Lion Before Winter reaction 1435 Words
Now this is interesting: does the Winter connotation refer to the fact that we're on track to get Once and Future and thus the King of Winter title? Or is there a deeper Winter connection here given the aesthetic of tears?
They bid the vendor farewell and stepped into the passageway, the trellised door creaking ominously shut behind them. The passage was dim and poorly maintained, light skirling off the periphery of one's eyes like will-o-the-wisps, darting and shifting as they moved.
Vendor "Oh. They decided to go now. Huh. Convenient but huh, I assumed they would prepare more.
Maybe get into some sort of stance that could defeat any danger first."
"What is that?" Letrizia complained, blinking her eyes shut to drown out the disorienting movement of the light.
"Spatial magic," Gisena explained quietly. "It's an artifact of how heavily space is compressed here. The builders must not have been very skilled, or they could have compensated for the effect!"
On one hand its interesting to think of how visual light refraction being an unpleasant experience is a result of how space folding interacts negatively with how light normally bounces off of the walls, skittering as it would in an annoying fashion.
On the other hand Gisena what's the point of being quiet if you're just going to end your sentence with an exclamation declaration?
"Or they simply didn't care about the help," Hunger said.
Somehow that doesn't seem right, if only because everyone and their dog has mythical magics up to the gills.
I can't help but wonder if there's an actual magic or mythical power in this realm if you make a secret passage way seem poorly maintained and badly lit, so it better fits the image of how its supposed to look out of a fairy tale. Everything in this whole kingdom is playing off of thematic reasoning after all, why not this?
"Come now, would you attribute so uncharitable a posture to the royal family of Mirellyian?" Gisena teased. "Are you not both royalty, bound by honor and common interest to defend each other's rights?"
Real talk Gisena, do you know how royalty of differing polities work?
This is important if you're going to be our Princess Regent!
Namely, Kings conquer neighboring kingdoms while taking advantage of their weaknesses all the time!
Sure kings maintain the
structure that lets them be kings, but the specific rulers...?
"That doesn't obligate me to like them," he observed. "Case in point, my Princess Regent is fond of causing me frequent vexation."
Horrific thought: the medieval kingdoms of England and France having the same relationship Gisena and Hunger have. Would explain a lot of the regional conflicts...
"You could just not play along," Aobaru said helpfully. Gisena's eyes glowed faintly emerald in the shadow as Aobaru lit an illuminating flame. For a while they walked in silence.
Aobaru's best line in the quest so far. And he said it straight faced and 'helpfully' too! Oh how I regret that we didn't get King and Court.
No longer after they reached a fork in the path, the left side caved-in, the right blocked by a shimmering waterfall. Hunger glanced at Gisena, who stepped forth, already examining the rightwards juncture.
"It's... a domain," she frowned. "The territory of some supernatural creature, with wards of shielding and divination. The vendor didn't mention anything like this. Think it's a trap?"
Unless the servants were regularly expected to take magic waterfall showers every time they cleaned the service entrance. Which, come one. This isn't Gringotts. Though can you imagine the whiplash if it turned out Adorie was a Harry Potter style goblin all along when she was locked away in this tower? You expected a fair maiden who spun straw into gold, but it was me! Princess Rumplestiltskin!
"Possibly. And the other side?"
"Wholly mundane, except for the usual magics."
Man I'm going to be so annoying if there was this Astral Cat capable of shrugging off praxis style Cut Through blue and able to inflict wounds so deep that a being just a few steps below Accursed couldn't heal on one side, but on the other side the Lord Protector was relying on just literal rubble making the path inconvenient to defend against the left route.
"Halt," came a voice from the right, and Hunger felt a fell energy shiver down his spine.
A beast padded forward, a female lion with eyes of kaleidoscopic pink and grey, the sigil of an inverse E across her forehead. She stopped at the waterfall boundary and observed them with keen intent, the Pressure of her Astral presence like a curtain thrown across the world. The Forebear's Blade trembled greedily in his hand.
You know, is this one of the first times we'd had the Forebear's Blade anthromorphized like this. Evening Sky moves and trembles like Doctor Strange's cloak, the Ring is basically it's own sideways intelligence, but up until now we've just had the blade being a stoic presence like the Forebear.
A worthy opponent at last. Since he'd killed the Rotbeast it'd had nothing but scraps. The Doom of the Tyrant flared within him. He would not be commanded by this creature, this monstrous beast. Not now, and not ever.
And here we get hints of how badly Tyrant's Doom can mangle social interaction. I hadn't realized that he had taken 'Halt' as a trigger instead of the opening to communication until rereading it again.
Gisena stepped back politely, but Hunger pressed forward, blue of the Praxis already materializing across his blade's edge.
The creature took a step back. "Please. I do not wish to harm you. Were we to battle, neither of us would escape unscathed. In actuality I come bearing a gift for one of you."
Oh. Whoops, sorry for voting to pick the options that would have ended with your death, Astral Cat. Nothing personal, I just thought Runes of Mastery were cooler.
Hunger stopped, tide of the waterfall sheeting and humming over the edge of his blade, its supernal sharpness splitting the ward-magics down to their core.
Man, this image is just really cool to me. A sword so sharp that even standing perfectly still it's having a noticeable effect on the world as natural processes split before it.
Hey Rihaku, how many more steps of Cut Through until we can split atoms in the air at rest? Just a constant inconvenient low level nuclear explosion!
"The Lord Protector summoned me to intercept you," The creature said. "But I see now that our mutual opposition would be folly. So long as the Chosen One travels alongside you, our interests are aligned. I, too, would see this Realm restored to its former glories."
It stared at Aobaru. "Come forth, Chosen One. Allow me to take a look at you."
"Not too far forward," Hunger said casually. "Don't let it lunge at you."
"It won't kill you though. Liz or Aeria? Could die pretty easy. But not you my pupil, you were not a voting option."
"Chosen One? Me?" Aobaru said dumbly, coming to a halt half a handspan behind Hunger.
"The legacy of the Builders lives on within you," the lioness explained. "Only you can re-activate the control array located at Realm's center. Power beyond the uttermost imaginings of your presently-mortal mind, should you prove worthy to hold it. But you are not awakened yet... Your potential lies curiously dormant. The hour of destiny has not yet come for you. I could change that, awaken what slumbers within. It would be a gradual transition, and you may attract dangers beyond your personal capacity to handle, but your friend the Praehihr should keep you well in stead. He seems eager for a fight, regardless."
Guilty as charged, all knowing astral cat.
But come on, eventually
one of the Foremost's servitors has to give us some credit for being a Praehihr right? It would be nice if we could eventually talk down someone with that status alone.
"That sounds pretty amazing," Aobaru said cautiously, "But how do we know that any of what you're saying is true? This... this is crazy. Why me?"
"An accident of circumstance," the lioness shrugged. "Or perhaps something deeper. I would have you awakened to your potential. That is the only price I request for the safe passage of your entire party to the Princess' Tower... and the information I bear on the Lord Protector himself."
Actually, a good question to ask might be "how would Aobaru have awakened his potential organically?"
Was that just a process of time, as hinted at when it says 'before his hour?'
Or is there some sort of ritual or accompanying Foremost weapon he was supposed to take up? And more importantly, can he still do it and gain even more benefit?
"I'm surprised at your latitude of action," Gisena commented. "He summoned you, but you wriggled very adroitly out of those bindings! Yet you don't resemble any of the Astral denizens I've met at all... I wonder where he got you from?"
Haha... something... something to be wary of now that we have Astral Summoning ourselves, I suppose.
"A place halfway between here and there," the lioness nodded, nudging the supernal blue of Hunger's blade-edge. Her muzzle came up fully against the cutting blue, and yet she was not cut.
Haha well. That would have gone badly.
Sure we would have eventually been able to win.
But just imagine Hunger's expression when he would have first tried to Cut Through in a combat setting and instead of doing so the Forebear's blade just bonks off of her fur.
It would be almost funny if the next second he wasn't going to get mauled/let Liz or Aeria die as a result of his own under estimation of Lord Protector and his summons.
His eyes widened. A being from somewhere along the gradient between this base reality and the true fundament beneath. Did it inhabit the same realm he'd ventured into to strike against the Rotbeast? What was the Lord Protector that he could call upon such a creature?
Stronger than us right now apparently. Let's aim to correct that!
"I'll do it," Aobaru said. "If it gets us past you without having to fight, and also gives us intel on this Lord Protector guy... it sounds like a good deal to me. What do I have to do?"
Oh huh, changed your mind a bit on the suitability of Lord Protector running this realm?
Eh, I guess it's simple pragmatism since we've already committed to this course of action.
"Nothing," said the lioness. "Simply stand there."
There was an instinct in him to halt this, to have the boy re-consider the precipitous course to which he'd agreed, but Hunger stilled himself. Much as he'd like to intervene, it was ultimately Aobaru's choice. That he personally had suffered from his stint as hero of destiny did not mean the boy was doomed to the same. Certainly not if he had anything to say about it.
This is honestly way more put together than I thought Hunger would be in the face of a boy becoming a Chosen One, responsibility that's explicitly before he's even supposed to bear it.
Good for Hunger. Let's reward him with more mental stability!
The lioness gently stalked forward and laid a paw against Aobaru's hand. There was a brief flare of magenta light and Aobaru gasped.
Now, it's time for the thread's favorite gameshow:
Thematically Relevant Color or Just Description Text!
Prizes are distributed if it turns out that magenta connects to the blue of praxis somehow, and nothing happens if it does not.
"Whoa. I- whoa..."
"Now then," the creature continued, "As I have turned wholly against my summoner, we have limited time before the terms of my conjuring result in my inevitable banishment. Your chief priority must be the defense of the Chosen One; with the forces arrayed against him you can scarce afford further distractions. I cannot see your full intentions but I assume you will not be deterred from your opposition of the Lord Protector. In your current state you have very little chance of opposing him directly."
Your priority maybe, Cat. Our number 2. I get that you want your petting zoo job back but we also have other, prior obligations that we already agreed to uphold.
She paused and trembled, cracks like splintering stone forming across her back. Through them peered a light of unearthly paleness, like the sun filtered through clouds.
Well now that doesn't sound pleasant at all. Poor shiver cat.
The lioness licked her lips and continued. "He is owed many favors by the foremost entities of this Realm of Myth. That said, you are a Praehihr and capable of progression beyond limit... look into the armamentarium of Mirellyian dynasty. They harbor artifacts that would work perfectly with your style of magic. The Tower itself is forged of the same material as your incomplete Cloak of Sky. Marshal your powers quickly and seek aid from the legions of House Eruntael. You may be sheltered against many divinations but your companions are not. The next entity he sends against you may lack my raw potency, but will be more finely-tailored to-"
Take note, everyone.
Even if the agreement was binding, Astral Cat was still able to betray her summoner and give no less than five pieces of actionable intelligence, each of which in character was new information to us and will help us take down the person who bound her.
Beware what we call up in our summoning, because even if we get an agreement we're happy with something on the scale of this level of information leak of our strengths and weaknesses could still happen. And we're not lucky enough to get away with just minimal harm if it does.
At last the lioness could continue no further, the speed of her disintegration hastening until with a thunderous crack the fissures overtook her entirely. Like pulverized stone she shattered, leaving only fragments and dust behind, and the waterfall receded steadily, become an intermittent dribble.
Interesting that a little of the water remains there are all, honestly. I wonder if we could bottle it? Use it as a summoning regent to bring back Astral Cat at a later date?
Are summoning regents even a thing, actually? Things to look into once we have the signs to do magic with.
"Well," Hunger blinked. "That was a lot to take in." They had underestimated both the speed and the resourcefulness of this Lord Protector. Had they been forced to fight, would he have won here?
Us, apparently, though at great cost. It's good that Hunger is actually reconsidering the threat profile here, just because we make bad decisions doesn't mean that Hunger can't learn from our mistakes!
"Whoa..." Aobaru said once more, before snapping out of his reverie. "That... was..."
"Care to share with the class?" Letrizia said archly.
Jealous Liz? Don't worry girl, we'll have your arc up next, okay?
He rubbed his brow. "I can't really describe it with words. She showed me a little bit of what the Voyaging Realm used to look like, millions of years ago. I think it - the section I saw - was some kind of amusement park."
And so all those jokes about a thrill park and Cursebearer Land have come home to roost. Somehow that doesn't even surprise me.
"An amusement park?" Aeira said slowly.
He shook his head. "I know how it sounds. But I don't mean that in a frivolous way. They took amusement very seriously. The being we just met, she used to be part of their analogue to a petting zoo. A protector and companion for the kids that were dropped off while their parents and older siblings went on the rides."
I wish we had theme parks where 'leave small child in the care of specially bred defense lions while we enjoyed the latest roller coaster' was a viable option.
I wish we still just had regular theme parks honestly.
"And she wants her job back?" Letrizia guessed. "Even after millions of years. Wholly committed to her purpose, just like Verschlengorge. The Foremost sure knew how to make 'em."
I made this joke before, but, Five Million Years at Astral Lioness' coming to a Voyaging Realm experience near you
"Okay, roller-coaster tycoon," Hunger said amusedly. "We know you've got to revive the dilapidated park, but did you get any tactically useful information from this glimpse? What were the Foremost like? Were they humanoid in appearance? Did they display any unusual capabilities? Any hints as to the nature of the forces coming for you?"
And again, Hunger picked the absolutely
strangest things to keep when he cut his memory in half and forgot so many formative things. Wonder if he played a lot.
"Nothing on that last one," Aobaru shook his head. "It was wild. There were dimensions involved that I can't really describe, and I don't know if it was purely metaphorical, but they looked like humans to me. More or less regular humans, though some of them had some pretty sick mods. Elf, orc, kind of like the stuff you'd see in Voyaging City but way more refined."
I recommend the new anime Deca-Dence for the feel this is giving me.
"Speaking of Voyaging City," Letrizia mused, "I really should be getting back... it's no hurry though! I want to stay with you guys and develop my Element as much as I can!"
I've made my case for this above but I'll keep hammering on this drum.
"Unconcerned with matters imperial?" Hunger raised an eyebrow.
Letrizia pouted. "Just let me have this, okay! It's nice to be free, even if I'm just following you guys around. Besides, there's no place safer than next to my bodyguards!"
Looks at the number of votes that were cool with her dying
Ah ha... maybe we should get you to a safe place.
"Flattery will get you nowhere." Hunger turned to Aobaru. "I've been involved in the Chosen One business before. It never goes as trivially as they say. We'll do our best to make sure you have it easier than I did, but be prepared for severe adversity. When we're done here I'll tell you a bit about what I went through. It's not something I'd wish upon any but my worst enemies."
Now I want to hear those war stories!
"Don't set yourself up as some sort of mentor figure," Letrizia said worriedly. "Those are almost always fated to die!"
And in the Realm of Myth that's more of a concern than it normally would be.
"Fate promises many things," Hunger said bitterly. "It rarely delivers. And if it wants a piece of me, I would welcome the opportunity."
Honestly kind of sad we didn't get A Promise Kept because there's something really appealing to me thematically about a thought dead destiny finally being able to pick itself up and be fulfilled.
