locked to zenith

[bakedapple]

[ Link's mental space feels like being outside, so depending on where you are, you might not realize that someone has started Communion with you. Since joining the Zenith, the landscape of Link's mind has gone from idyllic, sunny forests to icy, overcast mountains. A frigid wind blows against your face, carrying the scent of firewood and meat roasting over an open flame. The diminutive Hylian is not sitting by the fire, but standing at the edge of a rocky ledge, his back turned. ]

There's going to be another Oracle soon. I can feel it. The rest of you can feel it too, right? That... pulling feeling.

[ He sighs. ]

If we lose this one, it's over. The Meridian isn't going to go easy on us. I know them... I know how badly they want to win. To them, the stakes couldn't be higher.

So let's talk. About what we're going to be up against, and... well, planning ahead isn't really something we can do, but at least we can warn each other of the dangers that individual Meri pose.

And I... I want to say something, too.

[ He sits down where he stands, his feet hanging off the cliff. There's a sense that he knows this isn't going to go over well, but it's important enough to him to say it anyway. ]

Killing the other guy before they kill you is what war is. That's normal. But Kenos is different. Death doesn't work the way it should here. We don't die permanently. You can neutralize someone threatening you by just dissipating them. There's nothing to gain by destroying their soul after you're no longer in danger.

So, I don't think any of us should shatter anyone ever again.

If you claim someone's Shard, you should protect it. If you feel that you can't do that, give it to someone else.

...I'm not stupid. I know a lot of you aren't gonna agree to this. And the Meris probably won't either. I'm sure they want revenge for what happened to Quetzalcoatl, and those of you who lost the Shards Yima gave you probably aren't feeling very merciful right now either...

But if we don't come to some kinda agreement now, that's going to become normal. Things are gonna get really bad. I don't want that. So... can we talk about it, at least?

Comments

[kinaesthesia]

A lack of mercy is a real bad precedent to set, kid.

[corvidant]

One that Meridians have set, themselves. Must I remind you our gifted Shards have been targeted? Would you call it mercy, to witness an important soul bursting in your very hands?

[kinaesthesia]

Stooping to their level is exactly the kind of thing that makes things worse and worse in the long run.

Our whole goal here is to make a new and better world. You start with a foundation like that, and it's screwed from the start.

[corvidant]

The ends justify the means. If you believe anything less, I can guarantee Meridians will take advantage of the weak willed.

Besides. If we lose here, there will be no new world to even start. We'll either be stuck with the old reality or nothing at all. Is that what you want?

[kinaesthesia]

"The ends justify the means" is the kind of nonsense idiots like to spout off when they're too thick-skulled to think about consequences.

[She knows, because she's been that kind of idiot before.]

If we go into this with that kind of attitude, any new world we build up will turn out exactly like all our old homes. Tell me what the point of that would be?

[corvidant]

It takes an idiot to know one.

[ But at least she acknowledges that! ]

In any case, going into the new world with the expectation that it will be any sort of idealistic utopia is a foolish sentiment in its own right. There are no easy fixes, no magic reality in which people won't harbor any ill feelings whatsoever unless they're brainwashed. Whether you can see it or not is none of my business, but as far as I'm concerned?

The point is that [ I ] we will have a world at all, a place to belong in. What we make of it once that goal is achieved is entirely up to us.

[kinaesthesia]

[There's the mental equivalent of an eyeroll.]

How we make it in the first place is just as important as what we do with it once we win. Yeah, that is up to us. I doubt it's possible to whip up something purely flawless and perfect [mostly because ruthless guys like you and silco keep arguing this point!!] but we shouldn't be out to sabotage it before it even begins.