lostcarnival | ⇨ EDEN PT. 4 (FINALE)

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⇨ EDEN PT. 4 (FINALE)

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 89
Where: Eden
What: The Mirror is taken by the carnival, and several people from the carnival have been taken by Lilith. As Eden's Architects take sides, the battle for Eden's future is set to reach its conclusion.
Warnings: Violence.

INFINITE↴

When the Silver Mirror is taken, the war truly begins. Lilith had seen fit to take her time, gloating over the enemies she perceived as being no challenge to her power - only to sense the moment that the Ringmaster claimed the Silver Mirror and took the skies in challenge. The Ringmaster has taken on her half beast form, black scaled, winged, and horned, and wielding the Silver Mirror as some kind of shield. Only moments ago, she used it to blast a whole clear through the cathedral.

Lilith, realizing her mistake, has swept up the darkness created by Bezaliel and begun using it as a weapon against the Ringmaster. She has six silver wings that reflect light like mirrors, as well as strange, geometric horns. Ostensibly, part of the Silver Mirror's magic has been taken into herself, which means that even though the Ringmaster has the Mirror, Lilith still has control over it. She scatters the prisms containing her prisoners across Eden while she counters her foe, drawing on their strength to aid her.

Two godlike beings clash in the sky above you. On the ground, a war begins. What do you do?

► FAE VS NEPHALEM: While all of this is going on, the Ringmaster and Lilith are essentially fighting over the Silver Mirror in the sky. It is all very cyclical and unending, and just as outrageous looking as it sounds. They both currently have some degree of hold over the Mirror right now, which means the advantage is wildly vacillating between the two of them. You probably don't want to directly interfere with this, but who knows? Maybe you'd got something really cunning up your sleeve.

► EDEN'S ARCHITECTS: In the aftermath of the Silver Mirror being taken, the Architects of Eden are being forced to choose sides. At first glance, it would appear that Saraqael (wolf), Samyaza (hare), Araqiel (stag), Penemue (raven), and Armaros (spider) have chosen to fight with the Furies of Eden in an attempt to cast Lilith out for good. Bezaliel (bear), Shamshel (tiger), Azazel (crocodile), Chazaqiel (eagle), and Baraqel (stingray) have, alternatively, chosen to defend Lilith, and are attempting to convince as many Honorables to follow in their path as possible. Gadreel (dolphin) and Kakabel (axolotl) seem to be uncomfortably remaining neutral for the moment and seeing how things play out.

Not all Honorables or Scholars have followed the choice of their Architect. Many have been pulled one way or the other regardless of their kind, and are generally being accepted into the fight on their claimed side. You can NPC conflicts with random Honorables, but not the Architects. To interact with those guys, you need to do an investigation.

► PRISM BREAK: All of the carnival members that attended Samyaza's garden party (except Herbert) have been captured by Lilith after falling prey to a trap set by Bezaliel. Each of them has been trapped inside mirrored prisms that are now scattered around hard to access areas of Eden, defended by both Honorables supporting their maker and by mirror eyed dopplegangers. The infinite reflections of the characters inside the prisms are being fed on by Lilith, and she is tearing out as many of those reflections as necessary to do her bidding in the meantime. Each reflection is functionally a magical clone with no true will of its own, but will be able to fully mimic the emotions and powers of the characters they're taken from. They serve Lilith above all.

Each reflection spawned from a prism take a fraction of their host's spiritual energy with them, meaning the more clones that are spawned, the weaker the real version will become. The more powerful a character is, the more energy each reflection takes to make - so if you have a character with lots of powers, they will probably have something like 1-4 dopplegangers spawned, while characters with few or no powers will be going completely quantity over quality and spawn potentially dozens of mirror clones. Clones shatter and vanish when destroyed, though the prisms will keep spawning new ones until the captive is set free.

Captives, it's your job to NPC these clones. Captives will have no idea what's going on outside of their prism besides the abstract idea that these reflections are being harvested from them, and that's bad. The mirror clones will be attempting to protect the source prisms from disruption, as well as generally trying to destroy all enemies. NOTE: all captives will have returned to their natural forms by now (IE are no longer animals) and their clones will reflect this. Those missing "darkness shards" from their chest will also have had those returned.

► EDEN'S FURY: The Furies of Eden are striking back against Lilith at last, and it turns out a lot more of them have lingering rebellious ideas than previously though. Those that take up the cause of the Furies will be fighting on the carnival's side, so you are free to NPC some allied Honorables as well. You can also use the Investigations section to interact with named rebels, if you want, or to get an idea of what they are generally doing. Another potential avenue of investigation is trying to get the Serpent out here, as she'd be undoubtedly a powerful ally if cured of her curse.

You might need it. Now that they know of the fae, the Honorables and Lilith-supporting Architects have no qualms using iron again you! They will be utilizing iron in all possible weaponry.

► NEW, CONFUSED, OR BOTH: Did you just get here? Did you fall behind and now you're terribly lost? Don't sweat it - let your character be as confused as you are. Take the opportunity to make top levels asking other characters what's going on in-game, or check out the original setting info post to catch up. The short version is this: the carnival wanted to steal a powerful artifact called the Silver Mirror from Lilith, which was stashed in her realm called Eden. They did just that, and now Lilith is back and she's pissed!

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Shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck. A reflection in the prism turns three dimensional, and there's another clone. The one he savaged is dead. this was going badly.

He has an idea, but he needs to get to the kid first.

"YUYA! HOLD ON TO SOMETHING."

Zangetsu helps a bit with that by snaking his tail around Yuya's ankle and wrapping tightly. Wisps of black and red energy form around the Hollow, swirling ominously as he prepares an attack. Then, the sword spirit reaches down, deep, and throws that energy outward.

He roars inhumanly, "GET.... AWAY!!!"

The result is a huge, blistering blast of his spiritual pressure, blowing like a hot, black and red, hurricane-force gale outward, with Zangetsu (and the tethered Yuya) at the center.

The clones are sensitive- though they lack true souls of their own they carry the mark of Gongenzaka's own, and againat the force of Zangetsu's will even the one righr at the prism is blasted back. Most will take time to get there- the one that was nearest, well, it's trying its damndest to get back.

But they have bought time. Gongenzaka's soul struggles to recover, but as pieces of glass crackle and flake further thanks to the earlier force, his spirit touches Yuuya's. It carries encouragment, as well as longing, the worry of his sudden capture weighing upon him. His hold is frail, and yet...he tries to convey their usual hug.

He can do this. He can..!

Zangetsu will also feel something, but it is more along the lines of flat out cheering and encouragment. The sword no doubt has time to spare for sappier stuff.

It's honestly a good thing Zangetsu grabs Yuya, because he's very easily blown over and almost blown away.

He's stunned briefly against the ground, until the wind dies down and he feels Gongenzaka in his heart again. Yuya's expression steels, and he pushes himself up and shakes his ankle free.

With the space Zan's given them Yuya reels back his arms and slams the pole hard into the cracked face. Again, and again, alternating metal and his shield as he breaks away at the prism.

Good. That gave them some space -- and therefore, time. Gongenzaka is alive in there and doing... well enough to send soul messages. So he'll chalk that up as a win. The cheers he feels in his soul are quite encouraging. It means he's still going in there. He just needs to buy a little more time!

He releases Yuya's ankle and drops down on all fours. He snarls and starts charging toward the closest clone in a game of chicken. Right before colliding, Zangetsu leaps over the taur, landing neatly behind him...

... and grabbing that stupid tail of his, digging his foot-talons into the ground.

YOINK.

The clone fell for that MAGNIFICENTLY. Enoigh that Zangetsu will have some fun while Yuuya finishes this. It even shouts in that eerie hollow mirror voice- crying for Zangetsu to knock it off!! He means it!!

It won't work of course but still.

Yuuya meanwhile begins to make progress. With each jab the mirror fragments more, and Gongenzaka's weak connection beckons for Yuuya to keep going. He surrounds the other in apology and encouragement, and finally...

A hole. A hole cracks through and the clone Zangetsu has wavers. And from inside...

Was that a grunt? A whimper, maybe?

There it is. Yuya pulls back the pole and swings with surprising precision right for the hole. Just to get it a little weaker. And then it's all on his shield and he runs up to the prism and presses his hands against the glass, pushing and rolling waves of his shield over and over. It's starting to make him dizzy, the constant rebound, but he can't stop. He's so close.

"Gongenzaka!"

Zangetsu cackles, his laugh unhinged and creepy, as he yanks on the clone's tail to knock it off its feet. It's a good thing these clones don't have Gon's steadfast belt; that would make this impossible.

He actually starts to spin in a circle, dragging the clone along as he goes. He saw this in a video game once. Super Mario something or other? There was a big spiky tortoise involved.

Zangetu spins and spins in a tight circle until he has the clone in the air with centrifugal force. When the clone is at the highest velocity that the Hollow can manage, he... lets go.

He sends the clone flying away from the prism.

And hey! If there just so happens to be another clone running this way? Well, then the collision will be all the sweeter.

What happens next is a little like watching fireworks. As the prism is shattered from the inside out by Yuuya's shield, the clones each systematically scatter into fragments in a similar manner. The one Zangetsu threw does so in the air- a nice treat.

Gongenzaka himself does not look so spectacular. Choking and coughing, he holds the connection of souls less because he desires to and instead because it feels he could be afraid to let go. Words cannot come to him- and with good reason.

As Gongenzaka uncurls from the mere act of falling from his cage, it is clear he has changed. But the shift of the marks upon his face is not what will catch their eyes. Rather, from the somewhat torn, somewhat loose edges of the sacrifical robe, something black seems to...melt from him.

The fact that one can see leaves through the resulting hole probably won't help anyone's mood. But there are bigger things to worry about. Gongenzaka's soul broadcasts nothing but relief and gratitude, and in Yuuya's case a significant warmth akin to that private emotion shared earlier within Eden.

But Gongenzaka is clearly in pain. And the iron shackles binding him are no doubt a significant part of that.

"Gongenzaka," Yuya breathes out his name with short lived relief. He's awful--as bad as the Manor left him. Worse?

Yuya drops the pole and scrambles to Gongenzaka's side as he unfurls, kneeling. He scoops his arm behind Gon's head, gently shaking him once as he cradles him against his side. "Gongenzaka! Gongenzaka, it's okay, you're okay now."

His gaze is so focused on seeing Gon respond that he doesn't look down at his chest to see the melting black wound. Not yet. Right now, he needs to make sure Gongenzaka's here.

The airborne clone explodes in a rain of glass and Zangetsu lets out a whoop. He turns around to see the prism in a similarly shattered state and Gongenzaka...

.... Oh Gon.

He feels his not-heart sink into his stomach as he spots the hole. It looked... it looked just like...

His hand goes to his own chest, feeling the soft-ball sized void in his breastbone.

But his reiatsu hasn't changed, he tells himself, reassuring himself. It's just some weird change. He's fine. He's not...

Zangetsu rushes over.

"We have to get these shackles off of him."

Gongenzaka is far from fine. His breathing is shallow, and he barely has the strength to even cough- what voice he has may well be a whisper, a mutter as he tries to speak. 'Yuuya', perhaps he says? It's a good guess, though perhaps the start or end of Zangetsu's name is in there as well.

He should save his strength- it's a miracle he still has it.

Either way, there is a weakly pulsing 'affirmative' at Zangetsu's statement- and for both of them an image of rashes, metal...'Iron', but then that was obvious enough wasn't it.

Next image- the Healing Temple. That...that should be fine right? If they're here, like this...then it should be fine, and they won't need to hide.

He tries to comfort his friend. Sending the sensation of reassurance through, but...

It's weak. It's tired...

Edited 2018-08-17 01:19 (UTC)

Yuya's expression slips at the lack of answer, and his gaze drifts over the rest of Gongenzaka's body. It's too much to take in, all at once, he can't focus on the individual wounds as much as the whole. God, it's so bad.

His grip tightens as panic grips his heart again and he looks up at Zangetsu, pleading.

"Can you carry him?" They have to get help, but he doesn't want to leave him here.

Well, he's fine in that his heart hasn't collapsed into a dark empty void of endless hunger and pain. He is definitely not fine otherwise-- Zangetsu can tell that those parts of Gon that were in the clones he destroyed are gone. Souls can recover, regenerate, just like tissue. But it takes time.

He looks at Yuya and nods.

"I can, as long as you can pick up his back end so it doesn't drag."

Zangetsu crouches in front of Gongenzaka and pulls the arms on his human torso around his neck and shoulders. The iron shackles burn Zangetsu's skin a bit, just a bit stingy. Then, he grabs Gon's taur forelegs under his armpits and wraps them around his middle, holding them tightly around the wrists.

"Gon, I'm gonna need ya to hold on to my neck as best ya can. Yuya, grab his back legs and let's go."

Can Gongenzaka actually hear the guy? God only knows, because he's sure as hell not responding more than a wheeze of acknowledgement. And if he tries to hold onto Zangetsu's neck it....well, he's not really doing a good job of moving his arms to do so.

At all.

So have fun with that.

Yuya relinquishes his hold, albeit reluctantly, and just about latches into the task at Zangetsu gives him. It's something he can do to help, so he nods before getting up. "I can do that."

For the record, he actually can't, as Yuya is either big enough nor strong enough to manage Gongenzaka's fae-altered taur rear. He barely lift one leg, and fumbling around proves that trying to just push his backside up is even less successful. But he's.

He's trying.

Oh good fucking god. Both of them are useless. Completely useless.

After dragging floppy worthless Gon (and Yuya) for about a hundred feet, Zangetsu finally swats Yuya away with his tail.

"Just let go...! I'll meet you at the healing temple."

He's going to be so tired after this. With a grunt, Zangetsu hitches Gon up higher on his back, wrapping his tail around his taur-middle.

Then, he takes to the air, standing on invisible platforms of air and using Sonìdo to clear distance more quickly.

Upon arrival at the temple, Zangetsu will be quite out of breath.

"Heh.... haaaa.... stupid... fat-ass... bear... fox... kid....!"

Yuya sputters as Zangetsu lifts Gon up and starts to run away. Through the air. He's briefly awash with indignation in having his friend torn from him, but instead of arguing he just picks up chasing immediately after.

He makes it to the temple about a minute after Zangetsu, equally at loss of breath as he rests his hand against the wall to steady himself. When he slips in, he hovers around the walls beside Zangetsu to stay out of the way. But he's reluctant to take his eyes off Gongenzaka while he's being looked after. He has to remind himself, it's okay now. He'll get care, and he'll be fine.

Zangetsu finds a place to sit while Herbert and the Honorable healers work on getting the iron off of him. One of the Honorables offers him some water, and he accepts it, downing the whole glass in one go.

After a few minutes of recovery, Zangetsu gets a bit closer, inspecting the hole in Gon's chest with a furrowed brow. Then, he looks at Yuya and points to the hole.

"Do you know what happened?"

Yuya hesitates before creeping closer to get a better look at the hole as Zangetsu points to it, breaking the silence. He doesn't want to look at it, but he forces his gaze to circle around the shape and take it in regardless.

Slowly, he shakes his head. "I don't know what they did to him. It--it wasn't there before they took him." So this is something caused by the Honorables, isn't it? What did they do?

"It... ain't something about octopi, is it? Those weird fish don't have holes anywhere, do they?"

That's all Zangetsu can think of, besides his fear. After all, if he'd gotten changes from being a shark, wouldn't Gon have gotten some from being an octopus?

He carefully touches the hole and frowns. God, the resemblance is uncanny.

"No." Yuya's no expert in biology, but he spent plenty of time with Gongenzaka before his capture and there definitely weren't any weird black holes in his body.

His hand reaches out at the same time Zan's does, but he can't quite bring himself to actually touch the mark. Instead his hand hovers awkwardly in the air, and Yuya bites his lip. "Did... Doctor West say anything about it?"

Maybe he should have listened a little more closely.

"Mmmmrgh. I was worried about that, but I wanted to make sure."

He doesn't know much about octopi. He knows they have at least one hole, there on the side? But it's... nothing like this. He shakes his head at Yuya's question -- he hadn't been listening to Herbert either.

He rarely listens to Herbert.

A swirl of Gongenzaka's reiatsu, the pressure of his soul, visible as a wisp of icy blue energy, coils around Zangetsu's talon. He examines it, seeming to "stretch" it between his fingers before it dissipates into the air around them.

"... the good news is that aside from bein' incredibly fatigued, the composition of his soul hasn't changed any. So his hole aint like mine."

Yuya's gaze drifts aside to Zangetsu as he pulls on... something that's the exact color of Gongenzaka's soul. He looks wary until Zangetsu confirms it's just the same as before. Yuya hadn't even realized that was a potential danger.

"That's good," he says with a sort of numb distance reserved for a concept beyond him, but he's relieved all the same. He looks back to Gongenzaka and, after a moment, moves to pull the cover higher up to cover the hole. His hands linger, twitching uncertainly before he draws them back to his side.

"We... weren't too late."

"This isn't my world, obviously. But I was... concerned, that whatever caused this hole might be something akin to Hollowfication," he shakes his head, then pulls a stool close so he can sit. Well, more like perch. "But that's not the case. It seems like we were able to get him out in time."

His soul was certainly injured, but it wasn't anything that would not return in time. Gongenzaka had an incredible amount of reiryoku for a human.

Yuya moves, after hesitation, to sit on the edge of the bed when Zangetsu claims the stool--angled to look at both of them, but mostly Gongenzaka. He doesn't want to leave until he wakes up. Absently, he reaches to put his hand over Gongenzaka's, anchoring his presence so he can force himself to look back at Zangetsu.

"You mean what happened to you?" Yuya doesn't know really anything about Zangetsu's world or what he is (besides a 'sword spirit'). But it's hard to miss the big empty hole on his chest, too.

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