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

[cancrymods]

. . . Even if they were worth the world and more to me... aren't there just as many people trapped here, suffering, who meant the world and more to somebody else?

[ Her gaze drifts from Phoenix to Achilles – to Ardyn, to Medic, Arianna all the rest of their family gathered around, wounded and bruised but with their spirits bright and intact. Even this far down. Even far beyond the point any of them should be able to muster any strength.

But this journey has never been about strength, has it?

Her fingers curl around Achilles' and squeeze. ]

Even if it's just for me, I have to know. I have to see it. Even if it can't be put together exactly as it was before, I at least have to try. And... maybe that will mean changing things, if we have the power to do it. Maybe it won't. But unless I go all the way down and I face my sins myself, I'll never know.

[schardynfreude]

[...Ardyn rubs his chin, looks away.]

Ah--all those people...waiting on a world that no longer recognizes them...

Pray, they can't move forward should they become a Revenant, can they? Would would happen were they to try and touch these precious Cogs?

[cancrymods]

[ Rei holds his gaze for a moment... then shakes her head. ]

I... really don't know. I've never heard of a Revenant coming down this far. But then again... the only reason there's been so many Revenants is because nobody has been able to pass on. Maybe they've never been given a chance.