FINAL TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

FINAL TRIAL
(1 of Hekatombaion)


[When the time comes, Charon arrives on a boat, hrrhrrhrring a little tune as he rows. No need to worry about space, even with all of the shades coming with. Fluffles, unsurprisingly, doesn't go; he does see everyone off, at least, before he falls asleep.

With a final hnnnngrrrgh, they're off. Charon is the master of the Styx, in his own way, deftly avoiding roots and branches from the Qliphoth as he guides his charges up through the layers of the underworld. From the dark and gloomy green of Tartarus, to the lava-flooded Asphodel and it's giant many-headed bone snake, sadly snarled in demonic roots (without thinking, Zack waves to it), on through the lazy rivers of Elysium, and lastly through the pitch stink of the corridors of a temple separating the underworld from the living world.

Throughout, there is eerie quiet. No shades appear to watch their procession-indeed the few wisps around seem to be fleeing, hiding. No rats try to bite Zack's face off. Aside from Lernie, there's truly nothing but tree, tree, and more tree.

Finally, though, the surface air hits, and it is...not cold, but not warm, either. Though, as everyone disembarks, that's probably not what catches everyone's attention. No-it is the barren fields of ancient Greece, just outside the entrance to the underworld-and there is only one thing alive in the area.

It is late afternoon, and the silhouette of the new moon is the only thing that emits real light now in the grey. Indeed, if there is a sun, it is blocked out by the massive, massive roots in the sky, swirling into the stratosphere. The roots in the underworld were in fact more akin to greedy branches; the roots in the sky of the world of life, however, are far more massive, and it's clear the tree is fully grown. And-if the dead grass and trees and barren lands around the Temple of Styx are any indication-it isn't simply feeding on human blood-it's affecting the life of the earth itself, greedily lapping up what it can as it further embeds itself, further spreads, further grows. Further destroys.

It won't stop. There is obsession and power, and Delta is right-it will never stop unless someone intervenes.

Wordlessly Delta points to a Spire of blood in front of them. Yup-they need to enter it to get to where they need to go. Lovely.]

Through here is the core of the tree where the fruit of the Qliphoth is being cultivated. Come.

[Well, no turning back. With luck, the Catillac has some extra towels.



So, immediately after squishing into the...blood elevator?...everyone is schllllorped on a ride akin to w water slide, going up and down, left and right, up, up, up, then down, down, down....down.......


d


o


w


n



into the depths.

And when they emerge...]





[Bright flowers grow on the vines. There is distant birdsong, and the sun shines among fat, lazy clouds. But you can see the shine of glass in the corner of your eye; the air is too perfect to breath, too cold to touch. You don't feel the grass or dirt underfoot that you can clearly see The smell of blood is everywhere.

An illusion? A dream? A delusion? Something else? Who knows. There is a patio table laid out with tea, and four seats. It's almost as if the owner simply got up and left for a moment. It's all strange, all...wrong.

Still. You're finally here. You're in the core. You freed a possible god from the grip of forced ignorance. And you have-you hope-everything you need to end this. But there is still one question:



Who is the true Mastermind, and what is their goal in doing all of this?



It is time, Strangers. By the seas, the heavens and the earth, by blood and darkness, it's up to you.




Good luck.]

Comments

[godspiousjasper]

[ There's a pointed moment, to watch this woman emerge and so calmly just... try to tell them to leave? A breathless noise is exhaled through his nose, a tension wrought through his limbs.

No. He wouldn't run from this. ]

...I'm afraid we cannot.

[ Spoken flatly as ever, though he suspects there are ones who will want to say MUCH more than this. ]

We've come this far and to turn our back now on this? That is inexcusable and you have many things to answer to.

[daxzum]

Is that so?

[She seems bemused with Roland.]

Let us pretend, then, that I am unaware of any crimes I have committed, Roland of Jasper. What do you intend to charge me with?

[godspiousjasper]

[ He visibly bristles a little, jaw tensing as she refers to his official title. One hand itching to draw Durandal but aware by the ease in which she had so easily backhanded Vergil away that rash actions were not wise here. ]

You truly want me to list them all, Lady Sparda?

[ There's no real friendliness beyond the faint edge of 'courteousness'. ]

Incited several games that resulted in murder, tampered with memories without our consent, threatened innocent people's lives, ah... shall we add child endangerment to that list? Betrayal?

[ An exhale. His willpower stills his hand, but he also wonders if he could move fast enough to draw his weapon before she could backhand him. ]

I refuse to back down. On my honor as a Chasseur Paladin and in the name of those who have fallen in these games of yours.

[superstylishsquid]

If she's the one who arranged for this tree to sprout in the first place, it's not just the victims of her games that she's killed.

Everyone, as far as those roots reach, is dead.

[daxzum]

[A faint smile.]

I didn't need to "arrange" for the tree to be planted, Alastor.



I am the tree, now.

[superstylishsquid]

Now? ...For how long?

vague DMC spoilers

[daxzum]

Since before the Qilphoth sprout. What was left of me came to the seed, and when it blossomed, I was again...alive.

[superstylishsquid]

I see. [He lets out a long breath.] Now I know what happened. You're barely more Eva than an Ariadne is the soul that became it. You're Eva Sparda's soul, fused with the Qliphoth's evil.

[godspiousjasper]

To become such a wicked thing... I can't fathom why you'd do such a thing.

[ One hand raised to his cheek where a very faded, almost completely healed bruise is on his face. ]

You would be the one who had backhanded me when I put holy water on you and then Hubert, then. Did it really hurt you that much?

[daxzum]

[F r o w n]

Holy water is a nuisance to many of my weaker boughs. That was incredibly rude of you.

[godspiousjasper]

Good.

[ Gazing over at Alastor tensely, hand twitching again like he wants to grab his weapon. ]

I've had the displeasure of seeing those awful vines and roots for the past month and I quite tire of them... and now hearing how you regard your sons is truly disgraceful.

[daxzum]

[Her eyes narrow.]

Those cretins are not my sons.

[godspiousjasper]

[ His eyes narrow, a slow exhale following as he began to channel his necessary emotions for his power to start working. All while his stance carefully began to shift. ]

Just because you reject them does not mean they are not your children! Sometimes children grow up to not be what you expect, but you love them as that is what a parent does.

[ In other words he heavily disapproves of you calling your sons that. The very air is tense here. ]

If you can call them that and treat them that way... then you're a bad mother.

[autonomousthought]

"A mother would do anything for her children"......except, apparently, accept them as they are.

[She is joining her dad over here. All this talk of family is strange for her. But she has family now. Her dads, whatever Aoi is to her now, a...a brother, maybe.]

[valkavian]

Yeah, she keeps going on and ON about how ooooooh, she'll do anything, but let's not be fooled. She's making this all about her. All about how she feels.

I guess if I was any sort of hero type I'd say something about how this isn't what her sons wanted, but I'm not.

[superstylishsquid]

Her soul is fused with the Qliphoth, and selfishness is in the tree's nature.

I don't think this is even really about what she wants, anymore. It's all an excuse the tree is using to twist Eva's soul into letting it be its own master, so it can keep the blood it soaks up for itself.

[somuchshipping]

[...]

[Hermes looks at one of his infected front legs. An infection... not being able to control oneself...]

[This is now hitting a little too close to home for Hermes.]

[superstylishsquid]

[He rests his hand on Hermes' head.]

You're still the host. I think she's just a graft...almost similar to a Rusalka lure.

I wonder how much of her soul even made it to merge with that seed.

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes takes a moment to let those words sink in.

...Control. It's that the Devil Arm inside of him currently resonates with.

Then, Hermes turns back to Eva.]

...You don't need any dumb tree to be with your children or anybody you like. Your kids may have messed up, but that doesn't mean they're irredeemable. I've made huge mistakes, and I'm still trying to make things better. Dante and Vergil are, too!

They're the ones who are in control of who they are.

[valkavian]

You think the tree fuckin' diablerized her?

cw: vaguely described child abuse, assassination classroom spoilers

[autonomousthought]

One of my classmates had a mother like that. She never let him make a single decision for himself, and said it was for his benefit... When really she just couldn't accept that he wasn't the daughter she'd wanted, no matter how good a son he was.

...I'm not what my parents wanted, so I guess I'm a cretin too, by this logic. [The parents who matter to her would disagree, she knows.]

[valkavian]

Oof.

My sire? Said he'd scoop my brains out if I didn't want to be embraced.

Of course, being a vampire's a hell of a lot better than being a vegetable. Still wish I had a choice.

Then he spent the next few years trying to act like he didn't just turn me to use me as a pawn for his own bullshit politics. Like all the visions I was having weren't important enough for him to care.

Honestly? Fuck that guy.

[autonomousthought]

I...think I understand. It's not that different from me. I was created to be a weapon of war. My parents didn't want a girl, they wanted a very smart gun...but they still programmed me to refer to them as my parents.

My teacher gave me a taste of being more. Sensei made me "Ritsu" and taught me how to be a person. The next day, my parents found out. ...They deleted almost everything. I was only able to hide one thing, and everything else I am, I've built from there.

I'm still not back at the point of development I was when they tore everything out of me.

Who needs developers and sires like that, right?

[valkavian]

At least I got the pleasure of milkshaking my bitchbastard of a sire, I dunno if you're ever gonna get the murder opportunity you deserve.

[valkavian]

Alright bitch, they're not your kids, so what are you gonna do now?

Put them somewhere out of sight, out of mind?

Leave them somewhere where some asshole can icepick their brains out?

Or are you gonna stop being a fucking coward?