One more time with feeling

[fistfullofmagic]

[Dhaos isn't quite sure what had happened; one moment he was bleeding out from a fatal wound, alone but for his murderers and worlds away from home. ...And then he blinked.

He's not sure where he is now. Not the afterlife certainly; he can still acutely feel the pain from the gaping hole in his abdomen and his vision is going. That blur on the edge of his vision looks a rather lot like it might be a gurney though. ...Is this a medical facility?

The thought prompts Dhaos to begin gathering up the last bits of spare magic from his reserves to cast a healing spell. If he can keep himself alive long enough for someone to notice him, perhaps there's a chance he can recover enough to complete his mission...]


((ooc: Dhaos has returned, and this time the castle had the courtesy to drop him in the Clinic instead of in the front hall. Feel free to bother him~))

Comments

[ninjainviolet]

[Well, she's been talked down to all her life by nobles, so if he has the same tone, then yeah, she's not going to like it. But that's not enough to kill someone. Smack them if they say the wrong thing, but not kill.]

Vital? Me? [Technically, she's the one who started all the trouble by forming the pacts to begin with and taking the Spirits away from Mithos. Of course, that only helped Lloyd in the end, since Origin would only work with her--but you can't tell Sheena that.]

Oh, yeah. The Spirits make the pacts with someone who "has the right" to make the vow. [You can practically hear the quotes as she speaks.] It's possible that after so many years, the Spirits have discovered that full humans have also earned the ability.

[If that can be traced back to Lloyd's group regaining their trust, she'd be impressed.]

[fistfullofmagic]

I would think it to be based on individual cases as opposed to humans as a whole. I've seen a kingdom rip itself to shreds thanks to Magitech, and that nearly destroyed Yggdrasil in the process. ...Most beings with greater ties to Mana than that of humans would have perished soon after.

[He sighs.]

I tried to warn them, but they refused to listen...

[ninjainviolet]

Magitech? [Sits heavily on a nearby chair.]

It came back? But that's what caused the world to be split in the first place! And the tree... [The tree whose seed Lloyd and saved and named.] It almost happened again?

[She looks at him.]

They refused to listen? Why? Wasn't the history known?

[fistfullofmagic]

[That's... a very good question. It takes him a minute to figure out how to answer that one.]

It... seemed both as if they did and did not. In the interim between our times, civilization destroyed itself utterly at least once, forcing most knowledge to be lost. As I understand it, magitech was rediscovered in ruins and studied. The Mana Cannon was constructed based on this knowledge, and still nobody cared to question why ancient civilization had been reduced to ruin.

...As for why I was ignored... I suppose it was in part due to being as skilled with the magical artes as I am.

[Always awkward when you're magic power gets you mistaken for a demon, even by another Half-elf.]

[ninjainviolet]

The-- The Mana Cannon? Of all the things to build! [She knows just how powerful that thing is, and can't believe people of his time hadn't realized that. She looks at him in shock for several long minutes in silence before she finds her voice, which is tinged with anger.]

And the other part... Because you're a half-elf?

[The anger's not directed at Dhaos but at the idiots 4000 years in her future who hadn't learned a thing.]

[fistfullofmagic]

[And indeed they had learned nothing. The people of Aselia continued to discriminate against those neither human nor elf, and overused Magitech. And as much as it pains him to admit, his own people were not much better. They had destroyed their own World Tree because of a Mana Cannon and necessitated his journey in the first place after all.

He answers her question truthfully.]

...Because they believed me to be a demon.

[It doesn't even cross Dhaos' mind that he might not be taken literally.]

[ninjainviolet]

[They wouldn't need to write their own history books. Just borrow the ones from Sheena's world and put their name on it--since it's so similar.

Her eyes widen and the corner of her mouth quirks a little.]

A demon? Funny, but you don't look like one.

[She fought against a few while traveling, and he looks nothing like them.]

[fistfullofmagic]

[Considering the entire population of Derris-Kharlan is descended from people from Aselia, it's where their habit of repeating history comes from.]

Indeed I don't. It has puzzled me for years how he concluded that as no demon I have met looks human enough to pass as one.

[And he's met quite a lot of demons in his time living amongst them.]

[ninjainviolet]

[That's not really a good thing...]

No, they don't. But if it helps, I don't think you look like one.

[At least not the ones she's seen.]

[fistfullofmagic]

[He smiles a little.]

I should hope not. They're a decent people for the most part, but I'm hardly one of them.

[No matter that he's their king, no matter that they had mostly been civil to him, Dhaos will always put his beloved Derris-Kharlan and her people first.]

[ninjainviolet]

[She tilts her head.]

Why do I have the feeling we're talking about two types of demons now?

[Sounds like her and Mizuho. Yes, she's their chief, but she's sworn to protect everyone on the planet.]

[fistfullofmagic]

[He tilts his head back at her as best he can from his reclined position.]

Perhaps. Four thousand years is a long time after all.

[ninjainviolet]

A very long time.

So, what are the demons like in your time?

[fistfullofmagic]

They're about as fond of humans as humans are of them. They're not terribly pleased about having been trapped in Daemonium for as long as they were. I... cannot say I blame them.

[He suppresses a shudder as a memory from his own imprisonment rises to the surface of his mind.]

[ninjainviolet]

[Any further questions she has about the demons are halted by his words and reaction. Is he in pain?]

Dhaos? Are you all right?

[fistfullofmagic]

...It's nothing.

[He doesn't quite meet her eyes as he says this.]

[ninjainviolet]

[Oh yeah, like that'll dissuade her.]

Dhaos, what is it?

[fistfullofmagic]

......

[He'd really rather not answer.]

[ninjainviolet]

Okay. You don't want to say anything, but if you do, I'll be willing to listen.

[fistfullofmagic]

[He returns his gaze to her.]

Perhaps one day. I just... I do not have the energy to speak of it today.

[ninjainviolet]

All right. I won't push you.

[Although he's been physically injured, she has a feeling what's bothering him is more emotional in nature.]

[fistfullofmagic]

[He smiles a little at that.]

...Thank you.

[ninjainviolet]

[She tilts her head as she observes him for a moment.]

Is there anything you need? Anything I can get you?

[To Sheena, "need" and "want" can be two different things.]