Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

She relaxes, laying down as you leave.
The caves to either side of this one also have the main room tucked to the side of the entryway, likely for privacy if other dragons lived in them.

 

Bardock goes left. (3rd cave)
*whistles*

 

"Uh, a nice field in your world?" Shadow Stephanie tries.


A large pair of guarded doors are indeed behind Ruby, presumably the exit.


Following the directions, Linoa finds the doors into the dining hall, a guard waiting by them.

 

Another dragon peeks around the edge.
"Good afternoon. Can I help you?"

"Currently in Oblivion, or a training ground for Hive forces."


Ruby heads towards the exit, hopeful.


Linoa flies up to the guard.
"Excuse me, but is Stephanie still in there? I was hoping to talk with her."

 

"Oh no, not really. Just killing some time."

 

"Well, come in, come in! Stay a while, I don't bite." He invites, retreating deeper into the cave.

 

"...The past?" Shadow Stephanie asks, smirking.


The the guards open the doors for Ruby, probably the few people strong enough to actually move the doors in the first place, leading Ruby out into the palace gardens.


"The queens form is indeed still in the dining hall. What do you wish to talk to her about, may I ask?" The guard asks.

 

"Uhm.. sure."
Bardock sets a few steps inside the cave and looks around.
"I don't know about this one. He sounds suspicious." He thinks to himself.

 

"If you had any other boyfriend, that could be arranged."


Ruby, once outside, flies above the palace and opens a portal out of the Shadow Realm.


"We were hoping to ask if she knew where the artifacts were kept. I'm looking to see if we can revive Ihra soon."

He lights a fire ring with his breath, turning to you.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting guests. Do you perhaps enjoy board games?"

 

Shadow Stephanie sighs.


Ruby notices a familiar air guardian looking at her from the top of the palace, seeming to try and make her out.


"Hm. Alright." The guard says, opening the door to the dining hall.

 

"Depends. What do you have?"

 

"Remember, anything around me is stuck in a set timeline."


Ruby links with them.
"Hello... is there a problem?" She asks as she vanishes.


Linoa flies up to Stephanie.
"Hi, Stephanie." She says.

"Just a local game. Aptly named 'stones,' since that's all it uses."

 

"I'll keep it memorized." Shadow Stephanie says.


"Oh, no, I was just wondering if it was actually you." The air guardian replies, a little surprised.


Stephanie looks up from her plate, what looks like mostly eaten fish and vegetables on it.

"Oh, hey." Stephanie says, acknowledging Linoa.

 

"We could always just go sit in a nice garden and have something to eat."


"Wait... what do you mean? Are you part ofnthat psycho story as well?"


"If you don't mind me asking, did you and Aj get the artifact from the tomes?"

 

"Sure." Shadow Stephanie says, smiling.


"Well, I wouldn't call you a psycho for knocking me down. It was more my fault anyway, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." The air guardian admits.


"Uh...yes and no. We got a couple of glowing orbs and then we were transported out after getting them." Stephanie says.

 

"I'll talk with Gaia, see if I can arrange something." Sivius says, smiling.


"Oh, okay. I thought you were one of my assailants, my bad." She says, before cutting the connection.


"Does Aj still have the other artifacts?"

 

"You'd speak to a goddess to arrange a date for us?" Shadow Stephanie asks, flattered.


The air guardian goes back to his work, a little unnerved by the conversation.


"I'm fairly certain he does, but he said he wanted to find Abigail's soul in hell to try and get it back first," Stephanie says, "I don't know how he's doing, but I'm worried something bad might have happened to him in there."

 

"Why not? You've seen just about every other damn thing."


"Why would it be there? Iris would've trapped it. You know, like how Ihra could summon Vei because her staff captured Vei's soul as she died? I would think it works the same way."

 

"I just think it's flattering you'd do that for me." Shadow Stephanie says, smiling.


"Praecantatia explained to me how Mortius sort of has a right to a soul he wishes to claim and torture, so he claims the soul and leaves a sort of...false clone of the soul behind where it was left if it was trapped," Stephanie says, "But Abigail comes from this reality, while Iris probably trapped her in yours, so I'm not sure how that would work. Maybe Mortius managed to claim her soul because she belongs to this reality and was trapped in yours, so sort of bypassed the trap, or maybe he wasn't able to get the soul since it was in your reality to begin with?"

Stephanie seems to be thinking quite hard, taking out her tome and flipping through it to chapters on souls.

 

"Well, you are my lady, aren't you?"


"I would think it'd depend on where her soul was. Like, Xephyr died here, so her daughter was born here." She shrugs. "That just means we have even more motivation to kill Iris."