Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Page 930

Sanko’s eyes filled the holes in her mask. “Where did you get that?”

“My grandson, Diego,” said Octavia. “Said he nearly killed himself trying to use it, so he thought I would like it as a birthday present. He is now my favorite grandson.”

“You fool,” said Sanko. “Do you know whose bones those are?”

“Sure do.”

“You’ll kill half your allies. Or all of them.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve been practicing. It is pretty terrifying, though, isn’t it? Are you sure you still want to fight us? I promise we won’t think any less of you if you decide to back down now.”

“Quaint. But your trinket won’t stop me. I faced the monster it belonged to, you may recall.”

Octavia frowned. “Did you really? Y’know, I was kind of hoping that was just a rumor.”

“You are an amusing person,” said Sanko. “I only wish I were better at holding back.”

“Oh, I know the feeling. It’s quite frustrating, isn’t it?”

But Sanko was through talking, it seemed.

The Gargoyle took a single step, and a series of ripples ran across the pavement as if it were a pond, unsettling the Rainlords’ footing for a moment before the ground came shooting up all around them in a dozen geysers of living stone.

Octavia responded with a flash of her blade, and shadow gushed forth, pure blackness, enveloping the six of them in a brief cage that exploded outward, knocking the rocks down and letting the Rainlords free.

By this point, they were already merging with their reapers.

Zeff could feel his mind shifting. Ax’s mind was there now, too. He could feel every emotion that Ax felt, share every thought as if it were his own. And the memories. They were an ocean. A thousand lifetimes, and hardly a thing forgotten. Names and faces, histories and places, firsthand knowledge and endless information.

The pan-forma merge completed itself. The normal enhancements paled in comparison to this feeling. This was beyond adrenaline. This was fire with all of the heat and none of the agony. Burning in glory, flirting with death, certain in the strength of their two minds.

When the moment passed, and Zeff and Axiolis returned to the present, they were already mid-stride, running adjacent Rayen and Evangelina. Santos and Socorro were running with Octavia in the opposite direction.

28 comments:

  1. I said this would not end well. I prayed i was wrong. I was not wrong

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  2. Now Parson, Lawrence, and the rest of the Vanguard there have a reason to annihilate the Rainlords.

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  3. Happy New Years.

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  4. I'm fake, btw.

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  5. I'm guessing Zeff will become also somewhat similar to Sanko, with his merge and become the blue fiend.

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  6. Typo: them in a [pair of] brief[s] that exploded

    Is this the singularity-aberration mentioned a long while back, notable because Sermung himself had to be brought in to destroy it?

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  7. The fat lady isn't singing just yet... But, yeah: looks like it might be a dirge when she does so. -_-

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  8. The burning question is: why? Why engineer this decisive split?

    I can think of a few reasons, but until I get evidence for motives, it'll just be a case of wheel-spinning. :P

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  9. I feel by her reaction that it isn't a normal abortion bone. Maybe the bone of the first one? Or a super crazy powerful one?

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  10. ABBERITION! !! NOT ABORTION

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  11. Nah, it's abortion.
    Ahahahaha

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  12. Isn't it obvious? Parson wants to keep the Rainlords from teaming up with Sanko, and possibly remove one of those two at the same time.
    For all we know, this might have all been a play to get that bone, so that he could fight on level with the Emperors.

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  13. Nope, not obvious, actually. For starters, that doesn't account for the long con surrounding Ibai's creation/birth. Or for just why this particular partition from Vanguard is desirable... when being a different form of trickery could get them actually on your own side (whatever that side is).

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  14. What page is that mentioned on?

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  15. But wouldn't an abortion bone be rather small and fragile?

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  16. Haha, hmm. There was definitely a word missing, so thank you for the catch.

    But Octavia was definitely NOT wrapping everyone in a giant pair of shadowy underwear. I applaud your imagination, though.

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  17. Perhaps a dour threnody, an elegy to melody, a funereal hymn to mark their passing. A tearful blaze of sharp retort, to cope with all the mounting mortal coils spinning off their threaded paths.

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  18. Not according to headcanon. YOUR TYPO FIXES ARE LIES, SIR.

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  19. an elegy

    So an Eleg-y?

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  20. Aha, that's silly! Surely, that's just a coincidence! What kind of shoddy author would name something as important as the entire planet by just removing the letter "y" from a death-related word?! What a hack that guy would be!

    ...

    Yeah.

    That was really my whole thought process. Haha, I've actually been wondering if someone would ever notice.

    Well, it was that, and I just thought "Eleg" sounded good--which is the only thing that matters, I suppose. I like it 'cuz it's short and simple. Not overly fantastic.

    THERE. YOUR TINY GLIMPSE INTO MY CREATIVE PROCESS HAS ENDED. NOW I MUST MYSTERIOUSLY LEAVE YOU FOR SOME REASON THAT IS ALSO MYSTERIOUS.

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  21. Had Someone not pointed it out I wouldn't have noticed. Probably because I tend to think of the G in Eleg as being more of a hard G and that in elegy as being softer.


    Also to others don't forget to vote for TZK.

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  22. That's how I pronounce it as well. Otherwise, it would sound like "allege," which'd seem weird to me.

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  23. Did you catch my question on 878 about the Semurg?

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  24. Since no one else has pointed this out yet, I think it's nice that we finally get a glimpse into the mind of a servant going into a hyper state. I had wondered about the "merging of minds" thing.

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  25. Indeed I did. Though, I didn't think it was a question so much as an observation.

    THERE SHALL BE NO MORE CONFIRMING OF THINGS FROM ME, I'M AFRAID. I'M NOT AN OPEN BOOK, YOU KNOW. EVEN THOUGH I WRITE ONE.

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  26. I wanna feel that power surge
    Two minds that were made to merge
    Don't make me miss the rush
    Take me to the crush

    I wanna hear that roaring sound
    When I walk I will shake the ground
    Don't make me miss the rush
    Take me to the crush!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EEtGLLDhNY

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