Closed [Motoku] The Tenebrous Nature of a Cambion II

[Vicissitude]

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༺༉⛦ March 3 year 125 of the third age ⛥༉༻

<notes>

For a few seconds after both parties had spoken, Shiori would remain quiet, as if contemplating where to begin.

First, she’d direct her gaze unto Luke. “First, we are no longer in Jian; I bear the title 'Mystagogus', which means that I am tasked with guiding those mired in ignorance. Kaneki likely called upon me, another Jianese, as he knows me personally and is comfortable conversing with me. Because while there are many other Mystagogi across our various demesnes– some even local to this one– the ways with which the others may conduct themselves varies heavily; likely, he asked for me by name because he knows what to expect from me." The small, cordial smile she gave him upon the conclusion of this explanation might read as false, but it would be impossible to tell.

"Second, Necromancy is one of our tamer Arcana, in truth– though it remains not uncommon, given the fact that it is one of the only Planar Pacts one can ‘will’ into their souls with the right potential and enough determination.”

And then her gaze would shift to Raya, “...but that is only tangentially related to the point at hand. I am beginning to understand what’s happened here,” the sentiment punctuated with a nod.

“Please refrain from interruptions until I am finished; I understand that much of what I am about to say will sound like nonsense or be confusing without further context, but the more you listen, the more you will Understand.” These instructions left the lips of the corpse-pale woman in a manner both polite and matter of fact, yet ran with reassuring undercurrents to Raya specifically.

“You, Raya, are an Onryo now, but you were briefly an Endless in death– in other words, a Ghost twisted to darkness by our beloved Night Father, Nihilos.

I have not been enlightened with the exact circumstances of your death, but I can only assume that for reasons all His own, Nihilos deigned to pluck whatever remained of you from the Void– both His Plane and His body– and suffused your soul with the Miasmata required for your rebirth as Onyro. His interference left you marked, little lamb; that man that died was your doing.

With focus, you can curse any living soul with His Metaphor– Absentia– and its potential for Entropy will eat away at them until they meet their death. It is…a fascinating little spell, as it is derived directly from a curious connection you have to Him; you don’t even cast it with your own Metaphor– rather, you call upon Him to impart it.”

Her gaze would flit briefly back to Luke, “...relating to my earlier comments about Arcana, this is highly abnormal,” eyes now back on Raya.

“Nihilos has created five Arcana of His own this far– colloquially, we call them Blights. Furthermore, the ‘we’ of which I speak, the family Kaneki no doubt mentioned in passing, is known as Alítheia. What we share is not blood, rather, we are united by His Metaphor. It is why this place is sanctuary to you,” and looking for a moment again to Luke, “...a den of horrors to you.”

“You do not bear The Stranger’s Blights nor His Metaphor, your tie to Him is your blood-father, who does, in fact, carry our Father’s Arcana within his soul. That is why Kaneki took you with rather than leaving you to wallow in ignorance. Please be aware that we are acting outside of your blood-father’s will and that he may very well be displeased that we’ve broken the careful illusion he’d established of your normalcy, but do take solace in the fact that we outrank him and such displeasures ultimately do not matter.” She recited this disclaimer in a very business-like manner before immediately switching her focus back to Raya.

“Before I give the floor back to you for any additional curiosities, I must ask: is it truly your desire to simply move on to the next life? Is there no appeal in forging a path for yourself in this new state of existence as you settle?” This was the first instance wherein Shiori emoted; her brows furrowed with something subtle that resembled concern. "In any case, we do possess the resources to puzzle out the circumstances of your passing should you desire."

“Now, have any of you further questions concerning Alítheia, our Night Father, or the Blights– his gifts?” She’d ask with an oddly warm sort of smile. It would appear that the longer she spoke about Nihilos, the less monotonous she'd be, as if the subject made her happy.

 

[Raya]

Raya tried her best to process what was being told to her. Secret arcana, a name given to the stranger, a wealth of information about what this group of people was about. It was a lot to take in but she did so without hesitation. She was young enough to be malleable and impressionable.

“I do not know if I should move on or not. It seems only natural to do so but if I have another purpose in this life then I could explore that instead. It sounds like this night father might have plans for me and I intend to find out what they are. If they are worth living for then why not stick around? I would like to know how I died if that is possible even if I don’t seek revenge.”

“I don’t have any questions right now. I think asking more would only confuse me.”

 

[Luke]

“Holy…” Luke muttered as the woman explained so many things to them. The most interesting part about all of this was the existence of secret arcana. These blights, as the woman called them. How was such a thing possible? And then there was the entity called Nihilos that sounded like a villain out of a fairy tale. His common sense told him that this was all some kind of weird cult with no basis in reality but this strange place was evidence that there was something fishy going on. And there was that power that Raya had demonstrated… that was proof enough that there was arcana out there that wasn’t widely understood.

“So, my dad is part of this group. He must have one of those secret arcana… that would explain a lot now that I think about it.” For the first time Luke started to notice something strange about the metaphor around him. He was but a novice when it came to mysticism but being here activated something inside of him that would allow him to discern absentia. That would be a useful tool for identifying allies, or perhaps enemies depending on how his relationship with alitheia developed.

When he was prompted for a question, he shrugged. “It would be nice to see some evidence that these blights are real and not just fanciful rhetoric dreamed up by what is starting to sound like a cult… but I saw what Raya here did and that’s proof enough for me. What happens now?” He had a feeling that being told about all of this information would come with a catch.

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[Vicissitude]

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༺༉⛦ March 3 year 125 of the third age ⛥༉༻

<notes>

“Your purpose is your own to forge, Raya; in this life or the next, don't let your choices be made for you,” she'd respond in a voice that, though still mostly polite, held the most genuine emotion– reassurance– out of anything she'd said thus far.

“I understand this is a lot to take in; many others in your place have opted to learn things over time. However, if that is the case, there is something we must go over before this conversation ends.

That is– we have rules that must be strictly adhered to. There are six of them and worry not, as they are really quite simple to follow.

First, we are all tasked with upkeeping what is known as the Veil: that is, the world must remain ignorant of Nihilos and Absentia.

The second, Hierarchy: All Blighted must respect the Alítheian hierarchy– a structure you will no doubt learn in time.

The third, Hospitality: this one is the most complex, as it is threefold: honor the laws of any given Alítheian demesne, maintain the façade of order in any new culture you enter, and present yourself to the Alítheian representatives thereof, or elsewise surrender to them when they find you.

The fourth, Proliferation– this one concerns the spread of Blights– all proliferation thereof must be sanctified by a demesne’s Podestà, or the Alítheian leader of a given territory.

The fifth, Progeny: the progenitor has full control over their progeny until such time that they see fit to release them. This speaks of the relationship forged between those who earn the right of proliferation, not blood children.

And lastly, Dissolution: The right to kill or order the death of any Blighted is only by default granted to members of the Obsidian Pentacle, Scoriada, and the Podestà of a region. To order the death of an Alítheian is to order their ‘Dissolution’. This is not something the two of you have any place to do, so please care not to pick fights with others of our number,” she'd conclude with a pleased little smile.

“If you have any questions about any of those, please let me know. Elsewise, I only require assurance that you understand the consequences for any breaks shall be dire.

…and Luke, if you wish to see the grandiosity of what ought to be considered Nihilos’ true Pact– I would be happy to show you,” her smile turned to a guileful grin.

Her eyes flit to Raya, “...and you as well, should you wish. Rest assured that no harm will come to either of you should you accept– that is, if you keep your distance.”

 

[Raya]

“You make a good point. I am too eager to find purpose that I neglect to think about what it is I want to accomplish.”

Raya thought about each rule in turn. She could understand the logic behind them. Moreover she respected them. She felt like she had been offered a great opportunity so stepping on people’s toes would be plain rude.

“That is a lot of rules, but I can see why they would each be important. If you have stayed hidden they must be effective.” Raya said.

“I will do my best to keep out of trouble. Let’s see this grandiosity that you speak of. I will keep my distance.”

She was excited by how dangerous that it sounded. She like Luke would like a display of this secret magic. Having only lived a short while there were many arcana she had not witnessed yet. She could only assume that the skeleton arms were from necromancy which was another one to cross off the list.

 

[Luke]

Luke’s head spun as he listened to all the rules associated with knowing about this cult. He thought he got them all. Don’t tell anyone about it, that was obvious. Do what higher ups said, which was basically everyone at this point. Don’t kill people with special arcana, sure. The others were more complicated, but seeing as though he didn’t have any of these special arcana he didn’t think he would have trouble following them.

“I think I can follow those rules, no problem,” he said with a nod. The only one he was particularly worried about was killing people that had a blight, but if someone was going to fight him then of course he would fight back. If he had to choose breaking a rule or dying, the former would prevail. Though he didn’t really see a reason why any of them would attack him for no reason. He also didn’t know how he was supposed to know if someone had a blight or not. It would probably take him a while to figure out that he could now see absentia inside of people.

“Yes, let’s see this true Pact in action. I’m already here, so I might as well. And I should probably stick with Raya anyways. To make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.” He winked at her after saying that. He thought a bit of humor was needed to make himself to feel less creeped out by what was going on here.

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[Vicissitude]

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༺༉⛦ March 3 year 125 of the third age ⛥༉༻

<notes>

A bell would toll in the distance– loud, resonant, foreboding– like something that belonged at the top of an old tower– yet it eerily sounded close, as if it originated from the very walls themselves. Despite its loudness, despite the fact each toll caused the room to shake, it was not painful for Raya to hear– rather, the sound would excite her by its very nature. Luke would experience it as any other sound; the vibrations would make his head ache and ears ring. Each toll dragged several seconds before another came, and by the time only echoes remained, there had been a total of nine. Shiori's eyes seemed to light up more and more with each one.

“Oh, how exciting~! You might even see the mage in question complete his edification, given that!” In stark contrast to her previous demeanor devoid of emotion, she'd suddenly clasp her hands together like a giddy little girl. “Please, come along,” she’d continue– though she moved so quickly the words were spoken with her back turned and gestured by the strange skeletal hands while her own palms pressed against the organic metal of the door.

Seeing her from the back, the two would see that these arms were part of a set of shoulderpads rather than grown from her body via something similar to Apparation or the like; one might assume they were woven by some combination of Necromancy and Practices to create a wearable device that responded akin to natural appendages. And, acquiescing to her touch, the door would open back to the darkened halls of whatever labyrinthine structure they were in. She would stand at the threshold only long enough to make sure the other two had gotten up to follow her before moving on.

There lingered an ominous tension in the air as the trio trekked through the darkened halls, their path ahead only illuminated by one motion detecting overhead light at a time. Despite the halls being not unlike a maze, Shiori moved with purpose just as Kaneki had. They would walk for around five minutes before arriving in a much larger hallway, something not unlike a foyer. Several other halls connected to it and the northern wall of which had a set of double doors befitting an ancient dragon in size. Shiori would lead them into the room, though she’d keep their group a reasonable distance away from the others that’d also started to gather here.

The small, growing crowd had likely come at the sound of the bell, too. Looking around, Raya and Luke would see a handful of fellow humans, ælves of all types, gnomes, dwarves, vokhai, even cambion and fae and so on, these figures making up the majority of people present. That said, they’d struggle to guess what races a good few dozen of the figures present would even be. Any standard race, mortal or immortal, Cambion or otherwise, that the two might have heard of would not quite fit the bill for most of those. Many of them were monstrous, possessing an abnormal number of limbs as well as animal or altogether alien features– further, a great many of them appeared to accessorize through means some might describe as self harm. Flayed flesh left untouched in a manner similar to unhealed scarification, skin and muscle modified or displaced by metal implements (sometimes revealing the pulse of internal organs within), jewelry implanted into the body directly, and so on. Despite how painful some of it looked, none of them appeared the least bit bothered by any such modifications.

It was as if the sight of them reminded Shiori of something. “Oh, in my excitement I forgot to clarify– we’re in the heart of Caligony: a long lost Plane from millennia past. It once played host to the fallen Godhead Pelezotz, one who presided over the Metaphor of Malachor. The stranger silhouettes here are the Cambion thereof– the Haemora. Only in them, the Spirits who remain, and their creations does their Metaphor live on. We’re here because they have graciously offered Alítheia run of the realm– all who reside here bear our banner.”

Gesturing towards the grand doorway, “...many present bear the Night Father’s gifts, but the mage we are to see sits beyond that grand set of doors. We shouldn’t have to wait long.”

 

[Raya]

Raya followed as she was told to. She didn’t have much to reference but she could still tell that this group of people was far stranger than it ought to be. So many different races and strange beasts and creatures made up the group that was watching intently.

“Wow, this cult has everything. Its own plane even.” She looked in the direction that everyone else was looking. If so many people had gathered then whatever this ended up being was guaranteed to be worth the trip.

She felt like she had been invited to a grand ball and she had forgotten to wear her makeup. In this case makeup would be a knife in the eye and an extra torso and four extra legs. Maybe she would end up looking like that one day. She saw the appeal of having extra parts.

“And their own race too. Caligony is amazing~.” She followed along some more wanting nothing less than to see something fantastic.

 

[Luke]

Luke didn’t have much to add to the conversation. He followed along with his guide and companion, doing his best not to freak out. Everything around him made him want to torch the place to the ground. Some things were so creepy that he felt like he was doing the world a disservice by not acting. After this was all done he was going to need to have a serious discussion with himself about what to do about all this information he’d been fed. Every wild claim seemed to be true. Part of him wanted to benefit from this knowledge somehow, and another part told him that these people needed to be wiped out.

“Such a diverse group,” he said, “and it looks like we arrived just in time.” He no longer really wanted to see the pact in action. No doubt it was going to be just as if not more horrendous than what he’d already seen… but he was already too far deep. Then there was that morbid curiosity that egged him on, telling him that there was power here that he could take advantage of.

He stared at the door, expecting it to open at any moment. He was already imagining what kind of sick twisted thing might show itself. Was it going to be something hideous? Or were they going to see something turn into a monstrosity? The suspense was killing him.

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