[ENTER THE PALACE]

[warpweft]

[You find yourself with a sensation like floating in water.]

[Above, the sky is dark. You can occasionally see things shifting, like gusts of wind, or perhaps waves of water. Is it…even a sky above you? Or is it some kind of giant ocean? Whatever it is, you can’t make it out very well. All around you, you appear to be floating in what appears to be water. It looks like a great, wide ocean of…space in every direction around you, with stars and lights twinkling in the distance. It looks like water and feels like water, but it doesn’t make you wet. You can reach your hand into it and pull some out, the purple and violet water and the tiny points of light inside it will even rest in your hands if you cup them to carry it, but once you’re not trying to hold it anymore, it’ll flow off of you, not a single drop remaining behind. You feel something similar if you go underneath the surface. The “water” doesn’t touch your eyes, mouth or nose when give the chance, it merely drifts around you, allowing you to breathe and see unabated. And you can see for a great distance, the twinkling stars illuminating the ocean of space all around you. Though perhaps less dark and empty, it feels every bit as vast as the sky above. You feel like you could swim forever and never reach the edge.]

[It’s quiet, here, with little noise around you but the starry ocean’s waves crashing back into its surface. It’s peaceful. In another situation, it might even be comfortable.]

Comments

THE DARK FOREST

[voidhearts]

[…..uh oh.]

[this feels familiar, and not in a good way.]

[Your feet touch the dirt ground and you see the cabins and you remember a sense of foreboding. That’s small, however, compared to when your eyes wander to the center of this small village and fall on…..the temple….]

[Your chest twitches in pain. Your breath might have gotten a bit quicker without you noticing it. If you focus on the fact that these feelings of fair and anxiety aren’t yours, you can keep them at bay. But if you let your guard down, that temple will start to feel like an obelisk that threatens to pull itself out of the ground and fall on top of you at any second. Just…try not to think about it.]

[Most of the cabins have their doors closed and will be inaccessible. But one cabin has its door slightly ajar.]
[All around the village is the forest, but behind one of the cabins in particular, there seems to be some noises coming from the trees.]
[There’s a small open area with a large wooden table out in the open. It looks like it’s a gathering area of some kind.]
[And besides that, there’s… … …the temple. The closer you get, the more those twitches in your chest start to hurt.]

@TSUMUGI

[voidhearts]

[Esmau cackles as she comes up behind you, having followed you.]

Oh my god, how stupid ARE you?! This is my home, you idiot, you thought you could run away from me here!

[She slams her glaive on the ground once.]

You just made this so much easier for me.

[And...yeah...as invincible as Esmau usually is, she seems even stronger right now in this forest. And worst, that tightness in your chest isn't getting any better. Did Shadow Nessa steer you wrong...?]

[cosplayed_out]

[...actually, yes. She's fully willing to believe that Shadow Nessa guided her to a place she could more easily be killed.]

Shadow Nessa, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!!

[deep breaths, her figure really isn't built for so much running]

Agnis!!! If you're really here, please come save me!!

[didn't she say something about the forest? She'll go there!]

/?

[voidhearts]

[Esmau closes in on Tsumugi when....something flies towards them from the direction of the forest, shooting past Tsumugi and striking Esmau in the stomach!

...or, at least trying to. Esmau manages to block the attack with her glaive at the last second, preventing him from getting blown clear into the trees. The force of the impact is still enough to knock Tsumugi off of her feet.]

[voidhearts]

FUCK -- YOU!

[Esmau tries to shove Agnis away.]

Are you EVERYWHERE or something?!

[She swings the glaive at Agnis. Agnis ducks it and throws a punch into Esmau's chin, uppercutting her. Esmau manages to stay on her feet, but looks kind of unsteady.]

[voidhearts]

I'm wherever I need to be to stop you, apparently.

You know how this ends. Leave.

[voidhearts]

... ... ...haaaaaaa.

[Esmau looks like she wants to keep fighting, but....she turns around.]

Enjoy it while you can, reject.

I think the wind's gonna start blowing against you soon.

[And Esmau retreats into the forest.]

done

[voidhearts]

... ...

[Agnis' shoulders slump. She coughs into her hands a couple times and then rubs her hand. It looks like she hurt it trying to punch Esmau's lights out.]

She's getting stronger...

[She lets out a breath and looks back towards Tsumugi.]

Are you okay?

[cosplayed_out]

Thank you so much...

[she's breathing and huffing, and realizing now how much her chest aches.]

I took some HP loss. It... hurt more than I thought. I'm just lucky someone taught me how to guard.

[a look to her.]

Um... to be sure, who exactly is that?

[voidhearts]

...

If you want to know who she is.

Our grandmother is in the Temple. You can ask her.

[cosplayed_out]

Okay.

Thank you for your help... I hope I can return the favor to you.

...Do you have any interest in cosplay? I could make you something.

[voidhearts]

Not really. I've only done it to support Nessa.

She likes this fashion that she says is Japanese, but it looks like old European to me. I don't really understand it. But I've done that with her a couple of times.

1/?

[cosplayed_out]

...

[cosplayed_out]

...

3/3

[cosplayed_out]

...I... was not informed.

Ehehe.

[voidhearts]

...

Is everything okay?

[cosplayed_out]

Oh, of course!

[Adjusts glasses, bright smile... the light that had completely died from her eyes returning.]

I'll go save Nessa. Um... Is it okay to rely on you again if I meet that woman?

Or is there some special trick that weakens her, like a mini-quest that knocks her power level down?

[voidhearts]

If there is, I wouldn't know. The best person to ask that would be that owl woman in the South Wing.

For now, just try to find me as soon as possible.

[cosplayed_out]

Thank you again, Agnis.

[she'll walk off toward the temple]

[voidhearts]

[The pain in your chest is getting worse.]

[The temple is one wide-open room, split by a large curtain in the middle. The side of the temple nearer to the door is the common area, where meals and gatherings are had. A couple wide wooden tables sit before a stone altar at the center of the room, in front of the curtain.]

[The altar where, at one time, the Voidheart rested.]

[There's a woman there, dressed in black robes. Long hair flows down her back - her hair is somehow both black and white. She's staring at the altar until she hears you come in. She turns her head towards you, and her eyes are just....black. Pure black.]

...

One of the intruders.

One of the children of Typhon, are you not?

[cosplayed_out]

[well, it matches her emotions. ;;]

I'm... I'm looking for the truth.

Reaching out to it, if you will.

[voidhearts]

The truth of what?

[cosplayed_out]

...Who's the evil woman who runs around cackling and trying to kill me?

And possibly Nessa?

[Tsumugi used direct question?]

[voidhearts]

My granddaughters.

Esmau is my disciple. Everything she does and did, she did for me. For our family. Even now, when reduced to a memory, she's dedicated herself solely to reclaiming our Heart from Nessa and Lyra, who stole it and used it to destroy their own family.

She attacks you because you came here to help Nessa perpetuate her betrayal. If you wish it to stop, leave.

[cosplayed_out]

Granddaughters? But isn't there only one of them?

Lyra is another sister?

...I'm feeling plain mad and hurt by Nessa at the moment, but I won't abandon her. She's a good person, if snarky.