Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"Your hometown's seen better days, I take it? What are you hoping to use the money for there?"


Emerald slinks back into the Archives, something between confused and irritated as she leaves the door ajar.

 

"Just to improve the village, buy supplies to last us longer and reinforce our defences against humans." Tiril explains.


A short while later, there's a knock on Emerald's door.

 

"I thought you said there wasn't much human activity nearby?" Ihra asks, a bit confused.


"Come in." She calls.

 

"Well...yes, until they discover us. We keep our land as pure as possible, which seems to drive humans to corrupt it as much as possible. It doesn't happen often, but we have to be prepared for humans launching an attack on us." Tiril explains.


Stephanie steps into Emerald's archives, dressed casually with a tome at her side.

"Hey." Stephanie says positively, trying to start a conversation.

 

"They probably already know about you, the humans seem more bent on fighting guardians that fight back before just sort of... bowling over a random village. At least, that's what it seemed like when I was fighting them a while back."


Stephanie is greeted by a segment of a long emerald serpentine body resting between two aisles.
"Long time no see. How've you been?" Emerald asks, sounding still a fair distance away.

 

"They'd probably prioritise those of us that fight back but...they're always looking for room to expand when they're already so unbalanced with the rest of the world. They've been told about this many years ago yet they didn't stop. Now they just take what they want with force," Tiril says, sighing, "We have to fight back, else they'll just kill us."


"I've been good! Praecantatia has been teaching me about how to use my abilities, and it's been really fulfilling to connect with my real mother," Stephanie explains happily, "She actually sent me here. She wanted me to find out what the next step in weakening the Hive Master is. Temporus said if we didn't do something soon, we'd hit a point of no return."

 

"I... think I might have a bit of spare change I could send to your hometown? I dunno where it is, but I'm pretty sure I was paid a couple times here."


Emerald's head is no longer that of a draconian but of a fairly large wyrm.
"I went on a bit of a pilgrimage. I traded a fair bit of convenience for what I have now, and I hope it'll be enough to turn things around. Especially with your reality, Tenebrae seems pretty certain we're going to turn on her for some reason. Why is beyond me, especially since she's not keen on talking to anyone from here right now."

 

"R-Really? I-I shouldn't accept, it wouldn't be right..." Tiril says, though still a little worried about what surrounds him.


Stephanie doesn't seem intimidated at all, more curious as she flips through her tome, glancing down when she can.

"Really? She seemed concerned for the safety of our reality as much as the other gods are, but not paranoid about being betrayed. I think Temporus is the one most worried about people attacking our reality." Stephanie explains, pausing to look down at her tome before flipping past the page.

 

“I haven’t touched it at all, it may as well be put to some use.” Ihra insists.


“That’s not my primary concern. Xlentia seems to be missing a chunk of her body, so apparently Kiin died. I don’t know who killed her, but Xlentia’s pretty beat up trying to get to Earth for a rampage. Not gonna lie, it makes it look like your gods are turning against us, but we can’t dwell on that. I don’t want to, but if I needed to, me cutting off the rift harms Caelia far more than it does Xlentia and if that’s a move I need to make to stay focused against the Hive Master then it’s a move I will make.”

 

Tiril seems to think hard about accepting the money over working for it, though ends up getting caught off guard as he almost stumbles into a Shadow; jumping back in fear.


"Temporus and Caelia said if the rift isn't closed properly, the worst case scenario is that more open to your reality and others and everything starts spilling through. Like a water bag with holes getting squeezed down." Stephanie says, summoning an orb of water and poking holes in it. The water orb compresses, spilling out streams of water as it's reduced.

"The best case scenario is that Temporus and Caelia barely survive getting erased from existence, and it'd probably re-open the rift or make our reality unstable and prone to opening ones if it gets too unbalanced," Stephanie explains, looking like the weight of the information she probably shouldn't know is getting to her, "Is there anything we can do to help Xlentia?"

 

Ihra tries to keep him from falling.


“I don’t know, we’ve never lost a fragment in another reality without their soul being returned to Xlentia immediately. Mortius may be able to do something to fix her miserable state, but that won’t change her wanting to find whoever killed Kiin and stomping them into dust.” Emerald says. “Though you are correct about the effects of severing the rift, new rifts would open in new locations. If you’re unlucky, that means giving the Hive Master front-door access, so let’s stop talking about tension and start talking about fighting the goddamn obvious common foe - sound good?”

 

Tiril manages to keep his balance, though with assistance from Ihra.

"I...suppose accepting it would m-mean I don't have to s-stay here for much longer..." Tiril says.


Stephanie nods, mood lightening up.

"It's what I came to you specifically to find out. Praecantatia admires your ability to collect so much information." Stephanie says, reading through her tome, having found the right page. Despite it looking somewhat thicker than before, Stephanie seems to be able to hold it a lot easier.

 

“You can still work here, I just feel like it’d help your town more than me. By a lot.”


“I’d love to have half of what Praecantatia has, but that’s just a me thing. Are the others coming anytime soon, or should I find you an escort to get out on the field with?” She asks. “Also, why exactly wait until I returned? I’m not mad, just curious.”

 

"I-I suppose the donation would be much appreciated. B-Besides, I don't even have the job yet." Tiril says, laughing nervously.


"Praecantatia sent me here on my own, so I'm not sure," Stephanie says, "It was planned that I'd come here to gather information on what we can do a meeting ago. It just seemed like good timing now since you returned and might have some additional knowledge."

 

“I could still help you get the job...”


“I’m out of the loop, so I’m not going to be too much help right off the bat. Depending on how outdated this information is, I can point you in two different directions. A sting operation in Atavul’s domain should free Chroma from his grasp, giving you access to the Crystal Fleet you had access to until Kiin died. Alternatively, Idhaenna apparently busted down the glacial barrier protecting O’rogal’s domain, so you could go see what you can get out of the remains of her army’s wake. I’m still working on getting back in touch with our own fronts, so I can’t say much regarding them yet.”

 

"Y-You'd really do that f-for me?" Tiril asks, surprised at Ihra's kindness.


"Atavul sounds good. Chroma would be a valuable source of information," Stephanie says happily, "Is there a portal to his domain?"

 

“You sound like you’ve been through hell and back, it’s the least I could do.” She says, giving Tiril a gentle smile.


“It’s not smart to open one here, but there’s already a residual link in Gaia’s domain. Just remember Chroma’s been through a lot and has already been slapped upside the head for asking for aid on Earth, in all likelihood you’ll face a bit of resistance from him as well.”

 

"I-It was a p-pretty terrifying and d-dangerous trip here..." Tiril says, smiling back.


Stephanie nods, "Thanks." she says, appreciative.

Stephanie turns to leave and head to the portal room.

 

"So, I'm guessing you'd be looking at a gardening job?"


"Could you see if you can get Mortius to relinquish possession of Kiin's soul on your way? I think Xlentia would be a lot calmer if she could feel pain."

 

Tiril nods, "I-I heard the king pays well to keep his gardens tended to." he says.


"Well, if you could get a sacrifice I could probably try to summon him here." Stephanie says, with an oddly serious tone for what sounds like a joke.