clearing".
Their location began to open up, a gaping maw formed ahead of them, descending into the bowels of the earth. "Whoa..." Ruka rocked backwards on her heels, peering with utter futility into the darkness. "Well, that does lead somewhere," she snarked, before taking a friendlier tone, "though the alternative is to wander about this foggy place. After all that's happened today, I'd rather not do that."
She turned toward Ferisen, returning the bow, "I'm Ruka." The half-ghost stared into the abyss. Fortunately, nothing immediately stared back, so that was a good sign. "Well, in any case, unless you guys want to volunteer, I'll take point," she said as she moved forward into the darkness.
After a few paces, the first thing she noticed was that it remained dark. The second thing she noticed was that she hadn't been building up a charge since she showed up in this part of the forest. Ruka scowled at this, before sheepishly turning to the others.
"I don't suppose you guys have a means of lighting this place up?" she said as she rubbed the back of her head.
[Castle (Room)]
Nick bowed. "Ah, finally! Someone who agrees with me, instead of calling me an idiot!" He looked directly at Jackson when he said this.
Jackson ignored him, still trying to focus on the gems.
He then noticed that they were writing on the piece of paper, which made him all the more confused. "Ah, shit, are we supposed to be writing stuff down too? Did I miss a memo?"
"I think they're just demonstrating magic stuff." Jackson said, briefly lifting his head, "Nothing to worry about." With that, he returned his attention back to the glowing gems.
[Castle (Bathroom)]
"Th-they shouldn't be." Adam said, "They just...never done this before." Once he saw the bathroom, he gave a polite bow. "Thank you, Ms. Megumi."
He went into the Men's Room and sat on the toilet, hoping that his dizziness would go away. It didn't; in fact, it was getting increasingly worse.
He couldn't go back like this. On top of the fact that he was scared of falling unconscious in a world where he's already asleep, he didn't want to burden anyone with his problem. He knew it was stupid. He knew it was probably dangerous, but his mind told him that it would be better this way.
It was then that he reached into his pocket and realized that he left a gem inside of there. He put it on the ground away from him...and suddenly, he was starting to feel better.
"What...?" he said to himself, "My head....it's...." He stood up, realizing that he was no longer wobbling. "My head's all better! Does that mean...?" I gotta tell Jackson!
He then got out of the stall and headed back to Megumi.
"H-hey, Ms. Megumi? I think I'm ready to head back now."