[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

[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.

[voidhearts]

Lyra is my daughter. My worst daughter. My greatest failure.

If you continue trying to help her, it will end for you as it did for many others.

She survives at the cost of the lives of those that care for her. It's what she's done for her entire life. She'll do it to you eventually, as well.

[cosplayed_out]

Sorry, I guess I'm plain trying to get a view of the family tree. What is your name? Are you Lilith?

[voidhearts]

Yes. I am Lilith.

[cosplayed_out]

[She'll try to MindTaxi this out later.]

Why did you call me a child of Typhon? I'm just a cosplayer.

[voidhearts]

[She looks Tsumugi up and down. Which is extremely unsettling when her eyes are just voids.]

Why do you think you found yourself trapped on the edge of dream and reality? Where do you think the being inside you came from? Sprung from the ether, fully-formed?

You were chosen to be its host. To vanish. And leave your flesh for it to call its own. The God of Monsters needed a safe place for its child, and it chose you.

I was not speaking to you. I was speaking to the one that will be that body's true owner.

[cosplayed_out]

... That's an interesting truth. It may even be the real truth. But it's not my truth. Once a cosplayer, always a cosplayer.

[voidhearts]

You came here searching for truth. Now that you've found it, you deny it.

You're just like my daughter, Lyra. And Nessa.

1/?

[cosplayed_out]

Hm... it seems you're confused. How do I say this?

[cosplayed_out]

That might be the premise but it's not the truth.

[cosplayed_out]

We're all fictional characters. Created to be here for entertainment. It's what the world wants from us.