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]

[AKANE IS JUST GOING TO BE GOING AROUND HUGGING EVERYBODY WHO USED TO BE DEAD! YALL GETTING HUGGED.]

[pegasinister]

[Hubert watches her running around, picking up some red orbs Alastor hasn't already snatched]

...he seems like a good man.

[He nods towards Kaito, specifically]

[exequte]

[HE'S GETTING HUGGED TOO]

He is!

We did it!

Hubert, we did it!!

[pegasinister]

[Before Hubert had not been particularly fond of the boy. But now, with wiser eyes, he realizes why.

He reminds him so damn much of Ferdinand.

Maybe that's why he hopes things work out between him and Akane- it's important to have some pure, simple, untainted good in your life]

That we did, somehow.

[exequte]

[It is good to have something like that, and maybe that's part of why she does love him, because he is good, and pure, and in some ways just so very uncomplicated. But she loves Hubert too, albeit in a different way, and after a moment, eyes bright, she'll step back from her hug and take him by the hand, then pull him over to hug both of them at once.]

[pegasinister]

Guh!!

[HE WILL ACCEPT HUGGING FROM YOU MA'AM BUT NOT THIS MULTIPERSON HUGGING, ARE YOU TRYING TO TURN HIM INTO A SLUT???]

[exequte]

[HUG!SLUT HUBERT'S CORRUPTION HAS ALREADY BEGUN HE IS POWERLESS TO STOP IT]

[pegasinister]

[dragging him into your polygamous hug cult, fiend]

[exequte]

[get used to it, bud. he is in hug central now. he'll think he's safe and then BAM! from nowhere! hug.]

[15unknowns]

Akane!!

[Yes, Aoi was there and was back to life and was also fighting. No, I didn't put it in. But now?

Now Akane has an Aoi running towards her.]

[exequte]

[Yeah he was just around here Somewhere. But now? Now the fighting is over, and he is here, and she is here, and she will also rush at him and hug him tight, and then promptly burst into tears.]