FAREWELL

[grigori]

ALL GOOD THINGS must come to a (golden) end

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF PROSPERITY

Morning comes, and the world is alive.

Rays of warmth gently reach out to a place that has never seen the sun, bringing with it more vivid color than the world has seen before. The sky is clear, free of clouds and smog and gray, a picturesque scene to welcome a new day, a new life. The voices of the harpies welcome the dawn for the first time with a soft but joyful song, their voices light and sanguine as they take to the skies to sing of freedom from the powers they've always feared and served.

Drawn out by the familiar voices of the harpy, lifted into something beautiful, something heartfelt, are the ghosts that were hidden within the caves. Despondent, hopeless, beaten down for aeon by the harpies, they peer out into the open world that the bomb's explosion created. They watch the sun rise on the Land of the Dead - a sun many have not seen since time forgotten - and there is new hope. Slowly, one by one, the ghosts of the long dead and recently dead alike, those that have been ferried across to the resting place created by the Authority, begin to walk out into the sun.

And, just like that, they begin to fade to Dust, smiles on their faces after so long in the dark. The gold drifts in the air, to rejoin the world anew. Free will, intention, knowledge - soul.

The Tree of Knowledge thrives in the light, the last of the Dust of angels a perfect fertilizer to make it grow and stand tall over the participants of a competition they never chose to join, its branches blooming with flowers of white. And the participants themselves, all of you...

You, too, are alive. The icy touch of the ghosts has faded into something more natural and warm. Color returns to faces, and even without the touch of magic, all wounds are healed. You are alive. Your story will continue, and your happy ending awaits.

It's just across the river, and Charon is ready to take you there, through clear air where the mists have lifted. And when you finally arrive...

...Your souls are here to welcome you home. Even those who have lost that part of themselves will find it again, waiting at the docks to find their way into your arms the very second you step out, another second away simply too much to bear. And at last, your daemons shift, one last time, to settle on a form you may or may not have seen before - and you know, in your hearts, that this is a good thing, something natural, something to celebrate, no longer the herald of trauma or some misdeed.

Beyond the docks, the suburbs buzz with an energy it hasn't seen before. The ghosts, like your own, feel more warm and solid and real. The lost and misguided have a spark of hope in their eyes, their delight at the changes in this world unmistakable as they point to something, a little further out. Follow their gazes, and you'll find the source of their excitement easily.

A window to another world. Two - three - and more. As one person reaches out, a city on the other side slowly changes to a field of flowers. A small village changes to a desert market, through which the merchants wave people to come in, come in, they'd love to see you. Through another window, an empty and barren world littered with rubble shimmers to instead show a world filled with water and memory, perfectly intact, and someone new steps into this world to embrace a familiar face among the crowd.

The windows stabilize, allowing everyone to come and go as they choose. The Land of the Dead is no longer a prison, after all - merely a waypoint, just another stop along a journey that need only end when wanderers are ready.

What some might call an end, after all, is often a new beginning.


Welcome, travelers, to your golden end.

Dead and alive both have been revived, injuries healed, and powers returned to normal. Your daemons have all returned to you, though they will settle into one form, and will no longer shift - though this form does not have to be one of the three taken over the course of the game, and may yet be something new entirely.

Keep your coins! A new symbol has taken the place of the clock face or comet that marked your teams - a great, blooming tree. With that, you will be able to return to the Land of Prosperity at any time, and visit any other world that you wish to see.

Your characters are free to continue their stories however they choose - in their own world, or another.

full navigation ✨ locations ✨ statuses ✨ profiles ✨ audiences ✨
private conversations ✨ murder proposals ✨ curfew ✨ daemons ✨

Comments

[trickedges]

[ they're alive again. it's more anticlimactic than expected, a slow suffusion of warmth to chase away cold more than anything else, and the more unwelcome returned physical reminders that he's been running himself ragged for over a month now — but, there'll be time for that later.

there's— two things, actually, at the edges of his awareness, filling the space where echoing void had been for the past several weeks. one leads to vosgetel, a streak of mottled white arcing in from above to land on a shoulder in a form paler than any she'd taken previous. the other...

motes of light begin to gather around him as roxis reaches out through the bond. he calls, and in a final flash of brilliant moonlight, a great white wolf with an air of knowing amusement coalesces into being. ]

Oya? You disappeared for a moment. Now, how ever did you manage to find yourself all the way over here?

[ he opens his mouth as if to say something, but then apparently... rethinks it? instead, crisply: ]

You missed all the fun, showing up now only when things are said and done. But, now that you're here, work with me so that we can clear—

Hm? Now, why would I do that when seeing you like this is more fun?

Wait, hold on, you can't just— do you know what I've been through these past few weeks just for the sake of Dust?!

[linearcrash]

Huh? Are you rhyming?

[ Also Nine has Nona, who is a phoenix ]

[trickedges]

Apparently even at this stage in the game, yes! Though who's responsible I can't even begin to guess.

Normally this shouldn't be any trouble, but apparently you would rather watch until my dignity's nothing but rubble.

[ the wolf looks so damn pleased with itself, help. vosgetel, perched on roxis's shoulder, is just beaking through her own feathers during all this, but she does pause to chatter a greeting to nona. ]

[linearcrash]

It ain't me. I used my only feather forever ago, yo. [ nona chirps back.

nine just looks at the wolf and then back at roxis ]

Uh. A friend of yours?

[trickedges]

I'm the Mana he holds a contract with.

[ a slow blink at nine, from the wolf. ]

Which means that you could at least assist me, instead of using me as entertainment for free.

What's that? If you don't want to be pacted to me anymore you should just say so!

[ says the wolf, blithely. roxis suffers.

vosgetel, though... seems surprisingly unbothered? greetings done, she's just minding her own business. ]

[linearcrash]

Think this counts as a status ailment?

[ Nine will let his hand glow red before trying to cast Esuna on Roxis. Will it even work? Mystery? ]

[trickedges]

If it doesn't, then what I was planning wouldn't have worked either.

[ pause. oh, good, he's not being compelled to rhyme with either. ]

Thank you.

Hm, you could have let him struggle for a little longer...

[escardos]

Oh, wow, looks like I wasn't the only one that thought about saving curses for the last minute.

[ poor roxis. he could clear the debuffs, but there's something more important to see. ]

Is that... a familiar of yours?

[trickedges]

[ he could clear his own debuffs if Eital didn't prefer laughing at him right now! ]

Hm? I possess a contract with him, yes.

[ the wolf's tail sways unbotheredly back and forth. given that the feedback she's getting from the bond more or less amounts to mental keysmashing, her expression brightens in an alarmingly lupine smile. ]

Who's this? A new friend, perhaps?

[escardos]

[ flat hums, making a frame with the index and thumb from both hands, as if he were framing for a picture. he does this for a second, before bringing his hands down and nodding. ]

Mhm, I can see the energy between you two. It's very beautiful.

[ as for the question from the familiar....

roxis, do you remember how flat just...says words? ]

Yep! He's my partner.

[trickedges]

[ well. ... well. flat gets to witness roxis at a loss for words as he reddens, but vosgetel trills a long, low note and flutters on over. meanwhile.

Eital has scented blood. ]

Oya. Are you sure? This stuffy one here? He's a bit of a fixer-upper, you know... Surely you'd be able to find someone better suited for keeping up with you? [ an appraising look, then a decisive nod. ] After all, there's potential in you, I can tell.

[ roxis is surrounded by chaos entities who all enjoy bullying him too much, actually. ]

[escardos]

Roxis can keep up with me just fine! He already has Vayne, right? He'll get used to it.

[ from the little that he knows about roxis' friend, and from how well he was able to simply Exist around flat's chaos, flat figures that the alchemist will be able to handle him. he doubts that he would have agreed to any of this otherwise.

the crow trills back, spreading its wings slightly. ]

Fixer-uppers are only that because they have potential, right? I think Roxis has a lot of potential, and he sees the same in me, too. And with my Magecraft, I should at least be able to keep up with him in a fight.

[trickedges]

[ the wolf tilts its head before letting out an amused chuff. ]

So he does, so he does. And now he has you too! If only I'd been here to see how it happened...

[ me trying to figure out when in dwrp thread time nine's esuna happens, but i say he's still cursed for now i guess.

roxis has buffered enough to respond now, at least, even if he's still a little pink around the ears. ]

Just don't mind her, if you please; the only thing she ever does is tease.

[escardos]

[ mauyn did you just curse yourself into rhyming this whole thread ]

[ anyways, flat laughs sheepishly in response to roxis’ request, trying not to point out the pink on those ears.

the mana reminds him of a servant, in a way. the contract link is there, foreign but still visible to flat. in a way, it makes him yearn just slightly for the servant that may or may not be lost—

jack pecks the side of his head. a reminder that they are still here, even if it’s just a fraction of them. ]

Come on, she teases you because she cares about you, Roxis. I think it’s good to have a healthy relationship with those you have a contract with.

[ forever the optimist, it seems. not even eight weeks of hell can change that.

to the mana: ]

It’s a super long story, but it involves dancing. And, I’m so sorry, but I haven’t introduced myself! My name is Flat Escardos, and this-[ he nudges jack ]—is Jack.

[ jack caws ]

[perfectdistance]

Who's your friend?

[Disce's at his feet, looping around them and apparently trying to trip him.]

[trickedges]

My Mana, the Mana of Light. Not the first time you've seen her, if I remember right.

[ vosgetel stops preening herself and peers down at disce like she's not entirely sure what to make of this. ]

[perfectdistance]

[Disce is just a little criminal? Just a little kitty cat? Myaa.]

Mana?

[He nods.]

Back in the memory.

[When Roxis was being bullied.]

[trickedges]

[ can you believe that vosgetel "golden thread" the daemon ended up silver. the speckling on her back and belly actually isn't proper black, there's a gold cast to it... but mostly, she's a pale silver-white streak. ]

... Yes. From the memory back then. Glad to see you remember when.

[ they one they are not going to talk about. ]

[perfectdistance]

[Nero's impression of Roxis: this man just gets bullied by girls no matter where he goes.

Sometimes the world shapes your soul. Or something like that. Silver's a pretty color, anyway.]

Yup.

[He will not bring it up, because it seems pretty embarrassing.]

Ready to get back after all this?

[greatdeduction]

[He approaches....and then bows to the wolf.]

A great pleasure to meet you. You are indeed a majestic beast. May I know your name?



[(sholmes voice) roxis who]

[trickedges]

Hmmm. I am no mere beast, but you may be forgiven your ignorance. This realm is far from the one we hail from, is it not?

You may call me the Mana of Light. And just who might you be, dear stranger?

[ (roxis voice) a menace who should not be allowed out in public, but who even listens to me anyway? ]

[greatdeduction]

I do apologize. The Mana of Light? A most distinguished title.

[He grins.]

Herlock Sholmes! A world-famous great detective! At your service. What do you do, with Mr. Roxis here?

[trickedges]

[ she has never heard of him but. ]

A little of this, a little of that. I do Mana things, and he provides me free entertainment.

[greatdeduction]

Oh?

[He raises an eyebrow.]

Certainly, the man's entertaining, but he's worth his salt in his field, too. I imagine you wouldn't attach to just any old alchemist.

[trickedges]

[ understand that roxis is just squinting at sholmes now like 'what's your game, what's your angle with this.' one of the wolf's ears just gives a flick. ]

I've seen many come and go over the years, yes. He's just one of the more persistent ones. In fact I have a friend who chose their pactmate by way of said human repeatedly coming to challenge them to a fight.

When you're as old as we are, selecting by potential talent or acclaim is just a boring way of handling things.