EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

---

With tensions heavy across Abraxas and all the destruction that's happened, it's no surprise that the dark shadows which sweep over the land go unnoticed...at first.

Winds initially stir in Solvunn, where the influence of the Old Gods remains the strongest. Slowly each Herald infects Thorne and the Free Cities, as well. The Summoned are the first to feel its effects and are the most heavily impacted.

Though no one will realize it until well afterwards, Nocwich remains unaffected. After all, the Summoned don't reside there.

NOTE: This event will deal with themes of death (people and animal) and horror imagery.

Emergence

It begins sometime in mid-October, around the 18th. Not everyone will experience it at the same time. You might even believe you're spared until days afterwards when you're visited by an unusually vivid dream.

The dream starts the same for everyone: you are going somewhere, anywhere, walking to your bedroom or enjoying a stroll on the beach. You might be driving down a familiar neighborhood. Wherever you're headed, you eventually come upon a stone tablet engraved with your Arcana. Laid on the tablet are three objects:

◎ A dead moth trapped inside a wilted rose, symbolizing Koth of Festering Lands
◎ A teacup inside which sits a single nightshade berry, symbolizing Adlewyrd of Poisoned Tongues
◎ An ornate cracked hand mirror that contains no reflection, symbolizing Sannleikr of Many Faces

Make a choice. Something inside your soul will be drawn towards one of the objects. Maybe you spend hours in the dream deliberating, but sooner or later, you'll pick one of the items up. The moment you do, the other objects vanish and the chosen Herald appears before you. Where one might expect a god to seek subservience, the strange figure instead extends a friendly hand towards you - as though it's greeting you as an equal.

Whispered around you, you hear its name. Then it fades and with it the dream. You awaken.

Affliction

You go about your day as usual. That's when you realize something isn't right. Creatures and people around you behave strangely. You begin to sense that you are the cause.

Depending on your chosen Herald, you'll experience at least one of its afflictions. The effects might start small, then grow. They might rush you all at once. You can't shake what haunts you, though you can try. Spells, potions, and willpower can help keep the afflictions at bay but you won't ever be completely free.

As the afflictions seep into your mind, you start to find shadows of it following you: a dead moth here, a nightshade bloom there, a cracked mirror elsewhere. You may even wonder if it's following you in the first place. What if instead, you are the one leaving these signs behind?

Corruption

The first time you inflict your ability on someone else, you don't mean to. It might be a stranger, some unsuspecting soul, or it might be another Summoned. Regardless, the afflictions that ail you seem to spread through you into another. Someone falls down as if in the throes of an invisible death or secrets spill. You brush by someone and they're suddenly upset and confused.

The more this happens, intentionally or not, the better you feel. You may grow full of life and energy, gain a renewed strength of heart, or radiate a charm that turns heads and garners compliments. The afflictions haunting you could even start to fade or completely vanish. And if you use your newfound power deliberately? You'll feel better even faster for longer. Of course, these boons are temporary, lasting at most an hour or so. When the feeling wanes, you might miss having it.

You are not possessed. You can't control this power that spreads through you, but how you respond or behave is up to you. You could be attracted to the allure of power, enjoy the boons you are granted, or realize you can gain relief from your afflictions if you choose a victim. Not everyone will fall headfirst into the pull. Some are not easily swayed by power, some struggle to overcome their dark impulses, and others would rather endure their suffering than inflict it on someone else. But others still might succumb to temptation and turn on those around them with purpose: once, twice, multiple times. The choice you make is yours alone.

Blight

With the call of the Herald at your fingertips, the world around you twists. No one knows whether this stems from you and your newly imbued afflictions, or if the Heralds are exerting power on their own. It's for sure easier to think of what occurs as the influence of something monstrous beyond your control. No matter the cause, the earth is changed all the same.

Omens

The omens arrive shortly after the initial Summoned receive their dreams, but they don't come to every faction at once. SOLVUNN is first, being home to the Old Gods' shrines, before THORNE and the FREE CITIES follow only days afterwards. Depending on where you are, the omens will affect things a bit differently.

Solvunn

In Solvunn, the ground stirs. A desiccated hand breaks through the grass, a cloven hoof. Human or animal, they crawl forth, animated against their will. Some might attack, but most do not. At the same time, crops around the settlements begin to fail. Some chickens lay rotten eggs while cows produce spoiled milk. Any livestock that perishes overnight will surface in the mornings with empty eye sockets - pecked out by crows or gnawed on by rats. From a distance, the ocean can be seen bubbling as leviathans beneath thrash.

Worth noting is that many of the dead are concentrated around the shrines, especially the ones deep in the woods. They're too decayed to recognize, and some might not even move from the site, as though they are waiting for the earth to take them again...or as though they once chose to give up their life at this very spot.

Summoned can assist by helping to cast spells or place warding charms around shrines, farms, and gardens to protect crops and livestock. As a commune, the Solvunnites will share their resources as much as possible and would appreciate those who might lend a hand bringing supplies, herbs, and offerings to neighbors who are lacking. The Summoned can also brew a common herbal remedy to aid any animals who have fallen ill or to help purify the well water.

Free Cities

In Libertas, the dead buried under the rubble dig themselves out. More crawl forth from graves in Cadens' cemeteries. Beasts and bandits slain in the desert wilds rise, hungry or searching for the ones who killed them. At the same time, dead fish wash up onto the shores of Aquila while birds fall dead from their perch, dropping like flies from an unknown illness. Vultures and other scavengers begin to prey upon the eyes of the dead, leaving behind hollowed-out corpses.

Worth noting is that in the Badlands, a few very old and skeletal corpses rise with a metal plate or two screwed onto their bones, which are also oddly elongated. Only one or two make their way near the city. The army is quick to dispose of them before many can notice. They will not disclose any information about this and will claim these are just monsters like anything else.

Summoned can assist by going on patrol with the soldiers to put down any risen dead. Merchant caravans are also hiring escorts for their journeys. Additionally, they can help look through any received supplies and packages to make sure the food isn't rotting or worse, use a special dissolving compound to purify the waters, and donate staple food items to refugees and the less fortunate who can't afford the rising prices.

Thorne

In Thorne, the dead emerge only from the outskirts of the castle city. Thanks to information from one of their Summoned and their recent monitoring of the Singularity, Thorne was able to act swiftly and was able to ward any royal or otherwise significant burial sites. Graves and tombs of less importance, though, will not be protected in the same way. There are fewer encounters with eyeless corpses, though some animals might appear outside the castle in such a state. Normally extravagant dishes from the Castle's kitchens use simpler ingredients as they struggle to ration their food stores.

Worth noting is that a few unexpected corpses make their way up from deep under the castle in places beyond the dungeons. These are twisted and mangled, missing limbs, heads, fingers. The castle guards are quick to dispose of them before they get too far into the rest of the castle, but one or two may be spotted.

Summoned can assist by contributing to the wards around Castle Thorne and the city, using spells to put down the dead without mangling the corpse, and taking inventory of food stores. Further, in Nott the situation is more dire for anyone who is traveling there to continue assisting with repairs following the attack. Nott will welcome help with any problems caused by the omens. It'll be clear the kingdom has neglected the city somewhat. Thorne will claim the Castle takes priority, of course, due to King and Queen residing there along with the entire royal court.

Apprehensions

Across the factions, locals are beginning to catch on that something isn't right with you, the Summoned. No one will say it outright, but there's an air of caution and wariness around you where you go. Merchants might be quick to hand you your wares so you'll leave or locals give you a bit of space when they walk by. Chatty innkeepers are more reluctant to hold lengthy conversations.

Much of the time, it may not be conscious. The natives might simply sense something off that instinctually makes them want to put some distance between them and you. The only exception? If you've chosen Sannleikr of Many Faces, you'll continue to exude your charm towards people you encounter. At least for as long as you continue to inflict that ability you've been gifted.

Displacement

Everyone responds differently while in the Horizon. You might exert better willpower over your afflictions or you might feel its effects more strongly. It all depends on the individual and their mindset. Regardless, the Heralds are only one part of the equation. There's a much bigger disturbance going on.

It could happen as soon as you enter or it might be as you're stepping over the threshold into another's domain. Whatever the case, you are suddenly not where you're supposed to be. Instead, you're in one of two places depending: transported into a domain you never meant to go into or in a foreign setting altogether.

Visitation

Whether you're the one transported or someone teleports unexpectedly into your space, the Horizon becomes unpredictable for the next little while. Rooms normally locked to strangers, areas you yourself may not even realize exists - you and your fellow Summoned continue to pop in and out despite your intentions.

The effect isn't painful, just disorienting, like missing a step you didn't see or stumbling through a door into a too-bright room. The person whose domain you've inadvertently visited might sense an unwanted presence, whether they're inside the Horizon or not, or they may be completely oblivious. This will depend on the strength of their connection to the Singularity and the Horizon.

Not to worry. You won't be trapped or anything in these cases...unless the domain you land in happens to seal from the inside. You might stumble on secrets you weren't meant to find, though, locked away in someone else's mind.

Ensnared

The less fortunate will be pulled into a space that they've never encountered before. The bizarreness of it resembles the glitchy visions that flashed through a few months ago, but rather than an image flickering by, you are now inside the space itself.

Trapped between minutes to hours, you can't use the Horizon's creation magic as normal. Attempts will falter or go sideways: trying to fly out might cause you to tumble, tools and objects are broken or not quite right, wounds don't vanish or heal completely, etc. More significantly, you can't seem to send or receive messages through your connection. Anything that manages to come through will be garbled and distorted. It's as though the place you are in is just out of the reach of your control.

Luckily, you may not be alone. Someone else may have gotten lost alongside you. They might already be there when you stumble through or they might arrive after you do. They might even fade out sooner than you, unintentionally leaving you behind.

Eventually, you'll be released back into the Horizon proper, spat out in a random place in the Horizon. While you're stuck, though, you can try to survive, explore, sit and wait it out, or make friends with your fellow trapped partner. Each area has its challenges and quirks that you'll need to deal with.

Scenes to Explore

JUSTICE ◎
FULL IMAGE

High in the clouds, these snowy peaks are as cold as they look. Giant marble hands reach out, though their sheer scale means you might not recognize them as hands from up close. You can scale the mountain, but if you try to go down, the hands will flip the mountain, which sends you tumbling to the top again.

It's up to you whether you can be injured when you fall. Maybe the snow will feel like marshmallows, or you'll break a bone on the jagged rocks. No two experiences are the same. If you have a partner, they could end up faring better than you despite being in the same place.

Conjure some warm clothes or a log cabin even if you wish - they might not manifest perfectly, but it'll be better than nothing. At least the view's fairly nice...while the sun is up. A blizzard will come through by nightfall. With it arrives a strange hovering light that entices you or your friend to follow it into the frozen darkness. What draws you out depends on you. It could be a familiar voice, an image, or a simple compulsion. If you're lucky, the person with you is unaffected and can try to stop you. Or maybe you're the one desperately chasing after the other person?

---

THE CHARIOT ◎
FULL IMAGE

From a distance, it's hard to tell if they're shipping containers or houses stacked atop each other. A gooey mess covers the ground below. Oddly, the smell isn't as unpleasant as the goo looks. It smells like bubblegum or cotton candy, artificial and sweet. When you first fall in, you might land inside one of the homes, on top of the stacked structure, or the ground. You can try to reach anyone else who's there with you, but be careful: the ooze is spreading. Climb if you must or move from room to room. If you don't keep moving, you risk getting sucked into its sticky mass.

Each block of a home is different. Some are furnished, whereas others are empty or filled with strange knickknacks. Some might even have subconscious creations spawned by you. Keep ahead of the gloopy substance, and you'll be fine, probably. Or you can try to fight it back or block its path by sealing yourself in a room or otherwise, which can slow it down significantly. Mostly, you'll have to hope you fade out before the pink mass completely consumes the landscape.

---

THE WORLD ◎
FULL IMAGE

The hazy neon glow obscures a nothingness that seems to extend forever. In the middle of the wet ground are several stacked television sets with wires plugged into nothing. Inexplicably, there's also a cat. At first, it appears perfectly normal, but keen observers will notice that its behavior is on a loop where it will walk a certain path, pause at specific intervals to lick its paws, and meow at set points. It does not acknowledge any of its intruders. You can break its loop by picking it up, at which point it'll go limp as a ragdoll. As soon as you set it down, it'll resume its actions as before.

While you can see the same images as someone else on the screens, it's also possible you'll each see something different despite being in the room together. What you see is up to you. It could be an old fuzzy movie, home videos of your childhood, trivia questions you have to answer correctly, or even a memory or vision you wouldn't want to share. Words or faces taunting you could appear between staticky flickers, or maybe your very thoughts are projected onto the screens for anyone with you to read.

Break the televisions if you want, but given a few short minutes, they'll reform between one blink and the next. Looks like you'll have to keep watching until you're released.

---

THE FOOL ◎
FULL IMAGE

Sprawling and massive, you're unlikely to recognize at first that you're trapped in a labyrinth. Stone walls rise around you, and your surroundings are pitchblack. Manifest a torch or a flashlight if you can, though these will be prone to going out at inopportune times. Escaping over the walls will only send you into another section in the maze.

As you navigate the twisting corridors, you'll encounter any variety of trials and troubles: gaps in the ground, spiked traps, haunting whispers, monsters, decaying corpses. Some of these might've formed from your mind, others might've spawned from anyone else who's trapped with you.

If you aren't alone, do your best to locate your fellow Summoned. Voices do carry and echo over the walls, and there could be landmarks that help you find each other. Finding the exit, however, is another matter. Walk and climb all you want. A way out is impossible until the Horizon chooses to set you free.

Players can pick any scenario that interests them from the four choices above. Unlike the visions from before, characters can accidentally be trapped in as many of the scenes as you want, as many times as you want. Another option is that they can stay trapped in only one scene while a variety of characters fade in and out to join them, or some combination of the two. Choose what works best for your plans.

Each scene will once again carry an associated Arcana etched somewhere inside it, which can change from person to person or instance to instance. It might be on a wall, a table, or on the ground. Characters with a stronger connection to the Horizon are likely to be trapped for longer but the extent of this is your choice and it won't ever exceed a few hours. It's also your choice whether the afflictions continue to haunt them or not. If you want characters to deal with both problems while stuck together, you're welcome to!

Generally speaking, there are no restrictions other than that they won't be able to communicate with anyone outside the area, they can't escape it until the Horizon chooses to release them, and their creation magic will go wrong just enough that it'll make things tricky.

Comments

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo glanced over again as he said the second part. An apology is not something she's expecting at all. Not even one placed to center on a quiet admission of what kind of choices he'd never have made himself, and it felt insane that it was still only a few hours ago Jo found herself in that room. What she'd thought. The flash of full black eyes, the rage that slammed into a wall. What still felt like it would make more sense.

Or be easier to hold on to.
But she didn't look away from him.

Thinking about the words she'd said. Why.

"Yeah. Dean was there." Him. Sam. Her mom. Some part of her feels like that list is incomplete, but that's alt. Them, and Meg. The only faces. It feels like an itch she can't reach. But it comes to that question. She focused on the wall. "Dean said no to Meg's tea party invite by shooting at the hound. We all ran."

"It jumped him. And he went down."
Jo was staring hard at that wall.


She can hear Dean yelling.

She can hear the gun firing.


"I couldn't leave him there."
She hadn't even thought about it.

[a_better_man]

Jokes are fine. Mat would prefer them, they're his own defense mechanism. Much easier to make light than dwell on the reality.

But at Eddie's comment, he moves to a wall and presses his hand against it. It seems perfectly solid and rooted in place. He swings the torch one way then the other, frowning thoughtfully.

"I think we're in a...fortress, maybe? Or some great sprawling basement under a castle..." He moves along the wall a few steps, assuming Eddie will keep close. The light only extends so far and who knew what may be waiting in the dark?

"Here! It's a corner!" Mat's voice is tinged with excitement. A corner is good. A corner means the way round it probably leads somewhere. Perhaps somewhere less dark and inherently terrifying. "Look at that, we're already ahead of where we were. We are surrounded by walls...but one of them turns to another path! Our knowledge of our situation has veritably doubled!"

[thedevilwhorose]

Better than what he's been seeing. Which is, arguably, himself. Fractions of himself, different points in time. Pieces of what other people think they see him as. Faces belonging to other vessels. True visages--what Heaven describes as beautiful and what humanity describes as monstrous.

For someone who has an unusual sense of self, he's doing swimmingly.

"I went to your domain. It's vibrating. And humming. Not outside of it, not any of the bordering domains, just within yours."

[wiedzminka]

Ciri doesn't look the slightest bit reassured. Perhaps it seems this is because of the shaking ground, but that's not necessarily it.

"You made this?"

[gynvael]

She doesn't answer that part, though he's not expecting her to. Probably for the best. His own personal lines are a complicated matter, occasionally mutable, and it's a large reason why he often does not explain himself. He knows who he is. Whether others do, or are willing to know, is not something he chases after.

He starts to wipe the blood off his dagger with a scrap of cloth. Habit, and for something to do while he listens.

"You saved him."

He remembers what Dean said. So I went and got her killed.

Yeah. He can fathom why Dean sees it so. When it comes to things like this, truth has no bearing, in the same way he both understands Renfri's death was her doing as much as his, and yet he still feels a certain weight from it decades later.

[magicalarchaeologist]

"Yes, I know it's drastic. It's only a library inside though."

So nothing particularly grand or dramatic, outside of being tall and full. Istredd realizes then that it is a little strange. Comparatively to most other domains, it does stand out. Which is funny considering how he doesn't want to stand out.

"This is called a monolith where I'm from, I studied them for decades. I guess my subconscious thought I'd be comfortable in one."

[aquaveiled]

Hmm...

[ So Horizon is just being an opportunist? As if it has a sentience of it's own? Or someone else's Domain is going haywire and affecting the unfortunate few who decide to try and ping into it at the same time.

Too bad they're those unfortunate few. It's growing darker as well. ]

Well, there's naught much to do here than try to find a way out, right? You didn't happen to come from the path behind you, did you?

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo doesn't answer immediately. Trying to figure out what she even thinks (feels?) about that word. Saved. Had there even been a handful of seconds to think that? A few? Even one? She hadn't stopped firing. She hadn't listened to Dean. Then she was slammed into by a hellhound that felt like a train and looked like nothing, falling hard before everything was a crescendo of red-hot and screaming. There was not much looking back after that.

Jo doesn't know what to say to that. If there is anything to say to that.
It's written in blood. It's written in stone. It's etched itself inside her head.

( I'll see you on the other side,
probably sooner than later.


Make it later. )

For someone else, anyone else, she might have a line, spun golden with sparkling attitude. But Geralt's never gotten more than the flat bluntness of her at her edges, she doesn't lie and smile for him, hasn't ever, and she doesn't want to know if she can plunge her hand into the center of herself, find her spine, and squeeze hard enough until her mouth makes itself something else to remember instead.

When it's this real, this close, this bare.
What she will do, and why she will do it.

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred shakes his head. ]

You misunderstand. I meant to say that your idea to isolate yourself in the waking world is not without merit.

[ Doing so in the confines of Thorne is easier said than done, however, which is why Thancred had turned to the Horizon in the first place. Now he wonders if that had been a mistake, and yet at least he isn't encountering quite so many people here. And all the Summoned know that there's something affecting them.

So he and Alucard are suffering from something similar. Thancred reaches a hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose, but there is little to be done about what thoughts they might share unbidden. ]

Do you have some theory about it? I think you're the first who's affected as I am who I've spoken to for any length of time.

[nadine_he_loves]

"Oh!" Nadine doesn't think she's ever met anyone who didn't recognize the word. But it was probably only a matter of time, and from what Diana's told her - though it hasn't been much - the woman comes from a much different place than Nadine.

"Corpses that move around and typically they try and kill or eat people, but these mostly just seemed...confused? Not that they seemed to be capable of feeling anything, but one kept walking into a wall and one just went in a circle...." And some couldn't walk at all, considering they were medical practice cadavers.

"It happened last year around this time, too, but those ones were angry and armed."

[nadine_he_loves]

"Well, these walking corpses aren't as big a problem as last year. It was pretty startling when my practice cadaver sat up mid-dissection, though." But it hadn't been violent or dangerous. It just wouldn't stay still. And Nadine doesn't mind the suspension of classes for the time being. It's sort of nice, having the free time. Maybe that's why she finds herself so restless and averse to being productive. How often does she have the opportunity to just do nothing of importance? Of course it's appealing.

"But you're right. I really just don't want to work. I don't want to plenty of times, but I still do. Why not just...not, for a change?"

Corpses aren't trying to break down the door. And whatever blight is affecting plants doesn't seem to be in the city water. She's vaguely worried, of course, something's going on. But it's nothing she can do anything about, and nothing seems to be an imminent threat. Why just sit around worrying about things? The world won't end because she has a fun night. Not anymore.

She'd rather lean into Jaskier's arms and tuck herself against him, enjoying the familiar feel and scent of him.

"I'm guessing you have something in mind?"

[gynvael]

Surprising in more ways than one, if only because Geralt has never thought of it as loyalty. For him, duty is inherent in that word, the sort of allegiance any Witcher steers clear of. Dean's proven himself trustworthy several times over, and that makes it a rare friendship worth protecting. That's all it is.

Though at the moment, none of this is about Dean.

He steps forward. He's quiet, and the wolf that pads down the stairs with bloodstained paws is equally so. His head buzzes. Not quite anger; something deeper, more primal.

He shifts his weight. It's subconscious, the sword that appears in his hand, but he curls his fingers around it all the same. That's answer enough, probably.

[thearchangel]

The voice-clearing in the quiet after the conversation startles him. It's not Shepard. She would have made a comment on Tali and spiders. She also wouldn't have cleared her throat. This is, after all, technically a part of her ship, even if it's the space Garrus carved out for his own.

So when he turns, and spots Nadine of all people, he actually drops the glowing pad he'd been holding, mandibles peeled back off his jaw in surprise.

"I uh." A glance at the door, then at her. "Didn't think it was open."

Did people just wander into peoples' spaces? Was that how this place worked?

[aquaveiled]

[ Please! He needn't be so modest--he's very strong, being a tank and all, and she's actually quite tall, thank you very much.

But the touch of his hand brings nothing, at least seemingly nothing. Himeka, as per usual, uses very little caution in her actions. She looks relieved to be out of the ooze, but as she follows Thancred's gaze back to it, a part of her starts to have a sense of regret.

...It does smell nice, after all. ]

Right, yes, of course. Onward and upward.

[ But...

She looks down at the goop that's collected on her person and--oh hells, she can't resist! It's just too tempting. Dropping his hand she takes a swath up with her fore and middle fingers and licks it off. ]

[aquaveiled]

[ Her brows raise, the name absolutely ringing a bell. ]

A leshy?

[ Yes, they are walking trees of sorts. She remembers encountering them in the Fringes bordering the Shroud, large, imposing, and unforgiving in their march. But she had no idea that they could command more than their woody fists.

But they are dangerous. Seedkin that drain the aether of other creatures. ]

I didn't realize they could do this...

[ Though that's likely Geralt's version, isn't it. How different could they really be? ]

Hm?

[ She's pulled from her thoughts as the refuge of the keep takes over, stepping quietly inside. ]

Oh, yes. Kind of strange, isn't it? I always arrive right next to it but now it's no where to be found. I can't even feel it nearby.

[ It's worrying for sure. But now she's go a leshy on the mind. ]

But I have dealt with a leshy or two in my day. Mayhaps I can help trim the hedges?

blizzard!

[falcony]

Sam doesn't know who is there first. He's looking for Julie, moving from domain to domain in some sort of false hope that he'd stumble across her somewhere along the way. It hasn't worked out so far, but that's not going to stop him from looking, though what does seem to put a quick pause in his plans is his sudden arrival on...a mountain top.

He frowns, the drastic weather change putting him into a few moments of intense shock before he's able to conjure himself up some sort of ski suit. Or at least, what he'd planned on being a ski suit, which really just ends up looking like some weird 70s winter coat. He's noticed how things aren't working quite right in the Horizon either, so he assumes this is part of it, but who would have created a frozen mountain peak?

"Hello?!" He screams out into the wind, suddenly worried for whoever it is that's created this. "Is anyone out there?!"

[catholica]

Yeah.

( really, he's been waiting for something like this. matt doesn't want to think that he goes out looking for fights but it's good to stretch those muscles every once in awhile and allow himself to use his training.

he brings his hands up in front of him, an offensive and defensive stance as he listens to the steps grow closer. )

It sounds like there's a few on them on the way.

[gynvael]

The impermanence of death in this place is an odd thing. He's aware for Dean, it isn't unusual. For Geralt, it is. He's not ever known death to be anything but the end. She takes you by the hand and that's all. There are no other realms to speak of where souls go to continue their existence. People do not return.

Then this world came along.

Jo is not the only who he's aware met their fate. Julie was first to confess it to him a year ago. And more and more, he suspects something similar lies in his future years ahead. Something Ciri is reluctant to speak to him about and which he has learned not to ask.

What does it mean when grieving comes to an abrupt halt?

He falls silent again, conversations with him rarely extending past a scant few minutes. There are things he could say—about the nature of death, about the age he learned there are worse things that await and yet somehow the fear of death lingers strongest (because you can survive the worst; you can't survive death)—but he's said too much about himself as it is.

So he sits. Tries to think if there's another option instead of endless walking. They've tried going forward. What if they go down? Up?

[hextechhead]

I know, I just wanted to check on Rio. I worry about her when these weird things happen.

[ Jayce runs fingers through his hair, eyes scanning the woods. They don't really have forests in Piltover, not like this, parks at most. And while he's traveled outside of it, not extensively for years now. He would much prefer this to the desert, that much is true. ]

I know she's just a manifestation of Viktor's memories, so she can't stop existing really, but I am prone to irrational worry.

[ That is the conclusion he's come to about Rio who seems very real in their space. Very real and loving and visitors enjoy interacting with her. But she isn't real, she was created by Viktor, and so as long as she exists in his mind, she'll return. ]

I like it. It suits you.

[magicalarchaeologist]

Istredd was seeing his former mentor everywhere which was more annoying and angering than anything else. He isn't afraid of Stregobor but he does despise him, for many reasons. He was looking forward to dealing with mages without having him there to ruin everything. Istredd snapped at someone before he realized it was an illusion. It took him a few times before he stopped suspecting Stregobor was here fucking with him; as if he cared enough to bother. It's frustrating though.

That's ... interesting. Istredd frowns. What message is the Singularity sending to him? It has to be it. Nothing else would make sense. Maybe it's mad at him for some reason? To trap him in a labyrinth and vibrating his domain seems a little aggressive. He sighs and centers himself. "I'll have to go back in." Not an exciting prospect.

[thedevilwhorose]

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

That... Almost sounds like concern. Laughable, really. It's just logic. Istredd was already trapped in the Horizon for hours. It would be a fool's errand to try and go back in so soon.

He shifts, restless, maybe feeding off Istredd's own energy. His arms haven't stopped being folded, his hands pressed against his sides. No accidental movements from him.

"If you're dead set on it though, I'm going with you."

[lackingtalent]

Hythlodaeus. As we are now friends, I would ask of yours!

[There is no adverse reaction to the assumption of friendship, as fleeting as it is. Which, of course, is a plus! And even better, now the visitors' speech is more or less all understandable.

Should he be a perceptive sort, something at the back of Claude's mind may tell him that it is his own grasp over his own Horizon that has allowed him to do so. That this man(?) is still speaking his tongue- and that there may be yet more his Horizon can do.

And if there is any doubt:]

I could. Yet I think it would be a great shame should I accidentally step into the canal system, or cause damage to the wall or any of the buildings beyond it! The entirety of this space seems quite charming, so accident or no, I think there a better way.

...Speaking of which. This form is far easier for me to hold together than my usual vessel due to the fact it is quite a simple construct.

[No details, for instance. No hair, no eyes, no ears... no face. Although Claude may get the vague sense that the man(?) is smiling, he has no mouth to do so.]

If I had power here, I would use the vessel the world beyond the singularity rejoined to me. It is approximately your size, so I imagine any slips or trips on the way would be far less devastating.

[His voice turns playful.]

Or, if I had a newfound friend with influence here, of course.

[monomachy]

Diana rears back a bit as he listens to Nadine's explanation, shock obvious in her expression. Stories of the restless dead are not unknown to her, but they were always confined to Hades' realm; souls who could not pay for the ferry, or who had been doomed for some other reason always wandered the Underworld. But here, on the earth?

After a moment, she collects herself, and her brows draw together. "They are just... wandering around? Do they seem to be searching for anything?" It would make sense that they were trying to return to the Underworld--if this world has such a place. It's the only thing Diana can think of at the moment.

[righteously]

( She isn't the only one that's been having a bad time lately. His mood on a day-to-day basis is already starting to get precarious; that dream, that omen, has done nothing but exacerbate the symptoms he doesn't realize he's getting from the mark on his arm.

He came to the Horizon to do something meditative, too — in a manner of speaking. Bloodier, arguably less healthy, in a little secret section of woods far behind the roadhouse. What he stepped into here is decidedly not his recreation of purgatory.

It's walls. Stone. Corridors. The groaning of rock on rock. Screams he can distantly hear, or maybe it's the wind, or maybe it's an owl, or maybe it's something else. Who the hell knows.

The only reason he knows he's in the horizon is because of the blade in his hand. It's not the one he meant to summon, it's not possible for it to be here, but he can't bring himself to ditch it.

Probably a good thing, considering he rounds a corner and gets snaked in the face. Instinct brings him to swinging the blade up swiftly, neatly slicing off the head before teeth get too close to his face. It hits the stone floor and rolls a few feet. The body lands with a thump in front of him.

He looks from it to Ciri. )

Really?

( Bro. Come on. )

[cryptsleeper]

Well, thank you then. [Alucard finds no solace when he's right about these kinds of things. He can only make grim faces and wonder how long a matter might go on for.

He breathes out, slow and more than slightly exhausted by the entire affair. He hates this.]

In truth, I think I've given up theorizing about any of it. It's probably the singularity, and there's no rhyme or reason to that rock other than it is and it would like to express power in some novel and deeply annoying way. Have you managed anything more nuanced?