eighty-fifth labyrinth (backdated to Friday)

[lord_wizard]

[The voices started that morning. Echoes of a conversation that had long haunted him.

'I won't do it'
'But that's where you're wrong. You will do it.'

The violation he'd committed in a fit of fury. And his brother had paid the price.

He tried to ignore it, given the events unfolding in the castle. One dead. Maybe even more. And so far they'd been able to do nothing. Especially since whatever foe they were now facing had not lingered or allowed itself to be seen. He had started Chimera in part to prevent this kind of tragedy, and it only added to the guilt that was weighing on him.]

Chimera members. This is one of those situations I have warned you about. We have lost people already and I am afraid it will be only the start. Whatever wards or protections you can muster, do it, and if you cannot do that, then try to discover the cause. I will...I will personally be placing additional wards on Chimera headquarters...

[A drop of blood fell onto the journal page, and he pauses to press a cloth to his face.]

Do not travel alone. Any of you.

Comments

[lightbranded]

I'm afraid my protections won't be much use here. I will be working on research, I think.

...Are you alright?

[lord_wizard]

[He badly wants to say yes, but the fact that it might be relevant stops him.]

Have you noticed the mirrors?

[lightbranded]

A bit, yeah. Hard to miss them really.

[lord_wizard]

More precisely, have you noticed anything unusual in them?

[lightbranded]

I thought I might have seen some of my brothers. But it could easily have just been a trick of mind.

[While Will had many regrets, most of them were about how he had pushed his family and friends away.]

[lord_wizard]

[He sighs, because he really does not want to talk about this]

I don't believe it's just you. I have had similar visions. There is also...

[lightbranded]

Also? What else is there?

[lord_wizard]

Blood. From my eyes.

[lightbranded]

How much blood? Are you okay?

[lord_wizard]

It isn't bad. So far a minor inconvenience.

[lightbranded]

And you think it is connected to the mirrors?

[lord_wizard]

The timing is in the very least suspect.

[lightbranded]

It is, at that. I think that I will take a closer look at these mirrors.

[lord_wizard]

Do so.

I will be in the library for the forseeable future, if you discover anything.

[radiantwingedone]

... I can set up an area where little can come in or out, as a secure place, but against an "unknown", I am not much help beyond that. [ He pauses for half a breath, not realizing what that drop is for a moment. It makes him uneasy, and he isn't sure why, thus the pause. ] Unless given a target.

[ Ah, he placed it. Blood. ]

... is that experience talking?

[lord_wizard]

I am in a similar situation, but it would not be the first time we have had so little to work with. Pick a common traffic area and do it. Whatever area your magic can handle.

[What was he talking about? Oh, the blood. Duke thought he was injured]

...oh, that. No. This is something different.

[radiantwingedone]

... I'll see what is available. [ There are too many kinds of people for his barriers to be useful. And he can't exactly specify "weird things" as something to be blocked.

He'll figure something else out. ]

.... [ He debates if he wants to know. ] If the bleeding continues, make sure to keep drinking fluids. Juice of some sort and water would be best.

[lord_wizard]

[He's not sure that will help, but-] Yes, of course...

The important thing now is the wards. After that, find the cause.

[radiantwingedone]

[ Felix sounds a bit unsure there, but Duke doesn't know what else to say on the subject. ]

I will work on it. I don't want to make a 'safe zone' and end up locking residents out of it...

[lord_wizard]

No, no of course not. That would be counter-productive.

[radiantwingedone]

... and opening it up more would only leave chance for whatever it is to get in with those trying to protect... [ Silence for a moment. ]

I'll work on it. You work on not bleeding out. [ Please. ]

[lord_wizard]

I will do my best. [Mostly through frantic research, but he doesn't hold that much hope to be quite honest.]

dictated

[inafadingcrown]

[It's the drop of blood that catches her attention.]

You are bleeding. [Is it not just her? Maybe she's not going utterly mad.]

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

[A statement and not a question. Interesting.]

So it would seem.

[inafadingcrown]

I will rephrase: you are also bleeding.

[lord_wizard]

[He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding]

Have you...seen things? Heard things?

[inafadingcrown]

[Relief is audible in her voice.] I have.

filtered to Galadriel

[lord_wizard]

[Fair information be damned. He wasn't going to say all this in public. He would reduce it to what people needed to know later]

What have you...experienced...exactly?

Felix

[inafadingcrown]

[If he hadn't filtered soon, she would have; this is difficult enough to discuss as it is. Which is why there a long pause.]

I have seen... faces from my past. Blood on my hands. I hear the sounds of battle and of the sea. [Alqualondë. She doesn't say it aloud, but it's clear from her tone that she's already drawn her conclusions as to its meaning.]

Galadriel

[lord_wizard]

[It's been years since that conversation, but he still remembers her story about the Kinslaying, and although he's forgotten many of the details, the vague memory is enough for him to know what it is she speaks of.]

I have been seeing my brother. [Which doesn't exactly explain much. He's never told Galadriel about this, although it had been one of the many things she'd picked up pieces of from the day that she'd probed his mind.]

I remember that I asked you once, what you're greatest regret was...

Felix

[inafadingcrown]

My greatest regret and my greatest sin. [Which is more to the point, isn't it?] I could almost think this a punishment.

Galadriel

[lord_wizard]

Unarguably. [He sighs] There are a great many things I regret, but perhaps the greatest was what I did to him.

Felix

[inafadingcrown]

[She's silent for a moment]

We have have found, then, the 'why.' It is the 'who' and 'how' we must now discover.

Galadriel

[lord_wizard]

I'm not sure how this connects to what has happened so far. No one else has mentioned this happening...

[Of course, he hadn't either, really. Because he was ashamed.]

Felix

[inafadingcrown]

Naturally. I have not been precisely open about this, have you?

Galadriel

[lord_wizard]

No, I have not. And I hope it will not be necessarily in order to solve this. I just...

The others died so suddenly.

Felix

[inafadingcrown]

[There's a long pause before she speaks again.] I am frightened, to speak frankly.

Galadriel

[lord_wizard]

[Sadly] A condition to which I am not estranged. [He's afraid a lot. Sometimes of himself and sometimes because, like now, the castle finds ways to worry at his wounds]

But what else can we do?

Felix

[inafadingcrown]

Little, it seems. I assume that you have also been doing what research you are able? [Not that that's much, at least on her end. It's hard to focus with such frequent reminders of your greatest sin being paraded before you. The blood isn't exactly helpful either.]

Galadriel

[lord_wizard]

It is a slow process. [Trying not to bleed all over the books, for example.]

Felix

[inafadingcrown]

I would say the same.

[toobravehearted]

[ It's late when the Doctor sees this, for he has been running around quite a bit, and a message is hastily written. ]

You too. Yes.

[lord_wizard]

[There's an intake of breath. Almost pained. The longer it's gone the more it's been getting to him]

It has to do with the mirrors. I keep seeing his face...

dictated;

[putuporshutup]

Forget it. We're all screwed.

dictated;

[lord_wizard]

And you are this pessimistic of our chances, why?