[hr]
"Reign is the assistant conductor, more or less and handles the train when Nivdeth is preoccupied with the engine itself. I think both of them are just as old as this train." Mnemosyne answered Philip. The trained shook as brilliant streaks of red crossed through the hostile void outside. "But what was this about that girl being Miriam? I mean, I get that she looks a bit like Miriam, but her colors were all wrong."
Faea bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. She pushed against her web with her hands to balance herself on her feet. "I am less concerned about the girl and more concerned about the fact that Crown just told us that this train is taking us outside of Anazorzia."
"That was just a bit of exaggeration. I don't actually believe we are leaving Anazorzia. It would be quite improbable to exist outside of the boundaries of our realm. People like Violet Amnesia are exceptions to the rule. I doubt there is anything outside of our universe in any case."
"Mnemosyne," Faea said humorlessly, "do you think you can describe what it feels like to planeswalk?"
"It's different for everyone... for example, when I make the jump I fade out of one world into another, like ink mixing in water. The transition is silent and peaceful. Others, like my subordinate's, are more adversarial. Terrible displays of discordant power. She jumps in violent flashes of red lightning, leaving huge tears and folds between the worlds that she transverses."
"Would you say that the scene out there mirrors those violent planeswalks?" Faea continued as she pointed to the scene outside.
"It might be, what are you trying to get at?"
Crown frowned. "Faea, are you implying what I think you are implying?"
"It's not entirely out of the question is it?" Faea retorted.
Mnemosyne looked confused. "Are you trying to say that Reign might be planeswalking the entire train?"
"I have a feeling that Reign might not be the planeswalker we're looking for."
Nemesis kept on walking, her cloak fluttering in the glimmering cerulean dust that fell from high above. Pox looked at Nina hungrily and bristled. "I never made any promise to save this world nor help this girl. She clings to me because I pulled her out of the Wound earlier today." The clack of her heels echoed as she made her way through the shelves.
"What are you talking about?" White said, seemingly offended that Nina approached her so brashly. "I have no idea what is going on here. But even someone of my incredibly limited capacity has enough sense to understand that something bad is happening." Behind the small girl's air of aloof arrogance, her eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty.
"Truth be told, it would be best if you took White with you. She'll just get in the way of my work." Nemesis pulled another diary from a shelf and flipped through it. She idled one on page painted with pictures of some complex stone mechanisms inscribed with Latin writing. Then she ripped out the page and tossed the rest of the diary to the floor. The book bent across it's spine as it hit the crystalline ground.
White seized up as if she had just been struck, but relaxed soon thereafter. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't been waiting for anything to blow over. I don't have the strength that the others do. In the end, my color is the weakest in creation, so I don't have the ability to do anything with my own powers."
"White isn't a weak color," Nemesis said as she began to head deeper into the library, "it's weaker at first glance than Black, Blue, Red, or Green, but White's strength is born from far more than just the power of a single individual. White build community, solidarity, and synergy. You are guided by a strong sense of right and wrong, but you are not the instrument of action by yourself. Work with this young woman, White, and you will find yourself much more capable than you believe." She pulled another book from the shelf. This one was a thick leather tome with tanned pages that looked more like skin than paper. She opened it.
"And this is where it was." Nemesis closed the book and picked up Pox in her right hand. She struck out with her scythe, ripping a red-lightning streak gash in the air in front of her. Darkness rippled outward from the wound and chaotic bolts roared out from within. Inside of the wound was another place. Dragons danced in the air high above twisted peaks and abyssal chasms. A chill wind flowed forth into the library from this place. "I have work to do, but I do not believe that this will be the last that we will meet." Nemesis tipped her hat to Nina and White as she stepped backwards into the rift. "I look forward to meeting you again under more favorable circumstances."
Once she was through the rift, she swung Pox a second time and the portal closed, leaving no evidence of Nemesis except for some lingering snowflakes that had drifted through when she crossed.
Nina's phone vibrated.
White leaned over and looked at Nina's phone. "Wait, that's Black! What is she doing harassing you like that? Play-area, are you playing some kind of game?" The little girl furrowed her brow. "That's not like Black. She usually never plays games. She's very rude, contrived, and thinks very highly of herself, but I've never heard of her trying to play a game..."
Table for Two
[hr]
Code:
nina's story"Reign is the assistant conductor, more or less and handles the train when Nivdeth is preoccupied with the engine itself. I think both of them are just as old as this train." Mnemosyne answered Philip. The trained shook as brilliant streaks of red crossed through the hostile void outside. "But what was this about that girl being Miriam? I mean, I get that she looks a bit like Miriam, but her colors were all wrong."
Faea bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. She pushed against her web with her hands to balance herself on her feet. "I am less concerned about the girl and more concerned about the fact that Crown just told us that this train is taking us outside of Anazorzia."
"That was just a bit of exaggeration. I don't actually believe we are leaving Anazorzia. It would be quite improbable to exist outside of the boundaries of our realm. People like Violet Amnesia are exceptions to the rule. I doubt there is anything outside of our universe in any case."
"Mnemosyne," Faea said humorlessly, "do you think you can describe what it feels like to planeswalk?"
"It's different for everyone... for example, when I make the jump I fade out of one world into another, like ink mixing in water. The transition is silent and peaceful. Others, like my subordinate's, are more adversarial. Terrible displays of discordant power. She jumps in violent flashes of red lightning, leaving huge tears and folds between the worlds that she transverses."
"Would you say that the scene out there mirrors those violent planeswalks?" Faea continued as she pointed to the scene outside.
"It might be, what are you trying to get at?"
Crown frowned. "Faea, are you implying what I think you are implying?"
"It's not entirely out of the question is it?" Faea retorted.
Mnemosyne looked confused. "Are you trying to say that Reign might be planeswalking the entire train?"
"I have a feeling that Reign might not be the planeswalker we're looking for."
---
Nemesis kept on walking, her cloak fluttering in the glimmering cerulean dust that fell from high above. Pox looked at Nina hungrily and bristled. "I never made any promise to save this world nor help this girl. She clings to me because I pulled her out of the Wound earlier today." The clack of her heels echoed as she made her way through the shelves.
"What are you talking about?" White said, seemingly offended that Nina approached her so brashly. "I have no idea what is going on here. But even someone of my incredibly limited capacity has enough sense to understand that something bad is happening." Behind the small girl's air of aloof arrogance, her eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty.
"Truth be told, it would be best if you took White with you. She'll just get in the way of my work." Nemesis pulled another diary from a shelf and flipped through it. She idled one on page painted with pictures of some complex stone mechanisms inscribed with Latin writing. Then she ripped out the page and tossed the rest of the diary to the floor. The book bent across it's spine as it hit the crystalline ground.
White seized up as if she had just been struck, but relaxed soon thereafter. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't been waiting for anything to blow over. I don't have the strength that the others do. In the end, my color is the weakest in creation, so I don't have the ability to do anything with my own powers."
"White isn't a weak color," Nemesis said as she began to head deeper into the library, "it's weaker at first glance than Black, Blue, Red, or Green, but White's strength is born from far more than just the power of a single individual. White build community, solidarity, and synergy. You are guided by a strong sense of right and wrong, but you are not the instrument of action by yourself. Work with this young woman, White, and you will find yourself much more capable than you believe." She pulled another book from the shelf. This one was a thick leather tome with tanned pages that looked more like skin than paper. She opened it.
"And this is where it was." Nemesis closed the book and picked up Pox in her right hand. She struck out with her scythe, ripping a red-lightning streak gash in the air in front of her. Darkness rippled outward from the wound and chaotic bolts roared out from within. Inside of the wound was another place. Dragons danced in the air high above twisted peaks and abyssal chasms. A chill wind flowed forth into the library from this place. "I have work to do, but I do not believe that this will be the last that we will meet." Nemesis tipped her hat to Nina and White as she stepped backwards into the rift. "I look forward to meeting you again under more favorable circumstances."
Once she was through the rift, she swung Pox a second time and the portal closed, leaving no evidence of Nemesis except for some lingering snowflakes that had drifted through when she crossed.
Nina's phone vibrated.
White leaned over and looked at Nina's phone. "Wait, that's Black! What is she doing harassing you like that? Play-area, are you playing some kind of game?" The little girl furrowed her brow. "That's not like Black. She usually never plays games. She's very rude, contrived, and thinks very highly of herself, but I've never heard of her trying to play a game..."
[hr]
Livia looked at Rugal incredulously. "You sound like a raving lunatic." An owl landed on an unlit sconce nearby. It's round eyes mirrored the full moon drifting overhead. The stars above glimmered like torches in the night. "No, you are a lunatic. That is no longer up for debate. We're going to find Julia and retrieve the knives that she stole from me before she can deliver them to her father. Your alter-ego or whatever you call him promised to deliver them to me."
She turned away from Rugal, "And don't go acting like you're the only one who's done things you're not proud of. There are a lot of people here that would start wars for profit and politics." Her eyes softened into a wistful stare, "I'm a Roman. Conflict is in my blood. If I had to say, your 'alter ego' was going to take the knives from me once we retrieved from Julia. Those artifacts are items that tyrants covet. But I felt confident, given that he swore to Jove himself that he would be loyal to me." Livia produced the runestone that had been etched with lightning. "I would bet that he believed that if he satisfied his contract to the letter, he could do whatever he wanted immediately afterwards. But, I was capitalizing on the fact that he wasn't familiar enough with our gods to know that they honor the spirit of the bargain rather than the literal words. He would have been struck down by Jove the second that he turned on me for my mother's knives. His soul - and yours I suppose - would have been sent into the pit of Tartarus, never to again see the human world."
"In most cases I can take care of myself. I'm fourteen summers old already, after all." Livia tucked the runestone back into her tunic. She started to walk toward the street outside. Two ravens landed near the buildings at the outlet of the alleyway. "Listen, Rugal. If you want, I can free you from your promise. You don't have to stick around with me. I know you feel bad about what happened with Eurydice, but I do not begrudge you for such things. I believe that I can win my quarrel with Livia, and then deal with my trial."
Right to Rule
[hr]
Code:
rugal's storyLivia looked at Rugal incredulously. "You sound like a raving lunatic." An owl landed on an unlit sconce nearby. It's round eyes mirrored the full moon drifting overhead. The stars above glimmered like torches in the night. "No, you are a lunatic. That is no longer up for debate. We're going to find Julia and retrieve the knives that she stole from me before she can deliver them to her father. Your alter-ego or whatever you call him promised to deliver them to me."
She turned away from Rugal, "And don't go acting like you're the only one who's done things you're not proud of. There are a lot of people here that would start wars for profit and politics." Her eyes softened into a wistful stare, "I'm a Roman. Conflict is in my blood. If I had to say, your 'alter ego' was going to take the knives from me once we retrieved from Julia. Those artifacts are items that tyrants covet. But I felt confident, given that he swore to Jove himself that he would be loyal to me." Livia produced the runestone that had been etched with lightning. "I would bet that he believed that if he satisfied his contract to the letter, he could do whatever he wanted immediately afterwards. But, I was capitalizing on the fact that he wasn't familiar enough with our gods to know that they honor the spirit of the bargain rather than the literal words. He would have been struck down by Jove the second that he turned on me for my mother's knives. His soul - and yours I suppose - would have been sent into the pit of Tartarus, never to again see the human world."
"In most cases I can take care of myself. I'm fourteen summers old already, after all." Livia tucked the runestone back into her tunic. She started to walk toward the street outside. Two ravens landed near the buildings at the outlet of the alleyway. "Listen, Rugal. If you want, I can free you from your promise. You don't have to stick around with me. I know you feel bad about what happened with Eurydice, but I do not begrudge you for such things. I believe that I can win my quarrel with Livia, and then deal with my trial."
