Memory Cave

[voidtreckermods]

After the passengers see a glimpse of a life that is not their own they appear in a cave. It is light, a strange moss glowing on the walls and ceiling illuminates the cave nicely and it is large enough for them to pace around in without trouble.

They are not alone. In the cave with them is another voidtrecker. Maybe someone they know well, maybe someone they have only seen in the aisles of the train. But they are together in this cave together.

The cave has no exit, at least not yet. They know that it will, eventually. When the time is right.

But for that time to come, they first must talk...

(OOC: For reference: memories!)

Comments

[callmegladio]

"... Come again?" Gladio turned to find Wuxian, but he was sure he hadn't been there a moment ago. Or had he, and he just hadn't noticed? He lifted a hand to the side of his head and closed his eyes. "... I don't understand what's happening here. You mean... we're not actually here?"

[only_one_wei]

"We are, but our bodies aren't," Wei Wuxian said. "It feels like, we're here for a reason. Once we fulfil that purpose, we will be permitted to go...you feel it too?"

"It is quite likely related to the visions we've been exchanging. I just had another. You fought, and defeated, Gilgamesh. I've never seen such fierce fighting," he said with admiration. "You kicked his butt, too, which was something no one else had done?"

[callmegladio]

Gladio shook his head, or started to, but then he stopped and gave Wuxian a small smile. "I don't feel much of anything... aside from a need to get outta here. It's not a small space, but it's enclosed and I'm really not liking that."

His smile widened some then, and then he laughed. "You saw that memory of mine, huh?" Gladio gave a shake of his head. "First in a long line who tried..." Then he looked at Wuxian a bit more. "I had a memory of yours as well. Was your life before here really dealing with so much undead stuff? And teaching kids?"

[only_one_wei]

Wei Wuxian laughed. "Yeah, it really was. Which kids was I teaching in the memory you got?" If it was a recent memory, then it was the juniors he affectionately referred to as the Ducklings. So earnest, so thinking they were tougher than they really were, so much fun to show them the actual game rules than what they'd learned in the books.

"How long of a line did you break?" he asked curiously. He knew Gladio was strong, and a good fighter, but that other guy had seemed rather formidable, which meant Gladio was probably downplaying his own awesomeness. Which, having met him, Wei Wuxian believed.

[callmegladio]

"Now you're asking the questions..." Gladio had to seriously think to try and remember the names. The problem was, the words were so foreign to his ears that even if the memory was mostly there, the names were somewhat hard to grasp. "Jin Ling was a name I remember. And... Lan SiZhui? Am I saying that right? And Lan JingYi?"

"And not as long as you'd think... The ruins were rediscovered about 30-so years ago and... a lot of people took the trial to try and beat Gilgamesh. Countless numbers entered and didn't come back. Cor, the Marshal, when he was 15 he went in instead of my dad. He's the only one to come out alive, but he didn't beat The Blademaster."

Gladio was quiet for a moment and leaned back, hands dropping to the stone behind him. "I figure... he was just waiting. Waiting for the Chosen King to be born. And waiting for his Shield to come and be tested."

[only_one_wei]

"That must have been Yi City then. That's where we encountered A-Qing and Xue Yang. I do love the Ducklings, though. So earnest." He laughed. "Except that nephew, Jin Ling, of mine. He thinks he's tough, but he's just had to grow up fast. There's a difference, unfortunately for him. But, now that I'm alive again, and he doesn't hate me any more for the deaths of his parents...I'm going to do right by him."

Wei Wuxian nodded. "And your king is the Chosen One?" He thought about that for a moment. "Does your king give you the strength, or are you also the Chosen Shield? Like, you both had to be born together or you wouldn't be the actual Chosen team? Would he be as successful if some other Shield, like that Cor, were by his side?"

[callmegladio]

He hadn't realised that Wuxian had known those two before, or the other way around, they came from the same world then? That was new information he filed away, not that it was all that important. Just interesting. "Well, I'm glad your nephew likes you again. And it's still weird hearing you say 'alive again'. Is that a common thing in your world? Dying and coming back?"

Though at Wuxian's next question, Gladio opened his mouth to reply... and then closed it again. How was he supposed to answer that? If he said yes, it sounded way more boastful than he wanted, and no... would have felt more like a lie.

"Look, I don't know for sure... But all of it together makes me think the four of us, me, Noctis, Ignis and Prompto were brought together for a reason. Even Prompto was put in Noctis' way by the Oracle. Would I say we were Chosen... no. Fated? Definitely. I think it was written out for us all before I was even born." He sighed. "As for my strength... that's mostly my own. My ability to magic up my weapons is something my King's gifted me."

[only_one_wei]

"Mm, no. Usually you die and that's it. Unless you become a living corpse or one of the Resentful Dead, but cultivators are taught how to not let that happen, so I didn't. Though it didn't stop my brother from checking anyone who he thought might be possessed by my spirit." His brother had been very militant about it, too, according to what he'd heard, and Jin Ling and Lan Zhan told him. "I am special," he said with a cocky grin.

"So you are like a sect, then," Wei Wuxian said. "You've chosen to walk your path together, you train together, and you are stronger when together?" he asked to make sure he had it right. He'd been part of that with the Jiang sect. He wondered if the Lan Gusu sect would ever let him join them, even with marrying their prized son.

[callmegladio]

"That you are." Gladio laughed, not even daring to argue with that point.

"... I guess that's one way to look at it." He'd never really heard of 'sects' before, but it sounded like it'd work for himself and the others, so why not? "We're definitely stronger together than apart." But even apart they could hold their own.