[ The air is cold here, and thin. It is like standing at the very top of a mountain, except you are far beneath the planet's surface, in a hole in the ground dug within a hole in the ground. The Ninth is a chamber cracked deep in the core of the planet, and here is its deepest part.
Before you is a crowd of people, and before them is a large, heavy boulder. It blocks something that is very clearly a tunnel. In this memory, the conversation moves fast, almost indistinct except for one central idea: the rock must be rolled away. The door must be opened.
There is blood, and a stolen, dying body, but the memory will not let you focus on that. It will barely let you look at it. If you try, the cold, cruel voice of the Crown Prince who stands beside you will interrupt you. ]
It's not her. That's none of your business.
[ The theorems sealing the door are complex, but when the crowd calls for thanergy, Kiriona stops talking to you. She offers you a grim, rueful little smile instead. Showtime. She steps forward. ]
Kill me.
[ You're dead, comes the judgmental response. You won't produce a reaction.
Kiriona does not seem especially dismayed about this. If anything, she nods, expectant, like she's heard that excuse a thousand times before.
The weak, old man volunteers, instead. The crowd accepts him as sacrifice. Kiriona unsheathes her blade, and like she's reciting her lines, says: ]
He wants to die. I'll do it. I've wanted this for years.
early stages; cw: abuse, suicidality
Before you is a crowd of people, and before them is a large, heavy boulder. It blocks something that is very clearly a tunnel. In this memory, the conversation moves fast, almost indistinct except for one central idea: the rock must be rolled away. The door must be opened.
There is blood, and a stolen, dying body, but the memory will not let you focus on that. It will barely let you look at it. If you try, the cold, cruel voice of the Crown Prince who stands beside you will interrupt you. ]
It's not her. That's none of your business.
[ The theorems sealing the door are complex, but when the crowd calls for thanergy, Kiriona stops talking to you. She offers you a grim, rueful little smile instead. Showtime. She steps forward. ]
Kill me.
[ You're dead, comes the judgmental response. You won't produce a reaction.
Kiriona does not seem especially dismayed about this. If anything, she nods, expectant, like she's heard that excuse a thousand times before.
The weak, old man volunteers, instead. The crowd accepts him as sacrifice. Kiriona unsheathes her blade, and like she's reciting her lines, says: ]
He wants to die. I'll do it. I've wanted this for years.
[ There is only one thing that can happen next. ]