hauntedking | [KENOS] IC Inbox

[ There's a little flicker of surprise and then curiosity. ]

Liem. I - yes. I have some time. What news do you have?

I spoke to the Heiropoios recently. You recall the root creature we fought in the Church's undercroft, some months before the Repose?

[That expedition might be ancient history by Kenos's actual timeline, but he assumes Dimitri must still recall it. It wasn't all that long ago, by their own reckoning. Not much more than half a year, if he recalls correctly.]

The Church was able to discern more about the shard we brought back, I assume over the century we spent sleeping.

Oh, yes. I do remember that.

[ There's a sort of pause there as he considers. ]

Did they? Was there any interesting information on it? On... who it might have been?

According to the Heiropoios, it was a shard-bearer from a previous generation who became an Oracle. She seemed to believe that Zenith was behind this—that that Lady Yima forced that shard-bearer's transformation.

...I beg your pardon? She... was turned into an Oracle?

Supposedly she, or someone else powerful enough, was responsible for turning this shard-bearer into one. Perhaps the creature we fought was all that remained of it, after that previous cycle ended.

The effigies do bear some resemblance to the plant creatures some shard-bearers have been turned into... I wonder what significance that has, regarding the aim of Aetós's past experiments. That, however, is just speculation.

The more we learn, the less I like any of it. From Aetos or anyone else for that matter. If they'd simply come out and tell us what needs to be done or at least share more of this...

[ He sighs. ]

But what's done is done. I'm not sure how I truly feel about any of it. Or what we can do with this just yet...

I agree, but I can’t say I’m surprised. In my experience, wizards are loath to share the intricacies of their research. Paranoia tends to run strongly through their lot.

[It’s also possible some of Aetós’s reticence has been due to their agreement with whatever power governs Kenos, but Liem doesn’t want to give them too much credit. He doesn’t regard the wizard as an ally by any means.

For that matter, he doesn’t necessarily trust the Church either.]

I’m not sure what to do with this information either. But I feel like knowing shard-bearers can be transformed into Oracles is significant. What we are seems tied more closely to this cycle than I had previously understood.

It makes me wonder if we aren't being prepared to be sacrificed as some sort of augment to the Oracles...

[ That might be catastrophizing a little, but he's not sure he can expect better. ]

Certainly we might make up some other parts of a whole... if we really are tied to those other aspects of us.

That... is a possibility I hadn’t considered.

[It’s a concerningly plausible one, actually. Liem hadn’t managed to form any suppositions about why the sixth generation would be the only one that might actually succeed at their goals, but if the Oracles are touted as the necessary power source, and shard-bearers are the origin of the Oracles, one does have to wonder if they aren’t all meant to be power sources after all.

It’s not a happy thought. While he can easily imagine some of the Zenites embracing the role of sacrificial lamb, Liem has done plenty of soul searching over his many months in Kenos... and he has realized that he wants to live. He doesn’t want to die at the hands of some shady power pulling strings from behind the scenes.]

It seems more vital than ever to figure out what the Oracles actually are, and how they’re meant to be used... especially given that I’ve been informed previously-won Oracles can be stolen. Without a firm idea of what they even are, how can we hope to protect what we already have?

Agreed. There's still too much we don't know. There's still too much about ourselves that's apparently been hidden away. If we've been here before - if parts of ourselves have walked these streets in prior cycles - why was no one willing to say so? What makes us so important? They say we are but no one says why, precisely.

[ There's the mental equivalent of a grimace. ]

We need to take control of our own path here or we risk being simply used...

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