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

[goldendeceiver]

[ Quiet isn't necessarily a bad thing. Mr. Dokja looks like he's paying attention at least, so Ernesto turns his head back around for his own comfort as he keeps going. ]

The mayor of this lively city asked to meet with Miss Ch'en in person shortly after her arrival, wanting to offer Miss Ch'en a chance to look into some strange happenings in her city. She knew that Miss Ch'en wasn't likely to refuse her request, even though it was supposed to be a vacation for her, but the mayor is a pretty clever and crafty person when it comes to getting her way.

What's more, she had an unexpected surprise waiting for Miss Ch'en; an old classmate and former friend of Miss Ch'en, Miss Lin, had also been invited by a third party to come visit this very same city.

[ Ernesto takes a moment to pause here. It had been awhile since he'd seen Miss Lin himself, and he hoped she had been doing well since leaving Dossoles. ]

Neither of the women were exactly excited to see each other, but both were professional enough to keep most of that under wraps at first. The mayor assigned one of her employees as the personal tour guide of the two women, and took her leave.

[ That about wraps up the setup. ]

That's when things started to get interesting. As it turns out, as serious as her demeanor is, Miss Lin can be a bit of a trouble maker at times. She decided she wanted her personal guide to show her the local highlights, and found a small bar she took over.

[ There's a small laugh here. ]

She marched in and immediately started something with some local thugs, which only got more intense when Miss Ch'en called the guide, and found out exactly what was happening. Being the kind of person she is, Miss Ch'en rushed onto the scene to help Miss Lin out, and as the bruisers who were trying to fight with Miss Lin took off, the fight ended up moving.

[ If Dokja likes tournaments, he's going to love this. ]

Right onto the site of the tournament's preliminary matches. The main part of the tournament involves teams, you see, and since these three people were fighting off a group of thugs, it just looked like another part of the show to anyone watching.

[ Another laugh. ]

And since they won the fight, they ended up advancing to the next round. While Miss Ch'en and Miss Lin hadn't meant to end up in this tournament, and certainly not with each other, the two of them decided to form a group with their guide. The tournament really gathered the bulk of the crowds in the city during events, and it seemed like a good way for Miss Ch'en to gather information during her investigation.

[ And here Ernesto explains the various setup for the tournament. He'll keep it shorter than he did when he explained it to Miss Ch'en himself back in the day, but it amounts to the portion that involves the scavenger hunt portion, the biking portion, and the swimming portion to get to a boat that was floating in the middle of the city's artificial sea (he does not expand on what he means when he says artificial sea). He does make it clear that all parts of the tournament involve fighting other teams, yes including while biking, and that a final battle royale was planned to take place on the ship once the finalists where on board. ]

So with the rules and goals in mind, the newly formed team parted for the day.

[salvageable]

[ As he's transported into the world of this story, Dokja forgets about the sickness and the pain. He's all ears as he listens, occasional hums of acknowledgement and encouragement to continue following up every time there's a slight pause on Ernesto's end.

He definitely loves the accidental partaking of the tournament, the corners of his lips drawing up at the turn of events. It sounds like something he and his companions would do...

But more than imagining the story, he's beginning to piece things together outside of the story, too. The way Ernesto describes these "characters" with great care says a lot about the man's own character, and Dokja notices every bit of it, even the way he breaks down the details.

Once again, he doesn't interrupt, doesn't want to break the flow of the story, though he's starting to get an idea of where it's headed next. ]

[goldendeceiver]

[ The hums are enough to give Ernesto the sense that he hasn't lost Dokja yet in all of this. Though in all honesty, if he fell silent because he dozed off that would be fine too. The goal in the end is to ease a little of the mental suffering, since Ernesto can't do much about the physical ailments. He sort of reached his limit with that the minute he put the bedroll over the other man's prone form. ]

The next day of the tournament began the scavenger hunt round, where teams were looking for bars of pure gold in order to advance.

[ There's a slight laugh as Ernesto thinks about the decadence of it all. He'd technically had a hand in the item people were searching for, but it was only Ms. Candela's love of grand spectacles that allowed something like that to happen. ]

The team split apart, with Miss Ch'en and her guide searching in one direction, and Miss Lin heading off on her own. It was probably for the best that they did it that way too, because while Miss Ch'en stumbled across a solo contestant struggling with a group ganging up on him, Miss Lin came across something a lot bigger.

[ He pauses as he decides whose story he wants to tell first in this, before opting to go with the one he knows better personally. ]

I mentioned Miss Ch'en had a strong sense of justice already, well... she couldn't exactly sit still and let these men gang up on the lone contestant, especially since he looked like he was still just a kid. Even though the guide hung back, Miss Ch'en stepped in and took over the fight completely, letting the boy step back as well while she thrashed the men attacking him.

And during all of this Miss Lin found a different contestant up to some suspicious activity: planting bombs in one of the residential areas of the city.

[ He laughs a little bitterly here. ]

Not exactly something the rules of the contest allow for. Even if the residents had been evacuated for the tournament, those were still people's homes, and besides, their motivations had nothing to do with winning a game.

As Miss Lin made her way back to the other two, the boy that Miss Ch'en saved gave her the gold he apparently already had on him, letting the team advance to the next round.

Day two firmly taken care of, the parted again...

[ There's a pause for dramatic effect. ]

At least, the two women parted from their guide. Despite having a tense past with each other, they knew the other was a least trustworthy. Miss Lin brought Miss Ch'en to that bar she'd made a fuss in earlier, having already taken over the joint, and told Miss Ch'en about the bomb. It seems the mayor had picked the right women to lead her investigation too, because the started to put pieces together. The strange happenings were occurring right under the mayor's nose, in a way that would be hard to pull off for someone who didn't know the ins and outs of the mayor's office. In the tournament too, the team setting up the bombs were able to communicate with each other, despite most devices being disabled to not allow for that kind of cheating. They must have had help someone that was involved in the contest who knew what to do in order to help them skirt this rule. More importantly, they already knew someone who had these two connections who had taken a keen interest in making sure he knew about what they were doing the whole time they were in the city.

[ It's a good thing that he's turned away from Dokja, and he can't see the tight, pained smile on Ernesto's face right now. ]

The two women didn't have proof yet, but both of their eyes turned towards the man who had been assigned to be their guide.

[salvageable]

[ Suffering? What suffering? Dokja is thoroughly engrossed in this story, fully invested in the tales of Miss Ch'en and Miss Lin. His eyes are alight with wonder, the reveal of the bombs making him eager to learn more.

This is the effect stories have always had on him. They've made it so he can get through anything, even his darkest moments.

Maybe that's what spurns him to finally sit up, the bedroll pooling in his lap as his eyebrows lift in surprise at the story turning to the guide. He hadn't assumed anything about them, figured they were a side character with no real value, but he's pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

Ernesto's actually quite good at this. ]

Their guide? [ he echoes as he shifts to sit more comfortably on the ground. ]

[goldendeceiver]

[ A side character of no real consequence... hah... Well, it would be fair to assume that. Ernesto really hadn't spent much time describing the guide, or even giving him a name.

Even as he hums in agreement, he'll continue to skip out on that particular detail. ]

Right, their guide, but they didn't have proof in that moment. So the final day of the tournament began, and the two women had to act normal around him despite their suspicions. At least for a little while.

He played his hand quickly enough during this round of the competition though. Like all rounds of this tournament, this round also had a combat element to it, and this three man team was the team to beat. Besides, the teams that had been setting up the bombs wanted these women out of the picture before they could stop whatever schemes were being hatched.

Naturally, their team of three was surrounded by opponents quickly into the round, and just as naturally their guide directed them into a building to "escape" while he held them off.

[ Ernesto sighs remembering this last minute plan that was thrown together. ]

A set of small bombs that caved in the exits of the building went off, effectively trapping the two women inside. The obvious trap was more than enough to confirm their suspicions about their guide, and things might have looked pretty bleak in that moment, if it weren't for Miss Lin's cleverness.

[ The smile creeps back onto his face now. ]

She'd brought along a pilfered bomb of her own, and used it to clear enough of the wreckage that both her and Miss Ch'en were able to escape. Of course, they still had to run the remainder of the course as a team, which was a little harder for them than one might hope. Still, they managed to put their squabbling aside long enough to make it to the beach for the final part of the tournament.

[ And the part that's going to require the most editing in his retelling. ]

They didn't know the full details of the plan yet, but they'd realized that the last piece of it probably had to do with the cruise ship that sat some distance from the beach. The last big fight was supposed to take place on the deck, but if it was just that, then that ship probably wouldn't have factored into the plans of all those people setting up bombs all over the city.

You see, there were a number of important dignitaries aboard that ship. With enough money and political influence, it was easy to buy some of the best seats in the house for the final round. It also made for a nice and easy target for anyone with a nefarious purpose.

[ Nefarious... Was it though? Maybe not entirely, but it's hard to really call the purposes truly noble either. Besides, it sounds a little neater for the narrative to paint it in this light. ]

[salvageable]

[ He's so immersed in this story that it feels like he's right there alongside Miss Lin and Miss Ch'en, as if watching from beside them. As the story progresses, he gives Miss Lin an appearance, too. Places a woman he knows to be just as clever in her role, as well as someone who would've clashed with an individual as justice-oriented as Miss Ch'en.

He misses Han Sooyoung and Jung Heewon more than ever in this moment.

But thinking about them any more than he should would undeniably break his already fragile heart and mind, so while he places their likeness on these characters, he does so while carefully guarding his emotions.

Besides, the story progresses in such a way that he at least has enough to focus on besides the sad weight of his feelings, and he nods along with the tale. It's not a new story, but there's something satisfying and filling about the classics, and Dokja savors each word. ]

[goldendeceiver]

[ As much as this seems like it's helping right now, the thought does register that he isn't sure what he'll do once he's done telling this story. He doesn't have an endless amount, or at the very least not an endless amount that he'd actually be willing to share. It's fine for this one, because he can put it under the guise of it being someone else's hero story, but most of his stories...

Well, they don't have such an obvious good guy in them. ]

Realizing they needed to reach the ship quickly, the two of them decided the only thing they could do was swim for it.

[ There's a pause, before Ernesto snorts out a laugh, suddenly remembering something. ]

That's not quite right. Miss Ch'en decided to swim for it, but Miss Lin is a caster of no small ability. She could create glass out of sand, though she wasn't quite powerful enough to transform the whole beach full of sand into a walkway for herself.

[ Was Dokja expecting magic to be part of Ernesto's world? Surprise if not. ]

So she grab enough sand to make a few jumping points for her in order to avoid getting wet... and took a running start, using Miss Ch'en, who was already in the water, as a launchpad.

[ He'd heard the announcement from the sportscasters, but he hadn't seen it himself. Kind of a shame. ]

Whatever means they decided to use, both of the women managed to get to the ship, and formed a quick plan. Miss Lin would investigate the ship, and Miss Ch'en would find the man who caused all of this trouble for them.

[ There's another, quieter laugh from him, but this time Ernesto doesn't explain why. ]

It didn't take her long to track their former guide down. He wasn't really trying to hide himself at that point, and he was no longer pretending he was something he wasn't. There probably wasn't much point after he tried to trap them inside a building. Despite the tension the two of them spoke at length.

[ A pause, and while Ernesto suppresses a third laugh, the smile on his face that Dokja can't see is kind of bitter and ironic. ]

The guide was pretty good at endlessly rambling on. He certainly got Miss Ch'en to listen to a long yarn about his country's history, about the civil war that had been raging on for years, and all the blood that all three sides of the war spilled. I won't bore you with the details, Mr. Dokja, but this man definitely had a bias about what side should win, or at the very least he did a good job speaking out in favor of that side, and speaking out against the city they were in...

It was a city that in many ways profited off of this ongoing war. The mayor had managed to use her influence and the city's wealth to make it stand apart from the squabbling of the three sides, and to force the higher ups of all three sides to make a tenuous peace in her presence only. People's desperation to move to this exclusive city benefited it greatly, and the war just made people more desperate. The city benefited from the war, the dignitaries benefited from the city, and the dignitaries kept the war going, while none of the sides seemed motivated enough to make a real push towards ending the conflict at last.

[ He said he wasn't going to bore him with the details, but...

Still, this was a heavily abridged version of a complicated history. ]

To the side that the guide was fighting with, the city couldn't continue to exist as it currently was if the war was going to end. While he never expected Miss Ch'en to join their side, he asked her if she wouldn't step aside and let the people of this country handle their own issues.

[ That bitter smile softens a little now. ]

But it wasn't something that Miss Ch'en was willing to do, especially not when non-combatants were being put at risk during all of this. What's more, the guide hadn't been entirely honest with her, and had been planning for the potential of her not agreeing with him. The truth is the guide had never been the leader of this group of terrorists, he'd simply been an important part of the plan...

Their distraction. While he held Miss Che'en's attention, the real man behind it all made his announcement to the public of what he was soon planning to do. He hijacked the broadcast used to air the games, and announced his intention to everyone watching. It meant that Miss Ch'en and Miss Lin were too late to stop them from causing some uproar among an unsuspecting public.

[ He pauses, finding a good flow for when to put in a little dramatic tension now. ]

But they weren't too late to save the people they'd set out to save. The entire time the guide was distracting Miss Ch'en, Miss Ch'en was also distracting him. Miss Lin had been successful in her investigation, and located the room that the dignitaries had been shuffled off into.

With nothing else left to say, Miss Ch'en showed just how much she was willing to step aside by wiping the floor with her former guide, and set out to deal with the real threat.

[salvageable]

[ As the story continues, Dokja finds himself nodding along. It wouldn't be a worthwhile story if there was a clear distinction between right and wrong, good and evil. Both sides had their reasons for acting the way they had, and he can understand. He can relate. He'd done the same when his own battle between good and evil had arrived, and he'd sided himself with evil despite not actually being evil.

... He hopes not anyway.

Once again, he can picture Miss Ch'en as Heewon all too easily in the same way she would have stepped up to rid of her opponent with a sharply honed deadliness. Dokja can feel his heart pick up in pace, the way it always does when he's drawn into a story, and while it isn't pages he's nestled himself into, Ernesto's voice has a great storytelling quality to it. The added dramatic tension to the pacing doesn't go unnoticed, and the corners of Dokja's lips curve up in appreciation.

The sickness is almost entirely forgotten about at this point, the pains in his body a dull sensation that fall to the wayside as more and more of the story is told, pieces of the tale wedging themselves into the damage inflicted upon him and mending the open wounds where his darkest thoughts leak from.

He's going to be indebted to the other man for this. ]

[goldendeceiver]

[ He'll have his chance to pay back that debt soon enough, though Ernesto might not take the exchange as the scales going back to even. While he's rambling away here, it doesn't feel like he's doing much more than providing a little distraction for a moment, and not just for Dokja either. Though he's been having a small upswing, it can only last but so long, and the more he distracts his own troubled mind the better.

No point pretending telling this story doesn't have a benefit to him too, though it is starting to come to an end. ]

Just because they'd taken out one threat didn't mean the fight was over though. There were still a multitude of people on the ship that were looking to carry out the same mission as their former guide, and the fact that they still had to get the hostages to safety. Neither Miss Ch'en or Miss Lin has the luxury of avoiding fights as they moved about the ship, doing what they needed to do in order to prevent a disaster.

For two women who didn't like each other much, they did an amazing job working together, especially when the real head of this group of...

[ Ernesto hesitates, knowing the word he should label his group, but still struggling to put it out there. ]

The group attacking the city... When he showed up to fight Miss Ch'en personally. Not only was he heading off this ragtag group in the city, but he'd formerly held a high rank in army of one of the three sides in conflict. He was a man with decades of battle experience under his belt, and a lot of strength and power still to back that knowledge up.

[ There's a different quality to Ernesto's voice than there was when he talked up Ch'en. The feelings he has are more complicated now, though it's not that he doesn't admire him too... ]

Which makes it all the more amazing that Miss Ch'en won the fight against him. And all the while she acted as the perfect distraction that Miss Lin needed to get every last dignitary onto lifeboats, where they could safely head back towards the beach.

Miss Ch'en finally escaped as well, and with everyone except their enemies off the ship...

[ A pause, and then a small huff of laughter. ]

Miss Lin is nothing if not thorough. She blew up the boat to ensure they didn't escape. While there was enough time for every last person on the boat to escape into the water still, they didn't have many options other than to swim back to the beach themselves, where the only thing waiting for them was several years behind bars.

[ He looks over his shoulder at Dokja now, smiling when he sees how much livelier he looks. ]

At least, that's what most people were probably expecting to be the case. As it turns out the Mayor of this fine city had some unorthodox ways of doing things.

[ He looks away again, just in case his expression gives anything away. ]

The only man she wanted arrested was the man in charge of this group. He would serve as an example to the rest of them as he also served out his time. Though with a couple of exceptions, everyone else was expected to leave the city still. She couldn't exactly completely turn a blind eye to a group that had tried to harm her citizens, and most of them were swiftly exiled.

All things considered though, a pretty light punishment.

[ He's able to fully turn around now, feeling like Dokja might be a little less remiss to be seen, and done telling any part of his own involvement in this tale. ]

Ah, and Miss Lin and Miss Ch'en were free to enjoy the city as they saw fit, though Miss Lin decided that she'd had enough of sightseeing after that, and Miss Ch'en devoted herself to wrapping up the case neatly with an extensive report.

[ There's a hint of fondness on his face as he tells the fate of the two heroes of the story. ]

Not exactly the most relaxing way to spend a vacation.

[salvageable]

[ It was a good, hearty story. Tied off with a neat ending. There was definitely a nourishing quality to it, and while Dokja had noticed some pauses here and there, he doesn't have the strength to dive too deeply into its lines. He's learned a long time ago to simply be content with some of the stories he comes across, and this...

He knows there's more to it. He's just not in the state of mind to dig. Maybe one day, he thinks distantly in the back off his mind. Almost not conscious of the thought.

But right now, he's satisfied. ]

Ernesto.

[ He sounds as tired as ever, but there's a new strength backing up his voice. A desire to keep going, to be able to live for moments like these. ]

Thank you. That was... more than you had to do.

[ Really, he's grateful. So much so that he doesn't know how to put it in words. He's not the sort of person to... seek help. Ever. So this had been new, in a way, and Dokja's left a bit speechless at how much it had soothed his soul. ]

[goldendeceiver]

[ That he's talking at all instead of sadly curling up on the floor like a kicked dog is honestly a good enough for Ernesto. He never expected to be able to really fix what ails Dokja right now, but if a story can be even slightly medicinal? He's glad to have told it.

And at least now when the tail wags he's not accidentally smacking Dokja around with it. ]

Don't mention it.

[ With a small tilt of the head, he gives Dokja a careful once over. He still looks ragged from their time in the cave, but it's good to see a little life back in him. ]

It was kind of a nice distraction for me too.

[salvageable]

[ Ha... He assumes Ernesto is just being kind. The length of that story couldn't have been easy for him, and he feels bad that he doesn't have anything to offer in return. Not even a glass of water for what Dokja's sure is a parched throat.

Still... ]

I'm glad.

[ And he genuinely is. A good story should always be shared. ]