Attack on Sylica

[Anastasia]

"I did," Antenora rises, and then exhales. "Let's hope this is a good trip and be prepared if it is not."

[Ebiris]

Alicia's avatar enters the room, fully equipped but only with pale shadows of Alicia's usual panoply. "I'll do the polite deific tap on the edge of his realm and see what sort of response we get. The important thing is we're not looking for a fight."

"And just remember," the real Alicia speaks up. "She can be replaced," she points at her avatar who seems entirely unperturbed. "You can't," she tells Antenora.

[Anastasia]

"I know," Antenora answers, meeting your look. "Are you ready?"

Any prep or just gonna TP over?

[Ebiris]

Just gate over to the edge of his divine realm and do that polite knock thing Mystra did earlier, yeah.

I'll worry about what buffs she has and her cheat-sheet if it looks like a fight is happening.

[Anastasia]

Fire. Fire rages ahead, behind, above and below. The Elemental Plane of Fire rages all around you and yet...the flames ahead are dark.

You feel the familiar sensation of hellfire, of soul-rending infernos. A pulse of hate. A pulse of fury. A pulse of disgust. A three-fold heartbeat of the realm ahead of you, constant.

The moment you send your greeting, a powerful voice booms in your mind like the breaking of a mountain asunder, 'WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE HERE, ALICIA REYNES? SPEAK QUICKLY AND WISELY, LEST YOU RETURN TO THE DUST THAT YOU CAME FROM.'

[Ebiris]

Well that's about according to expectations so far at least! 'I come in peace and wish to speak with you on the nature of divinity and the role of the Incarnations.' she broadcasts back.

Random thought, is the divine colour speech connected to the chaotic coloured speech Afina learned from Annalise back in B3?

[Anastasia]

Same idea. There's semantic differences, but it's not impossible for you to do if you wanna match. It's not even that hard, languages are piss easy for a deity.

There is silence, but you can feel the burning presence of Eblis, watching, as if waiting for something.

[Ebiris]

None of the colours on SR really fit for Alicia. I just thought it might be amusing if a lawful deity was using chaos-colour-speech.

"To elaborate on why I'm coming to you instead of seeking friendlier counsel," she says aloud now that she knows Eblis is directly sensing her location. "The Guardian of the Bridge of Al-Sihal has intimated to me that more may ascend to divinity as the Prophecy of Primus comes to a head. And yet Ao is as like to curse any aspirant into a Hunefer." She looks towards where she senses Eblis's presence is focused, the equivalent of meeting his eyes. "The other Incarnations are unavailable to grant any appeals should that come to pass. But there is one God who doesn't fit the pattern of those created by the Incarnations or ascended during the run of Creation. A being with sheer might to rival the greatest, yet constrained in his divinity. A God who outright embraces atheism as his portfolio. A God who suggests things aren't quite so clear cut by his very existence."

[Anastasia]

Antenora is on guard, is ready.

Perhaps just as well, for when Eblis speaks it is aloud, even if he is not here. "ANSWER ME! YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE ERINYES TRAITOR. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, ALICIA REYNES?" His voice booms, the death of worlds, the shattering of continents. Rage boils in it like lava boiling in the Prime's volcanoes.

[Ebiris]

"Antenora wished to attend with me out of belief you and she would share some common ground," Alicia says mildly, steadying a small bubble of stability around herself and Antenora as best she can in the face of that wrath. "She saw something in Hell - or a lack of something, that made her turn away. What did you see in Heaven that made you turn away, Eblis?"

She didn't come here to get into Eblis's fall, but in truth there might be a connection. Maybe his method of becoming a god was so offensive to the natural order, to all his preconceptions of how Creation is run, that he couldn't believe in the heavens any longer?

[Anastasia]

There is no reply - yet a road appears ahead, through the flames and into Eblis's domain.

[Ebiris]

That's the best invitation they're going to get. "Don't set a foot off the road, Antenora," she warns, stepping onto it and walking along deeper inside.

[Anastasia]

"I would not. The symbolism is clear," Antenora remarks. "A single path ahead, ruin to those who leave it. A harsh view of what Mount Celestia preaches." Pursing her lips together, "I can only hope I can show him what I saw and it matches what he saw to taint him so."

[Ebiris]

"We'll see. I have a feeling it may not be disconnected from what brought us here," Alicia says, but she says no more. They'll see Eblis soon enough and since he can already hear what she says she'd rather save her words for when they're face to face.

[Anastasia]

You walk on with Antenora. Around you they are. Screaming bodies, burning endlessly in the flames, crumbling to burnt clay. Each one a face, a lifetime flashing before your eyes. Names - Jonn, Elea, Maney, Jack, Robar, names by the thousands and thousands and thousands - yet as meaningless and transitory as ash in the wind.

Antenora's grasp of her spear grows tighter, but she stays quiet as you counciled. Her eyes narrow as she takes it all in, gaze darting side to side without her head moving.

So many in the flames, more and more. Meaningless. Too many names. Too many. Too many to think of, to count. "VERMIN. WORTHLESS. MEANINGLESS." The voice of Eblis thunders around you. "THEY ARE WORTH NOTHING. NOTHING WILL COME FROM THEM, NO MEANING, NO FAME, NO DEEDS. PATHETIC THINGS. WORMS TO BE CRUSHED BENEATH THE FEET OF THE ETERNAL. LET THEM ALL DIE, LET THOSE WITH MEANING HAVE A SAY INSTEAD."