FINAL TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

FINAL TRIAL

[Soon enough, soon enough.

The ticking doesn't stop by the time everyone starts to congregate at the temple. It's ultimately not hard to find; after going north for a little bit, it becomes all too clear where the temple is.]




[The very top of the temple has a room, one of cold stone and blood. There is a stone table at the center; there is nothing on it but dried blood. There are no chairs, no food, no coffins-only small, hastily-scribbled circles to indicate where people might need to stand to face their captors.

And stand they will need to, as they wait for the Stewards to arrive. The time for what will very likely be a final confrontation is almost upon them. Now it's just a question of putting together the clues they've found-and seeing if there truly is a way out of this predicament.

Only one thing is certain-at this point, anything is possible.]



[It's time! The objectives are simple in this trial. It's time to finally answer the questions the Titled have about why they are here, and what, exactly, the route they all intend to take after five long weeks - especially when the Stewards arrive.

GOOD LUCK, TITLED!]

[EDIT: VOTING IS OPEN! This will close at midnight EST on May 25th!]

Comments

[joinhands]

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MEANS?

[She waves at her eyepatch with both hands.]

You are aware the Obtuse picks things up, hides them away, and puts them back down again, right? I was the container of those secrets I ripped up, that Parham could never escape!! That's why I was so scared to show my weapon form—not to mention I couldn't contain any other Weapons with the sins on my soul. I had those vines in my pocket and used them to wrap up sleeping beauty—after I heard about how important she supposedly was!! I FOUGHT BELDINE HAND TO HAND AND HE TOOK OUT MY EYE, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!

[She raises both arms in the air.]

So I really thought the jig was up, and I wouldn't have to hide anymore!!

[relieable]

[so cagey. his stomach is in knots]

You're not answering my question!

[he raises his voice, almost yelling. does... everyone else know? is he the only one who doesn't? he really is an idiot...]

Are you helping them? The Stewards, the Lady. Are you "useful" to them?

[joinhands]

They're useful to me!

[She decaptchalogues a full-length mirror face-up and flat on the altar.]

Yes, they've done terrible things. So you could easily think "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and hope that their enemy, Death will take them down.

[She points... at... the mirror!?]

But you'd~ be~ wrong!

[relieable]

[the... mirror?]

I'm not following. What do you know about them?

Because I don't have a "vaguely starting to dissociate" icon....

[yonosoymaria]

Ah, that's right, I didn't tell you...

[His life is no longer his to control, but in all honestly, all probability, this is the best outcome. He is a support, he is armor, he was never meant to be the one making the decisions.]

I've fought something that called itself that before. It died.

[joinhands]

As well it should have.

[necroyalty]

Is this-

Is this a scrying vector?

[ WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE ]

[joinhands]

It's some kind of webcam, so I suppose yes.

Osomatsu, you found a mirror with a number, right? So you know there's precedent for what I'm about to tell you. I understand if you don't trust me.

How do you write on a mirror without breaking it?

Breathe on the glass and form some mist.

So you can write the number 48-47-3845.

And you'll find out why I knew that fighting Death requires being on the level of torture that doesn't leave behind a body.

[necroyalty]

[ well this is some shit that she's mildly terrified at ]

[incendiarize]

...Mirror...numbers... She did it. The girl with the angel soul, she used something like that - and saw another her, in a different timeline or something, in a world that wasn't doomed!

[necroyalty]

[ wait tell us more about this aasimar girl WHAT ]

...go on.

[joinhands]

Yes, the angel girl and her little friend Soul. They communicated with Shinigami. That's why I ended up so familiar about them.

That "not-doomed timeline" you're talking about? It's one where Shinigami rules the world!

And sends weapons like us, whenever he pleases, to their torturous deaths!

[relieable]

[the word Shinigami is not lost on him]

How do you know all this?

[joinhands]

Ugh! I always have to do everything myself! That's exactly what that bastard believes, that's how I got into this mess! He just splits people off into solos and pairs so nobody's left alive to complain when they don't survive doing his dirty work! It's nothing like Arachnophobia's loving family!

[She's huffing and puffing with anger until she finally starts doing that breath mist thing described, big letters with the side of her hand like trying to smear all the foam off a winter car window]

CW: possibly epileptic colors

[15unknowns]

[As the mist clears, something happens.

Strange glitches fill the mirror's relfection.]

[joinhands]

[GOD DAMN IT????

PICKS THE MIRROR UP SO IT'S NOW STANDING UP HEIGHT-WISE ON TOP OF THE ALTAR

PLEASE WORK??????????????????????]

[15unknowns]

[As she does so, she will hear the ticking noise grow in her mind, ever louder. But distorted. Strange. Echoing.

Then, suddenly, pure blackness begins to spread through the colors with each tick, followed by a faint, mechanical voice breathing. Almost salivating.

Then, the blackness completely engulfs the mirror. Nothing but a howling silence accompanies the ticking that echoes through Krone's mind-and the minds of those who might be nearby.]

[joinhands]

[CRAMS HER HANDS OVER HER EARS??? WELP???????????? Time to DIE????????]

[incendiarize]

So that's who she meant by her boss... That's a thing about these visions. I become the person. So I see everything, feel everything, and I get their thoughts too. And I've been her three times now.

And she was suffering so much, in the doomed timeline. Starving. Scared. Hopeless. And she was alone, except for her partner. The her we saw in the mirror was so....different. She didn't really look like a soldier at all.

...And just 'cause a leader sends them on missions that get them killed doesn't take blame for their deaths off the people who actually killed them.

[necroyalty]

[Ambro's gone very silent here, mostly because out of all the current survivors, she's had the most experience in sending people out on missions that can get them killed. ]

It's...

I'd like a few words.



[She only ever used adults what the fuck ]

[incendiarize]

Uh, sure.

[necroyalty]

I know very well they're not the same as our captors, Osomatsu, but these people are far too like the drow for me to drop the comparison entirely.

And the drow have a position for those they deem no longer "useful".

Dead on the outskirts of their cities, their bones the nesting places of spiders.

[joinhands]

[Examining her nails.]

It's true that after our deal was in place, Giriko was very clear about this.

[necroyalty]

Matron Arken'val was most surprised when I let her and her city live.

[ YEAH THAT'S RIGHT GUESS WHO APPARENTLY HAD DEALINGS WITH FUCKIN DROW ALL THIS TIME. ]

Rest assured, these types treat any small mercy as a gift.

[joinhands]

I know there's a world somewhere out there where mercy is taken for granted.

But I've never once set foot in it.