Eighth.

[azumods]

ENCOUNTER. It's been days since you were brought here. Or, at least, you think it's been days; even if it's not something you're necessarily unfamiliar with, the stagnation of time and space are likely taking a toll, as is the fact that it's impossible to become spatially oriented in this place. The rotation of the walls to become ground beneath your feet, the floating patches of land with their bizarre floral biology, the pools of water flowing silently and horizontally directly above your heads... It's all a bit much to take in, a bit much to acquaint yourselves with. Perhaps it isn't meant for you to become acquainted with at all. The massive creature here with you has been becoming bolder over the last few hours; it's difficult to tell what's gotten into it, but its path through the shadows has been bringing it closer. Once in a while a sleek, sharply-spiked body can be seen twisting its way through the darkness; sometimes long, black tendrils with wicked-looking red tips are seen cutting through the shadows, each of them far larger than you are, before disappearing again into nothingness. It seems to fade in and out with the contours of the abyss; sometimes it disappears entirely, only to reappear so close to the patches of land you've taken to standing on that it feels liable to collide with them, that it seems almost like you can reach out and touch it if you wanted to. Whatever it is, your Pokémon don't like it. You can tell just by being in its presence that it's one of the old ones, one of those whose memories span far longer than most of you can comprehend - one that's always been, since the creation of the world. An ancient and powerful entity, and there comes a point on one of those passes that's too close for comfort that it doesn't pull away and disappear again. Instead it stays, and its head breaches the darkness, and it finally lets you see it. It's massive, alarmingly so, in the same way that Dialga and Palkia were massive - not just in physical size, but in the way that something about being in its presence makes you feel very, very small. Its body is long and graceful in a way that's almost repulsive; it doesn't set down anywhere near you, or anywhere at all; instead, it simply is, hovering before you in a way that commands the stagnant, empty space before you, floating over the abyss like it was meant to be in it, like it's been here for longer than you likely care to imagine. Those long black tendrils ripple a little as they stream out behind it; its body seems to glimmer in the darkness as it watches you from behind bright, red eyes. For the time being, it doesn't seem about to attack; just the same, it's watching you very, very closely. What happens from here is, evidently, your call.

Comments

[discutio]

Perhaps. But we will continue on this path all the same. Death is inevitable as you say for all mortals, and I would risk this life in trying to help the world regardless of the odds of success.

[azumods]

[IN DOING SO, YOU HAVE CHOSEN DEATH. NOW. LATER. IT MATTERS LITTLE.]

[discutio]

And if it is a foregone conclusion, then what difference does it make to you if we attempt to meet our end fighting against it?

[azumods]

[IT DOES NOT.

...Make much of a difference, presumably.]

[discutio]

Then I'm afraid I haven't yet understood the meaning of your words--whether they are threat or warning. If you believe the outcome to be unchanging, why show yourself before us and tell us regardless?

[azumods]

[THE OUTCOME MUST BE PREVENTED.]

[discutio]

...Wait.

What.

[because that almost sounded positive]

[....depending on definition]

[azumods]

[THE WORST OUTCOME FOR THE REGION MUST BE PREVENTED.]

[discutio]

That's precisely what we're trying to do. If we lack power, then please--help us find a way to attain it.

We wish to protect this region and its people. All of us are united in that decision no matter how difficult or nigh-impossible.

[azumods]

[POWER OF THAT SORT CANNOT BE ATTAINED. UNLESS IT IS GRANTED BY THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.]

[discutio]

Fine--then we seek another path and face Cyrus through other means. Is it not better to have those who would at least try to avert the region's fate?

[azumods]

[IT IS BETTER TO HAVE THOSE WHO WOULD AT LEAST TRY NOT RUN TO THEIR DEATHS.]

[discutio]

We have been trying. None of us asked to come to this world. We aren't running along the region because we thought it a charming vacation.

[Ignis' free hand curled into a fist, memories of bargaining with the Lucii running through the back of his mind like a current of ice water.]

Not a single one of us is against making sure Cyrus can no longer torment this world. We know no other way to move towards this goal, and I will not stand here and be lectured by even a god who refuses to present any better option.

[azumods]

[YOU ARE NOT BEING LECTURED, YOU ARE BEING TOLD. YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE.]