Orb ; rebirth decline 8

[sorcerous]

Heroes; to me.

[ His skin is blue and his eyes aglow with red; he has disregarded his glamour entirely. He has learned, now, that his Role has changed overnight, and that he will have to relearn all he once knew, as far as his sorcery mixes with this place.

There is a tightness to his tone, a firmness, a dignity and an urgency. Not the sharp-tongued princeling, at the moment. ]

We face destruction, lest we act. To me. I am [ address of an apartment, rooms that he has rented from a recalcitrant landlord for a week or so ]; respond, or come to me if you are willing.

[ His urgency is a bit hypocritical; after all, he delayed because of his own problems. Nonetheless: he can delay no longer. The Hero of the Mountains is here, and she must be killed. ]

Comments

[folklorist]

[ Helios doesn't even do a double take when he sees Loki over the orb. He does, however, pause to listen to his words. It was strange seeing the other man with blue skin now because he certainly wasn't like that when they first spoke. Some sort of illusion then they were both magic-users from what he gathered of their own awkward conversation. But that was neither here nor there, really, and it was of little concern as far as Helios knew. He wasn't one to judge someone of outward appearance not back home and certainly not here.

Helios will reply with that same tentative and concerned tone of voice when he finally thinks and processes Loki's words. ] D-Do you mean that the thorns are getting closer? I-I haven't heard anything else about them...

[sorcerous]

No. what we face is the imminent collapse of the structure of time, and thus reality.

[ He's perfectly matter-of-fact. ]

[folklorist]

Wh-what? [ Okay, yeah. That's a bit more distressing. Helios looks extremely concerned now. ] H-How? What, what happened?

[sorcerous]

The castle in the former Capitol -- it was restored by manipulation of time.

Do you know how dangerous temporal magic can be?

[folklorist]

Very... [ A wince on his end. He's dealt with it before, yes, he knows how dangerous it was especially being wielded by the living remnant's of a dead god compiled with fear, loneliness and anger. ] That's what was wrong then...it makes sense now.

[ He'll look away biting his lip as he thinks. ]

Th-there has to be a way to s-stop it though. I-I mean there must be. A-A spell or s-something of that nature. [ And then a more pressing and lowly asked question, almost as if Helios doesn't want to know the answer. ] Are the affects that were in the old capital being seen here?

[sorcerous]

[ A spell; yes, that would be his first thought, were his magic not stolen away from him during the night. ]

My power has been... stymied. [ Hence, blue. ] Find me a spell to cast, and we will cast it.

Until then, her death is the only option.

[folklorist]

I-I see. I can...I can see if there's anything in my book that might help. T-Time travel and manipulation is admittedly a very loosely covered t-topic in my world.

[ But there might be something. Helios' eyes widen a little at that. ] Her death...? N-no. There, there has to be another way. [ There's always another, usually. He most certainly will not kill anyone. He can't do that. ]

[sorcerous]

One of the beings in power in this world indicated there was not, and I am inclined to... [ Not trust. He glances away, searching for a word. ] I am inclined to believe her.

[folklorist]

That's...rather troublesome. I-I don't doubt that they're right but...perhaps we should look into some other alternate information. Maybe th-there's a book or something else around that could be of use.

[ He's trying to be optimistic here but the library has hardly anything worth using for something like this. Still Helios will pace a little as he thinks. ] I'll try to see if I can find any sort of spell that might h-help.

[sorcerous]

Do. And quickly.

[ Loki is afraid. Perhaps it isn't apparent to those who don't know him, but his tension, his hurry, his insistence on doing the heroic thing -- it is out of fear. ]

[folklorist]

[ Helios can hear that in his voice, yeah. It's rather odd hearing given their prior exchange when they first met. He might wince a little on his end biting his lip slightly before giving an obedient nod of his head. ] O-of course. I'll, ah, be sure to do so right away.

[ Because there was no telling what would happen even in the best cases. If he had some help too that would work as well. ] D-Do you know of any other magic users here? It might go faster if, if we worked together...

[sorcerous]

There are others... sometimes, children, sometimes useless.

Can the ghost help you?

[folklorist]

Gh-ghost? Oh. Oh! Y-You mean Giles? He-he's happy to say n-not one anymore. But, yes, I think he could certainly lend a hand with all of this.

[sorcerous]

What happened to him?

[folklorist]

He. He got his b-body back. I-I don't really understand how. [ He hasn't really asked because Giles couldn't remember anything prior to the party...but. ]

He also seemingly can't remember anything after the party.

[sorcerous]

It will wait.

We meet before dawn, at the place I said. Be there.

[folklorist]

Ah. [ Helios pauses before nodding. ]

O-Of course. I'll-I'll be sure to bring my c-compendium.