middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The battles rage loud and ferocious at the gates of the city and off in the ruined wastelands of Erda, and on the walls a struggle of a different kind occurs. The team who stayed behind at the towers are small but determined as they move stoically across the walls to right the stones that have become misaligned, even as their friends battle not too far away.

The city begins to hum. It's a quiet hum, not loud enough to be heard out where the others are fighting but it vibrates even through stone. The recovering monks assure them that it is done, the wards are back up and no demon will be able to enter the city.

Eventually the battle is won, all three battles. The demons fought back and killed, a major blow to their gate system that will keep them back for hopefully a long time. Those waiting in the caverns return to the city and by the time they get there the illusions are gone. Everyone can see the world for what it really is.

But despite the ruins of their world the people are relieved, the adrenaline of the fight coursing through their veins and the mood is one of hope. They will build again, their people will survive.

All Voidtreckers please return to the Voidtrecker Express. Departure will be in a few hours

It has landed not too far from the city, cloaked to make it unnoticeable to the citizens, for all the good that does. No one has been particularly subtle this last week. People can begin regrouping, packing up the camp and getting any wounded not already healed to the train.

However roughly half an hour later another message appears on their SCA.

Passenger Persephone has requested we remain on system System #86525656412355 for an additional day to further assist the people of Erda. The Voidtrecker Express will depart on the morning of Day Fifteen of the month of Kazoo.

The train remains where it is, so the voidtreckers can use its facilities. There is definitely a lot that can be done to assist those of this world and the citizens will welcome any helping hands.

After an extra day they finally depart, returning to the void once more.

(OOC Note: Once the wards are up any characters who are demonic in nature will not be able to enter the city either!)

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Well, this certainly was odd. Q'uila couldn't say that she'd ever seen someone sleep quite like that before but regardless of the strangeness this still wasn't a great place to have a nap.

"Hello?" She tries calling first, best not to try literally prodding them awake until after she has tried to wake them up verbally, "You need to wake up, 'tis not completely safe out here just yet!"

"Nngh..." Thanatos mumbles, and he seems to curl into himself a bit more as if he was trying to hide under invisible covers to get a few more minutes. But when she yells about it not being safe, he startles. Tired, golden eyes snap open, and a sword is soon in his hand.

"Where?" Is the fight not over? He looks for a demon but sees none. "What?"

Q'uila sighs, "There is nothing about right this moment but considering how recently the main conflict ceased 'tis not the best stop to take a nap, friend. Would you like some help getting back to the Train, 'twould be a far safer place to kip?"

Thanatos groans and rubs at his eyes. He knows he's not acting the image of a god, but he doesn't remember ever feeling so exhausted without his brother's influence on him. "It wasn't my intent to fall asleep out here. I'm trying to make it back."

Q'uila shakes her head a tuts, "Well that shall not do, let me help you back to the train and then you can sleep properly. The last time I passed out on a battlefield I was almost shanked, let us save you from such a fate, aye?"

She holds out a hand for Thanatos so that she can support him on the way back.

Giving her a quick look up and down, Thanatos doesn't immediately see any reason why not to trust her. She's a passenger too, and if she had meant ill will, her opportunity would have been while he was asleep.

That said, holding hands with a stranger is still beyond his comfort level, so he floats near her instead. Company might do well enough. "I would appreciate it. The mission has taken more out of me than I expected."

Her ears perk up as she watches Thanatos float, "Fancy trick that." She pauses, "Can you walk or do you have to float everywhere?"

She's more than happy to walk along beside him to get back to the train, "This place is certainly draining, though it seems to me that everyone has been affected in a different way. Hopefully, rest shall help you and the others recover quickly."

"I can walk, but with how I am, I think floating would take less effort." He won't have to worry about tripping on anything or avoiding traps or a number of other things. The company will help keep his mind focused enough from falling asleep again so easily.

"I am on Red Team. There was a lot of fighting and travel within the Demon Realm."

"'Tis funny, I can only make myself float properly if I expell vast amounts of aether spellcasting but walking on air is something much easier for me to manage."

Q'uila hisses, "'Tis no wonder that you are still feeling drained then. I could try a Vercure, it may help boost the amount of energy you have for a short while at least?"

"A Vercure? What's that?" Q'uila is speaking to someone who had his first experience with healing life magic during the battle. Needless to say, Death was very confused.

"'Tis a healing spell, good in a pinch if you need to keep yourself upright in the absence of a true Healer."

It takes a little more concentration without her rapier to do it but she pulls and bends her aether into the form necessary for a Vercure and holds it in her hand, giving Thanatos a chance to examine the unfamiliar magic.

"Though for those whose souls are about to rejoin the Lifestream, a Raise would be cast to tether their soul back to their body. Something that is also luckily a part of my 'Oh gods it has all gone tits up' skillet." She laughs, "'Tis probably alarming how often I need to employ such skills."

Thanatos is about to accept the spell, hand hovering toward the the energy in her palm

"... You can stop Death?" He blinks at Q'uila and takes back his hand. He's not quite alarmed or fearful, but he suddenly isn't sure about what this magic might do to him. "Not just heal before it happens. You can do something after someone has their thread cut?"

That's what tethering a soul back to a body sounds like to him.

Q'uila let's the healing magic dissipate when Thanatos pulls his hand back and cocks her head to the side as she looks at him.

"Ah, not exactly. Everything on my world is made of aether; magic, the soul, and the body. When you die your aether is returned to the Planet, what we call the Lifestream, where it is recycled and used anew in some other new creation. When someone dies suddenly or violently in battle there is a period of time where the link between body and soul has yet to fully disappear, Raise reestablishes and reinforces the connection before it is completely lost but the time frame for that is short. I could not successfully use Raise on someone who has died more than half a bell ago or on someone who has died of natural causes, their soul would not be strong enough for the magic to keep back. Magic that can achieve that is classed as necromancy and is forbidden."

"Ah... I think I understand what you mean." It sounds similar to what Thanatos does for Zagreus. If he can knot back together his thread quickly, Zagreus doesn't die. However, if he's too late or there's not enough for him to tie, then Zagreus dies. "Does that work on the other passengers?"

But his own question brings up one for himself. Could he defy death for others in that way? Thanatos isn't honestly sure how comfortable he'd be knowing if he could or not. Zagreus is a god from home, his Prince, his friend. He's the exception. Death Incarnate already feels torn about so blatantly going against his nature and domain despite also knowing he'll do so every time for Zag.

"Mayhaps, I see no reason why it shouldn't work on other passengers aside from those who are not..." She searches for the word, "Organic. The aether of machines is very different and not something I would know how to manipulate."

"Do you have a similar skill to my Raise at your disposal then?"

"No, I don't think I do," Thanatos says as he tries to hide a yawn behind his hand. It's not a lie really. Zagreus is the only one he's pulled form the brink, and he's hasn't tried it on anyone else. Internal moral debates aside, he wouldn't announce that he had the ability to use on others. He'd hate for anyone to get lax with their own self-preservation. (Chasing after Zagreus is enough!)

"But I'm glad to know another healer on the train in case things go wrong."

Q'uila blanches. Her? a healer?! "Ah, no, no ,no!" Q'uila shakes her head and frantically waves her arms, "I am no Healer, friend, my skills should only be used in emergencies or in the field. I could never hope to match a White Mage or an Astrologian in the field of medicine!"

That wasn't a reaction Thanatos expected to get. "On a mission, emergencies are what we face." He frowns, not fully understanding why Q'uila is acting as she is.

"I meant it in the sense that if someone is injured and needs help, you could be someone to turn to." Are people who do emergency heals called something else in her world? Is that the issue?

It seems like some clarification is in order, "On Hydaelyn the Healer is a very specific role within the group, battles or missions are normally undertaken in groups of four and the bigger or more serious the task the more of these groups will join together. And within the group each member will have a specific job; Warriors, Dark Knights and the like use skills that focus the enemies on them, this allows those like myself to focus on dealing as much damage to our foes as possible and a Healers primary focus will be shielding the party from damage and healing so that we do not die."

She emphasises that final point with a cheeky grin, "I am generally not angry enough to be a Healer." For get berserking Warriors, Healers were always the most angry out there, like her sister Pinya.

"My capacity is more like a...Field Medic. I would either be raising the actual Healers or would be keeping people concious until a Healer got them, their magicks are simply more potent and far reaching than anything I could manage."

The explanation makes sense if Thanatos relates it to the armies fighting on Ares's battlefields. They are made of men taking different roles among the whole.

"Hm, my initial assumption is still correct." Thanatos tries to stifle the urge to yawn once more. If only he could shift like normal. He'd be back resting on the train instead of taking the long trek back. "You are someone to turn to for an emergency heal."

Q'uila has excellent sense for the tide of battle and what is a conversation if not a verbal battle? And this is one conversation she cannot see herself winning anytime soon.

"Aye, I suppose though it feels like the mantle does not quite fit correctly." Her ears twitch at Thanatos' semi-stifled yawn and she shoots him a look of concern, "Are you sure you do not wish me to carry you, I could get us back to the train in under a minute from where we are now?"

"How would you be able to move so fast?" It's not a no, but Thanatos doesn't feel entirely comfortable with being carried. Even with people he trusts. It's not as bad as when someone grasps his wrists, but the anxiety is there.

"If you need to be someplace else, don't let me keep you."

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The Will to Fight: Conclusion

Sleep...Floating?

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