EVENT #7: THE SIGHT

[abraxasmods]

Event #7 - The Sight

go to the OOC event info and plotting post

---

The night before APRIL 18, your dreams are disrupted by a vivid image of the same eclipse that occurred last month. The black sun seems to be an endless void in the sky, growing ever darker - until it suddenly opens into an eye that stares straight at you.

When you wake up, much of your night seems a blur except for the vivid dream of that eye. Whether you find it unsettling or try to ignore it, the image is something you cannot get out of your mind. If you ask, you will discover that none of the locals of your faction saw another eclipse. Speak with your fellow Summoned, however, and you may learn that while there was no eclipse that formed over the world, you were not the only one who had this dream.

Of course, dreams don't need to mean anything. You can't feel or see any immediate effects, and nearly everyone around you is going about their day as usual. Maybe you should do the same.

The Awakening

It might happen that very morning or a day or two later. You could be discussing the dream with a fellow Summoned or perhaps you simply brush shoulders with them as you walk by. Whatever it is, as soon as you make brief physical contact, one of you is struck with a sharp pain in your temple that grows into a terrible headache. It's disorienting and painful as the world around you shifts to someplace you may or may not recognize. Like an old film reel, you watch the events of the past play out before you: the past of the other Summmoned. It might be something they would rather hide, a moment of failure or despair, or something they are immensely proud of and brings them great joy - or even a jumble of several images over the course of a person's life. But you see it as if it were real and right in front of you all the same. When you come to, you'll likely find yourself on the ground or bent over, possibly with one or more people around you to see if you're okay. It'll take you a bit to gather your bearings, and the subsequent pounding in your head could last from minutes to hours.

Or, maybe you aren't the one who receives the vision. Instead, as you watch, another Summoned might grasp their head and crumble in front of you. They may go silent or groan in pain. They'll be impossible to shake out of their stupor until it's over. If you ask what happened, they may be inclined to tell you the truth - that you, you were what happened to them.

Or, if your Arcana signs happen to line up in a specific way, you'll see each other in the shared memory itself. You may also find that for certain Summoned, you can help soothe the effects, calm their emotions, or help draw them out of the memory before it consumes them for too long. It's not entirely clear what determines which effect, but one thing is for certain - within each memory, every Summoned as they appear in the past seems to wear the mark of their Arcana somewhere on their person.

For some, they might experience this only once. For others, they might experience it multiple times: with the same person, with several other Summoned, or with a different memory each time. Over the next 7 days, you'll find the Summoned around you are all receiving a glimpse into each other's past, as if the Singularity has awoken an eye within each of you.

Flee for the safety of the Horizon if you want, but you'll find that in there, it's much the same. In fact, inside the Horizon, the other Summoned don't even need to be anywhere near you - just existing in the Horizon space itself together will be enough to possibly set off a headache-inducing vision.

The Factions

What has occurred between the Summoned will not go unnoticed within the factions. While it's difficult to say how faction officials have picked up what's happening, it'll be obvious they do know.

In THORNE, characters will be asked to remain in the castle walls until further notice. Characters will not be allowed to leave the castle grounds, not even to go into the surrounding city, and anyone who is already outside will be requested to not leave again as soon as they return. If asked, they will be told it's for their own safety, given the Singularity is behaving unpredictably and the Summoned have a unique connection to it. Soothing potions and healers are on hand to offer assistance, if anyone is particularly suffering from ill effects.

In the FREE CITIES, characters will find the army by the outposts show more activity than usual. A higher number of guards will patrol the streets throughout the event, particularly in areas frequented by the Summoned. Anyone who publicly and visibly experiences the effects of the memory share (pain, doubling over, etc.) will be offered assistance by the guards. They are generally there to help, but they are also there to maintain order and ensure anyone behaving erratically due to this incident is properly contained. This might include confinement for a day or two if anyone is especially posing a risk, but no one will be punished except in the most extreme cases, as the locals are aware this is not within the control of the Summoned.

In SOLVUNN, the locals will be watching what's happening with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity. Host families and neighbors will be on hand to help with charms meant to offer protection, as well as general care and assistance (soup, blankets, and so on) if your character seems to be especially under the weather or afflicted by the event. Towards the end of the event, more elders and mages will be out and about to check up on the Summoned to make sure they're doing okay. If asked, the mages will say they aren't sure what's going on, but that they are currently divining with the gods and hope to have a definitive answer soon in the upcoming days.

None of the factions appear to be doing much more than keep a watchful eye on the situation - but as the week comes to a close, officials will start making a decision as to what they want to do and how to handle the Summoned who have demonstrated this unforeseen connection to the Singularity.

Comments

[nightwash]

"If you had been there," Ronan counters, "there would've been no reason to kill them."

Because all he'd ever needed was someone to stand beside him. Someone who would choose to stay with him. Kylo may not be able to shield him from every injury, but he always eases the pain. They would have gotten through all of it together and so many of the worst memories would never have even happened.

Here and now... it doesn't matter that they did. Ronan's arms coil tight around Kylo, ensnaring him. Here, they finally have each other.

Laying his cheek against Kylo's, he murmurs, "Don't ever hide from me. We've lost too much to lose each other on purpose. Do you get it? Nothing you've ever done could be worse than not having you."

[photophobic]

Kylo's pulse never quite steadies, spiking again at the last. His grip tightens.

"My own family tried to have me killed because of what they believed I might do," he reminds Ronan quietly. "And they failed. And I did all of it. Everything they feared. You aren't a killer, Ronan. But I am. Many times over. It isn't simply something I have done. It's what I am. What I chose to be. That's what she couldn't accept— do you understand? I wasn't going to stop. I wanted them dead. Gone. All of them. They deserved to die. They deserved to suffer. That's who I am."

[nightwash]

"Then that's who I want."

There's no fear in Ronan's heart, no disgust at these revelations. True to his word, there's no part of him that wants to reject Kylo because of his confession. He's only glad that Kylo's finally saying it.

He presses a kiss to Kylo's cheek before drawing back just far enough to look into his eyes.

"Everything you are... The best and the worst of you... I don't just accept it, Kylo, I love it. I love you." Touching his forehead to Kylo's, he sucks in a breath, realizing he's said it out loud yet not regretting a word. He adds softly, "Let me love all of you. Okay? Just let me."

[photophobic]

It's so painfully, faithfully sweet, the sentiment carried in the words so earnest and true. Kylo breathes, quiet, distantly aware that the reason it was so easy for him to recognise Ronan's fear of being proven incompatible with love is his own, stirring now in response to Ronan's plea.

"Can you?"

Kylo certainly isn't confident of it. Ronan's intention, he's sure of. He has no doubt that Ronan believes every word. But...

"I killed my father."

There. It's done.

[nightwash]

The words hang in the air. Ronan isn't sure what to do with them, holding his breath while he takes in their meaning. He does not think Kylo means it the same way he does when he kneels in church with his shoulders hunched under the weight of his guilt. For being too late. For being the Greywaren. For not dying instead. Ronan killed Niall Lynch by simply existing, but he was not the murderer wielding the weapon that split his father's skull.

Kylo is a murderer.

Kylo murdered his own father.

Ronan's heart is breaking. He can't imagine doing it. Niall Lynch had been a scoundrel, a criminal and a liar, but Ronan had loved him more than anyone else in the world. There's nothing that could have possibly driven Ronan to kill him. It's an inconceivable scenario. Yet Kylo had found himself in that very situation.

It's too terrible to fathom. Fresh tears spill down Ronan's cheeks, and when he finally exhales, it's something close to a breathless sob.

"I'm so fucking sorry."

Useless words. The best he has to offer when it comes to describing this feeling. He is so fucking sorry Kylo had to do that, that he's had to live with it, that he's had to carry it as a secret. It feels like something Ronan should have sensed. How could he have not felt it all this time?

His arms loosen their hold and drop away, and instead he takes Kylo's face in his hands. Some part of him expects to fall into the memory, bear witness to the deed itself, but it doesn't happen. It's just the two of them here. He tempts fate again when he brushes a kiss to Kylo's lips, clumsily seeking out some way to reassure him. What can possibly ease a burden this heavy? Nothing.

[photophobic]

It's so far from the response he was expecting that Kylo isn't sure what to do with himself. Mute, he sucks in air, watching the tears welling up in Ronan's eyes as if bewitched by them. Perhaps the strange, twisting feeling he's seized by is a kind of envy? He doesn't know. It's just that crying feels like it would be so much simpler than carrying the complex tangle of shame and rage and loss that's been his only reward for carrying out the killing he was promised would bring relief.

"She saw me do it," he says eventually. It's an explanation of sorts, if Ronan knows how to piece it all together— Kylo frequently forgets that no-one else can follow him, when he stops putting his thoughts into words. This is why Kylo didn't want to risk Ronan seeing something inexcusable.

"That's why she tried to kill me. And she still..."

His gaze drops away.

"She doesn't understand."

[nightwash]

The ugly, jealous part of Ronan is glad. Rey's failure is his own opportunity.

"I want to."

His thumbs stroke Kylo's cheeks, trying to soothe away an emotion that hasn't even touched his features. There's nothing to read in his expression, yet Ronan sees pain there anyway, and he wants to ease it.

"I'm not like her, Kylo. You can tell me everything. Every fucked-up thing about you."

The truth doesn't push Ronan away. It only pulls him closer. Kylo must have realized that much at least. Ronan has never loved him more than he does right now.

[photophobic]

The barest tic of a smile tugs at Kylo's mouth. His eyes slip shut. He leans, just a fraction, into the gentle touch of Ronan's hands.

"It won't make sense," he sighs. "I could tell you that I believed it would set me free. I could tell you how angry it made me to see him there, finally, in the flesh. After all those years he never came — either of them, neither of them ever came — and there he was. Like he could have been, any time he chose. But you don't know... there's so much you would need to know. And for what? What would be gained? He's dead."

Kylo swallows. He meets Ronan's gaze, steady despite the glassy quality to the darkness of his eyes.

"I killed him for nothing at all."

[nightwash]

It makes more sense than Kylo assumes. Yes, there are a dozen questions Ronan could ask about the details, but he doesn't need the answers in order to understand. He knows abandonment. How easy it is for everyone to give up on you when you're inconvenient. How they only show up when you become a direct threat to their peace.

Ronan doesn't know what he'll do if he ever sees Declan again, but it would be a lie to say that killing him isn't a possibility. As long as his brother lives, Ronan will always be looking over his shoulder. So it's very easy to understand, really, why Kylo would believe killing his family would be the key to his freedom. They hunted him first.

"You did what you had to do," Ronan says, his voice brittle and strange to his own ears. "Even if it didn't work. I know you. You wouldn't have done it if you didn't think it was the right way."

For all the explosive heat behind Kylo's emotions, he has a mind that's much more measured than Ronan's. He weighs his decisions carefully. He works with what he's given. It's the one thing he has in common with Adam, and it's a quality that not only attracts Ronan but inspires him to trust Kylo with his life. Ronan may never know what to do, but Kylo always seems to.

He asks, even more quietly, "Would you do it again, now that you know?"