( closed; quest ) the long and winding road

[sorser]

WHO: Stephen, Thancred, & Yennefer
WHAT: Three individuals go on a quest to help perpetuate better magical monitoring of the Singularity!
WHERE: ALL OVER THORNE
WHEN: End of March into mid-April.
WARNINGS: Some eventual monster-related violence and injury! But nothing else for now; will add as needed.



(( quest info here ))

Comments

for thancred; cw; various mentions of death and dying

[sorser]

[It's difficult to say what's actually happening when the first exchange of memories incites between Thancred and Yennefer. Being so far out from the castle, they can't hope to have any further instances to compare to; no idea that this is a wide-spread event that is afflicting more than just the three of them. As far as Stephen knows, it isn't the three of them, but only two -- it's partly why, when he reaches out to try to analyze, with his own magic, what could be happening, his fingers brush against Thancred's shoulder, and that's all it takes for-

The memory erupts in a whirl of color, disjointed and in fragments that seem to repeat as though on loop. Stephen stands in some strange, cosmic domain of lurid hues and a backdrop of infinite darkness, facing off against a being so much larger than him, so much more powerful. Dark magic rolls off of it looming before him in waves, lording above, its face tilted down at disgust at the sorcerer.

Dormammu, I've come to bargain. The phrase appears to be the crux that everything hinges around, circles around, repeats itself. Because Stephen dies by the hand of this awful thing; Thancred would see it clearly every single time. Blasted by energy, impaled by spikes of magic, crushed under a giant fist, suffocated when the floor beneath his feet devours him whole. It happens again, and again, for what seems like forever, and resetting always with the same utterance.

Dormammu, I've come to bargain.

Until, finally, the bargain sticks. The threat of time on repeat causes hesitation from the thing called Dormammu, and there's a pause of consideration, one in which so much relies upon. The fate of Earth itself.

And the memory ends. As swiftly as it had crashed through the other's mind, it recedes.]

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred has little warning, having only just recovered from what had taken place between himself and Yennefer (an Echo vision — that's the only thing he can call it) when Stephen comes over with concern to question them and investigate. Does this have to do with the fact that their final device had been set up relatively close to the Singularity? Not so close, but close enough? The summit had been close to it as well, but in that case they'd been protected by some manner of magical barrier. Not so, this time, so mayhap it's had some manner of side effect on them that's similar to the Echo.

No doubt Stephen has all the same questions, and so Thancred can't blame him for wanting to examine them, to learn more. The hand at his shoulder seems harmless enough, until yet again he's afflicted by a mind-numbing headache.

Where he finds himself next he cannot begin to explain, a single rocky platform surrounded by swirls of distorted color. The giant face is perhaps no different in size or scope from being faced with a primal, and yet there's something immense and unknowable about it.

Stephen appears, to "bargain," but this is not the Stephen of the present moment. Thancred is instead here alone, leaving him to only watch as the past version of Stephen continues to play out the same few seconds over and over and over, wearing down this cosmic presence with his stubborn determination. It doesn't matter how many times he "dies" (and does he feel it, each time?); he is always back, somehow, to try again. The memory fades away before Thancred can see the full resolution, but the massive being does seem to be relenting by the end.

In the meantime, Stephen is treated to a memory of his own—

It starts on the bridge of some manner of spacecraft. A group of people that includes both Thancred and Himeka stand while a number of small, rabbit-like creatures sit at the control panels. Warning sirens go off and then what looks to be a young girl with bird-like feet and tail feathers appears. Her hair, her feathers, and even her clothing are black, and her eyes are gray voids. Himeka identifies her as "Meteion."

Meteion cannot understand why the group has come to find her, when all life is suffering and she has offered to deliver them an end to that. She views life as an anomaly, and entreats the group to understand that her desire to end all of the despair is the correct course of action. Y'shtola, Thancred, and Alphinaud respond to the nihilistic words in turn, countering that while life may be full of sorrow, it is still their right to live.

Their pleas fall on deaf ears, as Meteion insists that she has seen this same passion in the people of other worlds, and they have all eventually died out. She strips the oxygen out of the air, and everyone falls to the ground, passing out from suffocation one by one. Save for Thancred, who somehow manages to keep his balance and staggers toward Meteion, gunblade in hand. He lunges toward her to take a swing, and then all fades to black.

The memory ceases, leaving both of them doubled over as they recover from the disorienting side effects of the exchange. ]

[sorser]

[Thancred’s own memory is alien and strange, and yet there is something familiar about. The logic, maybe, of nihilism, or those who would wield it for whatever ends they see fit — namely, that life is better off not existing at all, for the toll it happens to take on those living.

He has fought against a similar mindset in his own time, though Thanos’ shape of oblivion was half rather than whole. Even so, this “Meteion” sets him on edge, makes him know that something bad is about to happen, merely because nothing good ever comes from a moment like this one.

His companions fall, stripped of oxygen. Thancred still stands, rushes forward with blade in-hand, but Stephen cannot see the result. The memory goes black, slamming him back into reality.

He gasps, palms flat against the ground, having nigh fallen somewhere in-between it all. Eyes wide and searching, he lifts his head back up to reorient himself, seeing only Thancred in a similar position.]

Well— that was— [Sarcasm exudes itself in spades when he has nothing else to grasp onto. Give him a moment.] —pleasant.

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred finds himself on one knee, with Stephen in close proximity. His head continues to pound with pain, and he sucks a breath deep into his lungs and lets it out again, allowing it to clear the haziness from body and mind. He doesn't expect it would be wise to stand until he's taken a few more breaths, and so he focuses in on Stephen, who seems to have also experienced a vision.

It's as if they all have the Echo. Did the Singularity do this to them? ]

You saw something, did you? Something from my memory.

[ He closes his eyes for a moment, takes a few more breaths. In and out. ]

It was different from what I experienced with Yennefer. We viewed the memories together, not...

[ Whatever it is that just happened. ]

[sorser]

Yes. I did. But it was like a flash, like something just… deposited the memory in mind. Without even bothering to ask, mind you.

[And it left him dizzy, nauseous, and confused once he had returned to reality — much like Thancred had experienced, as well. Why? Not that Stephen had hoped to traipse through anyone's memory, but the fact that the experiences were different at all meant there was another variable at play.

He shakes his head.]

You were on a— a ship. A spaceship? [He was under the impression that Thancred hailed from a place far more… medieval than what he had witnessed. His personal domain, versus what he had just seen, are hard to reconcile.]

Speaking to a bird-like young woman who definitely did not have life's best interests in mind. What did she do? Try to suffocate all of you?

[What happened after?]

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred can't begin to imagine why his experience with Yennefer had differed from the exchange that just took place between him and Stephen. Their recent proximity to the Singularity might have something to do with it, but he can't shake the fact that it's all so similar to the Echo. There's no saying that such a power doesn't exist in Abraxas just as it does on Etheirys, and yet this is the first he's heard of it. Or experienced it, rather.

He glances up as soon as Stephen starts to explain what he saw. That memory is much fresher than what he saw with Yennefer, the details still etched clearly in his mind. He nods slowly, not wanting to worsen any of his symptoms. ]

The Ragnarok.

[ There's a lot to explain there, perhaps too much for him to manage when his head is pounding and his stomach is churning.

All the same, he reaches out for a nearby tree's trunk and uses it to stabilize himself as he gets to his feet. He leans up against the tree, still a bit shaky. ]

Her name is Meteion. It's a long story, but yes, she meant to snuff us all out right then and there. That was the last event I recalled before arriving in Abraxas, but I've been assured it was not in fact our final moments.

[ By Hythlodaeus, of all people.

Thancred lets out a groan and slides a hand down his face. ] And what I saw was... you in some realm surrounded in color, facing off against an immense being who was, so far as I could tell, mainly just a face. It kept trying to kill you, and you kept returning, until it grew tired of you.