tushanshu_logs | Blinded by Faith

Entry tags:

Blinded by Faith

Characters: Valdis, Kratos and, later, Raine and others
Date: May 14th, 2017 (2018 in game)
Location: The Ritual Chamber beneath the Palace Gardens
Situation: Valdis, searching for answers regarding Malicant, has decided to meditate where he once had his followers sacrifice countless kedan and pour their blood into Tu Vishan.
Warnings/Rating: Pain, Possession, Blood and Violence

Recent events hadd left Valdis feeling ill. The accusations leveled at her over the network, her 'fight' with Pepper. Her attempts to distance herself from people she cared about to protect them from potential scrutiny. Perhaps she was overreacting, but she needed to do something. That something came to mind when she was cleaning out one of the drawers in her office and she found the keys to the sealed palace underground. She had once planned to revisit the place where Malicant had solidified his power. She needed answers that no one, not even the cultists, could give her.

The last time she had been in the ritual chamber, Dante had to threaten to shoot her to get her to leave and she doubted the lingering death had faded so much that she could handle it alone. So she messaged the one person whom she felt wouldn't ask too many questions and still agree to help. Now she waited underneath the tree, having left Revelations at her home because she felt the blade may interfere with her ability to merge with the darkness. The night was just beginning, hopefully he would actually show up, Valdis didn't relish doing this alone.

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Raine had more lately become accustomed to feeling that sort of mana, the light and the gathering and the suddenness of it. Her work wasn't time-sensitive and if an angel was arriving so quickly, then likely something was wrong; Raine set down her pen and took up her staff, and headed for the courtyard she knew well.

Kratos, it seemed, had already started moving, for she ran into him before she reached the courtyard in question. He carried-- Valdis?

Something must have gone wrong indeed. "What happened?" she asked, already moving to direct them somewhere Kratos could put Valdis down.

Valdis opened her eyes just in time to see the wings made of light vanish into nothingness. She flinched, an involuntary response to legends of angels, but the angels in her world lacked wings. Kratos' pace was brisk, so she wasn't sure how long she was trying to process the information before she heard footsteps headed toward them. She turned her head at the sound of Raine's voice, smiling sheepishly. She must be a sight, with blood streaks from her eyes and nose, it might have been funny considering how many times similar things had happened, except the situation did not warrant amusement.

"I went back into the Ritual Chamber," she replied, looking at the ground, "Something was down there Raine, it tired to take over, but the Void forced a reset..."

A flinch was better than a recoil, or an attempt to be put down. Kratos would take it. He nodded at Raine, obeying her direction.

So there had been something down there. "She was shaking," he explained, "and bleeding from her eyes and nose. Her mana changed shape, and then suspended for a moment. I believe I've healed any injuries, but her mana still seems off, to me. Do you feel it?"

The difference had felt stronger in the chamber.

Raine would be more concerned for anyone who wasn't Valdis; fresh blood meant injuries. Valdis, however, was healed. ...And yet not strong enough to walk on her own.

Her expression grew more troubled as she drew Kratos and Valdis into a solitary room and directed Kratos to set Valdis down on the bed. "By that you mean the Void killed you?" she inquired, with the blank sort of professionalism about Valdis's potential death that came from having been exposed to Valdis's nature more than a few times. "What sort of thing, and how did it try to take over?"

At Kratos's prompting Raine tilted her head and half-closed her eyes, considering Valdis with senses that weren't sight, carefully shaping her own mana. "Inspect magic. ...hm."

That wasn't a good feeling; as far as mana went, Raine had only experienced similar in places both dark and full of hate. When she broke off her expression was tighter around the eyes, and her mouth drew down a little. Concerned.

"Yes," Valdis replied as Kratos put her down. She was strong enough to sit up on her own, she might even be able to stand, but not worth trying now. "It tried to fight off the intruder, but it wasn't strong enough." Which was deeply troubling. "My ka went at it too, but she couldn't hold it back either...It wanted to know what has been going on in Keeliai for the last few years, it...has been trapped? I didn't want to tell it anything, so it decided to tear the information from my memories. If the Void hadn't stopped my heart, it might have done more than that."

Valdis watched Raine closely as she used her spell, not entirely heartened by the look on the woman's face.

"What?"

Kratos set Valdis down gently and then stepped back, crossing his arms and frowning. So the suspension of her mana had been a death, of a kind -- though a process Raine was familiar with, it seemed. That was unnerving.

Ka wasn't something Kratos immediately recognised either, though it sounded like a word he knew from the Triet area in days long past. Either way, it sounded like Valdis wasn't alone in her soul at the best of times, let alone now.

"If the intruder is gone, it's left something behind," he said grimly. "Your mana is usually light and darkness combined -- I'm guessing this Void is the darkness?" He glanced toward Raine for confirmation, more than Valdis, seeing as Raine was more familiar with mana. "It feels demonic, but honestly so. This -- other presence -- seems more like a blight, or a sickness."

Either it had poisoned Valdis in some fashion, or hadn't actually left. Either option was not a good one. Valdis was weakened, but didn't seem ill; but that didn't mean much. Mana corruption wasn't instantaneous.

Kratos wasn't wrong. Raine nodded to him, agreeing. "Something like that, yes. The Void is -- a complicated interference. I've dealt with it before." Kratos would intuit for himself, more than likely, that it didn't like light; or, if the situation arose, she would inform him, but it was something Valdis had brought to her initially in confidence. "I'm put a little in mind of the Devil's Arms, in point of fact--" Kratos was from a different time, naturally, but perhaps he knew something of them in his age. "Do you know anything of them, or of Abyssion?"

That was getting a little aside from herself, but it might be a useful point of comparison. Raine looked back to Valdis, clearly troubled now. "That's... a strong intruder, to be able to fight both such things. Do you know what it got, or what else it might have wanted? And... hm. It's possible I may be able to purify what remains with Resurrection, but as I believe I've mentioned, that arte has the potential to behave idiosyncratically across world boundaries."

"A blight?" That definitely did not sound like something she wanted, but at least it was a minor thing compared to what could have happened. She didn't understand the exchange between Raine and Kratos, but that didn't sound encouraging either, nor did the admission that whatever it was had been powerful. She had never been so grateful for the Void, and she didn't think that was a good thing.

"I don't particularly want another passenger hanging around," she commented, "One is enough."

But the entity had been strong. If it left something behind, would that fragment hold on just as tightly? But not trying to expel it could be just as dangerous. She didn't need another dark creature festering inside of her essence.

"We can at least try."

"Abyssion?" Kratos tipped his head, his frown deepening. "No, I've heard of no such person. The Devil's Arms and Nebilim, however, yes -- he was a legend from some centuries before my time. I know he was real, because the demons in Nilfheim spoke of him."

What they said had made Kratos glad Nebilim had been killed long before he was ever born, and hope that Nebilim never managed to return. ... He was about to find out Lloyd had fought him, wasn't he? His son seemed incapable of not prodding all the darkest nooks and crannies of Aselia.

"If this feels like the Devil's Arms, then we should try to purge it in any way possible," said Kratos grimly. If even half the stories he'd heard were true, having something like that linger was not a good thing. "What do you need me to do?"

Raine knew better than he did how Resurrection worked, here; he could hold Valdis down or left Raine some of his strength, whichever was the most useful.

"Ah," Raine said, to Kratos's frown. "Yes. Abyssion was a wandering swordsman we met in Flanoir, who carried a sword named Nebilim." Kratos should be able to follow what had happened there. "Later we were required to fight him."

She didn't carry Heart of Chaos. It was an unsettling weapon, and despite its strength she wanted no part of it.

"I'd like you to hold Valdis, if she doesn't object." This with a glance between the two of them. "If it's a malevolent entity lingering, it may try to fight anything I can do. Valdis, if you're certain you want me to try, let me know immediately if something begins to hurt." Resurrection shouldn't hurt. If it did, something was wrong. Perhaps the entity; perhaps an adverse interaction with the Void. She couldn't know for sure.

"Other than that, this should be simple." Raine's mouth twisted wryly. When was anything with either of these people ever simple?

Again, Valdis had no idea what they were talking about, but Nebilim sounded familiar. Though most likely for a different reason than what they were referencing.

"If we don't try and something happens," Valdis reasoned, "Then we are complicit."

Though she didn't appreciate the idea of being restrained, if something did go wrong, she didn't want to risk injuring the Healer.

"And I don't object..."

But she highly doubted this would be as simple as it sounded, nothing ever was.

"Very well. Lean against me." Kratos put a hand on Valdis's shoulder to help her upright, and then sat behind her, so she could rest against his chest. From there, an arm around her shoulders and one around her waist, pinning her arms, would keep her effectively down.

The embrace was firm, but gentle; not quite keeping her uncomfortable pinned, unless it proved necessary.

"Then we'll try." Raine waited for Kratos to move, watching both of them, and after they were settled drew from one deep pocket the unicorn's horn, still faintly iridescent even now. "Try to relax."

She knew what Valdis should feel like, without that strange hint of a passenger. Perhaps focusing there, as well, would help. Raine drew breath and began to cast, careful and precise, lining up her mana in the pattern she knew so well from Boltzman's book. "Resurrection," she said finally, firm and intent, and prismed light like wings fell over Valdis.

Valdis took a breath, trying very hard to not turn around and push Kratos away, it was easier thought about than done and relaxing was even more difficult. The hold was snug, but not restrictive, though that didn't help any as her instincts were telling her to fight. But she didn't, she simply closed her eyes and breathed.

The moment she heard Raine speak the word, pain exploded in her skull as whatever had lingered, fought to stay where it was. If she could hold on long enough, perhaps the intruder would let go and Raine's magic would finish it. Valdis held her breath, not realizing that her eyes had begun to bleed again or that every muscle had stiffened. If she didn't focus on the pain, then perhaps it would go away.

This time, Kratos paid more attention to Valdis's face, for all that he was behind her again; he was closer this time. She didn't struggle, but it was clear when she tensed, clear when she trembled for the pain she wasn't setting loose.

This time, Kratos didn't hesitate by asking if she could hear him.

"Maintain Resurrection," Kratos commanded Raine as light flared in a circle around the bed, motes drifting up; Guardian Field activated. It had helped last time. Perhaps, in combination with Resurrection, it would do something more than it had before.

Somehow, the impulse to listen to Kratos in battle had lingered; the commanding tone was long familiar. Normally Resurrection was something cast and released, not a maintained shape-- but Raine reached out automatically, trying to refresh the arte over Valdis. "What are you doing?"

Valdis was bleeding. She hadn't said anything of pain, but perhaps she meant not to, no matter what-- Raine couldn't tell. "That's all I can manage without starting over," she said at length, mana starting to ebb.

The creature, whatever it was, dug in, tearing at her mind almost as fiercely as before, trying to merge itself beyond removal. The low hissing of the Void came to the surface, but the serpent didn't appear, probably still too weakened from the first attack. Even still, Valdis was greatly aware of what the Void might do if this went on any longer.

"Stop."

She meant to say it quietly, evenly, but it came out as a high pitched shriek.

It was that split second of choice -- to continue, or not -- which was eminently familiar. A little push might destroy the entity, despite the current pain. A little push might be too much for Valdis.

He nodded assent at Raine and let Guardian Field fade away, replacing illuminating healing light with the softer, less cutting green of First Aid.

"Did it make a difference?" he asked Raine.

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Blinded by Faith

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