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

[superstylishsquid]

When I rebelled against my creator, all of his so-called 'children' tore his soul to shreds. We weren't about to risk enough of him being left to reincarnate through one of us.

[valkavian]

Yeah, unfortunately you can't split an elder, else we wouldn't have to fight over who gets the goods.

Anyway, this bitch is probably pulling a Daddy Malkav and the tree's sticking its hand up the ass of her soul to sock puppet it. Or it's like when a serial killer wears some dude's skin. Your choice. Because if there's one thing I know about Daddy, it's that he comes up with a new excuse every week for why he wants to eat all of us.

[superstylishsquid]

I think it's more likely to be the former. There's enough here that...seems like it could be rooted in a distortion of a parent's love to make me think there's more than just a shell of her left, just...

It is twisted, in a way that makes feeding the tree seem like the answer to all her disappointment.

[yesorwoof]

But I think her heart wasn't completely removed.

You see, she could have had everything she says she wanted. Though it was before our powers evolved, Keith and John Connor were taken so easily by the entity.

Eva-chan hesitated. She wanted her sons to call her themselves.

[valkavian]

What are the chances we can get what's left of her to pull a Saulot on this tree's ass?

[superstylishsquid]

You think all the contradictions, all the ways it's seemed like the mastermind was holding back, is a sign that Eva was able to resist the tree's influence? It does seem reasonable. Give us time to escape, and access to what we need to maybe stop her.

cw emotional abuse, ruthlessness

[yesorwoof]

Not a perfect woman. But one with goals.

And one that may be bound in a type of contract with the tree itself.

The quickest way to break such a contract would be to kill her sons before her eyes so that her wish could never come true. But they're already dead. Pity.

[superstylishsquid]

[He bares his fangs in a protective snarl.]

I wouldn't let you, anyway. And not just because I'm bound by my own contract with Dante. Maybe it makes me a joke of a devil, but I'm not willing to accept killing as a first resort.

[yesorwoof]

The quickest way isn't always the best. But I don't have all day either. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to start dipping into unpaid leave hours.

[She... is joking??? She seems to think that he'd realize she couldn't act quite so freely in Alastor's presence, if nothing else.]

We can't change her deep seated emotional needs this quickly. The next best route I can think of to access her better impulses, if they really are hidden in there at all intact, is somatically. A music box, something like that. Or... A photo...?

[Maybe that was just Delta's own photo, that they were talking about on the tape. It's worth putting out there though.]

1/2

[superstylishsquid]

[Impressive how he can convey the impression of rolling his eyes without visible eye anatomy, isn't it?]

Something that would pull at her deeper feelings...yeah, that might work. A shame we don't have the twins' amulets...but...

[superstylishsquid]

...I think I know what was torn out of that photo of this house. And what was torn out of the Divine Comedy book.

[yesorwoof]

...is it their father? I don't really know. The floor is yours.

[She glances back at the table with its papers and everything.]

[superstylishsquid]

No, I think it was Dante and Vergil themselves, along with their namesakes.

I think...she hates how she feels when she sees images of them, or even of the people they were named for.

[somuchshipping]

[!]

DidWeBringAny PaperAndMarkers? ICouldMake ADrawingOfThem!

[godofblood]

An image? Do we have any of those?

[superstylishsquid]

I'm pretty good at drawing too, but I don't know that she'd give us time for that.

Has anyone found anything depicting kids with white hair, who look like they could be identical twins?

[onychomance]

I saw a photo of a family with twin babies... not sure if it was them, but shall I attempt?

[superstylishsquid]

Even if it isn't, it might stir something.

[onychomance]

I suppose we don't have any better ideas...

[Well, Kira will take whatever drawing implement is offered to him and try to recreate this image from memory.

It is the worst drawing you have ever seen.]

[superstylishsquid]

.....I think when I got here, I wrote in English better than you draw.

[exequte]

[Akane watches him draw this curiously.

After a moment she sort of walks around to get a different angle on it, wondering if this will in some way improve it.]

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes will just gently try to take the paper and pencil from Kira's hands and set them on the ground.]

...Kira, I can give you some drawing lessons after this.

MODS

[yesorwoof]

[Makima has been doing her rounds trying to intimidate the others into acknowledging Kira's drawing but it's clearly not going to work on Eva at this point. She slips off to the side. Closes her eyes. Opens them. Announces:]

If we need a substitute. Delta, I heard on the tape you might have had something that would suffice?

[yesorwoof]

I'm not much of an artist...

[Makima does have pencil and paper very often, as it so happens, and it can be available to Hermes now. But she speaks haltingly.]

But it makes sense. These shades of the two, they barely bear the image or scent. It could be possible to strengthen the effect further than what we've already seen.

So that she would have to leave? Alastor-kun, is the presence of Eva-chan's soul making this tree stronger than Nero believed?

[superstylishsquid]

She was a powerful Witch, so yeah, her soul would be incredibly potent as a power source for a demon.

And if we can incite enough conflict between her heart and the tree...maybe it'll be enough to let her soul pull loose. For her to be herself again.