The laughter of oblivion

[Ebiris]

Marie bows her head as the names flood into her, remembered so long as she maintains this spell. The only thing she can compare it to is when Mystra gave her a glimpse of the weave, that same sort of mind-bending immensity.

But as a deity it's her job to think in these terms. One day she may be responsible for a similar number of people. And she'll do right by them, she swears.

"She's absorbing all of it with her magic," Alicia murmurs to Latha. "What we would have to spend an age doing with our eyes, she can do in an instant. She's taking the responsibility of remembering for us."

[Anastasia]

"Chronias help her," Latha murmurs back.

More names. More.GMore.AMore.RMore.LMore.GMore.LMore.IMore.TMore.

[Ebiris]

"It's okay," Marie says without glancing back, her purple hair falling down over her bowed face as she holds her hand onto the Memorial. "Someone has to remember. To carry this knowledge with them outside of Bytopia."

[Anastasia]

The names keep on coming. Marie bears them all, more and more and more yet.

One foolish mistake lead to this. One misstep on the path towards an Answer lead to this.

[Ebiris]

Alicia remains respectfully silent until Marie is done. They can worry about the guardian after that.

[Anastasia]

On and on and on and -

With a shuddering, mind tingling snap, Bibliotheca Arcana collapses, the spell broken. Not from its duration being expired or being dispelled - but simply being overwhelmed, to the point the magic no longer held together.

[Ebiris]

"Ah!" Marie makes a startled noise, looking up. "It's gone, the spell..."

Do deities have perfect recall? Does that make her forget all the names she got from the spell?

[Anastasia]

She'd remember all she got.

[Ebiris]

"I remember at least," she takes a deep breath and lets go of the wall, turning to Alicia and Latha. "So many names, so many souls. And... Garl Glittergold."

[Anastasia]

The slightest nodf rom Latha, "Then never forget, Marie."

[Ebiris]

So do we know who Garl Glittergold is?

[Anastasia]

No.

[Ebiris]

"Why emphasise that name?" Alicia asks.

"I'm not sure," Marie admits. "It just... resonates. There's more meaning there." She looks back up at the wall. "Maybe he was the first to fall to Daa-vid?"

[Anastasia]

"That, or perhaps one of the deities fallen to the God-King," Latha quietly replies, head bowed in prayer. "...is there anything if we fall, Alicia, any afterlife that awaits us now? If I am right, do they at least have eternal rest?"

[Ebiris]

"We know that Daa-vid slew at least one god during the war. Other deities have perished in the long annals of creation," Alicia says. "But what's so restful about oblivion? Shar might sing you a lullaby on the way out, but it's not relaxing, it's not peaceful. It's not anything."

"A deity or a seraph or... yes, I think he must have been someone with a far deeper connection to Bytopia. Perhaps as Morwel to Arborea," Marie says thoughtfully.

"Or a patron of the gnomes - like Moradin or Correllon," Alicia suggests. "Killed so thoroughly along with everyone who ever followed him, only to be remembered by a lonely and forgotten plane?"