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Post by Gaia on Jul 4, 2024 8:45:29 GMT -8
As he escaped back into Lady Vega's old base, the space felt different from what he remembered. The power that flowed through him, the true strength that he wielded, felt simple but pure. He had already learnt what he truly was; what the Undimension had tried to represent of him, and what he would still be capable of without it.
He was potential, unbounded energy given shape by his own design. The robes showed that, now, the power of the waves he had control over having reforged his body. What he had left was himself, was potential, was . . .
"Infinitum."
Another name to simply describe what he was.
The voice speaking to him led him to another conclusion - that he hadn't been talking to the same being that he had been fighting. Someway or another, someone else that intimately knew his history, and had the means to force him to follow his own directive, or to know where to wait for him, and was more than thorough enough to still talk with vitriol in his voice, had been talking to him all this time.
"You're not Empty, then. Neither are you the Undimension itself. That narrows your identity down to either the passed Altair, a corrupted remnant of Lady Vega from the intense waves, or one of the unknown who led her to her demise.
"Why are you here? . . . Am I finished with removing the strings from my past, from my memories?"
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Post by Zane on Jul 4, 2024 10:45:16 GMT -8
Fitting name for what was up next. Seemed like he was unsure though about the whole memories thing. That one was something that Infinitum could better answer than he could, but he was also a bit used to providing answers for this sort of thing.
"Got all the clues and still off on who it is, huh? Adds up. Took flat out telling you to your face for the remnant part to stick. I'm just here to be thorough as always. See who walks away from the void, the original or the vestiges. If you've finished your hang-ups with being drawn to her shadow wherever you go and whatever you do, you should be done with those strings."
After all, the strings were tied to himself more than anything. The people who were held up by their trauma were just the ones unwilling to be progress beyond them. In a way it was less of a compulsory effect that kept forcing him to follow the directive as much as it was the one who was adamant to follow that directive no matter what was in front of them instead. The refusal to deny that directive until it was fulfilled until now.
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Post by Gaia on Jul 4, 2024 11:11:23 GMT -8
. . . !
". . . You're the first. The Empty from before she got to the Continent, aren't you? The original attempt at recreating Altair, before she met Immortalis. Still following through with the final directive, and ensuring that each of us see to it, as well?"
It was the only other thing that could possibly make sense; the consciousness and memory of the Empty, Hollow, or whatever it called itself, to make sure that Lady Vega's memory was preserved and protected, and that one way or another, Empty was punished for what he did.
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Post by Zane on Jul 4, 2024 13:48:22 GMT -8
"Not quite. That would still be the one that you just destroyed, fully augmented or otherwise."
It was a good guess, but that was Empty's cross to bear in full. There wasn't a kind sort of separation of the original purpose and the crimes committed by the original. Vega's pursuits gave it a burden it could not bear, nor could she endure. Something any other would learn when they too tried the Rites of Recreation. The best they could do was make something new while moving on from that which was past. An experienced person would know as much at least, but none of that was here or there. This was between them at the moment.
"If you get it wrong again, don't fret about it. You'll have your answer sooner rather than later. But one more try, for good measure. Let's go over the clues again, but with a few extra. Someone you're intimately familiar with yet know little about. Someone who is that thorough. Someone who knows how this has ended again and again."
"And so I ask you a question that I asked before as well: now you know the reasons instead of guessing at them, so now you can answer the question honestly. Who you are and what it is that you want to do?"
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Post by Gaia on Jul 6, 2024 9:44:33 GMT -8
" . . . Xion?"
It seemed so simple, so strange, and yet it felt to him as though it could be the only remaining answer. The question was one that Xion had asked of him before, but this being Xion didn't make sense in other ways, as well. He couldn't quite yet figure it out.
"My name is Infinitum. I want to see the horizons of history, the places of power where I was told I would never stand, the heights someone presumed I could never reach, and I want to take others there with me."
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Post by Genesis on Jul 6, 2024 15:58:10 GMT -8
"Well said, Infinitum. In that we are aligned. What use are greater heights that serve just one view? Those kinds of heights and grandeur is meant for many instead of few."
*Who else would be able to speak with both vitriol and honor the wishes of another? It usually was just the vitriol without any regard or respect for the other party. But he understood that she was simply a human who longed for someone long gone. There were many who weren't able to move on. That was nothing to fault her for. The only fault to be found would be in how many she would be willing to condemn to suffer the same fate as her when she should have understood how bitter that loneliness was. That was where the folly would lie, both in her and in the solitary Murian.*
"What brought the end of Vega and Empty was ultimately hubris, but that hubris needed lumber to fuel its fire. Lumber that was provided by something beyond our understanding. I won't be able to answer you on what kind of conversations they shared, what she learned from her time with them. Looking at it from Empty's point of view just reveals empty space, as if she were simply speaking with herself. Some would call it lunacy, or perhaps it was just her voicing her own inner voice, sounding out what her thoughts led her to believe. But I believe differently. But my time here is up. The Time of the Dark has been expended on this one here, for how long it's been looming to observe the outcome. It fades with the Undimension."
*It was a field that existed some time ago. There were a lot that didn't make sense, but not enough time for this one to answer it all. After all, the victor had at long last changed hands. Chaos prevailed, and what was the same as before had finally begun to be different. Still, the lighthearted scoff denoted that the talk was far from over at least. Just for now, anyway. And a final bit of parting words for the Former Advisor.*
"Still... I look forward to our next talk, one that is filled with two dreamers now instead of one."
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Post by Gaia on Jul 14, 2024 7:20:56 GMT -8
Infinitum nodded as the Dark faded away. He looked around the space, and teleported from inside the base in the wave space back to the Seal of Mu, below.
He stared back at his home, the place where he had been created, and the wonders of the woman that had created him still stored inside. The information inside of it was priceless, precious, and unlike the workings of any human anywhere else. He held everything she had, though, his memories now his own, and he had no further need for her musings, otherwise.
The darkness returned to him, the power of his energy intensifying and overflowing, as the raw energy of his magic surged with black lightning and amplified. What followed was a horrific storm, the peal of thunder that crashed from all sides, as he brought the unabated wrath of his power upon the base.
Those secrets were safer with him than where others could chance upon them, even if by some grand miracle of traversing the maze.
Waiting to see what remained, if his force was enough, he would see if it was time to depart, or if yet more awaited him within the maze.
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Post by Zane on Jul 15, 2024 4:46:23 GMT -8
It would only be a matter of time before more and more stumbled upon the maze. Eventually the technology or the means would allow them to, and the progression of time only made that more and more certain. With the erasure of the structure, those secrets were left to those who knew them alone. Nothing remained in the wake of his assault, allowing him to depart at his leisure with memories that were no longer simply empty. Rewards: 500 Exp 5,000z
?????? -- Core Half of the required truth. The decision has been made. ° One element has all numerical values increased by 50%. ° +2 uses to one Skill. ° Can disable an equipped, non-passive Crest. If so, gain access to ?????????. This effect is locked in its current state until the following requirement is fulfilled. ° Can be utilized by disabling or destroying equipment gained from Wave-Related Entities. Must be done ? times.
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Post by Gaia on Jul 20, 2024 14:55:52 GMT -8
As he told Xion, there were yet more horizons that they needed to explore; yet more places they had to behold. The powers that beset their world would see them all laid low, and Infinitum had no desire to see that. His new dream would see to it that the opportunity to grow and to learn was not squandered.
Pulsing out of the Bermuda Maze, he had but one last destination on his journey to ensure that the damage Lady Vega had wrought upon the world was at last laid to rest. He alone did not have the strength to do what was on his mind, however, and for that, he would need the help of others.
The golden light had become his own. His destiny, his own. His potential, yet to be seen.
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