fujimaru | Palace Game 6/3

Palace Game 6/3

The Dreamer In The Grand Temple
Humanity Foundation Value: ????

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

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Oh - okay!

[he brightens up a little and then then looks out for the next one he sees, stooping down next to it carefully.]

Hey there...

The face moves its mouth soundlessly; one voice rises above the others--a man's voice, screaming. He doesn't really sound like he's having a great time, unfortunately.

Hey - you're not alone, I'm here. What do you need?

He(?) doesn't seem to hear the words, only clawing further at the air, like he(?) is trying to break free of the blood. But whether or not he has any empathic abilities, there is a sense: of hurt, and anger raging into fury, bewildered at how he's found himself in such a place.

[he's careful as he does, but he reaches out to touch him.]

Hey...

The contact lets him see, for a fleeting moment--

A battlefield, a confused clash of a ragtag army that is somehow managing to overcome the might of the knights of the kingdom. In life, he had been a soldier, proud to serve his king, determined to do whatever was necessary to honor the glory of this city, with its walls of white chalk--

Only to be cut down by an interloper, a monster in human form. And as he falls, he sees, standing just behind his murderer, a young girl with red hair, watching him as the world goes dark.

[gently:]

...I'm so sorry that happened to you.

That voice wails again. It is fury, it is frustration, and it is the deep, almost childish confusion that he had done what he believed was right--he had followed a king chosen by god, who had been blessed with both a holy sword and a holy lance--so how? Why? Why would he fall, at the end of the line?

But it is, perhaps, slightly less frantic than before.

I'm sorry.

[he repeats, concerned.]

But you can rest now. You don't have to hold onto this feeling.

The wailing is slowing, slowing, fading into a pained sort of gurgle.

It is only one soul among so many, but it does appear to be calming.

[he glances up towards the man who led him here.]

...Is there a way to do this for all of them?

The man glances at him briefly. His expression is mostly unchanged, but there is something like pity in his strange, strange eyes.

"You could preach for a thousand years, and not reach all of them," he says, somehow not unkindly. "And there are things that would not understand your words at all. You are a human, speaking to a human. There is more than that, in the dark."

[he takes a breath, before he nods.]

...Okay. Finding her is more important.

"Indeed," he says. There is a long pause, and then he actually holds a hand out to Rupert, a silent offer of help for him to stand.

[he reaches out to accept his hand.]

Thanks.

The man's hand is surprisingly steady, though cold to the touch; there is a surprising sort of strength in his wiry frame.

"Have heart," he says. "We are almost through the worst of it."

It's not me I'm worried about.

[but he nods, continuing on.]

"You should." Again, the man's voice is not entirely unkind. "You are the one here, in the guts of Hell itself."

Yeah, but I'm not alone, and I'm not... like they are.

"And you cannot tear yourself apart for them. They are the dead; let them solve their own problems. You are among the living, for now. Turn your concerns to them."

Under their feet, the ground is beginning to slant up... but despite that, the level of liquid sloshing around his ankles does not appear to be going down.

I wouldn't call that tearing myself apart, but - I know. That's why I want to find her.

[he looks down at his feet with a frown.]

"Do you?" There's something almost amused in his voice now, unstrained by the uphill climb. "Then I wish you good hunting. So long as you persist, may you find a path forward!"

But as he says that, he comes to a stop. "And from here, you must make the final trek on your own."

...Okay.

[a pause]

I just go straight from here?

"Follow the path that goes before you," he says calmly. "Wherever it leads you, that will be where you need to go. I cannot leave this place just yet."

In that case, um - thank you for your help!

[and he'll continue further.]

Palace Game 6/3

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Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

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Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart

Re: the delights of a human's heart