idolpro | Vergil's heart game (out of time)

Vergil's heart game (out of time)

You feel weak, your body won't move no matter how you try, and you are falling, away from everything you know and love. Away from everything you need to accomplish. If you could just reach out, maybe you could hold on to it, claw your way back. But it's a useless endeavour, you fall unconscious, and your mind goes blank except for poetry and a familiar voice.

O mother Enitharmon, wilt thou bring forth other sons?
To cause my name to vanish, that my place may not be found,
For I am faint with travail,
Like the dark cloud disburden'd in the day of dismal thunder.

My roots are brandish'd in the heavens, my fruits in earth beneath
Surge, foam and labour into life, first born and first consum'd!
Consumed and consuming!
Then why shouldst thou, accursed mother, bring me into life?

You wake on the ground in a cave, cold, wet, and sticky. It smells of rotting flesh. Your objective is clear, but you can't recall a name or face. Nothing else about your memory of him is changed, but for some reason the name "Vergil" just won't come to you, and you couldn't describe how he looks if your life depended on it. But at least your body starts to respond to your will, slowly regaining enough strength to carry on.

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The Eternals said: What is this?
Death?
Urizen is a clod of clay.

You're dropped in the middle of a lake of blood, the blood from the vein pouring out onto you, slowly filling the pool.

The lake stretches out as far as the eye can see. Shallow enough here to only brush the knees of most, but it quickly grows deeper further out in any direction. Pieces of ancient, ruined buildings hang in the sky, more still are scattered throughout the lake. And between them are countless shattered statues, easily 50ft tall if they were standing.

There's a distinct feeling that the statues are watching, even with their heads sunken in the blood. Their demonic presence is immense despite their broken state and appearing to be inanimate objects. Even more of them than there would appear, on into the distance...you may not be able to see them out there, but they see you. They see right into you, through you, and weigh your worth.

There doesn't seem to be any way back out, the flow of the vein much too strong to ride it the other way.

[ ker-splash. ]

[ in retrospect a deep breath would have been a good idea, so she just chokes on a bunch of blood. she's doing great. as soon as she lands in the shallow pool, face first, BECAUSE OFC, she sits up and grumbles a single stream of color korean curses, climbing to her feet and looking around to find... mostly nothing. ]

A picture is worth a thousand words, assholes. [ to the statues as she draws her heart weapon. ]

[ with no real demons to fight she gets the feeling that breaking the statues might be the key... and perhaps she's a bit ticked that every single decision made has been bad, so taking a bit of her anger out on some "inanimate" objects will "help". ]

[ time to slice&dice. ]

They don't actually have eyes, no more than blank carvings anyway, and yet it's as if they follow you like the Mona Lisa. With the unmistakable feeling that they're judging you. They stare right into your soul. Are you worthy? Likely not. But you gain 1 Perseverance for enduring the scrutiny.

When you start trying to trash them, those eyes form slit pupils, as if they're carved in real time, fangs growing over its bottom lip. Its voice booms loud enough it could practically blow you away.

"You dare defile Us, mortal? Leave this place."

Any attempt to smash them doesn't seem to do a single thing.

[ she stabs her scythe into the ground to keep from moving. ] Ha! Hahahahahahaha. [ as soon as it's done talking shit she slides down the length of her weapon and continues laughing, though it's become more MOCKING than anything. ]

I'm no mortal, you blockhead. But, uh, yeah, sure, I'm defiling you... or certainly trying. [ she winks. ] How about you come out of your stone prison or whatever and let me kick your ass, because I don't fancy staying in this blood ridden hell forever.

If it could roll its eyes, it sure would. Whatever, you're beneath them, semantics.

"Had We mobility, We would crush you under foot in but an instant. If you cannot even hope to chip Our form, how then could you hope to defeat Us? Intrude not on Our rest."

Had we this,
had we that,
blah blah blah blah blah.

Had I a gag I'd shove it in your mouth to keep you from boring me to tears. [ she's going to henshin and dart forward to see if she can't drive her scythe into one of the slit pupils that's formed. ]

[ these damn things have to have a weak spot. ]

Maybe they do... But your weapon does nothing, any time it strikes it bounces right off.

"Silence. If you seek an exit, We will give you one. For a price."

[ clang. ]

...

[ huffs, giving a sigh at her heart weapon, because so much for being unstoppable. ]

I have two questions then - what's the price and where does your exit lead?

"It will take you anywhere you desire. The price is simple. Our name."

[ ffffffffffffffff. ]

...

[ she drags a hand through her hair and sighs. ] If I could I would, and I'm being honest. I... can't remember, but maybe we can help each other out. If you help me navigate this place, then until I figure out what it is you can keep me here in Hell or... whatever.

"We are not so foolish as the demons you are accustomed to, We do not bargain. Any name will do."

I thought you'd like *his* name, but if any name's going to do, then how about Gwishin?

The statue scoffs. "We do not wish to be named for such a worthless fool. Gwishin will do."

The ground shakes as the half drowned head lifts and is returned to its body along with each missing part, every crack restored into a living statue. It looks just like an angel, but that foreboding feeling of demonic power grows a thousand times over. This may not have been wise. But he points further down the way.

"That failure of a challenger was felled there. Your reward will be his blade. Take it and leave this place."

[ ...mouthing off to the statues hasn't gotten her jack shit, so she keeps her comments to herself, but she DOES fold her arms and frown, because he's not a worthless fool. ]

[ she's about to open her mouth, because she legit can't keep it shut when he points down the way and mentions his blade. like... fucken yamato? oh... shit... does that mean this fucken dude is mundas? ]

Alright, but, like, don't talk shit about him. [ she's going to dash forward and start poking around for the blade. ] You don't have to like him, but I do... even if it seems like he's got a stick up his ass sometimes.

The demon only regards you, cold and dispassionate. Why should it bother even to hear what you say.

You wade through the blood, taking more effort the deeper it becomes. It's a lot of the same thing, rubble, creepy statues staring at you, and blood. Gain 1 Perseverance for your efforts!

Just when you start to feel too exhausted to keep trudging through, there's something sticking straight up from the lake. Just a glimmer of gold on the end of some sort of stick or rod, submerged but for a couple inches.

[ BECAUSE I NAMED YOU, SON. ]

[ she is going to be finding this blood for the rest of her fucken life. she grumbles to herself as she continues through the blood, because, c'mon, yamato, WHERE ART THOU! ]

[ but her efforts pay off as eventually she sees something. exhaustion be damned she rushes forward to grab at it, trying to drag what she hopes is the sword out of the blood lake. ]

The moment you touch it everything around you changes. The blood and statues gone in an instant and in its place a void of bright blue light, almost blinding. There's nothing else here - except a tall, indistinct figure standing a little ways off, his back to you. He stares upward, quiet a moment before speaking loud enough to be heard.

What are you searching for?

[ she keeps a firm grip on the sword, but her head snaps back in the other direction, because that sudden burst of bright light hurt her mechanical eyes. o- ouch. she looks back, her hand clenched tight into a fist as she looks toward the figure. ]

...power. If I'm to survive here and protect the people I love, then I'm going to need to be as strong as [ she takes a deep breath. ] humanly possible.

There's a pause, silent for a while.

Are you sure about that?

I died back home, because I had been... I... if I had been stronger, better, more... powerful... then maybe I would have made it out of that encounter alive. I made a choice and now I have to deal with it. I just want to prevent something like that from ever happening again. I don't want the people I love to have to deal with not having somebody to protect them or even, like, losing a loved one... because that hurts so fucken much. I'm doing my best, but it's... never good enough...

I... [ shuts her eyes, nodding. ] Yes.

Someday you are going to find that isn't enough.

The vision disappears as instantaneously as it formed, and you are left standing where you were, sword in hand. It makes you feel strong.

You've acquired Yamato and seem to inherently know how to use it. That is, a sense of how to go about fighting with a katana, and that it is made to cut through anything, even space, even a soul. There wasn't a way back, but you may have found one.

You've unlocked teleportation! Go wherever the heck you want, toplevels will be unscreened.

Edited 2021-02-02 01:11 (UTC)

[ she just sort of laughs as soon as she acquires the sword. she knows it's not enough. she made a deal with the devil to be stronger and guess what it got her... #fucked. but she at least knows she needs to be able to deal with the shit here, so having yamato is definitely going to be better than her heart weapon. ]

...nothing is ever enough, honestly. [ she breathes out a sigh, hangs her head, and gives it a shake. ] I'll never be good enough and that fucken sucks, you know? [ a bitter laugh as she turns the blade on herself, because she's curious about something. ] What makes me... me... [ she's a member of heart soldier senshi, so she can remove her soul and put it elsewhere, so she doesn't die, but she went one step beyond and her soul doesn't even reside in tokyo-f anymore, which is why she's unable to die even in games where that should be possible. ]

[ time to do a fucken stab! she's going to drive the blade through herself, smirking the entire time, because she's got to know what, if anything, would happen. ]

When you push the sword through yourself, there's searing pain. Not in the wound but your heart. The wound actually doesn't hurt at all, nor does it bleed, nothing damaged, physically.

But physical is a key word. The ground shakes violently and begins to split, an earthquake that rumbles through the entire heart. The blood flows down into the cracks created, and they grow longer, wider, until they're consuming more than just the blood and rubble. Even the sky seems to be sucked in.

You should probably get out of here.

[ and this is what she gets for being curious. she rips the blade out of herself and decides to get the hell out of here before she does anymore damage. hurting vergil by being a fucken idiot isn't exactly on her to do list. time to jump to the library. ]

You arrive in the library, but it's just the same. Cracks everywhere, growing exponentially, everything slowly tumbling into them. Neither Vergil nor Ren are there.

And anywhere you go, you'll find it's the same thing every time, until there's nearly nothing left. Except the manor which simply doesn't exist, and the cave.

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Vergil's heart game (out of time)

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