Vigil

[Shadowcaller]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"You were seeking out a death in battle? It wouldn't be the first time I've seen it if that's the case."

As Ambrosia speaks it appears as if the other Thariza is cut down by an invisible force. Something stabbing her right through the chest, causing blood to ooze out from her wound. She staggers and then falls.
Yet the very next moment she gets up again as if nothing happened. Her wound undone and fighting once more against the same foes.

"Death before dishonor, an important part of the warrior code back home. An altruistic mindset where ones life is less important than the reputation of your family. But that wasn't the case here, was it?"

Submerged

You found your prey. Now kill it before they become the hunter.

Both versions of Ophelia hears within their mind.

Regardless what they do though they are no longer alone as unseen eyes have started watching the them both below and above.

[Morty]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"That wasn't quite it, no." Thariza's eyes remain on the ghost of her past self.
"I didn't realize it at the time, but a part of me wanted to die like I should have died in Ascalon. I didn't want to be the one who lives while others die again. I guess I got my wish."

[Prison]

"If this was an attack on Vigil, it was remarkably clumsy. And if you say you can't think of anyone who would target you in particular..." Wenomir rubs his chin in thought. "It does seem like he wanted your sword. It is custom-made, after all. Rare and valuable. And he said he'd duel me for my own sword. So he seems to be collecting them."

[Shadowcaller]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

The dragon lowers down its head so that she and Thariza suddenly can truly speak eye to eye and if its something Thariza can read from the dragons expression is that she doesn't look particularly happy with what her friend just said.
"You're right, that's not altruistic at all. Since it sounds like you were only thinking about yourself and your own guilt back then. Ready to throw yourself on the sword like how an addict drowns themselves in drugs, not caring how many they hurt in the process. That you so casually speak about your own death... well, that's hurtful just hearing, you understand that, right? If my jaws closed around you right now you would at least try to fight? Since I care about you, Thariza and I know others do too."

[Morty]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Thariza shakes her head vigorously. That came out wrong, didn't it?

"No, no, no. I don't want to die anymore. That's just how I felt back then. And... it's not that I knowingly threw myself at the enemy. I just felt that if I did die, it'd be appropriate. But like I said, that's not how I feel now. I want to live and I want to learn and... be, I guess. Maybe Thariza the Iron Legion soldier died here and the Thariza that came back isn't the same person. She can be whoever she wants."

[Shadowcaller]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

The dragon narrows her eyes as Thariza explains but eventually seems to accept what she's saying.

"Good, I'll see to it that you do." Which sounds more like a warning. But perhaps that's just because she was a giant dragon.

"So do you want to try to put this one out of its misery then? To close the chapter of your life that you've left behind you." Which is really a fancy way of saying that she wants to eat your ghost, Thariza.

[Morty]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"...yeah," Thariza says slowly. "It's not me, right? Just a memory. And one I'm ready to move past. I'll need a new last name..." That's a cryptic remark she doesn't elaborate on yet.

[bc56]

Submerged
Demon and hunter collide and go tumbling together from the web and into the water. Neither wastes any time in trying to murder the other. Ophelia's blades swipe at her demonic foe, but Ophidia is already beneath the water entirely, encircling around the Inquisitor with her tail, much better at swimming and fighting at the same time. In but a moment, the crushing strength of the demon's coils has closed tight around Ophelia's legs. She screams and lashes wildly with her blades, scoring a hit on Ophidia's shoulder that leaves the demonic flesh blackened and burned and forces the serpent to release her. Then she grabs onto the web again and heaves herself out of the water once more. Both her legs are mangled and useless, she climbs using only the strength of her arms and her adrenaline. Ophidia lunges from below, grasping Ophelia's destroyed legs and pulling, tearing at them. The Inquisitor screams again in primal agony, and the web strains to hold her up. But she manages to strike again, a clean blow at the serpent demon's wounded shoulder, cleanly severing her right arm. It's Ophidia's turn to hiss in pain. The demon responds by attacking with her teeth, biting into Ophelia's foot and injecting venom. Ophelia tenses. With only moments to do something, she makes the only choice she can. She throws one sword at Ophidia, but the attack misses, the weapon disappearing into the dark water, then grips the other in both hands and turns it on herself, steeling herself as she hacks off the afflicted leg before the venom can spread. No longer holding on to Ophelia, Ophidia falls back, showered in blood. Ophelia, more like a wild beast than a practiced fighter, tears herself free of the web and lunges straight down at her double, skewering her through the gut with her silver blade. "I... Will... Not!!! Be! A demon's! Plaything!!!" Ophidia writhes and twists, but burnt flesh spreads out from the wound, hastening her demise. Ophelia plants one hand on Ophidia's chest and tightens the other around the hilt of her sword and wrenches the weapon free, then turns, and with a vicious strength, decapitates the helpless demon before she can recover. "I AM ALIVE!" she roars triumphantly. But she's half submerged in water, missing one leg and with the other shattered well beyond repair, and having lost a lot of blood, with an unknown amount of venom in what blood she has left. Even if she is victorious now, she isn't long for this world.

[Zefir]

[Prison]

"If this was an attack on Vigil, it was remarkably clumsy. And if you say you can't think of anyone who would target you in particular..." Wenomir rubs his chin in thought. "It does seem like he wanted your sword. It is custom-made, after all. Rare and valuable. And he said he'd duel me for my own sword. So he seems to be collecting them."

[Prison]

"It seems like that." Mia agrees. "He also had a lot of differetn weapons with him. That monster he summoned also resembels swords so he sure has a focus on that. It's just if we set him free he might bother us again and maybe at a bad time next time."

[Village]

"It's not about my world." Mia explains. "Just because they have a spirit doesn't mean they are the same as others. They mosty see their current form as the most usefull one. It's a bit hard to understand but if you change them it is different from a human or a nature spirit."

[Shadowcaller]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Ambrosia takes this opportunity to go into scholar mode. Her claws being raised as she starts to articulate while speaking. "Well, where I'm from the soul is traditionally divided into three parts at the death of the body." She shrinks as she talks, though Thariza couldn't say that she's seeing the dragon actively get smaller. Each time the charr blinks there just seems to be less dragon before her.

"Neither part can be said to a fully functioning individual even if they were somehow brought together again. This division isn't strictly natural but the soul, much like the body, rapidly starts 'decaying' after death. The concepts that were a part of your soul starts becoming a part of other things. Again, much like the corpse itself." At this point she's the size that Thariza is used to. Which is much larger than her but not so big that she towers over the trees which she was a few minutes ago.

"The fey makes sure certain aspects go to one place while others go to another. The hidden thoughts go down, the higher thoughts go up and the everyday thoughts stay. Why this division is made isn't known yet but part of the reason is probably that certain aspects of people are more likely to become yokai or 'ghosts' in this case. Ghosts themselves are classified into various groups and this one seems to seems to be a either a shadow or a shade." The dragon gestures at the ghost which once again is staring at Ambrosia in terror as if it had seen her for the first time.

"Meaning that it simply mimics the actions of the deceased, often the ones they did shortly before their death, without any thought or reason. However, people read meaning even into mimicry and as it looks like a person it has to be one, right? So if we would simply let it linger here it would absorb those thoughts and perhaps become a more active class of ghost depending on what thoughts we've given to it. If it had never been observed or felt it would simply have decayed into nothing eventually but now that we know that it exist and actively observe it, its ultimate fate will be different."

A beat.

"If I hadn't been planning to put it to rest of course."

Submerged

"Yes."

A voice as deep as thunder speaks from below as a serpentine head of unreal proportions starts to raise from the waters next to her. Its sheer size causing waves to ripple over Ophelia who at this point is probably only kept alive by adrenaline. So not ideal.

Ophelia can be sure of three things, this creature is enormous. It is a kind of snake. It has horns.
Yet all other details are difficult to make sense of as it somehow seems to be every species of snake, or snake-related creature, the hunter have ever seen at once somehow. Impossibly so even.

As it has risen above the waters just enough for her to see its entire head it opens its mouth and she can hear that deafeningly loud voice once more. "Not bad for a mammal."

It smiles.
However a snake can smile.

"But your time is running out and you've earned a choice." it pauses a moment as to let that sink in.

"Me."

A beat.

"Or my associate."

The serpent inclines its head upwards and if she does look up she can see that the web above her is now occupied by the legs of what must be a spider of similar cosmic proportions. They're so far spread out that she can't even see all of them but right above a number of gigantic eyes (four, six or eight? All of those at the same time) are peering down down at her. The rest of the titanic creature perhaps mercifully obscured by the darkness of the webs.

"Or die. Always a choice. But we are not demons. That is the only answer I will give you for now."

If she starts asking the serpent questions it won't answer them. It, them, are just waiting for a choice.

[bc56]

Submerged
Ophelia checks her sword to see if it's glowing. If it is, one or both of the entities are demons. If not, (which seems to be the case), she says, with some hesitation, "I've had enough snakes for a lifetime. I choose them." She points her weapon up towards the spider lurking above.

[Morty]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"It won't surprise you that Charr don't pay a lot of attention to souls. And we only study the ghosts of Ascalon to find out how to destroy them," Thariza observes. "Obviously they exist, as evidenced by my abilities, but I don't know how they work. I'd need to find someone from my homeworld who does know, or a book about it to learn. My leaving a ghost behind is really ironic, too. But not in a way I appreciate, so... go ahead and eat it."

[Prison]

"Or he'll assault someone else for their sword," Wenomir surmises. "He said something about a mission. So I think someone might have ordered him to do it."

[Zefir]

[Prison]

"Since he is a robot he might be programmed by someone." Mia says. "We might also ask him if there are others of his kind around who might collect different things."

[Morty]

[Prison]

"Both are entirely possible." Wenomir nods. "We'll need to question him properly, one way or the other."

[Shadowcaller]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Thariza won't have to say that twice as Ambrosia spreads her wings and takes to the skies with a single beat.
Then almost in the same motion she swoops down at the ghost like a raptor. Thariza was a trained soldier so perhaps she would had the chance to react but when it comes to this ghost it seems paralyzed with fear and won't get such an opportunity before the dragons jaws close around its head. She tears it clean off along with parts of her doppelgangers upper body.

Ambrosia doesn't even have to chew her prey as it simply seems to melt in her jaws and soon the rest of its body is devoured in the same way. Just chunk after chunk of ghost essence disappearing behind her fangs.

As the dragon looks down at where the ghost once was and there's no more to feast on, she suddenly pauses. "...I should probably have told you to look away first." Ambrosia remarks as she suddenly seem to come to her senses again. "Not that I think you're squeamish but it was, well, you."

Submerged

The cosmic serpents expression remains unreadable, but this time there's an actual response. "A choice has been made and thus this game has concluded. Good fortune to you, mammal. We won't meet again."

Then Ophelia feels something sticky attach to her and the next moment she's pulled into the sky so fast that she mercifully loses consciousnesses.
When she regains it she will come to realize that she's blind or that the world around her had turned into pitch perfect darkness. She simply can't see anything. But at the same time, she feels that her body is restrained somehow and that she can't feel her legs.

But then comes a soothing feminine voice, trying to calm her. "Easy now, you're safe and taken care of. You're going to be just fine but I need to ask you a few things first, do you understand? Since you got a couple of choices to make."

"I am Tha're and I'm your healer. I apologize for this abrupt introduction but I think you want to get well as soon as possible, don't you? See, we've removed all traces of demon in your being. A huge success. But it had taken root so deeply that you're now missing parts of yourself. Like your eyes and, well, most of your lower body. However, as I said, that's no big deal here. We can just replace them. Of course, that means we're going to have to give you some of the fateweavers essence which means that your body will undergo more changes. Are you with me so far, Ophelia?"

[Morty]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Thariza sighs. Ambrosia is right, she should have asked, but it's not really a big deal. It does feel liberating, in a way, to watch it happen. Her life ended here and a new one began when she met Ambrosia in that dragon-shrine.

"I think I'm tapped out on trauma. And seeing a ghost eaten... well, better than the other way around. I better not bring you back to the Black Citadel, or Imperator Smodur will want to press-gang you into eating all the ghosts of Ascalon," she adds in an attempt to lighten the mood.

[bc56]

Submerged
Ophelia struggles for a moment before Tha're manages to reassure her. She mostly follows what was said. She can't see because she doesn't have eyes, and she can't feel her legs because they're gone. But it does raise some new questions. "Where am I? Fateweaver? What choices?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Ambrosia snorts in amusement which is enough to make wisps of black cloud raise from her nostrils. "I wouldn't even have to be press-ganged into it. My appetite is unconquerable so every spirit-meal is like my first of the day. The hunger is eternal but that also means that every meal is extremely satisfying." She looks to the left and then to the right before her eyes fixes on Thariza again.

"That said, I think I'm done here. So the question is, are you?"

Submerged

"Fateweaver, that's our name for the god. The, ah, spider you must have seen. Sound familiar? And the choices include what your replacement parts are going to be for the most part. However, be warned as we're using their essence they're going to be similar to them. Is this going to be a deal breaker for you?" Tha're inquires.

[Keeper]

[A Fox Can't Be Cut]

Wenomir begins the bout and attacks. Since Koshal has been his student for a long time, he doesn't hold back much. He assails him with rapid, scything cuts of the greatsword, seeking to use the long reach to overpower him. He moves in a blur, expecting Koshal to keep up. Anastasia might notice that it's far more graceful than is typically associated with a greatsword. It's a quick and brutal weapon in Wenomir's hands. Sometimes he will close the distance and make thrusts or close-range cuts while gripping the sword by the blade above the hilt.

A Fox Can't Be Cut

Koshal starts out slow, as he often does. Going on the defensive he steps back, maintaining his stance as he moves. Despite already being slightly larger than a human should be and with his hooves for feet, he is perhaps more quick than the audience might expect. After a few of Wenomir's moves he begins using his sword more directly to parry. Only after a few seconds of that does he plant a hoof forward to throw a single drawing cut at Wenomir's left side.

[bc56]

Submerged
Ophelia considers the offer. Now that she knows what's going on, she wonders if the snake would have been a better choice. But what's done is done. "I'd rather be a spider than a dead, or worse, a demon, if that's what you mean." The most ideal outcome would have been her not losing her legs. But considering the fate of most possessed she's dealt with, she got off lightly. "All right. Do your work."

[Zefir]

[Prison]

"Both are entirely possible." Wenomir nods. "We'll need to question him properly, one way or the other."

[Prison]


Mia just nods. She doesn't have much more to offer for the preperation. After all she wasn't in that business at all and likly hasn't seen movies about it.

[Morty]

[Prison]

"Come with me, then. Let's see if he's woken up."

Wenomir will lead Mia to the cell TARBot is staying in, to check on him.

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"I think so." Thariza looks around one last time. "I have more thinking to do, but it doesn't need to be done here. And I should probably sleep on it. Besides, let's not leave Utayo waiting here."

[Gold]

[Prison]

At the sound of Wenomir's voice and footsteps, TARBot is snapped out of sleep mode. He slowly rises to his feet, leaning against the side wall of the cell while he does so. Once at his full height of 2 metres, he turns to face Wenomir.

"Back to humiliate me further?"

[Zefir]

[Prison]

For a note Mia has put the swords and pokeball away , her own one is still on her while the others are in a safe and the pokeball got sealed. She isn't sure how intelligent the beeing inside is, but better safe then sorry.

She leaves the talking to Wenomir as he is the more experienced one, but she brought a scanner to gather information about his status, as far as she can tell about them. Mostly, mayor damage on the hardware.

[Morty]

[Prison]

"Far from it." Wenomir looks up at TARBot dispassionately. "All we want is for you to tell us why you attacked Mia. Did you want to steal her sword?"

[A Fox Can't Be Cut]

Wenomir parries Koshal's strike, but nods in recognition that it was a fine one. He keeps up the exercise, switching tactics quickly and fluidly. The purpose is not only to have Koshal perfect his offence and defence against such a weapon, but to demonstrate to Ana all that can be done with a greatsword.

[Gold]

[Prison]

"Yes."

If Mia's scanner is finely tuned then it might notice that one specific chip, whose purpose is to make TARBot's location untrackable through space or time, is now offline.

[Zefir]

Prison

Mia will point the screen of her scanner to him where he will see the offline chip. She can t tell what its purpose is just by the scan and its offline. On the tablet she will note a "sonething wrong?" For wenomir to read

[Morty]

[Prison]

Wenomir glances over at the note, nodding slightly. This might be important.

"And why did you doing that?"

[Gold]

[Prison]

"Do you want the short version, or the long version? Trust me, though, pick option 2 and you'll be sorry you asked." In the figurative sense, anyways.

[Recaiden]

[Village]

"It's not about my world." Mia explains. "Just because they have a spirit doesn't mean they are the same as others. They mosty see their current form as the most usefull one. It's a bit hard to understand but if you change them it is different from a human or a nature spirit."

This is pretty puzzling to Sophia, but she persists in asking questions.
"Do you know how it's different? Could you show me a machine being changed, maybe?"
"Because I suspect it's more similar than you might think. Most living things can't help but be the way they are, and they couldn't be otherwise, right?"

[Magtok]

[I Love The Night]

After Dark

Blanche gives him a flat look. "Dad, it's 4 am. You're lucky I was even awake right now." And indeed, Magtok's projected watch reads just that. 4:19 AM, to be specific. "Wenomir gets up pretty early, so you might not have to wait long, but I feel like we'll have a better chance if Cessie's involved. You're welcome to stay if you'd like, though." Which does beg the question, why the hell was Blanche up at 4 am in the morning in the first place? Those aren't light bags under her eyes, are they?

"You kids these days are so spoiled. This late at night is when all the nastiest apocalyptic threats used to do their plotting and scheming. Vigil should at least think about promoting a third or fourth person to command to fill the gaps in case of an emergency. Really, what happens if there's some kind of massive invasion of Inside, but Cessie is on vacation and Wenomir is fast asleep on his pile of elves?" Magtok counters, before glancing off towards the moon hanging over them. Huh, it's actually a lot later than he thought, isn't it? What the heck was Blanche doing at this hour? I mean, Magtok has a valid excuse, he's an unemployed layabout with no discipline or self-control, so a consistent sleep schedule is simply beyond him, but the catgirl is supposed to be a responsible young adult, isn't she?

"What were you up to this late, anyway? Trauma nightmares? Internet addiction? Literal monster under the bed? I had a night with all three a few months ago. The trick is to use the underside of your bed as storage space so they can't fit down there without shifting things around. When you hear your shoebox full of rocks scraping against the floor, that's when you jump out of bed and go for the kill," Magtok mimes stabbing at some unseen mattress monstrosity, jabbing it with...I don't know, some sort of electrospear? A shock prod? A fire poker, maybe? Whatever it was, it obviously didn't end so well for the monster back at the MagCave.