[a heart field trip]

[antreegonist]

*you're back on the island of Mithos's heart, on the dirt path through the meadow. the sky's still clouded and glassy, but it's no longer storming: you've arrived in the middle of a sunshower.

the freestanding door is there in its pool. the surrounding fog has thinned to translucence -- you can see a couple of large, four-legged shapes moving in it.*

Comments

[antreegonist]

*since you've stopped decisively at PAST to look at that, four blinking red dots appear on the map.

FOREST
RUINS
@#%54393%#@^%$&sskd!!##
SONG*

[brotagonist]

...what the hell's up with this one?

[going to look at the ONE OF THESE IS NOT THE SAME.]

[antreegonist]

*if you touch its dot the HISTORY mirror turns into a pool of molten light, like the doorway you originally took in here.*

[brotagonist]

[...I will return to this mirror then yeah.]

[antreegonist]

*do you go through y/n*

[brotagonist]

[SURE.]

[antreegonist]

*you are on the ground floor of a pale, narrow tower. raw power crackles in the air. feelings linger in the air here: vitality, renewal, confidence . . . and utter, aching sadness.

a trapdoor, large enough to admit a person, is set in the middle of the floor. atop it is a round table. the Eternal Sword has been stabbed deep into the middle of the table.

a spiral stair winds up the inside of the tower. along its length, nine brilliant stained-glass windows wash the inside of the tower with rainbows--you can't quite make out what's on any of them from where you are.

there is also a white door across from you on the ground floor, and another one just visible at the top of the stair.*

[brotagonist]

[eyes the Eternal Sword, then climbs the stairs.]

[antreegonist]

*the windows:

ONE: a seascape: waves, dolphins, shellfish, a whale
TWO: flames and strange lizardlike beasts, not quite dragons
THREE: a sky with air currents, outlined by swirls of leaves
FOUR: a moon entwined with a sun
FIVE: an icescape with spiky ice flowers and white wolves
SIX: bright jagged patterns evocative of lightning
SEVEN: a subterranean grotto, crystal formations on the walls
EIGHT: a mass of dark violets and indigos, with pale pairs of eyes staring out of it
NINE: a drifting cloud, with what appears to be a city on it

the door at the top of the stair has the Great Seed carved upon it.*

[brotagonist]

[sighs. this is all pretty obvious. opens the door.]

[antreegonist]

*you hear Mithos's voice as soon as you touch it, starting off hesitant and then getting more confident, more powerful.*

“And I call on your power here and now, Efreet, and Undine, and Luna and Aska, and Sylph; and I call on the power of those who balance you, Celsius, and Volt, and Gnome, and Shadow, who are together bound by our pact and vow--”

the knob clicks. you can open it now.*

[brotagonist]

[...D| o-oh... opens it...]

[antreegonist]

*inside is a round chamber with two more windows. one is an image of the Tree, black-barked and bright-leaved -- but all the surrounding glass around it is grey and clouded. the other is of a flat meadow like the one in the dream you entered through, littered with large, flat boulders.*

[brotagonist]

[...goes to look closer at the Tree window, reaching out to touch it]

[antreegonist]

*you see this.*

[brotagonist]

[oh. oh I've seen this before.]

Your memories...

[........ :X goes to touch the meadow one as well.]

[antreegonist]

*the pact with Origin.

you feel rather wrung-out and exhausted yourself, after it finishes.*

[brotagonist]

[aaaaa. goes back down the stairs.]

[antreegonist]

*you have gone back down the stairs.*

[brotagonist]

[...tries to get the Eternal Sword out of the table...]

[antreegonist]

*there's nothing but a mild, patient, empty feeling. whatever memory belongs to this, it hasn't been earned back yet.

you may pull it out of the table, with considerable effort.*

[brotagonist]

[hefts it. :\a in my memories, I wield you, sword.

...tries the other door.]

[antreegonist]

*it doesn't settle as well in your hand as it did in your memories; this is the Sword in its past, after all. water has also begun to seep slowly up from the floortiles.

the other door opens onto the ground floor of a near-identical tower. it's very dim and difficult to see. feelings linger in the air here: a deep sense of something wrong, something broken -- lingering hints of rage. it feels like someone's just screamed in agony and you're waiting for the echoes to come back. it's utterly silent, though.

a round table is set in the middle of the floor. a set of scales has been knocked off it and lies askew on the ground.

no light comes through the stained-glass windows. you cannot see what is at the top of the stair.*

[brotagonist]

[...]

[lays the sword down on the table to reach and try to pick up the scales.]

[antreegonist]

*when you lay the Sword down, water begins to seep from the floortiles in this tower too.

. . . the scales contain the part of this memory that involves actually breaking the world; the part about sealing Origin is not included. the emotions in it are very blunted, shielded to protect you . . . but the sensory overload is more than enough to knock you out.*