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

[fishfearme]

That much is clear.

['We never would have been able to Enter...']

Have our actions somehow given it a foothold...? I'm thinking about the words it spoke to you.

[damnpire]

From the way it sounds, yes, perhaps. If you have any dreams or visions about a consuming oblivion later, I'd like to know what they are.

Is this something eating every iteration of those who compete for Oracles, or something happening only to ours? More importantly, how do we stop it? If we even can.

[fishfearme]

It may be cyclical... it seems strange that this would happen only now, with us, when the war for the Oracles has been over the same thing over and over again.

[Save the worlds - destroy them to create new ones. If this thing consumed...]

It's possible this may be yet another part of that. The more Oracles we gain, perhaps the stronger it becomes? Perhaps it's not the Oracle that grants the faction their wish, but this entity instead...

[damnpire]

Maybe. I don't know if something like entropy would do too much giving. The chaos of death and the end, if it's hunting Shards, using bodies to get inside...

But if it's hungry, and it runs out of things to consume... Perhaps it is a key playing in what our outcome might be, whether it's our victory, or our reset.

[fishfearme]

If you consume without restraint, you eventually run out of food. If this thing is sentient enough to speak and possibly reason...

[Then it may be sentient enough to farm, as it were. Give a little to assure eternal, sustainable meals...]

Kenos may just be its abattoir.

[damnpire]

[Ughhh, NOT THE FARMING SIMULATOR.]

I know.

No matter who wins the Oracle outcome, it could very well eat one world, or the many we've brought back. I'm wondering if it will play our side, too, knowing it will have more food if worlds are returned.

[...]

Thank you. For the help.

[fishfearme]

[Surprise! Kenos was Stardew Valley all along!]

...it's no problem, I'm glad to be of assistance.

[Beat.]

If it manifests again... via dreams or through a intermediary, what is the best way to combat absolute entropy, do you think?

[damnpire]

[That would be so hilarious actually.]

I can't say with certainty. But it felt hungry, so my theory would be to starve it. The problem is figuring out how to do that.

[fishfearme]

How does one starve oblivion...

[Hm...]

Non-existence can't exist if there are things... existing. But it can eat existence. Hm. Hmm...

[This is hurting his brain.]