Looming poison (Moore)

[Nephrite]

Moore looks very thoughtful for a moment. "I... think I heard someone here talk about it once...? Ah, no, I can't recall."

[Anastasia]

"The Three Incarnations are the ones who created everything. The beginning, the end. We've found frustratingly little of the beginning that's reliable, every faith has a story and they don't match." Sylvie blows a breath out, brushing back her hair out of her face. "The Incarnation of Law, the Incarnation of Balance and the Incarnation of Chaos. Together they made Creation itself and monitor it. You may know one of them, as the Incarnation of Chaos is also known as Ao."

[Nephrite]

Moore nods. "Ah, so there's that 'three' thing again..."

[Anastasia]

"Yes.' That draws a smile from Sylvie, "We found out later that the reason three is so powerful is because it's an echo of the Three Incarnations. We learned all this and more from the Guardian of 21, a being the Three Incarnations personally created to watch over it. We can't confirm it past him, but it fits everything we've learned so far."

A pause, blowing a breath out, "See, the Three Incarnations are about law and chaos, not good and evil. They had no concept of good or evil until Creation introduced it to them. They sought to understand good and evil, and they made a tool to do so. That tool is 21 - a presence that can destroy any evil and even destroy a deity."

A laugh. Not a nice laugh, but a bitter laugh. "For my own reasons, I sought 21 and so did Aurora. Circumstances with my world, well, the best thing to say is that it has a heavy destiny. It's cosmically important out of all the Primes. That's why I was able to find 21 when so many others failed. I wish I hadn't. 21 isn't meant for mortal or immortal hands. It's something beyond, something meant for the Incarnations, who came from Beyond and made Creation. I can't lie, I see every sin of a creature I look at and I can't even fool myself. I have to face the cold, bitter truth about myself every day."

The laugh picks up, sharper. "The power to slay any evil and even take revenge on a deity. It's not worth it, but I'm too prideful too let it go."

[Nephrite]

Moore blinks, then smiles a little bit. "It must be difficult to never be able to even tell someone a small lie, Miss Sylvie. But even so -- hm. Well, perhaps it's a conversation for another time. One of these days I'll ask you to help me find what I lost a long time ago." Moore smiles a bit more at that. "But... so 21, um... this is probably obvious, but there really isn't any relation to 27, right?"

[Anastasia]

Sylvie laughs. It's a sharp, sudden laugh, as Mirajane snickers into her hand.

"None at all. As I understand it, 27's name has to do with the alphabet and how it first communicated with Ithea." Sylvie says. "Anyway, 21 can potentially destroy The Father, I have no doubt about it. I know in my bones it could permanently destroy even a Lord of the Nine if I hit them with it enough times. That's the catch, it's not a single blast and a kill. It takes being strong enough to hit them many times. When it does, though? 21 can even destroy the something that cannot be killed."

[Nephrite]

Moore rubs his chin. "So in the hypothetical fight, it'd basically be as many of us trying to protect you while you keep at it, right? Mm... but I suppose if we know how to break the seal, then we can fight The Father anywhere, anytime we want to. Have any of the... ah... hm... Have any of the divine realms shown any interest in aiding us when we take on this task? It feels like it's something that we assuredly can't come out of unscathed, but... having allies is always important."

[Anastasia]

"Not quite," Sylvie says, "Muirfinn was pursuing knowledge about The Father. About Valgadda, which is no more. He had vowed to build a collation that could oppose him, like you propose. But he needed to know more, to find out the deeper mysteries first."

[Nephrite]

"Well, it seems the task is falling into my hands in a more direct way than I had planned originally, but... I think it's a worthy cause." Moore sighs, but smiles afterwards nonetheless. "What deeper mysteries are there to find in this, though? It seems like that scroll was rather informative."

[Anastasia]

"Muirfinn can to suspect Valgadda, which is no more, was important to it all and part of it, but he did not complete his research," Sylvie says.

[Nephrite]

"Well, I have some free time until Crystal gets back." Moore says as he rolls his sleeves up. "I imagine there may be some new books here from the last time he did it, I don't mind doing some library-diving." Moore chuckles. "I find myself drawn here every so often anyway."

[Anastasia]

What precisely are you researching then?

[Nephrite]

If there's anything on Muirfinn's research, he'll pick up there. Otherwise he'll start from scratch with anything on Valgadda and work his way backwards. He'll also magic himself up as much as possible for doing the research since he knows this'll take a while.

[Anastasia]

Okay, roll. K:P.

[Nephrite]

Is this something he can Take 10 or even 20 on since he's basically spending time looking over a bunch of stuff?