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[OPEN TO KENOMA] EXECUTION OF THE INNOCENT
WHO: The Regent and Interested Kenoma
WHAT: As promised, the Regent is carrying out the Innocence Entity's invite-only execution.
WHERE: The Regent's Throne Room.
WHEN: Firaseri 22nd, after dissipated Kenoma have emerged.
WARNINGS: Disturbing imagery, gore, limb loss, general unpleasantness.
It's the evening of the 22nd when the call goes out: it is time for the execution. This is purely an event for the willing and or eager, and besides being informed of it, no Kenoma will be pressured into attending. Those that are interested, however, will be led to the Regent's throne room for what promises to be a very special occasion.
Upon entry, the set up of the throne room will seem quite familiar to those that have been there before. A cavernous room filled with nothing but the throne itself, its emptiness seems an intentional call to the void. Several stairs lead to the dais where the throne sits, currently occupied by a the Regent. As usual, any details about the Regent are obscured behind flowing robes and a faceted mask. Presently, they are swirling around a glass of what is presumably wine, but drinking absolutely none of it. Any Kenoma that seem interested will be offered a drink by one of the Citadel servants on duty.
It's not just the Regent present, however. Off to the right side of the room, an arrangement of familiar void-dark spears have been fused into the wall and floor, with their prisoner still held at their center, pierced from all sides. Estinien Wyrmblood appears as little more than a shadow of his former self at this stage, every ounce of color stripped from him, in sharp contrast to the black ichor that bubbles and drips from a cruel assortment of wounds. One eye is swollen with infection, oozing void, while the other is completely blank with whiteness. Each limb has been shorn down to a stub, as if burned by a dark fire from the outside in; all except a set of ragged, broken wings strung up being him. His torso, pierced as it is, seems to be barely holding onto form.
If he reacts to the arrival of 'guests', it isn't apparent. Instead, he seems practically comatose, all except for that open eye and the shallow movements of his breath. His shard is exposed, resting beneath his collar bones, an eye-like shape that has become similarly colorless. The usual sheen of color that all shards hold has faded away, now showing nothing but the gray of the stone beneath it. Those with True Sight will see that he has fallen to the first tier of Pleroma, and even that he is only tenuously hanging on to.
At their throne, the Regent lifts their glass.
"Welcome, kindred."
WHAT: As promised, the Regent is carrying out the Innocence Entity's invite-only execution.
WHERE: The Regent's Throne Room.
WHEN: Firaseri 22nd, after dissipated Kenoma have emerged.
WARNINGS: Disturbing imagery, gore, limb loss, general unpleasantness.
It's the evening of the 22nd when the call goes out: it is time for the execution. This is purely an event for the willing and or eager, and besides being informed of it, no Kenoma will be pressured into attending. Those that are interested, however, will be led to the Regent's throne room for what promises to be a very special occasion.
Upon entry, the set up of the throne room will seem quite familiar to those that have been there before. A cavernous room filled with nothing but the throne itself, its emptiness seems an intentional call to the void. Several stairs lead to the dais where the throne sits, currently occupied by a the Regent. As usual, any details about the Regent are obscured behind flowing robes and a faceted mask. Presently, they are swirling around a glass of what is presumably wine, but drinking absolutely none of it. Any Kenoma that seem interested will be offered a drink by one of the Citadel servants on duty.
It's not just the Regent present, however. Off to the right side of the room, an arrangement of familiar void-dark spears have been fused into the wall and floor, with their prisoner still held at their center, pierced from all sides. Estinien Wyrmblood appears as little more than a shadow of his former self at this stage, every ounce of color stripped from him, in sharp contrast to the black ichor that bubbles and drips from a cruel assortment of wounds. One eye is swollen with infection, oozing void, while the other is completely blank with whiteness. Each limb has been shorn down to a stub, as if burned by a dark fire from the outside in; all except a set of ragged, broken wings strung up being him. His torso, pierced as it is, seems to be barely holding onto form.
If he reacts to the arrival of 'guests', it isn't apparent. Instead, he seems practically comatose, all except for that open eye and the shallow movements of his breath. His shard is exposed, resting beneath his collar bones, an eye-like shape that has become similarly colorless. The usual sheen of color that all shards hold has faded away, now showing nothing but the gray of the stone beneath it. Those with True Sight will see that he has fallen to the first tier of Pleroma, and even that he is only tenuously hanging on to.
At their throne, the Regent lifts their glass.
"Welcome, kindred."
cw: physical and psychological torture
Though he's long since lost any sense of time, this is a cycle he's been suffering through for days. The Regent's touch against his shard is an inescapable agony, his soul rotting with exposure, his heart begging for an end that won't come. There is no dignity in this anymore, no noble shows of resistance. It's just raw, animal suffering - the kind that extends far beyond what the victim even comprehends. A beast dying without ever knowing why.
Like every time before, the Innocence rises up in turn, trying to wash away the poisons that ail him, to hold him close and soothe what remains of the man within. Dualistic forces of comfort and agony, light and dark, Pleroma and Kenoma wage war within him. Like a no man's land in a neverending war, whatever life or meaning his soul had once had has been eroded in the conflict. He's just a vessel for these powers to clash. He's just a thing that feels pain.
He sees others standing around the Regent, peaceful as they watch this happen. His lips move like wants to say something, maybe to beg for them for mercy, but he cannot speak. The only thing that emerges is a gurgle of inky blood.
His form glows softly with the Innocence's presence, for what may be the last time.
no subject
One last obstacle to dispense, one last gateway barring their path. As the presence of the Innocence rises once again, all they need do is take hold, to send the arrow though the window of Estinien's soul straight into its heart. Perhaps the Innocence sees it as a final act of defiance, to block them from destroying this one man. To sacrifice itself to do so. The Regent doesn't care how it justifies it.
Instead, they are only interested in seizing the opportunity they've been given. Their power flows into Estinien's soul with a force that would surely shatter him if not for the Innocence sheltering him, taking his pain as its own. There are limits to what even the Pleroma can bear, the Regent well knows. They need only apply it.
Tossing their wine glass aside, they thrust their other hand into Estinien's chest, the sheer force of the destruction unleashed enough to cause the skin of the Kenoma congregated there to prickle and burn, for their shards to vibrate like sound through glass. For a moment, they will see nothing, their vision consumed by an emptiness that sucks away all light, all warmth, all will to remain.
It's not an explosion, or a beam of malevolent energy. It's sheer existential resentment of existence that cuts through Estinien and into the soul of the Innocence, unmaking everything it has become.
When reality begins to settle, when the Kenoma remember that they are still alive, they will see the throne room much the same as they did before. The difference lies in the absence of dark spears, the absence of Estinien and the Innocence.
All that remains is Estinien's shard in the Regent's hand, fallen to the gray of the Untouched, its colorful sheen gone in favor of blackened scars. For those with True Sight, not even his Legacy will show.