Apocalypse || Sen Riqeaux Castle

[eternitymods]

Who: The Heroes of Light
When: April 11th, 16:00
Where: Sen Riqeaux Castle
What: Bahamut's summoning has been determined to occur above the skies of Sen Riqeaux. An airship piloted by Biggs and Wedge will be picking up the Heroes of Light at the Curti Center before stopping by the major locations where other Heroes of Light are, finally taking them to Sen Riqeaux Castle. Multiple NPCs from the Curti Center are with the Heroes of Light for this expedition.
Warnings/Notes: The end of the world.

Comments

[defenestraighttomyheart]

Richard doesn't talk much whenever he's on a mission. Errant quips could get overheard and get Richard killed, after all. But he has his lance. He's ready. He's as ready as he ever was, terrified and vigilant. Compelled but not defeated.

He moves with a cat-like smoothness and silence, pausing every time he hears something like a bit of rubble clattering down. He looks like a paranoid dork. He is a paranoid dork. But it felt right to do, given the circumstances. He felt the faint electric hiss of his harness working, and the faint surge of power in his muscles as he primed his [Spirit Surge].

[strawberryredgrave]

"Y'know, Serge? I can't figure that out myself. I'm goin' out on a limb and guessing this is that ancient god of destruction I've heard about. Gotta say I'm disappointed either way; if this is the reason the empire's been closed off for so many years, then what a waste of time. Figures they'd be that patient."

The zora gives a shrug. "I'll give you this much, though: bringing us all here, including us locals? Really got me thinking...a lot. This other me I keep seeing? See, he makes a living dealing with threats like you and I've taken a real liking to his work ethic."

As Dante cracks his knuckles, he quickly shifts over to Chemist and keeps his gaze locked on her. "So how about you entertain me instead? Experience shows you can throw one Hell of a party."

[tiredcharmer]

"My guess is that it was a long con." Tyzias's blade is immediately in her hand. "Probably knew we were coming, so she made sure we didn't get suspicious and look into her. If we discovered her early, we could've fucked up the summoning. Now even if the eidolons help, she has a chance instead of being taken out before Bahamut could arrive and fuck shit up." She didn't know Rama as well as the others, but even she could tell something was off. The woman looked different in that weird Starlight incident, for one, and the impression she gave over Mognet was distinctly different from how she was talking now.

She uses [Deduction Cutter], studying the Empress but not going in for the attack. Not yet. "The linkshell. That was to spy on us," she says, voice flat and colder than the Territories. "I've done my homework. The Empire fell apart a decade ago from a terrorist attack, and you took absolute power in chaos. The bombings were on you, weren't they?" If she didn't admit it, Tyzias would be able to tell if Rama was lying thanks to her careful study of the Empress. She activates [Moonsetter Scales Stance] and [Sunslammer Gavel Technique] if she decides to bring the fight to them now.

[einspine]

This is... not what Papyrus expected. Is the Empress really the enemy? Is she really in favor of Bahamut? His teeth chatter as his eye sockets dart around the room... well, as well as a cartoonish skeletons eye sockets can, really.

"BUT WAIT! SURELY THERE'S BEEN A MISTAKE. A MISUNDERSTANDING! WE'VE ALL BEEN WORKING SO HARD TOGETHER. CAN'T WE WORK THIS OUT?"

The likely answer is no, they, can't. But he'll hope anyway. Hope as he contemplates what to do. He could use Blue Attack to stun, but what then? What if she has more to say?

[songbird_slayer]

She was foolish if she wasn't nervous about the correlation between odd eyes and enemy entities. But she had to remind herself of the whole violet thing. Still, as things began to line right up, Madhuri finally rose from her seat.

Tyzias had a good idea about her, but the others were itching to fight, weren't they...?

"Ladies and gentlemen, now would be the perfect time to restrain her..." A hissed mutter and a pointed nod. Always get the bad guy before or during the monologue, come on now...!

[chatwithdeath]

"Perhaps, but if you need some people to do the heavy lifting in preparations to your summoning, why not send heroes on a goose chase?"

This was not an unfamiliar situation to Naomi. Couldn't really trust royalty where she ended up, couldn't trust gods, and she could only rely on herself. Still, she'd rather not have to build a web around the building right now until they got their answers; they had a target coming in from the sky with another before them.

... Restraint was more something in her line of work. "One moment..."

[bladeofconquest]

Corrin likewise readies herself. She has no special abilities she can prime with Nohr Noble, but she's in the front of the group, ready to protect her allies, Shadow Yato at the ready.

"Everyone who has died to this madness...has died because of you." And her tone is ice-cold, devoid of the usual warmth and kindness she usually speaks with. "You betrayed your world, your own country...for what? What in the name of the Gods and sanity was any of this for?"

[eternitynpc]

"I already gave you the solution, Finn. You awake the four Legendary Eidolons and then you summon them. I believe you did the first step. So all you need now are four Summoners with the Supreme Skill—" A pause, eyes widening as she feigns surprise. "Oh, right, you have none..."

She smiled at Tyzias and Corrin.

"Of course it was on me. Fear controls our lives. When you manipulate the fear in people's hearts, you can get them to accept anything."

She looked at all of them as they asked those questions, before closing her eyes.

"Let me regale you with a tale. The tale of this world's birth."

She started walking amongst the Heroes, going near Kuja and Naomi first.

"There was once a woman named Kalki. You know her as the Goddess of Death. She was faced with a conundrum. She hated living. Life was, ah, painful to her. But more than that, she was afraid of death. How can one exist when they hate life and fear death? Such an existence is nothing but miserable. Thus she sought to make a new world. One where neither death nor life would exist. One where the very concept of existence as we know it would be revoked and changed."

She then stopped next to Vimes.

"This was made possible by her world of birth, Crystallis and by the monstrosity plaguing it, the Calamity from the Skies: Narayana. An entity born from Crystallis's sins, made from the fragments of dead worlds, made from the broken souls of those who had once lived. Narayana was neither alive nor dead, and in an attempt to become whole again, devoured worlds. Thus, Kalki sought to become one with the Calamity. Her goal was to absorb all existence inside her, and recreate the world as she envisioned it."

Taking a few steps forward, she looked down at Frisk.

"She would have succeeded, if not for those called Heroes of Light. Your predecessors. Once useful pawns, they became her very demise. Following her death, the Heroes of Light tried to heal Narayana. And thus from the Calamity, a new world was born. A world where all the broken souls making up the Calamity could find peace and heal. This world is Vaikuntha. And all who died were reborn. Why, Kalki too."

Finally she stopped by Richard and smiled sadly at him.

"Even though she never wanted it. Even though she never desired it. Her burden was to live once more, to fear death again. And not just once, oh no. The cycle of reincarnation is eternal. How many times has she been reborn on this world? She has lost count. How lucky you are, not to remember all your lives..."

She looked at Dante when saying those words before going back to her original position.

"But there was something else... Something that is still here. Is it sorrow? Sadness? Anger? I am not sure. Vengeance, perhaps... Or could it be envy? Perhaps this is why I did it all this way. So I would see by myself your faces crumble in despair as you realize there is nothing you can do. Perhaps I gave you hope I would see that last flicker of hope be crushed by myself. So I would see you suffer just as much as I have."


[ Please reply to this thread to go forward with the main event. ]

[pishirogane]

Naoto glanced sideways at the interaction going on, but still looked up at the sky.

"Interesting story, still selfish. Waiting for a better reason."

Just like the Cloud before, Naoto didn't care. Fact was true, she didn't have Supreme Summoning, but there had to be something she could still do with what ability she had - buy the group time to deal with this.

[hatejakku]

Gave them hope just to watch them crumble? Finn didn't entirely believe that, thinking there must be something more beneath it all. Then again, she did seem the type. Sort of reminding him of Hux a little.

Finn's Aim stayed trained on her, ignoring the calls for restraint. It was too late to stop her now, and with this confession-

"I think I know one Summoner with the Supreme Skill, Kalki." He adjusted the grip on his gun, getting ready to at least buy them more time. "How about you summon Pheonix or someone for us and, in return, we'll make sure you stay dead this time? Otherwise, we'll kill you now, stop Bahamut anyway, and be right back here later."

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias shrugs. Now this? This was a good opportunity to get some shit off her chest. And even she knew that villains always let the heroes monologue back if they were given the chance. Hopefully she'd give the others more time to prepare for... whatever's coming next.

"That scans." She pauses, rubbing the back of her neck. "I had somebody just like you on my home world. The Condesce. Massive bitch. She loved fucking with everybody just for the sake of messing with us, of seeing us suffer. She had a justification too. Conquering the galaxy for all of trollkind.

"Except that's bullshit. Just like all the crap that just spewed out of your mouth.

"You don't care about the suffering of everybody. You don't care about this pseudo-philsophical fuckery about life and death. No. You just like inflicting the same pain, the same emptiness deep inside you on everybody else. You're just like that.

"And like I said before. This stops today. Right here, right now." Tyzias points her sword at Rama, but she's putting most of her attention on the edges of perception, up at the sky. They were all fucked if Bahamut came down along with whatever Kalki had in store for them.

[eternitynpc]

[ Please reply here with your sub-thread if you want to address the Empress personally or ask her about a topic that doesn't advance the plot of the main thread. ]

[bladeofconquest]

Corrin stares in horror as Rama speaks of her plan. Her mad, mad plan. And she no longer sees the Empress standing before her.

She sees her father.

Not physically, of course, but the same all-consuming madness, the same drive to destroy for the sake of destruction, to cause pain and suffering simply because she was capable of doing so. For her own sake and her own sake alone. Rama, Kalki, whoever this woman truly is is, could use King Garon as a mirror.

"That's all this was? The pay-off to some sick joke?" Now she sounds enraged. "Helping us, bringing us here just so you could see the look on our faces? You're insane!"

[eternitynpc]

"Perhaps I am insane."

She smiled at Corrin, tilting her head to the side. If anything, Corrin's anger seemed to amuse her.

"If I hadn't told you anything... Well, today you'd be sitting in the Curti Center, wondering why the sky is so dark. But it's so very boring, don't you think?" She paused. "It was far more entertaining seeing you running around, desperately looking for a solution."

[bladeofconquest]

Corrin's grip tightens on her sword. "For something so entertaining, you're the only one laughing, Ramaa. You're just like my father. ...No, that's not right. My father was killed and hollowed out by something malevolent, evil, and insane. The real King Garon would never have wanted or allowed the acts that the thing that replaced him carried out in his name. You're not the same as my father, you're the thing that killed him."

She points her sword towards Ramaa. "But I killed that creature with this sword to save my homes, both of them, so don't think for one second that I won't hesitate to do the same to you to save this world and every other one too."

[chatwithdeath]

"..."

Why the hesitance in her word?

She sighed. Perhaps it was a fool's question to ask, but since everyone else was prepared for murder, she supposed she might as well.

"... Any particular reason that made life painful as you put it?"

It wasn't strange to hit a rock bottom, but to be born despising it entirely - a cycle of reincarnation issue, maybe, or something else incurable...

[eternitynpc]

Ramaa stared at Naomi, her features shifting for a second. She no longer looked amused or completely insane, instead serious and even sad. It was like looking at an actor dropping their act as they left the stage. The smile was quick to creep back up on her face though.

"Too many reasons for me to list, none that would make for an interesting story."

She rose an eyebrows.

"We are a sad lot, aren't we? It takes so little to break us."

[chatwithdeath]

"It might. You never know until you talk about it."

And it was weird she wanted to go around it, but this was overall weird in the first place.

Crossing her arms, Naomi shrugged.

"Perhaps, but how one decides to deal with it tends to be the difference."

[tiredcharmer]

As the others continue to monologue at Ramaa, a thought strikes Tyzias. Something from her research into all the files and info on the Heroes linkshell tugs at the back of her mind.

"Hold on just one fuckin' second." Tyzias looks worried. "Back on Crystallis. Kalki merged her essence with Bahamut or something, right?"

[eternitynpc]

"What does it matter to you?"

She rose an eyebrow, feigning concern.

"Whatever the answer is, it's not going to save you my dear."

[boomchucka]

"Why?"

Truthfully speaking, Selphie isn't sure what else to ask at the moment. She doesn't understand why it has to happen like this all over again. There has to be another way to resolve everything without having to destroy the world.

"I was there," she continues. "I saw everything. I'm one of those heroes that you're talking about from the very beginning. So tell me why? Why do we have to do this again? I watched as four people gave up everything to save everyone."

Selphie's head bobs down as her bangs mask her eyes from view. It isn't hard to comprehend Ramaa's reasonings for why, but it doesn't make any sense when thought about. As the SeeD's hands wrap tightly around her staff, her head snaps up to focus wide eyes on the Empress before she shakes her head in disbelief.

"Why do our sacrifices have to mean so little?" she asks in a voice laced with bitterness as thoughts of her friends came to mind.

[eternitynpc]

"It hurts, doesn't it? The realization that everything you've done — Everything you will ever do — Means absolutely nothing."

A smile.

"Dear Selphie, life, existence, has no meaning. Your sacrifice, therefore, has none as well."

[boomchucka]

Those are words that she's heard before. Not from Ramaa/Kalki, but from another who wanted to wipe everything from existence. A person so vile that even if she were to lose all of her memories, that is one person that she'd never forget.

Ultimecia.

Regardless of the hurt that Selphie's feeling, the crisis that she's desperately trying to fight back, she's violently aware of one simple fact. It's a truth so vital that the SeeD is able to fight back enough to regard the "Empress" with a sad look.

"Yeah, it hurts more than anything but at the same time," the sad look gives way to a determined face, "you're so incredibly wrong."

[singerofspells]

"It is a story that has played out in variations with every species, on every world," S'reee said. "One the wizards of my sheaf of worlds have interacted with. But, did you have to involve everyone else of this world? What gave you the desire to make the choice for everyone here?"

[eternitynpc]

"The choice is shared, dear. Have you not seen how quick the people of this world are to throw their lives away? Chaos and death took them within a moment. It's not just my choice. They also willed it."