Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

“You heard correctly.”


"What would be sufficient parameters of a sacrifice?” Emerald asks. “And why exactly would I need to give something in exchange for a literal part of my goddess?”

 

Tiril's mood seems to brighten a little, "S-So it's true you just use your powers to keep the gardens in check, a-and you're really allowed to experiment with newer and rare species?" he asks, excited.


Stephanie flips through her tome again, closer to the front this time.

"The body and soul of one turned corrupt, a pure flower rot to spite, the horn or boon of a demon, a tear of the innocent no older than one, a blazing spirit lantern, and a gem of mages, large," Stephanie reads, "I can draw the summoning circle and perform the ritual. It's just to summon Mortius here directly so he can return the soul. I'd need to go back home to contact him otherwise, and mum seemed pretty serious about me collecting information here; I don't want to disappoint her."

 

“I’ll let the other gardeners answer that, I’m a wandering healer.”


“I’ll ask. I’ve got the books, go on to Gaia’s.” Emerald says, shooing Stephanie off as she summons a stack of books.

 

"O-Oh, right. S-Sorry. I got a little t-too into it there." Tiril says, looking up toward the palace as the pair begin to draw closer to the road leading up to it.


"Understood." Stephanie says calmly, leaving Emerald's archives and floating down to the exit of the library.

 

“A disruption of normal physical or mental functions. Don’t get on my case about ‘normal’ being subjective; it’s not my definition.”

 

“It’s good to have hope.” Ihra says happily.


As she leaves, Maralune waves her down.
“E-excuse me, miss? Do you have a moment?”

“Normal’s stupid anyways.” He shrugs.

 

Tiril nods, though seems to lose quite a bit of his hope when he notices a couple of figures up a ahead. One seems to be a water guardian with blood-red hair, and the other a Shadow. Both are standing over the corpse of an earth guardian, seeming to be investigating it.



Stephanie glances over before changing her trajectory and dropping straight down to Maralune.

"Certainly." Stephanie says happily.

 

“Oh wonderful, did that thing swap bodies?” Ihra asks, mostly to herself.


“W-wonderful... u-um... I can’t remember your name, but you were with the shadow person, correct? And the robot that made the pylon thing in the respite? It u-uh... it’s starting to weaken.” She says, seeming a bit panicked.

 

The guardian seems to pick up on Ihra's question, as well as her and Tiril's approach.

"Nothing to see here," The guardian says, turning around, "Please, continue on your way to the palace. This situation is being handled by professionals."

"If you've got any leads on this though, we could use them," The Shadow says, taking a quick sip from a hip flask.


"Stephanie, and I was. There's no reason to panic, I'm sure I can fix whatever the problem is." Stephanie says positively, silently casting a spell behind her back to attempt to calm Maralune's mind.

 

Ihra tosses them a small crystal containing her perspective of the earlier pickpocket attempt.
"Make of that as you will." She says, not slowing down.


It seems to mostly work, though only to a degree.
"Thanks. I can't get on top of the castle, but I think one of the raptors climbed up there and was checking for anyone's scent." She says, looking worried but no longer to the point of stuttering.

 

Tiril stays close to Ihra, seeming rather terrified of the scene. She can hear the pair talking about the likelihood of it being the pickpocket, though they seem to dismiss it.


"Do you think they could've disturbed the machinery?" Stephanie asks.

 

Ihra continues on.
"It's not the craziest thing that's happened here, honestly." She sighs.


"No, they went up after it started sparking."

 

"I-I just hope th-that I don't e-end up like th-they did..." Tiril says, scared.

Ihra and Tiril are soon at the beginning of the road to the palace, which seems a lot steeper up close than it did from further away.

"That...sounds problematic. How long ago did this happen?" Stephanie asks.

 

"If you spend your life worrying about the end, when're you going to have time to work towards stuff?"


"Just yesterday. I was going to walk over to the other palace where the robot girl is, but a few of my subjects insisted on preparing an escort since apparently things aren't good over there either."

 

"N-No! It's n-not that I w-worry about when I-I'm going to d-d-die. Th-This place just s-seems so hostile..." Tiril says, stumbling over his words.


"You probably wouldn't be able to see her, unfortunately. She's incredibly valuable and isn't supposed to be known about too much. Only a select few have permission to speak with her personally, when she isn't doing a mission." Stephanie explains, "If the situation demands it though, I might be able to get a hold of her for you."

 

"I mean... it sort of is." Ihra sighs.


"A-any of you should be able to help, I think. You keep contact with the rest of the group, I assume?"

 

"It f-feels like any one of u-us could be ended a-at any moment..." Tiril says, the climb toward the palace starting to take his mind and focus off of fear, "Except for you, of course."

As Ihra and Tiril make their way up the road to the palace, Ihra notices some strange rustling coming from some of the bushes that dot the path up to the palace, and something metal poking out from one of them very slightly.


Stephanie nods, "We're all good friends. The strain of adventure has only brought us closer together." she says positively.

 

Ihra surrounds herself and Tiril with a barrier, looking through the bush as easily as she can most solid objects.


"Y-you can take a look now, right? Or at least soon?" She asks.

 

It seems to be the pickpocket, drinking from a potion bottle with a telescope beside them. It appears to be pointed at the palace.


"I can, right away." Stephanie promises happily.

 

Iris telekinetically shatters their bottle. as Ihra tries to get a better peek around their cloak.


Maralune nods.
"I-I'll get my guards to call off the escort party, then. They really seem adverse to me going out on my own nowadays..." She says, starting towards the portal room - albeit a bit slow.