P’rihnn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
featherfoot) wrote2020-11-01 03:56 am
featherfoot) wrote2020-11-01 03:56 am
PSL - Felih and Rihnn go to the First...
And it's not right.
P'rihnn is honestly not sure what happened. One moment he had been fighting Zenos - or rather, Elidibus in Zenos' skin - and the next he was here. He vaguely remembers being hit by a powerful headache and seeing Elidibus approach him as if for a decisive blow, but the voice that had called him didn't seem quite the same as before. Was this how it had been for the others? For the Scions? Did his body lie on the ground in the Ghimlyt Dark, soul torn away? And for this?
He looks around his surroundings, frown growing deeper and deeper as he realises he hasn't the slightest clue where he is. There is no place he knows with such dense, purple foliage... and the light shining down on him is strangely oppressive, though he can't say why.
Fortunately he can see a nearby structure, and what looks like it might be a path. He can vaguely make out something beyond the trees, too, so... that way, then. After checking to make sure he still has his chakrams, just in case, P'rihnn makes his way to the wooden structure, looking around him to see if he can spy someone he can question.
P'rihnn is honestly not sure what happened. One moment he had been fighting Zenos - or rather, Elidibus in Zenos' skin - and the next he was here. He vaguely remembers being hit by a powerful headache and seeing Elidibus approach him as if for a decisive blow, but the voice that had called him didn't seem quite the same as before. Was this how it had been for the others? For the Scions? Did his body lie on the ground in the Ghimlyt Dark, soul torn away? And for this?
He looks around his surroundings, frown growing deeper and deeper as he realises he hasn't the slightest clue where he is. There is no place he knows with such dense, purple foliage... and the light shining down on him is strangely oppressive, though he can't say why.
Fortunately he can see a nearby structure, and what looks like it might be a path. He can vaguely make out something beyond the trees, too, so... that way, then. After checking to make sure he still has his chakrams, just in case, P'rihnn makes his way to the wooden structure, looking around him to see if he can spy someone he can question.
no subject
Stewing quietly, he paces the small space restlessly. By now he's grown aware of every single piece of the tower, from its highest spire to its lowest depths. Yet he can scarce touch anything inside it. In this incorporeal form he does not need to eat or drink or sleep (as such) but the consequence of that is sheer utter boredom as he spends each passing day aware of the world outside.
The hollow ringing that emanates from the Tower on infrequent occasion is from when the ordeal grows too much, even for him.
"Besides, with two Warriors of Light looking at you unfavourably, who is to say they won't decide that you are a more immediate threat than we Ascians?"
no subject
His fingers tap against the staff, and he again glances back at the Ascian, expression barely changing even as he simmers a little inside. Emet-Selch does not know the full extent of how many cycles he has been through, how many times he reached out to Felih in an effort to appear his friend, how many times he’s used and betrayed him. His trapping Emet-Selch here was several cycles ago, when he had some hope left.
“Though I do not mean to enrage them so,” he admits. “To see Felih so upset was hard to bear... I only meant to suggest his friend had passed as victim to nothing more than time.” He turns his attention back to Felih in the mirror, dancing around the great brute that was the Lightwarden.
no subject
Eventually Emet-Selch tires of pacing and also turns to watch the two Warriors battle the Lightwarden. It's nothing he hasn't seen before. In past ages, there used to be far more heroes working under the title - and for Hydaelyn.
Just as the Exarch labours to undo the Eighth Umbral Calamity, he must needs labour to ensure it happens. To that end, having the Warriors of Light kill the Exarch would certainly be in his favour. If not for himself then at least for the Emet-Selch of whatever timeline he achieves it in.
"And how do you plan to use the spare?" he asks, not really expecting an answer. "Share the burden of the Light between them? Will you doom another parallel timeline for the sake of saving this one?"
no subject
He turns away, tapping his staff against the floor and dispelling the image, not even waiting for the decisive blow - there is no question as to whether they will succeed against Philia, after all, he just wanted to see Felih in motion again, bright and young and alive.
“I do not know how he came here, or how to send him home. Why not have him share the burden?”
no subject
"Wonderful." And then there's a pause as a thought occurs to him. "Ah, but why not go a step further: have the spare take in all the Light and then jettison them out into the rift?"
The mouth visible beneath his red mask curves into a smile. "Then your precious Felih would be safe from harm."
no subject
It is, however, a thought worth keeping in mind. After all, P’rihnn does not belong in this time, and his presence was a valuable resource that could absolutely be exploited - he could make a sacrifice of him, failing other options, and finally see his work come to an end.
He ought to be disgusted with himself for even giving it any thought at all...
“This is not about Felih alone, as you well know.”
no subject
He rolls his eyes theatrically to the heavens - or rather, to the ceiling - and exhales loudly.
"And I will attempt to break free of the Tower, over and over again, until your grasp on me finally loosens." His baleful gaze fixes once more on the Exarch, glowering even with the mask in place. "You know 'tis only a matter of time. I will far outlive something like you. The Tower can only support you for so long. How many more repeats of this life do you have in you, Exarch? How many more until you accept that nothing you attempt can head off the coming calamity?"
no subject
Even if hope was lost long ago, he cannot simply stop. He has toiled for so long and seen so much suffering, to give up now would only render it all meaningless... he may have lost true hope centuries ago, but by now this single-minded pursuit of his goal has simply come to define him.
“Perhaps I ought warn Felih of you. No doubt your other self will soon seek him out...” And he was always such an immense distraction, both for Felih and for himself.
no subject
He sneers, taking measured strides towards the crystallised man. He easily looms over them. "Some advice from one who has lived long enough to manipulate scores of better men: dishonesty may win loyalty from those of smaller minds in the short term, but integrity lasts a lifetime."
no subject
"I have already explored other avenues," he says, "honest and dishonest. I have told them what I mean to do. However..."
He pauses, only to reach up amd pull back his cowl to meet Emet-Selch's eyes. It's not a particularly fiery or defiant look, but one of someone who lives only because he is too stubborn todl die. "Am I meant to show them what manner of beast their friend has become?"
no subject
"Oh, goodness me! How horrifying a visage. Truly, utterly, a repulsive mien." He crosses his arms and looks back over his shoulder, mouth set in a thin, unimpressed line. "Such shallow friends you must keep if they would turn from you in disgust after seeing you like this."
no subject
"If any know well how deep it goes, it is you," he says, gesturing towards his chest - his heart. "I cannot even pretend I am still something human - not a soul in the Crystarium would believe it."
no subject
He thinks about his own form and how only one (two) of his friends had ever expressed open admiration for it and his jaw clenches.
"By my estimation you only have a few more millennia left in you, if that, before the Tower finally consumes you body and soul. Yet you waste it trying to find the perfect solution. The ideal timeline. You fool."
He shakes his head in disgust. "They will turn on you. You have set them up with hate and fear, and both only lead to violence."
no subject
Well, okay, he wasn’t after perfect, but Emet-Selch has certainly seen one cycle abandoned for the loss of a young woman the Exarch still thinks of as his grandchild. Lyna is a very special exception and there had been no reason for her to die.
He maintains his flat stare and rigid posture for a few moments longer before he sighs and rests his shoulders. There is no point posturing with his prisoner, who has seen so many sides of him over these past few hundred years. “...I realise. It never used to be so difficult to gain trust and faith, even without revealing all, yet it feels as though I have long forgotten how. I would not blame them for turning on me.”
After all, in what’s left of his heart, he can’t help the feeling that he does not deserve to even look Felih in the eye.
no subject
He trails off on that menacing suggestion. Mayhap he should do it, the next time she come into the Tower. Force the Exarch to reset the timeline, hasten his own death. And then...
no subject
Eyes narrowed, he fixes Emet-Selch with a glare, the subtle red glow of his eyes becoming somehow brighter. “Make no mistake: the only reason you can roam the Tower as you do is because I allow it - ‘twould be too great a drain to keep you further confined. Should you think to harm Lyna, that will change.”
no subject
"Through your own hasty, ill-considered actions, you have created a situation wherein there is one more Ascian rather than one less." He laughs. "Enjoy your remaining time with her, Exarch. Pray that you find your ideal world before I break free."
Turning aside, he strides off and fades out of sight. There is a low, crystalline hum from the walls that sound suspiciously like he's still laughing.