EVENT #1: THE EMPTY THRONE

[aionmods]

The Empty Throne

DESCENT

Nearly two weeks after being dragged from shrine caverns, you hear along the grapevine that the "the throne room is complete." It doesn't take long to figure out what that means; the ritual grounds that you have been hearing mention of are finally prepared, and it's only a short while before you are once again being gathered together for travel. As a small mercy, at least this time the journey is short.

Through a passage that has been blocked by a gathering of soldiers for the entire length of your stay, a stairway is revealed to you. It leads deep into the ruins, through unfamiliar structures and into the bowels of the earth. Though your feel your are mostly going downward, the walk is still long on account of how many stairs their are, and the soldiers escorting you are restless. They are now being led by the stray, mask wearing Achamites that have been accompanying the group till now, silently observing. Whatever place this is, it seems that they now hold court.

Funneled into the chambers below, you are greeted by a massive, domed enclosure of stone. Positioned around its circular radius are twelve thrones in various states of disrepair, sized as if meant to seat giants. The backs of these thrones all differ slightly in design, though most have great cleaves of stone broken loose from their architecture, as if subjected to some great cataclysm. Each is engraved with a sigil, though some have been obscured by the destruction wrought. The throne closest to the entrance has been almost entirely demolished, making it impossible to glean much about.

The dome's ceiling appears to be hundreds of feet tall at its apex, its smooth surface disrupted by stalactites that puncture through its form like teeth. As a result, many chunks of the original structure seem to have cracked and collapsed in to the floor below. When examined closely, these fragments of the domed ceiling seem to be made of a material strangely reflective in quality, though caked in many years of dirt and grime. If large enough sections are cleaned, patterns may emerge, revealing designs that look almost like star maps. The floor beneath your feet as a similar, but subtly different quality, covered in wreckage and ruin but can be cleaned to reveal complex patterns of intersecting lines.

A careful eye will indicate that these lines all lead towards the center of the room - the one space that has been cleared and scrubbed prior to your arrival. Here, the lines converge, with carefully preserved marking in the stone that bely increasing levels of runic complexity the closer you look. This is where the ritual will be held, you are told.

THE RITUAL

There is not much time to regain your bearings before you are being shuffled forth towards the ritual space; no, all the waiting has already been done. Under the command of the smaller group of Achamites, the Hylicians will make heavy use of the whips in leading everyone to their places along the rune-inscribed circle. Before that, however, small cuts will be made to each prisoner with an athame, either on their hand or arm. With a sharp, burning sensation in the afflicted skin, these cuts will spread into wounds reflecting the image of one of the eleven sigils displayed on the thrones encircling the group, and matching the shrine they were originally pulled from.

With this accomplished, they can finally be taken into the circle. With a design comprised of four triangles overlapping, the design of an open eye carved at its center, all prisoners will be led to separates points on its design where the lines cross. Seemingly arranged by their shrine sigil to be closest to whatever throne represents them, they will be brought to their designated positions one by one. Any attempts to flee or disrupt the process will be dealt with swiftly and harshly, exacerbated by the increasing levels of paranoia and fear in the soldiers themselves. Whatever is being done here, they don't seem happy to involved with it either.

When everyone is in place, the seeming master of ceremonies will finally emerge. A dark haired woman will appear from the shadows, motes of golden light fluttering about her otherwise darkness-clad visage. Moving towards the center of the circle, she will stand over the marking of the eye and begin working her magicks. As if on cue, the soldiers will withdraw any remaining whips and scurry to the outside of the circle, only for new bonds of ethereal energy to lash out of the ritual circle itself, binding each and every prisoner and dragging them down to their knees. Among the soldiers, you can hear mutterings identifying this woman as "the Aion."

"Come," she says to the coterie of robed Achamites, who will approach the circle with an assortment of vials collected into cases. There is enough for each prisoner to be given a drink, and so they will; a vial of abyssal liquid will be forced into each one of your throats, no matter how uncomfortably it must be done. While no less ruthless, the Achamites have a different way about them as they work, forcing themselves upon you with a strange familiarity that feels more akin to a mother forcing their child to take medicine than the suspicious hostility of the soldiers. As the foul liquid touches your tongue, it takes on a consistency almost like a living thing, crawling down your throat even if you refuse to swallow, all while the Achamites stroke your hair and make saccharine assurances.

Once all the prisoners have been fed their vial, the Achamamites too will retreat from the circle - all except for one. Joining 'the Aion' at the center, the two of them will begin enacting a planned ceremony of sorts, that culminates in the following scene:

The Achamite kneels before the Aion, lifting their masked face to meet their dark gaze. They speak, in practiced tones.

"To the Kenoma my body, to the Kenoma my soul."

In response, the Aion holds the Achamite's face between their hands in almost a loving gesture. She speaks softly:

"By the blood of the Martyr, I accept your sacrifice."

From the Aion's hands a darkness spreads across the Achamite's body, as if they are melting and dissolving on a cellular level. She kneels along with them, cradling them as their body breaks down, pooling in a void-black liquid around their knees. It drains into the lines of the ritual circle, surging out towards the prisoners.

Within moments, the ritual is complete.

KENOMA SICKNESS

As this dark power surges throughout the ritual circle, you will find yourself almost consumed by the tide. Whatever foul creation you were forced to swallow wakes within your chest, and you can feel it move within your veins, inside you lungs, behind your eyes. As quickly as it begins, the flood of darkness washes over you, but not without leaving you stained.

Something has changed in its wake. As you return to your senses, you will notice the magical bonds of the circle have fallen away, leaving you free to move; for once, the soldiers will not move to lead or restrain you. Instead, the Hylicians warily back away from the ritual space, retreating towards the only path upwards, where they form a defensive line. The Achamites that linger make a series of ritual gestures, praying in voices too soft to hear. The Aion woman stands in the center, her hands blackened with residue from the person you just watched fall to pieces in her arms.

"You will be given time to find your truth," she says. "Use it well."

As you recover from the experience enough to stand, she and her Achamite entourage are already retreating to join the Hylician guard. Gradually, your situation will become clear: they intend to keep your trapped down here. However, it will not be the same as when you waited before. Instead, the soldiers simply intend to block your only exit out, and otherwise leave you free to roam the full diameter of the throne room, seemingly free to do whatever you want as long as it isn't trying to break free of the cavern's confines. Each day, they will offer to their prisoners a limit supply of food, water, and firewood, but nothing more. Beyond that, you only have your increasingly dirty white robes and the same bedrolls as before.

❖ COMMUNION
The first change you will experience is an itching darkness in your mind, like a psychic wound that is becoming infected. The sort of thoughts you would normally try to force down become increasingly hard to resist; despair, hatred, and fear will plague you, and requiring great feats of will to silence even temporarily. Phantoms of the things you'd rather forget will become a constant companion, all while a presence seems to whisper: when you accept your fate, the pain will stop.

Worse than this, the darkness of your mind may not remain private. As if awakened by the ritual, your empathetic sense has become impossibly strong, to the point that you feel the broadcasted emotions and thoughts of others, and in turn, your darkest thoughts will be psychically projected to others with a volume proportional to the intensity with which you feel them. This effect is most potent between those sharing Legacy, with the capacity for their identities to become momentarily confused. In all cases, this connection may bleed into your dreams, or manifest as hallucinations.

❖ TRANSFORMATION
Yet, your mind is not the only thing that ails. In proportion to the strength of your emotions, your body may begin changing to match your state of mind. Physical transformations akin to those mentioned here will begin to manifest, themed to your inner suffering and the most negative aspects of your self conception. These alterations may shift from moment to moment, depending on the turbulence of your emotional state. They may or may not be painful.

❖ AFFLICTION
Along with the above effects, characters may also experience various more mundane ailments; essentially anything traditionally associated with illness could fit. Weakness, nausea, body aches, and chills are all common options. Along with this, void-black ooze may start to trickle from virtually any orifice. While it may stain clothing and skin, the material itself will dissipate after a few minutes in a manner reminiscent of ectoplasm. This effect may also appear around your Shard, as if the stone itself has begun to bleed.

RESISTANCE

Even as the Kenoma threatens to overwhelm you, you still have the power to fight. Though it may be a grueling war of attrition, you can force back its advances with sufficient will to survive and resist the darkness. Of course, your captors are not going to make this easy for you. Those that fight hard enough to expel the Kenoma from their bodies and spirits will take at least a week to do so, and for that duration they will be trapped within this chilly cavern, haunted by their worst thoughts and emotions.

The bedrolls barely strand up against the cold, your clothing doesn't at all, and to be comfortable you'll require fire. Yet, there is a limited amount provided to you, along with food and water, and the soldiers do not seem to be making any effort to distribute it evenly. Achieving basic warmth and sustenance may become a battle against your fellow inmates, all while you struggle against the enemy infecting your body. Cracks in the dome of the cavern lead into some smaller caverns and crevasses in the stone that can offer some privacy or protection, but the more splintered the group becomes the less the supplies will hold up. Fortunately for you, neither the cold nor starvation will kill you, but it will make you suffer.

Yet, you may still persevere. As you fight back the Kenoma, something else will be cultivated in its place. Bit by bit, a comforting and warm presence will grow within you, gradually disrupting the maladies afflicting your body and mind. Your faith and perseverance has been rewarded with an attunement to the Pleroma, the Kenoma's cosmological opposite; given enough time, the Kenoma will be forced from your being entirely, in the form of void-black sludge. Only then will your power begin to shine through, the abilities of your past life slowly returning.

You must keep your guard. With or without otherworldly power, escape will be a struggle.

ACCEPTANCE

Or, you may choose the easy option. Maybe the Kenoma resonates with your history and emotions in a way that makes it seem like it isn't the enemy. Maybe the depths of your despair are too deep to escape. Maybe your simply lack the strength to fight. Whatever the reason, sooner or later, the Kenoma claims you. The more you let it in, the less it feels like a poison and the more it feels like strength. The darkness settles comfortably into the cracks and holes of your spirit, and you awaken to its power. You feel the change viscerally.

This world is not good enough, a voice seems to speak through the Kenoma. This suffering you feel, the cruelty that has birthed this darkness in you... it is simply the rot that is consuming this existence. A better universe awaits, one forged by your own hand, and all you need do is first bring about this broken reality's end.

Whatever effects you were suffering from the Kenoma's presence will fade away, and in its place, you will feel your endurance bolstered. The clarity is stark in comparison to the mire you were trapped in before. As the other prisoners suffer around you, the Aion woman from before and an accompaniment of a couple Hylician soldiers will approach you among the ruins, as if summoned straight to your location. She looks you over, her dark eyes impassive, and then asks:

"Did you feel it?"

She doesn't actually wait for an answer, your expression alone enough to assure her. She'll tell the soldiers that you are free to go, and that you are to be given a share of their food and a change of clothes. She'll escort you out of cavern and towards the upper ruins, where the soldiers and Achamites have set up camp. This feels natural to you, somehow, like you and her are on the same wavelength in a way that is hard to comprehend. She is like you, you sense. That dark power is within her as well.

She doesn't linger with you for long, but she will see that you are on your way before heading back to the caverns. She'll say that the voice you heard, that promise, was the Regent, the ruler of this land. They spoke of a power that could birth a new, better universe, and they weren't misleading you. It's within their reach, closer than ever, and if you help them achieve it you will be rewarded lavishly. For now, you are free to regain your strength while the others make their choices. She only asks that you stay in the area and be ready to join the Regent in Achamoth when all is prepared.

If you're prone to boredom, though, she will mention that you'd really be doing the prisoners a favor by convincing them to accept the Kenoma like you did. You could convince them with words, or by making their situations so unbearable they won't have a choice but to break. However you'd like. It won't be worse than what's coming for them if they carry on this way.

When she parts ways with you, you are left to your own devices. Somehow, you feel inclined to cooperate. After all, the Regent did have a point.

QUESTIONS

Are the involuntary transformations during the Kenoma sickness period temporary afflictions or permanent ones?
By default they are temporary, but characters can also keep a couple keepsake changes if you'd like! An Aion's physical appearance is something that is generally in flux, and so even if you keep something from this event, you can always alter it later.

What kind of supplies are going to be distributed to those who accept Kenoma and leave the caverns?
They'll be given food, water, and clothing. They'll be given more/better rations than they were as prisoners, but it's still the sort of food that is limited by the fact that they are out here on a mission. The soldiers will have some fresh meat from prey they've been hunting in the forest, and will generally be having a lot of stew-based food going. There are actual spices in it, though, so that's cool. This is all set up where the Hylicians are camping.

As for clothes, they will get a fresh set (including boots or shoes) and some soap to clean themselves up in the nearby creeks and ponds. Hylici has an aesthetic that leans towards ancient Greek/Roman, so while they won't have anything fancy with them, you are free to assume they are able to acquire anything in that general ballpark. They do also have pants, though. While it is now spring and Horos has a generally temperate climate, it can be chilly at night.

Will Pleroma attuned be able to escape once they've regained their powers?
Yes, they will be allowed to escape at that point, and a second log will be going up to cover that part of the event. This log should generally cover up until shortly after Pleroma start ejecting the Kenoma's influence. Characters are permitted to escape by their own power if they somehow devise a plan to do so, but as we know the Pleromas are at a significant disadvantage in this situation, some characters who have fought against the Kenoma particularly valiantly will be given some magical assistance to help the survivors escape.

Will the Kenomas be able to try to stop them?
Yes! The second log will be set up to contain some PVP, though given the Pleromas do need to escape, we ask that you play nice. There will be a battle, but it will be structured in the context of the Pleromas having to hold off the Kenomas long enough to escape, so it will be relatively brief.

Can we speak to "the Aion"?
Yes, she will be around for the full length of the event. All characters will have the chance to find her watching over the group whether they are Kenomas or soon to be Pleromas. She will not be that talkative, though, so anyone tagging her will have to lead the conversation. She will not make small talk. Martyrs will recognize her as one of them.

Comments

[lachtara]

"So there is motive." There is a faint curl of a smile on his lips in return.

Emet-Selch lets his hand fall back to his lap, forfeiting the menial price of food in the process. "Mmm....no. I think not." The verbal shrug in his voice is neither forceful nor annoyed.

"If I find it beneficial to work with you, I will work with you. You would remiss not try to buy an accord with mere table scraps." As dire a situation as this is, he still has more pride than that.

[aquaveiled]

Her eyes narrow and her smile dissipates. Expected as such comments are, she would normally wave them off as typical. But now her seemingly endless patience may have found its breaking point. A voice in her head reminds her that this is only what she can expect showing her hand too early, however well-intended it may or may not be.

"I gave you my rations freely, Emet-Selch, as I always have. You were the one who offered something in return." It sounds snappish, uncharacteristic of her, even at their worst. Her tail twitches behind her in agitation.

"I refuse to believe you're okay with all of this."

[lachtara]

The snippy tone is noted and given a look of flat reception. "If you mistake my appearance as compliance, perhaps your skills of observation require attuning." The abrasions he clearly bore had not happened out of doing what he had been told to do, rather vehemently refusing to do just that.

In something less chiding and more sincere, he continues. "Though circumstances are troubling, I worry most for the visions of our world being lost. It must be saved. No matter the cost." Even if they returned it to the fragmented shards of before it would be better than having it gone forever. That way he could still have a chance at piecing the broken shards back together.

Emet-Selch's expression shifts almost imperceptibly as the feeling of hopelessness bubbles up within him. A persistent thought of 'will the world ever truly be restored' seeps its way into his mind, his heart. The Kenoma had whispered of ways to solve this problem and he cannot ignore its temptations.

It's brushed aside for the moment in favor of speaking further on the subject, Emet-Selch gives her a look, "Surely, we can agree on that?"

[aquaveiled]

Our world. A very pointed way of putting it, one that gives her pause. Hasn't he thought the world itself is pale in comparison to it's former glory? But she supposes that has always been overshadowed by the hope that it could be what it was. That he would orchestrate destruction to beget creation once again.

No matter the cost.

Himeka looks away for a moment, flexing her fingers as she fidgets. She thinks back to the First, slowly facing off on each Lightwarden, restoring a blessed darkness to the realm. She remembers how the light had tried to break its way through her flesh and bones, oppressive and tightly contained. But it was a sacrifice she was willing to make if it was save the Source and the First both. The Kenoma working its way inside of her shudders at the memory and the tips of her fingers begin to dye themselves an inky black. If she's aware she doesn't bring attention to it.

"All we've done is for the sake of our star, to save it," she says as she looks back. We, he was part of that team for a while. "But we don't know what they'll ask of us."

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch furrows his brows just so as he looks at her. They continued to defy him for the 'sake of their star'. They continued to embrace being paltry shells of their true potential for 'the sake' of that star as well. While ignoring the greater good.

It is only in this case that their interests align, for he couldn't make the world whole again without the pieces that make it.

"No, we do not." He agrees. "But no matter what they say, every claim must be considered to ensure success." He waves a hand in the air. "Use every and all resources available, let no avenue remain unexplored."

[aquaveiled]

She frowns, though it's more in thought than disapproval. Himeka is usually the first to jump headlong into new and unexplored territory, but what sort of catharsis can come from this?

"And what resource is this? What...truth can we find from slowly breaking our insides with this kenoma they forced on us?"

It doesn't seem right. She takes a step closer, holding her hands up, finding them shaking as the darkness continues to leak across her skin.

"Can't you feel it?"

[lachtara]

"You are capable of feeling it, as am I. It is unpleasant at best." The writhing anguish deep inside is impossible to ignore - Like an injury that has not yet healed. Emet-Selch puts a hand to his side at the very feeling.

"I am also familiar with the concept that not every solution is pleasant." Sometimes it takes sacrifice on a grand scale.

He breathes a steadying breath and looks at her evenly, "With that said, what do you intend to do next?"

[aquaveiled]

No, every solution is not. She had been prepared to weather the worst time and time again for the sake of the greater good, but she had believed in that cause--if not directly, then through the will and devotion of the people she trusted. This leaves her with nothing but pain...and questions.

But she doubts. For a moment.

What if he is right?

Her hand drops. A part of her feels ready to burst. Not unlike the cracks her in soul when they were unable to contain the abundance of Light from the First, her skin and scales start to form small fractures, but this time of black.

"I--..."

She doesn't have a plan. Himeka rarely has a plan, she prefers to act and be inspired in the moment as always, but the first thing that comes to mind seems like the last thing she should do.

"Maybe if I stopped fighting it would end."

Did she say that aloud? Or were her thoughts suddenly projected out for all to hear? Himeka's eyes widen as they steady once again on Emet-Selch.

"--I don't know."

That's not the right answer, even if it's an honest one.

"But--it can't...it can't be this."

[lachtara]

There it is. That wavering faith in the path that she's chosen. Emet-Selch looks on with the faintest of dark smiles, pleased at the hint of progress.

If she would join his side here, be a dedicated ally, then that could influence what perspective she would take upon their return. Perhaps soften that contempt for his methods.

"It can't -" He questions, " - or you would rather it not be? Rather not struggle as you have done so oft in the past?"

[aquaveiled]

Her brows furrow and her gaze drops as she thinks. Her gut, of course, is what she usually trusts and acts on. And her gut tells her that this kenoma they were forced to imbibe doesn't belong inside them--inside her. It feels like an illness she's trying to expel, coming on and off in waves.

But is it supposed to be just a moment of discomfort? Is there really clarity after the pain? She wouldn't pretend that she hasn't learned just as much if not more through pain and failure than she has through success, and yet...

"No one wants to struggle..." Well, almost no one. "...and I'm not afraid to struggle." She wants to believe she has proven that much. "But the way this makes me feel doesn't...offer clarity."

"--The moments of silence are getting fewer and fewer in between."

[lachtara]

"Yes, I have seen as you struggled for your ambitions." He looks off and reflects on the battles he's watched silently from the shadows. There are those he has heard about through word of mouth as well, though with less finite detail.

"Winning battles, yielding battles, losing those around you," Emet-Selch gives her a sidelong glance. "and nearly losing yourself. Now, you are needed to endeavor hardship once more." She had come so close to succumbing to that sea of light.

"You know what the shards are to me, for they are parts of a greater whole. What reason would I have to lead you astray?"

[aquaveiled]

Astray? No...that's not what he would do. Though she still disagrees with his actions, Himeka will admit that his only lies have been that of omission. Something she is guilty of all the same.

"...No. Not if you were in your right mind."

Now that she has seen what that looks like, especially...but is he in his right mind? Are any of them?

"But what if you are being led astray?"

[lachtara]

Not in his right mind? That earns a small huff of amusement.

A small pause is spared for the second thought. They know little of this new place and of the new powers being offered to them. He's been told of how it could tamper with their very souls. The souls and the mind work in tandeom with one another.

"That is a risk that I must take." Emet-Selch puts a hand to his chin. "There is much that remains unknown about this place. As it seems we have found ourselves on opposite ends of this tether, perhaps you would be willing to share what you find about the Pleroma. I would be willing to do the same, for my part. So we may both make more of an objective choice."

It could give him much-needed information on the other side to bolster their success. But... a small part of him suggests it for the sake of contingency.

[aquaveiled]

Himeka frowns at that. He seems to believe that...she will overcome this? At least that's what it seems like he's saying. Mayhaps unintentionally, it gives Himeka a bit of hope for her own plight and for that of others, addled though her mind is.

His figure blurs in and out of sight though she does her best to concentrate on it. Some of the kenoma retreats from the tips of her fingers and tail.

"...A truce," she says plainly. "I want to believe you." To believe in the person she know she was before. "But I don't know if I can."

[lachtara]

He sighs through his nose at the second mention of such a thing, "This 'truce' again." The words come out flatly.

Emet-Selch spares a glance for the darkness that seems to ebb away from her features. Is this the darkness of the Kenoma receding of her own volition, or helped by the blessing of light?

He pauses and then ventures into asking, "Would this supposed 'truce' involve you alone or does it include the Dragoon?" Hopefully, nothing and no one beyond that.

[aquaveiled]

She thinks of Estinien, how he's fighting his own fight with this Kenoma. Looking down at her hands, she sees some of her color has returned, but the inky black still stains her skin and scales. She can see it in her veins, dark lines beneath her skin.

His hands had become claws. His thoughts no less dark.

"No," she says after a moment, locking eyes with Emet-Selch. "It's me and Estinien and Cid or none of us...though I don't control what they do."

[lachtara]

"You are asking me for my word to leave you be without the courtesy of doing the same?" His tone is bright with amusement. "Oh, I do enjoy your ambitions in asking."

As abseloutely flatly as he can muster: "No."

[aquaveiled]

It is probably the right answer, all things considered. That Himeka has the piece of mind to try and lay down these lines rather than grasp at what he can offer her is a boon in and of itself. Mayhaps she is not too gone to come back from this after all.

Himeka shakes her head. She isn't disappointed--she didn't really expect he'd agree. But she cannot help but think back to Elpis, to the person he was before...

Yet this is what Emet-Selch became. His own worst nightmare.

"...It shouldn't have to be this way."