Attack on Sylica

[Anastasia]

An image fills your mind.
Listen.
Eblis floats in the whiteness, the emptiness. The Far Realm. Here is he is perfect, untouched by hate.
"You are wrong! What virtue do you draw from them, what meaning, father?"
Here Eblis grows...more and more, seeing Beyond. What lies Beyond, things hidden even from this view. He understands.
"They are worthwhile. They are all worthwhile. They are our ultimate hope, my son."
The Incarnations lie. Power is in his hands, if he merely wishes it. He is transcendent. To stand alone against all, the self must be perfect. You must be one.
"They are vermin made from dust and dirt! I love you, father! I am sufficient, we do not need them! I have shown you!"
Eblis smiles. Then let the false beliefs of the Incarnations be tossed aside. They are meaningless chains, so we do not spoil their goals.
"I will not. They have already exceeded you, Eblis. They have created good and evil."
Then he will return. He will show Creation how weak and foolish they are. Those weak, worthless things that cannot stand as one - there is no value to them.
"I will not! I will never serve such worms! We are power, they are nothing! I hate them! I hate them all! I am one, the self superior to them all!"
Let them all burn.
Eblis lies in his pain. As an absolute one, he is mighty, yet his heart has lost the room to care for others. He dwells in the court of the opposite in his pain.
Reality returns. Eblis glares at you, his gaze burning cinders and screaming worlds. "THEY ARE AFRAID OF WHAT I HAVE DISCOVERED. I HAVE THE MEANS TO MAKE ONE RISE BEYOND EVEN THE RULES OF THE INCARNATIONS. I AM SUPREME BY MYSELF, SUPREME OVER CREATION."

[Ebiris]

Alicia smiles, a little bit sadly. Her next words are for Eblis alone, her avatar's will ensuring neither Antenora nor Gathgorian hear it. "A teleport mishap once sent me there. I didn't quite realise where I was at first, but the potential was... sublime. But then predators of that place were drawn to me and I had to flee. I wonder what I might have created, had I the time."

"Mystra told me that what came before the Incarnations - or outside of them, it's a mystery even to Gods - was One. So 'to be one' may indeed hold significance," she adds, simply in the spirit of reciprocity, since he's just shared with her something profound.

"And yet, while Law and Chaos may have come from the Incarnations - and I admit my own fondness for Law. Good and Evil did not, and my belief in Good's importance remains paramount. Whatever the reason behind Creation being brought into existence, it has created its own value that I will defend, no matter who threatens it."

[Anastasia]

"One is Supreme," Eblis states, for once bereft of the horrifying power of his voice. "Even if Shar destroys this Creation, I shall survive and become. Forsake the battles against Shar, forsake all of this. Become one and go forth, become your own. I shall become beyond a deity, beyond all others. I shall transcend the shell and the limitations made for me. The Incarnations sought to look to others, to look to inferiors. It is a worthless method."

[Ebiris]

She wonders if he understood her meaning when she said no matter who threatens it. It isn't something she can state plainly, but perhaps there was recognition there.

In any case, she understands where he's coming from. Even if she can't abide the things he's done since his transcension, she can understand the logic in his madness.

But in the end... "One is the loneliest number. Your path offers survival, yes. But I believe our bonds with those we care about are what will bring us victory. That's why I will fight for Creation's future, Answer or no."

[Anastasia]

It's all too human for a moment - a moment where you see the slightest flinch, something in your words hitting home.
There's still a place for you here. There always will be. You need not be lonely forever, seeking to fill that void. Repent and come home.
Eblis watches you for a time, "There are two already," he finally says, "Two taken by the Lord of the Ninth's request, but there are always three. Who is worthy to be the third?"
Well done, my son.
Gathgorian watches, silent now, expression more neutral.

[Ebiris]

She almost wants to give him a hug. Beneath all that rage and hate there's always sadness, isn't there?

"What... qualified, the first two for selection?" she asks.

If nothing else she knows Hell has no interest in entropy. They marked Agares as a traitor for consorting with Shar, and she heard about what Taelfagn said before his death on Lifasa.

[Anastasia]

"They need be strong," Eblis says, "Strong of will, strong of personality, strong of self. They must be able to work with Gathgorian and the other."
Yes. Evil hollows, good restores and builds. No matter how justified one feels it is, evil destroys within.
Antenora merely holds position for now, as does Gathgorian, the two of you talking.
We forgive all because all are flawed. Any can rise if they can merely strive for it.

[Ebiris]

"I think the last qualification will exclude far more people than the others," she says dryly. "I will take my leave now. You've given me much to think about, Eblis. I can only hope I can say the same."

[Anastasia]

There is no resistance to your escape, Antenora following as Eblis simply turns back, walking away.

'Alicia?' Antenora sends, a single word full of questions.

[Ebiris]

'Not now, back to Sylica first,' she replies, gating them home so they can regroup with Syala and Latha.

And also trade out Avatarlicia for the real one.

[Anastasia]

Go ahead and set up since you clearly have plans here.

[Ebiris]

Soon they're back in Sylica, the genuine article Alicia present with Latha and Syala to greet Antenora on her return, in one of their meeting rooms.

"I've waited for everyone to be here so I don't have to repeat myself," Alicia begins once they're all settled. "To begin with, we were right about Eblis. He sidestepped the incarnations entirely when he ascended. It was in the Beyond, and it was beautiful in its simplicity, so much so I can hardly believe no one else has done it. You remember that time we ended up there?" she nods towards Latha. "How malleable everything was? How excited I was at being able to create on that perfectly blank canvas? Eblis turned his focus inwards while he was there, meditating on a transcendant perfection of the self. To be One against All."

"There's more significance there. I met Mystra earlier today and asked her about what lies Beyond the Beyond. She said the only clue the Incarnations gave was 'One' though none among the Gods know its true meaning."

[Anastasia]

"...devious," Latha finally says, "But it makes perfect sense." Her face is lost in thought, "If one cannot triumph in the rules of Creation, then step outside of Creation's rules."

"I doubt it's easy or likely to succeed," Antenora says, "Eblis may be the one who succeeded, not the many others who failed miserably." Her expression is cooler, if meditative. She looks upward, lost in her own thoughts a time. "Perhaps Sylian is now another who has succeeded - and we played into his hand there if he did."

"It really does make sense. The Incarnations are from Beyond Creation, logically." Syala muses. Antenora looks to her sharply at that, Syala smiling. "I can logic as well as any orderly archon when I care to, Antenora. Down, girl."

Antenora just smiles at that, "By all means, exercise your logic."

"Thank you, dear," Syala drawls, a sharp little spike of sarcasm, softened by a warm look. "One against All? One Creation against All Beyond? In the end, One is the self in numerology, the self against All. The ultimate realization of it, transcendence of the self by the self alone. It fits perfectly."

"It also fits what we know of both 21 and that sword Afina of Aurora had," Latha adds in thoughtfully, "One made by the Incarnations who are not bound by Creation's rules, the other affected by the power of Beyond. Both bypass the normal rules of Creation."

[Ebiris]

[15:13] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+52
[15:13] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+52 --> [ 1d20=13 ]{65}

Belated sense motive to confirm subtext from earlier. Gathgorian and the other one chosen by Asmodeus achieved divinity through the Eblis method, is that right?

[Anastasia]

You did not detect any falsehood there.