[closed] fractured light

[Talon]

T A L O N

“With haste, then.” He inclined his head to Avaerys. There was a stirring of curiosity as Avaerys referred to Rickter as a vassal but that was a conversation for another time. He gave another nod of acknowledgement to the Lady of Starlight as she arrived. He knew next to nothing about her other than it had been evident that the Masked Queen had allowed her the honor of standing beside her throne, a mark of clear favor that he was sure had not been lost on any who had been present in Pantheon.

Talon took his seat beside Rickter. As he did so, the light around them shifted to bring forth an illusory replica of what they had encountered. The jagged hole that had been torn in the fabric of the Plane of Light. Talon replayed the events that had transpired just a short time ago, projecting the memory from his mind into the world around them. When his memory reached the grotesque creatures that had crawled through and attacked them, he halted the illusion so that those gathered could see them.

“A crack in the Plane of Light drew my attention. I went to investigate it, to repair it, these are what crept out of the hole.” Rising from his seat, he stepped up to the illusory projection of the creature, walking slowly to inspect it.

“They assault the mind. Their bodies are resistant to aetheric manipulation. Not impervious but enough to be notable. Most concerning however…” He waved his hand and dismissed the illusion that played out in front of them. Stepping up to the three sarcophagi on the platform in front of them, he reached out to the stone and sculpted away the lids with a flick of his thoughts. A slight frown touched his features as he regarded them. Even in that short amount of time, the brackish ichor that was their blood had already begun to badly wear away not just the stone, but portions of their bodies were beginning to decompose.

“Their very essence eats away at aether in a way that I have never seen before. This is not like abjinurium, it is not a blocking of aethereal flow. It is the complete and total erosion of it.” Tapping into his command over Light and with his Masquerade, Talon projected a reconstruction of the aetheric pathways that he had initially encountered at the break in the Plane of Light. It was a complete fracturing of the aether, where it had been completely and utterly shattered or had simply been dissolved entirely. He manipulated the illusion to zoom out to show a complete remapping of the aetheric pathways that flowed throughout the entirety of the Plane of Light.

More of these holes were present. Some small. Some large. Some that were in the beginnings of forming. Something was corroding the very foundations of the Plane itself in a way that did not just disrupt its function, but erased it entirely.

“I repaired the hole that I found, but when I looked deeper, I found far more. I invited you here because your domains touch upon the Realm of Light. If this matter is occurring here, I worry it may have already seeped into your own. Whoever or whatever these creatures are, they acted subtly enough to escape my immediate notice.” He narrowed his eyes in irritation but brushed it off. Looking to Rickter, he considered his bondmate for a moment before proceeding.

“You are new to your godhood, so I shall explain a bit further.” The symbol of Light crowning Talon's nimbus shone brighter. In response, the Light across the plane answered. It moved and as it did so, the aethereal pathways foundational to its structure came more solidly into view. At the heart of all of those aethereal pathways, was Arcas, through which the Idea of Light flowed continuously and passively, augmented and supported by the very nature of the Plane around them.

“To be a god is to be more than just a being of great power. We are the Avatars of the Ideas we embody. We are the river through which those Ideas flow. Aedrin, in His wisdom, built the Elemental Planes as waystations through which the Ideas we embody flow and filter down to the Prime Material Plane. Thiovan, in Their wisdom, allowed us to construct the Abstract Planes across the Land of Nod. Absent these Planes, we ourselves become the sole pillar upholding them within the universe. A feat that would require our constant attention until that is all that we are, with every other aspect of us burned away, leaving nothing else.” He let that sink in so that Rickter could understand the weight of it. He knew that Avaerys, being among the more ancient deific powers, likely already knew this. He did not know if the Lady of Stars knew this but there it was.

“The destruction of one of these planes overlaps with and ripples across the others.” He looked to Avaerys and the Lady of Stars. “I propose an accord to find the root of this dilemma and deal with it.”

[Pharaoh]

Aværys inclined His head to Kala, as she entered the scene, and then to Lykos as he expressed gratitude, but the Imperator's golden gaze did not linger on the younger powers for long. It was the Lightbringer's call He had answered and, presumably, so had Kala. Arcas would be better poised to shed light upon the matter that inspired him to impose upon an ancient enemy in this manner, and so the deified golden elf proffered His undivided attention as Talon spoke and demonstrated.

"How unsightly." He grimaced, wrinkling His nose in distaste at the sight of the creatures displayed and described toward the beginning of Talon's presentation. The Solunarian patron God was a notorious æsthete, after all.

"A blight to light." Aværys summarised, as he considered Arcas' description which sounded more like a disease than a battle. "Surmisest thee that this be the result of a coordinated assault or the symptoms of an affliction? Be these creatures members of a vanguard or opportunistic parasites taking their vantages out of a convenient circumstance?" With those heady thoughts liberated from the temple of His mind, Aværys nodded.

"We are in agreeance with thine aim." Per Talon's own explanation there was, of course, a personal stake for Aværys that doubtless contributed to his prompt concession. "Thou hast now giv'n unto Us thine observations, Lightbringer. Hast thou withal suppositions from which We might extrapolate?" Talon had found this anomaly and spent more time with it than those who'd newly arrived. It was possibly he already had hypotheses, the which might accelerate their journey to victory over that which blighted his domain and threatened those of the others gathered.

[Kala Leukos]

.

What Talon showed them was certainly cause for alarm; Her mien gave little away, however, beyond a frown of concentration. He spoke of things She was only beginning to understand: She could build a holy place for Herself on Ransera, and eventually, She might have a realm of Her own beyond the bounds of Acillon. Just how She was supposed to go about doing so was beyond Her. But that was a matter for another time.

Lykos was here, having sworn Himself to the Divine Twins and now supporting Talon. They were the younger demigods, and for Her part, She mostly listened. Arcas and Streleon both had been killed. Talon and Aværys both had been incarcerated. That those more powerful than She had been laid low repeatedly only taught Her greater caution. And so She remained quite careful with revelations of her identity. In any case, it were better to keep Her mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and prove Herself one.

She had questions and She had thoughts, but She held them close to Herself for the time being. Some of them were leading, in any case, and She did not wish to lead them to Cintamani Pavilion or to places it were better She go alone to investigate. But She could not sit idly by if there were a threat to the world and it came through a domain adjacent and overlapping Her own. They could be a balanced cadre: two elder gods, two younger; two draegir, two moritasi. This seemed auspicious to Her.

In any case, despite the chaotic provenance of Her power, she did yearn for Unity.

An it be within my power, I will aid Ye.

The longer She bided in this realm of Light, the more it clung to Her. A fractal crown, ever-shifting, floated above Her head, and a stellar corona flowed around Her, though She had enough self-control that it only shone and did not burn. Impressive as the sights might be, however, She understood that She was not the protagonist of this tale. Fortunately, Her ego could withstand that knowledge.

.

[Rickter]

Ever since He had first awakened beyond the ascension experienced back then, Rickter always had nothing but questions regarding to the deific powers He'd inherited down in the Warrens. Most of that time spent learning to understand it fell on Lykos, His other state of being, but much of the significance had not remained lost on Rickter. Naturally, the coming instruction as to what Talon (Arcas as He also was) elaborated on regarding Avatars and their concepts born from Ideas overall.

It created a better headspace for grasping what was meant for Rickter and what He should expect when considering His own path moving forward. Is this similar to how you felt... Lykos? He pondered with a pensive gaze lowered to the shimmering floor, curious as the glimmer of light nearly shone His reflection back toward Him. It was not lost on the wolf after all, the fact that Lykos was slowly merging with Him. It had stirred Rickter to wish that His other half, this other part of Him born with a new sentience, such a personal sacrifice had not been necessary for the wolf's full return.

Regardless of how He felt, however, what was done is past. Lingering on it for comparisons hardly resolved the issue, only bred meaning to a significance more personal in the end. Currently, the issue at large remained the more pressing matter anyway, since the distinction in connection with these Planes seemed vividly clear. Boundary separation issues were more than just far cry in this scenario, as one could only imagine how Queen Naori would be upon seeing such chaos. Aværys's gilded gaze was enough of an observation for Rickter to witness, given the unsightly carcasses and their stench. He too beheld similar conclusions to theirs, and that was before these beasts were even dispatched.

Hearing both the assessment and agreement to join in the effort of a resolution, the Lady of Stars also affirmed compliant support on the matter also. Rickter noted that She remained more observant and reticent about the matter. As He could recall, She also must have been a newer divine power, a quality they both shared in that regard. A ponderance came as to whether He might learn more alongside Her, suggesting a private inclination to visit upon after this ordeal was dealt with.

Bearing in mind the question as to a feasible solution, a sense of rationale harmonized in the Frost King's thoughts. Lykos had grown intricately familiar with these moments, but the logic born from it remained of one sound mind. "If I might be so bold as to add..." He started somewhat lowly with a steady patience in His tone. "Mending tear after tear won't produce effective results. I think, an attempt at reaching the origin of the breach would resolve this issue best."

Not that He completely understood the depth of this idea, but if these tears throughout the Planes had a source, a network of aether to seal them shut could restore them all at once. Therein, however, also remained a world of complexities the wolf could not account for. Regardless, He wasn't discouraged to weave His powerful Negation wards into this yet. All the powers He possessed were naturally at the disposal of His allies; all that remained was to reach a viable conclusion on the approach of this obstacle. "If there is perhaps a nexus interconnecting the tears across Planes, then there may be a chance to seal out the breach from within." He posited with a steady gaze toward Talon, slowly drawing a conclusion as to where that could lead if it seemed a sound start.

Naturally, He was privy to remain open to what His Bondmate had to say, and Rickter felt ready to carry out whatever conclusion had been reached.

[Talon]

T A L O N

“That is unclear.” He did not have nearly enough insight into the situation to give Avaerys that kind of answer. “More will have to be explored to determine whether these creatures are merely opportunistic or intentional.”

He inclined his head to the Lady of Stars as she obliged to provide support for this endeavor. When Rickter spoke up, giving his thoughts on the existence of a potential nexus that was creating these tears in the planar boundaries, Talon considered it.

“If such a point of origin exists, it does not lay within the Plane of Light that I could see. If it can be found, that would cut the problem off at the head. The endeavor would then be to find it.” Talon extended a hand to the sarcophagi in front of him. He clenched his hand into a fist while simultaneously making a slow gesture of withdrawal with his other hand. The rock and stone of the sarcophagi reformed over the decaying corpses while the air within them was drawn out completely. Into his hand a single lodestone of air formed for the siphoned air to gather. When the sarcophagi sealed, they were completely devoid of any air or exposure to the outside world.

“Our first steps are to learn the nature of what it is we are dealing with. To that, I offer this.” Pocketing the air lodestone, he made a gesture toward Avaerys. One of the sarcophagi slid toward the other demigod.

“Solunarium is home to some of the finest minds in Ransera. If you would command your scholars to examine these remains, there might be secrets yet to uncover. I shall take one corpse as well, to be examined by the Mage-Priests of my Order.” He rest his hands at the small of his back.

“Second, the holes existing and the holes forming that I could see were numerous. I have not looked through the Light of other Planes yet to search for more but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not an isolated incident. As yours are the realms that overlap my own, I would urge you to look and do so swiftly.” He stepped up to the third sarcophagus, touching a hand to its surface with a slight frown.

“Finally, I would advise that we recruit those faithful or those who can be persuaded to lend themselves to the task ahead. Even we cannot be everywhere at once. While we search for a potential source of these incursions, we might offer rewards to those who aid us in our mission.” He looked to the assembled demigods.

“A joint endeavor for faith and fortune for those who seek either. When we know and discover more, we may reconvene to decide on a proper course of action. Do you find this acceptable?”

[Pharaoh]

Aværys shut His golden eyes and spake through His mind and blood to a direct scion of His line: Vrædyn Princeps Pontifex, the Radiant princely priest of the Unbroken Line who bore His mark.

"My salient one, My chosen... We have a task for thee. Instruction and specimens will, anon, find thee. Await Us in thy prædium and summon thine argent counterpart to attend Us withal."

To those who might be observing Him in the Plane of Light, it was but a second's blink, and His luminous eyes snapped back open as He nodded to Arcas.

"'Tis done." As Talon came to the summation of his scheme, Aværys pursed His lips in thought.

"We are amenable for the nonce, but would fain mark the timing and nature of this incident as being worthy of note. Not long is Ransera beyond its prolonged Eclipse and, now, a new darkness impinges upon the realm of Light. Our subjects dealt directly with that last blight, and We would advise ye to bear in mind that these pernicious plights might be bound beyond our current ken." With that sentiment expressed, Aværys hovered over the sarcophagi and cast his golden gaze upon them.

It seemed that, at least for now, the former foes found themselves once more in accord. Perhaps this was the sort of unity that Kala instilled, but this was a precarious peace and the Solunarian God-Emperor would need to investigate the situation further to extend His assent beyond the boundaries of his caveat: For the nonce. There was clearly more in play than was evident here at the outset, but their proposed endeavour was in the interest of enlightenment, so surely more would become plain as they toiled to that end.

[Kala Leukos]

.

Kala observed, coolly distant as any star as seen from the ground. She was aloof, but not absent. She was thinking.

If Aværys and Varvara had a specimen, it was possible she could find a way to bring samples to her own laboratory and perhaps even to the great minds of Sol'Valen without revealing her full identity to the draegir. All in due time. In the meantime, if she could fully understand the nature of these tears, she could bequeath that understanding to Torin, whose genius might craft her some tool to stitch up these tears like fine embroidery.

My realm yet remains Acillon. If any star sings of such a breach, I will ensure it is made known to Ye.

As a mortal woman, she had more experience working with Talon and Lykos; as a young goddess, she had more experience with the moritasi. Talon had Lykos' assistance, so she would work more closely with the Divine Twins until such time as she had more to offer for her own part. This seemed balanced.

She did not share the history of enmity that Arcas and Streleon did, and she offered no caveats to her assistance. But Talon had Kalzasi and the Dawnmartyrs and Aværys had Solunarium. She would perforce be a smaller cog in this machine, albeit important or she wouldn't have been asked.

For now, she considered whether these extra-planar creatures could be caught in the fiery embrace of a star or the smothering embrace of a black hole.

.

[Rickter]

At the prospect of finding a solution, it seemed there remained too many unknowns to conclude the best possible approach currently. Though ideally, finding what could hopefully be a nexus between these tears did seem promising, there remained too much mystery to simply determine whether it was feasible. Exploration into these tears had been deemed another venture to consider, but therein remained more to the situation that their benevolent Lord of Light had to share on the situation. Watching the lodestone as it had been formed, the Wolf pondered what the next steps would likely involve. It would seem further research into these creatures would be necessary to further their approach into the unknown, a task that was to be split between Lord Aværys and even Lady of the Stars; as well as those within the ranks of the Order and Kalzasi.

Rickter could only imagine what House Briathos would discover with such samples of a specimen available to them. He had not forgotten the rather thorough and intensive care Queen Sahfri had gone through with one such subject in particular. The first task remained clear as day to the Wolf, however, beyond research there also remained the issue of the holes themselves. While the Frost Draegir could see that the other two deific powers seemed capable of handling this, He on the other hand felt a bit more stunted and incapable in that regard. I've yet to access any realm related to my own Domain...

Well, about that... Lykos at last chimed in within their shared mindspace together. It's within reason to assume that the Plane of Ice would be where our Domain is the strongest. Getting there won't be simple without interplanar travel, of course. A pensive stare cast Rickter's gaze to the floor once more, as He considered the challenges involved with finding such a mage who could attempt such a feat. Telion and Hannah still had their own Runes of Traversion, but, regardless of their prowess they had never been to such a place to begin with. Spatial Mapping there would be nigh impossible without further aid.

Curiously, He then looked toward Talon's back with considerable thought. Perhaps this is something I should inquire with Talon, after the conclusion of this meeting. Lykos made no response but the thought alone was sound enough, so much that the agreement to the idea felt there between the two of them. Finally, recruiting those who might be ultimately instrumental to the cause, whether it be among those of considerable faith or determinable loyalty to the task itself. Rickter knew only few who He could personally reach out to, but as for those with Faith were of a different matter to Him entirely. He hadn't actively sought to build a following even in His return to the waking world, but naturally, there were those around Kalzasi who likely already spread word of His feats over the season.

Monumental undertakings all around it would seem...

I don't think it would be so difficult, We have managed to accomplish a few great deeds after all. To that point, Rickter could see the reason, since the cleansing of Lake Udori was a significant task in its own right as well. But with that light inner conversation between them undertaken within just a few seconds, the Wolf rested His shoulders into the back of the chair He sat within. His fellow cohorts on the matter not only agreeably amenable to the cause, but considerate of how they would already begin with the first of their task list. Rickter partially felt a sense of incompetence given his disposition, but pushed those underlying thoughts aside, given He only needed to apply Himself firsthand.

"I concur also, and will approach this matter with due focus." He admitted with a sense of determination in his gaze, along with a small sense of comfort in knowing His bondmates would help where they could along the way.

[Talon]

T A L O N

“I agree that the timing of these events is noteworthy. We shall endeavor to uncover if there is more to be seen here.” Stepping forward, he drew upon his mastery of both Traversion and ability to travel to Pantheon at will. He opened a portal for the visiting demigods, motioning toward it.

“Thank you for coming. A portal to Pantheon, if you have need of it.” While he knew that Avaerys likely had it well within his power to travel to and from wherever he wished via the medium of his own divine realm, he knew nothing of the abilities of the Lady of Stars. He would also not intrude or assume to know where they wished to go from here. Pantheon had the means to provide travel for any of the Powers that visited its halls.

“When I have uncovered more, I shall be certain to share it amongst us.” With that, he lowered his hand, but kept the portal open long enough for it to be used by whomever wished to.

R E W A R D S

Name: Rickter
XP: +10 XP, may be used for Negation.

Name: Kala
XP: +10 XP

Name: Talon
XP: +10 XP

Note(s): Thank you for joining us, Pharaoh! I did not really count this thread as a mod-bomb or moderated collaboration because Pharaoh's role was not that of performing an intervention or story direction so much as facilitating the use of an NPC that requires his involvement. Feel free to reach out to me if you would like that changed. Thank you everyone!