NefariusDestiny

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

Also, I need some help from @skai, @mirrodin, and @seerofnone with the following post.

Prospective post:

Post 8

A sliver of thought was more pronounced than the rest: “We should leave. This is growing pointless.”
<Vanth’s agreement / disagreement>
17 and Vanth stood together, drawing the eyes of the silent room. <Vanth informs the room they're headed to train and then learn of the temple’s secrets. Maybe Aella brings up the library as a good place to look. Ask Ian and/or Haven if they will join their company.>
<Where or not they agree, we continue to the training rooms>
17 began toying with his powers on the way there, seeing what he was able to do to sound. He could feel the expanding and compacting of space against his skin as the sounds of their footsteps reflected off the walls. He pushed back at them mentally, causing a louder second echo. He smiled mouthlessly beneath the bandana.
<anything else happen on the way there? People asking about the headphones?>
Upon arrival, all four stepped into the room. It shook violently, then the large room became even larger and created their first trial: the Trial of Chronus. The room exploded with sound as the group of four suddenly began slowly spinning. The brass floor extended to the walls in a series of spinning gears and mechanisms. A fan on one end whirred violently, while the other end sounded like sparks were flying across a corridor. The group of four froze and took in their surroundings when a voice started speaking above the volume of the grinding and ticking.
“I am Chronus, the first of three Guardians for you to encounter. These prisons were designed with you in mind, so please, waste no time.”
A clock at the top of the room began slowly but distinctly ticking.
“You have one hour.”

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

So I made a pretty lore heavy post under IC. Aaron read it and gave it the okay.

Enjoy.

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

Etro The Seraph

Status

Location: Temple of the Archons
Notes: Trapped in a prison of crystal

Description

This, minus the sword.

Time flows with or without you. Stuck behind a glass prison, watching the world’s tide rise and fall without you is an experience hard on one’s sanity.

At the end of the last Struggle, as Etro has taken to calling them, everyone died. Thanatos, now aware the flow of time had been manipulated twice before, devised a plan to take advantage of the cracks that had formed. He filled them with death. His mission was to increase the flow of souls into the timeless void of Valhalla to cause irreparable damage to the multiverse, making time travel impossible. It worked, mostly. In the last shreds of time and space, the remaining Archons, ones of Time, Gravity, Crystal, and Sound, destroyed Valhalla in a desperate attempt to stop Thanatos’s plan. Etro, having mercy on the souls that would be doomed to roam the multiverse, crystallized Valhalla with herself in it. The Archon of Time, knowing Valhalla’s absence would remove the anchor necessary for time travel, pushed it through the cracks of time into another era before its absence had any effect.

Pockets of power broke off Valhalla on its trip through The Void, flying into neighboring Universes. Three entity's, once proponents of Thanatos, stumbled across Valhalla. Realizing the folly of their ways in the histories saved by crystal, they took the crystal world and tucked it away, hidden from the view of Tartarus, the realm of Thanatos. Chronus, Hermes, and Nephilis, once three servants of Death, became Guardians of Valhalla, now called the Temple of the Archons.

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

Same. Nick will be posting on my behalf. Another collaborative post.

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

In an alternate timeline...

17 rose up out of his chair in elegant fashion. He flourished his arms wildly to get the attention of his onlookers before turning his eyeless sockets to stare into the soul of Ian Marcus, the seemingly fearless leader. 17 wanted to instill a feeling a dominance over him, so he thrust his hips toward him and pointed in his general direction. As one can imagine, this just looked like he was dancing. 17 continued the strange display while making sounds to the tune of Micheal Jackson's Thriller.

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

@jersh

Meanwhile, in the W.G.A.

.
On his way out of the facility, his superior, Joseph Grimm Irons, stopped him. It was strange to see him at a time like this; ever since Grimm’s’ son died in the incident with Cale, he’s been at every investigation scene. At first Grimm looked shaken and Alex noticed a small bloodstain on his outfit. Grimm quickly assumed a more professional pose, and Alex quickly did the same to prepare for whatever line of questioning or order came next. It had been a while since his last report.
“Stravier? You’re back?”
“17 disappeared, sir. I came to make my report. I was just leaving to investigate further.”
“Well, will you tell me the details or will I have to look at the report myself?”
“Ofcourse,” Stravier pulled a glass tablet out and quickly pulled up his most recent report while turning it for Grimm to see. “Subject 17, who goes by 17 now, developed a power. He also happened upon an artifact that our records say is still stored here. I didn’t check on it myself yet, but I updated the artifacts file to reflect this event.”
Surprised, Grimm looked up with a concerned expression. “Which artifact?”
“Otherwordly Headphones, sir. In case you aren’t familiar, they’re made of-”
“I’m familiar with them,” Grimm cut in in a grave and serious tone.
“Oh. Forgive me. They exhibited strange behavior, which might have been a result of 17’s powers manifesting.” Stravier sounded excited. “When he had them on, the gears were spinning and ticking extremely rapidly. When I had them on, I could, um, hear his thoughts.”
Grimm became extremely interested. Such behavior hadn’t been documented before. He silently cursed himself for dismissing the headphones’ intricacy. “Anything else?”
“Yes. He caused several sonic booms, one of which carried enough force to stop a bullet. After that he just disappeared.”
The same thing happened to Joseph just now, Grimm thought to himself, I wonder if this is connected somehow. If they are, that means... “This is important. I need you to call Event Investigations and get them there immediately. Tell them the orders come from Grimm.” Stravier nodded quickly. “After that, I need you to come find me at The Vault immediately. We’re both in danger.”

The last line sent shivers down Stravier’s spine. They all knew this was a dangerous line of work, but for Grimm to specifically say he was in danger was unprecedented. Grimm handed him a relatively normal looking phone.
“If other comms fail, use this.”

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

sits awkwardly in the meeting room

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

So as soon as the flirtatious couple get in the room along with our all knowing leader, we're basically good to go.

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

Wooooo, so me and @SeerOfNone had a writing session. Got in google docs and did a scene. It went great, I would highly recommend it if you're struggling with interaction.

A True Sacrifice - CLOSED

Subject 17, Archon of Sound and Vanth, Archon of Lightning

Status

Location: Temple of the Archons at first, then at the meeting room
Notes: Having a novel interaction

The Conversation

An awful screech pierced the air, forcing Vanth to claw at his ears to block out that sound, closing his eyes in the process. You fucked up! You have fucked up, now. Not helping! The sound died down and he risked a glance up. This marble mystery stood before him. Vanth straightened up.
“Uhh, hey, I don’t mean to be rude or anything in waking you, but I think we are all expected in the meeting room.” He looked the guy up and down, noticing how gingerly the being put on his goggles and bandana to hide the lack of eyes or mouth, “by the way, my name is Vanth.”

---

17 cocked his head to the side, still unsure what to make of the strange information he had just learned in his dream. He shook off the feeling and stuck out his hand.

---

Vanth reached out, making sure he wouldn’t accidentally shock them, and grasped their hand to shake it. “And um,” Vanth lowered his voice to avoid being overheard, “I noticed that you lack sight and a mouth, but I’ll keep that to myself if you’d like.” How would he go about communicating with me?

---

17 heard the low humming sound of electric charges as their hands touched. He nodded and grasped Vanth’s hands with both of his, hoping to communicate that he appreciated the gesture. He considered using the headphones, but only briefly. He wasn’t able to trust anyone with access to his mind for the moment.

---

Vanth read the being’s gratitude, but noticed the slight hesitation in his body language as a thought went through his mind. Their grasp releasing, the reality of how many secrets each of these archons- his new comrades- may have began to sink in. “I’ll be forward with you though, I have no experience with nonverbal communication. I’ll do my best to keep my questions to yes or no answers for ya,” he shifted his weight, “Where I came from, a lot of people lived in pain so I do what can to alleviate discomfort from those I associate with- unless they’re trying to kill me of course.” He choked on that last part as he recalled the night his parents died, merely two months ago.

---

17 felt more at ease the more he heard Vanth talk. He attempted to sign to him in W.G.O.’s universal sign language, but it didn’t get the reaction he wanted. 17 pulled the collar of his thick layers down to reveal the brand the B.R.F. had left on him. 17 pointed to the brand, then to his head.
An idea sprung into his head: Morse Code. An archaic method of communicating in the early industrial ages of planet Earth, before W.G.O. takeover. He had no reference on him, but hoped Vanth would understand.
He grabbed Vanth’s hand and began tapping out the morse code alphabet on his palm. He looked up, even though he couldn’t see anything, as if to ask “do you understand?”

---

“This…” Looking down at his palm as 17 tapped, a smile broke out like zits across Vanth's face. Vanth let out a short laugh of relief, “this is morse code! But why the alphabet?” He shook his head, “at least that is progress! I’m pretty handy with an oscillator since my dad had one and taught me how to transmit messages.”

---

It took some time, but 17 communicated a short message: I AM SOUND STOP NEED GRAVITY TIME STOP SAVE CRYSTAL STOP CAN I TRUST YOU STOP

---

Although 17 couldn’t see it, Vanth nodded his head. “Absolutely. So, there’s an archon of crystal that requires the aid of the archons of sound, gravity, and time?”
17 nodded his head excitedly.
“Okay, I understand. I have no ulterior motives except for going back to the realm I came from to clean up the corruption that is ruining the people I know. So yes, you can trust me, but can I trust you?” He said that in the most upbeat tone that he could manage with the weight of the situation.
17 thought for moment. He could understand Vanth’s hesitation with such sparse communications. He lifted the headphones from around his neck and placed them on Vanth’s ears.
“Where are the others?”
After having a former archon speak into his head, hearing 17’s thoughts did not come as a shock.
“I think you have to speak.”
“Oh, then uh they said they were meeting in a long room with a table after setting up our rooms.”
“Rooms? Why do we need rooms? It’s the end of the world.” Seventeen’s thoughts were without a filter.
“Well, I suppose in this temple their purpose is for our own privacy, storage of our stuff, and rest.. There is an empty room next to mine that you could occupy later,” he bit his cheek a little, “but what you say is true as well, I can see it being… trivial in claiming territory when we should be actively working against Thanatos.”
The response came as a shock to 17. He didn’t realize all his thoughts were telegraphed so clearly. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to be so blunt. Should we go?” His thoughts almost had an embarrassed tone to them, if such a thing is possible
“You’re fine! Let’s go ahead to that meeting then.”

17 and Vanth found their places next to each other at the table once they arrived. Vanth still had the headphones around his neck in case there was a need for 17 to speak up.