[IC/Reroll] Under the Hill: The Final Circle

[CURIE]

So, "Ace" had survived getting wet. Darn. Water had seemed to be the Demon's kryptonite, so he had assumed submerging it would kill it. Oh well, he would have to destroy the toy completley next time. Not yet though; for all he knew the thing was the source of her powers, and he needed all the help he could get. Maybe, if he got to the center of the maze, he could wish it away. The conversation had gotten akward, but he didn't care. Years after this is all over, she would understand why he did what he did.

"Well, I don't expect you to understand right now, but I did that to Ace in order to protect you Sorry if it was unpleasent, but it had to be done. Anyway, after you played dead, one of those two girls who were with you went beserk and tried to kill me. I got away, but then followed your little group for a while in secret, also to protect you from anything that attacked. Eventually, something did, or rather, someone did. I never learned his name, but he was this crazy serial killer dude who gets stronger by killing people. He wanted to kill the three of you, but I jumped in and distracted him so you guys could get away. Then, just when we were about to fight, this other dude named Akuma appeared. You probably don't know who he is, but he's this famous japanese warrior who achieved superhuman power through an evil force called the 'Satsui no hado'. He used this special attack on serial killer dude, that not only kills a man but destroys his soul, meaning he probably won't come back to life ever again. Turns out he had been looking for me, because he wanted me to join him in the dark side, and offered to teach me the way of the satsui no hado. I gotta admit, it was tempting. After all, killing people doesn't mean much down here, but the ability to destroy souls seemed like a bit too dangerous an ability for me to weild. You see, if you give in to the satsui no hado, you abandon all conscience and turn into a merciless killing machine, so there's no telling who you could hurt, kill, or kill permanently. So I refused."

"Akuma didn't take too kindly to that. He attacked me, and while I had the superhuman stats to keep up with him, he's also a master martial artist. I didn't stand much of a chance. He beat the crap outta me, and just as he was about to use the soul-destroying technique to kill me permanently, I saved myself by blowing myself up, killing him in the process. While waiting to come back to life, I-" Wait, crap! He didn't want to talk about what he does when he dies in front of Enya, there's no telling how Ace could react! As far as he knows, his involvement with the higher powers is a secret to the demon, one that potentially gave him a huge advantage. He needed to come up with something else to say...

But just then, an ear splitting scream reverberated through the icy maze. Whoever made that sound, didn't seem to be very far off. Thankful for the distraction, he spun around in the direction it seemed to be coming from. "What was that? You think we should go check it out?"

[Sutoratosu]

"So it has..." Ethic muttered beneath his breath, shrouding himself in the remaining veil and making his way to the end of the former corridor of death. Even with one of the statues dead, he would take no chances here. He reached up and pulled away the concealment with his mind as he stepped passed the remaining effigy's line of sight, again emerging into sight as the veil shattered like glass in his mental grasp. Something... was off though. Like he was missing something. Something that felt...important. He didn't know what or why, but... he didn't have time to think about it either.

"C'mon, lets get moving..." He walked down the corridor, but he stopped before he was even ten paces away, his eyes turned into the black, open skies of the frigid circle as he listened... listened to the voices chiming in his mind. "When... when did I have this conversation before? And with who?"

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"It's hard to believe that your almost done." The first voice was one that resonated loud and clear within his psyche, humming with both power and grace as it seemed to spout it's words near melodiously as it began "And to think, not even that long ago, I was talking to you for the first time after Death was claimed"

"Yeah... I guess it has been quite the journey." He heard his own self respond, almost as if it was some type of old recording. "There's one thing that I've been wondering though... you've been helping me all this time, giving me information, taught me how to even take over the power of the cards, but... why? You say that it's because of destiny, but for a being that's supposed to know some prophecy or whatever, you've been... less than knowledgeable about certain twists and turns in my fight."

The melodic voice was silent for a time. Then "So you've noticed... seen right through it." The owner sighed. "I guess the time for the truth is now. I helped you all this time because in the end... it was in my own best interest if Waite and the Keepers finally died. Their deaths were the only way that I could be free from his influence"

"What do you mean?"

It sounded as though the other voice was pursing it's lips, a soft hum of contemplation coming forth. "you see, I am a thought form... as much as you know about the esoteric, I'm sure you'll understand what that means. unlike most thoughtforms though- I wasn't formed by the conscious of a single magician or person for a direct purpose... I was formed from the similar ideas of many people over a short period of time. In other words, my birth was not consciously triggered, but I simply just... popped into existence after a certain point. I'm like an... accident, as you would say. I'm about as old as the concept of using the Tarot and the Arcana for esoteric purposes, you could say."

"You're the arcana itself then." Ethic was surprised at just how certain he had sounded back then, whenever this talk had occurred. "I get it... I've read similar theories before about polytheistic gods being born the same way from generations and generations of concentrated belief that eventually grow so large that they take on minds and wills of their own- though most people would find such logic to be sacrilege to their religions..."

"Sacrilege or not, it is nevertheless true in my case. When people began to look at the Tarot, something originally used as mere decks of playing cards with colorful and whimsical illustrations, and began to see symbolic themes there... that was when it happened. Eventually the movement to hold the Arcana as items of Occult Value rather than everyday cards is what spawned myself. I n short, Ethic... what I am is the collective thought-mass of hundreds of esoteric thinkers and wizards... much in the same way that one could say that an Angel is simply a thoughtform created by God himself for the purpose of service, I am an... Artificial Angel, an Angel created by the hearts of men instead of the will of the Creator..."

"Alright, so... how why would you seek freedom if your entire purpose was to be the driving force behind the Tarot's divination abilities?"

"Because the purpose I have been serving for the past hundred years has not been the one I was born for. Waite... he deceived me. He bound me with chains of his own will and enslaved me. He wanted a way to cheat death, a way to save himself from the fate in hell he rightfully deserves, and so he conducted a ritual... A calling, as I understand it's name to be. He sought out one of the false gods- one of the old thoughtforms created by ancient societies- ignorant of God's existence or the extent of his power -to serve as their gods. What he did not realize however, was that most of the old Thoughts were dead- had faded along with their cultures and the people who worshiped and put faith in them when the Abrahamic religions began to spread. And so, when he made the Call... very few of us were still around to answer.

And I, was the only one of those few foolish and curious enough to respond. from that moment forward Ethic, my fate was sealed. By myself and the Arcana were his bitch. He ordered me... to save him. And I had no choice... so I complied, the only way I could... I used the Arcana to do it. I made Waite into the first and the highest ranking of the keepers, was practically forced to give him dominion of the Wheel of Fortune... but I realized my mistake from the moment he had me in chains. And so when he demanded to have all my power, have dominion over all the cards, I told him it was not possible... that the power I had been born with would destroy a human, even a learned and well versed Wizard like himself. and that's where I set my trap... I told him the next best thing he could hope for would be to find subordinates to take up the mantles of the remaining major Arcana... and thankfully, he believed me. His ritual and binding had granted him some control over me, but in his weakened state, he had lacked the power needed for full domination, hence I still had enough free will left to at least do that. If I had actually given him what he wanted, then he would've had the means for full control over me, but with the other 21 manifestations of myself in separate hands... it was a mute issue. and from that point, I simply kept up an act... pretending as if he was my full and utter master, until the day that I could cast off his chains... by finding a champion to kill him. First Maxwell...he showed great promise, but he fell and ironically enough, was chosen by Waite to join them as he died. And then there was you, Ethic...Dear, successful you."

His own voice was slower to respond than before. This time it was quieter when it finally spoke up "What happens if I kill Waite and take control of all 22 then? wouldn't you still be in the same boat-"

"Not at all." The apparently artificial angel responded. "Even despite how I phrased things earlier on- you weren't actually taking dominion of the cards, so much as you were just... establishing a bond with me in a way. A partnership of sorts. You see, I gave you, and continue to give you, direct use of my powers of my own free will. You act as...a conduit for the energy I provide you to help you survive, and you inturn liberate me more and more as you progress on your journey. Thus, as more of my power is liberate, I have more and more to offer you. So no... I will indeed be free, but I will be forever in your debt for your help..."

"How was I able to use all the Arcana back in the First circle without restrictions though? And what about that whole innitiation thing that happened when I entered the Hill?"

"You were able to because at the time, it was the Keepers themselves who were partnering themselves to you, and as a result, through them was created a middleman for my own power to be used by yourself... but it was not a perfect transfer. The energy of many of the cards was transformed whenever it came into contact with the personalities of the Keepers, and as a result, many of the abilities of each arcana was drastically different than it's true form... like the Magician, for example. In it's true form it should make illusions with ease as it's namesake would suggest, however, under the influence of lucian... it took on an aspect of fire and ash. As for the Innitiation... that was again my doing behind the scenes. I told Waite that you were important... that if he made you a champion for the keepers, he'd be one step closer to his goals... the idiot listened, and now, here we are... with 21 out of 22 of them dead. It all went according to my plans."

"Remind me never to piss you off, if you're capable of this amount of careful scheming..."

"Rest easy, my champion, I assure you I have no desire or reason to turn my sights on you...

not after all you've done for me...

It was over just as quickly as it had begun. Mere Seconds had passed from the time he'd stopped till the time he'd come back to reality. But to Ethic, it seemed as though... he had just spent an entire afternoon chatting with a friend. "Arcana? Maxwell? Waite, Artificial Angels? What the fuck is going on? They said... something about the magician... and I can remember that.. they're right, can remember back when it used to control flames, but... when the hell did I ever have this conversation? and with who? I sounded so familiar with them... how could I have forgotten? And... what the fuck are the keepers?"

"God damn it, of course it's in the endgame where the holes in my memories start to apparently fill in..." He muttered aloud, continuing to travel the corridor... not even checking to see if Annie was following.

[Notus]

Kenny & Mr. Taylor

Mr. Taylor spent some seconds with his mouth open, interrupted before he could speak. Then he assumed a serious expression, indicating that he understood what Kenny was saying. "So that´s how it is. Interesting trap, I must say, but for us there is a number of ways to get past this." The old man took one hand to his whitebeard, scratching it while thinking aloud. "We could try to use your portals,or I could think of a manner to use my power to annulate the time loop effect. What do you think?"

Ethic & Annie

Annie quietly picked up to Ethic´s pace and walked beside him for some time. Then, quite unusually, she tried to start a conversation. "You seem troubled. Is there anything bothering you? I´m not so pretensious as to say I´ll be able to help, but if your fighting ability is compromised in any way because of your state of mind, that will be a problem for me too." She said in her usual monotone.

Ellaria, Rose, Mormont The Bear

"The only bear we traveled with was the property of a little girl..."

"...A little girl with bright blue eyes and a weird behavior, in a cute way. Yep, that was me." The man gave them yet another exagerated bow and continued to talk. "So, let´s start again. I´m Ace Rorian, fugitive from Hell and cursed teddy bear in the free time. Nice to meet you again, Rose and Ellaria."

Ellaria´s jaw dropped. After all they have been through not many things managed to surprise her anymore, but this was an exception. "Wha-what?" She remembered the weird way Enya used to talk to her bear, how it seemed to know things they were not supposed to about this place and what happened when Edward threw it on the Stix. It was not that forced to accept that the stuffed toy was, in a way, possessing Enya - what would explain a ton of stuff.

"Then... How are you still alive? And what happened to Enya?"

[Sutoratosu]

"You seem troubled. Is there anything bothering you?" Ethic's brows raised at the sudden inquiry... it had certainly come out of left field. Perhaps he had misjudged it's source just a bit... "I´m not so pretensious as to say I´ll be able to help, but if your fighting ability is compromised in any way because of your state of mind, that will be a problem for me too." His brows instantly dropped right back to their original position. Nope, He hadn't misjudged her. Not at all.

"It's nothing," Said Ethic pointedly, keeping up his pace, eyes forward. "I just happened to hear a bit of... something back there. Something I can only believe is from my past. I don't know how I could possibly have forgotten something like it, as... crucial as it sounded." The memories surrounding the dialogue were already falling back into place as he tried to explain. It was almost as if simply hearing the words had inserted the full account of the scene in his psyche, back where it belonged. Complete with visual memory of the event and all.

The place they had spoken to each other in... it was... beautiful. Beautiful, yet at the same time, horribly morbid. It had been... a garden of sorts. A garden of death. A garden where eternal blackness and vibrant colors clashed, a garden filled with stone effigy of slain person after slain person, plaques placed beneath each of them for mourners to marvel at, gardens of all different species and color blooming at their feet and around the cobblestones forming miniature plazas around each Statue's pedestal, and between each plaza, darkness reigned supreme. Where he and the Angelic Being had met though... had been the only empty pedestal in the entire place.The pedestal bearing the name Silverjay Waite on it's glossy, obsidian plaque.

"Regardless, it's nothing." Ethic finally said after a moment's pause. He just couldn't help but have wondered... did that place still exist? how had he gotten to it? "I'm not the same fool I was when I entered this place. It will take far more than a flash of sealed away memories to make me falter here, besides, I've fought and destroyed tough threats before... threats far more dangerous than whatever opposition the others can likely pose us down here. I only survived some of those fights because I figured out how to compartmentalize."

He closed his mouth the minute he had finished spouting... whatever the hell that bit of declaration was. Where had that come from? It had just... come out without him even thinking the words. What threats, what fights? was it what he had heard earlier? Why the hell could his mouth apparently remember well enough to gloat of it's own volition, but his fucking mind still have only blank spots during certain moments when he knows his flight or fight response had come up? They... they had to be tied together...

[K_H]

Kenny thought for a little while, then spoke up.

"Well, I get KO'd for five minutes when I finish using my Portals, but you experience Memory Loss when you finish Timewarping. I'd say that we should probably go with my Portals, since it'll be easier for you to drag me along than for me to convince you to come with me."

Kenny then attempted to open up a Portal, only for his attempt to fail, producing a black cloud that grew a face and arms and then...

It pulled out a Cream Pie and hurled it into his face. The cloud then started laughing at Kenny, who had an extremely unamused look on his face when the Pie slid off of it. The cloud and the remnants of the pie then dissipated into thin air, and Kenny tried again, actually managing to be successful this time. Kenny then walked through, turning around and speaking to Mr. Taylor after doing so.

"Please do hurry, I can only keep this Portal open for a much shorter time than i was previously able to."

[SnowGlaceon]

He wants me to follow him..? Donna was unsure of what to do. She wanted help but... is it safe? He had his back turned to her, he already started moving. Quickly, she checked to make sure she had everything at the ready if he tried to harm her. But really, what reason would he have to do such a thing? Making up her mind, she ran after him.

Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

[Sparky]

Matthew took a deep breath as he continued to move, before he glanced back to see that she had been following him, "Well, nice to know I'm not going into this without some company, but Ellaria still reminds me of my daughter..." He heaved a heavy sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, trying to keep the thought in the back of his mind.

[SnowGlaceon]

Donna shuffled along awkwardly. What was she supposed to say in a situation like this? The man didn't seem so relaxed either. He seemed to be trying to forget something. His sighs sounded kinda sad. Was he upset?

"E-excuse me. Is something bothering you?" She was panicking. Had she done something wrong? Had she upset him somehow? She found someone to trust, she couldn't ruin this already.

[Sparky]

"Your name was Donna, right? Well Donna, should I tell you what's on my mind?" He questioned as he glanced back at her as he had stopped moving. She seemed to be curious about what was bothering him, while he had been trying to calm his thoughts to think clearly. Was telling her what was nagging at him the best thing to do? It probably was, but she was the only person that was aroudn to listen to what needed to be known.