Doesn’t Time Fly – Orianna Èirigh – 30.04.2024
Oct 8, 2024 16:57:47 GMT
Andy D, Lucky, and 1 more like this
Post by Orianna Èirigh on Oct 8, 2024 16:57:47 GMT
OBSERVATIONS & EXCERPTS from the JOURNAL of SECOND ASSISTANT ARCHIVIST ORIANNA ÈIRIGH of ASHKHA
Henri received a vision from Throdrazz of where he could find their Piece of the Nine. When he mentioned a mountain I wished- No, I pleaded with the Cosmos that it could not be. That my sister’s patron — the very same who I helped reconstruct a new body for — would not be the one who has the Gemstone Prophet’s Key.
But it was him. It is him. It would always be him.
Throdrazz’s Key allows the user to see into the future. Arcravine knows we are coming. This conflict- be it today, tomorrow, or weeks from now- it is what the Primordial Incarnates allied with the First Mountain want to have happen.
That alone makes me not want to fight. But not doing anything is worse, is it not?
Arcravine and his ilk no longer need the Keys. They have built their own Door to the Staircase, probably using the bones of Andromeda’s body they cut away from her. What else could they have planned? Sure, all they needed to have done was delay us until they were ready, which they are now, so-
Does any of this really matter?…
The only way out is through for there is only one path in a labyrinth. Even Arcravine’s seat of power is making a mockery of us.
Through it we faced versions of ourselves which seemed like they would attack us if we did so first but none of us did. Was that something Arcravine saw when he melded his stone with Throdrazz’s key…?
When we — Henri, Matches, Ronkk, Amble, and Throdrazz too at this point — got to his Tower, Arcravine was happy for us to take the key. But neither Henri nor I were born yesterday as they saying goes. He seemed to have noticed that by the layout of the vast chamber, by the fact that the Key was being held, presented to us even, by an ornate stone pedestal, something else was going on that we could not see.
I have heard a tale of an adventurer “insight checking” a mountain before. I thought it a fantastical tale, something from a fable, even. Having tried, repeatedly, to insight the First Mountain, I do wonder if such a feat is ever truly possible. Yet I managed to see that Arcravine was still connected to the Key, and he was, without doubt, going to try something the moment Henri would take it with his own hands…
“Wait, Henri.”
He turns to look at her just as Orianna’s form begins to shift into her nebulous, starry form with draconic wings sprouting from her back.
“It would behove you to let us take the key without incident, Arcravine. Do not try anything else this will not end well,” Orianna says, her voice echoing with a deep draconic roar and starlight.
Arcravine barley flinches, but Orianna sees it. Intimidation may not be her strong suit, but she would not hesitate to throw down against the Primordial of Earth if he were to try anything against one of her Family.
Henri, taking the hint within her words, uses his mage hand to grab the piece. Nothing happens.
Orianna does not trust it.
She gestures for him to return to her side, telling the others to circle up so she can planshift them away from here when Throdrazz, now able to use his powers of foresight because his Key is no longer being used by Arcravine, stops time.
“What have we here?” they ask, their tone anything but nonchalant.
At the back of Henri’s neck a small needle of amethyst is poised, ready to pierce his skin.
Throdrazz delicately pinches the needle between their pointer finger and thumb. “You would threaten my Herald.” It is not a question.
Across the room, Arcravine’s eyes narrow slightly. A challenge if there ever was one.
Suddenly appearing on Henri’s other side is Pantos. The Infinite’s wineglass loops in lazy circles, an absentminded gesture, as he looks from Henri to the needle. Throdrazz pinches their finger and thumb together and the small sliver of amethyst breaks it into pieces. There’s a look, some sort of silent communication passing between the Infinite and the Archwyrm. The mercury-like liquid in his wineglass comes close to spilling out, but at the last second it loops back over itself in the glass.
Pantos turns his attention to Arcravine and says, “If anything were to happen to one of us, our little truce would cease to be.”
The First Mountain may be hard to insight, but in that moment they all saw clear as the stars on a cloudless night, the moment Arcravine realised he nearly fucked up…
We have all been so caught up with this conflict between certain Primordial Incarnates and the rest of Creation, that we do not realise we have more responsibilities than what is going on now. The Archwryms have not told us the full extent of them, which I know certain members of our growing family will find issue with. Why have they not told us yet? What are they waiting for?
For Throdrazz, they said Henri — or rather, their Herald — needs to be “in the Present for them”. Seems more like a singular purpose compared to what the rest of ours might be?
They say it is because it is hard seeing all possible futures and choosing the correct path. It is also hard to stay grounded in present moments when one is constantly bombarded with possible futures.
Which makes what they said just before an interesting conundrum to think on.
It seems Henri will have a choice to make in his future. Whether to have a mortal life or an immortal one. Really, I don’t see it being any choice at all for Henri. I know which one he will choose.
I think about it, sometimes. How even as the Cosmos fills me with more magic, more power, I am only here for a finite time. If the primal magics of the Cosmos reach a point where I will not age as quickly as my fathers and others of this beautiful, wonderful Family, I will see my life stretch out into centuries.
But everything in this realm has its time to live, and it’s time to die. I would embrace the River more easily knowing that Gerhard would have someone like Henri to be there with him on his life and journey through the Infinite…
Henri received a vision from Throdrazz of where he could find their Piece of the Nine. When he mentioned a mountain I wished- No, I pleaded with the Cosmos that it could not be. That my sister’s patron — the very same who I helped reconstruct a new body for — would not be the one who has the Gemstone Prophet’s Key.
But it was him. It is him. It would always be him.
Throdrazz’s Key allows the user to see into the future. Arcravine knows we are coming. This conflict- be it today, tomorrow, or weeks from now- it is what the Primordial Incarnates allied with the First Mountain want to have happen.
That alone makes me not want to fight. But not doing anything is worse, is it not?
Arcravine and his ilk no longer need the Keys. They have built their own Door to the Staircase, probably using the bones of Andromeda’s body they cut away from her. What else could they have planned? Sure, all they needed to have done was delay us until they were ready, which they are now, so-
Does any of this really matter?…
The only way out is through for there is only one path in a labyrinth. Even Arcravine’s seat of power is making a mockery of us.
Through it we faced versions of ourselves which seemed like they would attack us if we did so first but none of us did. Was that something Arcravine saw when he melded his stone with Throdrazz’s key…?
When we — Henri, Matches, Ronkk, Amble, and Throdrazz too at this point — got to his Tower, Arcravine was happy for us to take the key. But neither Henri nor I were born yesterday as they saying goes. He seemed to have noticed that by the layout of the vast chamber, by the fact that the Key was being held, presented to us even, by an ornate stone pedestal, something else was going on that we could not see.
I have heard a tale of an adventurer “insight checking” a mountain before. I thought it a fantastical tale, something from a fable, even. Having tried, repeatedly, to insight the First Mountain, I do wonder if such a feat is ever truly possible. Yet I managed to see that Arcravine was still connected to the Key, and he was, without doubt, going to try something the moment Henri would take it with his own hands…
“Wait, Henri.”
He turns to look at her just as Orianna’s form begins to shift into her nebulous, starry form with draconic wings sprouting from her back.
“It would behove you to let us take the key without incident, Arcravine. Do not try anything else this will not end well,” Orianna says, her voice echoing with a deep draconic roar and starlight.
Arcravine barley flinches, but Orianna sees it. Intimidation may not be her strong suit, but she would not hesitate to throw down against the Primordial of Earth if he were to try anything against one of her Family.
Henri, taking the hint within her words, uses his mage hand to grab the piece. Nothing happens.
Orianna does not trust it.
She gestures for him to return to her side, telling the others to circle up so she can planshift them away from here when Throdrazz, now able to use his powers of foresight because his Key is no longer being used by Arcravine, stops time.
“What have we here?” they ask, their tone anything but nonchalant.
At the back of Henri’s neck a small needle of amethyst is poised, ready to pierce his skin.
Throdrazz delicately pinches the needle between their pointer finger and thumb. “You would threaten my Herald.” It is not a question.
Across the room, Arcravine’s eyes narrow slightly. A challenge if there ever was one.
Suddenly appearing on Henri’s other side is Pantos. The Infinite’s wineglass loops in lazy circles, an absentminded gesture, as he looks from Henri to the needle. Throdrazz pinches their finger and thumb together and the small sliver of amethyst breaks it into pieces. There’s a look, some sort of silent communication passing between the Infinite and the Archwyrm. The mercury-like liquid in his wineglass comes close to spilling out, but at the last second it loops back over itself in the glass.
Pantos turns his attention to Arcravine and says, “If anything were to happen to one of us, our little truce would cease to be.”
The First Mountain may be hard to insight, but in that moment they all saw clear as the stars on a cloudless night, the moment Arcravine realised he nearly fucked up…
We have all been so caught up with this conflict between certain Primordial Incarnates and the rest of Creation, that we do not realise we have more responsibilities than what is going on now. The Archwryms have not told us the full extent of them, which I know certain members of our growing family will find issue with. Why have they not told us yet? What are they waiting for?
For Throdrazz, they said Henri — or rather, their Herald — needs to be “in the Present for them”. Seems more like a singular purpose compared to what the rest of ours might be?
They say it is because it is hard seeing all possible futures and choosing the correct path. It is also hard to stay grounded in present moments when one is constantly bombarded with possible futures.
Which makes what they said just before an interesting conundrum to think on.
It seems Henri will have a choice to make in his future. Whether to have a mortal life or an immortal one. Really, I don’t see it being any choice at all for Henri. I know which one he will choose.
I think about it, sometimes. How even as the Cosmos fills me with more magic, more power, I am only here for a finite time. If the primal magics of the Cosmos reach a point where I will not age as quickly as my fathers and others of this beautiful, wonderful Family, I will see my life stretch out into centuries.
But everything in this realm has its time to live, and it’s time to die. I would embrace the River more easily knowing that Gerhard would have someone like Henri to be there with him on his life and journey through the Infinite…