Editing Forgotten Freedom:57

[[Forgotten_Freedom:56|Last Plot]] -- [[Forgotten_Freedom:Plot_Lines|Plot Line Home]] -- [[Forgotten_Freedom:58|Next Plot]]

----
Sa'vor, Tara and Naz'roth step into a time portal. the colours of the world swirl around them in a magnificent display before they appear in a cave

* in Sa'vor's head

Slip: you can't do this to me! I need to fight!

Sa'vor: *tears rolling down his cheeks* Thier are three paths in this matter, two end in tragedy. the first is if I let you fight by my side. I would save the universe... again. but *brushes a hand down her face* I would lose you. 
the second is if I protected you with all my might. but we would lose the universe. the third is this method. I need to know you're safe, Slip. I can't fix time and try and protect you. this is the safest way. 

Slip: *calming a bit* so what do you want me to do? 

Sa'vor: I need you to learn as much as you can while you're here. consider this your graduation as well. I need you to defend my mind. if anything gets in you need to uproot it. 

Slip: okay... just one last thing 

Sa'vor: this is? 

Slip: don't die on me *kisses him* 

Sa'vor: *smiles* I won't. 
                    
                            * Outside Sa'vors mind* 
Sa'vor: ready? 

Tara and Naz'roth exchange looks. they smile at each other, then nod to Sa'vor. 

Sa'vor: okay. this one will be difficult. 13's stopped the Mourning by killing Michael when he was a child. this meant that the last war didn't end, and thousands of souls will suffer and die../ many of the people we call friends on the Forgotten Freedom won't exist. do you understand the importance of this? 

Naz'roth: yes. I do. 

Tara: of course. 

the trio appear in a courtyard. around them houses burn from shelling and raiders, they proceed like shadows up the street. each shapeshifts into a beggar and proceeds to a house, from it the screams of a woman in labor can be heard. a black-cloaked figure appears, he wears a shimmering mask of silver ( a lot like V's). he draws a sword when he sees the beggars.

Figure: stand aside, beggars!

( Naz'roth summons a scythe) 
Naz'roth: I'm afraid thats not going to happen.

*in Sa'vors mind* 
Slip: he had to say that didnt he, it wastes so much time

The Time Lord: that's exactly what he's doing
 * outside Sa'vor's mind* 

the Figure attacks, his black cloak fluttering behind him as he attempts a slash at Naz'roth. Naz'roth blocks with the scythe's haft and brings it swishing round in a deadly arc. the figure dives back. Naz'roth hits him with a mind probe. the figure hits the ground and dies. Naz'roth drops to one knee with a cry of anguish

Tara: *rushing to his side* what's wrong? are you hurt?

Naz'roth: no... it's just whats happened to him. he's full of despair. 13 uses those people whom have lost to do its bidding as it attempts to kill those whom have control over time in this realm. 

the first cries of a newborn babe are heard. Sa'vor seals off this area of time permanently so it can't be altered unless by a licenced time user. Michael isnt assasinated at birth.

----

13  - Yes you hate me for using your sister's death at your own hand to attack you. You hate her for turning on you. You hate the world that took your parents from you. You hate your parents for not being strong enough to save your family. You hate yourself for not being strong enough to save everyone.

Satnak - I know and I accept that.

13 - What is this; mortals always push away their realization of hatred. It cracks your soul wide open to realize what monstrous creatures you are, and to see yourself through another's eyes at the emotional level. Even those who admit they are evil cannot tolerate the pain of empathy.

Satnak - I trained under an empath who was reviled the world over. Furthermore I hated him for being Levy's lover when she saw me as a little sister. He taught us something important. Accept your emotions as your own and others cannot use them against you. My hate is mine, not some toy for you to play with. I am a Breaker I accepted my whole heart long ago.

Illis - You will have no better luck with me, cretin. I am berserker, I wield my own emotions just like any other weapon. You cannot use our hearts against us.

Satnak -  (to illis telepathy) The suppression is in place, temporally it can't leave the next hour, spatially it's confined to about a half-mile around the FF. All we have to do is touch it with a hand wearing a bracelet to activate the tracker that will keep us with it when ever it shifts.

Illis - Time to die, weakling.

Illis rides along the air currents bringing the Rambuster around in a sweeping arc.

13 dodges down only to find Satnak's Slitter fang angling for its eyes.

A quick dash to the left, and Illis has 13 by the foot.

A surge of red lightning arcs down his arm into 13.

13 - RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGHHH.
-blinks out-

Satnak and Illis -blink out-

----

Erk and team return to the bar after a long mission…… one which they can't talk about.  Erk in particular is happy to get back.  He walks into the bar with open arms.

Mr. T: Yo, we back!

Lucky:—!

Lucky jumps out of the way as a river of crew races into the bar.  Mr. T escapes by virtue of being a creature with regeneration.  Ninja Jaela dodges… because she's a ninja.    Erk, however, gets trampled.  Because the bar is a specially constructed extra-dimensional space it resizes to fit the crowd.

Erk: *GROWL*

Frightened Redshirt: Hey, it's not our fault!  That thing out there is causing the FF to float to pieces!

Erk: *grunt*

Erk gets up and goes to the bar.  He calls out for Lucky to get drink orders.

NJ 26: Hey, where's Lucky?

Silence: No, seriously, this is a magor piece of work!  It knocked out all my vestiges with one hit!

Saberiel: This things all over time that it's attacking us at multiple points in our past, and it's using so much emotional output that it's taken down Kithle every time.

Erk just rumbles noncommittally.

Aerith: It seems so sad, too.  Like something traumatic happened to it in its past.

Erk waved an arm to indicate that this was an adequate description of everyone on the crew.

Pholly: Oh, will you listen for a second?!  I saw that thing taking on Roosevelt, and it had him rolling on the floor sobbing about all the things he'd ever done to people!  I didn't even know that he had any emotions other than annoyance and satisfaction at revenge!

Most of the scum—- minus Satnak, Sa'vor, and those—- enter, bringing with them the comatose body of Kanatash.

Terra: I see Erk's back.  That's good, because now we can all die with a proper drink.

Lisa: I'm going back out there.  I can't just let something like run free.  Maybe some in the church are evil, but killing them will just be perpetuating the same sort of acts they do themselves.

Terra stares in admiration at Lisa.

Terra: I see that something's rubbed off on you.

Lisa: Well, after having to confront all those demons I killed because they were evil, I guess I started to see how things don't have to be the way we think they are.

Terra: I know what you mean.

Saberiel: That convince you yet, Erk?

Erk doesn't answer, but sets some large mugs down on the bartop.

Michael: Erk's right.  We should all just drown ourselves because when that thing gets down here we're going to have to fight all those guilt demons again, and I for one would never want to confront them sober ever again.  Hey, barkeep, another round!

Erk is just standing there, motionless.  He's staring at Michael like the blackguard wanabe is the greatest sage in the multiverse.

Erk: What did you just say?

Everyone is too surprised by Erk's ability to talk.

Erk: "Guilt demons"…… "wouldn't want to confront them sober"…… "things don't have to be the way we think they are"…… "emotional output"………

He vaults over the bartop, landind lightly on his hooves as even NJ-26 couldn't manage.  He races up and examines Kanatash.

Erk: His normal base nature' s been neutralized?

Volrath is a bit too stunned to respond.

Erk: If Kanatash is made of insanity…… heck, even the Forgotten Freedom must be held together by insanity now………

Terra: Whoa, assume we can't read your mind……… because I guess I can't.

Erk: Something is countering the insanity of this very ship.  You've had to confront all the nuances of your actions that you hadn't considered before.  This thing exists everywhen and has enough grief that it probably equals every bit of sadness and despair and pain from every person from creation till destruction.  (he jumps up and clicks his hooves together)  It's the best puzzle so far!

Random Redshirt: Um, excuse me, our whole world is about to be rearranged!

Erk: I can't deal with you now.  I have to stop this thing.

Norbaz: Care to fill us in?  At least enough that if you don't succeed we have something to go on?

Erk: You wouldn't understand.

Volrath grabs Erk by the hair on his chest and yanks him down to eye level.

Volrath: Listen, you!  We don't have time for games!

Erk: *sigh* It's the exact opposite of the Forgotten Freedom.

Lisa: You mean it's good—

Erk: No…………… it's completely SANE!

Cricket: *chirp, chirp*

Erk: I told you.

Then he sprints from the room.

----

13 winks into existance once more, covered in bloody gashes and weeping bruises.

Satnak blinks in underneath 13 and launches a volley of rising strokes.

13 darts up but gets slammed into the meat grinder by Illis.

13 - why can't my powers hurt you?

Satnak - Simple, we are balanced we accept the madness inherent in our beings, but it does not consume us.

----

Volrath: Aerith what you told me was incorrect.

Aerith: What I told you?

Volrath: When I got back from the past.

Aerith: This is the first time I've seen you since you left.

Volrath: Then who was that?

Aerith: An alternate timeline Aerith, a figment of your imagination, an illusion cast by someone?

Volrath: If it is an alternate Aerith that would be very bad, because then the alternate timelines have access to our ship. If it is an illusion then 13 has more power than it lets on. Let's hope it was a figment of my imagination.

----

Back in the bar, no one knows what, if any success the others are having.  Suddenly shrieks of pain come from on of the back rooms.

Michael: ****, it found a way in and I'm not nearly drunk enough yet.

Terra, noticing Volrath is missing, is the first to go investigate the screams.  As she enters the room she notices Kanatash's comatose form floating above a platform looking even more translucent than usual.  Meanwile the screams are coming from a redshirt that Volrath is working on with a series of improvised torture devices.  Suddenly the screams stop and the redshirt goes limp.  Volrath stabs a syringe into the redshirt's head, draining out some liquid which he proceeds to dribble onto Kanatash:

Terra: What in Khyber's undershorts are you doing.

Volrath: (looking forlorn) Uncle Kanatash is starting to fade away now that he's cut off from any source of madness.  I've been driving these redshirts mad and extracting the essence of madness from them to try and slow the effects.  Unfortunately my processes are crude but there has been some slight improvements.

Terra: (Sighing) I commend your efforts but as things look now it may not matter much longer.  It looks like the end of the world out there.

Suddenly in the background the song, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine," starts playing weakly.

Terra: Well, if he can still do that he can't be too bad off.

Volrath: I suppose but I still wish he was here.  He was always a paranoid SOB, even more than should be expected on this ship, but he always had some sort of crazy contingency that he could pull out of nowhere.

Terra: About now I think we could really use something unexpected.  The guys out there are going to need all the help they can get.  Say, Volrath, you spend more time around Kanatash than anyone except Caralot, do you have any ideas about his backup plans?

Volrath: No, wait, maybe one.  Uncle told me once about The Closet [SIZE=1](tm)[/SIZE].

Terra: The closet?

Volrath: No, The Closet [SIZE=1](tm)[/SIZE].  He didn't like to talk about it much, something about it seemed to make him nervous, but I do know it holds immense power.  Its power has similarities to that of Xoriat but they are completely seperate entities.  There are apparently many things in The Closet [SIZE=1](tm)[/SIZE], items, weapons, places, people, almost anything one can imagine.  Uncle told me never to open it unless the danger of opening it was greater than what we faced, but he never told me what the danger was.

Terra: I can't imagine anything more dangerous than having the entire crew never exist in the first place so let's go.

---

A short jaunt to Kanatash's chambers later the pair stand in front of a simple wooden door marked "janitor."

Terra: Are you sure this is it? (Volrath nods) Well here goes nothing.

Terra uses a variety of spell, attacks, skills, items, and at one point even a rabid muskrat to try and open the door but it doesn't budge.

Terra: (panting) I.. Give...  Up...

Volrath: You just need to know how to deal with these things.  (pulls out library card and slides it along the crack between the door and the wall.  It clicks open)  See?

Terra glares at Volrath but suddenly the door springs open.  It reveas a surface that can only be described as liquid darkness.  It glistens and undulates as innumerable items begin to spill forth, weapons, ancient and futuristic, devices, both magical and technological, things best left unnamed, and even somethings which have no name in this world or any other.

Terra: (Picking up a handful of plasma grenades and a vial of bubonic plauge) These could be useful.

Before she can say more a disheveled figure begins to materialize from the door.

Volrath: Uncle Kanatash?

Kanatash?: [COLOR=Lime]GLEDDLELAAF-ASDLKJTE_KSALTJESARA/ATTOTTSOAS  TIC-TAC-PALLY-WAK.[/COLOR]

Terra: It must be some sort of alternate Kanatash who never reached that state of "perfect madness" he talks about.

This Kanatash flips upside down and floats through the ceiling as a new from begins to emerge.  This one has a rigid posture and glows white light.

Terra: (shielding eyes) Sweet Jaela, the aura of good on that thing is enough to blind a beholder.

Volrath: I would assume this is another Kanatash that never ended up in going to Xoriat in the first place.

This second Kanatash bows to both of them and floats out the door as well as a third figure emerges.  This one is completely solid and extremely muscular.

Terra: This one must have taken the path of a psychic warrior rather than a psion.

Warrior Kanatash makes some grunting noises and smashes through a nearby wall.  With his head.  While not wearing a helmet.

Volrath: Some previous brain damage may also be posible with that one.

A fourth figure emerges just then.  This one is sitting crosslegged, wearing a tie-dye t-shirt, carrying a set of bongos, and smoking from what is unmistakably a bong.

Hippy Kanatash: Whoa, dude.  The cosmic, ugh, cosmicness is like all out of whack around this place.  Someone needs to like reach a balance or something around here. (checks the bong) But first I need to get myself some more stuff.

Hippy Kanatsh stumbles out of the room while Volrath and Terra simply stare at him and then at each other.

Volrath: Uncle is going to ****ed when he sees that one.

Terra: Yeah.  Now why don't we close this door before anything ELSE comes through it.

Before either of them can act the door closes on its own and vanishes as if it had never been there, leaving a pile of strange and powerful items on the ground in front of where it used to be.

----
A few moments after Erk leaves, Lisa moves to follow him.

Terra: Hold on, there.

Lisa: Like I said, I'm going back. I don't know what I can do, but I have to try to help any way I can.

Terra: No, I mean, I'm coming with you.

Lisa: Really?

Terra: You didn't think I'd let you go out there alone, did you? Many of my shadow abilities may be useless, but I won't leave you to fend for yourself.

Volrath: What about me?

Terra looks at him, a look of empathy and disappointment on her face.

Terra: I can understand why you did what you did. I really can. You wanted to prevent what happened to your family. But the fact remains: it did happen. Things like that happen to many people. We accept it and move on. Though you may not like the options life gives you, the one you pick makes that path your own. I thought you had learned at least this much.

Volrath: But I was... I just...

Terra: (a look of deep sadness crosses her face) For a fleetiing moment before the shield was set up, I saw an endless number of possibilities for myself. Lives I could have led, both happy and sad. He even asked me if I wanted to change any part of my life. Despite the fact that I did, I had to decline.

Volrath: Why?

Terra: Because if I had, I would not have met you. I would not have met Lisa. I would not have met Not-Walter. I would have missed out on so many things, and my new life would have been nothing but a lie. No matter how I feel about my life, I am here because I made it so. If I don't like part of it, I change what I can in the here and now.

Volrath: But it's not fair! What if your choices are not really choices at all?!

Terra: Who said life was fair? Life isn't fair. You roll with the punches, get back up and try again. If the gods themselves seem out to stop you, raise your fist and cry out in defiance to the last fiber of your being! You are the master of your own destiny. Take control and smash the chains of fate that bind you. You cannot change what has already happened, but only you can create what comes next.

Volrath: But I did change things! The Silver Flame should not exist!

Terra: (looks at him angrily) Look around you. Witness the 'good' it has caused, then tell me again of your wonderful accomplishment.

She turns and leaves with Lisa. Volrath stands there in shock. He had never seen her so upset with him...

----

Satnak goes to strike a blow at 13.

And he disintegrates before she can reach him.  However, the FF is still coming apart.

Satnak: Okay, I've hit enough demons and demi-gods and über creatures to know when they're dead.  Come on out so I can erase you and get back to eating chili.

13: [COLOR=DarkRed]DON'T YOU THINK I'VE TRIED?[/COLOR]

Satnak: :confused: 

13: [COLOR=DarkRed]I hear them screaming at me across the ages.  I want them to stop.  I can't escape them, so I have to make them stop.[/COLOR]

13 appears right in front of Satnak, blood streaming from its wounds.  But Satnak sees that it's not 13's blood: it's the blood of every creature killed for being itself.  In that instant she realizes that it's not possible to kill something that's powered by the act of killing it for what it is in essence.

She doesn't have time to think further.  13 tears into her with all the force of her own suffering, all the emotional pain she's ever had.  Satnak weathers it, having long ago accepted this pain as part of her.  But it seems like an eternity before 13 tires out.

13: [COLOR=DarkRed]Why do I have to suffer for the pain you've had?[/COLOR]

Illis hits 13 with Rambuster.  But instead of the creature screaming, it seems as if the whole world around the ship cries out with pain.

Illis: WTF?

13 (showing no signs that the hammer affected it): [COLOR=DarkRed]You want to destroy me?  Then you'll have to destroy the whole world.  Until you can feel its pain[/COLOR]—*shriek*

Satnak hears the sound, but is not quite sure she believes it.  For the first time, even if she's only known 13 a short while, the voice that comes from its mouth isn't the screams of other people.  The small black fox-form, becoming wrapped by a shiny black swirling blob—- now taking on the form of a draconic serpent—- is experiencing its own pain.  The FF stops falling apart and begins to rebuild itself.  Outside the ship's bubble it can be seen that the time streams are reforming into their proper places.

Caralot: Get out of here!  Thyrs can't hold him forever!

Illis: I think we can handle this.

He swings at the grappling opponents.  The black blob melts aside easily, but when Rambuster hits 13 there is the sound of a world-sized dragon moaning.

Caralot: Idiot.  Violence isn't going to do any good.  I don't know why, but I think because Thrys is basically a collective of minds on its own it spreads 13 out thin until it can get to the being underlying this whole thing.

Satnak and Illis: :confused: 

Caralot: They cover a lot of things in my cult.  Listen, let's just step back and……

13 is gone.  So is Thyrs.

----

Satnak - Hello there.

Illis - We have you by the mind you cannot escape us.

13 - WHAT ARE YOU?

Illis - I am berzerker. I can sense your fighting spirit waning. I see through the emotion you hide behind.

Satnak - I am breaker. I can see you fracturing. Your will is crumbling against us. I could sever your existance, but another like you would be formed. I could tear out the part of the universe that allows you to exist, but your temporal nature makes this dangerous. You have one option; deal with the pain or die as I rip asunder the fundaments of time. It's no question whether I would sacrifice this realm to save existence from a mad timerunner. Either shut up and stop ****ing up reality or prepare for death on a scale you've never dreamed. Look for a minute, you prevented the Mourning. THe Great war still rages below us, thousands suffer. Kithle is roiling in torment between himself and the him that was never shaken from the bloody rampage. Cyre still lies lifeless, but now great swathes of the continent are also targeted by his undying wrath. If you bring back his Girlfirend to prevent that. Sa'vor would run unchecked, the shadow wielders would be free to do as they wish, all the people I've saved from countless threats will be dead. Yours is a world in ruin.

----

The two women make their way to the deck, fighting only when necessary. During a brief repose:

Lisa: What did you mean when you said your shadow powers were pretty much useless?

Terra: Calling them shadows is less accurate than you might think. Each is more of a portal to the Plane of Shadow, you just need to have the key. The things I do are more like bringing a part of that plane into this one. It's not that different than what Pardan (the Wild Mage guy) does. He is able to draw on the raw stuff of magic, [SIZE=1]albeit badly[/SIZE], while I can command the very fabric of the Plane of Shadow to do my bidding.

Lisa: So, since were in a sealed off space, you can't access it?

Terra: Exactly. About the only thing I can still do is bind shadows, and only when they come into contact with other shadows, and even this only has the effect of tying the two together.

Lisa: Still, it's better than nothing...

Terra: That it is. Now let's get going. I think I hear Satnak and the new guy.

----
A short interlude about what the Jarlot family has been up to....

Michael: What are you doing?

Jarlot: I'm training Jaela... err... Sakura in ninjitsu.

Michael: You mean sneaking, smoke bombs, and stuff?

Jarlot: No no, REAL ninjitsu. The art of flipping out and fighting all the time.

Michael: Huh?

*A Balor, a Pit fiend, a small army of lesser demons, and a Glaabezu then slinked forward from a whole to Shelvaresh*

Jarlot: It's a Manifest Zone.  They're going to kill, rape, and enslave everyone in that village below because they're Silver Flame worshippers.  After charging a hefty sum....

Sakura: I WILL STOP YOU!

*The little girl of 15 pulls out her tachi sword and steps in front of the monstrous horde, her Ninja outfit complete with a lovely eyepatch*

Michael: Uhhh... Jarlot. This is insane.

Jarlot: Yeah.

Balor: I will enjoy grinding your bones up, little girl... perhaps after I make you bear my young.

Sakura: You cannot even begin to fathom how much I utterly and completely despise your kind.

*Sakura then ran towards the Balor as it charged at her, slicing through its manifold tentacle liked spiked whip and then using her fireproof ninja shoes to to run up its flaming arm before leaping above its head upside down and slicing off its head with a single blow from her sword then slamming the sword into its back.  Sakura slid down the wound as it cut through the monstrous demon's backside before she hit the ground.*

*The Balor fell over the edge and exploded against the ground below in a burst of demonic hellfire*

Michael: HOLYYYYy...

Pit Fiend: *****! We are justified in destroying those Flameites for interfering with our ways

Sakura: Evil people always like to say they're no different from anyone else but that's not true!

*She lept forward in a cartwheel and faster than the eye motions of her body between the masses of the Abishani, Manes, and Lemures that charged her before they fell down by the dozens. Each cut bisecting the enemy as she sprung with motions faster than the eye*

Sakura: Good isn't about murder!  Good is about caring and protecting! It's about wanting to sacrifice of yourself to protect others! 

*She jumped upon the Pit Fiends sword before jumping up off of its head twenty feet into the air before diving.  The Pit Fiend caught her blade with his but she only did a gymnastics flip before slashing an X through its skull, cutting off its left arm, then its right, then both legs as it fell.*

Glaazebu: Uncle?

Sakura: I gladly give you mercy if you will simply le....

*The Demon pulled four swords to sneak attack her as she was caught off guard*

*Jarlot then shot the Demon with a blessed pistol +5 equipped with Silver Relic Bullets*

Jarlot: I admit, that's probably the weakness I'd LIKE you to have.

----

Kithle - (still flickering) Valencia... gods the pain... I can still hear her voice... No I wont let you trick me into that... She would have suffered so if she had lived... she was too good to abandon me... we could never have been accepted... We would be found out no matter how good my disguises... oh gods I miss her... go away 13... stop using her like this... I'd never forgive myself If I did that to her... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

----

13 stares at Satnak.  The look on its face is hard to read, but it seems to be a mixture of surprise, horror…… and perhaps even relief.  It stops struggling with Thyrs.

13: Do it, then.

Satnak: WTF?

13: KILL ME, or destroy the world.  I don't care which.  Either way, I get what I need.  I won't have to feel the pain of others anymore.

Satnak: Oh stop whining.

13: I'm not whining.  I'd like to see you feel pain every time you even hear of someone being teased.  I'd like you to cry every time you hear words of hate, cry for both those who have to endure them and those who say them.  I'd like you a die a little each time someone is hurt because of what they are and not what they choose to do completely free………… and no one is completely free.  (it snarls, bearing fangs of white hot fury)  And I'd like to see you endure that through all the time there is in this existance without every part of your soul being ripped away until the only thing left is the anger.  And endure it again, and again, and again as you try and make it right and yet no matter what you do they come up with another way.  You think this is the only Eberron that has ever existed?  Sa'vor and you think that you can prevent me from changing the past.  But I've already done it so many times that I can't even remember them all.  But it didn't matter.  I even tried to prevent myself from being created, and nothing happened that was truly different.

13 stands despite the load and the pain of Thyrs.  It spreads its arms, indicating every choice that it's ready to take whatever Satnak is willing to do.

13: So give me the oblivion that I hunger for so much, and place beyond thought and feeling.  Then maybe there they'll all stop screaming at me to do something.  Maybe there I won't have to think about the two of them arguing over that laughable Prophecy, or see my father die and my mother imprisoned by my sibling.

Caralot: :OMG!

----

Volrath: This should work to keep Kanatash alive.

Volrath has rounded up all of the Daelkyr half-blood redshirts, and hooked them up in two way telepathy with Kanatash.

Volrath: Nighty night uncle. Hope you wake up soon.  :schemes: 

Several incorporeal immovable rods hang over Kanatash's neck and head.

Volrath: How can I right what I have done?

----

Illis - You little wimp. At least Forbes doesn't whine about it.

Satnak - You really shouldn't let your opponents know that kind of info. I'm willing, but there are few things I wanna try first.

13- :confused:  :weep:

Caralot: [SIZE=4]Noooooooooooo![/SIZE]

Caralot snatches up 13 bodily and jumps over the side.

----

Satnak - Honestly Caralot, if you have an alternate solution speak up.

Illis - I am the hurricane, nowhere in the sky can you evade me.

Caralot - :eek: 

Satnak - 13 wishes for a death of sorts. I intend to bind its soul beyond sensation, it'll become one of Silence's little friends.

Illis - Satnak, you're still the same twisted psychotic ***** who rescues kittens by cutting down the tree you were when I met you, specifically after climbing said tree to rescue said kitten.

Caralot and 13 -  :confused:

----
Her first option foiled, Caralot calls on a much bolder plan.

Caralot: [SIZE=4]Igor![/SIZE]

Igor: Yeth, mith?

Caralot: Oh, good.  I wasn't actually sure that worked for anyone but Jarlot.

Igor: It ith my power.  I know when to uthe it.

13 stares at Igor for a long time.  The look on the creature's face is one of weary annoyance.

13: You.

Igor: Yeth, me.

Caralot looks from one to the other.  13 climbs out and stands before the hunchback.  Satnak readies to strike again, but something prodding at her mind says "This is over.  You have nothing more to do here."  She doesn't known where it's coming from.

Caralot: So you…

13: We know each other.  Igor served my mother.

Caralot: Who was Khyber.

13: Exactly.

13 turns quickly away from Igor, but doesn't move away.

13: Why didn't you do anything to stop them?

Igor: My very being is as a facilitator, not a provocator.  Those who cause mayhem, who hold up one side of the balance, don't ususally have many friends to help them.  They need someone to give them a feeling of needing someone else, even if they don't realize it.  I don't cause, I hold up.

13: I guess you're the sort of person who doesn't care much that a Prophecy is trying to run your life.

Igor: I live my life how I think it should be lived.  If something else runs it, then whatever I do I'm supposed to do and can't change it.  If I have freedom, then I am exercising it the way I wish.  And by not interfering others have the same choice.

13: Yet there will always be those who think that interfering is what they are meant to do.

Igor: You can't hate something for what it is.

Erk's Voice: I'm glad you think so.

Igor, 13, and Caralot fade.  Completely from existance.

----
Terra and Lisa arrive on deck, 13's power having disappeared.

Terra: WTF?

Satnak: I wish I knew.

Lisa: So... is he gone?

Illis: Don't count on it. I really hope Caralot knows what she's doing...

Satnak - Oh what do you care, you're ready to pull the plug on this whole plane if we don't deal with it soon.

Illis - You think I would enjoy destroying a realm!

Satnak - I know you would, you're a berserker.

Illis - You got me. :D

----

Motes of shadow sizzle between clouds of darkness in a void of blue almost black.  Images flicker within the clouds, images of things already created and decaying and images of things still forming.  Sounds flicker through the void, but they are so quick that one cannot hear them, only get a feeling.

Igor, 13, and Caralot just stand there among all these wonders, still supported as if by the decking of the Forgotten Freedom.

13: And yet I still hear them scream.

Erk’s Voice: *deep yet warm laughter* And now you see why the idea of an all-seeing god seems so ludicrous.

A cloak steps out of the void, as if stepping from invisibility.  It has the look of a blackboard peeled off its housing, thinned into a fine cloth, yet still holding the grand scribblings of some mad university.  The figure inside appears to be a minotaur, yet composed of a skin of tiny symbols so that it is transparent and yet its features are easy to see.

13: You brought us here?

Erk’s Voice (coming from the word being): Yes.  This story has ended.

13: Then you’ll give me oblivion? (its voice is pleading)

Word Being: If that is what you really want.

13: All I want if for the voices to stop screaming at me to do something.  I don’t want to care anymore.

Word Being: Then you don’t need oblivion.  What you need are illusions.  Igor?

Igor: Yeth, mathter.

Caralot: I thought Jarlot was your master.

Igor: Jarlot ith, on Eberron.  Here, my mathter ith the one who cautheth the change in worldth.

Word Being: Right now that would be me.  Please fetch the god-entrapping mirror, Igor.

Igor: Yeth, mathter.

Igor starts walking, and vanishes as the word being had appeared.

Caralot: What did you mean when you say Thyrs needs illusions?

Word Being: Sometimes beings must think that some things are true even when they are not.  Otherwise they would see that nothing is certain from one moment to the next.  Beings of my kind call these “necessary illusions”.

Caralot: For those of us who aren’t godlike.

Word Being: Many things that beings think, particularly sentient beings, aren’t true or are only true in a way that is not how they think it is.  Ideals, for example, are never real: they are too far-reaching.  But by believing in them beings can push themselves to achieve something.  Hope is another.

13: So then why do I suffer for others?

Word Being: You have no illusions.  You do not see any suffering as necessary or allowable.  Pain is bad, and you see it that way.  Suffering is bad, and you see it that way all the time.  You see how things could be different and see how easy events and people could change.  You are also unsure of how the next moment will be.  You hold no assumptions, because assumptions are just illusions that some things are not possible.  When these two things are combined you have an unrelenting need to show the world exactly what it is, and the constant uncertainty that you have done enough.

13 (looking skeptical): You don’t sound like you know what you’re talking about.

Word Being: I can only guess.  I, too, have illusions.  For me it is entirely necessary, for I solve puzzles as my purpose.  I must always have a bit of certainty.

Caralot: In my Eberron, Thyrs only has intelligence because it links itself to the minds of anything with water in it.  Even then, it rarely acts like it thinks at all.  So what happened?

Word Being: In your world Khyber broke the Draconic Prophecy.  Though the pieces still dictated events, they could fall in the time stream wherever.  Here, Siberys stopped Khyber before that happened.  13 saw the entire thing, and the knowledge that all of time was set shattered any free will.

Caralot: So free will is an illusion?

Word Being: No, just his.  13 has no thoughts for itself.  Even its desire to leave existence is no more than a thought that the world wishes it gone.

13: You’re guessing again.

The Word Being nods.

Word Being: My illusions allow me to think that I can have the right answer.  I will admit that I could be wrong.

13 hangs its head.

13: But it’s true.  I do everything for the rest of existence.  Nothing for myself.

Igor returns, holding a tall mirror that does not reflect but seems to flicker with glimpses of images.

Word Being: Look into this mirror.  It will show you something you can keep for yourself.

Caralot notices that the void around is fading back to the deck of the Forgotten Freedom, but that 13 and the Word Being are fading as well.  She watches as 13 seems to laugh at something, then dissolves away.

Finally back on the FF, Caralot stands wearily.

Caralot: I guess it’s over.  13 got what it wanted.  We have this Eberron back where it’s supposed to be.  The world is saved once again.  We can go back to our normal lives.

Igor: Thith ith the Forgotten Freedom, mith.  Thingth are never over.

***

In the great space of Non-existence, the Word Being picks up the few particles that are left of 13.

Word Being: How true that is, Igor.

----
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