Post by Fend on Sept 25, 2023 15:43:47 GMT -5
OF TIME IMMEMORIAL
Fend's PL: 70,000
Though the Lookout only fell days ago, it already felt like years to Fend. The time since had been no less painful. Between darting around the planet to search and scounge up those who survived, dodging the authorities she used to fight alongside due to the planet's new policy of ki user registry, and no longer having a home to call hers, her recent injury- calling it that made Fend feel a little more in control- was the least of her problems.
Fend clutched at her chest, the wails of sirens fading as she slumped back against a tree. She couldn't just stand there, lack of a license be dammed, when she saw wrongdoing. But every time she used her ki, this strange, deep burning within her reared its head. It felt like someone had brought a torch to her innards, setting her ablaze and cooking her from within. The Shinjin slumped and coughed into her hand, and for a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of white flame escape her mouth.
"Stars almighty, I'm not fuckin' going back." Fend wasn't wholly certain how this problem of hers started, or how it would end. It certainly felt like it was going to kill her eventually, and going back to living among her kin would burn greater than anything this condition of hers could hope to achieve.
She sucked in a slow breath and moved to sit on the ground, pressing one hand to her aching head, slipping off her mask, while the other gripped Palibur's hilt. "Alright Fend," She hissed, willing her mind to focus. "Retrace your steps. Where could you have gotten some horrible set-your-bones-on-fire disease?" Was there something laced in the coffee Kamae had offered her awhile back?... No, she was fine for a good while afterwards. Maybe the dust from the Lookout's rubble had some horrible hex baked inside? She'd suffered a lot of burns from her fight with Sesame, most self-inflicted through Palibur's own energy, though-
"...Oh." Realization. She glanced down to the pale blade at her waist, still warm to touch. "Fuck this." Of course. It couldn't be anything else. Whatever power she had awoken against Sesame, evidently, had its drawbacks. "Bastard, I thought you were supposed to protect people! To protect me! I--" She unsheathed and growled at the sword, only to be cut off by another pained cry as the fiery pain returned, causing her to double over.
So this was it then. Death, brought by her own hands, from flying too close to Palibur's burning light. Maybe if she asked nicely, Yemma would send her to Hell instead of back to the Kais. Though as her vision blurred and Palibur slipped from her grasp, she thought she saw the blade tremble again. The swirls around its center unfurled into darkness. Her vision went black, and the world fell away.
Nothing on Earth remained of Fend, aside from a worn mask discarded in the dirt.
In the folds of reality, the deep, dark, blank expanse of extradimensional space nestled between realities, raw magic stirred and shifted. The arcane wave released by the destruction of Earth's Guardian Lookout disrupted the Light's long, long slumber. For a moment, it had vision. Thought, in its most primordial form. It saw the blights that needed to be purged, and the wielder who had resonated with it. It saw its bearer's inexperience, felt her pull its power in a rage. Efficient, yet evidently, far too destructive for the wielder's body currently.
It felt the pull of slumber again. It was too soon to have thought, too soon to act. It was wounded, it did not have the energy to exert its will outside of its conduit- the sword in its wielder's hands. This, however, it decided as it rose, starlit body warping and flickering in a formless flame, had to be an exception. The wielder could not act if they were returned to the world beyond. So it called, and it pulled.
A swirling portal of light formed in the tips of its arm-like flames as it continued to conjure its physical form, parting as its wielder's barely conscious form materialized in front of it. With her last few moments of consciousness, her eyes turned to the entity as she muttered a name in a questioning tone, then faded. Palibur. One of the many names given to its blade, and by proxy, the entity itself within. Mortals could call it whatever they liked, though that title had stuck the longest.
Palibur hovered its head above the Shinjin's form, the four lights on its face glowing dully as a hum sounded through its pocket of reality. It could discern that the problem with its wielder was simple- the burning light meant for purification had gone out of control in her fit, and had mistakenly began torching its bearer as if she were as corrupt as those it smote and not letting go.
Ca͘l̸m̶.
With a simple command, the harmful energy listened, weaving itself back out of the wielder's skin, and returned to Palibur. The damage it had already done was more extensive than ideal, but well within its ability to mend.
Time outside in its domain was fickle, flowing free like an ocean's currents rather than the steady drum of the material plane. It was of no matter to the entity. It had waited a very long time, and it could wait a little longer more. Though draining the energy it had used to awoke to mend its bearer would set it back, the Shinjin's soul shone with promise it would not easily relinquish. It could feel the waves of change and fate cascading over the mortal world, stronger than ever. There was no time to ponder, only to act.
A steady stream of soft light flowed from Palibur's crest into its wielder's wounded body, carefully and methodically moving through to mend the damage to her body and spirit, merging a part of itself with her soul. Its body waned and shrunk during the transaction before it began to flicker. It lacked much of the power it used to have, and sacrificed much to restore its wielder. How much left would there be for her to call upon when it was needed? The call of sleep was now too loud to ignore, though. With one last pulse of light to dismiss its bearer back to the mortal plane, the light faded, closing its eyes and retreating into the depths.
Time had passed, it was certain. The world, though distant, felt different. If its wielder truly was worthy, she would still be able to face it now.A little solo venture to partly explain Fend's big old hiatus. TLDR: fend bonked and overexterted herself too hard during her fight against sesame, so palibur woke for a lil bit and dragged her to it to fix, but it has a very shit perception of time as a primordial entity. whoopsy.
Word Count: 1,108