Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

Anne stays on your shoulder.
"Think anyone was worried about us back at home?"

________________________________

"It's basic trickery. Please tell me you've tried it in real life before." Lenka sighs.


"Lux just wants to get rid of us, though I'm sure your daughter wouldn't miss Ihra too much. Besides, Stella had no hand in this. I literally made it because I thought you were spying on us." Emerald admits. "Stella at least deletes the information if we tell her we don't want her having it."
Pause.
"Oh, shoot. Uh... I've got someone who wants to visit you personally. Did I piss you off too much, or will you take a guest?"


That... doesn't feel like anything. It doesn't even mark up her scales as Xlentia starts moving her tail around and poking around the cave to try and find whatever it is.
"Anyone there?" She asks, curious.

 

"I'm sure of it. Things went crazy during the storm."

 

Anne nods, rubbing up against you a bit as she turns around.
"...Okay, we're on the ground again. Start walking, I'm too old to carry you that far." The wyvern mumbles.

 

"Generally I'm stealthy enough that I don't need to, or my target is already distracted. I've done it a few times though to help with suspicions." Shadow Stephanie says.


"Lux wanted the dangerous rifles destroyed, and the most I've been spying on you is information Stephanie has collected," Praecantatia says, "Who is the guest?"


High pitched screeching starts coming from the cave, causing extreme pain to Xlentia's ears; the other water guardians seem a little disturbed by it too. A few water guardians swim into the caves to try and find out what the issue is.

 

"Got it."
He climbs down and checks on everyone.

 

"I don't really know if killing everyone in sight as a giant demon spectacle particularly counts as stealth, but it makes sense you wouldn't need to use it."


"He didn't need to try and kill Xlentia to do that. If he can get his head on straight, I'll erase them. As for the guest... if I tell you who they are, you'll say no, so I'll just link you to them and let you decide."
Praecantatia feels a much more immense amount of magic appear on the other side of the link.
"...U-um... h-hello? M-m-miss Praecan-ntatia?" A young and adolescent voice ask in unison.


She pulls her tail out, sending a wave of odd mending darkness through the cave.
"No no no no... why can't I be small again..."

The two centaur are fine, and the other dragon's soaked but otherwise fine.

 

"Psh, Aj does that more than I do. I personally derive more joy from appearing behind someone, pulling them into the darkness and slitting their throat; watching the life drain from their eyes." Shadow Stephanie says, seeming to get pleasure out of describing the scene.


"Yes?" Praecantatia asks, "Are you a shared mind?"


One of the water guardians pulls one of the blind guardians out of the tunnel, a trail of blood following them as they appear to have been crushed against its walls. The water guardian drags them to the surface, carefully laying their mangled body down on the shore. Another water guardian surfaces near the corpse, bringing one of the spherical lights from the caves. The water guardian creates an icy hand above the dead guardian's head, placing the light in its grip. A few other water guardians come to pray for the guardian.

 

"Alright, to the bay!"
He starts walking again.

 

“I’m surprised you don’t like EBB. It totally sounds like you two would get along super well.”


“Uh... m-maybe? I wanted to m-meet miss S-stephanie’s mom.”
“Uh... m-maybe? I w-wanted to meet miss S-stephanie’s mother.” They reply.
It sounds like the same person, but at different points in their life.


Xlentia sighs.
“I guess this is why I’m never let out of my room.” She says quietly, watching her step as she walks away in shame.

________________________________

They start following you, the wyvern lagging behind a bit as you can start seeing sand and rocks washed up, along with scorched roots and other bits of forest that survived the tsunami and fire.

 

He looks a bit concerned at the wyvern.
"We're almost there. Everyone still doing okay?"

 

“A bit tired for this.” The wyvern calls from behind.

 

"Eh." Shadow Stephanie shrugs.


"Are you a friend of my daughter then?" Praecantatia asks.


One of the water guardians beside the corpse notices. They swim over to Xlentia.

"You can make peace with her, if you wanted," The water guardian says, swimming around to Xlentia's head end, "We don't usually stay dead for long here. Death is about a quarter as dangerous. I'm sure she'd appreciate an apology for accidentally killing her."

 

“I mean, his databank is filled with recordings of electrocutions, explosions, screams, and blood. Sounds like your thing.”


“I don’t know if she considers me a friend, but she doesn’t consider me a foe.”
Pause.
“My name’s Petunia. Is Stephanie okay? I couldn’t find any nice outcomes.”


She turns, nodding before lowering herself towards the corpse.
“I don’t know how things work here, but I’m sorry. If I could speak to you face-to-face, not as what I am but what I was, I would welcome your deserved thousand cuts.”

 

"As nice as that sounds, you've sort of got have...emotion. It's not fun if it's just a machine cutting people down." Shadow Stephanie says.


"I believe she's fine, she's with her Shadow. It's nice to meet you, Petunia, in a psychic sense. You have a pretty name." Praecantatia says happily.


The water guardians appear to be appreciative of Xlentia's apology.

There's a slight glimmer of light from the underwater lantern, and Xlentia can see what looks like the ghost of the dead guardian standing above her corpse.

"Thank you." The ghost says, before fading as they walk away. None of the other guardians appear to have seen her.

 

“Oh, it has emotions... they’re just all malicious.”


“Thank you, Lady Praecantatia...”
“Thank you, Miss Praecantatia...”
“...Would you mind allowing gme to visit? I was hoping m-maybe you could make some sense of me.”


Xlentia stands still for a few minutes before walking off, watching her step closer than before.

 

"I get that. But no worries, we're almost there." He optimisticly says.

 

"Wait up once you get there, then. I need a second."

 

"That's sort of the point." Shadow Stephanie says.

There's a brief pause.

"Certainly." Praecantatia says.


Xlentia ends up in a swampy marshland, water and forest guardians about the place.

 

"I'll wait here if you need me too. I'm not leaving you here, vulnerable to attacks."

 

"...Still not seeing your side of this."


"Thanks, miss Praecantatia."


She keeps watching her step, looking for other wildlife as she treks.

"Then just wait a bit... please..." He pants, practically stopping.