descent

[cancrymods]

growing heavy for the vintage

Like flakes of snow, the days spent in the Sloth Layer slowly but surely begin piling up. Life here is quiet and easy, even with the anxiety that comes with needing to move onto the next layer. But as the days drag out, so do the mysteries at play here – with the gradual uncovering of the odd doppelgangers and the seeming lack of any way to proceed to the next layer, it leaves the Executors at a loss for what to do. Until one day, everything changes. It comes entirely without warning – the ground lurches under everyone's feet in a sickeningly familiar way as a brief but violent earthquake rattles through the town. Then all of you feel it; a snapping sensation deep from the very foundations of Purgatory followed by the most cataclysmic impact any of you have experienced in your lives – or unlives. Snow explodes up from the ground, houses creak and lurch and the whole layer seems as though it might shatter apart under your feet. It seems like it's going to last forever. Then, finally, it stops. The silence that follows is even more pronounced in comparison to the hell-rattling noise from before, but as some semblance of calm starts to return, you realize several things. First is how eerily quiet the town is. Surely after all that, you'd hear a Specter or two... but there's nothing. Secondly – a splash of something wet strikes your cheek. Then again. Until it becomes clear that the weather has taken a sudden drastic turn and in place of the gentle snowfall from before, the heavens have opened with a torrential rainfall. Why? Possibly because of the steadily growing heat you suddenly feel burning up through the foundation of the layer and radiating out through the town. Will you investigate?

Comments

2/2

[schardynfreude]

[For a moment, it feels like it's over.

And a moment later, the pitiful thing lives on. Such is the power of hatred, of sheer unending wrath.

The damned thing shudders and gurgles and sizzles and lunges.

And then Samael's head is the only thing moving, jaws wide, what is left of her eyes frantic. Drops, then to the ground with a finality as Ardyn's scythe removes it from the rest of her body.]

Be still.

[Spoken like an order, a pale gleam to his skin and a few dripping lines of pneuma-like Scourge beginning to form upon his face.

The dragon begins to dissolve, remaining skin and scales becoming like rose petals, its features underneath turning to mounds of molten lava. The resulting flowery mulch and cooling lava mix, steam, sizzle, slowly, slowly, slowly, as she becomes her own grave.

And then it is over. There is no memory that flashes through their minds to touch them, whatever left of the mind of this creature all but burnt away to naught but ash after a long slumber in rage and madness.

Execution complete.

Which then leaves, perhaps, the matter of those left.]

And so ends another layer.

[He breathes in slow, his features schooling back to normal, and breathes out slow as he turns from the smoldering corpse. He raises a hand to his hat, something he has never thought to wore in all his time in Purgatory, his weapon dismissed in a tinkling of pink crystal. A few steps, and then--

--he steps up.

You begin to realize that your surroundings are slowly starting to change. What once was nothing but rubble and ruin, something that had been here once, long ago, but reduced to nothingness, now begins to rearrange itself. Not the whole of it, not all at once, but the damage before Ardyn begins to clear, and broad steps begin to form before him. And further, and up, and those with sight to see will come to see a building coming into existence, towers reaching up into the heavens. And up and up and up--too tall to even glimpse the top of. Past the steam, at first, until you realize the steam is no longer steam, but a layer of dark, vaguely purple cloud cover. Or, you think it might be clouds. The building seems to be a glimmering masterpiece, if not for some damage seen even on the outside. Torn banners, old holes in the walls occasionally, with exposed concrete and rebar. Rubble from Samael's former wrath slide aside like forming a path, a few streetlights dotting alongside it.

Ardyn is the surviving Authority of this layer, after all. It's beginning to form, reshape, to his preferences. There's nothing else here.

The streetlamps flicker on one by one, but their light is not electricity. The layer is being lit by purple flame it seems. He pauses on the steps, sweeping his hat from his head, and stares up at the towers, seeming to take in an awe-inspiring sight.]

I imagine you have questions. [Yeah, no shit.] Let me begin with the first that comes to mind. I realize that perhaps I have not properly introduced myself.

[He turns to the others and bows low with a flourish.]

Chiron is a name belonging to another man. You may call me Ardyn. [He straightens and sets his back atop his head at a jaunty angle to match the crooked smirk on his face.] Since I could never convince any of you to call me Your Majesty.

[crypddyd]

...

Hello Lord Ardyn, your city is very lovely.

[Lion says as he plods out from the melting mass of cooling lava and flowers, clots of both stuck to his hair.

Before falling face down on the pavement, practically re-dead]

[discutio]

Don't encourage him.

[unfortunately, phoenix cares a whole lot]

[schardynfreude]

...Perhaps my timing could have been better. Ought to tend to him...

[mementomoritz]

[Medic is already moving to try and get in healing distance of Lion as he falls, doing her best to brace his exhausted body up with her own almost comically smaller frame, so she's within easy earshot of him when he calls the city Ardyn's own.]

Oh! [She points excitedly with her free hand, her face lighting up.] Look, the street signs use an alphabet almost like Chinese, just like you said!

[She remembers. Of all the things they spoke about in that movie theater, what feels like a lifetime ago, she still remembers this.]

[Because it was new, and interesting. Because he was spending time with her, and it made her happy.]

[schardynfreude]

[He blinks, in surprise, and looks at the signage. A hand presses lightly to his chest, and a little laugh bubbles up.]

You remember a detail such as that?

[mementomoritz]

[She blinks, head tilted in that curious little motion she always seems to make when she's puzzled about something.] Of course, why wouldn't I?

It was interesting, I always remember interesting things!

[discutio]

...

[He couldn't see the change of surroundings, but he felt it. Felt something achingly familiar and yet near completely forgotten, felt some disconnected memories screaming at him to fight, to destroy the inhuman thing he knew to be in front of him-]

[But that voice belonged to someone who wasn't him anymore, didn't it?]

[His Executor transformation dissolved, and instead of a royal advisor who had failed and more than likely died to his own resultant self-destruction...there stood only Phoenix in the memory of a city that was only memory now, lost to darkness in more ways than one.]

Ardyn.

[The name felt like something he'd spoken as a curse a dozen times before, but now it just left him as a quiet confirmation. He stepped forward--without fear, without aggression, without any hesitation save only that which gave him a second to process what had just happened. Phoenix already knew exactly what he was going to do. What had to be done. So he reached out...]

[...and placed a hand on Ardyn's arm to steady himself on newly reformed terrain.]

...Must you be so dramatic? One would think you'd had enough theatrics, after such a late entrance.

[schardynfreude]

Mm.

[Phoenix lays a hand on his arm, and Ardyn puts a hand on top.] I think we both know I must be as dramatic as possible. I'm afraid it's in my very nature. [Even when he had been memory-less Chiron, has he ever not gone for dramatic?]

This desolate layer seems to have created a version of the Citadel for us. Do you recall how it looked?

[discutio]

...I remember bits and pieces of it, I think. Enough to recognize the layer already feels...familiar, to a point.

Re: 2/2

[daughterofthemark]

[You know what? This might as well happen. It's weird shit, yes, and he's being very dramatic. Must be a Tuesday in purgatory.

Lion needs attending to and she's recently become capable of helping with that, but something else feels like it takes priority, thanks to a part of her that's finally reasserted itself. Not that it was ever entirely gone. She's Royal Veil, after all.]

It's my pleasure to meet you, Lord Ardyn. My name is Arianna.

[schardynfreude]

Ah? Another name pulled from the depths? A joyous day indeed, Royal Arianna!

[mementomoritz]

Oh, what a pretty name! You two almost match... [Are names with "A" just a royal thing? That doesn't sound right, but she doesn't know enough about the monarchy to dispute it.]

[daughterofthemark]

[Ah, right, that too, she's royalty.

...

Gonna scoot right past that. Just because it influences her entire personality is no reason to focus on it, right?]

I suppose so. Though in truth, I rather like being "Veil."

[emberserker]

Does that explain the new transformation, then?

[Wolfsbane de-summons her halberd and folds her arms, which does nothing to hide the whole crystal situation.]

A new self, or rather, a new vision of yourself.

[schardynfreude]

An old version of myself, one could say.

[He gives a vague motion to Wolfsbane's whole...yeah.] And? What of you?

[emberserker]

That's...

[She actually looks thrown off, as if she for some reason hadn't expected anyone to point out the crystal shards sticking out of her. Shaking her head, Wolfsbane puts on her usual air of superiority.]

Death taking one more insult for the road, that's all. Hardly worth mentioning, nor as perplexing as yours, unless you died of fashion.

[twibeast]

[ Once the immediate dragon threat seems to have been taken care of and the surroundings stop changing, Achilles finally lets his shield down, the whole thing disappearing into gold dust. If only he could release the tension in his body as easily.

He watches cautiously as Phoenix approaches "Ardyn". Their interaction seems to... be going fine for now. So maybe it's all right, despite these changes. Maybe it's okay for him to also approach, let himself be vulnerable around the other like he was always able to do so effortlessly without worry before.

But his mind goes back to the movie theatre when Chiron let him see a memory of "Ardyn". And even further back he recalls a conversation he had with Phoenix, when Chiron remembered more of his past.

"I'm worried about him, and I'm worried 'Chiron' might lose himself to someone far, far worse."

...Remembering that and hearing that "Chiron" was a name belong to another man makes his hand tighten around his harp.

His own memories from life make it hard, but he finds it in himself to step forward. Not as vulnerable as he would be before though - that was only ever with Chiron, after all. ]

...What now then... Ardyn.

[schardynfreude]

[He extends a hand toward Achilles.]

No need to be shy. I'm hardly so terrifying as a dragon.

What now is an excellent question, however. Perhaps that's best left to a group decision, hm?

[twibeast]

[ He eyes the hand extended towards him... in the end he comes closer, almost about as close as Phoenix is. He wants really badly to hold his hand but holds back. ]

I agree - it should be a group decision what all of us do.

...Which includes you still, of course?

[discutio]

[A small head tilt in Achilles' direction from where Phoenix was standing with Ardyn, paired with an expression that hopefully conveyed 'we'll talk later'.]

[It was complicated, he was worried, and it would be necessary to tread carefully.]

[twibeast]

[ He notes that look, and while a nod or look his own won't be able to reassure Phoenix that he sees and understands him, he does take it into account as he continues ]

[phantasmagorial]

. . . Ardyn?

[ Oh, that doesn't feel right to say at all. Maybe it's just because she's been calling him Chiron all this time, but still...

Right now isn't the time for her worries, though. Even though this whole situation has her stomach turning loops. ]

Does that mean you've remembered everything? [ After a moment, Rei nods more to herself than him. ] ... I'm glad.

[schardynfreude]

I do remember. And what an arduous journey to get here. I had to excise a few daemons along the way, of a sort, but now I'm exactly who I ought to be.

Which, alas, includes being terribly wrathful, as you can surmise.

[phantasmagorial]

. . . You know, when you put it like that, I'm sort of amazed you're even talking to us if you really took the Authority over just like that.

[ the actual Implications of this appear to be sailing over her head for the moment.

Perhaps purposefully. ]

But, um... are you... alright? Usually when someone remembers something so big, it's a little difficult for them.