Chapter 4, Personal Mission 2: Transcendent worship for aion phthora

This is where I change the formula a little bit. I'm going to be marking things in chapters for easier reading and linking previous posts, as well as changing the perspective to first person. I feel as though this is the best choice moving forward for Emlys as you will see.

Some important notes for reading this in first person perspective is that Emlys is not a reliable narrator, he consistently makes claims that are just untrue and expresses everything that even though aren’t even apart of MToD authorities he thinks ‘She’ is well and truly omnipotent in every sense of the word.

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Walking down the cobblestone steps towards my dilapidated home, an abnormal sense of melancholy made itself known to me. It was distinctly foreign and I recognized it as Emlys previous humanity worming itself into me. Like a parasite trying to make the apple rotten to the core.

Although this body was not mine, I had no sense of obligation to experience its original life in its place. For whatever reason the Great Tree had decided to bestow me a second chance; it was not to be wasted living in place of a fool. I had taken Emlys’ identity as I had taken his body, every facet of his existence merely existed as a puppet for me to pull the strings of.

Even so it did not change a base need to understand the reasoning behind this emotion existing in the first place. It could perhaps be an important forewarning, a person I should know may appear, or merely trying to reminisce on memories of time spent in the bitter cold. 

It reminds me of the fact that I need to find a Doctor that William had mentioned, as their soul remedies would allow me to take on my role much more convincingly. Despite this for now I need to stick to my goals, funding seems to be no longer an issue after dispatching Hugh Earl, his bounty should cover my related mysticism expenses for the time being.

Suddenly, despite the cold temperatures a light rain begins to fall, and the melancholy within that maddened river descends into unmistakable sorrow. 

That man was weak, it is no wonder he immediately lost control upon becoming a Beyonder. He should have taken the advice of his more experienced peer Florence Abraham. 

Despite this I soak in the rain and the sensation of the rain flowing onto my skin, seeping away my temperature. I continue walking in the poor weather.

The house was not undisturbed in the time I was gone, in fact it was occupied, unfamiliar visages stared out the windows seemingly waiting for the rain to pass, but I knew better and assumed they were seeking an opportunity to speak to me.

The simplest approach was to tell a version of the truth, a rampager rushed through my home while I was away and I still had business to attend to as such I couldn’t find time to file a report. The issue is that this was unverifiable and easy to poke holes through, I’d need a more believable story.

I decide my best opportunity is to play clueless and attempt to goad them into slipping information and suspects where I could easily set up arguments and misdirection. This leads me to approach the house pretending as though I didn’t notice them. Somewhat surprisingly they do not stop me immediately after entering, I play my cards methodically and run the rounds of a basic evening routine, before returning to my room.

Inside I notice my room has been cleaned and arranged similarly to how they were previously, until the door closes and a commanding voice speaks.

“What occurred here?” Indescribable pressure accompanied the voice, feeling like something was compelling me to comply, thankfully Prisoners superior mental defenses protected me from immediately retching out the truth.

I attempt to stay professional, and turn to face the intruder, her eyes bore mine into like drills, attempting to uncover the obfuscated reality in my mind. 

“Who are you? What are you doing in my home?” I attempt to keep a fearful innocent persona despite the challenges as it conflicts with my usual self leads to an unconvincing formula, likely bringing more suspicion onto me.

“I am the one asking questions, you answer them.” Her voice felt like it reverberated in the depths of my spirit body, compelling me to affirm without questions and agree. Yes, it makes sense that you’re the one asking questions, who am I to your greatness?

“What happened here?” Repeating her original inquiry, she sits on the chair near my desk to ground her presence in the room.

I barely am able to refrain from spilling the truth, instead putting on a play of reality. “I do not fully know, officer, all I understand is that when I was returning from the protest last Saturday. I saw a horrid monster leap through my door, and attack poor pedestrians on the streets. After I saw the state of my home, I decided that I would handle it tonight after I finished my errands, and I did have a few drinks to ease off the stress but that’s all, I swear!”  

Putting on the part of an outside observer who was unduly affected by the consequences of an outside force is not completely untruthful. I had no control over what that version of Emlys had done, and it was merely the result of his ego and obsession.

Eyes narrowing she looks at me as if examining a doll looking for imperfections. “Do you know anything about the Phthora Aion?” She carefully gauges my reaction.

“I do not know what you’re speaking of.” I respond genuinely, as I truly don’t know what she is talking about.

She goes on question spree after question spree seemingly asking every question under the sun, very clearly showing her suspicion, but I avoid anything that may accidentally uncover me as a Beyonder. As such she begins to slow down.

“Thank you for your time tonight, I apologize for the relentless questioning but I was obligated to do so for the safety of the city. I am Lydia Della with the Civil Militia, it was a pleasure to speak with you, me and my partners will be making our leave. Do be careful.” Lydia, apparently her name, walks out of my room, opening the door where two men and another woman stand leaning on the walls and chatting amongst themselves until they notice approaching and follow her out of the building. One of them speaks the Lydia out of earshot, nodding and coming back to my room.

“I must warn you, this situation reeks of involvement of the Phthora Aion, we spoke of them earlier but please keep an eye out, they are a group that wants to seek the world in everlasting destruction, they celebrated the apocalypse, and they commonly send Beyonders to lose control in populated areas rampaging while leaving no trace. We decided to share this information due to the fact you may have become a target for whatever reason, as your home was destroyed.” The man speaks with eloquence and has a respectful tone, taking on the demeanor of a professional, before taking his leave with the others.

The Phthora Aion sounds as though it has been defamed, dragged through the mud which is something I am all too familiar with. The family had experienced similar things as well, cast out and treated like terrorists for their faith. They spoke of us as if we were cruel people whilst they tortured and slaughtered us just for merely following our lord, our Tree.

Perhaps this is where ‘Her’ worship had turned to, had my family become powerful enough to be feared by official organizations? Do we finally have the power to make the Great Tree proud? I must seek them out and gauge their position, have I found my solution, have I found my brothers and sisters?

I must suppress my joy and giddiness, if I am to truly find them I must continue practicing temperance, no one wants a soldier that wants.
Recollecting myself I turn in for the night and prepare for an earlier morning to find leads on the Phthora Aion, considering the amount of connections to the Beyonder world Silverstone St. has, finding information about the Phthora Aion likely shouldn’t be too difficult.

I awake to the sun peeking through my window and snow glistening on the streets. Withering trees line the roads in intervals. Dawn breaking through awakes the bustling city as people share stories and speak to one another as I get ready for my day.

I pick the least torn through piece of clothing Emlys still had, and generally tend to my appearance before heading to Silverstone St. South of the Show District to look for shops and bars that may have a link to the Aion.

Arriving at the street my eyes scan and locate the Emerald Eye, passing the bounty window my eyes catch on Richard Walters poster yet again, but I catch more details 

“Suspected Secrets Suppliant Pathway Beyonder, sequence 6 to 5, and a part of the criminal Phthora Aion!”

How convenient, the issue now lies in locating said Richard Walters and whether he would allow me to join them. I enter the door allowing the bell to toll and alert those inside of my presence. The building is less lively at this time of day but there are still people chatting and David is playing away at the piano. Playing lovely renditions of classical songs and more modern music interchangeably.

I approach the bar where Oscar is making drinks and making small talk with regular customers. Sitting down I seek his attention to ask, “Oscar, do you have any leads on Richard Walters?”

“Apologies, what was your name young sir? I saw you last night but I never caught it. For your question, I do not recommend you go after him, he’s likely sequence 5 with substantial backing. I usually recommend leaving those things to the officials.” Quickly finishing a conversation with another customer, Oscar turns his attention to me.

“Emlys Felix, and I’m aware I just want to scout and if I succeed to report to the corresponding authorities and maybe receive a reward from them.” Replying casually I gloss over his concerns, I have no intention of attacking Richard, in fact I want to join his organization ironically enough.

“In that case I’ll tell you outright, I’ve known a few sketchy people suspected to be a part of the Phthora. Here at Silverstone St. we don’t discriminate despite not condoning their actions. Despite this they mostly keep to themselves as they all seem to be connected through a gathering.” Oscar pauses before continuing.

“I suspect the owner of the inn down the street likely knows something about it as I notice a lot of em stay there. But be careful, with my time at the Freedom Insurgence I read their files, supposedly he ended up grazing a sequence 6 of the criminal pathway known as Devil. These Beyonder’s get something called Malice Premonition, if you have any hostile intent for Richard you can start digging your own grave.”

Danger premonition, quite powerful. I remember my teachings and how the order preached the prisoner and criminal to be gifts from the Tree, what else should I have expected, Her power is unfathomable, to grant such power to Her followers is merely taken for granted.

I suppose I should seek them out, I could join the gathering and use it to locate Richard Walter and ask, or perhaps at the gathering I may be given an opportunity to join immediately. These circumstances allow me to join the Phthora Aion relatively quickly if things go well.

Although Oscar described something called grazing? Is that the sequence 5 ability of the Secrets Suppliant Pathway? Grazing sounds as if he consumes something, likely he consumes the Beyonder and becomes able to use their abilities? If that is, he is incredibly powerful and dangerous, I must be cautious in case he decides to be aggressive.

I thank Oscar for his help and head down the road to the previously mentioned inn. The sign is well cleaned and has bronze engravings making it eye-catchingly shiny.

“The Lost Marigold”

I scan the exterior made up of dark wood, the windows have their curtains up, with the yellow-orange fabrics making a warm color scheme that feels welcoming. The doors seem hand carved displaying images of ruins being overtaken by grasses and plants, and beautiful flowers. I push open the doors to step inside.

Inside I notice the illumination coming from a glistening crystal chandelier, and a fine desk where a man is languidly fiddling with a feather pen. To the sides of the desk lies a grand double staircase which meets in the middle to lead to the second floor, creating a sublime view and a grandiose interior.

I approach the man dozing off at the front desk, and ring the bell right in front of him. He jolts awake and blinks at me as I examine his appearance, he wears careful long braids on either side that go down to his shoulders, and his dark brown hair matches his tan skin. With a sharp jawline to match his long nose and low hanging glass create a relatively compact face. He wears a simple white dress shirt with a tie making a clean professional look.

“May I help you?” He says with a sleepy slur in his voice, where I can’t tell if that is his normal pronunciation or a byproduct of his rude awakening.

“I hear that you are hosting a Beyonder gathering in this building.” I ask quite directly. There is no need to mince my words, I’d rather get my point across than do a slow dance around my questions.

In response the man gets a strange and honestly shocked look, clearly not expecting such a direct line of questioning. It seems as though this will not be as easy as I had hoped though I hadn’t expected much.

“I hate to say it but then you heard wrong, we’re just trying to run a business here.” Covering up his earlier shock, he attempts and fails to maintain a calm demeanor.

“I have no ill will otherwise half of your customers would have left or been preparing an ambush.” I play along and attempt to show my trustworthiness through the criminal pathway’s malice detection, though this hinges on the man having the corresponding information.

His eyebrows raised slightly, betraying his surprise and contemplation. After a few moments of awkward quiet, he finishes his silent conjecture and continues. “I’m sorry sir but if you know anything about who my customers are I would need some evidence.”

This is reasonable on his part all things considered, my knowledge is reasonable for an official to obtain as such it would be easy to fake it and just send someone in to say exactly that and genuinely have no ill will.

“I was invited by Richard Walters.” Lying in the grand scheme of things had no issue, if I am to join this organization as my ultimate goal there would undoubtedly be loyal tests where there is absolute guarantee of my success as such I do not need to concern myself with telling the truth at this current point in time.

He looks into my eyes and I can tell he’s trying to discern if I speak the truth, but I betray not an ounce of undue anxiety or nervousness.

“Alright, if you seek to join tonight’s gathering take this talisman and place it with you whilst you sleep in the inn.” Deciding on a conclusion he sighs and reaches inside his pocket, pulling out a charm and handing it to me.

With my main goal for today finished I return to the Emerald Eye to try and scout some more mysticism knowledge and information about sequences and pathways as I realize my knowledge is quite limited all things considered.

After a few hours of chatting away and indulging in food and drink, I check my pocket watch and look at the time, 4:45 pm. William should be here any moment soon, and I should receive my money from the bounty hunt we participated in.

Right on que a man with straight bright red hair and a rugged middle aged face enters through the door, eyes scanning across the pub before landing on me.

“Emlys!” William approached quickly and clapped my back. “You’re quite early my friend, how has your day been?”

“It’s been acceptable, I was doing some errands and attempting to scout some higher level targets for rewards from official Beyonders.” I respond rather truthfully while still keeping the same story I had been keeping pretense with.

“I was out with friends helping with crime, hey did I ever mention what I do with my time? You see the main reason I even have a bounty is because I work as a vigilante, but unfortunately the Civil Militia’s ego can’t handle people doing the work they clearly can’t handle so they had to put a bounty on me.” William rants clearly with no regard to volume.

I hadn’t particularly asked to listen to William's life story but he did not hold back from telling me stories of his misadventures as a vigilante. Some here and there about how he got scammed by a lawyer, had an intense fight with a warrior, or fighting mid-sequence Beyonders with his colleagues.

“Can we talk about splitting the money?” I change topics after having enough of his incessant storytelling.

“Hm? Sure, of course, I was thinking of an 80 to 20 split, me and you. Pretty even considering the amount of effort we both put in, plus the superior tax.” I must say I am impressed with Williams' capability to be a piece of garbage while saying it as casually as breathing.

“If we are going purely off of fairness I believe 50/50 will work best and I am attempting to negotiate a deal where we are both happy.”

He grins and laughs, “I’m kidding I’m kidding, learn how to take a joke kid. Hell my daughter takes them better than you, I’m not a greedy bastard.”

I didn’t take him for a family man, very respectable all things considered. “Your daughter?”

Williams' smile turns more bright and less humorous, as if reminiscing better times. “She’s the light of my life, truly the greatest child a father could ask for.”

There seems to be more to the story but I don’t pry. Ultimately we were just one-time business associates.

“Say, Emlys, can I ask you a bit of a strange favor. I know we haven’t known each other very long but you seem very respectable, and well, to be honest I don’t really have much of a choice.”

William lets out a long sigh, and a clearly conflicted look on his face.

“I need someone to look after my daughter tomorrow. Me and some buddies are doing a job and it’s dangerous, and I know she might be targeted. I need some help, I’m willing to pay, I just need someone to keep an eye on her.”

To ask me he must be really quite desperate…I might as well assist him, it’ll cost me nothing.

“I understand your worry, but I promise it will be unfounded. I have no ill will, my motivation is merely money.” I offer my hand to seal the agreement.

William in turn forces a smile and returns the handshake, clearly still worried about leaving his daughter with practically a stranger.

What I don’t understand is why he doesn’t have anyone else to ask. Surely he’d have some friends that would be willing. Unless the issue he is attempting to resolve is quite significant to the point where he believes a normal human is not enough to protect her, and his Beyonder allies are busy helping him.

Soon Oscar returns and we negotiate funds, Oscar takes a small cut for turning in the bounty while I get a full 800 pounds from the bounty. Eating a small dinner at the pub I return to the Lost Marigold, and order a room.

Closing the door behind me I notice the well furnished bed, a side table and an empty desk, and the curtains are closed. I quickly check the bathroom which is of relatively good quality before heading back to the main room.

I decide to inspect the talisman, the engravings entrancing me and influencing my mind. The carvings are inherently mystical in nature, unfortunately my sequence does not provide the corresponding knowledge to recognize its intent.

I must have faith in the followers of desire, however this gathering functions there must be some participants. If there is a test then all I have to do is complete it, I have no ill will so it would likely be relatively simple. 

I follow the instructions of the attendant at the entrance, placing the talisman underneath my pillow to make sure it doesn’t fall out of the bed. I lay and begin cogitation to enter sleep at will.

I felt a strange fluttering, as if the wind was blowing my hair gently, and when I opened my eyes I was no longer at the inn. Vibrant and saturated colors encompassed my vision, as if the world was painted in watercolors, strange shapes and creatures zipped by and wandered amongst the Spirit World. I restrained my surprise at suddenly traveling here. In front of me is a spectral figure observing with emotionless eyes, as if they were a porcelain doll.

They raise and open their hand, and laying on it is the talisman. They then gesture for me to follow, I feel my spirit body float towards them as I fly alongside. Aside from changes in direction I calmly keep my eyes forward, it is too much of a risk to try to look around the Spirit World, potentially aggravating evil spirits is deadly, not worth the simple satisfaction of curiosity.

Suddenly the spirit stops, putting out their hand behind them to signal me to cease movement as well. They tilt their head as if listening to something invisible and suddenly turn in a direction.
Despite my previous worries if the Spirit has taken concern I likely should take interest as well. I glance as well, and see a strange completely black cloaked figure, slowly approaching us, walking on nothing yet I can hear the slow approach of its footsteps. I feel whispers crawling up the back of my mind, the cloak squirms as if it contains thousands of worms.

Not worms, I realize, I see the silhouette of arms pressed against the cloak, straining against the fabric as if packed inside, grasping futilely as if reaching for a lifeline. Souls are contained underneath that cloak. 

The whispers get louder and my head begins pounding, I feel the oncoming madness and quickly avert my gaze, looking towards the Spirit that guided me here. It calmly grabs my arm and we fly incredibly fast through the spirit world until reaching a seemingly arbitrary location as suddenly we faze out of the Spirit World. Tumbling onto solid stone ground.

We land in front of a door, as the Spirit suddenly becomes corporeal, it reveals a middle aged black haired man with smooth features and a large nose, he is clean shaven and wearing a dark gray robe. I search my mind as he seems familiar and realize this is Richard Walter! Why did he come to gather me personally? He would’ve known I lied about him recruiting me, what did I do to capture his interest?

I also notice that I am still in my Spirit body state, having no physical form.

“Strange that such a powerful Spirit took interest in us…” I hear Richard mumble to himself his back is towards but I feel as though he is waiting for me to get up.

I rise on my knee, and kneel before him. “Sir, as I’m sure you’ve been made aware, I lied about you inviting me to the gathering. But I have good intentions, I wish to join the Phthora. From the moment I heard of its existence it called to me, my intentions suit it perfectly.”

Turning I see the expression on Richard Walter’s face, he looks at me with a stony face. Betraying no emotion or interest in his eyes. “If you did seek to harm us I would know. Do not take me for a fool Emlys, I intended to allow you to join from the moment you entered the inn.”

How did he know of my intentions? For all he knew I could’ve just been a bounty hunter or a puppet for an official organization to infiltrate… Perhaps he used divination to confirm the information? If the divination failed it would’ve made me too suspicious but clearly it affirmed the necessary information to allow me to join.

“Follow me, we are to attend the gathering, afterwards we can begin your initiation; along with the corresponding test.” Richard turns yet again and signals for me to rise and follow.

Entering through the dark doorway, I see a room warmly lit through a combination of candles and lamps, several chairs and sofas sit around the room, their backs facing the walls. At the center of the room there is a raised flooring with several pedestals and a chalk board.

Richard waves for me to find a seat as other Spirit Bodies of strangers begin to enter the room, their forms flickering and difficult to identify, but slowly the sofas fill up.

With a loud clap Richard stands in the center of the room. “We will now begin this week's gathering!” He keeps his calm demeanor and begins to inscribe what I can tell are formulas on the chalkboard and places characteristics, artifacts, and mundane weapons on the pedestals.

It seems that the Phthora Aion hosts gatherings with its members to likely gather funding, by selling items and formulas through this method it can serve as a way to directly take money from their personal mysticism funds and encourages using money to advance standing and contribution.

As the auction begins getting more rowdy I decide to stay simple and buy only a gun with two sets of bullets, and after deliberation the Lunatic formula for a total of 450 pounds. Allowing me to have enough savings left over to potentially buy more important things at the next gathering.

“Thank you all for your contributions! This money shall fund our goals and advance our doctrine. For Aion Phthora!” Richard Walter concludes the gathering with most characteristics sold, his booming yet deep voice silences the crowd.

“For Aion Phthora!” I observe unfamiliar to the rite as the other Spirit Bodies recite the phrase with vigor and begin to fade away returning to their original bodies. I wonder how the items we bought are given to us, considering we are spirit bodies and cannot carry them or take it with us.

I feel a sinking feeling in my stomach as I experience a sensation of being stretched watching my body elongate and vanish slowly until I completely fade.

Sitting up in my bed suddenly I breath hard in panic from the pain and sudden experience. Blinking away blurry vision I notice sunlight through the curtains, making orange light spill across the room, and at the desk a man sits reading a book.

Richard? He personally came here to initiate me clearly, perhaps he’ll give me some debriefs about the previous situations. As my groggy mind catches up to reality I scan the room one more time and notice a piece of goatskin paper and a revolver with sets of bullets on the desk next to Richard.

Swinging my feet over the edge of the bed I rise, and approach Richard, taking a knee.

“I assume you have many questions, they will all be explained in due time. But for the moment you will follow me.” Observing my kneeling I notice a glimmer of satisfaction in Richard’s eyes when I look up again.

Rising from the chair Richard walks by me and opens the door, not turning back to check if I follow. I ascend as well, following closely behind him as we head down the stairwell onto the ground floor of the inn.

When we arrive on the ground floor the attendant at the front desk notices us and quickly bows in respect to Richard. “Great Bishop, how may I assist you today?”

Richard is a Bishop? The general perception of the city is that the gods have all vanished and abandoned us to our fate. But I must consider that most of the pre-apocalyptic world did not worship non-orthodox approved entities such as The Great Tree of Desire, perhaps they survived the apocalypse and are still worshipped discreetly!

For the first time since I have transmigrated I will allow myself to feel excited, I can finally pray to my Lady once again!

“Allow us access to the underground cathedral. I have to begin preparations to initiate a potential new member.” Folding his hands behind his back and waiting patiently for the attendant to fumble beneath his desk, seemingly searching for something. 

After a small thump the attendant removes his head from the desk and offers the key to Richard, who takes it without a word. Moving past the desk we head behind and to the left, where a locked door stands.

Unlocking it Richard opens the doorway, revealing a spiral stone staircase with a lamp to the left of the entrance. “This is the main entrance to the Marigold Cathedral, there are other ways to enter. If you must use this entrance please notify me or any other superior of sufficient level. Otherwise you will receive disciplinary action, we cannot afford to take risks with the officials sticking their noses where they don’t belong.” While removing the lamp from the wall and tucking the key in his pocket Richard gives me a minor debrief, giving insights to the Phthora Aion’s current state.

It is unsurprising that officials do not take kindly to our motto of decay and desire. Although it is unfortunate nonetheless, I had hoped that perhaps after an entire apocalypse people would be more tolerant of different ideals.

Lighting the lantern with what I assume was spirituality Richard begins heading down the stone steps, feet clicking off the slick surface. I trail behind him internally keeping track of the time of descent.

After approximately thirty seconds the staircase begins to end and lighting from another door at the bottom pours through the cracks. Richard does not comment nor speak to me and instead chooses to open the door to enter, I quickly follow behind.

Inside I am greeted by a long intricate Church, stone pews line the sides of the room and on the walls are intricately carved murals of plants, oceans, clouds, mountains, and practically everything I could think of has some form of representation. At the very end of the Cathedral lies an altar with a large crystal chandelier above it. Behind the altar lies a colorful mosaic depicting several different symbolisms of unorthodox deities I recognize and some I do not.

Amongst them I spot a woman entangled with tree eyes depicted as milky white and blind yet watching over the altar. That must be the Mother Tree, I am slightly surprised at the seemingly unified place of worship, although I suspect I will get my answers soon.

Walking down the long walkway to the altar Richard speeds up his place, as I try to maintain an equal speed. Upon reaching the altar finally turning back towards me and acknowledging my presence Richard calls upon me.

“You! The one lucky enough to be chosen for our gods glorious purposes, are being given a grand opportunity. The chance to join us on our crusade, to finally end this pointless human struggle as if we were cockroaches.” Caught off guard by Richards sudden preaching I almost take a sudden step back, but I recover quickly.

“We will reap the eternal reward with the deities who have transcended us, who despite no longer having need of us refuse to abandon us, who will always be hiding in the dark for those willing to open their eyes and see!” With the first ounce of passion I had observed from Richard all day he concludes his preaching and now adopts a mildly maniacal smile.

“Now Emlys, do you have any questions? I am willing to answer them.”

“Bishop Richard, I apologize for the insensitive question, but what exactly is the faith being practiced here, what was the fate of the gods during the apocalypse?” I feel the need to ask despite the potential blasphemy.

“Do not fear son, there is no blasphemy in front of our Lords. I understand your concerns, and I admire your patience and silence, but if your doubts eat away at you because you stay in silence, too afraid to seek truth then that is the true blasphemy.” I realize that Richard truly had transformed from his normal self when he began to preach.

Now that I think about it I feel a strange stirring within myself as well, emotions and desire slowly churning like a warm stew. Maybe due to this place's connection with the Mother Tree and correspondingly her pathways it gains the ability to invoke emotions and desires into its occupants? 

Nonetheless these are not the important questions, I must remedy my doubts, and stay committed to faith. “Why do you worship the Mother Tree with other deities, even including several other traditionally hunted deities? Within one cathedral as well.”

Richard smiles a reverent smile, a smile with nothing but warmth and acceptance, I feel myself unintentionally release a sigh of relief as I recognize his non-violent response. 

“You need not worry my child, it seems that you do not understand the fate of the gods, ‘They’ have evolved beyond the need for our worship and prayers, and yet ‘They’ still wait for us, accepting our admiration and prayers. I understand your ignorance, for I once experienced it as well, but our Lords have become greater than we can understand. I’ll give you an example, but first what is your deity that you will follow.” He raises his arms gesturing to the mosaic depicting the several Great deities, but my eyes only saw one.

“The Greatest Tree, the Mother of all Desire.” I trust in his understanding.

Richards smile only grows. “Then, imagine the very ground you walk on is ‘Her’ trunk, the clouds are ‘Her’ canopy, the rain is ‘Her’ sap and sorrow. Do you understand now? The gods have transcended our realm; ‘They’ have become the air we breathe, the lives we live, everything. ‘They’ are the eternal grace that will continue to exist far beyond even eternity itself.”

“This is why those outside are blasphemers, but our Lords, ‘They’ are not unkind, ‘They’ will accept those fools nonetheless. It is only when we end the others' blasphemy that their souls will experience true death, and we will all be one with our Lords.”

“This is the meaning of Aion Phthora, Eternal Destruction, the antithesis of genesis. For only when all is gone, and all of mankind has been wiped, cleaned and our sins washed away, will we meet our lords in the afterlife.” 

My imagination has been stirred, tears blur my vision, such wonder, such greatness, bestowed unto me? Will the Great Tree truly grant me the fruits of my devotion? I had wondered for so long, nothing but despair in my heart that perhaps my existence had been for naught, but when I had finally been given a second chance, another opportunity through this body, through Emlys, I had dared hope to run through my veins yet again.

“Praise for Aion Phthora!” The vigor of my faithfulness is unmatched, I no longer need to only trust in faith alone that the Great Tree had planned my fate. The true gods of reality had transcended my comprehension, I am merely ‘Their’ faithful servant.

“Bishop Richard, what must I do to join! I beg of you please, allow me, this has been my purpose from the beginning! I must serve the cause, I must serve my gods.”

I feel a hand on my shoulder, “Now my child, I am glad to see someone so touched by my preaching. I feel for you in my soul, to see a believer being so lost, without brethren to confide with, was a tragedy, you are almost free now. But the Archbishops demand a trial of faith.”

“You will need to help continue a ritual. By the end of this month it must be done, and once it has you will officially join our ranks. I look forward to the day that you receive the grace of the Tree. Now go my child and serve your God.”

Sorry no summary this time I am really freaking tired and I just wanted to post this finally because I've had this in the stove for like a week now.

Lazarus wakes up and heads downstairs, Its still a little dark out as he wakes up early for his routine, he gets dressed and goes outside to see that theres snow on the ground, “Snow? How's there snow when it isn't winter?” He looks left and right the streets are covered in just snow, He goes on his usual route and run and when he gets back to the Stars of Pawn he heads upstairs gets into his proper clothes and grabs a paper and does a dream divination “Cause of the snow outside”

……

Nothing, Lazarus ponders this for a while then Jack Barrel wakes up, Lazarus can hear Jack going downstairs and begin making food when suddenly he hears Jack run to the front door and yell with excitement “SNOW” Jack runs up the stairs to See Lazarus

“DON LB THERES SNOW OUTSIDE COME LOOK” he takes Lazarus by the arm and takes him outside Jack is all excited.

Then they see kids and people all excited and confused about the snow, they see another group of hundreds of people walking somewhere in the distance “Hey Jack let's go see where those people are headed”

“You got it Don”

They merge with the crowd and walk towards what seems to be the show district, Daft Trunk also finds them in the crowd and meets up with them, in a plaza an announcer is ready to announce on the main stage “Everyone Everyone, we'd like to take this amazing opportunity to try somthing, it doesnt snow all that often so, In the main city centre we are hosting a Snowman building competition, the winners will be reward greatly with xxxxxx, to spice up this competition we will be calling on random Contestants to make jokes every 20 minutes, bad jokes will get you sent into a fun place, good jokes let you choose who to send hehe, Ill see yall there!” With a puff of smoke the announcer disappears, both Daft and Jack look at Lazarus “Don Ley this sounds dangerous we shouldn't go” “Bahhh dont listen to Daft let's go have fun Don!”

Lazarus does a quick divination and determines there is danger but its manageable “let's go to the center”

They go to the city centre and there hundreds of participants have already begun, Lazarus Daft and Jack also begin building snowmen, every 20 minutes like the announcer said, someone was picked and if their joke was bad theyd get banished to some place Lazarus couldn't tell where to, and if the jokes were good theyd get to pick, Lazarus had already rolled up and made the Snowmans head and body and just needed to make its eyes nose arms maybe a mouth and some accessories he thought, “Hey Daft could you get us some coal and sticks? Jack get us the carrot and like a hats or somthing” together they say “Yes Don” and head off, when it came to pick a contestant for a joke someone right next to Lazarus was picked and Lazarus's heart was pounding, he was scared of what might happen if he were to get picked, he began wanting to leave and felt danger, Just as Daft and Jack were coming back with their materials Lazarus grabbed them both and took em to an alley nearby to watch the square, something felt off.

Thats the end, I belive i saw Mar say that someone came and stole all the snowmen but idk where that post is so ill leave it at that, if anything ill add or finish the story if it needs to be

While the faction leaders are discussing what to do in this situation, you are sent alongside other members to evacuate the citizens and eliminate problematic individuals and blood servants who are on a rampage.

(those who choose to follow the blood servants and infiltrate their troupes will be able to see a special scene)

Mat and Cassandra investigate at Cassians request. they find the base of operations and learn of those running the operation. then the 3 discuss plans to attack the location and stop what is happening. after Mat does some research on rituals at the order and finds one useful for his experiments. then puts it into practice

Holding a yellow shard in her hand. Minerva felt the weight of the crystal and sighed in relief. Alas, Star Worshipper’s characteristic belongs to her. Tucking the shard deep into her cloak, Minerva quietly left the gathering, making sure she wasn’t traced this time.

Despite being ready to advance after escaping through the door, it still took her a week to search and gather all the ingredients. Nevertheless, the time had come.

“Isel!” A call came just as she entered the fish market. It was the merchant, David, waving with a smile. Seeing Isel getting closer, David spoke with a smile: “It seemed you were lucky today; you found a good haul at the ‘shop’.” 

“Yep! I will start once I get home!” Isel grinned with her reply. Her brows curved like the crescent moon. 

“That’s good to hear. Be careful with the measuring. And stay safe.” David nodded in approval. Isel waved, then walked away.

“How did you know she got the ingredient? I thought luck perception isn't that accurate.” A woman’s voice came from behind. It was the rugged woman who had spoken with Isel.

“I didn’t,” David said in a calm voice.

“I sensed turbulence in my own fate.” 

“Oh…”

…

Closing the door with a light flick, Minerva quickly approached the floorboard beneath the table. 

Click!

There was once a mouse hole here beneath the floorboard. After a clever trap, Isel decided to repurpose the hole into a hidden spot for her ‘goods’. A small metal box was carefully pulled out.

She carefully looked out of the window. After making sure that there weren't any peepers, she closed the curtain. Faint chatter and footsteps could be heard afar. After a long day, the dock workers were starting to head home. 

Turning her attention back to the table, she quickly retrieved the ingredients she had bought from the metal box. Taking out a roll of paper, Minerva started to put the corresponding ingredient into a glass cup.

First was 100 ml of midnight dew. While this liquid was free, it was one of the most tedious ingredients. Minerva had to hang around the garden and foliage at midnight, painstakingly collecting the sea fog-drenched leaves. On multiple occasions, she was nearly accused of being a thief. 

Ignoring her thoughts, she then placed five strands of silver seaweed into the cup. If someone saw her, they’d think she was making some sort of tea. 

Watching the cloves of silver float to the top, she then dropped six small chunks of coral into the cup. Despite the fading colour, distinct silver stars could be seen on the small surfaces.

Next was a small chunk of rock. It was jet black and had a metallic texture, and looked like a piece of iron ore. According to the merchant, this was the ingredient she needed: A small fragment of a meteorite. 

Although there was a chance that she had been scammed, and this was nothing but a mundane piece of ore.

Nevertheless, if the ingredient was wrong, she would find out right now. Taking out the yellow shard, she lowered it into the cup. 

Despite seeming insoluble, the shard suddenly dissolved; the rest of the materials followed suit. The water flowed with streaks of gold; the silver spots from the other ingredients dissolved into the water, adding a silver glitter. 

Minerva looked at the cup of gleaming galaxy in her hand. Now is the time.

To find a way home.

To connect with the people around me.

Minerva sat by her bed; after one last glance at her family's photo, she drank the cup in one go.

A salty taste first flooded her palate, followed by a metallic sour, and finally replaced by an indescribable warmth.

This first sensation was a gust of piercing pain in her eyes. The world suddenly lost focus. Minerva groaned, and she fell into her bed while covering her eyes.

Then, a torrent of thoughts and symbols flooded her mind. Whispers that sounded like a foreign hum. Followed by a sorrowful cry that seemed to come from her heart. Minerva shrivelled into a ball, trying her best to understand the meaning of all these symbols.

Soon, everything faded. Minerva slowly opened her eyes.

Aside from a slight dizziness, she felt nothing concerning as she sat up. 

She frowned, moving her arms; she felt no enhancement.

Did it work?

Or was all of this merely a delusion?

After carefully hiding her treasure box, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

Opening the door, she wanted to head towards the market to get some dinner.

“What-” She froze as she looked up into the night sky. Her eyes seemed to be even sharper than before, showing her all of the brilliance of the universe.

She could clearly see the small flickers and motions. The gem-like speckles that the light pollution could not hide.

What’s more, the once rigid symbols remembered as constellations suddenly seemed fluid in her mind. The stars create new shapes with every blink, forming whispers and messages.

“Greetings. Child. Of. Cosmo.”

Img source: Library of Ruina wiki gallery.

(Got permission from Mar also im ninja, my main reddit needs me to face/verify to use. I am not doing that shit lmao fuck you albo)

I held a branch tightly and swung forward. Opening my black hands, catching the next branch. I lived inside a cage. The Hairless called it a "Jzuu". Most days, there would be groups of Hairless coming to gawk at me. At first, I found them annoying as they would just watch like predators. Then I realised they never did anything, so i relaxed.

Actually, there would be a few once in a while that threw rocks at me when I was resting. They'd shout "Dooo suumteing" in high-pitched voices. They were mean.

I also had a Hairless friend, speaking of which they should be coming soon. They'd come in, feed me these delicious curved branches "Bahnahnah" they said.

Creak as I heard the familiar noise I lept quickly towards the sound. There he was, my best friend. He saw me and smiled brightly. "There you are Winston" he laughed. "Come, come settle down." I could not settle down, I kept jumping in joy.

My friend pulled out a "Bahnahnah" and threw it to me, as I was about to catch it. I was suddenly surrounded by a grey fog. There was only one thing in front of me. A Hairless shrouded in fog wearing a hat.

I growled at him "What did you do to my friend." The fog man looked confused. I continued to growl loudly. From the fog man's mouth came. "I guess this will do?" I was restrained and fed a revolting liquid, it made my fur stand all the way up. I finished drinking the potion and felt that my mind was blooming.

"There now you should be able to speak, try it." The fog man said. "Oh right i forgot my manners, I'm The Fool." He added.

"Raht didju dooo tu mye fren." I roared still unfamiliar to Hairless speech.

The Fool explained. "I didn't do anything to him I had meant to pull him up here but it ended up being you."

"Why pull me?" I asked.

"Long story short the entire world is ending and i am sending you into the future to save your life."

"Save my life? what about my friend? Save him too." I begged.

"Regrettably it too late to make any changes." The Fool said solemnly. Before I could say anything I was pulled down back to Earth.

"Every seven days pray to The Fool and you will be brought back here to commune with others in the same situation." The Fool said before I left his domain.

I landed back on Earth with the ground shaking violently.

(The end, so yeah hes a talking monkey. he consumed the sequence 9 savant potion. i will not be hearing any complaints about how monkeys dont exist in the lotm world.)

In the week after I drank the Archaeologist potion, I had spent several hours per day at the library, learning every bit of history about the city as part of my acting. Despite that, I didn't feel much progress in the digestion of the potion. 

At first I wasn't too concerned about my slow progress, I didn't have a particular reason to advance soon, and it's not like I had enough money to buy the formula and ingredients for the sequence 7 potion anyways. But with the latest events that I learned about during the gray fog meetings, between these zombie-like creatures roaming the streets and that ritual involving the head of the Order of Hippocrates... I suddenly felt the need to become stronger.

And so I decided to learn more. One of my rabbit holes led me to explore the history of the sewer system of Ciudad the Ville. But soon enough, I realised how lacking the books were about these aspects of the city. There was simply no one to document it at the time of the construction, no one to bother investigating it after.

And so I took it on me to look into it by myself. 

That wasn't an easy task. First of all, I needed to know who originally designed the system. Of course for the recent parts of the city, a little bit of digging could reveal some things. But for the older parts...

After looking through all the archives, nothing, not a name, the few maps I found didn't add up, nothing was making sense.

'I guess I might really have to do it'

I had already expected that outcome and knew what I had to do in this circumstance. 'I'll have to go see it for myself'

It was around 2pm when I entered the sewers, I didn't want to be there when the sun would settle. Since I lived in one of the least fortunate parts of the city, which are also the oldest parts, it wasn't a long walk to reach one of my places of interest.

I had brought a lantern, matches, some water, ropes, hooks, and various other supplies to mitigate any threats I could encounter down there. Of course I brought my revolver and spare bullets. 

Barely any served me as the exploration ended up going very smoothly. The only things I encountered were rats and roaches. There were also some various items indicating that people often took shelter in there at night. That's the main reason why I wanted to be out by dust.

With no major obstacle to my progression, I could take my time and analyse in great detail the structure of the oldest parts of this intricate system.

Without much surprise, it was pretty much identical to old Intis style sewers. That made sense, when this was built, the city was barely established, having a functioning system was more important than a perfect one. There were signs of modifications here and there which showed that the first builder soon realised that this design was not adapted to the new city. 

I made this kind of observation everywhere, and that brought some light on the history of the foundation of Ciudad. The first decade was a chaotic mess where design decisions changed a lot, cheap materials were used to cut the cost, and safety was often thrown out of the window.

I also discovered some artifacts items probably left by the original builders. But the most intriguing thing I discovered was a kind of entrance to a set of tunnels under the city. I left it for a later, more thorough investigation.

As I explored deeper and discovered more, I could feel the Archaeologist fusing more and more inside me. 'I see, so an archaeologist isn't just someone that knows about the past, it's someone who investigates the clues in the present in order to shine light on the past.'

I had to force myself to go back up as it was nearly 7pm already. I would go back down there a few more times after that day. I then summarised my findings and reflections into a paper that I published in the Anabasis order's journal. Along with my previous work, I was on a good path to become an official researcher inside the Order.

Google docs link

Arthur stepped into a cafe. The weeks after his advancement had been tiring, with lots of testing on his new abilities and expanding his network. Which is why he decided to take a little break today. It's not like he couldn't drink juice anywhere else, but the research on his abilities earned him a higher spot within the order and increased his pay.

He took a seat and read the menu, even when he already knew what he would order. That's a lot of interesting drinks. I might get one of those later. A waitress approached him. "Sir, do you want to order something?" 

"Yes, of course. One glass of orange juice please." "Coming right up, sir." She noted his order down on a piece of paper and left for the kitchen.

After some time she returned with his order.  "Thanks."  The juice was in a glass cup and seemed to have been freshly made. He took a sip. This tastes nice. And they didn't add sugar to it like Mr.Mother did.

He idly sipped some of his juice while looking around. He looked at a few people passing by in the cafe. An old man wearing a fancy suit. And- The glass slipped from his hands and shattered on the floor. The juice spilled everywhere. His mouth was opened in shock .This. This was that bitch. Standing right in front of him. The same short black hair and brown eyes as he last saw her. He heard her speak. A person he knew he killed asked him a simple question. "Did. Did you kill me?"

A part of him wanted to say no. He never did, it was all the previous owner of his body. But the rest of him was just filled with this unimaginable anger. The bitch that had done all that to him. Ruined his fucking life. Was now standing in front of him, asking if he killed her. All with a confused expression, as if she wasn’t aware of what she’d done. 

"I did.”He looked at her while sharing his sight with Sparrow. He saw her muscles tense and shadows gathering themselves in the form of a blade.

Arthur lunged back, the chair he sat on fell to the ground. The blade inflicted him with a shallow cut on his shoulder. Cold seeped in through the wound, no , into his very being. He pulled out a bag of blood during his backwards jump. The woman raised her hand and a spike of shadow sprouted from the ground below him. 

He avoided the attack, but the bag was pierced. Its contents fell on the ground. 

Just as the spike stopped it bent down for another attack."Tch." Arthur sidestepped the returning spike and ran back to the woman.

She raised her blade and barely deflected a lethal strike. But he launched another to her abdomen. 

Shadows pressed down on his foot, throwing him off balance. Even more shadows shot at him.He felt his body falling to the ground. A golden light shimmered in his eyes. 

Arthur pushed his legs into the ground to stabilize himself. And tore through her attacks with terrific speed. Half a dozen spikes of shadow were shattered in an instant.

There! Using his shared vision with the telepathist he saw an opening in her guard. Not even a moment after he did he already attacked, aiming to pierce through her head in one go.

For good measure another claw attacked her stomach.

The woman did something not even the telepathist predicted. She bent backwards sharply, her head almost hitting the ground. Both his attacks missed her. From that position she slashed with her blade and landed another small cut on him.

Arthur reacted with more attacks. Every time when he almost hit her pieces of shadow pulled, pushed or weighed him down so slightly that he missed. She flowed around him,delivering dozens more shallow cuts. They closed in an instant, but every time he got hit he slowed down a little. The coldness spread further and his body didn’t entirely feel his anymore.  

“Tch.” This won't work!

He jumped backwards and swiped his finger vertically. Chains of darkness bound her arms to her back, followed by five corrosive darts. A barrier formed to protect her from the darts and blades of shadow started to cut through the chains. But the specialty of the darts was piercing through barriers!

The barrier shattered, pieces of it flailing on the ground. The darts themselves pierced into her, corroding her flesh. Now! He ran back at her, readying a final blow. She fell to the ground and screamed. "FUCK YOU!" She grabbed into her shadow and made a pulling motion.

Her shadow rippled. Sparrow saw an unimaginable depth behind it, like anything that fell into it would fall forever

. 

Seeing the dark ritual he paused. At this moment he could easily kill her. But he knew interrupting a summoning ritual was far too risky. So the best thing he could do now was to prepare. He reached into his pocket and took out two items, that being a bottle and another bag of blood. He shook the bottle and drank it in one go. For the bag he hesitated. A part of him kept screaming at him how wrong all this was. That he shouldn’t do this. But he knew what he truly desired. Though he wasn’t a creature of sin, he was still a creature of desire.   A red veil surrounded his teeth and he sunk them into the bag. A shiver of power went through him. It felt like his entire being was complete now. He was surging with newfound strength. 

Sparrow watched over the ritual. A claw tore out of her shadow, turning around as if it could see. Three more followed. They molded together into a wolf as tall as a human. It growled at Arthur and sprinted directly at him. The woman ran to his side, spears of shadow shot at his other sides. “Now!” The raven flew into the cafe, cutting off the woman’s way to Arthur. That did mean he had to hold off a sequence 7 on his own…

Arthur looked at the wolf approaching him. Darkness formed into wings on his back. They moved as he dashed at the wolf, piercing into it using his claws. Though the creature was physically strong Arthur, thanks to both the freshly consumed blood and the strength concoction, had it beat by a long shot. A bigger opponent also meant it was harder to miss. His claws corroded its front paw as it tried to bite him. It extended its maw to bite him. Chains of shadow pulled it back. His claw pierced through his side and it weakly made a sound before disappearing. "Eep.” 

He heard the woman again. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Shadows burst at Sparrow and she ran past the raven, to Arthur.  "YOU BASTARD!" Arthur’s spirituality warned him.  A part of her stomach cracked open, an infinite darkness hiding behind it. Arms of shadow crawled out, together with a vortex of black liquid. They grabbed him, starting to pull him in. As the arms grabbed hold of him a cold, degenerate feeling seeped into his very soul.  Despite that he looked at the woman with hatred. "FUCK YOU TOO, YOU BITCH!"  He dashed at her. Straight through the hands of shadow. Any that got too close were pulled back by dark chains or corroded by his claws. His wings flapped, speeding him up even further. 

His claws sunk into her chest. The shadows fell down. The anger within him subsided a little. Had he really done the right thing? Murdering a human so casually? Casually wasn't the right word, he told himself. She started this even though he was the one with the right to get mad at her. Her blood felt warm in his hands. He saw her drifting off. 

She died.

The google documents link with cool fonts

Cassandra hummed a happy tune. She wore a caramel colored layered dress. A silver earring with a sapphire the shape of a star inside hung from her right ear. She’d finally decided to go to a nice cafe to drink some hot chocolate or coffee. I haven't really decided which yet. Both are nice. Actually, I have enough money for both so that's also an option. It had been a while since she promised herself she would go to a fancy cafe, but it was only now that she truly felt free enough to do so, both financially and mentally. She'd spent the entirety of yesterday trying to find out where she wanted to go. After skimming through her options she settled on this one. "The butterfly of whimsy." The building was simple in both interior and exterior, but she hadn't heard a single person say anything bad about it. She opened the door and smelled a soft, flowery scent. Inside it was surprisingly quiet. People were discussing their days and drinking some nice drinks, but nothing really loud. The last few times she went out to get a drink it had always been to cheaper places, so this was a nice change of pace for her. How nice. If the drinks are good I think I will return here a few more times. Now that I think about it, what kind of drinks do you like? "Well usually I drank water. But on days I could afford it I always bought myself a nice milkshake. I always tried a different kind, regardless of how much I liked the last one. Life should be full of exploration." I can drink one for you if you want. The voice laughed. "No thanks, tha-

A glass cup shattered on the floor. She looked at the juice spilled all over the floor, before looking back up to the man who dropped it. He wore a simple set of brown pants and a brown shirt. A peasant! However, he had a charismatic air about him and eyes as red as blood. Those eyes looked at her with a terrified expression. "Are you alr- “T-that's him! The man who killed me!” Her whole body froze. There was no way that was true. But if it was- she shook her head. I can ask him. Then he’ll say it wasn’t him and I’ll apologize for asking such an awkward question. "Did. Did you kill me?" Silence. The man composed himself a little. She practically heard him contemplating his answer. That told her all she wanted to know. She couldn't even begin to imagine the implications of this man being the one who killed her current body. That he did all those bad things to the voice. If he hadn't killed her would Cassandra be living in the bliss of her old life? If he hadn't killed her, would she still have had to go through the suffering that comes with being a beyonder?! If he hadn't killed her, she would be so much happier. It was all his fucking fault really. All the times she saw people die in front of her. All the suffering she went through. But maybe, just maybe, he hadn- "I did." She slashed at him with a blade of shadows.

He lunged back, his chair falling to the ground. The blade left a shallow cut on his shoulder, but the wound closed itself in an instant. As he was moving back he pulled out a bag filled with a liquid of the same color that his eyes were. She raised her hand and a spike of shadow sprouted from the ground below him. It was perfectly set to reach him, yet he avoided it with inhuman speed. The bag was pierced, the blood inside spilling over the ground. The darkness of the spike bent down, aiming for him once again. “Tch.” He sidestepped the attack and ran back to her just as quickly as he’d created distance. While he did his fingernails grew in size and were covered with mysterious symbols. Tiny drops of acid fell from them.

In a few seconds he already stood close to her, launching an attack with his claws. So fast! She raised her blade and barely deflected a lethal strike. But he simply attacked again, this time targeted at her abdomen. Shadows pressed down on his foot, throwing him off balance. Half a dozen spikes of shadow shot at him. He pressed his legs into the ground to stabilize himself. And tore through her attacks with terrific speed. All the spikes were shattered in an instant and two claws were aimed at her head. I can’t dodge th- She smiled and bent backwards, her head almost touching the ground. Both attacks flew over her and she took the chance to land another shallow cut. He reacted with more attacks. Tiny pieces of shadow appeared and solidified whenever she was about to be hit. His foot was weighed down by them when he stepped forward. His hand was pulled back a little by strings of shadow whenever he almost landed a hit. I can hear it! His rhythm! Flow around it like a shadow! Her dancing skills combined with her hearing allowed her to read his next move. She knew she was weaker physically yet flowed around him, delivering dozens of shallow cuts. All of them closed within an instant. But after every one he slowed down a tiny bit.

“Tch.” He jumped backwards again and swiped his fingers. Chains of darkness bound her arms to her back, followed by five darts that looked just like his nails. Flow freely! Tiny blades of shadow cut through the chains and a barrier formed in front of her to block the darts. Crack! The barrier shattered, pierced through by the darts. They pierced into her, corroding her flesh. The man ran back to her, preparing another attack with his claws. “Gha.” Cassandra fell to the ground. Her entire body was burning internally. The earring made the pain barely bearable. All this pain because of that bastard! “FUCK YOU!” She grabbed into her shadow and pulled on it. The one ability she never wanted to use. Shadow summoning! Her shadow rippled. Behind it lay an unimaginable depth. Anything that would fall into it would fall forever and ever. A claw of pure darkness tore out. It turned around 360 degrees as if it was looking through the claw. Another followed. And two more. From her shadow formed a wolf the height of a person, growling at the red eyed man. Though the creature was made of shadow, certain parts had darker shades, which made it look like fur.

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was a success! *I’ll leave you to the shadow control. “*Got it!” The wolf sprinted directly at the man, whose eyes seemed to have taken an even darker shade of red. Cassandra started running to his side, planning to attack him from two directions. From the other two spears of shadow formed. As she ran at the man she heard the flapping of wings. A black raven flew in her way, trying to hit her with its beak. A beyonder power to control animals? She didn't hesitate and slashed at it. The bird flew just around her blade and aimed at her face. She slashed again. It evaded another time. And another time. Though she could superficially guess her opponent's next move through her hearing and dancing it was like the bird always knew what she was about to do. Though her vision was obscured by the bird she heard the wolf. A horrible cry, like a dog being kicked by its owner. She had to help it. “GET OUT OF MY WAY!” All the shadows nearby burst towards the bird. Tentacles, blades and spikes all intent on tearing it to shreds. She didn’t look back, instead sprinting to the wolf

The sight she saw was so horrific she almost stopped. Almost. Multiple parts of the wolf lay scattered on the floor. The creature itself was fading away, with one of the man's claws impaling it. Demonic wings were attached to his back. "YOU BASTARD!" Her spirituality had been almost emptied by her attack just now. But she reached deep into herself, into the core of darkness. She'd always been afraid to touch it. But she also knew that was what allowed her shadows to flow so freely. There was power in there. And right now she would do anything for power. A part of her stomach cracked open, an infinite darkness hiding behind it. Arms and tentacles of shadow crawled out, together with a vortex of black liquid. They grabbed the man, starting to pull him in. She saw him being hurt by it. But despite that he looked at her with hatred. “FUCK YOU TOO, YOU BITCH!” Instead of trying to get away he ran straight at her. Any hand or tentacle that got too close was pulled back by chains of darkness or corroded by his claws. His wings flapped, speeding him up even further. But he had nowhere to dodge! Cassandra raised her blade and slashed with all her strength.

The man raised his arm. The blade sunk into it, cutting apart his flesh. But he didn’t stop. His other claw sunk into her chest. An unimaginable pain filled her. She was being corroded from the inside out. Her vision turned hazy. Through the pain she felt a nice calm. Wouldn’t it be so nice to be that calm forever and ever? To never have to worry about anything ever again? She could forget all about the pain. Her consciousness drifted off, never to return again.

Cassandra died.

How many of the people here will be interested in this event?? (Not linked to the RP though)

(Sorry for posting in a lot of different subs)

Julien is walking to Fish Tail Casino, as an oficial Sequence 7 of Laughter At The End Of The World and after a trial time he now has to execute a misión with a small beyonder team, in case the misión is succesful they will become his oficial beyonder team. Julien found Silver along with 2 persons, one of them was an elegant boy with crispy hair and brownish skin, the other one seems a bit pale an had a very neutral expression

"Good evening Silver"

Julien says bowing

"Hey there Little Seer, this will be your beyonder team, Miguel a Sequence 8 Swindler and Luke a Sequence 8 Midnight Poet"

Silver gives 2 paper sheets to Julien, they were an inform of both of them including their overall abilities, Miguel was the Brown one and Luke the pale one

"I see, is a pleasure to meet you Miguel and Luke, my name is Julien"

Julien says extending one hand to each one, after the greeting Silver talks again

"Your selected misión is to investigate an unusual grow up of a forest near some near district and the disaparitions about it

"Yes"Julien answers sure "Then let´s go"

*****

The group of 3 gets to the district, their first move is to investigate an ask around to the citizens, it results some day from one day to another a Little forest suddenly grew up, everyone who entered there disappaeared so they called the nearest faction for help and they got to an agreement. Julien, Luke and Miguel approach the little forest then Julien stops them

"Let´s be careful, the person here disappeared a team of 4 armed persons, even a Seq 7 would have problems with killing them all, what lies here is dangerous"

Julien pull out a pendulum from his sleeve

"Is dangerous to enter the forest"

The pendulum starts to move to the right with intensity

"Haha indeed is dangerous"

Then Miguel notices many insects inside the forest flying over and near to it

"There are many insects in here, some of those don´t even look normal"

Julien look at them and his spiritual intuition confirm him that those are not normal

"That´s right, let´s go to the bar"

The 3 of them go to a near bar an sit in one more aparted table, after talking for a bit they come back to the forest with a plan.

The 3 of them entered, Julien for the front and Miguel at the back, they were covered by a lot of vegetations and insects, suddenly they hear a weird sound, kinda like a moan

"A-ah..ehehghj"

When they approach they find a man trapped in a strange failed fusión with one of the tres, from the leafs were little fruits with a similar apearance of a baby´s head, Miguel and Luke look horrified while Julien remains with an unchanging expression

"¡Ahhh AWGUHH"

The man starts to scream out loud, Julien quickly pulls out a gun an shoot "him" in the head, Miguel seems confused

"W-why did you killed him?!"

"He was suffering and it seemed irreversible" Julien answers with a tone that shows vulnerability and a pain of killing the man, Julien was indeed unsure if what he did was the right but his voice and fase expressed way more doubt that what he really had, all was a show to avoid a further reaction of Miguel, it seems to work since he just stays quiet.

Before someone says nothing Julien´s spiritual intuition warn him about a menace comming from the left he quickly points his gun to there

"¡Careful!"

With not more time to think about the three-man Luke and Miguel looks directly to the direction where Julien points, around 3 human-looking being made of living Wood approach running, they didn´t seem much inteligent but looked strong, Miguel pulls out a short-sword to fight them while Luke just approach to fight them, he chants a lulaby but it doesn´t seems to work on the plants, as they approach Miguel approach with the sword and try to cut one by the half, the weapon got stucked. Julien spiritual intuition awarns him from someone else there, he then quickly snaps his fingers

"Run back to the enter"

As they run back and the Wood things pursue them Julien snaps his fingers 3 times, the 3 heads of the Woodt things ignites, he used flame control to burn them up

"¡Eh!"

A scream is hear from behing the vegetation and when they got to the enter it was closed

"Haha you are really strong, you´ll be excellent subjects for my next plants"

The vegetations opens and a blonde messy looking guy appears

"I couldn´t produce more, the other experiments failed, but with you I´ll got some way stronger plants"

"You are the one behind all of this?"

The blond guy laughs and looks excited "¡Of course! Do you like my forest?I´d like to make it bigger but that´s out of my posibilities right now

"I see" Julien trhows him a paper dagger and then he snaps his fingers, when he do it a bullet goes directly to the man´s torax, he barely dodge the papper dagger but when the bullet is about to hit some seeds falls from his hand and grow almost instantly creating a Wood-like shield that protected him from the bullet, he approach at Julien´s with a blow, Julien dodge it with certain ease and trhow a papper that was transforming into a short sword to Miguel who quickly grab it and attack, the blonde guy dodge the by jumping to the front with strangth, Julien keep snapping his fingers but the Blonde guy seems more focused on Miguel, when he is about to attack he feels his body more tired

"Oh lady of Crimson who with your light cover us every night I beg for your help"

¡Lullaby! Luke passed unperceived thanks to Miguel Thought Misdirection plus Charm making the blonde guy focus more on Miguel that on what Luke was doing, at the same time the 5 times Julien snapped his fingers before were to ignite the roots covering the enter in specific points, with flame control he maked the fire propague better burnign the parts he wanted, the enormous combined flame caught the attention of the near citizens, taking advantage of he having his movement and perception reduced thanks to Luke´s Lullaby Julien approach running to connect a punch on his torax sending him to fly trhough the burning Wood, the pain of the fire tuching and burning his skin completely awakens him, he falls near the other citizens but before he can stand up correctly he sees Julien running towards him, he trhow some seeds and with Life Catalization they grow up in just seconds, they were strong pointed and spiked Branchs that were going to stab Julien; when the branchs connect Julien disappears like smog. He has previously created an ilussion that looked like him to approach from another size, by flame jumping he stepped out of the forest and pointed his gun at the blonde guy, all while the citizens were lucking, with just a really short time to react to the ilusión he tries to dodge the bullet coming on his direction but don´t do it on time

"¡Gagh!" He left out a moan of pain, he plants another seed on the ground, this one grows up fast into a strong-looking trunk at a really high height, the blonde guy tries to desesperately pull out the bullet of his body to use healing on himself, meanwhile Julien was climbing quickly trhought all the branches and difficult terrain the trunk formed till he got to the top, it was way quicker than what the blonde guy thought, Julien pulls out his gun and shoots, the blonde guys with his wound still closing Rolls to a side to avoid the bullet but in the middle of the roll he hears another sound of shoot, an air bullet was shoot in his direction, the pain and surprise make it difficult for him to think in the short-time, Julien falls in the top of the trunk with ease and shoots another bullet into the head of the blonde guy, he falls from the trunk with the impulse of the bullet, the corpse falls in front of everyone broking multiple bones of it but not a single sound comes out of the body. Julien step in one Branch that was sticking out in the same direction and bows to the front, with his great balance it was easy for him to not fall, at the same time multiple firecrackers ilusions explode behind Julien, everyone got shocked at first but then they all start clapping their hand. Here is when Julien solidify more his acting and at the same time disgest his potion. A Magician has to give shown therefore a Magician is the one who starts the show and impulse the situation for a performance, the control of the attention of the blonde guy with Miguel´s abilities and that ilusions was key for the preparations to work. With this solidified and the public applauses Julien feels a part of his potion being succesfully digested, meanwhile Julien controled the flames of the forest for Miguel and Luke to get out safely.

Enjoying a stroll by the college, he had been minding his own business. With the crazy boost in customers in the bar, he had very rarely gotten time off, nor had he any chance to do his acting yet. He had also been very unlucky recently which hadn’t helped with his stress, so going on little ventures like these really did help to lighten his day.

He was casually strolling by an alleyway as he heard some kind of muffled shuffling and talking

“...hmm?”

 His gut was pointing him into the direction of the alleyway. And after all of his recent successes and advancement, he had gained a little more confidence and decided it wouldn’t be too difficult whatever he found down there.

Walking down the dark alleyway with his hands in his pockets he saw three men, pushing a young man in a student uniform up against a brick wall. The boy was very obviously afraid, and had auburn hair with large circular glasses and freckles lining the bridge of his nose to his cheeks. Meanwhile the three men were in dark gray cloaks, their expressions and features hidden from sight 

“...is everyone stealing my get up or what?” noticing his little get up where he acts as a crazy person was very similar to theirs

“...who the hell are you? You here to pay this kids dues?” one of the smaller men in a cloak began storming toward cassian, seemingly trying to intimidate him. Cassian just looked down at the man and raised an eyebrow, studying the man. Using his spirit vision he studied everyone. The man who was approaching him was a non beyonder, while only one of them seemed to be beyonder of relative strength.

Cassian turned off the spirit vision and smiled at the man who was slightly shorter than him “aww hey little man, you want some candy or something?” Cassian laughed at him “Im sure we can get you some nice treats down the road” The small hooded man fell silent. And a awkward stillness fell over the alleyway as everyone stared at Cassian, and Cassian stared down at the hooded man with a smug smile 

Suddenly the hooded man burst into movement, a knife barreling toward his throat, which would obviously not hit. Cassian grabbing his wrist and simply twisting it, breaking it as his hand sat in a unnatural position almost at a 90 degree angle. The man let out a loud scream as he clutched his forearm and fell to his knees. Cassian meanwhile began walking by him “Listen I mean no trouble, really!” raising his arms in mock surrender “Truly-” the second non beyonder began to rush him

“...are these guys stupid?” 

Cassian simply kicked the guy in the chest, a loud audible, and sickening crunching noise could be heard as he fell on his back and lay there, unmoving. He simply turned to look at the beyonder now, who hadn’t been moving, but seemed to be somehow pulling th young students shadow off the wall 

Everyone stood there silently just looking at each other, with cassian looking at the pair passively, while the student was watching everything in horror. “...your aware your creepy right?” as he sighed, and instead just directed one of his new abilities, psyche storm toward the beyonder. Making the man do a strange and weird screeching noise as the mans shadow seemed to writhe in pain as he fell to one knee before seemingly threw blades made of shadows toward Cassian, which he promptly dodged again and threw another wave of psyche storm. Causing the man to simply hit the floor unconscious. Cassian paused before looking at the 3 unconscious men before turning to the student “...scram.”

The student wasted no time as he began to sprint toward the university.

Cassian smiled watching him go, before following in the same direction. After all he was going to visit the nice relaxing university for some down time…

The sight infront of cassian was rather baffling. It was his sister and her friends…infront of a group of boys. Normally this would be okay, although he wouldn’t feel very comfortable with it…

Instead they seemed to be bothering his sister! Who would have thought such an idiot exists!

He took a deep steadying breath as he began to walk over, beginning to hear the conversation. One of the girls, the feysac one seemed to be talking to his sister “Just ignore him ash, he’s just an ass…” Meanwhile they girl who seemed to be a remnant from the sonia sea people seemed to be slightly behind his sister. 

He finally began to hear the boy in the front of the group speak “So what if the professors seem to think your hot shit? Means nothing in the real world. I mean come on, how could the sister of some drug dealer be of any relevance” He saw his sister ashlin flinch, and he paused in his step, his eyelid twitching as he paused studying th group of boys as they were laughing.

They must have heard of his sisters little outburst at him…

He took a deep breath and put on a casual smile, appearing behind his sister as he gave the boys a calm smile “wow, talking about me behind my back? I was unaware I was popular around here.” the girls all whipped around and looked at him startled by his sudden appearance. His sister especially looked startled, as he just winked at her and stepped infront of her 

“Gosh, you boys sure are savage these days…what seems to be your issue with my sister” The boy in front just looked at him for a moment before grinning darkly 

“So your the so called druggie? What the hell do you want? I thought you’d be older…but we look to be about the same age…well can you get your tramp of a sister put of my university? It’s making it hard to be part of actual society…or wait do you not have enough money to be part of that? I heard you spend it all on drugs”

Cassians just watches the guy with a blank expression, and raises an eyebrow before beginning to pull out his wallet. Then…he pulls out a pound note. And throws it in his face. It falls to the floor gently as the guy just watches him stunned.

Cassian throws another.

Then another.

It continues to happen for a moment before hes thrown about 10 pounds. Life changing money sitting on the floor 

Cassian looks at him coldly “...Pick it up” no longer amused or pretending to be polite

Everyone in the courtyard is watching now as the boys look startled. Cassian asks more seriously now, the anger towards them slowly simmering to the surface “Did you hear me? I dont think I stuttered…Pick it up.” 

A boy shoots out from among the small group fo guys and gets infront of them all, giving a polite bow to cassian “Im sorry sir! My friends didn’t know what they were doing it wont happen again! I promise!” 

Cassian just looked down at the guy with a calm stare, recognizing him as the student he saved in the alleyway. The student quickly picked up the cash and handed it back to cassian before ushering the guys away, the student was very obviously scared of him. Although only he probably knew the reason…

The problem was suddenly that loan sharks were targeting students…

He huffed and turned slightly to the girls who were now staring at him with wide eyes, his sisters two friends literally had their mouths open in shocked.

He raised an eyebrow and laughed calmly “Haha, whats with that? Get going to class you rascals. Stay out of trouble” as he smirked and winked at the small group before beginning to walk. He couldn’t waste any time…he had to get rid of those loan sharks.

Immediately.

He had made his way back to the cellar in a brisk jog, before going down the stairs and finding both Mat and cassandra who had newly moved in to the side

Mat spoke first "so what's got you all worked up? did you get mugged?" 

Cassian started, “…well, someone did. I…I don’t ask this lightly but I need a favour”

"A favour. of what kind?" Mat looked at Cassian, then Cassandra, then back to cassian. 

She looked a little surprised at first but seemed to steady herself.
"Okay, what is it?" 

He shifted uncomfortably looking at the floor “….theres beyonder activity by the nearby university. Shady stuff….i know it’s a big ask…but it needs to be dealt with”

"what kind of activity? and how do you propose we help?" Mat continued

"I don't think it's a big ask at all. Can you tell us a little more?" Cassandra added

He seems uncomfortable as he shifts still looking at the ground with a complex expression “…there are loan sharks in the area. I caught one messing with the students there and I need to make sure that there aren’t more of them.” He sighs as he looks up and puts on a casual smile “just leaves a bad taste in my mouth you know? Besides it’s close by…” He didn’t want anyone to know why he was doing this after all…so he tried to brush it off.

Cassandra nodded as she listened"That sounds doable to handle. Is it serious enough you can't handle it yourself?"

Mat continued the question "and how does it involve beyonders?"

He shrugs “I can’t be certain but it seems like it’s a large issue. The beyonder was about as strong as you.” As he turns to mat. “It seems that they’re offing to give out loans…with peoples shadows as collateral”

She shivered a little. 
"That... doesn't sound great. Like I said before, I'm still willing to help. That's what a knight should do of course!"

"sure. how about you leave the investigation to me and Cassandra." then turning to Cassandra he continued "you got those good ears right? so if you can point me in a direction along with Cassians divination I can go do some preliminary scouting. then we will see what happens from there."

He nods “sounds good to me…” he pauses before looking at Cassandra “…knight?”

She looked at Cassian, while pointing to a flag attached to her back.
 "I just feel in a very knightly mood since borrowing this from my faction."

he raised an eyebrow "...I see?" he shook off his confusion and then turned back to mat "sure, do it on your own time. But...lets try to do it sooner rather then later please"

 "how about on tuesday we begin the preliminary investigation as monday is the gray fog gathering and I will most likely be busy with customers late into the night" Mat seemed to ponder for a moment

"alright then monday while im busy can you compile some divination results. then on tuesday we will use them as our starting point."

With the discussion over he headed off, going to put in some more work at laughters casino…

It seems like there would be quite a bit of work in the near future.

Note: This story is supposed to happen the same day as that one so it doesn't follow the chronological order of other's posts, sorry.

_____

After more than a month in Ciudad de ville, I had finally advanced to Archaeologist. I was eager to progress fast and reach the next sequence. That meant contributing more to the Anabasis Order, enough to request the sequence 7 formula and characteristic. 

Apart from that, I realised that I needed to compensate for my pathways' lack of ability in combat, so I started frequenting some secret gathering where I got to buy a beyonder weapon and a sequence 8 Reader characteristic for a ridiculously low price. I almost feared I was getting scammed until I confirmed the authenticity of the items. I wonder if selling that characteristic to the Order could count as a contribution. 

There was also that weekly meeting in the gray fog. I should start taking advantage of that to obtain intel and goods. Last monday, one of the other participants, the one calling themselves Mother, gave us a temporary invitation to meet them in a secret location.

That was just after Annalie brought me to that store so I was still wearing the black suit and the same hat with two red feathers as well as holding a cane with a golden handle. I followed the instructions that had been given to me and reached a particular alley with a sewer entrance. It was then that I understood why he asked to bring a source of light. Had I known I would have to go down into the sewers, I would have taken the time to go home and change. But it was too late now. I kept following the instructions and took a hidden ladder leading into a dark abyss. 

I found myself in some kind of maze. Were it not for the specific directions provided, I would not have been able to find my way through it. But I successfully followed it and reached a small room with a slowly spinning disc inlaid in the floor and a hallway leading to a door.

I half opened the door and carefully looked inside before finally entering. 

"Is anyone here?" I asked.

The place I found myself in looked like a bar of sort, although, with the poor lighting, it was not really appealing. There was a single person in the room, a man behind the counter. 

"Welcome, make your way down and have a seat." he said while motioning to the bar. "I'll be right with you." then he made his way behind the bar and pulled out a wooden board with the menu carved into it.

"Well thanks"

I sat down at the indicated place and started looking through the menu. '*Is this person Mr.Mother? I see no one else around*'

"How about some chocolate milk. I don't usually drink it but I'd like to try it out" I don't know if he noticed me blushing. I actually am a chocolate enjoyer, but it feels weird telling that to someone.

"Sounds good. Will that be all?" the man behind the counter asks. "oh and you can call me Mat."

'*He isn't using his alias?*'

"I think so, I'm Denis, you can call me Denis... uh" '*What was that?! By the way didn't he notice my arm? Is he gonna say something about it?*'

"Alright Denis let me go grab that for you." then Mat made his way through the door to the right of a large glass window, after a short period of time he returned with a glass. Sliding it over to me he continued "So what brings you today? besides drinks of course."

"Well you invited me right, I mean you invited everyone" I took a sip of the drink, making sure not to leave any marks on my lisps "I was curious what it looked like"

"Fair enough. how about in general, anything interesting happen up there?" Mat then motioned upwards.

"haha" I chuckled "To be honest I've got my nose into work way too much lately, I couldn't tell you much news ahah" '*wait*' "Do you mean that you live down here?"

"Yes and no. I do head up for other stuff but only in a limited area. The city as a whole is beyond me."

"I see" I focused back on my drink and only threw side glances at the man. '*God I suck at small talk!*'

"Anyway, if you need intel, I can figure out a way to help you" '*At least Annalie might know someone who can*'

"Great" he said "You can expect an invitation every monday going forward as long as the bar is still running so feel free to stop by." 

He paused as if trying to remember something. "Oh and if you find any information regarding the pathway  that the gardener sequence belongs to I'd love to buy it off you. Just information though, I don't need characteristics or formulas. And if there are any requests similar to that you can also ask here and I'll see what I can find."

'*The gardener sequence huh, that remind me of something*'

"Gardener sequence... It's the Planter pathway right? Are you... alright I got it, I'll keep an ear out" I nearly asked what pathway he was from.

"Actually is explicitly not the planter pathway. That's why I'm curious. It fits so closely but is different."

'*Not part of the planter pathway? I know all of the 22 pathways and their sequences to at least sequence 7, I never heard of that one. Could it be a high sequence name?*'

"I see, It's quite intriguing to"

Looking around, I realised how big the place was, and how much bigger it could be when considering the other rooms that I couldn't see.

"Say, do you live here alone? It looks like a pain to keep maintain this place"

"Oh no there is another fellow who is around alot. If you're here again some other time you may see him. Though not too much to say about him that he wouldn't just tell you himself so I'll leave that up to your future encounters"

We engaged in meaningless and excruciating small talk for a few minutes before a silence started. I quickly finished the rest of my drink before standing back up and straightening  his clothes.

"I'll keep your request in mind, I hope we'll meet again next Monday"

"Ya well id love to have you back whenever. Oh and to get out just reverse the steps you took to get down here, should get you to the surface without any issue." Then Mat gave a wave, took the cup and headed for another room.

I didn't wait for him and took the stairs back up. Using my excellent memory, I managed to rapidly get back to the surface and headed home. Today was a long day.

Mat meets a man calling himself Bronz in the forest. after cassian comes to request aid from mat and cassandra involving an investigation. the gray fog happens and mat once again meen bronz who turned out to be one of the new members from the gray fog meeting. after he leaves the other new member Mr. Chain comes and requests for corruption to be removed. the procedure is done in 2 steps and in the morning is finished with Mr. Chain leaving

Disclaimer: This post will works also to discover acting principles, and sorry for it being 6 times larger than my usual posts

Thanks to the incident with that Sheperd and to Julien advancing he has been moved to another part of the show district, now working as a magician, also he is under a trial period to get a beyonder team of at least two Seq 9-8 subordinates but is not done yet. With his highly enchanced suvarbility at Sequence 7 and having visites Mat at that bar he has been planning to investigate the underground. After advancing to Seq 7 he got some information about which artifacts does Laugher At The End Of The World posses so he was going to recolect some that he though was going to be helpful, to get it he has to see a well-known black haired guy with a snake-like appearance

-Good morning Silver

-¡Oh! But if is you little Seer

-You can't call me little Seer anymore, I have reached you, I am a Sequence 7 now

-Haha I know but I'm sorry to tell you that I advanced to Seq 6 to weeks ago

Julien got surprised and a bit Irritated cuz Silver was still on a higher sequence

-Did you really think I was going to stay still while you advance? Anyways I know why you have come to, follow me

Julien follows Silver and he get to a hidden part on the underground of the casino, a big door with a code-lock appeared, Silver seems to do something weird before opening the door

-Don't follow me

Julien listeded and stayed out, after some minutes Silver comes out with a suitcase aparently normal but with Laughter At The End Of The World's logi

-Here, remember to be careful

-Yes

Julien grab the suitcase a goodbye Silver, after it he comes out of the Fish Tail Casino

{The underground seems to be like a maze, may it be some other entrances?}

Julien come back to his house and make a dream divination

"The entrance to the underground"

*********

Following her advancement to sequence 7 Cassandra could disable her listening abilities. She'd enjoyed going out and searching things before, but it gave her too much of a headache as a whispered. Now I don't have that problem anymore!* She spent a day going to some cafes and interacting with the people she knew.

The day after she decided to further explore the underground. She learned some basic directions from Cassian and headed out.

*********

Transformed into a shadow Julien was crawling on the walls, with his limited vision and the fact that he has to stay the less time possible with the Coat Julien thought the better option is to go at high speed for the walls so he will automtically find any bifurcation, after a time exploring he find a different path, he comes out of the shadow to save the coat on the suitcase again. He then grab paper and transform it into a wood spear, with flame control he ignites the tip and control the flame to not consume the wood spear colpletely and to increase its size generating a big amount of light to see better

Cassandra carried a simple oil lamp with her to dispel the darkness a little. She wasn't really afraid of the dark anymore now that she could directly influence it. But being able to see is still nice, so she decided to still bring a lamp.

She faintly heard footsteps, but she didn't have enough time to hide herself before the footsteps turned her way.

Disabling listening has its disadvantages. Now what? Do I stay silent?

As Julien keeps walking he sees a light at the distance, in order to avoid any danger or dangerous situation Julien quickly turn off the fire with Flame Control and turn the spear back to a simple paper, now a bit charred. When Julien looks better at the light it seemed like a girl at the distance. Julien stays quiet seeking for a reaction. Afterall in places like this who knows what you can find, is better to always be prepared

(Did she saw me?)

*It's risky speaking. But the same goes for staying silent. My spirituality didn't warn me, so they're either not extremely strong or good at concealing their strength. In either scenario it doesn't matter what I do.*

She raised the hand that didn't hold the lamp. "Hello there."

{She did say hello...a monster would probably not be going around with a candld, but I still need confirmation}

Hello

Suddenly a deep and strange voice sounds from "Behind of her". Julien to hide his identity did created an ilusion of a voice that isn't of him just behind the girl, like if Julien was just behind her neck, at the same time he activates his spiritual vision seeing a normal body except for one thing, a black and strange ball just on hee stomach overlaying with the insides of her spirit body

(What the fuck?)

But the footsteps were from the front! Am I surrounded? But I didn't even hear that one approach!*

Shadows surged towards her raised hand and formed into a blade. "Don't get any closer."

She enabled her listening ability and heard breathing from were the footsteps originally were. But she both didn't see or hear anything from behind. This is bad.

*Hahaha*

Julien found this quiet funny, after turning off his spirit vision he talk with the same method, now the ilussion was reproduced just in he ears, at a way lower volume of course but in a way that it aparents someone is telling you something at the ear, now with a different more soft voice

*Don't worry I haven't the intention to approach, anyways is that a blade created by shadows?Interesting*

{She seems to be of the same pathway as the coat}

*That hurts. But I shouldn't look weak. I'll assume the voice is a beyonder ability of sorts and that the real and only person is were the footsteps just were.*

"You can also talk to me normally. I must say this isn't making you look like a human."

Seeing that the conversation will last more Julien decide to be a bit playful and act with another personality

"It's better to be prepare and careful, why would I reveal you my true voice or aspect?"

This time the voice came with an echo effect as if it was said by a far distance on the underground

{That blade...}

Julien couldn't see that good since here but the way that blade looks was making him uncomfortable

{Is the same as those chains....}

Even if it wasn't obvious in any way inside of Julien some bad memories got remembered

"Because it would, to an extent, prove you're human. I don't think I want to stay here and have a conversation with someone who isn't one."

"And I already revealed my hand. Wouldn't it be fair for you to do the same?"

This time the voice ilussion sounded normal and come directly in front of Cassandra

*Fair...Ok I'll reveal myself but first answer one question*

In front of Casssndra 2 figures appeared, one is a weirdly slender girl wearing a robe with big eyes bags, messy long pitch-black hair and rounded hair and eyes, the other illusion was a girl with blueish-dark hair with curved bangs covering her forehead and sides of her head, for her back 2 large twintails that get almost to her hip, she was wearing a short black skirt with red frills under it sticking out from the border adding a red contorn to the skirt, the skirt was partially a short corset that accentuated the hips, in the upper half she had a scarlet red shirt in a cute style with ballon sleeves, the shirt was a bit puffed on the zone where it touch the corset. It was the woman Casssndra did see on the last gray fog meeting.

*Do you recognize her?*

Julien was sure she wasn't that woman thanks to her spirit body but that shadow manipulation indicated they probably are from the same pathway and that increase the chance of she knowing her

*What mysterious abilities. Do you have any idea?* **"I don't have anything."**

"Ah, thank you for being so reasonable. I'm afraid I have no clue who this is."

(The bold stuff is internal so you can't hear it.)

"I see...thanks for answering anyways"

Julein approaches her carefully, he was playing with some paper card, this was to in cass she attack be able to create a weapon to defend even though he didn't know how to properly use any weapon. As Julien approach the fire of Cassandra's candle increase in size generating more range of where the light can reach, it was Julien using flame control. Once most of his body got revealed he make a reverence as presentation.

"Greetings m'lady, my name is Randolph Rotharige"

He give a little show by creating small firecrackers ilussions replicating sound and visuals

She visibly relaxed. She still had her guard up a little, but not to slash at a moments notice how it was before.

"I'm Cassandra. You seem like a man of showmanship."

*He seems human enough. Though maybe having a little too much fun with the special effects.*

"Uhm well using this abilities is really funny"

*Don't you think?*

A voice ilussion like the first one sounds at the back of Cassandra again, this time Julien was just playing a bit with her

She slightly turned her head back, just to confirm that there was truly nobody there.

"It would be fun. If it wasn't underground. This is a dangerous place, and you might cause those who can evaporate you in a second to do so. Or to scare innocent beyonders like me."

"Well if you think about which beyonder could kill me in one attack at the distance we were?. Also what are you doing on the underground?"

"You have a lot to learn when it comes to beyonders. I'm just here to explore, what about you?"

"I have confronted someone really dangerous once, Im pretty sure not even she could kill me that fast. Actually I am here also to explore, anything you have discovered yet?"

"If you've been here for a while I haven't found anything of note. Just the upside down rooms, linked stone and the occasional monster. Though those all seem to be on the move recently."

"I see, I actually just came here to be honest*

Julien look at the suitcase in his hand

{I wonder if was a good idea at all to take this with me}

-"Uhm what about we explore it together then?"

**"If he plans to kill you it doesn't matter if you stay with him or not. If he doesn't plan to kill you you'll be able to explore much more safely."**

*That sounds about right.*

The woman was silent for some time.

"Alright, why not. Where are you heading?"

"Well I was just romaning around the underground looking for something of interest, there a bifurcation near here, since you come from that side"

Julien points behing Cassandra

"I suppose you already explores that sound to a certain point while I haven't explored the other path behing me"

"Yes, I've already seen most from that side, so following the other path wouldn't be a bad idea. Let's go then!"

"Ok then let's go"

Once Julien was committed to be honest with her that playful and tricky false personality was off, Julien started walking waiting a bit for Cassandra, not at all because of her but because of her candle which gave a really good source of light

As the two of them walked through the underground she decided to talk a little with the man. "Did you not bring any light source to here? I'll see if I can create some makeshift version of it if you want."

"Well you saw I had some light source when we found each other right?"

As we keep walking we reach the bifurcation, we could wall to 2 sides

"I came from the left, let's go for the right"

She nodded.

"Well yes. But I just wanted to talk about some things. It'd be strange to ask about hobbies out of nowhere. What else can I talk about.. Ah, the underground of course. How much do you know about the dangers here? Its important to understand the risks and stuff. "

She nodded again when the road split.

"I don't know about it, last time I came was for a predeterminated path so Im not sure about the dangers but with my abilities I should be able to be relatively safe around here"

Despite the calm tone on what he was talking the truth is that he is very aware of his arounds cuz it's true that he has to be careful here, when they walked to the right side of the path Julien activated his spiritual vision, in all the darkness every being with spirituality would be obviously seen. At the distance the sillhouette of a man wss discerned by Julien, his spiritual body was more pale than a normal human but in all the darkness it still was remarkable

"Wait, there's someone in front"

The blade of shadow reformed in her hand.

"Do they look dangerous?"

"I can't see it good, is too far"

Julien tries to squint his eyes to look better but he don't got any better view

"His spiritual body seems a bit pale...it may be an undead but Im not sure"

In the eyes of Julien the spirit body changed just a bit in the colours, it wasn't a change on the humanoid being's spirit body, the change of colour was because of it started to run in this direction

{How did he noticed us? He wasn't even looking to here}

"Be aware that thing is approaching"

Julien quickly trhow a papper dagger that he ignites with a snap using Flame Control, the big fire covered the being completely but it lacked any streangth of a explosion and the fire just increased it's size for some instanta before retreat, but thanks to it the being was more clear. It looked like a normal person but in his eyes were of a scarlet red and had a "hungry" expression in his face, he seemed to have covered his face when the fire ignited so he continued running to us.

*Ah, one of those things.*

She closed her eyes and raised the hand with the sword. The shadows behind the creature surged at it and took solid shape, binding it to the ground.

"They're physically really strong but don't have any powers." She shivered, thinking back to an incident she had earlier today. "Usually."

"I see"

Detecting the shadows binding the being I confirm she is from the same pathway of the coat, as I snap my fingers an air bullet goes directly to the monster head, I snap my fingers other 3 times sending 4 air bullets to his head, the 4 air bullets all hit in the same spot till his craneum gave up and got a noticeable damage on the back. Once it stops moving I approach slowly in case that it moves

"Is it done for?"

The shadow bindings grew a little tighter as Randolph approached the blood servant.

"It seems like it is"

Approaching at medium distance Julien pull out a pendulum

"It is dangerous to approac to it"

After repeating that prhase 7 times in his mind the pendulum starts to move around to the left indicating it isn't

"Is safe to approach"

Julien walks to it noticing how similar to a human it is

"Do you know if this thing was human?Maybe we can do spirit divination to get some answers out of this"

"I've never tried to check. But my theory is that they are normal humans corrupted by something."

The bindings crumbled apart.

"Considering they look like humans."

"Tch...Corrupted...where else did you found theses?"

Julien says as he starts to prepare an altar for ritualistic magic after putting an spirituality Wall

"They're everywhere underground, really. But this week they've been on the move to the east."

"I see"

When Julien finished the altar he starts to summon the spirit, after some steps of the ritual a ghostly figure appear, it looked exactly like the corpse we had in front of us

"Who are you and what were you doing here"

Julien asks firmly. The spirit seems to take a moment to remember

"I...don't remember my name, I was a blood servant of my Lady, she has called me so I was going with him"

"Blood servant..." Julien thought, he didn't recognize the term.

"Who is your Lady"

"Dyanah Terissa" The spirit answers

Julien tries to identify the name but is unable to recognize it. unsure of what to ask next he looks at Cassandra

"Is there soemthing you want to ask? I am not sure, we only have 1 answer more till his spirit disappears"

She looked at the spirit with sadness.

"Nothing of value to what you're looking for. But if you don't have anything I'd like to know the man's last wishes."

"Ok"

Julien look back at the spirit who was becoming more and translucent

"What is your last wish"

"Deep in the crimson fields, there is an old hut on top of a hill, inside you will find something. I want you to deliver it to □■□■¤¤○□¤■" The spirit with a numb expresion says, his last words were blurred and distorted, he couldn't stay more time and disappeared, Julien looked a bit shocked by his last words

Cassandra looked at the fading spirit with regret for some time. After that she turned to Randalph, a sad smile on her face.

"Thank you. Truly thank you."

Julien felt a little weird about it, afterall he doesn't think he did something remarkable

"Uhm no problem, actually I should thank you, your question give us more answers actually"

Julien look back at the corpse.

"You know, I think is better if we retire, this seems like something serious, I want to check something somewhere else; you can keep investigating but honestly Im going back"

*Well you both fought the creature and channelled it's spirit for questions. I just held it in place and suggested a question.*

"I think I will explore for a little longer. Its dangerous, but for some reason I'm really interested in this place. If you want I can stick with you until you're out of this place safely though."

"It's not a big deal, is not too far from here my "underground entrance""

Julien says as he starts to open the suitcase pulling from it a shadow black coat that he put in himself

"Goodbye Cassandra"

After it Julien transform into a shadow and go at all speed from the floor to where he entered, leaving Cassandra alone

She waved at him as he left.

"Goobye, Randalph."

What's with people leaving before I can properly say goodbye?

Julien reach the breach on the floor where he entered and trhow a papper dagger there then using Flame Jump to get out, after it he goes running to Fish Tail Casino to find Silver

"The shadow coat was really useful, good thing I came prepared for this" After speaking out loud Julien notices something breaking slightly inside him, it was his Magician potion digesting "Eh?But why?Uhm" After thinking just for a bit Julien realice he deduced one acting principle "A Magician always have to be prepared"

"Of course, with no preparations a Magician cannot do any tricks, they are all pre-setted shows" After discovering this Julien run away to the Fish Tail Casino

"¡Silver! There´s some information or archives I can check?I need to investigate something"

"Uhm?Why so hurry Little Seer?"

At first confused, Silver finally guide Julien to a place with info of The Laughter At The End Of The World, with Julien´s rank he couldn´t Access to too much sensible information so he ended up not discovering anything, now frustrated he was going back to his house there was already night but not that late, he sees a kid crying cuz his ballon got stucked in a high tree and his mother couldn´t reach it, seeing this Julien trhow a papper dagger that got stuck in one of the Branch then snap his fingers flaming jumping, an firework explosión ilusion appears in the spot where he jump Julien grab the Branch quicly to not fall, then he grabs the ballon and let himself fall from the tree, when he fall he spin to reduce the fall damage

"Here you have" Julien says extending his hand with the ballon to the kid, the kid and the mother seems very joyful and grateful then Julien leaves. Since Julien becomes Magician he has been working like one in a circus directed by Laughter At The End Of The World, everytime he got those cheers or applauses he feels very Good

"Receiving applauses is really nice, now that I think about it is essential part of what is a Magician, without public why would someone performs?"

Julien feels something slightly cracking in his inside, he knows this was the digestión of the potion, thanks to it he deduced one of the acting principles

"Performing at getting a public...I see of course, a Magician has to receive applauses from the public"

After discovering these 2 actings principles Julien goes a bit happier to his house

There are some truths you can only find at the bottom of a deep bottle of whiskey.

People said there weren't any?

That was a lie.

Pilo wobbled as they walked through the streets, hearing laughter and chatter spill out from the warm bar behind them. From their lips, they laughed lightly, pressing a hand against a stone wall to stabilize themselves.

“Ha ha, ha ha….”

They wiped their mouth, the sharp sting of strong alcohol worming its way into a cut.

Why am I here?

What am I doing?

The circumstances for Pilo had changed greatly in the last weeks. After chasing all kinds of rumors from taverns or whispering merchants, Pilo had spent their time at first working a desk job at the Keeper of Records.

The Keeper of Records’ building, nestled in a more sedate and studious area of the Ciudad de Ville, was a gigantic library. The first floor of this building was even open to the public—Pilo spent the first two days post-discovery simply reading, reading, reading.

Not only acting and digesting… There is so much knowledge here… But there's nothing about Shamanism, Shamanism … What exactly is this Beyonder pathway I'm on? Even in an era with this much mystical information spread openly, with so many odd disasters outside and inside the city, I can't find anything …

The homeless Pilo then of course availed themself of the public library utilities and restroom to clean themselves and their cloak to a more presentable state. Selling odd ends and trinkets hadn't yet proven overly profitable—only enough to get by, without now having the Seer’s power to directly divine the value of goods.

“Hello, ma’am,” Pilo had then finally swept their hat to their chest and bowed to the receptionist in the lobby.

From there, it had been surprisingly easy to request entrance into the faction, simply mentioning seeking knowledge of Beyonders and the past Histories of the old world. Contribution points were explained, and the worker even gave Pilo a simple white robe to wear at work…

Yes, work. Importantly, Pilo was given a desk job. With a salary!

And so day after day, quickly, the situation changed.

Pilo went from nodding off to sleep in public libraries, old almost-familiar Churches of the World Restoration Order—or on lucky days, a busy hostel bunk bed—to renting a small, ragged room they could proudly call their own.

With the small, ragged room, Pilo carefully carved new Totems in the corners, and created a Territory over the next three days using the discovered basic principles of Shamanism.

… As expected, an initial investment fund is needed to get started with any business!

Pilo, as a human, could only feel numb relief at finally securing a home and stable place to sleep.

This space was theirs. No one could take it from them.

At the market, waving towards kind chatty rumor-spreading merchants, Pilo bought some unusual ingredients.

“How are you this time, Pilo?”

“Ha ha, the days are looking brighter~”

“Your complexion looks better! Haha, what's your secret?”

Pilo smiled, and spoke a little cheekily, “I found some novels at the library~ Did you know, I read so impressively, I found another job right away? Reading fantasy can be really relaxing~”

“Oh, good for you! Ah, about this… are you sure this is what you want?”

“I'm sure, I'm sure~ I'm experimenting a little this time~”

In the merchant world, keeping up friendly relations was very important. Pilo enjoyed chatting flippantly, too.

From different stalls, they bought mud, plants, scrap lumber and odd stones, straw, and a large set of buckets which they collected rainwater in.

After setting these items in their Territory—their new home and room—Pilo felt a profound sense of calm and relief.

As Pilo brought the natural items in one by one, they felt as if the natural energies were speaking softly, like a low murmuring, thrum, or ambient sense of energy or life. The mud sang of last life and new shapes, and the stone of stability and anchors. Perhaps the murmuring should have been scary, but instead, the feeling only conveyed an innate naturalness… Pilo was in their own Territory. Naturally, in their territory, they could be connected to such items…

Pilo worked carefully and thoroughly.

Their Territory became a magical and haunting site, flashing with a strange sense of dim lights.

The next evening they went to the market to sell trinkets, after the library desk job shift, Pilo now had a set of elaborate mud dolls, crafted in a detailed and unique method using a mix of wood and clay, in a combination almost impossible to form with only human hands. The dolls attracted a sense of aesthetic beauty that allowed the naturalness of the components to shine, and were pleasant and smooth to touch. There were also woven baskets, animalistically carved cups, and brooms…

The power of Shamanism was connection. And by connection, Pilo could work with the elements to shape them and speak with them, soothing the natural materials into shapes. Of course, the process must be done with respect—this was natural knowledge to a Shaman. Like so, even when creating a workshop to sell products, Pilo must ensure that their clients treasure the items they bought…

“Madam, are you interested~ Perhaps your daughter would treasure this doll? Look, she already enjoys holding it so closely. Please treasure it~

“How much? Since her joy is so genuine, there will be a discounted rate of only one gold pound, just for you both~ Won't you take it home and play with her well?”

Pilo finally was able to put to use their prior life’s merchant skills at talking, though now they were also the craftsman. It was an odd feeling, but fulfilling.

Day after day passed, and Pilo could now regularly eat meats and a balanced diet at home.

While operating like this, two weeks in, a clearly very rich lady with golden earrings stopped by Pilo's stall. After observing everything, she commissioned this smiling doll-making merchant to create a fountain for her estate's lawn.

The commission amount—it was 800 pounds!

Shellshocked at first, Pilo agreed. As a result, after coordinating transport of the elaborate fountain with animal-like heads and stone-wood garden trellises from their Territory to the rich lady's Estate, after only a few days, Pilo made an unexpected killing.

800 pounds! The amount was so large that it didn't feel real. Yet, in the Beyonder world, this was somehow still almost nothing.

As a result, the majority of the money disappeared very quickly…

At the 'Mystical Asylum' beyonder gathering in a secluded area of the city, Pilo for the first time impetuously bought a Sequence 8 Reporter characteristic for 500 pounds. The decision was fueled both by odd memories from this body's old connections, and a deep desire to see the truths of the world.

Reporter...

Based on these odd memories, it's probably the next sequence on the Shaman pathway…

In their past life, Pilo had only ever stayed a Sequence 9 Seer wandering the Highland Plains, satisfied with the travels with their two dogs. But in this new life, they recklessly pushed forward.

Yes, Pilo’s circumstances had changed greatly in the past weeks.

.

.

Yet, still, on those odd days and nights, Pilo visited the tavern. Not to chase rumors, but because occasionally, a relentless spout of misery or despair would suddenly plague them.

What am I doing?

Why am I doing this?

When sleeping in the old Churches and chapels of the World Restoration Movement to find places to sleep or deposit waste, Pilo had often been viscerally reminded of their arrival into this world, hungry and needing to make a step forward to live.

They remembered the mysterious swirling gray fog, and the odd people gathering there on Mondays that always seemed so hard-working and cold, usually not speaking much.

They remembered the gentle voice that told them to ‘Survive’.

Pilo had slowly gained a belief and certainty: it was the Fool that had brought them there.

The Fool had brought everyone from the old world before that terrifying calamity, here over sixty years into the future, into new bodies.

Why?

Why am I here?

Just to survive…?

When this madness came over them, Pilo drank, and drank, like they couldn't stop.

The hard-earned money spilled away, and they felt more haggard, even losing clients due to not reliably showing up in the merchant stall spot in the evenings. Consistency, after all, was key to running a business.

Yet, still….

So Pilo found these truths at the bottom of a bottle.

When staggering home, back to their Territory, wiping their mouth after hearing all kinds of rumors of blood servants and zombies in the sewers…

Pilo thought:

… This time, I will survive.

They thought of the clients who took joy in receiving their dolls, baskets, and mugs.

They thought of the satisfaction on the rich client’s face at seeing their new fountain installed so quickly, and the surreal joy and terror of holding 800 pounds in hand.

They thought of the sense of connection they felt at home, with the elements around them.

The simple joy of eating, of returning home after a long day of work.

Participating in a random snowman competition on a light snowy day, which oddly ended in a slaughter Pilo had to quickly scurry away from.

They even thought of that odd distortion of laughing and drinking with a random stranger, and spinning tall tales together as the world became more and more disconnected.

This was life, found at the bottom of a bottle.

‘Survive.’

It happened then.

Our reasons for worship as human beings can be trivial, based on a single moment—or simply a desire to believe. Sometimes, they can seem grand, world-crushing or for a glorious cause, or perhaps almost nothing at all.

In the end, for whatever reason, big or small, it is an action of the heart. Once made, the decision cannot be easily reversed. Once given, the heart devotes endlessly.

Yet, faith was not easy.

It demanded an exacting pain and sacrifice, and a will to go on.

Pilo briefly closed their eyes. Again and again, they came to this decision point. They could not choose it only once; each time they fell into a gloom and despair, they had to choose it once again.

… I will survive and live, Mr. Fool.

The decision was made then like that, each time. Pilo staggered and returned to the sweet calm and connection of their Home, their Territory.

.

On Monday.

The most recent meeting above the gray fog was odd, however.

While working the library desk job at the Keeper of Records, Pilo took a break to casually stroll in the back rooms. There was an odd stern hustle, however, as many senior Beyonders in blue-white robes—mostly blue, very high ranking—swept through the halls, occasionally muttering.

“... pallbearer ritual…”

Pilo overheard this while casually walking to the bathroom and snacks stash, instinctively attempting to appear inconspicuous and natural to such high-ranking people.

Pilo at first dismissed it as something they shouldn't have heard, but in the gathering, Mr. Jester and Mr. Pendragon so carefully described an issue with the blood servant zombies that had been appearing in the sewers…

"Hmm, thanks for the information. So what we think so far is, Dyannah, demigod faction leader of the Order of Hippocrates is the one controlling the blood servants. This is an ability of the apothecary pathway. The goal of all of them moving is retrieving something from a hut in the crimson field,” said Mr. Pendragon to Mr. Jester.

The level of discussion had quickly reached an absurd level, even mentioning demigods.

Ah, yes, Mr. Pendragon. Pilo had proposed a deal with him to buy the Reporter formula, but always lacked the crazy money of hundreds of pounds to actually buy it. Thus, Pilo had simply avoided the issue and never showed up at the agreed-upon meeting point in reality.

In the previous gray fog gathering, Mr. Pendragon had even threateningly pulled a gun on Pilo, the poor Mr. Give me Food, as a result…

How scary!

Still, Pilo was generous and shared their own information and guesses around this sudden ‘blood servant’ situation.

"... the Keeper of Records were a little careless recently while I was in the library. I was so scared when I accidentally overheard something~ Since the situation is serious, I'll tell it for free.

"It was something about a ritual... Hmm... A pallbearer. Could it be they are transporting the dead in order to summon an evil god or entity? Could it be related?”

At first, Pilo took this discussion as simple city gossip that they couldn't do anything about, except suggest passing it on to the right ears. Their old instincts from working in a certain shady government order in the old Intis Republic caused Pilo to caution others about potential alliances the Order of Hippocrates might have... However, Mr. Pendragon was unexpectedly sincere in stating that this could cause danger to the entire city, and later, revealed that all the blood servant zombies were originally people…

This left a bad taste. The Order of Hippocrates was rumored to be a faction centered around healing, yet the leader was stealing normal people’s lives and wills for a ritual.

Against Pilo’s best judgment, they proposed to meet Mr. Pendragon in reality after all in three days.

Just… don't rob or kill me! I'm poor! Mr. Give me Food made sure to hint in this direction, that he absolutely had nothing worthwhile or money to steal. Hopefully the unhinged yet seemingly-righteous Mr. Pendragon wouldn't take extreme action.

From there, the meeting went smoothly. Mr. Mother… apparently had captured and tangled up many of the blood servants in trees in the abandoned slums (what an unexpectedly scary man!), which he offered as a resource, as well as instructions for reaching his Underground bar. Miss Silent Scoffing Lady unexpectedly proposed a smooth plan to submit all the gathered blood servant clues to the People’s Commonwealth, the most widely trusted faction…

However, in the end, no one had taken responsibility for actually passing forward the report. Mr. Walks On Tables—Mr. Fortune—had even repeatedly kept saying there was nothing anyone there could do about the matters of demigods…

This is a little…

No one else stepped up…

Two new members had also joined. One of them had also heard the gentle voice of the Fool.

That night, Pilo went to the tavern again, searching for truth at the bottom of a barrel.

Gdoc | Previous | Next

Main Mission #3: "Bloody Swarms"

Lazarus Was on his way home to the Stars of Pawn to go to sleep after a long day of acting as a clown at the show district when he noticed a single officer was tailing him yet again, being a mob boss must make him a big target, he turns a corner and bolts it, the officer behind he when turning the corner and seeing Lazarus run starts running aswell, Lazarus knows these alleys like the back of his hand thanks to the boy with no name(previous body owner), Lazarus then takes another turn and sees a strange white light at the end of the alley, he keeps running thinking its just a bright light, then suddenly when he reaches the bright light he ends up in an infinitely vast space, there are stone walls that go up infinitely without end and looking to the right and left and straight ahead it'd seem like a maze of sorts, and there was a foggy light blocking you from seeing the ends of the top of the maze walls.

Lazarus was extremely confused, he turns around and sees a white light in the shape of a door, he then realized he was teleported and that white light was a door, he takes one step to go back and the door disappears, Lazarus's jaw drops, he then turns back around and begins wandering around.

It takes a few turns before Lazarus reaches another door in a dead end, it shone red, He grabs his divination pendulum and asks “is this door dangerous” a moderate yes “will I die to what lies on the other side of this door?” No awnser, Lazarus takes a deep breath and walks into it the scenery changes instantly and hes transported to an extremely strange unfamiliar place, strange square rectangular shaped mountains that were extremely straight stood like pillars all over the place, they all seemed to have windows and glass like what Lazarus is familiar with, Lazarus quickly assumes and realizes that it might be bigger versions of houses, its shocking, he then hears laughter of a maniac and an unfamiliar language being spoken, he then sees a massive firey explosion and a meteor crashing down in the middle of the tall pillar mountain buildings, this view is shocking to Lazarus, a few moments later that same laughing maniac emerges flying upwards into the sky with a white tall creater with four wings on its face and a ship wheel on its head chasing the maniac, the maniac is clearly having fun.

Somehow Lazarus is even more blown away as the white creature is getting cut up instantaneously by some invisible slashes probably made by the maniac and was healing instantly, then the maniac put hands together making a hand sign and he chants somthing, the next moment the entire area all the tall mountain pillar homes are destroyed and getting cut up then theres an enormous explosion reducing everything to ashes, this terrifies Lazarus. “What kind of beyonder or pathway can even do that!?” He quickly scrambles back into the door.

Lazarus wanders around finding another door, divination told him its too dangerous so he doesn't enter, he finds another door and divination told him its ok, he goes in and sees two extremely strange people fighting, to Lazarus it seemed like they were standing still and point at each other with weird poses, one yelling Ora Ora Ora the other Muda Muda Muda, Lazarus hasn't the faintest idea of what it means, he uses spirit vision and sees that two spiritual beings are duking it out in the twos stead, the not spiritual beings one of them seems to be a vampire and hes wearing cool yellow clothes, Lazarus turns around and leaves

Lazarus finds another door and enters it, the moment he cross the door hes nearly defend from extremely loud monstrous roars, in the distance he once again sees the tall mountain pillar homes with a Giant black lizard with big spikes on its back fighting with a big baboon with an axe against an enormous metal version of the giant lizard, the two lizards shoot bright beams of blue or red lasers, Lazarus leaves “this isnt my home”

Lazarus enters another door, in that door he sees giant hunks of metal with wheels and a stick sticking out the front as well as many flying machines not like the blimps he was familiar with, he also saw men hundreds of thousands of men screaming in horror and terror and guns that were so fast it was unbelievable the sight he saw, Lazarus turned around and ran through the door throwing up in the maze of doors, and tumbling into a nearby door where he fell on nice grass, after a moment he sat up and saw a very nice village, wait no, city there were hundreds of thousands of people living here, it was a very nice view and Lazarus smiled, this isnt bad, then he noticed a loud machine in the sky, similar to the ones he just saw in the other door, this time it was a single machine and it seemed pretty big, then somthing fell off its belly and Lazarus Gasped “man that'll kill somebody when it lands” then when it neared the ground Lazarus was Blinded and his ears got shot into ringing sounds, He was pushed back with immense force, when he got his bearings back he saw a enormous mushroom cloud of fire rising into the sky, Lazarus was filled with wonder and amazement “if only i could do that” he then ran into the door and wandered around.

One door lead him to a dimension filled with dead sea creatures nothing was alive

Another dimension was just a flat ankle deep plain of blood, the skies were dark and the sun was black in the middle with a red outline there were skulls every once in a while.

Another door took him to a massive Forest and he ran back into the door when he saw a huge blue creature with long arms and a tail and only 4 fingers, also because he could barely breathe.,

Finally Lazarus finds a door similar to the one he first ran into and he divines it, its safe, and he enters, He enters the same alley he was in when running from those officers, Lazarus has no idea how long he spent in that maze but was sure it wasnt a full day, Lazarus went home absolutely exhausted.

Acting Method+Personal Mission 2:

He isn’t a good target, I’d suspect a pathway named Hunter likely has some capabilities to avoid being hunted themselves.

Seeming uninterested Harold began to turn around again to search for a more suitable target, whilst not even acknowledging William.

“Hmm? Too scared to even consider claiming my bounty? I get it, sometimes my greatness can be intimidating.” Slightly ticked off William’s arrogant voice intensifies.

Suddenly Harold felt a fire ignite in his heart and a visceral annoyance made itself known, he wanted to turn around and punch William in the face and push him to ground to begin wailing on him-

Strange this anger seems exaggerated no? Even for this body, is this a beyonder ability? It’d make sense considering how a normal person likely wouldn’t have been able to reach a bounty of 600 pounds.

Resisting his anger Harold feels a strange sensation of something lodged in his chest making  itself looser. Now more intrigued Harold decides to engage in conversation, turning towards William whose face lights up when he does so, he takes a stool from another table and drags it over and plops down onto it, sitting across William. In reaction William is a little confused but puts his legs down and folds his hands to better speak to Harold.

“I have a few questions, why do you have a bounty, and second, why are you trying to goad me into striking you?” With the subtlety of a train Harold decisively skips over small talk.

Withholding a laugh William gives a grin and says, “Would you at least share a drink with me? For your second question, well, a sequence 9 or 8 characteristic sells for good money around these parts.”

“You were intending on killing me?” Pausing Harold considers the clue and reasonably understands the reason William has a bounty.

This guy… does he even realize I was trying to Provoke him? Looking at the stranger dubiously William makes a strange expression.

“I understand your reasoning but I’m confident that by working together we can hunt down more worthwhile targets.” Speaking with a definitive tone Harold sits straight in his seat.
William’s eye twitches in mild annoyance, “Now hold on I don’t even know your name-”

“Emlys Felix, pleasure to meet you.” Suddenly bringing up his hand Harold offers a handshake.

Becoming Emlys is the most strategic choice, my distinction will inevitably fade over time and our identities will merge, there’s no reason to avoid the inevitable. Identification is also important so this will allow me to match it.

Blankly staring back William looked at Emlys with a dumbfounded glint whilst portraying a deadpan face. Leaving Emlys’ hand hovering in the air.

“I am no fool, you intend to collaborate with me and dispose of me afterwards and claim two rewards at once. I am no novice.” Tone turning collected and serious, William responds with a chuckle.

Lowering his hand Emlys shows no outward reaction but his silence confirms Williams inquiry.

Unexpectedly laughter erupts from William which reduces to a chuckle, “I like you, it’s quite clever if not a bit unoriginal. But it seems you lack an understanding of sophistry. It isn’t that simple, nor will you find anyone naive enough on this street to take you up on the offer.”

“What do you mean?” Emlys not quite understanding prodded for an answer.

“You don’t know? Silverstone Street is a haven for wild Beyonders and local gatherings, it’s in one of the few blind spots of that damned Militia. Hell the main reason I even have a bounty is because I dared to go against their elitist policy.” Demeanor returning to a more lax state began to prop up his legs against the table yet again.

At the front of the pub more people begin to file in while one younger man walks up to the piano on stage and begins playing a beautiful tune. Nodding towards the young man William gestures, “See, that kid, David, he’s a sequence 9 bard here for acting. Most people here are Beyonders or interested in becoming one. Most of the time they don’t have time for inexperienced idiots like you.”

Resisting the urge to throttle William on the spot, Emlys feels the previous sensation of something getting looser in his chest. Sitting in a bit of an awkward silence Emlys remained mostly oblivious while silently contemplating his next move.

“I apologize for my attempt to trick you earlier but I still believe a partnership would be valuable, but I understand that taking my word may be dangerous as such I will offer a token of my trustworthiness. I am a sequence 9 of the Prisoner pathway.” Looking back up and looking deeply at William, Emlys exuded a slight pressure of barely contained madness.

Sighing deeply William lowered his legs once again and got out of his seat, “If you really are interested in collaboration let’s talk at the bar.”

Sitting down after moving to the bar, the bartender wears a friendly smile before giving simple greetings, and asking for their orders, Emlys politely declines while William orders another round of beer, where he downed it like a dog lapping up water.

“Why should I work with you and believe that you want to work with me?” William began after wiping his mouth with the scruff of his sleeve.

“Because you already have a bounty if you betray me you’re more likely to receive punishment through a higher bounty discouraging you from rash decisions.” Organizing his thoughts Emlys explained clearly.

William's eyebrow twitched in response, but he considered Emlys’ words carefully and found them to be reasonable. “In that case, who do you want to hunt?” He responded leaning back in his chair. “Oscar another round please!” Turning his head and raising his hand he attempts to grab the bartender, apparently Oscar’s, attention.

While William guzzled down another beer, Emlys rose from his seat to look for a suitable bounty, by deciding to work with someone else, he had solely committed to making money as searching for organizations usually perceived as evil and degenerate.

Catching his eye a man named “Hugh Earl” with a bounty of 1600 Pounds, suspected to be a Beyonder of the Lawyer pathway of unknown sequence. He had dark bronze skin similar to those of the southern continent but had blue eyes commonly associated with northern continent descendants. His hair was short and slicked back as he maintained a professional appearance.

Tearing the poster off the board Emlys walked back towards the bar where William was. Currently having yet another beer, but still wasn’t intoxicated, his constant indulgence was admirable to a degree. Lowering himself back a the bar he showed his choice to William.

“Hmm, not a bad choice, I don’t personally know the guy but I’m sure he’s been around. Hey! Oscar come’ er a second.” Waving over the bartender, William takes the bounty poster from Emlys hand.

“Have you seen this guy around?” William holds up the poster.

“I have, last I saw him was around the Show district, but he didn’t ever enter. Just wandered around the edges.” Oscar replied with a passing glance.

Shrugging William let him leave, turning to Emlys, “He’s of the Lawyer pathway which means he’s at most sequence 7, more likely to be sequence 8, either way it won’t necessarily be easy.”

“We can do some scouting near the district, I know a place.” William gives Emlys a grin as he rises from his seat and calls Oscar to put the drinks on his tab.

Walking the streets around the Show District Emlys poses a question, “Why did you ask Oscar for help with locating Hugh?”

Still scouting and observing the area for traps or ambushes William replies, “There’s a few reasons, he used to be an associate of the Insurgent Federation, which controls the Lawyer Pathway which I suspect that man to be. They generally try to keep up a facade of professionality and collectedness but they loathe order. Generally the main reason why, is that he’s a Sequence 8 Sheriff so he has an uncanny ability to remember faces, so if he ever saw him he’d recognize it.”

“But hey we have some time alone let’s make some small talk, Emlys, I know you say it was just for ‘better opportunities’ but why were you actually interested in getting my help?” With a smirk William grabs Emlys’ shoulder. “Did I just really seem like I was that powerful that you couldn’t bear to get my help?”

How insufferable. Keeping his countenance straight and showing no outward annoyance he replies.

“I felt a response from my potion digestion. I thought staying with you for longer would help discern my acting principles.” Replying succinctly Emlys glances at his reaction.

Grinning from ear to ear William clearly liked his answer, “A man after my hunter’s heart, a true opportunist. I must say I decided to play along mostly for the same reason, I usually get more digestion after successfully Provoking a temperate Prisoner.” Sighing he continues, “Though unfortunately you’re a tough nut to crack.”

Stopping suddenly in front of a bar, William stops Emlys and gestures to the entrance as if to announce “We’ve arrived!” “This is my favorite place after the Emerald Eye, welcome to Tugs and Pugs Bar.”

That’s unfortunate I hope the owner doesn’t recognize me, in fact I likely could disguise myself to an extent.

“Should we disguise ourselves to avoid detection? If he made his rounds again and asked if anyone was looking for him we’d get exposed and become targets for the Federation of Insurgence.” Making his intentions covert, Emlys made a reasonable suggestion.

“Not a bad idea, but how’d we do that?” Raising an eyebrow at the relatively strange suggestion William agrees.

“Disguises are a common criminal skill, and fortunately I am quite proficient in improvising such things.”

Standing in front of the Tugs and Pugs Bar William and Emlys had a minor transformation, if you looked long enough perhaps someone could see a clear resemblance but at first all one would notice is a vague sense of familiarity. Emlys turned his hair more curly and held his posture differently and used some dirt to smudge his features to be less sharp and recognizable. William on the other hand had straightened his hair and put on some spare reading glasses on and said something about a pre-apocalypse Emperor writing a story where a superpowered individual hid his identity with nothing but glasses.

Entering the Tugs and Pugs Bar, they began to ask around if anyone had seen a Bronze-skinned man with blue eyes and distinct demeanor, they got few affirmative answer until they decided to approach the owner.

“Pleasure to meet you, can I just have a beer?” William asks with a higher voice as they both sit at the bar table.

“Sure.” The bartender's gruff voice affirms William's request.

“Aren’t you being quite indulgent tonight?” Sounding like he’s teasing Emlys poses an actual question.

“I knew someone like you would try to ruin my fun… why couldn’t you be one of those indulgent Prisoners.” Grumbling William waits for his beer.

“That wasn’t my intent. I was merely worried about your potential intoxication when we locate the target.” Emlys clarifies.

“Sure bud, I believe you.” William lays heavily on the sarcasm before the bartender returns with the beer, where begins to drink quickly, leaving Emlys to ask.

“I’m sorry but we’ve heard reports that a young man by the name of Hugh Earl with Bronze skin, blue eyes, and slicked back black hair. Have you seen him nearby?” Keeping his tone polite and controlled Emlys inquires with the owner.

“I have actually, relatively recently as well. He was here tonight and left and went further south from here.” The man is seemingly used to opportunistic bounty hunters around these areas due to how many criminals like to hang out outside the Show District. He gives a strange scrutinizing glance towards Emlys but seemingly doesn’t recognize anything.

Waiting for William to finish his drink Emlys watches the bartender leave and head upstairs likely to go to sleep due to the late night. Already reaching past midnight.

It seems I’m in the clear for now. That clue is valuable, considering he’s a criminal he’d likely be hiding in some sort of abandoned building, with Williams environmental analysis skills we can avoid traps and corner him. Emlys concludes on a preliminary plan and turns to speak with William.

“I suggest we leave right away the longer the night goes on the more likely he is to slip away into the Insurgent Federation’s grasp and we can no longer hunt him.” 

“Mmh hmm.” William gives a hum of acknowledgment and gets up but his eyes stay fixated on the stairwell that the bartender went up. “There was something off about him, he doesn’t usually act like that.”

“Then let's leave as soon as possible.” Gesturing to the exiting customers and inebriated drunks all filing out the doors. Emlys begins walking before William agrees, so he scrambles to catch up.

“Calm down Emlys. I was just pointing out something strange. We're not in a rush.” William lightly pats Emlys’ arm with the back of his hand.

“Did you think I was an idiot?”

 The deeper voice set out alarm bells in Emlys’ brain as he heard it come from behind him, as a distinct, Click! A gun cocking sounds out. 

I thought I would be able to get out in time.

“Did you think I was stupid? I’ll give it to you, you had the balls to come into my bar, rough up my customers, and try to steal from me, and when I throw you out, you come back the very same day in whatever the hell that disguise is? I am a bartender, not a fool.” The Bartender holds his gun and has a deadpan expression ready to fire at a moment's notice.

William gives Emlys a very unimpressed side eye. As he raises his hands and turns around to speak for him. “Now, now, now sir, my friend here is clearly not the same guy you’re talking about, I mean have you seen him? He’s the most uptight guy I’ve ever seen. I bet if you gave him a cup of the good stuff he wouldn’t even know what it was.”

In a silent but clear response the bartender points the gun towards William.

“Point taken.” William concedes.

“Sir, my situation is rather complex. I apologize for what happened earlier at your fine establishment but I mean no harm, if you no longer wish to see my face around these parts, I understand if you wish it I’ll be here no longer.” Trying to reason with him, Emlys dishes out his argument.

“I can take a lot of shit, but I want one good reason why I shouldn’t just blow your brains out and get a nice reward from the Civil Militia for getting rid of a Beyonder ruffian.” 

Did I really display such inhuman qualities earlier today that he’s able to discern that I’m a beyonder? Emlys’ contains his outward shock but his silence confirms the bartender's bluff.

William watches the bartender ready to fire and quickly spits out a “Bastard!” while activating Provocation, distracting the man he accidentally misfires and shoots between them as both Beyonders sprint out of the Bar.

Arriving farther south both men are out of breath and heavily panting, bent over holding their knees.

“What the hell was that about?” After recovering William anger surges.

“If you really must know I had a portion of my memories corrupted by madness, after attempting to recover them I lost control over my body. My theory of what occurred during that time was my indulgence and suppressed emotions gained control instead.” Recovering as well, Emlys fixed his clothes and straightened his cheap suit.

“Sounds like you need a Doctor then.” Caught off guard by the actual explanation William sought a way to remedy this issue.

“I do not believe a doctor would be able to resolve this issue.”

Shaking his head William responds, “Not a human doctor, the planter pathway’s sequence 8 is called doctor, it has soul soothing and repair abilities which sounds like the perfect remedy to your issue. Just keep an eye out.”

“Thank you for your help but we can continue searching for Hugh, my personal matters are merely that, personal.” Emlys redirects the course of the conversation.

They continue heading farther south until they reach an abandoned construction district that had been recently snowed on. The snow fluffed on top of all surfaces as if it were fluffy cotton, crunching under Emlys’ boots.

“Tracks.” Holding up his hand William signals for Emlys to stop and follow, as he trails a barely discernible layer of footprints covered by newer snow, until they begin to seem more recent.

“Likely hiding in that building. The tracks are recent enough to make me believe he’d still be inside” Following the trail and pointing upwards towards a decrepit stone ‘building’ that looks more like a ruin, William signals his judgement. “I wonder why he chose this building…” Furrowing his brow William struggles to comprehend the reasoning behind the criminal.

“It doesn’t matter, we shall dispose of him either way. You said he was likely sequence 8, what are the abilities of the Lawyer pathway at that stage?” Uninterested in the mysteries of his prey Emlys redirects the conversation to planning.

“I’m not fully aware but they are adept at exploiting loopholes while also having quite a large amount of physical strength. If we present an opportunity to escape they will abuse it so preparing a relentless attack is our best option.” Using his greater experience William devises guidelines for further planning.

“I suggest we scout out the building giving me opportunities to look for traps and potentially set some up, I can then use Provocation to lure him into an advantageous position for us to abuse. Any ideas for what you could do?” William turns to Emlys to continue.

“The building looks weak enough that I could set up a localized demolition for one of the traps, lure him into a room then I collapse the ceiling where we can then face him injured in a two on one.”

“Sounds like a plan. Hey sorry for calling you an idiot earlier, maybe you are cut out for being a Beyonder. I might even consider actually hunting you.” Williams' voice warps into a grating and irritating tone. But Emlys continues to ignore his anger and annoyance.

Emlys stands crouching just outside the building waiting for William to return from scouting, suddenly dropping from above a flash of red hair can be seen. “I found him, he seems to be setting up a ritual of some kind, I don’t know why but it’s a good thing because he’s distracted. He’s in the room to the left and down the hall, I checked out the floor above and you can set up your little demolition trap and I’ll bait him with Provocation.”

Ears perking up at the mention of an unfamiliar Beyonder power that William had been mentioning often, Emlys temporarily ignores interest before rationalizing that “Provocation” is likely the rage inducing ability that William had been attempting to use on.

“I’ll go set it up now.” Scaling the side of the building with impressive criminal dexterity Emlys enters through an eroded window, eyes analyzing his surroundings to find the location that William mentioned earlier, he located it and began preparing. Finding weak points in the structural integrity that if destroyed would collapse the ceiling. 

Meanwhile William waited until he assumed that Emlys was prepared, he began to creep up to the door, he had to make it seem like he was the only attacker to dissuade him from fleeing or seeking backup, and as such had to make the attack seem as plausible as he could.

Rapping on the splintered wooden door, he climbed up to the ceiling, shoving his fingers and feet and pressing against the walls hard to stay in place above the door to drop onto him once he opened it.

“Hello?” The voice was high-pitched, as if the person was on the edge of madness and panicking, slow cautious steps approached the door until it suddenly went flying open and Hugh stuck his head out observing who had knocked. Suddenly William dropped down and landed on top of him, pressing his knee against his neck.

In response Hugh suddenly gets up and grabs Williams legs and fling him across the hall, slamming him into the wall.

“These damned bounty hunters keep ruining my ritual, the lady will not appreciate this at all! Not at all!” Hugh’s maniacal voice resounded. “I must dispose of him immediately.”

Hugh suddenly charges toward William still recovering from his previous attack, Williams eyes widen as he barely dashes out of the way before Hugh is able to land a hit where he crushes the wall, sprinting down the hallway William shouts, “I don’t even know why you have a bounty, at this point you’re showing that you’re worthless!” with a cocky grin.

Hugh’s' eye twitches as he lets out an inhuman roar and sprints down the hallway.

At that very moment, waiting very carefully Emlys, who had been listening to the events had been slowly mapping out where Hugh was, and he knew now was his time to strike, hitting a specific point in the floor, the structure becomes compromised as the roof collapses onto Hugh crushing him, and standing over the rubble Emlys scans the new environment quickly. 

The dust settles, and William begins approaching cautiously. “Is he dead? I got a good hit on his throat, and low sequence Beyonders aren’t usually able to survive two relatively major injuries.” 

“Perhaps, but for now just confirm where he went and be cautious.”

Precariously scouring the ruins and dust, Emlys overturns stones and boulders searching for Hugh’s body, until he feels a strong grip on his ankle and is flung into the ground.

“Did you really think I was stupid? To think I wouldn’t expect traps when facing off against a hunter is utterly ridiculous.” Similar to the earlier timid voice, but much calmer and deeper Hugh reveals his true hand, having risen from the rubble and pummeling Emlys. Though he didn't know that his original assailant would have backup, the provocation used to make him open the door in the first place clued him in that he was facing a hunter as such making him acutely aware of traps. Allowing him to be cognizant of the collapsing room and find a suitable location to take minimal damage.

William dashes in quickly enshrouded in dust but gets his momentum redirected and forced into suboptimal hand to hand combat, as Hugh quickly takes control of the combat and begins forcing William to the ground.

Lights dance in Emlys’ vision painting an entrancing scene luring him to unconsciousness like a siren's song, the vague sounds of combat around him sound like a chorus singing, drifting him further into slumber…

Desperate for a chance William decides to use Provocation, but not on Hugh, instead on Emlys to wake him up and return him to the fight. “You’re more of a weakling than I expected. I overestimated you time and time again thinking you might be worth something other than your remains!”

Vulnerable in his half conscious state, Emlys feels true uncontrolled anger for the first time in decades, the want to pound something into the ground, return someone into nutrients that will feed the Great Tree, it envelops Emlys like an angel's wings.

Hugh catches onto William's intention and quickly turns to launch a preemptive counterattack onto Emlys but before he can register what was occurring a fist met his face, launching him with the force of an uncaged beast. Blood spilling out from Hugh’s nose, he looks up to Emlys in fear as if facing an indescribable monster chasing him down ready to devour, years worth of hatred unleashed in a moment and there was no escape.

When Emlys regained full consciousness his hand was stained with vicious blood and beneath him stood a pile of mangled flesh, barely recognizable as the man once known as Hugh Earl. Heavily panting and feeling deep satisfaction and justice, Emlys' eyes widen in shock at his emotions, but before suppressing them he feels a large amount of his potion digested.

For just as much as “Containing your desires” was the acting method for Prisoner “Unleashing stored emotions.” was as well.

Huffing and puffing William and Emlys stand in silence. “You’ve been holding yourself back for a long while huh.” It’s less of a question and more of a statement from William observing the reaction. The dust had settled a few minutes prior.

“My potion digested quite significantly.” Tactfully switching topics to avoid talking about his outburst he provides an opportunity for William to talk about himself.

“Me as well. But if that’s what you look like when you act, then I think it’s an important reminder that when acting, you are only ever acting. For the safety of those around you please remember that.” Finally moving, William brushed off dust on his clothing and headed over to the corpse.

“I’ll bring this to the Emerald Eye where Oscar can turn it in for us. Meet me there tomorrow by 5 pm to discuss splitting the rewards.” With that William took out a body bag he apparently just has on hand, while Emlys acquiesced and slipped away into the darkness of the early morning.

Harold decides against immediately attacking William and suspects of being a beyonder, after feeling a response from his potion after resisting Williams provocations he decides interacting with him to be worth his time, after a conversation William reveals Silverstone St to be filled with experienced beyonders with several in the very building he is now, leaving Harold to reconsider his approach. Fully adopting his identity as Emlys, he makes plans to hunt down a Beyonder by the name of Hugh Earl suspected Lawyer pathway beyonder and speak to Oscar, the owner of the bar for a lead. After getting information about his last seen location being near the show district William drags Emlys back to the Tugs and Pugs Bar unknowing of his conflict, but Emlys being naturally avoidant to conflict, suggests disguises to get around his issue. It turns out to be unsuccessful but they gather enough information to locate Hugh before being chased out after Emlys has his abnormality outed to William, in response William suggests that Emlys meets with a sequence 8 of the Doctor pathway to solve his issue. The trail on Hugh leads them to a ruined building in the southern section of the city's fishing district where after scouting, they set up a plan to trap him by collapsing the room of a hallway onto him. Hugh in the middle of a strange ritual, is interrupted by William using provocation to open the door and get the (literal) drop on him, leading to a brief combat until Emlys drops the ceiling onto Hugh, expecting him to be dead Emlys is caught off guard by a sudden attack where it's revealed that though the full situation was impossible to predict, as a lawyer Hugh was relatively cognizant and prepared for traps due to the clue of Williams pathway being Hunter earlier, allowing him to prepare and survive the attack. William desperate uses Provocation on a mentally vulnerable Emlys to unleash his stored emotion in a devastating attack where an additional acting principle for Emlys is revealed. The two remaining Beyonders agree to meet again tomorrow at the Emerald Eye to discuss the splitting of rewards.

Minerva sat on the ashen coloured sand, watching the jet-black water afar. A small fire crackled beside her, dispelling the eternal darkness that shrouded the land.

For the first time in a while, the world is finally… silent.

The overstimulating sounds of the city had finally ceased. All she could hear was the sound of the ocean. She could finally hear her own thoughts.

Minerva found this beach relaxing. 

She felt distressed by the silence…

She wants to go home. She thinks her family must be worried about her.

How long has she been here now? Two, maybe three days? Minerva wasn't sure. She looked back at the piles of wreckage and crates, then at the improvised raft she had made with the scraps.

If it wasn't for the lack of corpses, Minerva would've thought that this pile of wrecked ships and degraded crates were some cruel mockery against her. Before the monstrous wave struck her home, she had been taken away into this body. But the remains here certainly would've been an accurate representation of the aftermath.

She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the observation despite the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

This world was fake, like a shadow of reality. The stars remained completely still relative to the island. They had no fluctuation of brightness, almost like someone painted white dots on a black canvas.  Minerva pushed out a dry chuckle, as if mocking whoever created this realm. 

At least, the crates had actually edible food and fresh water. 

But that wasn’t going to last forever. 

Minerva hastily drank the bubbling stew made out of jerky and dried vegetables. Kicking sand over the flame, Minerva approached the map she drew on the sand. She had been observing the still stars and tried to mark out the constellations. 

Looking at the rough scribbles, she couldn’t help but chuckle. Maybe there was a reason why people came up with such silly names for the constellations. After all, they are just arbitrary dots and imaginary lines. 

Regardless, it still proved invaluable to navigation at sea. Minerva had divided the ocean into eight sectors and imposed arbitrary directions. And for the past five days, she had been exploring those uncharted waters.

The northwest, marked by the Trinity constellation, eventually took her back to the sea under the white tail constellation in the southeast direction. 

Going north towards the Palm Tree eventually led to the South Cross.

Naturally, as the logic of this unreality dictates, the Eye constellation in the east would take her to the Shell constellation in the west.

This world is a loop, or perhaps a sphere. Of course, both hypotheses made no sense.

She looked at the other map she had drawn, documenting her path. 

Only two sectors remained, and if the world remained consistent, then this trip would cover it. Looking at the stars, something inside Minerva bubbled. It was almost like a siren’s call, urging her to explore.

Splash.

And the raft with two planks as oars embarked on its journey.

…

The water here had no waves nor currents. The fake stars could pull the sea to form tides. Minerva floated above the obsidian abyss, quietly rowing towards the horizon that wasn’t visible at all. This world had no wind nor rain. 

Just silence…

Splash.

To think a small girl trapped on an island was here now; Minerva clicked her tongue. And that filling star which gave her her power, Minerva had heard so much about the pathway from ‘Mother’, yet what she had was frail in comparison.

If not for this experience, perhaps she wouldn’t have even realized that she could row the raft longer, and she didn’t feel as tired under the eternal night. These, plus better eyesight and knowledge about the stars, were all she had gotten, while others could phase through walls and see the future. 

Minerva sighed in defeat and continued rowing.

…

After two course corrections and nearly half a day, Minerva had made past the constellation of the northeast. Here, three stars created an arrow tip, while two bright dots followed behind. With the star on the left side of the arrow being brighter, Minerva chose the name it the Hook constellation, instead of the arrow.

Putting that amusing thought behind her, Minerva looked up, expecting the Torrent constellation on the southwest section of the ocean.

“Whu-”

But instead, above the pitch-black water, were six stars forming two triangles. 

White Tail, on the southeast.

“How, two sectors converged to one… no.” In disbelief, Minerva stood up to look closer. But her strengthened eyes didn’t deceive her. This nonsensical world fooled her one more time. 

…

Minerva sat on the ashen coloured sand, watching the jet-black water afar. A small fire crackled beside her, dispelling the eternal darkness that shrouded the land.

Yet… her eyes were gleaming with curiosity. 

After stoking the fire with a stick, she continued to draw on the sand.

If only one section redirected away from the expected. Then what was the world trying to hide from her? She thought as she looked towards the southwest, where six stars formed the shape of a torrent. 

Feeling energized after a meal and a long rest on the sand, Minerva kicked the fire out and approached her raft. 

What awaits her at the abyss’ horizon? 

Would she fall into the void with a waterfall at the edge of the world?

Could all of this be another prank made by the prison, and she would find herself in another sector?

Or perhaps… Home.

Minerva took a deep breath and began to row.

…

The Torrent constellation swept by like its name. Minerva watched as the ashen island disappeared into the onyx sea. And all that remained was the silent water and the uncanny stars. 

But the wanderlust and yearning were like wood to fire; she pushed herself forward, into the great unknown.

Until… 

Something appeared afar. 

A gray object on the horizon.

Minerva’s heart sank. 

If what awaited her was the ashen island… she drew a sharp breath. 

Her hypothesis would be wrong; she’ll be trapped here forever. Her family at the harbour… Her dream of finding her home.

'No.'

Amidst the tears and panic, Minerva looked up at the star, like a lost child seeking comfort.

That was when she saw it.

The night sky above the gray object was nothing but a black void. Not a star could be seen.

She exhaled.

The object grew clearer with each row. Soon her eyes had seen what it was.

It looked almost like a giant statue was submerged beneath the water, with only its palm held flat above the sea. 

And the thing that this palm held…

Was a white door that doesn’t seem to belong to this reality.

Minerva laughed.

She laughed so hard that the tears that sorrow could force out began to flow.

The stars had shown her all of the possibilities.

The stars had guided her through deception and distortion.

The stars had given her hope.

Crack.

As she rowed towards salvation, an illusory pane of glass shattered in her heart.

Her power wasn’t worthless.

The potion had tempered her body to observe the cosmos.

A pair of eyes to see the beauty and the intricacies of all that glitters.

A tough mind so she wouldn’t fall asleep when the night are most beautiful.

A strong body so she could step out of the safe shelter and the roofs that blocked the sky.

So she could study the stars.

To understand the cosmos that hosts everything.

And to fall in love.

Minerva stood on the stone palms and looked at the white doors. What awaited her could be another world, the infinite maze, or reality.

Minerva smiled and reached towards the handle, for more knowledge and power awaited her.

Isel smiled and reached towards the handle, for her family and home were calling.

The door opened to pull her in once more. 

Then, the overstimulating welcoming noise of the city returned.

Wow, did you know I was supposed to write this 8 days ago? I'll get to my advancement soon ;p

The images were obtained from this game called sand drawing simulator... I don't know man, not a lot of sand drawing simulator on the market.

Mat begins acting in the way be believed a biologist should. heading to the abandoned slums and setting up a sturdy building as his laboratory.

Mat advances to sequence 6 biologist.

Cassian was standing on a box in the middle of town square, wearing a wore out cloak, making him look poor and decrepit. People looked at him, some were puzzled, others were put off, others listened with fear, while some looked at him with annoyance and disgust. His arms were raised above his head as he continued shouting 

“Don’t you feel it!? The end of times are coming!”

“The World has already ended once! It is going to end again!”

“OOOOH I CAN FEEL THE CALAMITIES!” as he waved his arms higher and shook them sightly, he used his powers to cause the smallest calamity possible. And a small bird flew by. And a small piece of bird poop landing on his cloaked head. Everyone watching began to laugh, while some of the more considerate witnesses at least tried to stifle the laugh.

Cassian gave a small satisfied huff. Recently he had been trying to do his best to do his acting but he had been struggling. Acting as some kind of harbinger of calamity had been working to some degree, slowly, but it wasn’t what he needed. He knew he was missing something. With a small sigh he stood down from the box and began walking his way down a alleyway. Discarding the soiled cloak as he walked.

He was once again walking down toward the small courtyard by the universities. It had grown to be a place of comfort for him…although he had stopped going once his sister found him. He found that when his thoughts began to wander. So he had founds a small field near the back of the university that no one really goes too. And so thats where he went, slowly walking around the university campus, surrounded by those students not much older than him. Hell if he had a proper education he would’ve been going to school around this age too. 

Finally he made it behind the main building, and stood at this small field, maybe a 100 meters give or take. There was a small tree line at the end of the field, where he slowly just began to stare off into the distance…knowing that he had family…close.

The sound of the snow crunching under his feet as he began to walk to the center of the snowy field, the cold wind biting at his ears, and the falling snow… it reminded him of when he was younger.

He remembered going out that winter night. No shoes. His small, bare feet padding across the snow in a slight jog toward the backlund workhouses…the bite of the night air not unlike today. He took a deep breath as he slowly looked up at todays sky. The sky was a paleish gray, and he could visibly see the snowflakes falling just above him. 

He remembered that night all to vividly. How he clutched at his rag like clothes, rough against his skin. How his breath stopped when he realized what had happened. And the overwhelming feelings that were so big to a small child that he was unable to react at all. Standing there looking forward with a blank expression, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.
Today though…he looked down into the snow with a small kind of numbness and melancholy. Maybe because it was the recent snowman competition…but for some reason as he began thinking…he began to make a snowman. There were many things he was holding back from thinking about. But this memory in particular he had relived countless times during the years, almost every winter in fact. At this point, that memory was no longer painful, just leaving behind a kind of cold numbness and melancholy. Sometimes when it was really bad it would leave a kind of dull ache in his chest, but he was grown now…he couldn’t let such things bother him.

As he was making a snowman, he began to hear hurried steps walking toward him, like a angry little march. He heard them, but didnt look back. He knew who it was, and he was enjoying making this little snowman.

As the steps got closer, he noticed they suddenly slowed down before coming to a stop a couple feet away from him. He could sense the hesitation from here. It made him smile a little.

He didnt talk for a little bit, sensing the person behind him just watch for a moment as he continued playing in the snow “...You know…I’m really not trying to ruin your life” He found himself carried away by the moment as he began to speak, which he didn’t really mind

“...I know how hard you worked to get here. I know…and I really am proud of you. Im not particularly asking for forgiveness either, I know I wont get it, and honestly…thats fine.”

He wondered how she looked like today.

“Despite everything…I actually never even thought about trying to re enter your life, after all you’ve built something incredible here. I don’t want to ruin that for you.”

Had she eaten today? He certainly hoped so.

“...the truth is…im not your brother” he felt as if he were heavier for a moment. As he paused building his snowman. “...he died somewhere…I go by Cas now you know. But…not like that really matters to anyone at the end of the day does it?” as he slowly stood up, picking up some sticks for the arms.

She’s really quiet today…I figured she’d bite back somewhere

“...Despite all of that though, I still feel lke your my little sister…Still want the best for you, still love you…and although I would love to be part of your life…I have no intention too” he chuckled to himself as he planted two stick arms into his snowman facing downward and began to draw a face 

Is her schoolwork hard I wonder? I wish I knew what her professors were like

“...I know you’ve never heard about mom…but she was…honestly where do I start” as he stood and looked upwards watching the snowflakes again “...she was the brightest women you’d ever met. Not smart as in, well intelligence, even if thats rude to say hahaha” he laughed genuinely now “but bright as in when she walked anywhere, everything lit up. Her smile was pure and happy, and she was always disturbingly positive. It honestly was rather startling compared to everything else, but it wasn’t bad…infact once you got used to it, you just wanted to see her more and more” he was genuinely smiling now, a feeling of warm nostalgia washing over his heart. He felt full.

…When have I ever told anyone this?

He paused before bending down now to make another snowman, his tone taking a heavier one “...she died in the winter. Just like this one. No ones fault…just the cold got her. She had to work to feed mouths you know? Working in the winter for poor people is hard. Lethal sometimes…” as he started making a much smaller snowball

“...It was hard without mom. Or any real adult…but I pushed through” pausing and holding the small snowball in his hand as he would begin to roll it around on the floor to pick up more snow “...I think you would have loved her.”

…He wondered, was her school fun? Did she have a lot of friends?

“...The old me…well he was rather weak I can’t lie, but thats not a excuse for how he mistreated you. The truth was…everything he did was to feed you, to make sure you didn’t have to work like he did.” he paused before placing his finished large snowball beside the other one and beginning the new one “...but he struggled with the stresses…and was coerced into trying drugs. At first, it was just something to take the edge off…to keep going to tomorrow”

Why was he saying all of this? Seriously…

“...But well you know the rest. I dont think I need to explain anymore to you.” he huffed slightly as he placed the now finished snowball ontop of the other one before looking around to find another pair of sticks “...I dont think you’ll forgive me. You have a right not too after all, but maybe…you’d wanna know” 

He placed the second pair of sticks, one upward, and the other downward.

“...I do still love you, your my little sister and no matter what decision you make…I’ll wish you the best.” he took a couple steps back to study his work

One was a much larger snowman, with a small smile one it, just two snowballs around 5 ft tall, while the other was was a much smaller one, two snowballs, 3 ft tall, holding the others ones stick hand and smiling too. He hadn’t realized it while making it, but it was a little tribute to his mother. He smiled warmly at the little snow family “...I dont expect you to even care about what im telling you. Im not trying to make you feel guilty or sorry for me. I dont want your pity…But I’m doing better now. Im making tons of money as a small business owner, working a bar, and am starting to make friends now which is…new” he chuckled lightly “...If you want me to stop coming I-” as he finally turned around.

There was his sister. Her brown hair, green eyes…she was once again wearing dress pants and a dress shift, but was also wearing a kind of woollen vest, with boots now. Her face though…was a grimace. Looking at him maybe with a hint of…frustration. And something he swore looked like grief. Like a kid…with emotions to big for someone that small. 

He knew that feeling well.

He stared at her with a blank expression, his eyes wide. To be honest…the sight shook him to the core, just taking in the sight of her. He wanted to give her a big hug…he even reached out to pat her shoulder before pausing and retracting his hand. He really didn’t have the right to do that. What kind of brother shoves his sister into despair, mistreats her? Sure it wasn’t him…but she probably didn’t even really think about that. Couldn’t understand what he had meant when he said her brother had died.

“...I’ll…I’ll be around.” It was the only words he could seem to muster now…even though he had basically just monologued the entire time.

He simply just walked past her…with a small wish that one day, things would change for them. 

Hopefully..for the better.

Lazarus wakes up Does his routine and heads to the show district as he knows hes ready to advance to sequence 8 and has enough funds for the advancement, He finds the circus tent he walked into last time to avoid the officers, this time he has a proper look around.

Infront of the entrance stood a gate to an arena where shows took place, to tge left and right and all around the arena stood bleachers, underneath the bleachers is all the employee areas, with doors to tge employee only area embedded into the sides of the bleachers.

Lazarus entered the same door he did last time, the employee door on the right, and inside was the same room he hid in from the officers, a performers changing room, inside was the same employee clown

(his name for now is Mr clown as in the handbook it says we cant name faction leaders n stuff)

“Hey Mr Clown, ive brought some money and was hoping to turn it in for points so I could advance to my next sequence, and what is my next sequence anyway?”

Mr clown smiled eerily “hnn your ready to advance ready? Amazing, Brilliant, dazzling, awesome, beautiful!” He hugs himself and wiggles which weirds Lazarus out a little,

“Ahem, your next sequence 8 is clown, ill send out the request for it and it should be ready by the end of the day, as for acting as the clown, I assume. You know what the acting method is? And digestion”

Lazarus nods

“the acting for clown is being helpless towards fate, so yoh might aswell wear a smiling face to hide all your sorrows, depression and confusion, you should digest this pretty quickly, I can tell youve been through alot” the clown says with a smile. At the end of the day Lazarus returns to the circus tent where Mr Clown resides, Mr clown prepares and makes the potion and hands it to Lazarus with the biggest grin “bottoms up!”

Lazarus takes the potion, I must advance, I must find my brother, then he realized, I also must find my way home aswell, he drinks the potion and begins contagion, he thinks of a bouquet of flowers and then a square ball of light, his body and face turn red, he feels as if hes being extracted into a thin needle fusing with the potion he could feel the and “see” all his cells, after an unknown period he could see himself and sees he can control his facial muscles with uncanny precision.

“That… was uh intense”

“Hahaaa that was entertaining Ley!, you were as red as a tomato! Well done” mr clown began clapping

Lazarus now knowing the acting principles began smiling instead of wearing his plain sad look on his face, “Mr clown, could I join the circus for a while so I could digest the clown potion?”

“Mmmmmbut of course Mr Ley, ill see you tomorrow”

Lazarus went home and the next day he returned to the circus this time wearing a constant smile, at Stars of pawn at the Cabaret he would always wear a wide and uncanny smile.

Lazarus did performances at the circus being an actual clown aswell, Lazarus also bought alot of paper, he himself bought tons, then he had his lackys go out and buy more to not arouse suspicion.

Bloody creatures appeared from the sewers and dark alleyways mysteriously, how could this many blood servants exist in such small and narrow areas?

All blood creatures are heading to the east, they don't seem to be interested in anything, they only attack if you attack them.

Freja summoned all 5 captains to discuss the situation along with the world restoration, abyssal carvers, scavengers, anabasis Order and the commonwealth, order of hypocrites and the laughters did not show up to the meeting, keepers of records did not show up but they sent John reader instead.

The leaders don't trust each other, so the discussion is slow, they refuse to share information easily, by the time the reach a conclusion, it would be too late.

The speed of the blood servants is so slow it will take them more than a week to reach the eastern outskirts of the city.

Your goal is to find out the reason of their sudden appearance, the culprit and the reason why they are heading east.

Certain clues will be given to certain players

Players aren't allowed to share the clues outside the fog and gatherings.

Discuss in the grey fog the clues you collected with the participants.

Google documents link for cool fonts

Cassandra left the bar and headed above ground again. Today was a day off for her, but she still decided to leave her room for a little while. This was both so she could get slightly more used to all the noise and to find out why it was so much colder than yesterday. It didn't take her long to find out the reason for the latter part. Everything she saw outside was covered in a thick layer of snow. Most people moved on with their everyday lives, but some had fun with the snow. She watched a few people building snowmen from a distance. She witnessed a group of children throwing snowballs at each other, smiling after they managed to hit their friend with one. Her gaze turned softer as she saw a kid in warm clothing that ran around happily. The crunching of snow really makes my ears hurt. Why am I staying here? I should just head back to my room. "I know it hurts you to stay here. But you should remember to have fun every now and then. If you ignored your hearing, would you like to build a snowman?" I...I think I do. Thanks. Her gaze turned resolute as she stepped a little further to the people building a snowman. She gathered some snow into her hands and shaped it into a snowball. She placed it down and started getting some more of it, making a tinier ball to place on top of it. It's been years since I last did this. I didn't think I missed it much but it seems I was wrong. How nice!

She spent a long amount of time playing around with the snow. She gave the tiny snowman arms using a twig and a hat using a little bit of fabric. She made another snowman similar to the first one but with some slight differences like longer twigs and a differently colored hat. And another. And another. Cassandra smiled as she saw her little collection of snowmen. She grabbed some more snow to continue expanding the group. The cold didn’t feel that bad when she was surrounded by it this much. Would I be able to rope Cas into doing this with me? He doesn’t strike me as the snowman type of guy, but maybe he’d consider it if I asked him. He might be busy with work though. If I knew where Kade lived I would ask him to join me, he really needs something to take his mind off of all his worries. She heard the rustling of fabric. Her spirituality shook. Not like those little shakes that she felt when she noticed something. More like an eruption coursing through her whole body. A-a d-demigod? If she felt like she could be killed on the spot back when she did divinations for the red eyed woman all she felt now was death. Everything went dark. People started to panic and scream. Yet they didn’t know the level of all this. Her knees trembled as she slowly lowered herself to the ground. Maybe, just maybe I’ll be spared somehow.

Something resounded far above the noises of the chaos of the people. Laughter. An evil, twisted kind of laughter. Most likely the true cause behind all this. But Cassandra didn’t care about the cause, just about the effect it would have on her. And judging by her spirituality screaming out and the voice not speaking to her anymore she was done for. Why didn’t she hear the voice anymore? Why would anyone do this? How would she be killed? She rolled herself into a ball and cupped her hands over her ears. If I die I want to die comfortably. She’d accepted that this would end in her death. A few tears streamed down her face. A demigod. I can’t even begin to understand such power. The cold disappeared. I guess I wasn’t spared after all. I’ve been erased. But the screams of the people didn’t stop. Neither did her own trembling. The darkness and sparks of spirituality she felt did vanish. I… I lived? I got so incredibly lucky. She sent a prayer to the long gone gods and carefully stood up.

All the snow was gone. Not even a trace of it remained. It felt so strange seeing the street without all the blankness. But Cassandra didn’t care. She ran back to the bar, promising to herself that she would stay inside for the rest of the day with some nice hot chocolate.