THE HORRORS OF OBLIVION | [@]MERIDIAN

[damnpire]

[D's communion into Meridian aligned minds is like a very polite knock at the door, except when the door is finally opened, a rush of icy wind blows in. No warmth or mirth can be found in the space of his mind, though it's a surprisingly gentle, dark void despite the chill. It's familiar for anyone who has had a communion with him, but probably kind of eerie for those who haven't.

It's also pretty quiet now actually.]

I made an attempt to Reincarnate the late Tribune. [He delivers this all very clinically, very factual.] It failed, but not because he hadn't been willing.

Something else had been inside him. [Can Nothing be something?] It had cleaned his soul out, if he had one at all, and left him as a husk. There was no soul to shift into another body.

It spoke through him. It said, "We never would have been able to Enter without the Choices that have been made."

[:wooper:]

Comments

[sheezit]

[ ... well D just went and used his trigger word aka vessel so YEAH I GUESS HE REALLY IS COMING ON PRETTY STRONG......... ]

But Cyrus could talk to us through Communion, right? He could get his feelings and stuff across our connection just like the rest of us Shardbearers, even as he died... That means he had to have existed. That he had a soul.

[ And whatever took his soul and spoke through his body... that feels familiar. Uncomfortably so. It sounds a lot like those slithery people he's related to, so he's going to block the mental crowd off and switch this to private before he proceeds: ]

... sorry for pressing you like that. I know people can learn new skills after Harmonizing, but that kinda talk hit too close to home since I knew people who did just that. Using bodies as vessels, I mean.

[ And if D happens to feel his chest tightening up? That's not really him doing it. ]

[damnpire]

[Like with Byleth, his mijd moves easily into Shez's only, and without the burden being shared, his presence is unintentionally heavier and darker for it.]

It's alright.

[In fact, D is familiar with this as a dhampir who had a parasitic entity using his body as a kind of vessel.]

I don't have any answers for how it came to be. All I know is when I tried, anyone who could have been Cyrus was gone, and all that was left was what felt like entropy.

[sheezit]

[ The weight is palpable, but the darkness doesn't really bother him; Shez's own communion presence is much the same way, though simultaneously opposite to D's with how warm it is.

... it's also a two brain cell sort of headspace, so: ]

Uhh... entropy?

[ D is out here collecting private talks with vessels, but this one is a different kind of dumb... ]

[damnpire]

[Bless these guys.]

The slow descent from the order of life into the chaos of death. Something like oblivion. The void of energy eating away the universe.

[sheezit]

[ They're dumb but good boys! And... Shez isn't about to pretend he understood all of that, but the last part does ring some bells. ]

That's... familiar, too. The void, I mean. I've been pulled into something like that before, by one of those people I mentioned.

[ Granted, this is a much larger scale of oblivion, but... maybe the principle is the same? And that means they can fight it back and escape, or at least that's the hope he chooses to cling to. ]

When they possessed Cyrus's body... Did you see their faces? Could you maybe recognize their voices, if you heard them again?

[damnpire]

[Why is everyone out here being pulled into the Oblivion void, hello? STOP THAT.]

There wasn't any face or form. They were using an image of Cyrus, so it was him. I could possibly recognize the voice.

[sheezit]

[ Sometimes that's just the way things go, I will not stand for this dark magic prejudice!! ]

Right. Mind if I share a memory with you, then? See if there's a match for their voice?

[damnpire]

[Like sparklers, or Pop Rocks, D's mind twinkles with a little curiosity.]

Go ahead.

[sheezit]

[ It takes focus to keep the connection locked between the two of them, and sharing an experience that was only partly his own adds strain to the effort, but soon enough the memory comes: someone wearing Shez's slightly altered likeness, his sword cleaving through another man's body as a ritualistic sacrifice before an incantation, an all-encompassing darkness to swallow his foes.

Once it's over, D may be flooded with a different feeling: the sense of one's heart racing, a gasp for breath as one breaks the surface. ]

... there. Did it work?

[damnpire]

[gets stuck watching this

The fact D takes the brunt of both Byleth and Shez's memories with little more than a ripple through his mind as he fades out of it.]

It worked.

[He doesn't judge Shez for a racing heart, for the anxieties of being in a memory. The space of his communion is pretty stalwart for Shez to rely on. He gives Shez a brief moment, too.]

You should be okay. It didn't speak exactly the same way. But they still may be similar sort of beings.

[sheezit]

[ three hopes is a delightful mess, enjoy!!

Though Shez appreciates the moment to recompose himself and the willingness to support him, D's confirmation gives him little relief or comfort. ]

... yeah, that's exactly the problem. If there's a chance they might be similar, then maybe I'm like that, too. Maybe I--

[ The sense of dread that flows through communion isn't so much fear for his own safety, either. Naturally, the instinct to survive is there like in any other living being, but what he's really concerned over is: ]

Maybe I'll just be used to hurt everyone again.

[ ... ah, oops, that wasn't meant to be shared, stupid advocate connection!! ]

Damn it. There has to be a way to learn more about it... Do you remember seeing anything else like that entropy stuff in this place?

[ Maybe... that dream Fane shared with everyone post-Oracle revival...? ]

[damnpire]

[He isn't sure whether to acknowledge the slip or not. He doesn't mind sparing Shez the embarrassment, but also, more importantly:]

You aren't, and you won't. If you do, there are those of us here who would stop it from happening.

[He can count on them to protect the others.

Um, ignore how taken by surprise they had been by the Zenith attack. They figured sooner or later it might come, they just didn't know when.]

Dreams and visions. I don't know what else unless others come forward. The Below maybe.

[sheezit]

... right.

[ Listen. It's not even about the embarrassment, and he actually appreciates D's attempt at reassurance, but there's a certain enthusiasm lacking in his response. Be it back home when he was bodily possessed, or protecting the citizens when Springstar was invaded, the fact remains that irreparable damage had been done by the time things got back under control.

(There's also the fact that getting him under control would probably mean putting him down, which he isn't exactly a prospect to be thrilled about, though one he's come to accept.) ]

Did you happen to catch a dream Fane shared with everyone a while ago? It kinda sounded like he'd been chased by something like that after he fell in the last trial. I dunno if it was the same for everyone else under the same circumstances, but I get the feeling my friend went through it, too. Might be a good place to start.

[ Did Byleth tell him about it? No. But Shez still knows how he felt, thanks to this stupid advocate connection. ]

[damnpire]

[As a usually straightforward, logical man, all he has for Shez is the option of a clean death. Of course, he doesn't want it to come to that. Even being returned by the Tree? He doesn't want Shez having to die by his comrades' hands.]

I did. I think they're related, based on the feelings I received of being afraid, being hunted. The dreams others had, too. Like Byleth. They're related to what I saw and felt.

The Oblivion may not necessarily be evil, but it is against what we're trying to do as Meridian. What this place has done with rebirth. It is the end of all things, and we're returning after death, and we're trying to bring our worlds back.

[sheezit]

[ And Shez would legitimately appreciate the straightforward, clean death by D's hands. It's something he's already had to be confronted with back home, and at the time he'd made peace with the idea his friends might have to cut him down, but the truth is he doesn't wish that upon them. Incidentally: ]

... so he did tell you about it, huh? Byleth, I mean. [ aka, the reason why Shez doesn't want his friends to go through the same as he did when he had to kill Byleth('s Shadow) in that maze. ] I kinda figured he'd had a dream like that, too, but I guess this is confirmation.

[ And it makes him feel even worse about the whole ordeal! But! It's fine! He's fine!! He'll focus on what he can do and try to ignore the nagging feeling that he may or may not be too closely related to this Oblivion coming for them all! ]

Y'know, someone here told me something like that-- that the magic in this place has a will of its own, sort of like the instinct to survive. Maybe even the end of all things is just trying to survive, too, like the rest of us. But even if this Oblivion is not evil [ and that's him being generous for his own sake, too ] we still gotta fight it back for as long as we can. Honestly, even Zenith should realize that.

[ If all things end, doesn't that mean they won't be around to create that new world of theirs, either? ]

[damnpire]

[Dang, he gave Byleth away a little. It's fine... It is fine so long as D understands Shez and Byleth are roommates friends. Allies?]

He probably didn't want to worry you.

[The worrying is worse now!!]

I agree. Their new world is also in danger of being consumed. I don't know if this entity is picking sides.

[It's just hungry.]

I'll see if any of them will tell me anything without mentioning what happened.