EVENT #3: THE COST OF INNOCENCE

[aionmods]

The Cost of Innocence

INVESTIGATION

As the Aions arrive in Venera, they will find the natural beauty of the city in sharp contrast to its uncomfortable aura. Though the sun still shines and flowers still bloom in a place filled with physical vibrancy and life, the air itself is impossibly still, as if wind no longer blows. You can taste the stagnancy of it when you breathe, and the pleasant sights only make that feeling of absence more haunting. The streets are mostly empty, with most of the city's residents hiding away in their homes, fearing the touch of whatever illness has caused this. That is, all the citizens besides those most affected, who wander the streets in a lifeless and painless daze.

Normally, Venera would be occupied by both Hylician and Achamite soldiers, but it quickly becomes apparent that both have abandoned the city, only guarding its furthest outskirts. Their reasons vary: the Achamite soldiers seem to take religious objection to the feeling of the city, believing it to be some trickery of the Innocent, while the Hylicians simply see it as a plague they have no interest in catching or spreading. Because of this, it will be easy for Aions of both sects to explore with little pushback from any form of law enforcement. The Kenoma will be directed into the city with warnings about the potential physical and spiritual danger while Pleroma will be able to sneak in mostly unbothered. After all, no one is eager to follow you.

Most shops and businesses are currently closed, though some uninfected individuals still nervously keep watch over their workplaces, fearing potential looting. It's difficult, but not impossible, to find people to talk to, and while the most plentiful wanderers are the infected, the reactions from those with their minds still intact will vary. Some will be eager to speak to anyone who looks like they're trying to do something about their situation, desperate for any source of outside help. If revealed you are an Aion, this may either entice them even further or cause them to retreat, as if fearing that you are somehow to blame for their plight. For those that are enticed, it will become clear that they hold onto faith that Aions are in Horos to save them, and will tell these new arrivals whatever they can without discriminating between sects.

The base level information that can be found is thus: the infection began at the same levels it has been in the rest of Horos, only for the numbers of the afflicted to rapidly accelerate upon the coming of the Innocent's Moon. Some see it as a form of divine punishment for their cooperation with the Regent, while the less cooperative citizens see it as a malady brought about by the Aions themselves, their only hope being that they will be able to clean up the mess they made. Some citizen have managed to corral their inflicted loves ones into their rooms and will be willing to introduce you; most of these individuals are past the point of conversation, and seem fully lost to whatever fantasy world they are experiencing. They are disinterested in eating or drinking and it seems like, without help, they are destined for a slow death of starvation and atrophy. That is, if their apathetic state doesn't result in a severe accident, as it has in many cases already.

Any other clues will take more dogged investigation. It will be a day or so after the majority of Aions have arrived in the city that the first signs of their own infections become clear.

HEAVENLY BODIES

The first to feel its effects will be the Innocents, Lovers, and Celebrants; like a voice has fully awakening to them, whispering of how their touch can be the cure to the others' pain. It bids them to take their fellow Aions into their loving embrace, to share this gift, as only suffering lies ahead. It expresses without words that it will be a shield for their Aion kindred, and that those that accept will become their outstretched hands to a cosmos that craves peace. Any form of physical contact with those three Legacies will either introduce or rapidly accelerate the infections experienced by the others, this effect only becoming more intense if the wielder intentionally forces the power of this strange entity into their victims.

Even without that accelerating touch, however, other Aions are not necessarily safe; the infection will still seep in, albeit more slowly. All Aions may experience a growing feeling of connection to the infected Venerans, as if the energy within them is being drawn into their their own bodies. As the Aion's symptoms worsen, the the ones suffered by the Venerans will gradually lessen, though not go away entirely. It seems that the Aions soaking up this strange power is enough to take the edge off of what is happening to the citizens: but at what cost?

Various symptoms will manifest in afflicted Aions with outcomes far more diverse and devastating than what the Veneran civilians have experienced. Visionaries, Firebrands, and Artisans will suffer the most catastrophic symptoms, the clash between their spiritual natures and that of the Innocence being the most extreme. This malady is characterized by its innate desire to quell its victims of their resistance, smothering them in artificial peace, even if it has to deprive them of their bodies and minds to do so.

It is not without treatment, however. It will gradually become apparent that feelings of intense suffering or upset are capable of purging the infection, that clash with painful reality seeming to wake them up from their trance and reduce or eliminate physical symptoms. The more intense the distress, the more effective it will be. Fortunately, this heightening of Aion spiritual energy has the added consequence of making empathic communion connections far more acute. Instead of just transmitting and receiving emotions and thoughts, Aions will find themselves more easily able to enter the delusions and memories of their kindred, drawing them out and manipulating them for this purpose. The catch is that they will only be able to access what is on the surface of the other Aion's mind.

When an infection is reduced or expelled this way, the energy causing it seems to be dispelled from the city, lowering the intensity of its ambient effects. While similar can be done to Veneran citizens to help treat them, the energy will not leave, and will either go into the Aion casting it out or return to the nebulous source of Innocence and eventually infect someone else. Something about going through the Aions specifically seems to act as a filter, as unpleasant of a way as it is to help.

IN THE SILENCE

For those unlucky enough to develop complete, or near complete, infections (IE. a full Innocence petrification) a presence will awaken within them regardless of their Legacy. It will urge them to join with it, to embrace the peace it offers, and to become the extensions of their will in this ravaged world. With an infection of this intensity, there will be little they can do but to hear its call. What exactly this would ultimately entail is unclear, but there is the sense that his entity is looking to join with you on a spiritual level. If your character becomes infected to this degree please let us know under the Committed Actions toplevel below along with the context of that transformation and whether or not they are being cured from it. You may receive some additional information in return!

QUESTIONS

What is the best way for Aions to travel to Venera?
The quickest travel paths are for Kenoma to take a boat from Achamoth, which will take about a day, and for Pleroma to teleport to the Celebrant's shrine and take either a carriage or river boat to the city (there are offshoot rivers not marked on the setting map). The riverboats would be the faster option option of the two, and would also take about a day. The carriages/delivery carts would be slower and take a couple days, but have relay access to horses and therefore could keep going overnight. Characters with flight are also able to use that, though flying right into the city might cause a bit of spectacle. Then again, none of the local law enforcement is eager to chase you at the moment.

Are Veneran civilians experiencing the same symptoms as the Aions?
Veneran civilians are only experiencing apathy/loss of self/daydreaming and maybe the loss of pigments/color for advanced cases. The more body horror orientated effects are Aion only and are being caused by their body's spiritual makeup.

Can 'cured' Aions be reinfected?
Yes! Even if cured or treated, symptoms can return or worsen again. This will keep happening until the build up of Innocence energy in Venera is entirely expunged, at which point the illness will fade away across the continent. Whether or not the Aions mere presence will be enough to trigger that is yet unknown, but it does seem to be helping lessen the effects suffered by the civilians, at least.

How long does the infection period last in Aions?
Chronologically, we are considering the infection period of the plot to last 2-3 days.

Comments

[epiprocta]

Briefly, Gen's thoughts go back to what little fragments he's heard of Emet-Selch's life before Horos. Mentions of lost soldiers, oblique references to fights lost in the past, and the man's steadfast determination to see the Regent's mission through. -- no, his own mission through, regardless of how it had aligned with the Regent's specific plans. He'd always wondered somewhere at the very back of his mind what exactly would drive someone seemingly so listless and apathetic to fixate on such a grand goal, but ...

actually being made to relive even a fragment of that answer in this fashion is jarring.

His heart's already beating fast in his ears, and his pulse skips unsteadily when he feels Emet-Selch's hand alight upon his shoulder. It's hard to tell whether the prickle through his chest is a buzz of relief upon being offered any sort of comfort amidst this chaos, or a sense of dread on knowing that Emet-Selch has no plans of pulling out of this memory.

"You're staying here?" His voice emerges a touch hoarse. For all his arrogant bluster, Gen is ultimately a teenager; without thinking, he ends up pulling closer to Emet-Selch, reflexively seeking that protection offered to him even as his voice rises incredulously. "You're staying here, against that thing? The hell do you think you can even do?!"

[lachtara]

There is no chance for an immediate answer. A giant beast with blazing white eyes, violent spikes jutting from its back, and rows upon rows of teeth dotted across its body spills into the opposite end of the square. It topples the structures meant to house decorative plant life and sends them violently crashing to the ground in bits and pieces. Emet-Selch puts a hand out reflexively to shield Gen from it while at the same time gently indicating that he stands back.

The fiend roars, and the those in the square cry in terror before collapsing to their knees. Emet-Selch looks on in horror their skin begins to smolder with black smoke, looking as though it would catch fire at any moment. "No! No you must fight it!" Emet-Selch calls to them the same way he had pleaded with Gen.

It is no use. The black smoke consumes their entire being one by one. In the midst of their wails and screams, they turn into the very fiends they run from. Some are smaller four-legged beasts with massive teeth and claws, others are large creatures with eyes and mouths like fire. His voice whispers again through Communion: 'These are people I often saw in the streets, people who would approach me to ask questions, people I was charged with caring for. I knew them all. I cherished them all. That I would be made to watch them fall to this madness...'

Emet-Selch takes a single step forward, now answering the question he was asked. "I will fight them so that others may yet live." The simplest of answers, which he had no choice but to put to prove. "The The Polyleritae District is to our back; Were we have told the people of Amaurot to gather for shelter. If we allow these creatures through, every one of them will die." He reaches up as if he intends to grab something sheathed to his back. There is a flash of light as he summons a large broadsword - the same broadsword he had let Gen use in their past lessons - and cleaves it overhead to ready for their oncoming fight. It is brought down with such force that it cracks the stone beneath their feet. "I will not allow that to happen."

[epiprocta]

Even amidst this mind-numbing chaos, Gen can't help noticing the natural way Emet-Selch protects him. And while on some rational level he knows that he's probably just standing in for someone else as this memory plays out -- no doubt anyone would have sufficed as a substitute, Emet-Selch would have protected anyone standing on that spot -- it's still ...

Wherever he might have taken that thought afterward is disrupted by the sight of people being devoured by that smoke and spit out as monsters.

It's shameful, but Gen ends up pulled close up against Emet-Selch, seeking any sort of protection he can from the carnage happening around him. The sensory overload alone is almost enough to overwhelm him, but the sheer scale of what's happening is more than he can comprehend. Emet-Selch speaks of a whole district crumbling, and he can barely wrap his mind around that thought in any concrete way.

Except --

"But what if it does." Gen's voice is hoarse as he spits out that question.

It must sound cruel, even if it wasn't his intention. What happens if you fail? But how can he help that question from floating to the forefront of his mind? Because this is an event of the past, isn't it? Something that did happen, something that Emet-Selch did have to endure. And for the man before him, so desperate to fight and protect, to turn to wanting to destroy everything for the sake of starting anew ... did he actually fail in this pivotal moment?

[lachtara]

"Then it falls to me to fix my mistake." Emet-Selch thrusts a hand out and a flourish of magic surrounds Gen. The smallest edges of a shield are visible in the light before it fades into nothing.

The fiends take notice of his movements at last, and the smaller ones who had been people moments ago rush in their direction. Most leap from halfway across the square with their powerful legs while a few others travel on the ground close behind. His sword is poised and he leaps forward to meet the creatures with a powerful 'clang' as he swings down on them. The upswing brings with it a huge wave of magic that cracks the ground into fissures before rising from the earth with a loud screech.

Through the communion are a few short words: 'I fought and fought. I could not let them take everything I loved.'

He engages the crowd of monsters with wisps of dark magic, cleaves of his sword, and attacks that rend the earth beneath their feet asunder. Blood becomes thick in the air from both man and beast. When they inevitably pierce him with their razor-sharp claws, a flick of the wrist is all it takes to heal. When one topples over dead, another is eager to take its place. Yet still, more monsters rush into the square. And yet still, the world around them continues to crumble.

One of the flock of creatures cocks its head in Gen's direction and breaks away from the pack in order to persue him.

[epiprocta]

There's just too much going on. Too much noise, too much movement -- too much blood in the air, the stench of carnage stinging at his nose each time he breathes, making his eyes water. It's dredging up too many memories from a time in his youth that he'd tried so hard to bury down deep, and Gen chokes as he reflexively cowers beneath the outline of that magical shield.

(Honestly, part of him wonders if simply dying would be preferable to trying to survive this chaos. It's only the vague knowledge that Emet-Selch is, for whatever reason, opting to protecting him, that forces him to put even the slightest consideration into his own safety.)

"But you can't --"

Gen flinches as Emet-Selch rends another of those beasts in half, the sounds of the creature's agonized screeches ringing in his ears. But ... they can't just stay here forever, can they? In the depths of Emet-Selch's memories, caught in events that have already long since concluded. The constant rush of blood in his ears is nauseating, the tightness in his chest making it increasingly hard to breath, and Gen's voice is breathy when he next mutters, "-- you can't just keep fighting forever, can you."

He sees that creature turning towards him. Knows the threat it poses. Is sharply aware of the fact that it could easily kill him. But ... Gen only looks to Emet as he allows its approach, trying to ignore the machine-gun rattle of his pulse against his ribcage. -- this is just a memory, right? So ... it won't matter if he permits that creature to 'kill' him, right? Maybe it will disrupt Emet-Selch from this nightmare sequence of events. Maybe. (He hopes.)

oh I should CW: for fire-related death, huh

[lachtara]

It is a small mercy that he looks in Gen's direction in time to see the beast sprint towards him. His offensive efforts stop immediately. Emet-Selch raises a hand in the air and quickly draws in the aether around him, "BURN!" He commands, and then he snaps his fingers. The ground beneath the beast's feet erupts in a swirling wall of inescapable flame. Its otherworldly screams ring in the air as burns alive and wither into ash.

A rush of sadness and self-loathing can be felt in the Communion between them. It is not far from his mind that these are people he once knew.

However, the memory is at its end. A gale of wind blows through the courtyard and it seems to carry away all traces of the illusion with it. It leaves Emet-Selch facing the unfamiliar clearing in Venera. He looks to the ground where a single remaining ember catches on the ground before flicking to nothing.

Quietly he adds, "I was not able to save them back then. Only three out of an entire world filled with people managed to survive those Final Days." Despite all of his efforts even he was not beyond failure. His expression turns bitter. "Now, all the hopes and dreams of those I loved fall to me. I will keep fighting for them until the stars burn themselves out." And beyond that if he must.

He looks back. "If I surrender, what will become of them all?"

cw: v. light emeto ... ?

[epiprocta]

The heat from that pillar of fire seems to linger on his skin long after the beast's already perished -- even when the replay of Emet-Selch's memory ends. And once that breeze clears his field of vision, dumping him back onto the quiet streets of Venera ...

Gen stumbles one, two paces off to the side, and doubles over as he retches.

Could he be blamed for it, really? Despite all his posturing he is, in the end, just a teenager from a relatively pampered position in life. Though he's almost certainly more experienced with violence and bloodshed than most others his age, that does little to inure him to the shock of seeing the level of carnage and destruction in Emet-Selch's memories without warning.

At least that little fit of his doesn't last long at all. Gen stays doubled over with his hands braced against his knees as he coughs shallowly, a wet noise catching in the back of his throat for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut as he tries to steady his breaths. (Fuck. It feels like he can still smell that rancid stench if he doesn't drive his mind away from it. The same smell from six years ago.) One last cough before he spits off to the side, then straightens up, wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve. If nothing else, the shock of that experience has jolted him back to full clarity, and his gaze is fully focused once more as he looks to Emet-Selch.

"... is it really worth that much to you?"

Despite the provocative wording, Gen's tone of voice is quieter than usual, and he seems wary rather than hostile. Everything that Emet-Selch apparently lost ... is it all really worth fighting so desperately for?

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch observes the scene from a distance. The careful consideration he gave within the illusion - the same that might compel him to help here - is gone. Within the realm of the illusion, Gen was one of his people he was supposed to care for. That is not the case here in reality.

"It is worth everything to me." Emet-Selch puts a hand over his chest. "Healing, teaching magic, devising plan after plan, even lashes from the Regent - all of it is a pittance compared to what there is to gain." A place where peace filled the world and laughter filled the air. Where he belonged. Where those he loved dwelled.

"Not just for me, but for those like you. Those with short lives plagued by frailty will see their struggles end if we reshape the world. All of that lies within our grasp."

[epiprocta]

The change in attitude is noted, but Gen doesn't dwell upon it. Even setting aside the score of other questions crowding the forefront of his mind at the moment, it's this more aloof attitude from Emet-Selch that he finds more familiar (and thus vaguely reassuring, though he'd never admit it out loud).

"... how old are you."

That skeptical question slips out at a low murmur before he can stop it, but at least Gen quickly shakes his head afterward, as if to try and take it back. That's hardly the most important thing to clarify, is it? What feels much more pivotal is --

"How ... how do you keep going. Dealing with shit like that." His pulse still echoes in his ears if he thinks about all that carnage. The thought of enduring it for even a short sliver of time feels unbearable; Emet-Selch speaks like he's endured it for much, much longer. "Is it just because you have to? Responsibility? Is that all?"

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch gives him a look of quiet contemplation. Answering that question is difficult; Gen is too young to young to know of authentic sentimentality, responsibility, or true love. It could easily slip beyond his comprehension until he had lived long enough to understand the reasons.

However, that does not mean he won't try and explain. To shy away from having someone understand is to keep them willfully ignorant.

"Before I answer that, let me ask you a question of my own: Is there someone back home you love? Someone that you think of every day, and now that they are no more, you keenly feel their absence?"

[epiprocta]

It's telling that Gen stiffens at the question, expression hardening as his next breath escapes in a ragged huff. And though he opens his mouth to answer, then immediately closes it, Emet-Selch might instead glean more information in something unspoken: a frisson of emotion strong enough carry through the Innocence-enhanced empathy between their shards regardless of Legacy. It feels an awful lot like deep, wrenching heartache, something far worse than the garden-variety rejection that most teenagers would be dealing with.

"... so, what. It's just thinking about people like that, that's all it is?"

Pointedly, Gen refuses to actually answer Emet-Selch's question in the end. Though he makes an attempt to petulantly cross his arms, he's thwarted by the wings protruding from one forearm; he reluctantly settles for looking away, instead.

"There's gotta be a limit to that. To how long that can carry you. Especially when you're dealing with things like ... that."

[lachtara]

"....No." To which Emet-Selch's expression softens, gleaning the avoidance like its own sort of answer. Not only is he too young to fully understand, but he has nothing to compare that feeling to. No person, no mission, no feeling.

"What allows me to endure is knowing that what I wish for - those I yearn for, and all that I love - wait for me. All I must do is have the strength to stand up and move toward them." It puts it into simple, small, achievable terms.

"I am not carried by these motivations. I carry the weight of knowing that if it is all lost, then I am the reason why." And he would never fail them. Could never fail them. It could not all be for nothing.

"You may lack someone or something to wait for you," His lack of an answer is enough to demonstrate that. "but I hope you find that what you need erelong."

[epiprocta]

A hard shiver ripples through those myriad feathers when Emet-Selch says those words. 'Wait for you.' No matter how hard Gen grits his teeth, averting his eyes to hide his reaction, there's no masking how deep those words cut. (He'd had that once. He'd lived for years on the thought of who he was surviving for. And he doesn't know if he can do it any more.)

"... waiting for you, huh." Gen echoes those words quietly. His next breath escapes hoarse, a pale imitation of a disdainful scoff; his voice pitches lower when he next mumbles, his words almost lost under the sound of feathers quivering against each other. "And how d'you know they even give a shit about all your efforts."

-- he regrets it almost the instant the words leave his mouth. Gen clicks his tongue loudly as he turns away, boot soles scuffing against the ground.

"-- I should go."

In truth, there's no reason he needs to leave; it must be terribly obvious that Gen simply wants to end this conversation immediately. He's feeling shitty enough as is.

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch stands and watches Gen leave. The expression is enough to prove his assumption correct, but fervent resistance to the idea implies something more. Bad past experience, perhaps?

He silently wonders how far the motivation to assassinate a single target could sustain him before all that determination he's shown runs dry.