15[20:31] Without place, without presence, without even flesh the heroes rise, motes of intermingling golden light racing through a void. Purpose alone guides the circle through Cethleann's essence and beyond, framed by ancient and forgotten names. 15[20:38] It's a warm, buzzing physical sensation, and each member of the circle can feel each other's thoughts - like flashes of sunlight across their eyelids. [20:38] 14Mmmmmm. [20:38] 14Stranger keeps his mind on better times, then. [20:39] 14On the surface at least. [20:39] 5Fascinating, if rather intimate. Doesn't seem to be death. [20:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's thinking: what is this bullshit now. Where are they. Where's my sword. What's- [20:40] 14Oh Sun. [20:41] 10Jai shivers, as much as you can when you're a bodiless streak of light. He didn't sign up for this. It's kinda creepy. [20:42] 13It could be worse! We could actually be dead. [20:42] 5Regardless of expectations, we don't seem to be part of the physical world at the moment. Or the Underworld. [20:42] 10Hopefully it doesn't last too long. And, yeah, it is better than being Actually Dead. [20:42] 14Mmmmm. [20:44] 13What? It is! [20:45] 14Instead of answering, Stranger starts thinking about how happy he was in those nights at the CIO. [20:50] 13There's songs in answer, mixing with the memories. [20:59] 10Jai finds his mind wandering. A few years of chaos, misadventure, boredom, frustration—but also triumphs and accomplishments. But it's the thought of his old home he seizes on most strongly. He can't go back, of course—that city no longer exists, not the way it once was. But it reminds him of how he got here. [21:06] 5A cold shiver might run up the un-spines of the floating motes, as cool lips and blonde hair drift through his mind. [21:12] 13A brave young man with gorgeous golden eyes and close-cropped black hair is there. He is and isn't, but -- safe. [21:12] 14This all serves a better purpose. Even to the end. 15[21:13] The going gets rough as the solars' essences cascade across a bulwark of forgotten names, scattering like spray against a rocky beach. They struggle to hold on... but something keeps them together, and it's the names that burst apart and let them pass. [21:14] 5It's a mathematical problem. An unsolved equation? Or is it solved? It's faintly erotic, somehow. F(x)=7 [21:15] 13Would that line actually work on her? I think I like her less, now. Or maybe more for putting up with that. [21:15] 10Eurgh. I heard of people who liked math, but. [21:16] 14Is Cethelann still extant? Is Stranger still holding her hand? 15[21:17] Golden lights meet a shimmering wall of white sparks, writing a name they recognize. A man who earned the name 'indomitable', even after he fell in battle. [21:17] 10Cryptanalysis, though, that's got some aesthetic appeal. Unraveling a cipher has a kind of perverse attraction. Shit. No, no, stay focused. [21:20] 5Fear and distrust transformed to friendship. Dragonlord. Sorrow. 15[21:20] Xu Sim can feel Dorma's voice in his soul. Admit defeat? [21:23] 5Xu Sim breathes in deeply and smirks. "N E V E R !" 5he bellows, in a tone quite deeper than his usual cadence. [21:23] 5He un-breathes, un-smirks, un-bellows. The barrier un-writes. [21:25] 14He's a good man. [21:25] 14Rough on the corners, but good. [21:26] 13Always. [21:28] 5In his memory - and all the others - victory. 15[21:29] The barrier shatters. A great pressure lifts. They rise... Perhaps not every end is a defeat. [21:30] 13Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. [21:30] 14Closing time. [21:31] 10Ought to put that in a song. [21:31] 13You do know who you're talking to, yes? 15[21:33] Rise, rise, rise... a thick gray cloud hinders them - the sword, the shadow, the storm. They hear not once voice but many voices rising as one people. Is it all pointless? [21:36] 5Hesitation. An eye in a mask? No. A cold, clear pool reflecting the moon. Careful now. [21:40] 13Nothing's pointless. The city, its people - all of this. They've survived so much. They can and will survive this. And that's why it isn't pointless. [21:41] 13She blasts through the barrier without a second thought. Not for her - her home. The first one's gone but the second one must stay. [21:41] 14Stranger walks in her wake, hands clasped behind his back, smiling. 15[21:42] The mark Xia Lan leaves opens a path for all to follow. Perhaps not every mystery needs an answer. [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12The smear of crackling essence that is Keldar hasn't agreed with a one of these yet. [21:44] 13Our city has many faces, Dawn Sergeant. The one you see may not be the same one as I, but it is our city all the same. [21:45] 13Not mine or yours, but ours and theirs. [21:45] 5The sensation of a pond - a gap? A between-place? It's gone, forgotten, for the moment. Unfettered is right, factual, correct, true. 15[21:47] The essence trails upward, onward - they slip Creation's surly bonds and enter a vast darkness, lit by specters limned in white. Blameless, nameless, and bright. One among the thousands of thousands glows a terrible red, and its face is obscured. Can they be saved? [21:55] "Everything and everyone can be saved." [21:56] "We will pass now." [21:58] 14Slightly turning his head to Keldar: "Like that one better?" [21:58] 10Where do I get that kind of confidence? [22:00] 10Idiot. You already have it. Quit being so hard on yourself. [22:02] 13The Sun's gift changed nothing that was not already there. More tools, to be sure, but we were Chosen. 15[22:02] The red specter flares... and then brightens to gold. Gold spreads outward like flowing water, touching every spirit one by one. The circle feels lighter and lighter until they disperse. For one beautiful, terrifying moment they feel nothing, are nothing... and then they're falling to earth again. [22:03] 14Stranger's hands remain clasped behind his back, such as the concept of hands or bodies are, through the rise and fall. There's a placidity to him. 15[22:05] Xia Lan wakes first, hot and hard. She's being held tight. She's being held tight by someone whose hands are burning... [22:06] 14But just before the moment, just before the fall, he fully turns to Keldar... [22:06] 14And he winks. [22:06] 13Tsuka. She doesn't open her eyes just yet. "I'm here. I'm here." 13Oh, Sun. What she's put him through -- again -- [22:07] 13She opens her eyes. Please tell me he didn't drag himself out of his hospital bed. [22:07] 10Thanks, Xia Lan…10 But she's already gone, and they're touching down. 15[22:09] Keldar, Jai, and Xu Sim come back to their bodies and almost stumble to the ground. Each of them stays standing, however, to look around and see an empty battlefield. Raksha are gone. Sorcery is gone. The field is full of their own soldiers and Cethleann's abandoned thralls. 15[22:10] He did. Tsuka's hug is awkward because one of his arms is in a sling but he manages. "Thank gods you're safe. I was so scared--" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, of course, flashes into physical being crouching like a tiger, having executed a perfect three-point landing despite being weighed down by an unattuned daiklave and thunderbolt shield. The warrior springs to his feet, ready to answer Stranger - hard to grunt impassively when you're made of dreams - but ends up just scanning the landscape with eyes narrowed. [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "I am safe now, habibi," 13slipping into Flametongue without realizing it. "We won. I think. I hope. No losses. And no wounds." 13She checks, then. [22:13] 10Jai staggers under the sudden return of weight. "I think this means we won?" [22:13] 5Xu Sim reappers with arms wide in the air - is he practicing the famous Wings Spread to Sky technique? But he simply alights, gracefully, on the ground. The battlefield - have the wounded already been carried off? [22:13] "I should have said something. More somethings." 13Time to babble, apparently. "Warnings, apologies, but I had to -- we had to -- and we did it, and I'm never doing it again." 15[22:15] Most of the wounded remain - the Solars gather that less than an hour has passed, judging by their own internal clocks. [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar breathes in through his nose and breathes out through his blade, lightening Terminus in his hands and Entreaty on his back. "Alright. Where're- wait." 12He reaches into his shirt, touching a page of the Codex. "?" [22:17] 5Xu Sim flashes a wan smile at Jai and Keldar - "Win, lose, the work continues!" 5Gesturing furiously about, he withdraws a caligraphy brush from his belt and begins gesticulating with it, to Keldar. "We should establish a triage area on this side of the river, alert the 7th Caduceus of our success..." 15[22:18] Tsuka holds Xia Lan and looks into her eyes. "What happened to Stranger?" 15[22:18] Xia Lan looks behind her beloved to see that his bed is empty. [22:19] 13Xia Lan: "What? Nothing, he should be - what the fuck--" 13Tersely: [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Shit. He was up to something - which means this might not be over. Stay alert." 12The Dawn Sergeant, finally deserving of the name, fair well blurs into motion, immediately rallying scouts and soldiers and medics and so forth to both back up Xu Sim's plans but also scour the city and the battlefields for any remaining sign of the raksha, or of the Circle's Eclipse. [22:21] 5As Xu Sim speaks his gesticulations with the brush begin to form shining golden letters in the air in Riverspeak. APPEARS VICTORY IS TOTAL. LET NONE STAND IN OUR WAY. YOU I AM THINKING ABOUT. 5The ltters wrap themselves up in a six-winged cherub and flit off at impossible speed back towards the city. Xu Sim can, fortuntaely, see the reaction this infallible messenger might draw. [22:21] 13She thinks for a moment, tapping her fingers on the nearest available solid surface. Tip tip tip tap tap tap tip tip tip. Over and over. "We need to find him. And why." [22:21] "I thought it was done. Uh, you should be in bed still, right?" 13Taps head. "Not a doctor. But also. I couldn't stop you if I wanted to." [22:21] "All right, good, I'll round up some—" 10Jai goes quiet for a moment as the news comes in, then reaches for his Codex page. [22:22] 5Xu Sim: "Sly bastard." [22:23] 13Xia Lan: 15[22:24] A voice comes over the Codex, so strange and yet so familiar. 15[22:24] [22:24] 13Icily: [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?" 12It sounds like he's asking what it is, rather than expressing general confusion. [22:25] 5Xu Sim doesn't say a word. He simply strokes his moustache, twisting one end of it between his fingertips for a moment. 15[22:26] [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: <"...and current ones?"> 15[22:27] [22:27] 13Even more coldly, if that was possible: 15[22:28] 15[22:28] [22:28] 10Jai: "I get the distinct feeling the council's been dis—" [22:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar fiddles with his grip on the page, cutting out the new speaker in order to only address the Circle. "That's the voice of thwhat the fuck?" [22:29] "I think we'd better get to that meeting. Sooner, rather than later." [22:29] <@Ferrinus> "Alright, alright," 12Keldar says, spinning the daiklave in his hand as displacement activity as he strides back towards the city walls. "I'm seeing what this is about." [22:29] "Xu Sim, how fast can you get us there?" [22:30] 13Xia Lan: 13She grabs Tsuka by the shoulders. "How okay are you? Because this might get really bad but I want you with me, because that was apparently Stranger, and..." 13She shrinks back. "I. Think I need you." [22:30] 14Elsewhere, a woman who had found love draws her knees to her chest at the edge of a lake, and cries. [22:33] "Twice as quickly as you prefer," 5answers the sorcerer as winds start picking up around them. "Keldar, order your men to establish a triage here and see to the wounded, of both sides." 5The wind howls. "Additionally, riders should be dispatched bringing water and food to the Raksha camp, to save any who yet live." The wind lifts the three of them - and begins carrying them back [22:33] to Sentinel Hill. 15[22:33] Tsuka holds her steady. "I'm here." [22:33] "Twice as quickly as you prefer," 5answers the sorcerer as winds start picking up around them. "Keldar, order your men to establish a triage here and see to the wounded, of both sides." 5The wind howls. "Additionally, riders should be dispatched bringing water and food to the Raksha camp, to save any who yet live." The wind lifts the three of them - and begins carrying them back [22:33] to Sentinel Hill. [22:35] 13Xia Lan, faintly: "Someone's using his name. I don't know why." 13To Xu Sim: 13Tight. Not as friendly as she would like, but. "We're making a detour first. We're fetching Xu Sim's girlfriend. Then Sentinel Hill." [22:36] 10Jai: [22:37] <@Ferrinus> 12At a certain point in the trip, Keldar waves to get Xu Sim's attention. "Slow up a bit - right. Meet you there." 12Then he leaps down to a rooftop. [22:38] 13Quieter: [22:38] 13That is specifically to Xu Sim. [22:38] 14For some reason when the communication comes through from this page, it's crackling. 14she says. [22:38] 5Xu Sim: [22:38] [22:39] 14Ah, that wasn't crackling. It was sobs. [22:39] 13Xia Lan: 13To the Ambassador, she has nothing. What could she say? [22:39] 5Xu Sim shoots a sidelong glance to Jai. 15[22:40] Keldar's diverted briefly in order to escort the mortal (former?) Councilors up the hill, alongside his circlemates, the deathknight Seven, and a slowly growing crowd of Lookshyans. All of them gathered see a man in white robes and hood, wearing a silver mask. The mask, far from faceless, is etched in a permanent beneficient smile. [22:42] 10Jai: "I only know her a little bit. But I don't think I ever once saw her cry." [22:42] "We'll find her, after." [22:43] 13Hopefully he will die, and hopefully it will be by her hand. But that will not help, not now, and maybe not ever. [22:45] 5After sharing an embrace and a few whispered words with his paramour, the sorcerer turns to regard the Stranger-Visits-Heaven. He instincitvely... squints? Is that right? He should take care to get Seven some sort of fan to divert unpleasant brithness, possibly a parasol? Is both excessive? 15[22:45] "Citizens," he says in the same cool clear manner unaffected by acoustics that typifies the Emissary's speech, albeit clearly in Stranger's own voice. A golden halo rotates gently behind his head. "The former Emissary, born of Balor's will, left this world alongside the remains of his lover. There was a void in the city's heart, and I have been called to fill it. The old order has 15[22:45] fallen away. I welcome you all, the founding members of the Nexus Union, to receive the new Dogma." 15[22:46] Master Gen, alarmed: "What?!" 15[22:46] Thalevar rubs his hands together. [22:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar arrives to hear this in full regalia, shining in the sunlight and exactly as noticeable and memorable as a man wearing that many pounds of moonsilver and orichalcum ought reasonably be. He tilts his head. Is the stranger-emissary lying? [22:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, hang on. That you in there, Stranger?" 15[22:49] Stranger nods. "Keldar. You're looking well." [22:51] 13Unbelievable. And he didn't - her face tightens. [22:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then what's with the getup? You still one of us?" 15[22:52] "I have changed. I am changed." [22:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "So's that make you a fae, or what? What color you glow now?" [22:56] 14In their ears: <...Emissary, give me to Xia Lan and no one else. Please.> 15[22:57] He reaches into his robe and pulls out the Codex. "Xia Lan," he calls. [22:58] 5Xu Sim strokes his beard again. "A vessel?" 5he murmurs to himself. Then he looks at the new-Emissary, the changed-Emissary, with sight beyond sight. [22:58] 13Xia Lan: "No." 13She is trying very hard not to show her fury. "Title first. Unfettered." 13It's not working. 15[22:59] "...for the Unfettered Xia Lan." [23:01] 13Xia Lan, quietly: "Your gift." 13The Codex? lies unspoken. As does many things she wants to scream at him. [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar hasn't forgotten whose tomb that thing was found in, but he's willing to let someone else steward it for him. [23:06] 13She takes it. The book. The Codex. Her hands do not shake, through a great force of effort. "Thank you, Emissary," 13and she keeps the heat out of her voice for the public alone. [23:06] 5Xu Sim's face twitches a few times as he remembers - no, realizes - something. But he holds his tongue, for now. 15[23:06] Stranger: "As I said, the old Dogmas of Nexus, Balor's iron way, has dissolved. There is a new order coming. One that provides for all our citizens. One that gives youth a future, adulthood free and fair labor, and old age a security." [23:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hang on, hang on, hang on. You gonna enforce that the way the real Emissary did? Can you? I'm still not clear on who or what we're dealing with here." [23:08] 10Jai: "Are you going to challenge him to a fistfight right here?" [23:09] 13Tiredly: "Don't. We've already lost so much." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives Jai a look. "He can just tell me. C'mon." 15[23:09] The Emissary raises his right hand. His halo flares, and a chunk of the street behind them rips itself free from the ground and hovers in the air. Open palm - the chunk of street scatters into pebbles. Closed fist - the road reforms beneath them. "I am not Balor. But I am not less." [23:10] 14When she and Xia Lan are on a private line: [23:10] 14There are some phlegmy noises before the Ambassador obviously takes her hand off the page for a brief moment. [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Alright, cool. But you ain't actually... in the Circle, either, I take it." 15[23:11] Stranger is silent for a moment, before replying, "...not anymore." [23:11] 10Jai: "Okay. So you're the guardian god of the city now, or something close to it. What's the Nexus Union?" [23:11] 13Oh. He has the ring. He has the ring and she was right about melting it down at the first opportunity. She just chose - late. Too late. [23:11] 14Ambassador: <...Okay. Just...> [23:11] [23:12] 13Darkly: [23:12] 14She doesn't get an answer; just half of a muffled sob before the connection ends. [23:13] 5Xu Sim stands very still, hopefully beneath the notice of such an auspicious entity. [23:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Riiiight. Well." 12He points at 'Stranger'. "That thing's ours, innit?" Xu Sim's, technically." 12It becomes clear that Keldar's actually indicating the halo spinning behind the figure's head. [23:15] 13A mirror. Cethleann and the previous Emissary. And now this. The people survive. But she can't be here anymore. "Keldar, let him have it. Or fight him for it another day, but not now." 13She is so tired. [23:16] 5Xu Sim's eyes roll impressively as he breaks from his statuesque pose as soon as Keldar starts talking. Oh, so, now it's mine huh? "Technically, that is true. However! I want to hear what my... old friend... has in mind for the dogmas! We're off to a good start." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The First Dogma of Nexus: No taxes or tariffs shall be lowered below what sustains the people of Nexus, save by the Union." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Second Dogma of Nexus: None shall go unhoused, undoctored, or unfed." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Third Dogma of Nexus: None shall impede the right of Nexus workers to organize and petition the Union." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Fourth Dogma of Nexus: None shall bring an army into Nexus." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Fifth Dogma of Nexus: No-one shall commit wanton violence." 15[23:18] Stranger: "The Final Dogma of Nexus: None may falsely claim the Union's name or sanction." [23:19] 13Xia Lan hopes it was worth it. She needs to find Tsuka, and then find someplace quiet. [23:19] 13The misbehaving children that make up the rest of the circle can wait. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works his jaw around a little, then looks over to Xia Lan to answer her first. "Can't say I agree. Don't know about you, but I feel like ten talents, and just how much of our stuff this - what, ghost? Manikin? - is gonna be walking around with as it tries to take the city over is extremely our business." [23:20] 14Out on the lake, The Ambassador of Night and Day finally finds some semblance of peace. She calms her breathing; she dries her eyes. She stares at the sky. [23:22] 5Xu Sim folds his hands across his waist and turns to Keldar. "You are very tired, my friend. Better to rest on it." [23:22] 13Xia Lan: "No. No, I don't think it is, anymore." 13She sounds distant. "If you must, do it another time. I have already lost one friend today." [23:23] 14Then she summons her birds, and begins sending messages. [23:23] 14It is time to get away from here. [23:24] 14She finally understands why her shahan-ya can't stand the sight of a fucking city. [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're both fine with this?" 12He turns to Stranger. "Who came up with those?" 15[23:24] Stranger coughs. [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "I don't want to be here anymore, and I'm not going to fight him. I am fine with nothing. Don't mistake me." [23:28] 5Xu Sim: "It's an emotional day. Stranger-Visits-Heaven, are you sure you even want to disband the Council, or strip the, uh, previously appointed Emissaries of their authority?" [23:29] 14She leaps into the sky and a black swan rises above the treeline, free now, free of all her recent obligations, even the one she wished most dearly to keep. 15[23:29] Gen: "Wait a second." 15[23:29] "Wait a fucking second." 15[23:29] "You can't do that." 15[23:30] "You're not the only member of the Council. You're not even the only Emissary anymore! What the fuck is this?" [23:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right. Well, you're missing a couple important ones and a bunch of the others might as well be decrees that it rains pastries in times of hunger. I dunno if it was the real Stranger who made that up or some accident of the Wyld but they ain't gonna keep." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "It is the Emissary's choice. And one I hope he considered." 13She glances at Keldar. "What did I say about not today? Please. I can't do this again." [23:31] 10Jai ponders. In word, many of those are not that different from the original Dogmas. But in intent… it's going to be an interesting transition, if nothing else. Very interesting. [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It has to be today. Doing nothing's the same as just rolling over." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And like I said, I feel great. Curse finally sloughed off. No better time for it." [23:33] 13Xia Lan: "I won't be here for this." 13She does not fully suppress the sob. "I'm leaving. Please don't die." [23:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods. "Same to you. Get some sleep." [23:34] 13She whirls and leaves without a glance backwards. Where is Tsuka? 15[23:35] At the periphery, with the Lookshyans. [23:36] 13She will leave. Together, if he wants. [23:37] 10Jai speaks up, in a calm tone. "May I make a suggestion to the honorable Emissary?" [23:37] 10Jai: "if we're about to have a knock-down, drag-out argument over the future of Nexus… could we get some tea first?" [23:38] 5A grin slowly creeps across Xu Sim's face at the suggestion. 15[23:40] NEXT TIME: Disunion