Home Again, Home Again

It's been a while since Proteus has been heard from. She said she was working on a thing. She left a note explaining what she was doing, even.

However, she's been completely incommunicado for a long time. It's not the first time, but it certainly is the first when she's experimenting with a shard of an artifact from a hostile entity. Perhaps that's why the wise people bet on the Church of Carmina Gadelica. Not the most impressive of them, but the only one that is unaffiliated with one of the major nations. And as such, the fiercely independent Proteus would appear there if she perished in her adventure.

The vigil pays off. There is a flash of light high above, and Proteus descends, floating downwards to land on her feet. Purple eyes open... And then Proteus lurches, promptly falling flat on her face.

Not the most elegant return.

After no one could reach Proteus for some time and the ominous note there had been concern. Seliana already well acquainted with the church, and it currently being one of her avenues for research into materials surrounding the game's afterlife, she had multiple reasons to already be in the Church where she was talking with an elderly priest when there was a flash of light.

Saying a farewell to the priest Seliana moves over towards Proteus as she decends, her outfit having changed somewhat since the imp last saw her. She now is in a bright red dress with a fair bit of black detailing, and her hair is a stark white color and tied back into a single long ponytail that flows down along her back. In her hand she holds a simple notebook.

As she moves in front of Proteus she opens her notebook and pen appears in her hand and without any fanfare she turns ashen red eyes to the imp "What is the last thing you remember? What are you feeling?" and as she does so she opens her notebook and a pen flashes into her hand from her inventory. It seems practiced, like this is something she has done several times before.

"Mmmblrh." Proteus utters, stirring from the floor and looking up at the figure before her. The words intrude on Proetus' awareness, causing her to slowly draw her gaze up to Seliana. "It's you." She says, looking over Seli for several seconds beforehand. "You've... changed your outfit. Did something happen while I was gone?" She straightens, sitting up and crossing her legs before she leans forward and grabs her head. "I remember the sickle passing through my body. I remembered fear. Anger. Pain. And then my body fell apart. It felt like I was falling asleep. And then I..."

She doesn't bother asking why she's asking about this. That much is obvious. Instead, Proteus simply answers the questions. "I... dreamed something." She says quietly. "I remembered something. It was... important to me. It was..." She pauses, her expression screwing up as she thinks, her head tilting. "It was..."

She shakes her head, as if trying to clear a fog. "What was it?" She says to herself, her jaw setting. "It's like words on the tip of my tongue, but they aren't coming. It's like trying to close my hand on fog. I feel like..." She looks up, her expression suddenly sharp and alert as anger begins to eat at the edges of her countenance. "Like it's gone. Like it was taken from me."

Seliana carefully sits down so that she is level with Proteus, scribbling something down in her notebook as she does. "Some things have changed, but I will get to those in a bit." She seems to finish writing something and looks up to stare intently at Proteus. "Take a deep breath. You are safe now. You say you remember having a dream? Without worry about the details of what happened, how did you feel in it? Is it different then you feel now? Can you tell?"

As Seliana gazes at the Imp the dull red colouration in her eyes seems to evaporate until her irises are a pure white. As this happens she sets down her pen and reaches out to hold Proteus's hand if she is willing and again iterates. "Close your eyes. Relax. Does anything else come to you?" in her flat droning voice.

Seliana focuses back on Proteus, whom seems to be steadily becoming more tempremental as she tries to come to terms with the latest revelations of her situation. The steady, calm words, however, keep her from beginning to fly off the handle. She needs to focus on those words. Slowly, her head inclines, the purple eyes all but glowing with anger at this point. But she doesn't spit back at Seliana for her advice and her efforts to gain information.

"Yes." The reply begins curt, but slowly she begins opening up again. "I knew... I dreamed something. I am trying to think of what it could be, but... It just keeps slipping away. Urgh..." She bows her head and grips it with her hands, the palms squeezing against her temples as she struggles to find meaning. "I felt... happy. It was something I enjoyed." She grimaces. "But I can't remember why. It's just... emptiness." She shakes her head again and is about to say something else when Seli's eyes drain all color.

Proteus blinks, and then stays still, staring back at those empty eyes as she is caught there, her emotions roiling around her. She lets her hand be taken by Seliana. "I... All right." She says, and closes her eyes, bowing her head and trying to think once more. "... No. Nothing. I just feel an emptiness where it used to be." She frowns. "It's just like when that other man died... The one who was killed by Tri-Edge. It feels like how he looked, I think."

Seliana gives a small nod as the dull red color seeps back into her eyes. Picking up her pen once more she makes another couple notes in her book. "You remember more than most. I've also dreamed when I've died, but most say it is more like suddenly appearing back here. Like they just blinked and no time passed. And it does seem that sometimes something is.. lost? It may be a similar cause to why some Landers transform into ghosts, but that is still a theory I'm investigating." Having concluded her notetaking the book and pen both vanish as they are returned to her inventory.

Seliana looks over to one of the nearby priestesses and makes a drinking motion with her one hand that the priestess seems to interpret and move off to get a drink. She has spent a fair bit of time in the temples and is a familiar face in Carmina Gadelica's as it is the closest to the Plant Hwyaden HQ. Looking back to Proteus she continues "Now, what happened? Why did you go off on something dangerous without help? Leaving only a note" She gives a small shake of her head "You're the one who has been reminding us to work together, to be there for each other. What was so important?" Her monotone quiet voice not showing any further indication of her feelings.

"We may be immortal of sorts here, so I understand we don't have to be as careful about some things. But don't just leave on me like that, okay? You and the others are all I have now." Her frown remaining as constant as ever on her face.

Proteus doesn't say anything directly. Not immediately. It takes Seliana asking her the pertinent question to rouse her from her seethe. "I went because no one else could go. Remember the day we talked in the caves under the prior battle with the worm? I found a glass shard of the mirror she used to escape. I did some resarch on it, and I found that there was enough power in it to allow someone to follow." A pause. "One person. It's not something I could ask of anyone else, so I went myself. As for what was so important..."

Proteus looks up. "First, I needed to know how the shard worked. Second, I needed to know where Glass went. Third... I wanted to know /why/ this was happening." She looks away. "I got answers to all three of my questions. I..."

She pauses and looks back to Seli, up into those eyes. There's a little smile there, a glint of sharktoothed teeth. "Oh? You actually care about me, hmm? I didn't think you would have developed such an attachment." Proteus closes her eyes, and slowly exhales. "Thank you. I appreciate the concern." The eyes open again, and she nods to Seli. "I'll try to be more careful. But you don't..." She pauses. "Well, advancement always requires a certain element of risk. It would have been wrong of me to ask someone else."

Seliana gives a small nod "I remember when you found that shard and that you were working on researching it amongst all the other things. Sounds like it was a bit of breakthrough?" She continues to listen impassively until Proteus mentions that she has answers. "You- you found out why?" There is then a faint glow in her eyes red eyes "Why? Why is all this happening?" She leans a little closer as she asks and will patiently wait for more information.

As the conversation moves back to Proteus's actions Seliana tilts her head slightly as she stares. After a slight silence she waves one of her hands in a dismissive gesture "Yes. I care. But don't misunderstand me, it isn't the danger or risk that I'm that concerned about." She straightens slightly shifting her back as if correcting her posture out of old habit "It's about coordinating plans. Working together... Still, thank you for at least leaving the note, but next time you have a major breakthrough can you let me know before you vanish and can't be contacted?"

The priestess from before return with a cup of water and passes it to Seliana who returns a flat "Thank you." And then turns to hand it out to Proteus in case she is interested. "You really don't need anything after dying, all debuffs disappear, but a lot of people seem to find the habit helpful somehow." If she isn't interested then Seliana will drink it herself.

She looks around them briefly see that there were none immediately around now that the priestess had departed. "While you've been gone some things have happened. Att Syne has finally finished his statue and when I gazed at the statue I saw a vision of sorts where those who sing the Burning One's song at the statue will be rewarded somehow. It is possible the goddesses may actually exist, or that there is code built into the system around them." Then her notebook appears in her hand again and she opens it up to flip through the pages. As she scans the pages she continues "I've also found that there are libraries in the temples of Fourland Dukedom that may have knowledge not available anywhere else regarding what happens during death. I'm planning to head there to see if I can gain access to their archives."

There is a little chuckle from Proteus. "Yes, a pretty literal breakthrough. The glass works when it is broken." Proteus accepts the cup of water and drinks half of it, splashing the other half on her face. "Mmmahh... That's better." She rubs the wetness off of her face using her cloak, and shakes herself off. "I feel awake now."

But more important things are afoot. "Yes, I know why." She sighs. "Basically, there are more worlds out there than ours. Other servers, perhaps. The one I went to had a Cathedral with a Chaos Gate in it, but the Gate was altered. The people there panicked when they saw me. They have a prophecy there that foretells that four Heroes would come and destroy their land, and to forestall some of their own Heroes are going to other worlds to try to kill the Heroes of those worlds."

Proteus looks up and sighs. "I think I might have gotten through to one of them, but the others... They believe in the Church and its prophecy. Glass is one of those. There are others. All of them are much higher level than we are... And all of them are Landers." She glances over to Seliana. "They won't stop. It doesn't look like we can convince them to do so. But there was a great deal of incorrect information about us. I have a feeling there is a problem with the prophecy and there is some kind of mistake, but I do not have enough information to prove it." She frowns. "In the end, I was killed."

Proteus listens intently. "The Burning One exists in the other world as well. The person I spoke with could do something unusual, and he said it was because of his connection to the Burning One. There is... a great deal to catch up on." She shakes her head, and the Imp glances over at the pages of the notebook. "I'll go with you if you want. Maybe I should do something that doesn't involve running off by myself for a change."

Leaning back Seliana looks over towards one of the statues of the Goddesses. "What does this Church worship that has this prophecy? Is it the Goddesses like here? Or do they follow the Beast God? Or something else?" Seliana turns back to look at Proteus. "From what I've gathered it seems that this Glass tried to help or support a ritual of some kind to a god the orcs worship, but a group of Adventurers ran in before any information about the ritual could be gleamed."

Suddenly another notebook is in Seliana's hand, it is a similar style but subtly different colouration to the first she was writing in. A moment later the book is open and a pen of some archaic make is in her hand. "This confirms that Adlet Mayer was the target instead of the Nomads. It also means that anyone else may just be collateral damage.. But wait, didn't Glass call everyone she saw a hero?" She looks up "Could their goal be to kill all players? But we resurrect, how would that even matter?" She seems to consider and then turns her head rather abruptly to look at the Goddess statue again "Unless they destroy the spawn points.."

Looking back down at her notebook she starts to write as she continues muttering in her typical uninterested drone. "Glass also had the wings icon, which likely means killing her won't do anything. Also, this whole prophecy could have nothing to do with us or simply be a form of manipulation to control the heroes in that world." Her eyes glow a faint red as she continues in her calm voice. "But if they kill you then I see no reason they shouldn't be destroyed."

Setting her pen down on her open book she looks up as the light dims again "They had a connection to the Burning One? So some of them know the Goddesses? And.. they could do something because of a connection?" She looks up at the ceiling as she takes a breath and then looks down at her book as she picks up her pen again to make a few more quick notes. "Perhaps the temples in the Dukedom will have some ideas about this. You're welcome to come, of course. Having you there will likely give us more options. You might also have some additional thoughts about information that could be of use if we can get to their archives."

"I don't know. I didn't have time to figure out what's going on with them. I don't think they would be following the Beast, however." Proteus shakes her head at that. "So Glass was there on the first attack too. That lines up with what I had been investigating, too. She seems to be trying to nip this in the bud."

She folds her arms and nods. "Yes. I was called a Hero also, when I was there. Apparently all Adventurers are considered Heroes. The Heroes have access to Adventurer systems as well. They can use Chimlink and Inspect. I assume that they also get inventory access and resurrection." At the question of if it would even matter, Proteus frowns. "... L'Arc said that we have a limit. Apparently, there are times in which it does matter..." She shudders for a moment. "Maybe it has something to do with what I had lost somehow."

There is another look to Seli, and then there's a shrug. "I don't think they need to be destroyed. I think it is more to everyone's advantage if we can reveal the falsehoods inherent to the prophecy and find out why we're being targeted. That said, I will be happy to go with you. We'll put our heads together on that."

"If Glass was supporting the Orcs in a ritual to one of the Monstrous Ones then it implies cooperation or at least a neutral stance, doesn't it? It is clear that she has a working relation with the monsters in this world." Her book and pen vanish into her inventory as she carefully stands and pats her dress.

"From discussions I've had with others it is common belief that the wings icon indicates the resurrection ability, and we know they have that. You've also confirmed they have Chimlink." She turns to look at a passing priest "I thought all Landers have Inventory and Inspect though."

Looking back with dull red eyes "A limit? I suppose if they are Landers they would have limits we don't." Seliana then waits to see if Proteus is ready to stand and leave the church. "I suppose it may be the fear of loss, the wish to hold onto old attachments, that really scares people now." Her eyes drift to the side as she stares into space. "I feel there is something in that.." Seliana trials off as she considers.

Seliana doesn't seem to comment further on the trip to Mac Anu, taking it in stride as she silently accepts. Nor does she comment about her thoughts on those who may be misguidedly trying to kill them off.