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

sighs..............

[zauneyete]

[ You knew it was coming ]

Isn't it odd how your moral high ground only lasts as long as you dislike the subject of your distaste?

You can say my name, boy. It's not a curse that will damn you for keeping it out of your mouth. In fact, I am proud of my work.

After all, I hear none of such problems with permanently ending the life of their leader, hm? His soul is just as lost as Quetzalcoatl's, because there is no such thing as an afterlife, or souls, or any of the such nonsense you all prattle about. Metaphysical nonsense that you have no proof of but believe in fully. Ah, but Cyrus was not one of us, now was he? So it is acceptable amongst our ranks.

Quetzalcoatl, the fuel to which they used to power their attack, however, has "merit" to you.

And when she was going to be used again? And again? When Set's power hungry revenge against Yima's works is not found complete until he decimates the lot of us? Do you think he would allow us to merely destroy his weapon? Could you?

No, we remove the power, and all the better for it, for now it has been eradicated, never to be used again. Do you think our enemies care if you feel sad about a goddess dying? So what, that she had power? In a new world, her light will mean nothing. Her soul will be nothing. Our Meridian enemies do not care for you because they believe so fully in the fact that you will take their world away from them. It does not matter to them that their worlds are destroyed, because they simply fail to recognize reality. They hope so fully that their worlds are still out there, that you are simply the ones taking it from them. When it comes down to it, when the final Oracles are left, do you truly think that they will stay their hands, when you are between them and their world? No. It is best to cease their existence, prune their numbers, and fight for what you believe in. They want to paint us the bad people, for believing in something new instead of what is old, and already destroyed. They have failed to understand something — and many of you have too:

Death is death. Whether it is the crushing of a shard, or a death in your own world, it means little difference. The only difference is now you have all become foolhardy with your lives, and you have all died once, or perhaps twice, and thus you now fear seeing your own soul shattered, don't you?

[ surprise!! The person Silco is raging against this time is you zenites 💚💚💚💚💚💚 ]

Good.

Use it, then. Prove yourselves capable. If you refuse to shatter shards, then perhaps you will purchase the goodwill you so desperately crave. And your efforts to build a new world only go as far as what you are comfortable with. Do you think a war cares if you are comfortable? So few of you have had to fight for something that you believed in, and had to watch as everyone else falls back into complacency when it becomes difficult. I've seen it before, and do you know where it leads? Defeat. When it becomes hard, I wonder how many of you will still be fighting. It will not be easy. It will not be comfortable.

The sooner you all recognize that, the sooner we can get to business and stop wringing our hands about how Meridian will feel about it, and how mad they will become. I do not care about them, beyond the obstacle that they place in our way.

But oh, I forgot, you want them to be your friends, don't you. [ The impression in communion of rolled eyes. ] Do not come weeping, when these "friends" betray you, for I've told you all time and time again. You will only be allowed to exist as long as you are convenient. I only hope you do not find this out only at the bitter end, and regret your lack of conviction.

1/2

[kinaesthesia]

[]

2/2

[kinaesthesia]

Hey.

Come fight me.

not here

[epiprocta]

[ KICK HIS ASS GAVIAL also dibs on front row seats to watch if, by some miracle, it actually happens ]

[zauneyete]

Your conviction is so lacking that you want to resort to infighting to satisfy your thirst for blood? Or do you just want to remove another inconvenient ally? Don't worry, I've heard it all.

[ this is funny because it's you thirteen 💖 ]

[bakedapple]

[ ]

[erbe]

[Rin petitioning for Gavial to be next Yima. There is nothing but approving vibes.]

[alliterating]

Can I fight him after you?

[semicharmed]

Whoa.









Did you guys just hear something?

I could've sworn I heard something.

[zauneyete]

[ AN IMPRESSION OF AN EYEROLL. ]

Yes, yes. Ignorable words, all of it. I make this effort only to hear myself talking, and so on, and so forth.

[fursuit]

[ Oh, Silco. Be still, his heart. This is like a five star meal served up on a silver platter for him. ]

And this— [ There's a toothy grin in Communion, excitement, praise, all in one. ] This is precisely why you're my acolyte, bossman. Was waitin' for you to chime in! Ain't no one better at stoking the fires of conflict than you, seems like!

[ There's plenty more he could say, of course. There are parts he agrees with, parts he disagrees with, but he's just happy that someone is Causing Problems. ♥ ]

[erbe]

[ACOLYTE??? Rancid taste. She'll endeavor to bully him harder, then.]

[zauneyete]

Someone must, if the lot of them are all too happy to hold hands, and make peace.

The complacency astounds me, even now. They wish to fight within their neat little boxes, not understanding that it does not win wars.

[bakedapple]

[ Ah. There he is.

Link calmly listens, arms crossed. Not a shred of emotion leaks out onto the visual of himself being projected into Communion, but some of it escapes from his mind into their shared space. He's unconvinced. All of this is stuff he was expecting to hear, either from Silco or someone else. All of it he'd already considered in the debate he had with himself before making his original message.

When Silco is finally done, Link levels his gaze at him. ]

Silco, how long do you think you've got left after what you did?

Every last Meri wants you dead. And it kinda sounds like most of the people on our side would be happy to have you gone, too. You're a liability.

How long is Sebastian going to protect you from them?

[zauneyete]

Says whom? You?

What have you done for Zenith, boy? A scrambled warning? Dying?

Very helpful. Make your decisions before the leadership of Zenith, then. See what they say.

If I were a liability, I am quite certain they had every opportunity to stop me. They have not. In fact, they have chosen to reward me for my efforts.

not here

[baltimores]

[ bro he is just standing here

why you gotta drag his actions into this. he isn't the one who's a freak when he kills people ]

[zauneyete]

[ Look some people like to hear themselves talking. These people are named Silco. It's just who he is bro you have to accept him as your fellow t4 ]

[alliterating]

Why do you just show up to say the stupidest thing imaginable and than vanish? Were you dropped on your heard? Even when I was in my villain phase I didn't have monologues this bad!

[fursuit]

...You can do that as a phase?

[eightfoldfiend]

Ha.

[Yuber's oily presence rolls in amusement.]

But that's easy for you to say. You want to destroy everything and build a new world from the ashes. What would a soul or twenty crushed into oblivion matter, right?

[zauneyete]

Is that not what we all want, as members of Zenith?

Is that not the goal of what we have signed onto? It is easy for me to say, because it is what we are. Those who refuse to accept this are trying to change the very nature of what we are building.

[settingup]

[ He's not going to say he agrees with any part of this, but... he agrees with some parts of this. He'd still rather do to the Meridian shards what Quetz did to Silco's, but he gets some of the points being made here...

He's just not going to get himself dogpiled by voicing that. Sorry, Silco, you made your own bed by making a spectacle of this whole thing, and Atsumu's just going to stay on the peripheral like 🧍‍♂️]

[zauneyete]

[ Don't worry, son, he'll embarrass you anyway. ]

[diegeticmusic]

[Alright so that was... a lot.]

...Not to burst your bubble on this one but afterlives are real places. In fact I'm still not entirely convinced this isn't one of them.

[Transitory states of existence are real bro.]

And wars don't last forever. Eventually they end. You need to be ready for what happens after. And you need people to still be here, after.

[Even the ones that were your enemies.

Why is she even trying to reason with this guy, though... Betting on losing dogs over here.]

[zauneyete]

Ah yes, a constant in your universe applies to all of them, yes? Your "afterlife" should exist for us all?

[ A roll of his eyes is impressed upon in communion. ] I can assure you it is not an afterlife, for I am not dead. I have, in fact, been in a world prior to this. Perhaps you have no other option but to assign it as one, but I prefer to operate on what is before me. What I can see, hear, and touch. When an afterlife provides those, then perhaps you can make a reluctant believer of me.

[ Silco, unfortunately, is... some kind of nihilistic atheist, borne more from poverty and a violent resistance to anything that represents "hope", though religion in Zaun is approximately 99.9% of the times a scam for money.

He's probably helped one along, in fact. ]

And when the war is over, we will have plenty of souls. Do you think that Yima's vision would have supported a world otherwise? We have us, our loved ones, the cult here in Highstorm. It is not many, but it is certainly sufficient compared to dealing with the... filth and rot that comes with Meridian's paltry offerings.

[ No really grace. why.... love yourself. ]