The mystery of Benfal (Moore, Tryll)

[Anastasia]

Make a Will save.

[Nephrite]

[22:34] <Nephrite> roll 1d20+47
[22:34] <Serith> Nephrite roll for Serith < 67 > [d20=20]

[Anastasia]

Just for fun: The DC for this was 100 on the Knowledge check and a natural 20 on the saving throw.

You read.

Hours pass like nothing. You read, read and read some more.

You don't remember what you read. No. It isn't important. You read, more and more and more and more. There is a pattern, a reason, something. The books speak to you. Aurora sings to you.

"I watched Medi study, just like this." Elena is sitting next to you, a small smile as she looks to you. She seems content, at ease, wearing a simple gown. "He never gave up. Aurora never gives up. I've...never been fully happy with this, but Aurora is worthy of Medi's legacy."

You feel close to something. You ignore Elena for a reason you can't elaborate and you keep reading. Your mind shudders. Mind blank crumbles as if paper before the flame, incinerated in a millisecond.

FORGET.

You do not.

How you will never know. A moment is all you need to last and somehow you do it. An eternity encased in less than a heart's beat, before Aurora itself shimmers like the sun reflected off armor.

"Medi fought the problem of anathemic knowledge. He never quite defeated it, but he found a workaround through Aurora itself. Through me. Something I forgot about until now, something meant for him and him alone. The only way to defeat it is so that the person who holds it has completely forgotten they know it. Anathemic knowledge can deflect anathemic knowledge, at least if done properly. When this moment has passed, we'll both forget this and the knowledge will sleep within me, safe and sound."

Elena takes your hand in both of hers. Her touch is warm. "It's keyed to someone with his level of scholarly skill and his unbreakable will, facing something that has to be forgotten but has to be remembered, like Cantasa Alexandria. So long as he desired to know in spite of anathemic knowledge, he would come on this again and again, slowly building a knowledge base. His goal was to one day overcome anathemic knowledge and harvest it, but he never had a chance to finish this project."

[Nephrite]

She'd have loved this deep search. She really would've -- him too, cursing up a storm about this sort of thing.

He remembered. ...He remembered?!

How -- ... wait... how long was he... ...

"But... if that's the case, then... Elena, did you see...?" Moore asks the half-formed question, but he needs not ask the entire thing, does he?

"Wait, how will I.... How will I remember to ask you?" Moore asks again.

He doesn't want to forget again... not like before, and not like before that... and before... He won't forget!

[Anastasia]

"That's the beauty of it. It was designed by Medi for Medi," Elena says, "So long as you don't give up and have the skill, you'll eventually stumble on this again. In time others in Aurora may do so as well." She flashes you a smile, "Our time isn't unlimited. Tell me what you've learned that's tied to anathemic knowledge."

[Nephrite]

Moore takes a breath and starts to recount the knowledge he's found so far about Cantasa Alexandria and the gate -- ...The gate of Elysium? Yes, yes, that has to be it.

[Anastasia]

"We have a little time left. Ask me questions, if only to briefly sate your curiosity. Medi gathered and managed to preserve a fair deal of anathemic knowledge with me." Elena says.

[Nephrite]

Moore takes a breath. Should be selfish...?

"I... there's so much..." Moore stammers. "I... ...the world of light. Did he... does he know what it is? The oceans of light." He asks.

[Anastasia]

"No." Elena says, "Whatever happened to you, I believe it was after Medi's time. I suspect recently on a planar time scale."

[Nephrite]

He nods. "So it must be... a new creation, then. Or something so well hidden..." He shakes his head. There is time for that knowledge later. "What do you think... what do you think happened with Benfal? Cantasa Alexandria opened some gate, right? But... why do you think that's so significant that it became anathemic knowledge?"

[Anastasia]

"Cantasa Alexandria's gate was opened slightly and for a second. The Empyrean Gate, where Good itself lives, one of the Three Holy of Holies. Until the battle between good and evil is finished, it cannot be opened fully. A moment of it being opened is sufficient to redeem an entire world. It is joined by Chronias and what lies within the Womb of Arborea. Were an evil soul to find this knowledge and exploit it, they could harm Good itself and Creation through that. The High-One bid it stricken from all memories and called a seraph from within to protect the gate. Her name is Cantasa Alexandria."

[Nephrite]

"Open wide, Empyrean Gate... Come forth, Holy of Holies..." Moore murmurs to himself. "...Yes, that explains it all, doesn't it?" Moore takes another breath, as if he were breathing the air of Aurora for the first time.

"I know I won't remember, so ... let me thank you now." Moore says softly. "I... ...I have to get stronger, somehow. Jaela, Afina, Surraruthru, Tryll... they're all so strong. I have to find a way to help them more... I have to find a way to defeat Taelfagn. I... ...I know we won't remember this, but I hope maybe the next time, if we have more time, we can focus on that." He says with a smile. "I feel so bad for you, Elena... you bear a heavy burden."

[Anastasia]

"Yes, good deities are allowed to call on Cantasa Alexandria when a world is damaged but they are triumphant. It is a last resort to save worlds by transporting them to Elysium. I believe Semyaza attempted to destroy Benfal in spite but could not overcome that." Elena says, smiling brightly, "You will be, and I'm fine, because I know that -"

Huh.

You blink.

Ugh.

You're getting nowhere with this. Maybe another day, but you're hungry, drained and tired. All you want to do is get a meal and some time with your eyes firmly shut.

[Nephrite]

...Is he having fits again like that time he collapsed?

Why did that happen, anyway? H... ...??... ugh.

Moore will put the book on Fantasia Alleyway or whatever it is back where he found it and go get something good and hearty to eat... maybe beef stew, that sounds like a good idea.

[Anastasia]

Next move?