The Burdens We Carry [Romi]

ArcanaFate

ArcanaFate

aRCANE lORE mASTER
Ranger
May 19, 2018
711
Pronouns
He/Him
Asteria blinked. Really? He didn't have any starting points to ask about her? About her actual age? Where she was really from? What her true abilities were? Nothing!? If this already hadn't been a cluster of nightmarish shenanigans, it had evolved quickly into a cluster involving a few choice swear words. Letting out a long sigh and taking a seat on her very cushiony armchair, she looked at Jude then shifted a glance to her grey couch as if to say, That is where you sit.

"Okay... New plan. We have two starting points I could go from. I could start with my life before I arrived in this dimension and the origin of my abilities, or I could start with my time after coming here and everything leading up to my initial meeting with Ezra. What rabbit hole would you like to look into first?"
 
Romi

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
Truth be told, Jude had a lot of questions. A lot. He could have sat there all day and asked her questions, but he also felt pretty strongly that any question he asked was just going to be putting a proverbial stone between him and whatever truth about Ezra Asteria was hiding from him. Well, from the world, but he happened to be part of the world.

"I think the rabbit hole about Ezra. I'm kind of curious about the world you come from and all that, but I think Ezra's stuff sounds like a more... pressing matter?"
 
ArcanaFate

ArcanaFate

aRCANE lORE mASTER
Ranger
May 19, 2018
711
Pronouns
He/Him
Asteria gave a faint smile before leaning back into her seat. "Alright. Before I begin, though, I suppose a little context is in order so you understand how I got involved in this whole thing. First, as I alluded to previously, I work with the Veil. Not in an actual employment capacity, but more as a consultant for various magical phenomena. I enjoy the work, I get paid a ridiculous sum of money for it, and I get to pick and choose my hours, more or less. Travel's always nice too." She grinned. "But I'm getting off topic."

"I received a call about a two years ago regarding an odd magical signature in the middle of Siberia. A simple job, really. Investigate the phenomena, research countermeasures, fill out paperwork, go home. I travel to the site, and it's a rend in the universe. A literal doorway that was ripped open into another dimension. Being the curious researcher I am, I wanted to go inside and investigate. The Veil were wary, but convincing them to let me do my job wasn't that difficult."

"So, into the portal I go with a head full of dreams and an arsenal full of high-powered magical weaponry. Care to guess at what I found inside?"
 
Romi

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
Well, that wasn't exactly a hard question, was it?

"Ezra," he said. "Or whatever Ezra is. That's what this is about, isn't it? That he's..." Jude paused for a moment, considering how he wanted to word it. "That he's something bigger than he appears, and you've sealed him down to... to what he is now."

He really didn't quite get it, but he didn't really have to, either.
 
ArcanaFate

ArcanaFate

aRCANE lORE mASTER
Ranger
May 19, 2018
711
Pronouns
He/Him
Well, color her surprised.

Not really. Jude had deduced quite a bit from the little she had given, but it wasn't a difficult conclusion to reach given the circumstances. Asteria gave a small smile, but her heart wasn't into it. This was going to go pretty horrible pretty quickly. "Excellent deduction, but not quite. There is a little more to the story than just that."

"So, into the portal I go, only to discover a village. A beautiful village of stone and forest, far advanced beyond anything I had seen in a while. It was odd; there were only about thirty or so people living within the little town. They looked remarkably similar to Ezra in most ways: the white hair, the lighter skin, even the black sclera. It was quite remarkable, but it was quite... disturbing as well."

Asteria gave Jude a curious look before sighing. "You've seen how Ezra acts, yes? How they have no emotions or anything behind their words, their face barely moves and it's impossible to tell how they're feeling? Imagine that times thirty. I got used to it quickly, but it was like talking to a bunch of robots. Anyway, they welcomed me into their village and explained to me some of their culture."

"They were called the Sho'lai, and they were chronological nomads of sorts. Except instead of travelling by caravan, they traveled via dimensional rifts. Collecting information of various eras with their magics, they hoped to collect and store as much knowledge as possible."
 
Romi

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
The whole idea of it was interesting, but Jude almost immediately had a few theories of his own. Theories that Asteria had probably also had, but things that were worth saying anyway. It helped establish the kind of person he was, and the kind of thoughts he had.

"They wouldn't have any need for physical displays of emotions if they're all empathetically linked. The way that a species of mind readers might not develop a written or even spoken language. But it makes it hard to connect with other species. Did they not link with you, the way Ezra can?"

Ezra had mentioned that ability before, so he was confident in being able to mention it without showing too many of his cards. He'd explained it as a reason why he couldn't just go out and about, and he knew it was at least mostly true.
 
ArcanaFate

ArcanaFate

aRCANE lORE mASTER
Ranger
May 19, 2018
711
Pronouns
He/Him
"No, they didn't. Rooting thirty connections to me would have apparently caused me severe mental trauma, according to them. The Sho'lai have those connections from birth, so it doesn't phase them like it would us. Good question, though." Asteria nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. Seriously, whoever invented the beverage, she owes them a huge thank you.

"Anyway, I ended up living with them for some time, learning about their culture, the knowledge they had kept, their god, everything. Most of the villagers found me interesting, however only one of them I was remotely close to. Their name was," Asteria paused to utter... some kind of word before pressing on, "And they would become the focus of the story. I'll call them... Sparrow, for my sake. Saying their true name is utterly nightmarish on the tongue."

"Sparrow was an acolyte of their god, much like an alter boy in the churches. They were utterly fascinated by me and humanity's culture. Unfortunately, due to their age, they couldn't go out into the world yet to learn about humanity. But they enjoyed talking to me and I learned most of what I know about the Sho'lai from them. One of the things mentioned was a ritual to bring back their 'god'. Apparently, this god was sort of a judge. Once enough information was absorbed and a society was deemed advanced enough, the judge would 'settle the balance'. It lost a lot in translation but that's as close I can get."

"Apparently, I arrived at the perfect time to see the preparations for this ritual take place."
 
Romi

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
Jude was uncomfortable. Giltenn was uncomfortable. That didn't often happen, and Jude was distinctly aware of the feeling of it.

Ah.

"And they summoned the god into Ezra, who was once Sparrow, and they're an amalgam?"

He was probably better off not guessing at all, but he couldn't stop himself. He had to guess, to say what was on his mind, because all he could feel was the distinct feeling of Giltenn's discomfort, lingering in his mind like a rock.
 
ArcanaFate

ArcanaFate

aRCANE lORE mASTER
Ranger
May 19, 2018
711
Pronouns
He/Him
"Close. Their 'god' was less of a deity and more of an insane power boost. It simply deemed whether it was time to restore the balance. It's personality was an amalgam of every past Sho'lai who had invoked it before. But Sparrow was not the intended host of this being. The host was to be the head of the village as it always was; we'll call them... Hawk. Hawk was very intelligent, and very devout in their faith. A thoughtful soul, who had been the one to welcome me with open arms into their home. They had believed that this god was a necessity, a basic requirement for life to continue on in its cycle."

Asteria took another sip of coffee with a bitter look. "This god was not about judgement, but rather a cataclysmic event. Every time this being commenced 'judgement', worlds ended. Societies vanished. Erased. The only knowledge of those places even existing is inside the mind of that beast. And Hawk had decided our world had to end. In order to start anew."

"And for that to happen, Hawk needed a sacrifice. One who would give up their life so that Armageddon could begin for Earth." She set the mug down, crossing her arms. "The other villagers were aware of what was to happen. I was not. I awoke to find the village quiet, except at the main building that was their religious hub. I walked in on the ritual. I panicked."

She froze, her hand faintly shaking as she clamped her jaw down tight before continuing through gritted teeth. "I shot Hawk. A fine beam of pure magical essence straight through the forehead. Arguably the cleanest shot I've ever made while in a panic. However, in doing so, I had inadvertently completed the ritual for them. Hawk was sacrificed, and the only other person inside their ritual circle was..."

Asteria trailed off. The implication was clear.
 
Romi

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
In so many words, the Gultha combined with the Alexandrian. There were a lot of common elements that were serving to make Jude uncomfortable, but he nodded as he listened, following along.

But he had a different point to make when Asteria paused.

"What if the world needed it? Like, parts of California need to burn to the ground to maintain their ecology. Maybe their world needed that destruction to keep going. I don't know." He didn't know them. He didn't know the world. But he was hyper-attuned to things like the cycle goes one way, and you disrupted it, and now everything is spinning wildly off kilter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom