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

[exequte]

[She smiles, just a little. She still has the other photos.]

Yes. They seem happy, right?

[Carefully she begins to sort through the other photos that they've found, offering them one by one.

At one, stained by blood and soot and torn, of the house behind them, she pauses, looking up, her eyes bright with tears, but she's forcing a brave smile.]

I bet you were happy here, right? I bet you hated losing what you had.

[daxzum]

--where did you find that.

[Her eyes narrow as she stares at the torn photo.]

[exequte]

[Her eyes are steady as she looks at her, but she doesn't answer.]

[daxzum]

...Do you know? This was my blood. I had this with me in hell. It gave me hope as I pulled myself together.

[The branches curl around her as she looks away.]

Only to wake up and see carnage. Destruction. Everything gone wrong. Don't you see?

[exequte]

Of course I see.

My father died, and then my mother killed herself when I was six. My brother and I were the only things that we had. And then someone tried to take us away from each other too. They threatened to blow us up. They tried to burn me. And we were different, after that. But... it never changed who we were to each other. That kind of thing doesn't change so easily.

[daxzum]

I never changed.

[Her hands clench.]

They changed...they became...those monsters, fighting in a place, just like this...

[exequte]

Was this....

[Akane turns and gestures around her, behind her, at the tree high around them and the empty ground down below]

... really what you always were? I don't believe that. Not when you care so much about what happened to all those people. Not when it's caused you this much pain, that all this....

This was the only way you knew to handle it.

The only way to stop changing is to die, but even then, that's not really true, because your body still decays. But just because something is changed... that doesn't mean it's worse.

[daxzum]

.......



I want my children back. I want them back.

[exequte]

Eva....

They're right there.

They....

I don't... know them very well. They weren't on the ship with us. But....

They miss you too. They love you too.

Why have you given up on them? Don't! You're willing to fight to have them back again, and you have the chance!

[daxzum]

No...no, they're not!

[She doesn't sound quite so certain, though.]

[voidseeing]

What do you think they're fighting for?

[daxzum]

I know why they were fighting. I know what Vergil did.

[voidseeing]

Oh?

[Go on...]

[somuchshipping]

Everyone changes. Including me... I once learned that just sitting back and watching everyone else do things and decide things was the safest option available to me so I wouldn't be hurt anymore. I just sat there watching people die when I could save them.

Sometimes people die. But sometimes, they don't. A lot of people here are looking after me and care about me. They want me to make decisions of my own. And it's terrifying. It still is.

[Hermes looks to the GigantiCrew.]

...But they're still here to care about me and support me. And...

WE want to support YOU. I know what it's like to try hiding your pain for so long. But you don't have to do things on your own.

[Hermes will offer a footclaw to grab.]

Even though deciding for yourself is terrifying... scary... we'll ALL support you.

[daxzum]

...................


[She stares at the footclaw.]

Why are you doing this?

[somuchshipping]

Because I choose to. It's my decision.

[yesorwoof]

If you can pull yourself back together...

Then maybe your own blood will come back into you.

Try it.

[superstylishsquid]

In the captain's quarters on the ship. Is it the photo you were talking about?

[daxzum]

...

[She doesn't respond. She simply stares at the photo.]

[exequte]

This place means something to you still, right? That's why you made it here.

But it's not the places that mean anything, not really. It's the people who were there, and the memories that were made in them.

[godofblood]

...even the gods have loved ones. But. You had no one, didn't you.

[superstylishsquid]

We found something else there, too.

[He knows where to look for this one. A brief rummaging is all it takes to present her with a set of check stubs, signed T. Redgrave, and dedicated for funeral expenses, rebuilding expenses, and a survivors' fund.]

You said you don't think Dante cares about the damage he causes? These are in his handwriting...I think they're about the destruction of Red Grave City.

[daxzum]

......................

[superstylishsquid]

If he really didn't care, would he have spent this much money to help the survivors of the Qliphoth? Especially when he has so much debt he could've used it for instead.

[godspiousjasper]

Someone who didn't care about the destruction he caused and the people who got hurt as a result? Wouldn't be going about doing such things as this.