umbralant | GRAVEYARD

Graveyard

Reflexively, you curl tighter. Just another minute. Just another minute of sleep is all you need, but the sun waits for no one. Wait. The sun? After many days and nights with only moonlight to guide you, your eyes snap open and your pupils contract at the light.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Bask in this euphoria for however long it lasts, until your memory snaps back against your mind like a rubber band. Weren't you dead? No matter how you met your end, you certainly remember dying in vivid detail. The pain that corresponds to the last moment's of your life chooses then to make itself known, trying to wriggle free from your skin almost literally. That mark on your skin wasn't there before either.

Take a moment to breathe and get your bearings, and really take everything into focus. The warm rays of sun that dance upon your skin are colorful and fragmented like a kaleidoscope, the effect of being filtered through stained glass. Of all the places to wake up, it seems you're inside a church that's no stranger to you, St. Mary's Basilica. While the odds are good you've woken up with company somewhere near by, the glint of gold from the altar will likely catch your attention regardless—embedded deep in the altar stands a golden staff, two sculpted wings draped down its sides.

While some things are the same, and some things are different, there are still more questions than answers. But the inscription engraved into the roof of the ceiling of the Church, now visible in proper lighting seems rather apt: Welcome to Krakow (again).

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[ Given his reaction, her voice has more bite to it than it did previously. ]

I should burn you where you stand, you vermin. But perhaps I should let you suffer, if you were really that naive to offer something you didn't understand in the first place. The signs you wear on your arm mean you are one step closer to becoming a full manifestation yourself, all because you gave up even more of your soul for spite and to please that woman.

. . . Is that what this is about?

[ He's not too happy himself, but there's still a bit of spite in his trembling reply. ]

Then what about the man with green hair and spikes on his back? Or the white ghoul who kept volunteering to take the blow? I may not be a good example, but those two were unwittingly giving their souls to help weed out the killers.

I doubt they knew what they were getting into either.

Edited 2020-01-26 03:30 (UTC)

Yes. I take issue with your conduct, but I am not a judge of morals or man, but a sword to control the night. [ Like she doesn't approve of his everything but that's not the real issue here. ]

When I am able to access the night I will deal with them, if they are as tainted as you.

A sword, hm? No wonder you're so violent.

[ Look, he knows nobody appreciates his art, but that's just of drop of water in the vast ocean of his problems right now. ]

And what if there was a way to regain their souls from that lady? What if someone here were to find a better answer to this problem?

[ Mood tbh, she's a point me and tell me where to stab kind of girl. ]

You imbecile, she's not some Goddess or mighty deity. All she is doing is holding the reins of animals she scarcely understands in search of her machinations. The manifestations she's corralled are the ones who have the teeth.

[ Where are her handlers? Are this girl's handlers dead? ]

I never said she was... And what you say makes some sense. But if what she said is true, then she and Rembrandt were responsible for bringing us here and giving us powers, so the next thing I could assume is she fed the bits of our souls to those... What did you call them? Manifestations?

The first part of what she said is true, but the second is only true in part. Everyone who becomes prey to the manifestations gains a power if they survive. [ So yeah, Shin has got it! ]

And where did these manifestations come from in the first place? Do you have any idea?

[ She shifts her weight before responding. ]

You have no need to know the answer. But they have existed for centuries, as has my order. Lady Coward is only using them, though I have no idea why. If she is like any of the others before her however, the answer is simple: to gain limitless power.

I think we might want to know the answer if you want any help with this. That Lady hasn't demonstrated any powers of her own other than what she calls "manipulating brains."

And what of this Rembrandt fellow? Her invulnerable bodyguard? What do you make of him?

Edited 2020-01-26 04:19 (UTC)

I don't want or need your help.

Nor do I know anything about [ A beat, and she looks to a certain white haired individual and then sighs. ] Remmywemmy. You said he was invulnerable? In what way?

[ Cue shousa over there having a fit of laughter. You're the best lady here. ]

[ Snickers at that name. ] I think Suzaku might be able to tell you how...

[ .... LOOKING AT SUZAKU. ]

I was happy not to remember that, you know.

[He crosses his arms, but no sense hiding it, enemy of my enemy, yada yada.]

His skin is like brick. He's also faster than is humanly possible. [and he would know as a human who can somehow dodge bullets!!]

[ She crosses her arms. ]

While it's possible he could have gained those traits as his power, the way the manifestations react towards him is irregular. In my presence most will flee from me, but he seems to have some command over them.

[ Comes over, wiping the tears of hilarity from his eyes. ]

Oh right, they were talking about him in the meeting they hilariously invited him too. Or at least Banzai invited him to. Because that was smart. [ Sarcasm is Very High. ] But apparently remmy-wemmy's been reading their past in some way.

Is it possible that he's a manifestation as well?

[ Still shaking her head at that tbh. ]

I doubt it. One of the reasons manifestations behave as they do is that they have no sense of self, and only the desire to devour souls. Even the higher functioning ones are capable of only uttering a few words. And reading someones memory sounds like a magic trick for children.

And if he is this powerful, I surely would have heard about him before, if not someone else in my order. I will make rounds when I return, but it sounds far more likely that he's from a different world entirely like the rest of you.

Edited 2020-01-26 05:12 (UTC)

The lady mentioned she's from a different world as well. It's very likely they both took over this one somehow.

They haven't taken over the world, just the night. [ She clicks her tongue, arms still crossed. ]

Ah... Of course...

...

Then what became of the day?

[ She cants her head to the side. ]

It still exists, of course.

And what would you find there if one could visit? People? Monsters? No one at all?

I can visit it anytime I choose. Why do you think it is my duty to keep the manifestations under control?

... You didn't answer my question.

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