(("Side Event" because it doesn't quite feel like a skit. But it's kept out of the main thread because it involves mostly just my own characters.))
While she walked, Eloysio briefed her on what Rhone was about to send her through. The spell, its effects, and the requirements to end it. He made sure to leave out the key point Rhone told him to, but in regards to what personal revelation she was supposed to make, he preferred to save that for when they were inside the spell's effects already.
Eloysio especially made mention of Rhone's implications that it's possible to die within the spell's effects. Azriel could easily keep herself out of danger, but when it all came down to it, dying of starvation and thirst was still a very real possibility. For a few minutes, she took a detour in which she stocked up on some pouches of dried food and refilled a couple of jugs of water.
Upon arriving at the designated meeting spot, she greeted Rhone with wide eyes of astonishment and a hint of fear. But as afraid as she was, she was curious as to what Eloysio had in store as a backup plan. Not even Chiaro and Oscuro seemed to be able to hazard a guess as to what it could be. Azriel staked all her trust in him, but it's certainly not like they were longtime friends. Realistically, what could he have known or learned about her in such little time?
Before she spoke, Azriel looked around to make sure they were completely alone, and made sure to keep her voice too soft for anyone far off to hear.
"...Gee, Rhone, that's...quite a uh...thing you're about to send me through."eek
She was having a hard time finding better words, in her astonishment.
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 5:17 am
Without saying a word in response, Rhone reaches into an inner pocket of his coat and retrieves a worn journal with a small piece of paper sticking out near the half-way mark.
"Take this. After the bookmark are my notes on the spell and a...log of sorts, cataloging my...experiences inside the spell. The bookmark itself is something the spell rewarded me with when I escaped. It tells how long I was trapped and what my revelation was. Normally, I'd keep that to myself...even Max hasn't seen it...but if you're going into the same thing I did, maybe it'll help you somehow. Just...don't look at it until you're in there, alright?"
He carefully hands the journal to Azriel before placing his hands close to one another and charging something. Within seconds, a dull, yellow light forms between his hands, before moving to his right hand, coating his entire arm in the golden light. He raises it up and looks at his fingers, now crackling with energy.
"This won't hurt, but it won't be comfortable. You'll be a bit dizzy and disoriented for a moment, but after that, you should be okay. Whenever you're ready..."
Azriel looked curiously at the journal once she took it into her hands. She didn't open it yet, just examined the cover.
"We'll want to save that for last, said Eloysio of the page that was bookmarked, "For the sake of time efficiency, we should have a look at that after we've gotten what we need."
She nodded at his words, then looked up at Rhone with determination. "Yeah...I'm ready."
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 8:11 pm
Rhone smiles for a moment.
"You seem prepared...so be it."
He places his hand on her shoulder, preparing the spell. He locks eyes with her, showing her a look of seriousness.
"Don't. Die."
Almost as soon as he says those words, a brilliant flash of golden light envelops Azriel, and suddenly the world around her is frozen. Rhone's hand still on her shoulder, and his gaze almost the same...showing now a mix of seriousness and worry.
((Figured I'll break this all down into little "episodes" and group actions together instead of having one long post.))
Azriel felt a tingling sensation akin to very light electrocution, but it was a bright flash of golden light that overwhelmed her. The ground beneath her feet felt like it was spinning, sending her off-balance. She made a few weak flaps of her wings in an attempt to regain it, but she ended up falling on her bottom. "Oof!"
After she shook her head of the dizziness and looked up, she saw Rhone with his arm still outstretched to where she was standing. Glancing at the trees, she spotted some that were caught in the sway of the breeze. Leaves had fallen off and remained suspended in the air. So were some common birds in mid-flight. And the clouds weren't drifting. It was as Eloysio had relayed—everything but her person was frozen in time.
"Azriel," Eloysio softly called, his voice easily standing out in the silence, "Let's look into the journal now."
"Right." Staying seated where she was, she crossed her legs into the Indian-style position and opened the book to the first entry, taking about a minute to read through it.
Day 1:
I have discovered what the spell does! In casting it, I have noticed that time has stopped around me, but I can still...interact with it somewhat. Whenever I, say, grab a book, I get a copy of it, but the book remains there. When I place the book on a table, it starts to fade away...but only if I am done with it. The spell knows my mind and knows what I seek. It knows when and for how long I need a source of information. I can interact with doors as well, in that I simply go through them. I can open any cabinet as well, key or no. When I am finished with it, it simply closes itself, while any sort of paper or object I grab makes a temporary copy of itself. It's as if I'm in a copy of the world itself, where only the knowledge I gather can be retained. Remarkable! I will have to start studying the tomes in Sybak again, this time without interruption, and maybe I can figure out something.
Oscuro folded her arms and looked serious for once as she mulled over the content. "So that's generally how things're gonna roll here. Alright, keep reading, cut to the chase about that other spell Rhone was talking about."
Azriel thumbed through the succeeding pages, glancing at them to review the length. Finding that a handful of the next entries were actually rather short, she returned to the second day's entry and continued reading from there.
Day 2:
I have started combing through books to learn what I can and have realized I feel no hunger, nor tiredness. In fact, had I not brought a timepiece powered by magic, I would have no idea how long I've been here. I have not even gone through a fraction of the books here, and I will not rest until I read every single one of them. I WILL find the answers I need.
Day 34:
I have read every book here and there's nothing that will help me. I have learned many useful things, however, so it is not a complete loss. The only other location I can think of that might have some secret knowledge is Mizuho. I will have to travel there at once and see what I can find inside their ancient scrolls.
Day 36:
Traveling through the lands without any sort of sound, wind, or living thing moving is calming, but sometimes eerie. I have many times seen animals or people traveling, some in horrible danger, yet I cannot help them. It's a bit sad, but I have to keep going! I have to find out what awaits in Mizuho!
Day 37:
Traveling sure takes longer when I'm alone and taking my time to look at things. No matter, I'm in Mizuho. Time to see what I can find.
Day 40:
Found something, but I'm not happy. In order to bring someone back, I have to contact their soul. No idea how the hell I'm gonna do that. I suppose I should return to where I cast the spell and come back.
"Hmm...so there's nothing back in Sybak after all...but there is right here in Mizuho!"eek
Chiaro was equally astonished. "My, that's rather...convenient. However, I assume the writing on said ancient scrolls are in the traditional language of these people. I suggest we look around for a translation guide."
Azriel scratched her head and made a puzzled expression as she tried to figure out where one might be. "You don't suppose there'd be one in the library...? I mean, I'd imagine it's only meant to cater to the people who live here, but..."
"I think we would find one quicker in Ms. Fujibayashi's office. She's the one who deals with matters regarding the world outside this village the most, so I'm sure she might have one on hand," Eloysio suggested, "Not to mention, we're currently right behind her place."
"Right, I'm on it!" Springing up to her feet, Azriel made a running start for the entrance of the building, then made her way back toward Sheena's quarters.
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 12:45 am
Along the way, Eloysio caught a glimpse of some signs that passed within her line of sight and felt that there was something a little strange about them. He couldn't quite place his finger on it yet, until Azriel phased right through the door and started looking through the documents that were in plain sight.
"Huh? I could understand how the majority of the stuff in here would be written in the common writing, but how is it that...practically everything is?" O_o
"...I understand now. The spell knows what we seek, and is centered around garnering information. I suspect...it's made everything normally unreadable to us, readable."
"How do you figure that, Eloysio?"
"I've an eidetic memory—it basically means I can't forget anything at all. Even the smallest details. Signs in the hallways, bulletin notes...I know for a fact those were originally written in traditional Mizuhoan, but as we've passed them by just now, I noticed the standard language in place of it. But for what reason would anyone desire to change them, if only Mizuhoans regularly roam these halls? It doesn't make sense that they would at all, which brought me to my other conclusion."
"Oh...so we...don't need a translation guide anymore."sweatdrop
"Indeed. Which means we've wasted a little time."sweatdrop
At the sound of their words, Azriel felt a slight pang of panic, enough to make her try jumping through the nearest closed window.
...Which actually worked.
"The first entry only mentioned doors and cabinets! How did you figure a window would also be under that free reign?"eek
"...I didn't. It was kind of a leap of faith."sweatdrop
Azriel found the library quickest by flight. As she stepped in, she was quite intrigued at how much different it looked from the average library. Shelves for books were at a minimum, while the rest of them were made to house countless numbers of scrolls.
"We must not waste time trying to look through everything," Eloysio advised, "Let us narrow our search down to...hmm...I believe the best sections to go would be anything along the lines of occult or controversial material."
She nodded and made hurried steps toward the back, as she thought that sort of stuff was usually kept there just like in any other library. Either locked or guarded or even both. But she also made sure to glance at section signs to make sure she doesn't gloss over what she was looking for.
In a couple of minutes, she found her assumptions to be correct. Along the back wall a black sliding door with a sign that said "REPOSITORY OF FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE - RESTRICTED ACCESS". What appeared to be a circular, intricate combination lock was embedded in its center. As Rhone's writing foretold, there was no need to fiddle with it—she phased right through just fine.
The room was fairly small with tall shelves of scrolls lining the walls. There were no windows; the ventilation consisted of long, rectangular, barred holes above the shelves. It was rather dim, actually too dim to properly read because the lighting was off, since no one had been in the room recently.
Azriel narrowed her eyes and peered around until she could make out a few shapes in the corners of the room and the gaps between the shelves. "Wall-mounted lanterns. I wonder if I can light them..."
"It's worth a shot. If the spell allows us to read what we normally can't, perhaps it extends to letting us take care of obstacles that impede our ability to obtain information."
Nodding in agreement with her light-self, she took her dagger out of its sheath, then fished around in her belt pouches until she took out a Red Quartz. She pressed it to the blade and waited a few seconds for its effect to fully activate, magically enveloping it in fire. Then she proceeded to step closer to a lantern, carefully placed her hand on its spherical paper covering, and...to her astonishment, found that she could pull it off. She made an amused smile as she used the flaming blade to light the wick of the candle in the stand.
She would go on to to light rest of the lanterns in the room, stepping quickly so that she could get to them in time before the Red Quartz's effect died down. She found herself occasionally stepping on something that was able to crumble under her feet rather than stay frozen, which made her grow curious. What was that stuff? Oh well, she was about to find out in a few moments.
Once the room became adequately lighted...
"...Whoa, what in the—!!!"emotion_jawdrop *gasp*eek "...Holy sh*t." "Oh my word..."
...she and those in her mindspace were greeted with a ghastly sight that made Azriel pale and feel chills down her spine.
There were skeletons in the room, about five of them in total. One was seated at one of the tables in the center of the room, its arms folded upon the tabletop and head resting on them. Another was lying face down under a table. Two others were sprawled on the floor in front of shelves, and one was curled up in a corner.
That's what the breakable material was. Bones. She had stepped on the remains of people who've died trapped in the spell. Taken aback by what she had done, she covered a hand over her mouth and stepped backward, lightly bumping into a shelf.
"A-Azriel?" Eloysio stuttered, "I-I am just as...s-stunned as you are...and I don't mean to sound so cold...but let's try not to let this bother us too much. Let this serve as a reminder that we're running on very limited time here."
"Y-yeah. S-sorry."sweatdrop It wasn't the fact that she stepped on human remains that bothered her—she was fairly desensitized to disturbing sights thanks to Oscuro—it was that she felt like it was an act of disrespect to those who had the misfortune to die there.
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 12:21 am
The skeletal remains seem to shift, showing fuzzy, ethereal, humanoid shapes laying in the positions of the skeletons. They all appear to be...naked? The details are so fuzzy merely identifying the gender is impossible. All that can be distinguished is the desaturated pink color of their hair. Hunched over the skeleton Azriel stepped on is another figure. All that can be discerned is its black coloration with what looks like a red streak descending from the head down to what are presumably its hips.
The echoed sounds of ragged breathing is heard from the form on the ground as the hunched form speaks in a familiar, but erratic...even desperate voice.
"A-Aurelia?....Aurelia!!.... "
The form's voice echoes throughout the room for a moment before it sighs and seems to slump slightly and rub its forehead.
"Damn it! Another soulless vessel... I keep bringing back the body, but there's no mind...no soul! I've tried...so many times... Room's littered with my failures. Their eyes track me on instinct...as if they're..."
The form raises its hand up, holding something short, but sharp.
"DON'T LOOK AT ME WITH HER EYES!"
It drives the sharp object into the head of the form on the ground, bringing a swift end to the ragged breathing.
"Don't...don't blame me...don't..."
The form puts its head in its hands and slightly shakes as a few sobs echo through the room.
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."
As the room shifts back to normal, further inspection of the skulls of the skeletons in the room reveal small blade-shaped holes in the centers of their foreheads.
At first, Azriel made a confused expression as the scene shifted before her very eyes, then felt a crawling sensation in her skin upon seeing the ethereal images superimposed upon the skeletons. She and those in her mindspace wondered why they all looked alike. The word "clones" arose in Eloysio's thoughts.
And then, when Azriel saw the tall, black-and-red almost silhouette-like figure appear, she felt a chill through her being. Someone still alive was inside this...spell environment...with her? Her confusion was roused again, until she heard the figure speak.
"That...voice?" "...Is it really...?" ...I think so, it's... ...undeniably Rhone's.
All of them felt a sinking in their chests as they watched the scene play out. When Azriel began to hear sobbing, she hung her head with a solemn expression.
"Wh...why are we seeing this? I feel like we shouldn't be seeing this..." she whispered to herself sadly, burying her face in her hands.
"He established a link to your mind, and through that, has effectively linked your soul with his. I'm only assuming, but the spell has picked up on this. And the spell, for reasons that only it knows, has decided to show you what he had done in here." After a pause, Eloysio continued to muse out loud. "The body creation formula...the soul infusion spell we seek...if I were to fathom a guess, he was desperately trying to bring back someone very dear to him."
A heavy silence filled the air after Eloysio's words, everyone feeling awkward about saying anything more. After several seconds had passed, it was he who broke it, with "Erm...we should...we should be getting back on track now, yes?"
"Uh...right." Lifting her head, Azriel started to scan the shelves with her eyes but was at a loss for where to actually begin, her focus more on minimizing her time inside the spell environment.
"Hey, how 'bout this," Oscuro piped up, "I swear, Eloysio's a real speed demon at reading because of that nifty eidetic memory of his. How about you let him take over? We could be out of here in a few hours. About half a day, tops."
Chiaro folded her arms and nodded, looking to Eloysio. "For once, I agree with her. As much as you wouldn't like to impose, Master, it really is the best course of action."
Eloysio pursed his lips and tensed up. As Chiaro put it, he really didn't want to impose. He started to feel like he was a parasite again. "...You're right. Things would get done faster if I controlled the motions rather than dictate them. This will be the last time, anyhow. I...I'm going to be alive again soon."
As he made an awkward, uneasy kind of smile, he closed his eyes. Azriel did too, relaxing her body to allow him to take over again with ease.
Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 9:29 pm
And in a blink, Azriel found herself back in her own mindspace. As Eloysio settled into control over her body, he flexed its fingers until he felt he was there fully.
Then he looked around the room and sighed. He learned from Azriel's quick glance that the all the material, though neatly arranged, was not organized into sections at all. On top of that, the scrolls were not labeled along the outside. It was almost as if this repository was merely a dumping spot for all this controversial material, with the notion that no one was ever going to lay eyes upon any of this information again.
He got right to work taking scrolls, skimming through them, and tossing them over his shoulder when they didn't have the information he sought. Normally he wouldn't be so messy, but he recalled Rhone's journal entry saying that whatever was taken and strewn about simply faded away, since they were only temporary copies of the actual thing. While he did this, he had a persisting thought in the back of his mind. His special memory abilities made him unable to forget anything at all, even from a mere glance.
He could store this entire library of forbidden knowledge inside his mind if he wanted to.
The premise was oh so tempting.
But...it meant wasting more time than was needed. Even if a mere instant would have passed by on the outside, time was still progressing as normal for this body on the inside. By quenching his thirst for knowledge, he could be endangering the person he was temporarily borrowing it from. "Eyes on the prize, Eloysio," he murmured to himself. Perhaps he could work out a compromise with Sheena someday and be allowed access into this place for real. It wasn't that he'd want to put the knowledge he'd acquire to use—after all, this must be forbidden knowledge for a damn good reason—it was simply that the thought of knowledge forever lost in a way was kind of saddening to him.
The scrolls greatly varied in length, the shortest ones ranging from five to ten minutes for him to absorb. Those of moderate length took from fifteen to twenty, while the longest ones ate anywhere from half an hour to a full one.
Throughout his cram session, he came to learn of a lot of procedures that required hurting other living things quite terribly, and in graphic ways. Well now he was having second thoughts about acquiring every bit of knowledge in this repository.
In about eight hours, he had read a little over half of all the scrolls when he finally found the spell he was looking for. While reviewing it, he recalled the scene that played out earlier and wondered how Rhone got the body creation formula to produce a body closest to what he was looking for. As far as Eloysio knew, the formula supposedly created a blank, featureless body with black hair in an average style. The specifics were to flesh themselves out once a soul was infused to the body.
By now he felt and heard the stomach of the body that wasn't his rumble in hunger. He frowned embarrassedly as he placed a hand over it. It was enough to wake Azriel, who decided to have some sleep during his cram session. With a nervous laugh, she told him, "Just go on and help yourself to my pack, Eloysio. I don't mind." To allow him to take care of sustenance as well would save on time.
While he started to look through her bag, he replied, "Well...I was about to relinquish control back to you seeing as I've already found what I needed, but I would like to try an experiment..." After taking out what snacks had appealed to him—crisp and seasoned dried vegetables, dried squid, and dried pineapples—he also took out a blank scroll and a pencil. "These are possessions that are wholly yours. I wonder if it'll keep the spell circle I shall try to copy once we're out of the spell's environment. I should also prepare the glyph for the body creation formula. But, ah...after I partake of this sustenance and finish the drawings, would you mind if I took some rest? I must admit I feel a strain, like I have this immense weight on my shoulders right now. But I do promise it'll only be a power nap of about half an hour. While I do so, you can continue reading Rhone's journal. From here on, you will learn what you need to do in order for us to escape this spell's effect."
"Why of course, Eloysio!" Azriel answered succinctly, giving a warm smile. She then sat back and waited patiently for him to finish what he was doing.
After Azriel settled back in control of her own body, she took out Rhone's journal and continued reading within the following half hour. While she did so she left the library, desiring a change of scenery, and made her way back to where he still stood.
Day 42:
In my haste to cast the spell, I forgot to look up how to reverse it. I'm sure I'll figure something out.
---
Day 4876:
I've been traveling around to different cities for years now, looking for any kind of information at all about how to get out of this...whatever the hell it is. In the process I've learned more about the spell I've cast on myself...everything except for how to get out. Apparently I'm supposed to age normally while in here, but luckily for me, I don't age at all. I've never been honestly happy about that fact until now. I've also learned something unsettling...I am not the first person to get trapped here. I have occasionally found bones of others who have made the same error I have and succumbed to time. It is by finding these other mages that I have learned more about the place I'm stuck in. I'll have to keep searching for answers.
---
Day 13282:
I feel like I have been here for ages, searching every corner of the world for others like me who became trapped. I finally learned how I may get out. Apparently, the spell won't let someone out until they learn something important about themselves and grow from it. Great, so I have to soul search until the spell just decides I've had enough. This may take a while. Well, at least I have my timepiece so I can count how long this takes. Could be interesting.
---
Day 13284:
Tripped. Timepiece shattered. In low spirits, but I'm not giving up.
---
Day...well, lost count:
I'm trying to make use of my time here. Wherever I search for answers to bring back my loved ones, I try to think about myself as well. Maybe I'll get lucky and some revelation will just come to me, or maybe I'll be trapped in here for longer, I can't tell.
I don't like how the sun just sits there in the sky. Mocking me for the mistakes I've made. I tried, damn it!
How long have I been here? I feel like...I don't know what I feel like. I just am...or am I?
I think I'm starting to lose it. Learned I don't have to use my wings to go across the ocean. I apparently don't have to breathe and can just...dive under without getting wet. Strange feeling. Gonna see if there's anything down here.
Nothing in the ocean. I checked.
Perhaps the sky, then?
Nothing there. Just birds that don't respond to what I say...like everything else...
Forgot why I came here in the first place it's been so long...my old journal pages are worn and faded. Can't read my notes. Just want out.
What do you want from me? I can't think of anything. I don't want to think of anything ever again!
I miss my crew...I miss everyone...
Don't want to be alone anymore...
---
It's finally over. I...woke up where I had cast the spell as if waking from a bad dream. I thought it was for a moment until I looked at my journal. It's as if the spell wants me to remember everything I wrote down. Everything that happened. The worn pages are still worn, but the words glow faintly and won't fade. This spell should never see the light of day. I'm burning the books that pertain to it so no one else falls into its spell. I wish I could erase the knowledge of the spell from my mind. No matter, I feel I have learned from this experience. I feel...mentally fortified. Even my magic feels stronger... One more note... when I woke up, there was a gilded page in my journal that I hadn't added. The spell had rewarded me with how long I had been there and my revelation...I'd thank it if I didn't want to somehow destroy the spell's consciousness...
---
Rhone Molevolo Craft
7649 years, 4 months, 9 days, 13 hours, 47 minutes, and 59 seconds
"Never forget those you lost, but honor their memory by moving forward."
The weight with which the tone in Rhone's writing tugged at her feelings seemed to increase with each entry. If she could widen her eyes much more than humanly possible, they would have fallen out of their sockets upon reading the gilded lettering that Rhone's epiphany was recorded in. Even before Chiaro and Oscuro entered her life, the magnitude of loneliness she's ever felt here and there couldn't hold a candle to what Rhone experienced. She looked up to his still form in the eyes, pressing a hand to her chest and gritting her teeth as a feeling of uneasiness washed over her. "Oh my goddess. All that time alone, unable to die. I can't imagine..."
"What the SH*T, man?!" Oscuro interjected in astonishment, "Over 7000 years?! That's even longer than Master Eloysio's existence! What the hell happened to him?!"
On the dot, Eloysio awakened to hear Oscuro's ranting. He rose from where he laid saying, "That is something we might be shown in due time."
"Oh hey, Eloysio. You sure that's enough resting time for you? We haven't really spent too long in here overall, so I wouldn't mind if you want a little more time."
"I'm quite fine, really I am, Azriel. Thank you for your concern. I really don't want to keep you too long because this next part might take a while too. You remember what you need to do to return to normal time, right?"
She nodded. "Yes. As previously discussed, I need to make a deep revelation of some sort." With a bit of a nervous laugh, she continued, "I'm honestly not sure where to begin. And...why did Rhone think sharing his personal experience might help?"
"Mmn. You may want to sit down for this." Azriel, now bearing a curious expression, closed the journal and put it away in her pack, then took a cross-legged seating position on the ground once more. Eloysio continued, "Well, as you already know, he has the ability to see the auras that people exude. But. He can also gauge how long a person's lifespan is from how they look. And..."—he took quite a pause, almost as if he were afraid to finish the thought—"...he's found you to be immortal, putting you in the same boat as him."
There was more silence as Azriel was overcome with a cold rigidness, making her crease her brow and straighten her back in her seat. She was in disbelief, yet she knew Eloysio and Rhone wouldn't be acting as serious as they were if they were lying. Especially the latter, after spending an enormous amount of time locked in solitude. "Wh...what...?"
"Not enough time has passed for you to notice. I was about 350 years old when I made and wore the collar, and when several decades went by, I realized I just wasn't aging anymore. But by no means did that mean was I invincible; otherwise you wouldn't be donning the collar yourself and I wouldn't be in the state I currently am in. I could still suffer injury and sickness. And at the age of 1600, I was murdered.
To this day, I still struggle to comprehend the reasoning as to why Chiaro and Oscuro connecting to one's soul has that effect. This being said..." crossing his arms, he looked to Azriel's other selves with a puzzled expression, "...that really begs the question as to why you two didn't mention this to her."
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 10:38 pm
The two froze where they stood in unison.
eek"...I...we..."eek
Another moment of silence, and then their expressions fell. The further they went on, the more sorrowful they looked.
"Over the last 4000 years, you couldn't track us down everywhere because it takes a lot of your soul's energy to stay on the plane of the living...so...you couldn't have known..."
"...each host we connected to wouldn't last very long. So many hosts...and then the collar was very well hidden for the last 1000 years. So much time being dormant. Asleep. I guess we just sort of...forgot."
"Or perhaps...it was this subconscious worry. Wondering if Azriel really was going to last long. If she wouldn't, then what would have been the point. Because if there was anything we've learned from our past several incarnations..."
"...it's that people will react outrageously to what they instantly perceive as evil. Namely, me. Many hosts were fearful of us voices in their head they couldn't control, and on top of that, the very image of me. Believing me to be a demon, and Chiaro too just by association despite how she looked."
"The ones that dared to understand us still wouldn't last very long because if other people ever caught sight of her manifested...they were the ones who'd think our host was demon-possessed, and have them executed. If I manifested in defense, people would associate me with this legend of some 'angel of destruction' figure called Spiritua."
"Yeah, it was like...lose-lose all around. Well, uh. In some cases you did kind of live up to the legend, when we had a few hosts who suffered betrayal at the hands of whom they thought to be allies. I mean, holy sh*t, man. It's become your berserk button after what happened to Master Eloysio."
Normally Chiaro would have glared at Oscuro, but because of the current mood in the air, she just turned to her dark counterpart with an expression of sorrowful guilt. It was something all too true, anyhow.
"...And in turn, the intensity of Chiaro's manifestations were able to drain the hosts' souls to death, weren't they," Eloysio concluded.
"...That's correct." She began to cast her stare downward, hanging her head.
"I see...I see." He nodded solemnly. "Come here, you two." Azriel's otherselves approached hesitantly and were uneasy to make eye contact with him, like they were children in trouble. But what their old master wanted was to hold them close for an embrace. "It's okay. Did it seem like I was looking to place some blame on you? That was never my intent. I only sought to understand.
Azriel...have you any hard feelings?"
The young Wingfolk, who was listening intently in silence for the whole exchange, finally spoke up. "N-no, none at all! I understand too." She nodded.
"Now it's just...wow. Now I know I have some degree of immortality. It's just hitting me like whoa. All this realization about what that entails. It changes so many thoughts I've had about the future.
I'm going to outlive many of the friends I'll make. Y'know, I've even thought...somewhere down the line, like several decades later because I'm not in a rush, I could start a family with someone. Because it's a lovely thought—I like children, and imagining having my own fills me with warmth.
But...I would outlive even them, right? Immortality doesn't transfer like that...does it?"
"I...honestly do not know, because I haven't been able to start my own family when I was alive. But...as much as I would like to give you some uplifting words, the logic doesn't fit. I would hypothesize that it doesn't, because this immortality is rooted in the soul, not in blood." Eloysio's expression began to sink. "I...I'm sorry I went and put it that way."
"And at this point, I can only die by mortal wound, illness, or...by my own hand..."
Azriel fell silent, thinking about the scope of her immortality more. And imagining. Peers her age. A little boy and girl, bearing some of her features. All of them building heartwarming moments with her. Her imagination took jumps to the future, where they'd grown but she'd stay the same. Up to where they'd become elderly. Imagining them all in that state of frailty while she had remained unchanged...it began to seize her with anxiety. The notion was weighing on her so heavily that she was too in shock to weep loudly about it. Curling up, hugging her knees to her chest, tears fell silently out of unblinking eyes opened to their widest with a fixated stare on the ground. She also shivered and had a few sniffles here and there.
Shedding a few tears himself, Eloysio began to speak up. "Please forgive me if I ever come off as somewhat insensitive in saying this. I understand there might even be nothing that can alleviate the pain of that reality very well. But...remember, you at least have Chiaro, Oscuro, and one more friend to find solace in. Rhone. And what did he realize himself?"
Looking up, Azriel closed her eyes for a few seconds and wiped her tears with her sleeve. Despite feeling emotionally drained and shaky, she managed a little bit of a smile. "That...that's right. I'm not entirely alone. In moving forward he can honor the memory of those he lost...and that's an example I can follow too."
After she uttered those words, a shimmering, prismatic "outline" enveloped Azriel's body. This must have been a sign that she reached the enlightenment she needed to lift this spell's effects.
However...
Time still did not unfreeze.
"Wh-what the devil?!" Eloysio interjected, growing very nervous. "H...how is this not enough?!"
Azriel, quite puzzled and nervous herself, looked at the outline along her hands and then closed her eyes to look into her mindspace. Something started to click. "This is just a really wild guess... Chiaro and Oscuro are extensions of myself and yet...they're not doing this glowy thing like I thought they would. My body is singular, but..." She opened her eyes and looked up to the sun in the frozen sky. "I think the spell knows there's more than just me here. And it's not just me who needed the knowledge we obtained, it's all of us."
scream"BUT WE ARE EXTENSIONS OF YOU HOW CAN THAT NOT F*CKING ACCOUNT FOR US," Oscuro raged, clearly angry but panicked.
Chiaro firmly grasped her dark counterpart by the shoulders. "Calm down, Oscuro. We cannot waste our time dwelling on the logic. The spell has decided what it has. We must focus on ourselves and introspect toward our epiphanies before we end up in here far too long."
Eloysio nodded. "She's right. Azriel, how about we exchange any thoughts about them we can throw out there? An outside look may prove helpful. Let's start with the simplest observations."
Azriel chuckled a bit, now in lighter spirits. She felt this was going to be a little fun. "Okay, first thing that comes to mind—I have to say Chiaro's very rigid. She will wail on Oscuro over the littlest thing she does that irritates her, the two biggest provokers being an affront to my uh, apparent innocence; the other being when Oscuro partially manifests to throw some snark, or at least comes very close to doing that. Which could very well effectively blow our cover."
Eloysio folded his arms and smirked over at Chiaro. "Oh, I had observed as much myself. You still are like that, are you. Your behavior is understandable and your intents are pure, but...sometimes your reactions are over-the-top. It wouldn't hurt to loosen up once in a while. It's endearing you want to protect her innocence, but...in my humble opinion, you're going down the path of babying her. Too much of that can stunt an organic development."
Azriel nodded in agreement and continued. "That aside, Oscuro...I know you're fully aware of the limits and lines you can potentially cross. I know you get a kick out of pushing our luck, but...maybe try to tone down on the cockiness? Just five years with you and we've had way too many close calls than comfortable."
Now it was Eloysio's turn to nod, with an added shrug. "I'm in full agreement. I don't think I have anything more to add to that."
Oscuro frowned. "These...don't feel like enlightening realizations at all. If anything, these are things we've kinda been telling each other already. Constantly."
Chiaro shook her head. "We've only just begun. This just means we need to dig a little deeper. But before we move on...I think there's a generalizing remark that's been tugging me from those comments. My behavior can reach a point of hindering Azriel's growth. Oscuro's puts her at great risk..."
Oscuro held her chin. "Huh. I was kinda going in the same direction, only my point about you was more about your disproportionate rage on me. I can't deny my cockiness." She grinned at her latter remark like she were proud of it.
"All in all...in our five years thus far with Azriel...the way we've been hasn't posed serious detriment to her just yet...but it has potential to get there. And we've been putting her on edge a lot of the time."
"So what you're getting at is...we have room for improvement in achieving a perfect balance between us."
"A 'perfect balance' meaning one that ultimately results in peace and resonance with Azriel."
It was in this moment that the two were enveloped in the same shimmering "outline" at last.
Eloysio made a proud, beaming smile. "Excellent work, the both of you. Now it's my turn." A pause, and he continued, "I may be able to reach a conclusion myself. I think the millennia I've spent fighting to maintain my existence here in the plane of the living has taught me something."
Another pause for further gathering his thoughts, and he began to pace about. "I know myself to be a very, very meticulous thinker. Chiaro, Oscuro, you do too. But for the grand number of possibilities I can think up, fate and probability sure can end up surprising me. I never expected to get you two out of creating the collar. I never expected becoming trapped in Tethe'alla. I never expected Malachai and Cordelia to betray me the way they did. I expected the introspection of Chiaro and Oscuro to go longer than that. And I think most of all, I never expected to be able to hang on to the living realm for as long as I did. About four thousand years has passed since my death. It still astounds me that I was able to find as many sources of spiritual energy as I did, and keep hanging on by slivers.
...I believe what I've learned overall is that for all the effort I spend in thinking, I cannot concretely determine exactly what chance will throw at me. No matter how much I like to think I can."
Eloysio felt himself tense up out of nervousness upon seeing that it took a few seconds for the shimmering to surround him too. It made something of a gradual fade-in for him, at that.
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 10:41 pm
All four of them saw the same blinding golden light that was present in the beginning of the spell, then pure white.
When their vision returned, Azriel felt herself standing again, with Rhone's hand back on her shoulder.
She blinked the flashing out of her eyes, shook her head, and spoke up.
"Rhone. We made it. We're back."
Without thinking, she moved forward and embraced him rather firmly. She wasn't sure why she did that...perhaps it was her subconscious acting on everything she came to learn about this tall, dark elf.
Rhone reacts in surprise for a moment before relaxing and moving his hand from Azriel's shoulder to her head, smiling uncharateristically warmly.
"I'd tell you I was worried...but I knew you'd be alright. Didn't expect this, though... I expected some response out of learning the truth about yourself, but with this reaction..."
Rhone's eyes widen for a second as realization dawns on him.
"That's right! The forbidden knowledge in Mizuho...that room!"
But it's kept out of the main thread because it involves mostly just my own characters.))
