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ximilialog2021-12-01 08:15 pm
CONCLUSION: the sleeper
The maze is where the team gather — behind the Sphinx (who seems a little annoyed by all the sudden traffic to the area) stands a door that will not open, not to magic, not to force… not until Alina and Rhys arrive, a teenager following suit, her red hair a cloud behind her, her hand tightly clutched in Alina’s as she eyes the various team members warily.
It is only until those around her nod that she moves closer to the door, summoning a blue light into her outstretched hands. It hovers in the air for a moment, before the door suddenly sucks it in… and swings open.
Aureliah seems to want to dart up the stairs to her uncle immediately, but Rhys grabs her arm to hold her back — “For your safety, just in case”, he whispers to her and Aureliah bites down on her lip but stays put. She waits just long enough for Bones, Jim, Blue and Daisy to pass before wrenching herself away from Rhys and following after them.
The stone staircase is narrow, allowing barely two to walk side by side. Once it seems that they’ve been climbing the stairs forever, they finally make it to the room at the top — door slightly open, there’s a faint green glow coming from inside. As Jim pushes the door open, they’re treated to the sight of a round room: at the back of it, a window, ajar, a black crow sitting there, watching them carefully. And in the middle, a desk full of papers and books… and on it, head pillowed on his hands and fast asleep, is Remi d’Arbes.
Bones, exchanging a look with the crow, walks briskly up to Remi, uncapping the vial of antidote. As he reaches to Remi to administer it, the green glow that comes from around his chest suddenly flares out and several things happen at once — the crow flies into the room and suddenly dissipates to leave Itachi standing where it just was; Blue takes a hesitant step towards the glow, ready to step in if the antidote fails; from the doorway, the Darkling’s shadows rise to meet the green glow, shielding Alina and the princess who’s trying to peek into the room over Alina’s shoulder… and then, a voice rings out.
Remi stands at his desk, white hair in disarray, eyes blazing as he holds a green jewel in his hand. The jewel seems to spark once before withdrawing the glow slowly into it.
Before anyone can fire back a retort, Aureliah pushes through everyone trying to crowd the entrance to the tower.
“It seems it’s a more welcome party than I thought. Thank you for waking my niece… and me. And it seems I’ve cause to thank you more. I spoke to this tall fellow called Drift earlier… he said you’d try to help with my contract with Phyllie. I’ll tell you what I told him — if you can figure something out, you can take her. But we can talk more later.”
With that, he ushers everyone out of the room and back to the castle — those outside will have to go back through the maze, but those inside the tower will find the door now opens into one of the hallways inside the castle.
That evening, Remi, grumbling about the trouble and how tiring it is to have so many people around, still manages to offer the team the best meal they’ve had during their month in the castle — the entire kitchen seems to have switched to something far larger, like the entire room has switched places with something else, a dining room fit for royalty. The tables are full of food: steaming pots of roast, plates of fresh salad and vegetables, along with some far stranger-looking dishes that don’t quite seem to fit what the team’s seen of Kilnan so far.
But throughout the dinner, there’s an expectant atmosphere in the grand room, only waiting for the night to come. Because during the day, the team has made a decision, though far from unanimous: it’s a nearly split vote, half the team wanting to break Remi’s deal with the orb by finishing it for him, the other half wanting to try and negotiate with the orb first. In the end, caution has won, and after dessert, the team head to the foyer.
There, most of the team gather around the outside of the room, some ready to jump in if needed — in the middle, Remi, holding the orb in his hands, stands facing Bucky, Eleven and Finn.
As soon as an awareness reaches back at her, Bucky steps forward, inviting the orb to speak to him and Finn. Between them, they explain what they can do: that if the orb comes with them, it can join with the other orbs — that it can be much more powerful there than it could ever be here in Kilnan. Remi’s magic will run out in time, and what then? But if it comes with them, they’ll keep finding more orbs. It’ll become more powerful than ever in the future.
The orb seems to consider that, a faint flicker of that green glow pulsing around it.
Before Bucky has a chance to say more, the chorus gets louder, suddenly ringing in the ears of every Orber in the room.
Green light explodes from the orb — like tendrils, the light reaches for those near it, and all who are in range feel it sucking power out of them, those with magic feel sapped, while those without start to feel faint.
It only lasts for a second — the team is prepared for this, too, after all.
Sabriel and Itachi throw up wards around those without powers, while Drift and Megatron step forward, offering their sparks for the orb to draw from. Slowly, others join: Alina, glowing like the sun; Xichen, offering his spiritual energy; Percy, with Cabal’s Ruin charged up; Kaidan with his biotics.
All feel a drain on their offered powers that is like a strong current, impossible to fight against. For a moment, it feels as if it’ll never stop, as if it’s ready to absorb everything they have to offer… but then the green light recedes.
Remi’s head snaps up, then, as if hearing something only meant for him. And after a moment that seems to stretch out, heaving a relieved breath, he says,
The deal is done — the orb will no longer feed on his magic. Around him, the air slowly, steadily, shimmers with a light blue aura of pure magic — the orb has not only fed on him in larger amounts at once, as Aureliah thought, but has been a constant drain on him, every moment… and free of it, his magic is free for the first time in over a decade, as well.
Regarding each of the team who offered their powers, Remi walks closer to them, the blue aura of arcane energy around him growing brighter by each step.
From behind him, Aureliah darts to give Alina a hug, just in time before the team feels the familiar sensation of being dragged back to the station.
Right before going, they hear Remi’s parting words:
Once the bright light recedes from their vision, the team see a familiar sight: the white walls of the station, the hum of the teleportation machine quieting down. And as before, the orb in Drift’s hand starts to float up, lighting its immediate vicinity a light green as it moves towards the door to the North Wing. But as it does so, the team can see that there’s someone there waiting for them: operating her robot body, Viveca floats in the middle of the room, the screen installed in the front of her body showing the face of a young woman, her reddish hair curly and tied back, her face freckled.
She smiles wryly and adds, “I didn’t cook, don’t worry.”
As she speaks, there’s a hiss as the door to the North Wing opens and there’s movement from behind her.
From behind the robot body emerges a man — his voice is familiar to many in the team by now, but his appearance, that of a tall man in his late thirties, dressed in mostly casual clothes aside from the hooded cloak he has on, is new.
“Would love to stay and chat, but this girl needs my attention, stat. But I promise I’ll get to spend some time with you all real soon.”
With a wink, he turns on his heels, blows a kiss to Viveca (who rolls her eyes but grins nonetheless) and disappears back to the North Wing.
Viveca, sighing, looks at the team.
Take her word for it, team — orb number three, recovered. Not a bad success rate, so far.
N O T E S
This is the end of the third mission! If your character goes back to review the mission file, they will notice that next to its name, a little check-mark in green has appeared.
This is not an official log. As there is no mission in December, the station log for the month will be posted on December 5.
Should characters want to talk to Viveca, they can do so here.