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

[onychomance]

[yeah that's welcome. Zero EQ gang.]

I'm sure nobody actually believes what they are saying to her. They were all so indignant a second ago. And Akane has always seemed rather good at disarming people...

[lovedthemost]

She is very good at it. [it's worked on him and he knows it. He is also victim to Akane-san's charms]

Either they've suddenly changed their opinions or they've decided that they would rather take their chances with that than with fighting her.

[he's watching Val get smacked by a root tho]

...well. Not all of them.

[onychomance]

Was that cathartic? She did kill you.

[yesorwoof]

[Makima has been watching all this holding her red sword. She's stated her very specific and confident hypothesis that Eva and the tree were in a type of contract fueled by Eva's dream which is also why the tree is so much stronger than Nero estimated. She will not repeat that theory. But she has realized something new about the evidence in favor of her theory. She points her sword up at the fissured sky.]

Akane-chan, whether she knows it or not, is not mending Eva-chan's heart. She is breaking it.

[lovedthemost]

[Brain tilts his head back to see where Makima's pointing]

....ah. For better or for worse, it is at least getting through to her, I suppose.

cw violence/vore scenarios

[yesorwoof]

And the ship was enveloping us this entire time, you know. Such a horrific being. Who's to say we're not still inside something?

There are devils that can resurrect themselves from as little as a fingertip. Or can share their consciousness with another devil, even after their entire body is blown to shreds, as long as that fellow devil drank the blood that was spilt. And humans who take a devil inside them as their heart, like Chainsaw Man, who are the strongest fighters we have...

[Makima gives Kira a little glance. With her force of will, it's easy for Brain to assume that she's simply meeting Kira's jealousy.]

Then the human and devil can commune in a mental realm from their precious memories.

If we're in there, I can understand the caution.

[onychomance]

... I see. The illusion of the peaceful house is shattering. That should be our goal.

[Kira feels very weird about this.]

[hatesdeerstalkers]

Yes. Shatter her idyllic memories, and force her to face the truth of what she's been doing. Elementary, really.

[Just. Casually. As if it's normal for this kind of shit to happen.]