Author Topic: Xibalba  (Read 14178 times)

Kotomine_Rin

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #105 on: September 15, 2019, 03:14:33 AM »
Zeke

"Nope! Noooope! Not going to make me spill em, nope. These beans are sealed." He put a finger to his lips and smiled. He'd definitely never do such a thing here of all places.

He shifted his hands behind his head and put his feet on the table, relaxed as ever. He just looked up at the sky, as if he wasn't even talking to Joseph.

"That was the name given for the product. But the substance was more than just some drug. It was part of a project, a key to reach the domain of God. And this city's people were the lab rats. Hrm, how odd, you'd figure they'd have made sure such a thing would never be forgotten." For a moment, he stopped smiling. "I guess that's the dragon's curse for you."

That was the reason... that was why he couldn't stand this world. For a moment, he showed something that he had genuinely never shown in a long time. Rage.

"What if I told you that it was my old stickler of a pops who came up with it? The power of God... yeah, something about attaining true immortality. And I don't mean something lame like those suckers in the vampire district, or what my bosslady tried doing... or even us two. That thing was special. If it have gotten perfected, we could have created people free of death, suffering... the perfect life form. Someone who stands above things like mortality or frailty, someone with absolute power... absolute peace."

Umbra of Chaos

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #106 on: September 15, 2019, 04:42:45 AM »
Joseph

A frown appeared on Joseph's face. "What's so wrong with that? I don't care a lot about power or peace, but everyone wants to live without pain, don't they?" That just made sense. There were some crazy people who thought that you needed pain to live, but they was obviously something deeply wrong with them.

Kotomine_Rin

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #107 on: September 15, 2019, 04:57:09 AM »
Zekey

"Eh? No no, I didn't say it was something bad." He was taken aback by the sudden disapproval, or at least seemed aback. He held up his hands defensively and shook them, smiling reassuringly. "Don't get me wrong, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain are all fine and dandy... But isn't that the way an animal thinks, though? Don't get me wrong, I see the logic, but it's kind of... animal logic."

He shifted his body into a more formal sitting position, though it was still slouchy and sloppy as ever. But despite that, his eyes were staring right at Joseph with the most devilish of stares. And his grin... it was like a ravenous beast's.

"Still, you look like you've made your bed. Now you've gotta lie in it. If you're gonna be an animal, BE AN ANIMAL." He said encouragingly before putting a hand on his shoulder. And suddenly, he uttered something utterly unbelievable.

"I promise, I'll save you."

Cause that's what friends did, right? He couldn't let someone just suffer like that.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2019, 05:01:33 AM by francobull3 »

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #108 on: September 15, 2019, 05:26:34 AM »
Joseph

"You'll save me?" That really was unbelievable! After all, there was only one person that could save him after all. Oh well. Joseph patted the hand on his shoulder a few times. "It's alright if you can't I appreciate the thought."

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #109 on: September 15, 2019, 05:38:42 AM »
Zeke

"Thanks." He smiled sincerely. He just stood there a while, until suddenly his eyes went wide and he remembered something. "Oh, I do need help for something though. Since I'm the one paying for the meal, you're cool with it, right? It's not too big of a favour, I think..."

He looked like he was pondering for a second, stealing a slice off Joseph's pizza (how rude!). "Oh, right. It's about my body... I think you can tell, it's not my natural vessel. That's cause I borrowed it from a certain very dead son of a bitch. Remember that 'old stickler' I mentioned? Yeah, I guess you could say I'm his inheritor, as I inherited his body I also inherited his will.

The real me isn't even in here. Or, well, I guess you could say he's all of here. I'm just a corporeal shell."

He paused for a moment, letting Joseph swallow the details as he swallowed the pizza.

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #110 on: September 15, 2019, 05:51:49 AM »
Joseph

He chewed that over a bit. Quite literally in fact. Joseph had pizza in his mouth! "Do you want me to make the body yours? I'm adept at spiritual surgery. I could even attune a dragon's flesh to a human form. Or I could extract everything I could from that body and create a new one for you."

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #111 on: September 16, 2019, 12:25:57 AM »
Zeke

"Hehe. Thanks doc, you're a godsend." He smiled innocently. But the time for chitchat was over. A date needed a main event after all, and besides... there was something he had wanted to try out. "Joseph, don't move." He told the boy in the calmest tones. And as he said that, the creatures surrounding them stopped. An odd, purple glow seemed to emanate from their pupils.

"Oh holy father, holy draken, holy master... Heed this sacred mission." Magic circles and letters appeared around Zeke... then Joseph. And he extended his arms, as if he was a holy man preaching. "With these two hands, let me feed from your power once more, so I may act in thy stead. I am your will made flesh. In your name, I give thanks..."

That purple light was now shining fro m their eyes, and the still dark organisms seemed to communicate through these abominable lights. It was like radio communication, as if all the energy in this domain was being connected... siphoned from elsewhere...

The tower. Upon a closer look, the surroundings of the tower's outskirts made more sense. They weren't an alien aberration, but magical circles that took advantage of the leylines being siphoned by Xibalba... Sur Carys. That way, he could use the power of the land without requiring skill or grander incantations. The outer district he created, the land itself was the incantation. And the place where they stood was but one spell.

"Restriction 666 released! Dimensional interface force-field deployed."

And the circles turned into a brilliant light, only to turn Joseph and Zeke's world into darkness.



Was it minutes? Hours? Days? Eventually, he might just wake up. And when he would, Zeke would be there, though his appearance far more aged... disheveled. As if it had not been an instant, but centuries that he had been waiting for Joseph. But if he'd wake up... when he'd wake up, the dragonwoken would smile.

"I had been working on it on some time... it was the same project my old man started. A way to cross parallel worlds, and glimpse into other dimensions and manipulate them. A byproduct of that project I was talking about earlier, the one that resulted in the creation of Soporil. The _______ project. I guess it wasn't a total failure."

Around them, was a small island. Surrounded by the sea of memories. But whose?
« Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 12:28:57 AM by francobull3 »

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #112 on: September 16, 2019, 04:57:25 PM »
Joseph

He didn't take long to wake up. Joseph never slept in the first place. Comfort like that was impossible for him. But when he opened his eyes and heard the words of the would be dragon, the stirring ocean calmed. There was a voice? Was it his voice?

"We will make the place where God is."

Then the seas were full of light. He staggered up to his feet, brushing sand off his clothes as he stared out at the radiant waters. "...What is this place?"

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #113 on: September 16, 2019, 05:05:01 PM »
Zeke

"We are within the crucible of souls. When a Nexus reaches its course, when it ends, it returns here as a drop inside this endless ocean. You could say this is the heart of the universe itself. The place where God would be seated..."

He got up, stretched his arms behind his back, and laid it against a palm tree near Joseph. Despite his calm expression, his eyes seemed to be smiling.

"Well, it's actually a replica. A cheap imitation of the real deal formed artificially. It requires a great amount of life energy, which is then moulded into an imitation of the primordial sea. Long story short, this is a reflection of infinite parallel realities, or alternate histories. Possible outcomes of this world's current path."

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #114 on: September 16, 2019, 05:16:16 PM »
Joseph

He looked out at the waters again. For a moment his hand hovered over the water's surface, eyes narrowing as if trying to pierce the glow. He... had seen this light before. He knew it once so very long ago. But how would he have--

"I forgive you, **********|*******." The voice was formless, soundless, yet it was the Word. So they knew its intention.

Joseph pulled his hand back, as if he was burned. "How... how do I make something like this? You need to go back. I need to see the process before I can replicate it."

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #115 on: September 16, 2019, 05:25:30 PM »
Zeke

"Oh, the same old curiosity? How precious... I used to be like that too. No, I guess I haven't changed all that much from my Father. You know, there's just one path for people like you and me. So sure, let's go back! I'll show you as many times as you need." He smiled kindly, putting a comforting arm on Joseph's shoulder-

Only to push his whole face down the seawater. Forcefully, cruelly, kindly, gently, he pushed his head down the sea of forbidden knowledge. It burned, it crawled, inside his eyelids, inside his ears. Whispering, expanding, always expanding, like the starts, burning away only to rebirth. Pounding inside Joseph again and again and again as he drowned inside forbidden time.

While he was trying to figure that out, bubbles were bubbling from around Joseph. Forbidden knowledge, but something about it was wrong. It was the future, yes, but bits and pieces of it were missing. Like a film that had been recovered from a fire, it was still working alright, but aside key scenes, the process was too burnt out to be intelligibly made out.

Zeke's eyes narrowed.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 06:07:59 PM by francobull3 »

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #116 on: September 19, 2019, 03:01:07 AM »
Joseph

We cannot be saved, only forgiven.

Joseph only struggled under the waters for a moment before stilling completely. He listened. He saw. He made himself open the tide. As he focused as hard as he could, the alchemist began to fall apart.

First, strands of hair floated up to the water's surface. Then the skin that Zeke was touching began to soften and darken. The air smelled of rot as the rest of his flesh began to fall apart and polluted the waters, and soon the draconic man's fingers were clutching putrefying flesh and exposed bone. Red poured from skin that tore like paper, and staining the sands of the beach. Still alive, Joseph worked through the pain to focus. He always did, in the end.

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #117 on: September 19, 2019, 03:17:08 AM »
Zeke

The dragonkin's body was almost responding to the corruption, for the dark pits in his eyes almost seemed to deepen as he stared down at the decomposing husk. For a moment, he just stared in perplexion. What... was going on?

"The struggles of the living..." He muttered to himself, feeling the rotting pus crawl across his fingertips. "...No, the struggle of all things. They are, they are..."

"Are truly admirable."
Tears were streaming from his eyes, an expression of true sorrow.

"Are truly unsightly." A mocking grin formed across his chest, an expression of disdain.

And yet, which one was his? Before one could think of such things, a demonic screeching sound ran through his body, as if a dozen beasts were crying inside his body. Bubbles and bulgind muscles were writhing and wriggling across his body like slugs before popping and growing like tumours to shape his aged body into that of a muscular beast. His crying eye rolled around his face like it was trying to rip itself out, its line of sight bouncing back and forth at lightning speed before the colour changed into a golden hue.

"Oh, father... are you watching me? Ufufu..."
He staggered and crouched on his knee, smiling sadly while barley holding onto Joseph. His black eye bulged as tentacles were starting to open out of his pores. "Yes, my cute Zeke. My adorable Zeke. You are doing well. Just a little more. " He clutched at his face. But whose face was it? And whose hand was gripping his body so coldly?

"I'm so glad... even if they will not forgive me... no, that's right." He paused, only for his golden eye to  tremble its way further out of his skull, looking more like a misshapen marble than an actual organ. "Yes, my precious Zeke. My lovely vessel. We must endure this. We will never be forgiven. But... but..."

"Our dream can be saved."
"This world can be saved."


Such was the will of the world.

That was what he believed. That was why his expression kept calm. But suddenly, it changed, his eyes suddenly sparked into shock for some reason.



Outside the portal to the unknown, dark world organisms danced. It was as if they were worshipping something, deep within the wormhole. Deep within the sea of memories.

Until one of them flickered like static, stopping for a second. Then another, like a glitch. And soon, the dance was thrown out of order. Because of that, the portal destabiized. Because of that, Joseph lost himself amidst visions of countless possibilities.

He could see them. He could see them all. All of his failures, all of the times his ambition turned to despair.

All but one. That light, that hope, that he would come out victorious. It was just within reach, as he sank further. He just needed to swim his way in just a little bit more...



"Huuuuh?" He stared down at the water. It was blackening, and the result puzzled his expression completely. At first, he thought this was normal. But... it wasn't. Was this Joseph's doing? No, that rot shouldn't affect a fake world like that. So why? Wh-

"ARGH!" His arm flickered like static, and the sea of possibilities cracked. He quickly pulled his arm out, which was now nothing more than a gnawed off forearm. His expression turned to shock and disbelief. And soon, horror.

"JOSEPH!" He rushed to the edge of the island, and tried to find him amidst the sea. But... he couldn't. It wasn't just because it was darkened by this mud-like corruption. It wasn't because his body was starting to flicker out of this place.

He simply couldn't. Not before, and not now. This sea of the world's memories was not something he could perceive. It was why he needed someone to test it. To figure out if it worked. He was sweating, just smiling down the sea. But the smile showed nothing but fear.

"Jeez... this is bad... but why? The formula should be-"

"Just like back then?" A voice called out behind him. A bird flapped its wings mockingly, while the thud of a familiar cane smacked against the sand. Behind the rejected son, an ashen man smiled. "It won't work. Not with a half-formed idea." He tossed a book down Zeke's feet.

"Why don't you go back to formula? It's what I'd have done, if I were still in there." He pointed at Zeke's chest... his body with his cane. The boy just stared with disbelief, gripping his torn arm, or the bleeding stump that was left of it anyways. He was... incredulous. He thought that man died.

"Oh, Zeke, that is quite precious an expression you have. Is your eye still hurting?" As he asked that, the bird perched on its shoulder. "Don't worry. I just want to talk."

And so they did. While Joseph kept swirling towards his wish.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2019, 04:13:59 AM by francobull3 »

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #118 on: September 24, 2019, 12:21:32 AM »
Joseph

He stayed still a while longer, letting the knowledge soak into him. It wasn't as if he was afraid. There wasn't much left that Joseph could fear, and even now his shadow swelled to swallow him whole. He just needed one last piece...

Quietly, persistently, Joseph slips his way towards a truth.

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Re: Xibalba
« Reply #119 on: September 24, 2019, 12:29:59 AM »
Within the Crucible

It was getting closer, so much closer. But just as he was about to reach that light, just as he was about to grasp that truth-

It slipped back. Slowly, but surely, it was moving away from him. Away from the current. He was so close, but he'd never reach the truth. Because it wasn't being merely snatched away.... he was. A whirlwind was sucking him back, and before long that hope was gone. All that was left was darkness.

And then the light of candles, and a tap on his head.



Zeke

7:59

"eph...oseph..."

A sluggish shake suddenly dragged him away from the sleep of elysium. If he'd open his eyes, he'd see the same Zeke who had shared dinner with him, in the same room that they had been eating, at the same time they had been eating.

"Joseph! Hey hey hey, come on man! Don't just nap on me!" He love-tapped him on the forehead with a stressed out expression.

In the end, Joseph never reached that hope. Nothing changed.

Nothing will ever change.