tushanshu_logs | EVENT | LANDFALL

"Exactly," she agreed, and turned her focus also to the mushroom. She'd attend to the matter of a delayed casting when they were finding their way out, but in the mean time, experimentation was afoot.

Mana flowed out of the mushroom toward Solomon, and somewhere in the traversing it seemed simply to vanish, as though consumed. The effect was not unfamiliar, per se, as some older pieces of magitechnology had that effect, but it was no less disquieting for it. "I'd prefer it if you didn't do that again," Raine said, keeping her voice as steady as possible. He'd already flinched back by the time she spoke, and that was a fascinating reaction, too. Did some of his abilities frighten him, or was that simply distaste? She wasn't sure she disagreed with him.

He had asked, though, and she relayed what she sensed, exercising the best detachment she knew how. "Mana transferred toward you, and either was consumed or underwent such a transformation that I could no longer sense it. Some is--" She paused, attention on the mushroom for a moment. "--at least some of the effect seems to be reversing."

"I apologise," Solomon said instantly. He didn't usually believe in apologies, but he was himself unsettled by what he'd done by accident. It hadn't even been an accident, exactly--he'd intended to do what he did, or else it wouldn't have worked; such was Asti's boon. He just hadn't realised it was using the death-aura technique, from a different side.

"Is it?" That was a surprise. Tentatively he touched the mushroom again, but this time he didn't focus on taking, but putting back. There wasn't much of a difference--a faint wave of dizziness, and nothing more; but there was a difference. "And now?"

That really had shaken him, hadn't it. Raine paid careful attention to the state of the mushroom for a little bit longer, finally nodded. "There's no longer a substantial difference from its initial state," she reported. "If there was some kind of loss, it's beyond the precision of my senses. A much better result than can usually be expected from magitechnology." She still didn't look precisely calm, but was at least more settled. "What was that?"

That was ... extremely interesting. Solomon hadn't known that the energy taken by the death-aura could be returned--he doubted anyone knew. Could it do the same for souls? If he took a soul, could he put it back? And if he could ...

A wash of something very close to relief went through him. If he could put souls back, then the death-aura wasn't nearly the damning thing he thought it was. Not something to be dallied with, still--but at least reversible.

Raine's voice made him look at her, and he regarded her for a very long moment. The death-aura was privileged knowledge. As an acolyte, it had been a whimsy of power. As a cleric, he had understood it to be so much more--on a level no other cleric did. That was why he'd kept his knowledge of it secret. Especially with what had happened just after becoming cleric.

But Raine was of steady mind, and this place ... was far more stable than the life-plane. If he could discover things here--maybe it would help him in the other planes too. He didn't want to lose control again.

"It's called the death-aura," he said finally. "It's a technique by which a Necromancer can ... envelop those around them in a bubble and absorb their souls to add to his power." He looked at the mushroom. "I didn't realise it would have the same effect on mana." He gave a short laugh, and it came out partway between incredulous and relieved. "Or that what was taken could be returned."

She hadn't even really thought before asking -- it was, after all, the most natural thing to her, to reach out for explanations in any way possible. It had happened before, of course, that she asked more than someone wanted to answer. That she could recognize, but all the same it felt like there was something more in his silence than she could quite read, and all she could do was wonder.

The moment passed.

By all rights, Raine should probably have been horrified by the technique he described. And she more than likely would be, later, when there was the luxury to consider the implications at length. For now, though, her mind was occupied slotting together the earlier instinctive recoil with the long, considering silence, and the incredulity in his realization. This did frighten him, didn't it.

She sighed, and some of the tension in her shoulders went with the exhalation. "Understandably," she said aloud. "It doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would be wise to experiment with often." After a moment more's thought, she inclined her head toward the recovered mushroom. "As unsettling as that movement of mana is, you appear to have done no harm. I don't think you'll get a better opportunity."

The fact that Raine didn't immediately recoil in horror allowed some of the tension to roll out of Solomon's back, though it was with some surprise that he realised it. Somehow, he wasn't quite sure how, Raine's opinion had become important to him--enough that he was actually worried about her reaction.

It was ridiculous. It was ... familiar. Now that he thought about it, in fact, she was similar to Morwenna Crow in many ways.

Such as that. He couldn't help but laugh slightly. Morwenna had wanted him to cultivate the death-aura too--if only to have someone powerful enough to contest Lord Vile. "No," he agreed. "Not often at all. In fact, the last time anyone used it, the user murdered thousands, if not millions, of people. Necromancy ... is addictive."

The last was said both grimly and with an air of resignation. He looked around at the mushroom, and even knowing what she said was logical, he still hesitated. "It ... might be dangerous for you if I did."

It was logical. He might not get a better chance. And yet he wasn't sure whether he wanted to.

Perhaps millions. Even in the context of history, over and gone and nothing to be done about it now, the figure was high, and she couldn't fault his reluctance. "If you have that capability," Raine said, slowly, detached, "I would rather it be at your will. A technique you cannot control is more dangerous than one you can, even if you never put it to use again. You said you have a sort of filter now, correct?" Hence their meeting at the beginning of the month. "So that risk, too, should be minimal."

It really was the best opportunity, the more she looked at it logically. "The feeling of mana disappearing is unsettling, but ultimately tolerable, and reversable. If experimentation will help, it's more than worth it." She paused there. Properly processed that his mention of danger had been most likely directed at the possibility that he might accidentally pull her soul from her. "You've proven you can stop. If something does go wrong, I have no doubt one of us will notice and it can be corrected."

So much like Morwenna Crow--Solomon could only wonder how he hadn't seen it earlier. He couldn't help but laugh at her own description. If he pulled her soul from her, she wouldn't have the chance to notice that anything was wrong. She'd just drop down dead.

But this was Dreaming and the death-aura had proven itself potentially reversible, even if just on mana. That was better than knowing it wasn't reversible at all.

And she was willing to take that risk. It had been a long time since Solomon had felt such faith in him. Even when he'd taken Pandemona and Baritone with him to fight the Faceless Ones, it had surely been a matter of practicality on their part. They had understood that the Temple didn't stand apart.

Solomon couldn't even be sure when he made the decision. He turned and put some space between them, and looked around at the foliage. Then he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and reached out. It took a moment--he had spent so long pulling back, avoiding the senses he knew he could have. He didn't know, exactly, how to press out, except that when he'd touched the mushrooms it had almost felt like the mushroom had been eager to be used.

It wasn't, he found, a matter of enforcing his presence on the things around him so much as a combination of give and take. Of noticing the life, feeling it, knowing it could be something else--something more easily read to him. Letting the rest of him reach out and make it something he could read.

Slowly, but gathering speed and size, a perfectly spherical bubble formed around him. It wasn't one made of something, but of the opposite--a bubble of withering foliage. Mushrooms sank in, leaves crumbled, animals dropped to the floor of the jungle without nary a sound. Solomon could feel it, feel all of it, as though each and every life had previously been hazy mirages to his senses and had only now become real. Become solid.

If this had been a month ago, he already knew, that would have been intoxicating. Even now, there was a whisper in him--the knowledge that he could do this, that it was his and no one could stop him. The memory of how comforting this power had felt, when he'd had it. But it wasn't, anymore; its coolness was soothing still, but when he looked at the images they were sharp. Crystalline, unmoving. He could use them, if he wanted--but they could cut him, and now he would notice.

So Solomon didn't. He stopped and stood in the middle of a perfect bubble of death around him, and knew he could take more and didn't, because he couldn't be sure where Raine stood--not without taking her too. He opened his eyes to look and flinched when the life he'd taken stood out sharply, waiting for command, like crystal figurines; a perfect, defined replica of what they'd been in life. His to take. His to see. His to use.

He didn't know it, but his eyes were red, purely and solidly red--even the whites.

Raine understood why he'd been concerned when the bubble started to spread.

She saw nothing of the magic itself, only the effects it had, the slowly expanding sphere where mana ebbed and life vanished. The implications of the silence, the sheer magnitude of the possible death toll should he use this in a crowded area, all came to the forefront of her mind at once. She took one involuntary step back as her heart began to race, then another, before she forced herself to stop. There she held her ground, watching the inexorable spread of dying foliage and refusing to acknowledge the physiological symptoms of fear.

Caution was reasonable. Terror was not. That was all there was to it.

The magic's progress stopped short of her -- not that it had been much of a question, at least where her rational mind was concerned. Solomon was conscientious and desired not to do her harm. Therefore, he would not. Raine adjusted her grip on her staff, planted her feet a little more solidly, and waited.

When he opened his eyes once more, however, she inhaled sharply, startled despite herself. Red eyes had not heralded good things for the affected person in the past. She noted differences as soon as the initial surprise was past -- the full sclera rather than just the iris, for one, and of course this situation was worlds away from Colette's, but there was still some less-than-rational part of her that was concerned he would not answer.

"Solomon?"

Something thudded in the crystal stillness, something muffled and inaudible due to the dullness of the echo. It came from a distance, as if someone was trying to reach him; and then Solomon realised that someone might be. If that had been Raine--what had she done? She couldn't attack death.

Talking. She must have said something, and Solomon hadn't heard it, as if he was in a completely different place.

With a start he realised he was, that the faint drag on the edges of his awareness wasn't just the mana trying to be used, but the vibration of a circle that wanted to spread. It was slower, so much slower that he hadn't noticed the difference until now, but it was the same drag that had sucked him into the death-plane when he'd been fighting Bakura.

Most certainly not something he wanted to experience again. It was just that--he wasn't sure how to turn the bubble off. It took a minute, and he had to breathe evenly to stop the unreasoning fear from taking over; but then he managed to soften his urgency and woo the life back into the bubble, and release the mana he'd taken. The bubble collapsed and the foliage grew healthy again; the animals picked themselves up, a little confused or startled, as if coming out of a sudden deep sleep.

Solomon's head pounded suddenly and he put a hand to his forehead, and staggered in the dizziness of cold order being replaced by warm chaos.

The stillness dragged on, chafing at her nerves, and she shifted uncomfortably in place. There was little to be done even if he was fully unresponsive, save trust that, somehow, he still knew what he was doing. Perhaps pushing the idea had been foolish-- but, no, she would still say there was wisdom in taking the opportunity to ascertain that he could control it. She hesitated in uncertainty, watching him closely for any sign of comprehension or action.

Perhaps she imagined the fractional turn in her direction. Perhaps the magic simply made his focus very distant. Whatever the cause, the point was moot in a few seconds more, as mana flowed back into the sphere before her, restoring radiance and life as quietly as they had gone.

With mana returned Raine judged an approach safe enough, and as Solomon staggered she quickened her pace until she was close enough to offer support if need be. "Are you all right?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"Fine," Solomon said shortly and instinctively. Then he took another breath and winced, and reached out for something to lean on. "Possibly." He found her shoulder and he almost flinched when he did, for a moment absurdly afraid that he'd take her soul just with a touch.

Ridiculous. He put some of his weight on her and took a deep breath. What, exactly, was making his head pound so? The death-plane objecting to his escaping its grasp? The simple transition from one plane to the other without the benefit of the high?

"I think I understand why Necromancy developed its addictive qualities," he said a little weakly and very wryly, and raised his head. The pound was subsiding, but the ache was still there.

His 'fine' was not particularly convincing. Raine was unsurprised when he reached out, and she gave him what support she could. "If this is a common side-effect, then it makes sense." Her healing almost certainly wouldn't help with this, either, no matter how much she wanted to offer. Instead, remembering the entire point of this exercise in the first place, she turned her focus briefly on the mushroom forest around them once more.

As far as possible results went, this was among the better ones. "Nothing in the affected area seems much the worse for wear," she offered, after a moment. "Except you."

"How nice for me," Solomon muttered, and when he straightened up he was more composed, except for the lines of pain around his eyes. Thankfully, his eyes had also returned to normal. He followed Raine's gaze around, and the visual confirmation of what he'd already know served to dissipate some of his tension.

"I don't think I should try that again," he said quietly. "I think--" He looked around again. His theory--it was the only thing that made sense, really. If he was assuming that all dimensions had multi-faceted souls, or planes, then there was only one way for the death-aura to work metaphysically. "I think the death-aura is a means by which to draw the death-plane into other planes, temporarily. At home, it's simply a conduit for the user to grasp at power. But here ..." He almost shook his head, and then thought better of it. "I've already used it to accidentally throw myself into the death-plane once. If I'd tried to grasp much more just now, I likely would have done the same again."

"Since Death is a location in a more than figurative sense." As long as they were in this world, anyway. She followed his train of thought, and nodded shortly after. "Yes, that would make sense. I'm glad you didn't." Unplanned visits to that plane struck her as sub-optimal, especially if it was associated with the enemy. "You're right; that should be avoided. I'm sorry."

Because, after all, she had suggested it, and felt moderately responsible for the results.

"There's no need," said Solomon. He felt steady enough to remove his hand from her shoulder, and did so. "I had the same idea, and it was--illuminating, at least." He smiled grimly. "I know more about the connection between it and the death-plane, for one. And I know what it feels like. Did you speak to me? I couldn't see or hear you. Everything outside the circle I made was a blur, or muffled; as though it was too distant to experience."

"I wondered about that, yes." She looked him over briefly, and was satisfied that he did look steadier than he had been. "I did call your name." It both explained his lack of response and supported the theory that he'd been partially calling the death-plane to them. For completeness' sake, and since it might mean something to him that it didn't to her, she added, "For a moment or two, your eyes were completely red."

That wasn't something he'd realised, but when Solomon paused to think about it, it made sense. "My sight changed," he said. "When I looked at what I'd called, it seemed even more solid than it does now; but I couldn't see anything beyond it. I couldn't see my surroundings as I do now. It was like a--a death-sight."

Like being able to sense death, but see it as well as sense and know it. A shiver ran through him, a slight one down his back. The Death Bringer truly did have to be someone immersed in what he was.

"This makes sense," he murmured, taking refuge from that chilling knowledge in theory. "I have a hypothesis in the ... multifaceted souls of universes, so to speak. If the death-plane is in some form accessible in home dimensions too, it would speak to that."

It couldn't be the khajbit or sheut, because while death was connected to shadow it wasn't itself a shadow. He still didn't have enough information to remotely try and draw parallels between what was what, particularly since Bakura's khajbit could well be his own universe's manifestation of something such as, perhaps, the Dreaming. Solomon would like to know more about that connection, and how well others could use it--but perhaps not until he'd repaired their relationship somewhat.

But the fact that Solomon could, with power from his own world, access the death-plane lent credence to that theory.

"The multifaceted souls of universes," Raine repeated, curiosity piqued. Certainly she could guess that this had something to do with how this world was separated into Life, Death, and Dreaming. If his world had some corollary, and if he'd been gathering data from other people that suggested something similar... well, it would be an absolutely fascinating topic to pursue, and not too far removed from her own persistence in learning about foreign magics.

Her own world had at the very least precedent for different planes of existence. If there was an overarching commonality between them all, in the basic underlying structures of the worlds, it could explain much. "What's your hypothesis?"

Edited 2014-08-12 07:16 (UTC)

This was a much better topic of discussion than the previous, and the more they left the previous behind, the more Solomon was able to diffuse his tension. He almost conjured up a chair of shadows, then thought better of it and sat on a mushroom instead. This place seemed a touch too solid to dream up his own objects, Dreaming or no, and he wasn't sure he wanted to try.

"It was inspired by the Egyptian perception of souls," he explained. "They believe that a person's being is made up of six parts, and their soul five--the sixth part is the physical body. Given the state of this place and some of the Temple's theories, I simply made the observation that universes appear to have parts as well. If that is true, then what's the connection between them? How much does each universe rely upon that connection to remain a coherent whole? And does that whole impart some degree of awareness?"

Unfamiliar place names had long since become par for the course, and since he didn't seem to be expecting Egypt to ring a bell with her, Raine passed it over for now. The other concepts he raised were much more interesting. "Every universe's iteration would of course appear differently," she said, warming to the idea. "With some recognizable key concepts more or less constant between? Everyone I've had the chance to talk to about it has something that at least resembles mana, it seems, whether it's called chi or eleth or anything else. If there's more than just that, if universes share a common base structure--"

That train of thought was rapidly discarded as soon as she lit on the next, enthusiasm outpacing the speed of her words. "And a soul implies some form of awareness, however limited-- though it's more likely mortal awareness that's limited. Take Asti, after all: we know he is there, and that he's sentient, but we're simply not equipped to communicate with him on the same level. And the difference between him and an entire universe would nearly have to be orders of magnitude greater. If there is that awareness--" She stopped there, not quite sure of the implied 'then,' certain only that this was an idea she wanted to pursue. "I'm getting ahead of myself," she said finally. "What have you observed in that vein so far?"

In this, Raine was not like Morwenna much at all. Morwenna's enthusiasm had always been staid, controlled, visible only in her attention to detail. But Raine's was infectious and it still made Solomon laugh, and more of the tension left him.

"The Egyptian perception is difficult to understand without cultural context," he explained, "but I have the gist of it, I think. A person's being is made of six parts: the ren, their name; the baa, their individuality or unique self; the kaa, their vital essence or spirit; the ib, their heart, the seat of their emotion; the sheut, their shadow; and their ha, their physical body. But they also believe in a holy river. Among other things, one can only truly join the afterlife when they've crossed the river. It is quite literally the means by which their planes are divided."

He smiled. "That is where Temple tenets enter the equation. We know that the souls of the dead enter what we call the lifestream--the metaphysical current which runs between dimensions and universes, and carries souls on to be reincarnated." Of course, he had no intention of explaining what the Necromancers planned to do with that knowledge. Instead he tilted his head. "Does that sound familiar to you?"

After all, Asti swam in a giant metaphysical current.

Raine smiled in return, an expression with a self-deprecating edge. She was well aware of this tendency of hers. At the least he was a rather more understanding audience than most.

"Hold on a moment," she said, frowning a little. "Baa-- I think I've heard that term before. Ah. Have you been talking to Bakura, by any chance?"

Lifestream was a different matter altogether. Raine hummed briefly in thought, and after a moment sat down herself, tucking her legs beneath her. "It's not familiar as far as my homeworld is concerned, no. There's always the possibility that any record of something like that was lost in the Kharlan War and its aftermath. I'm disinclined to believe anything the Church taught about the afterlife, but we have no real way of knowing what actually happens. Observing mana can only tell us so much. I presume the holy river you mentioned is roughly equivalent, correct? As for here, it's not something I've looked into -- is there a parallel?"

As an aside, before she could get swept up again, she added, "This is the second time you've mentioned a Temple." It was less of a question and more of a hopeful inquiry for context.

Ah. Solomon hadn't been aware they knew each other--though somehow it wasn't a surprise, that Raine had spoken to others somewhat philosophically inclined. "He's been helping me with my research," Solomon explained, which was by far the simplest explanation, though not quite accurate for its simplicity. If she'd spoken to Bakura before, that would be obvious, so Solomon smiled wryly. "In a manner of speaking. He is Egyptian."

Her last question made him pause. Any detailed answer to that question would only direct the conversation back to death-auras and other things about which Solomon wasn't sure he wanted to speak right now. But a basic answer ... "I'm a cleric in the Necromantic Temple," he said. "An adviser to the High Priest."

And then he neatly went back to her other question, the evasion not impolite but still obvious for all that. "Asti swims in a metaphysical current," he said, "which bridges the planes of Life, Death and Dreaming. It was too great a parallel to ignore. If Asti swims in the lifestream even now, a place where our souls were borne to be put in a replica of our original bodies, then that proves the Temple's theory beyond a doubt--particularly because they need to store our souls in a separate receptacle, one that affords protection from the lifestream's internal influence. That the lifestream divides and connects three planes indicates that these are all parts of a single universe's soul. Bakura has also introduced me to a possible fourth--the khajbit, a kind of shadow-plane, where kaa, creatures representing individuals, reside."

She supposed it made sense that they had been talking, given the apparent overlap in their interests. Bakura being even that forthcoming was frankly a little startling, but perhaps they'd come to some sort of exchange. Perhaps Bakura simply liked Solomon. "Ah. Hm. I'm less sure now that I'd agree with his analogy, but... later." That was something to query the primary source about, even if she wasn't sure he'd answer.

Raine could recognize an evasion when she heard one, fortunately, and as it had been both polite and not strictly relevant to the lifestream thought, she nodded and moved on. It seemed like it had the potential to take them back to death magic, at any rate, of which there had been more than enough for one day.

"That plane, since it's accessible here, must be connected in some manner similar to the others, and if it's a distinct and separate place, it seems reasonable to presume, in the lack of evidence against the idea, that it is that fourth part." She had calmed into simple thoughtfulness by now, turning the idea over and over. "I had initially thought the separation of our souls was only a backup measure, to keep us from permanent death. Which-- it is that, to an extent, but if your hypothesis is accurate then that illuminates the reason it was necessary. And, perhaps, why it's important that we stay close to them." The last was tacked on as an afterthought. If Eva's magic wasn't as strong as the late Emperor's had been, and they were in a current of souls, the danger of being swept away, so to speak, might be a very real one.

EVENT | LANDFALL | VALISHAERA

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