More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

A whisper echoed in the darkest depths of Trinity's subconscious.

"Mother. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The whisper began to increase in volume. Maybe it was the alcohol that allowed Trinity to hear Silhouette in her dreams. Maybe it was the Ancient's desire to not be alone. It may have been both. What became apparent was that Silhouette didn't realize that her voice could be heard.

"It's all my fault. I'm so sorry. Mother. What did I do? What should I do now? I don't. I can't. I did this. Mother..."

The reverberation of her echoes ceased. Her visage fluttered into view. Her dress and hair, dark as the shadows, lay outspread on an unseen ground. She sat on her knees while she rocked back and forth. She hugged and rubbed her arms in a vain attempt to comfort and calm herself.

"I'm so sorry...Trinity."

Trinity woke up to the sound of her voice. She followed the voice and found Sil. she rubbed her back as she heard her apologizing to her mother then shifted her apology to her. She narrowed her eyes, "What are you sorry for?"  

[Nova Blancke]

Despite having all of this power and knowing he created that Tornado or rather...Tornadic Waterspout. He'd just call it a Tornado. Or was it a Hurricane? There was...a bit of excitement rising. What if he....rode that thing? Could he? Only one way to find out.

Theo shot up towards the sky. Higher and higher until he was above it. He dropped himself into the eye of the storm. Another free fall. It really was liberating. Using his power he got close to the edge and just...stopped using it entirely. Being swept away by the force of the Tornado. Caught it it's maelstrom. It was hard to try and stabilize himself without his power. His sense of direction was completely gone as he was flipped upside down and turned from left to right. It made him a bit nauseous. Closing his eyes he tried to focus until he noticed it felt a lot different of the sudden. Still a strong force of wind but only from one direction and....he opened his eyes. The Tornado had flung him out and he almost hit the water before he managed to catch him.

"Wow....okay...."He shook his head and took a few deep breathes. "Alright....one more time. Just....feel it. Like you always do...You're going to ******** ride that thing." Once more he flew off towards it. A sort of twirling bubble of green wind formed around him as he dove it. There was a lot less resistance this time. Letting himself be caught by the currents once more he managed to stay stable this time. He made a few rotations inside of it before trying what he came here for. His shield changed shape as it formed a sort of surfboard of wind at his feet.

"WOOOOOOHHH!!" He shouted out but couldn't even hear his own voice. The man literally began to surf the wind currents inside oft he tornado. If there was anyone else on the planned with a big smile on his face right now, he'd doubt it. He still was only 20 after all. Barely out of his teens. And right now...he was having the time of his life.

Pushing the nose of the surfboard towards the center a bit, he dove deeper into it. Kneeling down on his madeshift windboard, he dipped one hand into the.....air? If he were actually surfing on the water, that's where the water would be. He did that without thinking before laughing at his own stupidity. Like riding a massive wave he went down to the bottom. His board vanished and he felt himself get sucked up again by the tornado. As tempting as it was to start over there was one thing he had to try again. Using the wind he forced himself to remain in the air where he was, gathering power. He released the power of the wind from the bottom of the tornado. His own Winds going against the currents. Cutting through the tornado and eventually dispersed it.

Theo looked up to a once more clear sky before falling into the water. Rising once more from the water. He ran a hand through his hair and was breathing heavily. Then he swallowed and breathed in deeply before shouting out.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"  

[Nova Blancke]

Legio peeked on Fenris's current state. Curiosity was a constant thing for him. Even if he knew restraints. She was....embarrassed? Interesting. Despite wanting to address that, he had another thing going on at the moment and it would be rude to walk away from a conversation like that.

As they walked the shadow before them rose and turned into a portal. He stepped through and saw a place in Montana. A beautiful sight.

"So what essentially are souls? Are they needed? What is their purpose if life can be without one?"

Liv took in a deep breathe as Heather embraced her this close. One arm around her waist and one hand against the back of Heather's head. She went in for the kiss. Or rather, a series of kisses which she only interrupted once to softly say "Thank you"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Silhouette froze the moment she heard Trinity's voice. She turned her head and looked up to Trinity with puffy, red eyes. "I...I'm responsible...for everything. Everything Eclipse has done...is my fault. I couldn't keep my promise to Mother."

The after effects of the infinite eye were still wreaking havoc on her sanity. Her speech pattern was manic, yet hesitant. Her eyes quivered and twitched. All of her power, her age, her experience, and the ancient had been reduced to a weeping mess. It was almost human.

"I was supposed to keep him safe. Keep him sane. There were so many signs. So many mistakes. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It's gone too far."

Silhouette winced and gripped her head with both hands. She turned her gaze downward and allowed her obscenely long hair to create a curtain around her face.

"Are you truly here? Is this real?" she moaned  

[PixelMuse]

Looks like even all knowing and powerful Ancients have crappy days too Trinity observed her, it seemed like she wasn't expecting Trinity to show up as if she was alone. If she wasn't expecting me, she didn't summon me, and if she didn't summon me then… how did I get here? Why am I here?

She remembered when she looked at the at the infinite eye, she told her it will take her some time to recover. Sil must have been hiding it from her. Hiding what she's currently coping with, the state the infinite eye has left in. She couldn't blame her for that. There have been times where something terrible happened, she wanted to cry she wanted to fall apart but had to keep it together until the fight was over. When it was over she couldn't hold it in, it would all fall at once. She didn't want anyone to see her when this happened and now Sil doesn't want to be seen.

Trinity shrugged to herself she was here for a reason better make the most of it. She sat down next to her, not looking at her as she wanted and heard listened to her. Based on what she could gather she seemed to fail in taking care of her brother, a promise she made to her mother. She heard her question.

"I am really here but we are not in the real world. We're in my subconscious." Trinity wanted to ask but she just want to sit and listen. She knew if she were to tell her logically that her woes didn't make sense yo blame herself for Eclipse's actions. Actions she had no way of controlling. Hell that logic still didn't work with her regarding saving her parents. Instead of letting the despair swallow her whole she used that event to try to do better. "So you can't change the past, but you can use it to help with the present and the future. What should you have done then? Can you do something along those lines now?"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Alec saw the picturesque landscape and hesitated for a moment. When he saw that Legio showed no signs of stopping he took a deep breath and stepped through.

"Well, I don't really have a concrete answer for you. Even Crosis had a relatively loose understanding of what purpose a soul serves...other than a source of power for death metas. What I do know is that a soul houses all the experiences of a person. A sort of spiritual hard drive. When someone dies, their soul is sent to, for lack of a better term, the afterlife. *sniff* As time passes there, the soul will eventually return to the collective and become one with it. And when a new life is born, it will inherit a part of the collective soul. That collective soul, by the way, is what the Ancient's refer to as Ortus, or source. It's where a metahuman's power comes from."

"A person *sniff* who is soulless is capable of accessing the source, but their experience will die with them. Their experience wont join and empower the collective soul. *Ahem* On top of that they tend to exhibit negative psychological traits without any sort of outside influence. Sociopathy, sadism, apathy, compulsive obsession, psychopathy. Damien, *sniff* for example, is driven by a singular purpose to correct and empower. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but he lacks real empathy. You killed Freya, *sniff* I mean Fenris, just for the chance at learning a cosmic truth. Even though she sought to end a huge threat. Even if her fight against Eclipse was hopeless, it doesn't change the fact that you stood in her way for an arguably selfish reason."

"*Aherm* I'm not *sniff* trying to s**t on you, I'm just...just *achoo" ugh...just *sniff*. Look man. I know this place is really *sniff* scenic and all, but could we go somewhere with less flora *hack* like a beach or something?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heather was a little clumsy, at first. That was only her second time. Her first had been immediately ruined when the pleasure of having nails run down her back was destroyed by the terror of her skin being ripped open to reveal scales. After a minute or so, she settled into the rhythm of passion and gave as good as she got.

It was everything she'd ever dreamed of, and more.

After she was spent, Heather held Liv in her arms and gently ran her fingers through the blonde's golden locks. Her cheek rested on the top of Liv's head. Steam steadily rose from the water. Heather had done her best to maintain her temperature, but it didn't stop the water from reaching the temperature of a hot tub minus the jets.

Heather said nothing; just hummed a serene melody that she'd learned from her mother.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"What could I have done?" she replied. "I could've kept my damn mouth shut!"

Like the day before, the darkness flowed away to show an image of the past. There were two people stood atop a large hill among a range. One was an unassuming gentleman dressed in robes. He clutched a large, and familiar, scythe. The other was a bright and energetic lady with vibrant red hair.

Silhouette spoke to the man, same as she had all those ages ago. She spoke in Latin, but due to their connection could be understood by Trinity. "Darling, do you really have to have that out wherever you go?"

The man, Crosis, also spoke Latin with a tone of veiled humor. Completely unlike the one Theonis had to kill the day before. "It makes me feel important."

The woman, Vivi, interjected, "Sil, as much as I love these little get togethers, we really should get down to why you asked us here."

"Just a moment, Viv. We're waiting for-"

"I'm here!" came a pleasant shout from the low side of a hill. "My apologies!"

Silhouette looked up and smiled. "Finally. Good of you to join us, brother."

There appeared a young man, who looked barely older than Theonis. His eyes had a sparks of joy, hope...naivete. He was adorned in a travelers cloak that concealed his gaudy Lord's attire.

Crosis sighed, "Off playing your mischievous little games, I suppose?"

Eclipse chuckled warmly, "Heh. Something like that. I just got done arranging events that will lead to a small brush fire in three days. Hopefully the humans there will wise up and avoid dry areas with no hope for agricultural growth."

Vivi covered her mouth and giggled. "Such crafty benevolence, Eclipse. Keep it up and you'll catch Aurora's eye for sure." she said with a wink.

The young Eclipse tried to hold back a blushing grin to no avail. "Stop. You know I hate when you make me blush like this."

Vivi giggled again and playfully stuck out her tongue. Crosis knocked on the blade of his scythe to get everyone's attention. "If you are quite finished, perhaps my beloved would care to explain why she called the three of us here."

Silhouette looked toward the memory of her little brother. He looked to her with those dependent eyes. She forced herself to stop participating in the memory. Her voice caught in her throat as she shook her head defiantly. "No! No!! I can't face this! Face him!"

The memory halted. The hills and valleys steadily became engulfed in flames.
She leaned forward into the fetal position with her hands still clasped to her head.

"Leave me, Trinity. Use my power. Just leave me in this darkness. I deserve far worse." she plead.  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity observed the memory and understood what went on. She recognized a couple of the players but they are very different than when she met them in person. The redhead Sil referred to as Viv, reminded her of Kerana. She could guess by the way she was standing next to Crosis the ancient of death that Viv was the ancient of life, from whom Kerana received her boon.

“We’ve been through this in the Realm of Death. I will not leave you behind. We are part of a symbiotic relationship. I need you as much as you need me.” she placed her hand on Sil’s. “Help me make sense of it. It looked like you were about to embark on a friendly gathering among friends, the love of your life and family. What happened next? What was your answer to Crosis’ inquiry?”  

[Nova Blancke]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Alec saw the picturesque landscape and hesitated for a moment. When he saw that Legio showed no signs of stopping he took a deep breath and stepped through.

"Well, I don't really have a concrete answer for you. Even Crosis had a relatively loose understanding of what purpose a soul serves...other than a source of power for death metas. What I do know is that a soul houses all the experiences of a person. A sort of spiritual hard drive. When someone dies, their soul is sent to, for lack of a better term, the afterlife. *sniff* As time passes there, the soul will eventually return to the collective and become one with it. And when a new life is born, it will inherit a part of the collective soul. That collective soul, by the way, is what the Ancient's refer to as Ortus, or source. It's where a metahuman's power comes from."

"A person *sniff* who is soulless is capable of accessing the source, but their experience will die with them. Their experience wont join and empower the collective soul. *Ahem* On top of that they tend to exhibit negative psychological traits without any sort of outside influence. Sociopathy, sadism, apathy, compulsive obsession, psychopathy. Damien, *sniff* for example, is driven by a singular purpose to correct and empower. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but he lacks real empathy. You killed Freya, *sniff* I mean Fenris, just for the chance at learning a cosmic truth. Even though she sought to end a huge threat. Even if her fight against Eclipse was hopeless, it doesn't change the fact that you stood in her way for an arguably selfish reason."

"*Aherm* I'm not *sniff* trying to s**t on you, I'm just...just *achoo" ugh...just *sniff*. Look man. I know this place is really *sniff* scenic and all, but could we go somewhere with less flora *hack* like a beach or something?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heather was a little clumsy, at first. That was only her second time. Her first had been immediately ruined when the pleasure of having nails run down her back was destroyed by the terror of her skin being ripped open to reveal scales. After a minute or so, she settled into the rhythm of passion and gave as good as she got.

It was everything she'd ever dreamed of, and more.

After she was spent, Heather held Liv in her arms and gently ran her fingers through the blonde's golden locks. Her cheek rested on the top of Liv's head. Steam steadily rose from the water. Heather had done her best to maintain her temperature, but it didn't stop the water from reaching the temperature of a hot tub minus the jets.

Heather said nothing; just hummed a serene melody that she'd learned from her mother.

Legio couldn't help but chuckle at Alec's request.
"Very well. Would you like me to remove your allergy as well?" Legio offered before opening another shadow portal which led to Lombok's Pink Beach.

"What would happen to someone after he has done what he sets out to do? Like Damian? Would he need to find a new goal?" He asked as they walked the shore.

"Freya would have died regardless and nothing would have been gained. Now she lives again and knowledge has been gained. Perhaps it is simply cold calculus"

The concept of the Orthus intrigued him. If he could some how access it. Imagine the vault of knowledge.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Silhouette took several trembling breaths. As she did the flames in the memory subsided. After a few more breaths the memory began to play out again. Sil's breath caught in her throat once more before she continued.

"I think Lucent's suggested method of raising the humans is flawed."

"How so?" inquired Vivi. "All he asked we do is stay completely out of the human's way."

"Yes, by acting while unseen while making sure they don't annihilate each other like last time. You honestly do not see a problem with that?"

Crosis drawled, "So I assume you do? Why did you not say something the last time we all gathered? Again, why ask the three of us here?"

"If we coddle the humans they will grow just as weak as our parents were by the time the Hellstar arrives."

"Silhouette!" Eclipse exclaimed in shock.

"I am sorry, brother, but we would not be in this position if they were strong enough to succeed. We need to build the humans of the second age up. Not through guidance, but through adversity."

Vivi and Crosis shared a glance between one another. There was a moment's pause before Vivi broke the silence.

"Sil, I love you like a sister...but your suggestion along with our presence can only mean one thing."

Eclipse looked between the three aspects of shadow, death, and life. He had never felt that sort of tension between those three before. "I do not understand. What does it mean?"

Crosis grunted, "Your sister wants to put the humans through a trial by fire...with our blessing and your help."

Eclipse glared wide eyed at his sister. "That cannot be right. Is he right?"

Silhouette squeezed Trinity's hand and grit her teeth. "It is true. I think we should cull the humans at regular intervals, through trial and plague, so that the strongest may survive rather than have natural selection do it for us."

The memory faded away into the darkness and Sil looked up at Trinity. "Thankfully, Crosis and Vivi eventually talked me out of it...but the seed had been planted. Eclipse believed in me enough to not let it go. He pestered me about it for centuries, and there was many a time where I nearly let him convince me to carry out the plan in secret. Then, one night-"

The darkness was replaced by a simple bedroom in a cottage. Silhouette turned her head as though she'd heard something. Without any warning or provocation, a black hand plunged it's fingers into her forehead. Sil's body went slack as her eyes shot open and looked up at the assailant.

Eclipse looked down at his sister with manic, sleep deprived, eyes that quickly welled up with tears. "I am sorry, Silhouette, but you have left me no choice. Your idea, all those years ago, it can work. I can make it work. You do not have to do anything. No, I wont let you do anything. I am chaos, after all. Serenity should have no part of what must come, and what must come...is terrible. I need you to take some things."

Silhouette's eyes rolled up to him. She slurred, "Eeeeeeeclipssssse...I...proooomisssed...Muh-motherrrrrr."

"I know, Sister, I know, and you will. You will be there to keep me reigned in. Keep me safe. Keep me sane. All the while I enact your plan. I just need you to take my love, compassion, empathy, and mercy."

Silhouette's hands trembled as she fought the force of her brother's mind control. The veins in her head and neck pulsed with effort. "Nooooooo...pllleeeease..." she insisted.

"It is alright. I trust you." he said with a comforting, if naïve, smile.

Her eyes rolled back into her head and she began to gasp, then choke. The white of her eyes began to turn red and her lips blue. It was as though she were being choked by her own despair and regret.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alec was grateful to be out of the forest. He took a moment to take in the new location. He'd never been to a beach before, much less one with pink sand. Even an introvert like him could appreciate the beauty.

"Funny, he actually had a similar question and concern. When he's done, Damien will be presented with the same choice you are. I...really wish I could tell the two of you what that choice is, but my hands (and tongue) are tied."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Soichi family looked among one another as Kerana voiced her concerns. Lokelonni took hold of her daughter and granddaughter's hands. She smiled and spoke with a tone that only a mother could have.

"Kerana. I've only just met you, and I don't know your mother. But, as a mother, I can say this. She loves you, and will always love you. When you're ready to see her, she will hold you like she did the day you were born."

"Besides, children with animal features are their own unique blessing. Trust me." she said with a wink that was occluded by the wrapping over her eyes.

Rydia used her free hand to do a fist pump. "Yeah! And if you want, I can go with you. Us beast girls have to stick together!"

Fenris put her hand on her hip and gave a toothy smirk. "Kid, take it from me. I did some extremely ******** up s**t in my youth, and spent years apart from my mother."

She gave Lokelonni's hand a squeeze, who in turn squeezed back and turned her head toward Fenris.

"But, when I was ready to see her again, she welcomed me with open arms. Your mom may have freaked out back then, but I'll bet she's waiting for you just like my mama did."

Lokelonni turned her head back toward Kerana and urged, "Go on, dear. Face your fears, and put them to rest. I'll be here when you're ready to learn."  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity watched as the events unfolded. When she saw Eclipse with his fingers in her head, upon instinct she stood up and wanted to defend her. Quickly she reminded herself this was a memory in the past and nothing she could do now would affect that. She looked to Sill, "No wonder you went crazy, you still carry all of his emotions with you now aren't you?" She paused as she responded. "If that's true, it's become a lot harder to keep your promise to your mom, huh? If he was able to dump all his good emotions on to you, you should be able to give it back to him right?"  

[Nova Blancke]

Crystalion hugged the little girl a bit tighter.
"I know it's scary, but I need to know. It might help making the scary dark go away." She said comforting her.
The path was more dangerous, thankfully she has been on high alert since being thrown into this mindscape. It reminded her too much of her....home. It's not something you forget.

"I see."Legio simply responded as he walked bare foot on the beach. The sand felt nice. He turned and walked towards the edge where the sand met the water and just stood there a bit. Letting the dying waves submerge his feet.

"What is the meaning of life?" he asked suddenly. "Someone with your connection to the opposite might have an interesting answer.

This was nice. Just what she needed. Her arms were still wrapped tight around Heather. She wasn't sure who was comforting who now but she suspected it was her. The water had begun to get hotter but stayed at the current temperature. She always did love a nice hot bath. One thing she could not hold back was a yawn.