成歩堂 龍ノ介 (Ryūnosuke Naruhodō) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
locumstudentesquire) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
aionchat2022-05-30 12:58 pm
locumstudentesquire) wrote in aionchat2022-05-30 12:58 pm
Entry tags:
Pleroma: Memory/Voice
[OOC: this goes out to all Pleroma, a couple of hours after the vision in the skies over Venera mentioned in the wrap up post for Event 3 comes and goes.]
[There's a chance that Ryunosuke's voice may be familiar to you, even if you haven't spoken to him at length. If you attended the mingle party in Greentruth or were present at the Lodestone when the new arrivals started filtering in at the start of the month, there's a decent chance he has at least introduced himself to you. In any case, he identifies himself again now.]
Um... This is Naruhodo speaking. I hope you all can hear me... I. I'm afraid I have some bad news to share.
[There's a pause before he continues; this is obviously pretty difficult for him to relay. Champion legacy Pleroma in particular will get a strong sense of his feelings throughout this message, from his anger and grief to his overwhelming sense of helplessness and guilt. He's trying very hard to reign in his emotions, but this is clearly something he is feeling a Lot of Things about.]
Some hours ago, Ser Estinien Wyrmblood was... Struck down, by one of the Kenoma. I'm told there is a chance he may be revived; his shard was unharmed in the attack and was retrieved by one of our own, and is being attended to now.
...I wish that was all there was to say, but. His... destruction... It triggered something that I think we should all be made aware of. The violence deeply disturbed an entity who we believe to be the thing responsible for the contagion we've been investigating. It appeared before several of us who were present at the time and... Frankly, I don't know what it did to the Kenoma responsible, but it seemed to strike him down in retaliation. Ah... It may be easier if I just show you.
[Images come through the connection now, shown through what is presumably Ryunosuke's own point of view. There's no sound included with this memory, like he was too overwhelmed by what he was seeing at the time to register the noises around him, but it starts with a view of the sky above Venera: a difficult to perceive mass of wings, a creature that somehow manages to appear to be both impossibly high above the buildings and far, far too close to the Aions for comfort.
The "camera" shifts down then, over to the Kenoma known as "M"-- though he may be difficult to identify, given the way the contagion has ravaged him. He seems to be shouting defiantly at the entity, face turned upwards, while two of his comrades, Kaeya and Eustace, stand nearby. A third Kenoma, Luo Binghe, can be seen watching from further away, lurking in the near distance. Ryu's focus isn't on them, though; it's on M. One moment he's shouting, then the next, there's a blinding flash of light from the sky. When it clears, M has collapsed to the ground; dead or unconscious, it's not immediately clear.
The image goes hazy, and transitions to what is presumably a few minutes later. The angle has changed, the POV far lower, as if Ryunosuke was flat on the ground at the time. He's now looking at Abel Nightroad, who holds Estinien's shard in his hands. But it's not really just him standing there. There is a mass of angelic wings visible behind him, and most terrifying of all, a pair of ghostly arms that appear to be reaching through him to try and hold Estinien's shard. Himeka Sui and Alphinaud Leveilleur run into frame, one after the other, to place their hands on the shard as well. They both appear to be speaking to the entity, but Ryunosuke has opted not to include their words out of respect for their privacy.
Sound only comes in after that: What is apparently the voice of the entity, addressing the lot of them.]
"Keep your promise... Your word... Live this truth... Or when my time comes again... I will reign... Reign eternal... I will see it done."
[Ryunosuke's vision jolts; something has appeared on one of his hands, which he lifts to investigate. A faintly glowing mark has appeared there, which those well informed about the Legacies may recognize as the mark of the Innocent. When he looks up again, the entity is vanishing, leaving the group of Pleroma behind to look on in awe.
The image stops. Ryunosuke's voice comes back in; he sounds exhausted from having to relive all of that.]
If you have questions-- as I'm sure you do, I certainly would-- I can do my best to answer them.
And... Hopefully I still have some of your attention, there's one other thing I need to say that's very important. Yuya Sakaki, he... Seems to have succumbed, to the illness. Turned completely to stone. I don't even know if he can still be saved. I hope he can. I wanted to help him, to gather assistance to see if we could cure him but-- I wound up afflicted for a time as well. And then all that happened, and now... Now I'm not even in Venera anymore. Please, if you can... See if you can help him. He should be easy to find. He's certainly not going anywhere.
[One last image comes through: the area where one may find Yuya's petrified form. He can only hope someone will recognize it and go to investigate.]
[There's a chance that Ryunosuke's voice may be familiar to you, even if you haven't spoken to him at length. If you attended the mingle party in Greentruth or were present at the Lodestone when the new arrivals started filtering in at the start of the month, there's a decent chance he has at least introduced himself to you. In any case, he identifies himself again now.]
Um... This is Naruhodo speaking. I hope you all can hear me... I. I'm afraid I have some bad news to share.
[There's a pause before he continues; this is obviously pretty difficult for him to relay. Champion legacy Pleroma in particular will get a strong sense of his feelings throughout this message, from his anger and grief to his overwhelming sense of helplessness and guilt. He's trying very hard to reign in his emotions, but this is clearly something he is feeling a Lot of Things about.]
Some hours ago, Ser Estinien Wyrmblood was... Struck down, by one of the Kenoma. I'm told there is a chance he may be revived; his shard was unharmed in the attack and was retrieved by one of our own, and is being attended to now.
...I wish that was all there was to say, but. His... destruction... It triggered something that I think we should all be made aware of. The violence deeply disturbed an entity who we believe to be the thing responsible for the contagion we've been investigating. It appeared before several of us who were present at the time and... Frankly, I don't know what it did to the Kenoma responsible, but it seemed to strike him down in retaliation. Ah... It may be easier if I just show you.
[Images come through the connection now, shown through what is presumably Ryunosuke's own point of view. There's no sound included with this memory, like he was too overwhelmed by what he was seeing at the time to register the noises around him, but it starts with a view of the sky above Venera: a difficult to perceive mass of wings, a creature that somehow manages to appear to be both impossibly high above the buildings and far, far too close to the Aions for comfort.
The "camera" shifts down then, over to the Kenoma known as "M"-- though he may be difficult to identify, given the way the contagion has ravaged him. He seems to be shouting defiantly at the entity, face turned upwards, while two of his comrades, Kaeya and Eustace, stand nearby. A third Kenoma, Luo Binghe, can be seen watching from further away, lurking in the near distance. Ryu's focus isn't on them, though; it's on M. One moment he's shouting, then the next, there's a blinding flash of light from the sky. When it clears, M has collapsed to the ground; dead or unconscious, it's not immediately clear.
The image goes hazy, and transitions to what is presumably a few minutes later. The angle has changed, the POV far lower, as if Ryunosuke was flat on the ground at the time. He's now looking at Abel Nightroad, who holds Estinien's shard in his hands. But it's not really just him standing there. There is a mass of angelic wings visible behind him, and most terrifying of all, a pair of ghostly arms that appear to be reaching through him to try and hold Estinien's shard. Himeka Sui and Alphinaud Leveilleur run into frame, one after the other, to place their hands on the shard as well. They both appear to be speaking to the entity, but Ryunosuke has opted not to include their words out of respect for their privacy.
Sound only comes in after that: What is apparently the voice of the entity, addressing the lot of them.]
"Keep your promise... Your word... Live this truth... Or when my time comes again... I will reign... Reign eternal... I will see it done."
[Ryunosuke's vision jolts; something has appeared on one of his hands, which he lifts to investigate. A faintly glowing mark has appeared there, which those well informed about the Legacies may recognize as the mark of the Innocent. When he looks up again, the entity is vanishing, leaving the group of Pleroma behind to look on in awe.
The image stops. Ryunosuke's voice comes back in; he sounds exhausted from having to relive all of that.]
If you have questions-- as I'm sure you do, I certainly would-- I can do my best to answer them.
And... Hopefully I still have some of your attention, there's one other thing I need to say that's very important. Yuya Sakaki, he... Seems to have succumbed, to the illness. Turned completely to stone. I don't even know if he can still be saved. I hope he can. I wanted to help him, to gather assistance to see if we could cure him but-- I wound up afflicted for a time as well. And then all that happened, and now... Now I'm not even in Venera anymore. Please, if you can... See if you can help him. He should be easy to find. He's certainly not going anywhere.
[One last image comes through: the area where one may find Yuya's petrified form. He can only hope someone will recognize it and go to investigate.]
no subject
[That's... Startling information.]
I'm... Not sure about Ser Estinien, you would do best to reach out to Ms. Himeka regarding that. Though she may be difficult to contact; she went along to the shrine of the Firebrand to try and revive him.
Can you tell me more about those creatures you mentioned?
no subject
[He'll have to hope for the best. But given everything that's happened in their own world, he's confident if anyone could revive Estinien, it'll be Himeka.
But as for the entity...]
Aye, I do. They're called primals.
The easiest way to explain them would be "gods created by people". They tend to be incomprehensibly powerful, and have the ability to bend those who don't have a natural shield against their aether being corrupted to their will. It's called "tempering", and until incredibly recently it was a fate worse than death.
Himeka is one of the few that could kill one without that risk, but I've no idea if the Blessing of Light protects her here.
It doesn't explain how I was able to have that corruption expelled from me, however. I have no such protection.
no subject
After a moment he says, somewhat apologetically: ]
Cid... The more I hear about your world, the more grateful I become that my own world was so devoid of such magic.
[ It's meant to be a joke; an ironic one at that, considering THIS world seems to be full of EXACTLY that kind of magic. ]
On the other hand, you seem far better prepared to deal with these matters than I am... I do wonder if this entity was manufactured by people... But how would one even tell?
no subject
There's no cheer on his end, but no sign he's offended or anything like that.]
For the ones created by people, they were summoned with a technique that came about to exploit extreme religious devotion. The result is a god that actively seeks to enslave people. When we first found the cure, I remember hearing something about it being used on a priest who had first summoned his god some time ago, only for him to realize he'd been slaughtering his own people to fuel the further summonings.
Given how different this world is from mine, it would like be completely different. The people of Greentruth have made it clear they see us as gods, after all.
Mayhap it's some sort of entity that came about because the moon is associated with Innocence? The citizens of Venera prayed for salvation, and summoned that.
no subject
That would make some sense... The illness was said to have peaked around the full moon, after all... Though I'm not sure how that accounts for the affliction being present in the other cities.
no subject
[In this context, he means "month" when he says "moon", though since the former isn't a word he's familiar with he doesn't use it.]
It doesn't explain how it would be able to spread so far, but mayhap it isn't, strictly speaking, a natural illness.
no subject
[That it wasn't a natural disease, he means.]
Cid... You've been in Horos for a few moons now, haven't you? Do you recall hearing of anything strange like this happening previously? Odd, magical effects related to the representative Legacies?
no subject
But given each moon is associated with a Legacy, it seems more likely to be the former.
no subject
Several of the Venerans I spoke to did their level best to explain the local religion to me... The sense that I got from them was that the Legacies weren't necessarily specific... Individuals, so much as. Abstract forces?
[He thinks that's the phrasing they used, from what he can recall.]
The creature we encountered being a literal deity would seem to contradict that, but... Then again, I suppose it's in the nature of a god to be somewhat unknowable, isn't it? So... Guh. Maybe the locals were simply... Wrong?
no subject
[Hm, how to put it...]
We Garleans have no religion of our own, so I'm by no means an expert on such a thing. But the other races do have them. When someone summons a primal, though it may be born from a plea to their god for help, they are not summoning their god to the physical world. They're summoning a corrupted version of the idea of their god, one that instead of offering salvation, demands sacrifices of aether– life forces, if you will.
I suspect that might be closer to what you encountered.
no subject
[He's so tired. This shit is so WAY beyond his pay grade.]
It didn't seem to want sacrifices, though... If anything it seemed like it was attempting to help people, albeit in a very misguided manner...
no subject
It’s not a primal, so I’d be surprised if it acted the same.
It was, however, more than willing to snuff out the wills of those who fought it. I’m lucky I didn’t end up like Estinien.
no subject
[.......
...Until Makoto knocked Estinien's head off his shoulders.]
A-anyway... I suppose there's much to consider. Perhaps the older Aion back in Greentruth might have some insight she can provide... The disease was unprecedented, but perhaps the appearance of this sort of entity is not.
no subject
[Though if she doesn’t know, that’s telling in its own alarming way.]
no subject
[He COULD try communing with her directly from here... For all he knows, she might even be hearing and seeing this message; he did send it to ALL of the Pleroma Aions, after all. But if she is seeing it, she hasn't chimed in yet. Which is fine... The conversation he's thinking of having with her, he's too goddamn tired to hold right now anyway.]
no subject
[After all, the Pleroma are very much the ones struggling. There's bound to be a lot on her mind.]
no subject