Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

Abigail flies up for a while, before angling herself to fly away; though she tries to keep track of where the portal is.

"I think there might be something wrong with Ihra." Stephanie comments.

"You think!?" Abigail responds, glancing behind her as she readies another stick of dynamite.

 

Ihra doesn't reappear, though she does join Abigail and Stephanie's telepathic channel.
"I owe you so much for keeping me alive so far, but I'm not letting you change your mind and turn against me now. You've killed Rineth, you've sealed Xlentia, you've betrayed an entire civilization, you've opened four rifts, and what do you do in return? Demand respect and fealty. I thought you and your gods were people I could trust; as of late, time and time again you've proven me wrong. Stop playing these sick games, you're only turning into the villain you claim to want to destroy." She says, hurt. "I don't want to hurt you, but you're coming close to forcing my hand. Don't keep hurting me and my friends - I'm not gonna lay down and take it anymore. I can't."

 

"What?" Abigail asks, confused.

"We're not turning against you. I was calling Abigail back so we could make a better plan of action to attack Atavul's palace. Mu- Praecantatia has only been looking to help your reality the same as us, as well as the other gods. Apparently Tenebrae was looking after Rineth now to keep him safe." Stephanie explains.

"If anything, you're acting like the villain when you bust in and lock the only exit behind you, and then start acting like some police warden arresting me for skateboarding around some old human city." Abigail responds.

"Mum, can you check if Ihra's being mind controlled through this?" Stephanie says, sounding like she's stepped away from a mic.

 

"I'll let you go, but I want two things from you. One - bring the entire group back, I miss Artemis. Two, I want an explanation. Your gods are mad at ours for, what, getting killed at your gods' hands? For gods who obsess over the safety of the rift, sealing Xlentia is far more childish than she's ever been." She says, the barrier dissolving.
"And no - I'm not mind controlled. I'm pissed because your mother mind controlled Emerald and then threw her in hell. If you think I'm not rightfully pissed about harm coming to my friends, then I suppose I can't count you among them. I don't want to hear 'it was an accident,' I don't want to hear 'we were trying to put up a facade.' Start being honest with us."

 

"Artemis was just here. You snooze you lose." Abigail says offhandedly, gliding down to the portal.

"Praecantatia didn't mind control Emerald though. Something happened to make her get mind controlled, and then she tried to hurt me and Artemis...and Aj. I could barely survive going through the rift to tell Praecantatia we were trapped in by her, and she got Mortius to take her to hell to break the mind control." Stephanie explains.

"I thought I was the one who had issues with her anger." Abigail comments smugly.

 

"Something like a protective ward on Xlentia to shift any suggested mind control onto Emerald as not to lose Xlentia again?" Ihra asks. "None of you bothered reaching out to me, Xlentia, Idhaenna, Rose, literally any of us. Hell, even Iris could've done something about it."
"None of them like me, though." Iris interjects.
"I don't even like you!" Ihra responds, exasperated. "And you're literally me!"
"Stop getting off track."
"...Right. I understand you wanting to protect your reality, but from my perspective? Tenebrae pretending to kill those who have helped me come this far, Emerald becoming a drone, rifts being torn open and Xlentia attacked in response, Mortius not noticing a piece of a high god's soul floating around? If you think that's funny, then boy do I have news for you!"

 

"Xlentia was never attacked. We sought to protect her, what are you going on about?" Stephanie asks, confused.

Abigail heads back through the portal, heading toward the rift.

 

"Lux and Tenebrae went to her chambers and brought harm to both her and me with no interest in listening to anything we said. I'd say that counts as being attacked." Ihra reminds. "If you mean the more recent event, I thought Gaia would only ever nurture life - yet in her fit she threw a heavy bag of gold at Xlentia's face, crushing her skull and sealing her. Lady Gaia was the only person other than Emerald who Xlentia ever called a friend, and she was the one who sealed her!"

 

"I doubt that." Abigail denies.

"I doubt she did that intentionally. Have you tried speaking to her about it? You're one of the few people that's freely able to communicate with her, since she considers you a friend." Stephanie says.

 

"I want to believe that none of this was intentional, but I don't know what's a facade and what's really your intent anymore!"

 

"Then go speak with Gaia and she'll prove she didn't kill Xlentia!" Abigail says, not letting Stephanie respond.

 

"Actions clearly speak louder than words, and I'm not a fan of an explosive thrown at my face." Ihra growls, silencing Abigail.

 

"The same could be said for you, Ihra." Stephanie responds.

 

"Pardon me for caring about my friends." She scoffs, leaving the link.

 

Abigail ends up returning to Praecantatia's islands, a new plan being made.

A long while later, Artemis steps through the rift into the void palace, looking around. She seems to be alone, her wooden armour and mask covering most of her body with her bow and quiver secured on her back.

Artemis quietly walks to the portal room, initially heading through Gaia's portal.

 

Ihra sits on a nearby rock, talking with Rose. Iris idly dozes on her staff between the duo and the portal.
"Look, they're still trying. I don't know why they've done what they have either, but they're at least trying to fix what they've broken." Rose says
"I just... do they even think before they do something? We've tried to warn them about things, and they just ignore us!"
"There's only so much we can do. You know we can't save everyone."
Ihra growls, but nods.
"I just hate that it feels like I'm the only one who tries."
"You're the only one who even could."

Pause.
"Emerald only had one ward checking for magic that matched what the Hive Master used, right?"
"Yes. A duplicate ward would have only further exaggerated the effect on Emerald."
"I'll go check the magic on the armor. If I can figure out what Praecantatia did, then maybe I can figure out a way to ward the Hive Master's influence without chancing it on the battlefield."
"Stay wary. If they try to save face, then they'll likely turn again."
"Righ-" Ihra starts as she gets up to go back into the void palace.
She looks at Artemis' soul to make sure it's actually Artemis.
"Well, it looks like they finally took you seriously." Rose comments.

 

It's definitely Artemis' soul, though Ihra also sees mine mixed in with it.

"Did I come at a bad time? I'm not intending to spy on your conversation," Artemis admits, sliding up her mask, "Stephanie told me you wanted to see me."

Artemis gives Ihra a kind smile.

 

"There isn't really a good time right now. Miscommunication has undone our first big accomplishment." Ihra sighs, breaking her stern expression to unveil a massive amount of stress.
"Accidents have turned a bad situation into a far worse one." Rose says.
"I just... I wanted to see someone who wasn't in part responsible for this mess." Ihra admits. "I'm so glad both of you are okay. Everything's going wrong, but at least you two are okay..."

 

Artemis walks over to Ihra and gives her a warm hug.

"Do you want to try some archery with me? It usually calms me down when I'm stressed." Artemis offers.

 

Ihra hugs Artemis back, though beneath her robe it feels like she has been fairly deformed. One of her wings is also practically a stub, the other having very little webbing left intact.
"No, I can't actually see the arrow. I still haven't figured out how to get my vision back to normal, I'm stuck with looking at souls, primordial elements, and layers of reality." Ihra admits. "I can't even see my own hands, or wings, actually. Hard to read the book on getting my vision normal when I can't see what I'm reading."