melodiesoflife | Event || Beginning Of The End

“Crystallis is a living organism. It strives to survive. It is not so different from the Calamity in that it operates on a scale we cannot comprehend. If it sees you as a threat, it will work to see you eliminated.”

He then turned to Aang.

“Kalki did something to you. What, I do not know.”

With that said, he moved back onto the topic of Shadows. All the other questions will stay unanswered, for the time being at the very least.

“Now, to confront your Calamity Self will require the use of a Black Crystal. I will have details sent to you through Moglin. But there is something you need to understand.” He turned back to his shelves. “You may die trying to confront your Calamity Self. Upon starting the process, you will temporarily lose access to one of your two Jobs. In return, your It will have access to a specific Job of its own. Many of you probably want to punch or even kill me, but You know better than to give in to this desire. It knows no such restraint. It is everything you are but that your reject or keep under control. All what you would like to do but think is wrong, all you know to be true but reject, all you would be if you knew no restraints.”

He marked a brief pause.

“Your Calamity Self will try to overwhelm you. If you full accept and acknowledge It as part of you, it will be over. If not, It will take over and become the new you. Should you remember what happened last year during the Night of the Thirteen Moogles, this is what will happen if you fail—Only this time It will not be a mindless puppet and have a mind of its own. Should the worse happen, your friends might still save you at great risks… But it won’t mean a thing if you do not accept It in the end.”

He shook his head.

“It might sound easy, but it won’t be. Many of you probably think you won’t have any difficulties accepting your Calamity Self. What It will say and do is likely to disgust, horrify and anger you.”

"So whenever we've been mind-controlled with a Black Crystal, it was actually our Shadows that were being controlled?" That made sense. If the crystals were a pathway to the Calamity, they should be able to connect with the Heroes' Calamity Selves as well.

Jade frowned. If he understood the concept correctly, it presented some unpleasant implications about their vision back in January.

"...In that other future... Some of us used the Black Crystals. The transformation that followed..." He was careful to keep his tone neutral. "Was that related to the Shadow taking over?"

What the Sage has to say is pretty much what Jack expected, minus the part about the Black Crystal. Okay, neat, they don't have to go into the Rift to go after their Shadows, they can draw them out here.

But Jack looks at Aang curiously. "Have you tried that trick, going on the crystalized lands, since you," he waves a hand in the air, "became like the rest of us?" And since half their group mysteriously died?

Duster grew worried at the prospect of using the Black Crystal to face their inner Calamities. As much as he didn't know about it, only bad news was associated. And yet...

He crossed his arms as his memory returned to Tanetane Island. He was faced with the worst of himself, but that was delivered through the illusions of people he knew. Hearing himself say these things was more difficult, to say the least, but he was ready. He was more than just the Duster of the past, more than what people said of him.

His confidence was shattered when Jade brought up being mind controlled. Duster's head shot up and his eyes grew wide, staring at him. He killed two friends when Narasimha used the Black Crystal. Were those his deepest feeling brought to light? Was he someone capable of murder when his conscience was left unchecked? Was there some sort of resentment related to his friendships? Was Santa in more danger?

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, mulling over what the Sage said.

"I don't think this is something simple as 'oh, I don't want to kill'." She said, looking up. "I have the feeling this is going to be far more than that - how we feel about our friends, our foes, this world, our homes, how we see ourselves and what we have."

Twilight let out a soft sigh. "I don't think a lot of us will take this up..."

The Sage's reply is internally infuriating: Ib would have passed that challenge with ease. Fine. Fine fine. If this is what it takes?

"We've already found two of the Black Crystals. We're working on the others. So, how can we activate them without," Kaji nods towards Jade, "being taken over like in the visions? So far it seems the only people who can handle them safely are the moogles." He glances around, trying to find Moglin, in case the Primal Moogle has any answers on this, either.

"Are we guaranteed to lose one job, or is it that we will have only one? There is a difference, if we only go to face our Shadow with a single job equipped."

Ramza would go either way, but it would be better to be prepared. He had been inside of Dycedarg's mind when his brother had succumbed to the power of the Black Crystal in the world of the past. The subconscious struggle between man and Calamity had been hidden from him, but he knew the cost of failure, at least.

"If we can use the Black Crystals more than once, so that all that would face their Shadows, I wish to do so. I owe it to the civilians that lost their lives during the murders to defeat that part of myself."

Edited 2016-10-06 16:05 (UTC)

Rukia thought about this quietly. She knew she'd been able to use the black crystal without ill effects, but it had been for a different purpose -- merging with the Tree of Life, rather than drawing on its power. She was certain that was why she hadn't been physically mutated into something else, because she had been the one begging to be accepted by the Calamity rather than the other way around.

Initially she hadn't intended to say anything. However, standing near Jade allowed her to notice the very faint signs of his tension. She thought she could guess why, given what he'd told her about his own use of the black crystal. Her gaze traveled across the room, studying the faces of the other Heroes. The ones who had been manipulated by Narasimha seemed more prone to displaying their horror and unease. Who could blame them?

But was that really correct, that their Shadow selves secretly desired to cut loose and kill the people they cared about? Rukia had severe doubts.

She folded her arms, her brow furrowed in thought. "Most of us aren't repressing any homicidal urges," she mused with a small frown. "I find it difficult to believe that every single Hero in the hospital the previous year desired only to slaughter innocent people. Note that they didn't attack each other, only those with sentience. It may be the inherent nature of the Calamity to destroy and absorb in its misguided efforts to become whole that makes us dangerous when that side of ourselves is tapped. Were it not for the Calamity's influence, using the Black Crystal wouldn't lead to such disastrous results. However, this adds a dangerous element to our unrestrained selves. We will need the will to not only accept our Shadows, but to resist the urges of the Calamity itself as well."

Rukia regarded the Sage pensively. "Will knowledge alone of what we must do be enough for us to face this part of ourselves without immediately succumbing and becoming mutated? Or is there something more required?"

Ira's shoulders tense as the Sage explains what could happen. This talk of dying and being taken over by the Calamity Self... it was both familiar and not, though he couldn't really place a finger on why. Was it one of those potential futures he'd glimpsed, before he-?

That didn't matter now. What mattered now was that they worked together, and accepted what they rejected. For most of them might not be supressing homicidal urges, but he certainly was, among other things. Yet now that the Sage mentioned it, and the need to accept it...

Would he be able to? To accept what he's been running from for years?

"The light of awakening always was painful," he muttered under his breath, letting out a sigh as he turned to look at Twilight. "I will. My memory might be full of lies, but... I made a promise. One I can't keep if I don't face 'It'. And if I succeed, maybe there'll be hope for everyone else."

Why, he won't say just yet, but those that know him likely know why he's so sure about that.

Cloud had already recently faced himself, though perhaps not quite in the same way. It was an encounter that was still on his mind but lifted a great deal of the weight sitting on his shoulder. But he'd be lying if he said that all of his doubts were gone. And then there was the matter of those who had been exposed to the powers of the black crystal.

"I don't think it's as simple as 'homocidal urges'. Last October the Black Crystal was used to make me into a puppet. Same thing with the murders. And then the previous October when Tifa..." He shook his head, "It's the things that we want to deny that we'd do if push came to shove. It doesn't have to be murder. Betrayal can be enough. Or maybe it's smaller things like the fears we're sitting on."

He looked up and nodded at Ramza, thankful for him bringing up the question on his mind. "All I know is that if I don't do this I'll wonder about it forever."

Sparks folded his arms, frowning in thought over what the Sage had told them. Something came to mind.

"Okay, so, ya lose a Job in the process of tryin' to fight it. But ya don't have to fight it one-on-one, do ya? There's a lot of us here."

Albel had remained quiet as he listened, brow furrowed. It was hard not to immediately be angry... and it wasn't toward Deadpool. He actually had no problem with the masked man's threat of violence. Deadpool was frequently a lot of talk, but he was a strong warrior. If violence was what it took to ensure things progressed... Well, far be it from Albel to interfere when he might have done the same thing. But what the Sage was saying made sense. He remembered his single-minded pursuit of Kalki's plan, propelling Terra forward to godhood...

And now Terra was gone. Unless she came back, it would appear they had already changed the future once.

However, when the Sage described the "Shadows" and what was necessary to combat them, Albel was perhaps the only Hero to smile. "So -- we are to face what we repress, humanized with its own job. Makes sense. Our perfect foe would be ourselves."

At the time of the first vision, he had to admit, he would have been unprepared. But now... He rested a hand on the hilt of the Crimson Scourge. The blade resonated its own opinion on the situation within his skull. This was no different than what he had done in Airyglyph. He had succeeded then, and he would succeed again.

Sheena was quiet for several moments, her brows furrowed deep in thought. Finally, she looked up and addressed the Sage directly.

"Do we have to have Jobs equipped when we face ourselves? If that's what we're going to be doing, how about we go all the way and face them as we truly are? With our original skills and not anything given to us by the Crystals?"

Lailah was silent for most of the exchange, but she pricked up her ears to listen to Sheena. It was a very good question - if they wanted people experienced with combat, why take their unique combat abilities away? Unless there was a specific reason for it... it still felt like the problems of this land should be solved by the people of this land.

That or perhaps she was just becoming jaded.

"I have to say, Miss Fujibayashi's inquiry is something I'm interested in as well." Lailah commented, almost silently.

"Kalki already answered this one," Jack looks between Sheena and Lailah. "Why do you think we can equip two jobs when nobody else can?" A shrug. "Our Calamity selves. So when we separate them out?" Jack snaps his fingers. "Only one job. Banking on the idea that when we re-integrate them, accept them, we'll regain that ability, but now that part is no longer in conflict."

"Because is the goal to defeat the shadows or to accept them? Combat might have nothing to do with it." A cautious glance at Sparks. If there's anybody who Jack thinks they need to pass this test, it's him.

Shadows, huh? Hisui already defeated one back home of himself, so this hardly seems like news. Aside from that, the way jobs work in this world made him think they had something more important than just being a convenient way to get more powerful. And that one chick who died and left her job for everyone else...? Could that be an ultimate goal? But why destroy the world in the process? "If combat isn't the main goal, then I can say with confidence that many of us are screwed," Hisui muttered under his breath.

Tsubomi thought about this for a bit. This was certainly like the Final Test she and the other Cures went throug to gain the Super Silhouette forms. This one would be no different. But, things changed...

"I think this is going to be a tall hill to climb..."

He heard about the Black Crystals and the visions that others had but he never experienced them himself. At least the ones the were talking about. He found Lailah had also found her way here along with Hisui in which he gives a small smile at eye contact. They were all trying to fight for the same purpose right?

The whole Calamity self thing is definitely a bit shocking to hear about but the world was unique and advance in its own way, along with the Calamity. There had to be ways to fight it. This might be the solution they were looking for, however the dangers that follow it weren't exactly preferable but they had to do what they can.

Listening to Rukia speak made Mikleo a bit unnerved on terms of the "homicidal urges," that happened not too long ago. He felt a uneasy talking about the topic all together. He can't possibly believe that he entirely wants to do things like hurt people.

"If it is the matter of accepting them, then it will be much more difficult than simply fighting them. Even if the question has been answered before, there's nothing wrong with revisiting them."

Edited 2016-10-09 17:54 (UTC)

"Most people have a side of themselves they don't show others, for one reason or another. It's a lot to take in, so it's no wonder that we may be circling back to questions we may have already asked," Flynn added. "What it may come down to is how we want people to see us, or rather how much we fear others not accepting parts of ourselves we keep hidden." It was easy enough for Flynn to imagine what that could be like, given that people usually saw him as a shimmering knight. "After being here for a while, I think we've all seen parts of ourselves and others we wouldn't normally come across. This seems like a logical next level in those experience."

Albel shook his head at Jack. "That may be so -- but it doesn't exactly address what Sheena said. Or Ramza. What if we only have one job? Or none?"

He wasn't even sure that they could have no job while they were here. Everyone had arrived with one simply assigned to them; even "no job" was Freelancer.

"Would the Shadow take that job? Fight for it? Not that fighting is guaranteed to occur..." Albel shrugged and shook his head again. There seemed to be so much focus on combat. And while combat was his strength, it was for that reason it would not be truly a challenge for him.

"Not everyone represses 'homicidal rages.' Not every Hero was possessed to murder their neighbor. This... fight... it will be an individual challenge, unique to each of us." Albel looked to Sheena with a subtle nod to his sword. She was there. It was the only way he could think of this.

"Perhaps the Shadow will always possess the job, the powers, the abilities -- that's the challenge. So, if we are still to succeed, then we must be a bit more creative than that."

Chrom remained quiet, his head bowed pensively. A side of himself that would cause him horror? Possibly outrage? He thought he'd always been fairly honest about his shortcomings, but perhaps there really is something there under the surface he hasn't acknowledged.

He glanced up at the others as they discussed the jobs available. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to make use of that Santa Claus job. Then again, he'd feel pretty bad about cutting down a security elf. One of the lower level jobs, then?

...The Firebender job?

He scrubbed a hand over his face. He had a really bad feeling about equipping that particular job, because if the Shadow version of himself took it... Well, he did hate to make a habit out of being incinerated.

"We'll have to choose our jobs carefully, I assume," he said, massaging the bridge of his nose. "What about those already in crystal stasis? Will they be able to awaken and face themselves as well?"

Sheena looked at Jack. "I have the ability to wear more than ten rings on my fingers and thumbs," she said, holding up her hands. "That doesn't mean I do. Just because you have that ability doesn't mean you have to use it."

Sighing, she leaned back against the wall. What she was about to say could only be said because Albel was there.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I think I was already given a glimpse of what my shadow would be. And to be honest, I'm not at all surprised by it." She paused before looking up again and facing Albel.

"Those illusions we encountered a few months ago when we were thrown into another part of the world."

“Combat isn’t the only option. However if you succumb, it might be your friends’ only option to save you.”

He looked at those who suggested not equipping any Jobs to face the Calamity Self.

“Once given a physical shape, your Calamity Self will have its own Job—One born from Narayana you can never access nor use. It is the same Job the avatars who awakened to the truth can use. Facing it with only one or no Job will not change that fact. However, it may change you.” A pause. “Moogles will have to handle the Black Crystal. Moglin will give them the instructions so they can safely draw out your Calamity Selves. What has to be done from there, only you can say it. The information on how to proceed will be given in November. October… Is too dangerous of a time for you to try this.”

He turned to them and said no more words for the time. It seemed as though the time for question was over and he would say no more.

"Change us? How so?" Rukia blinked. Did he mean it in a physical sense, or a mental...? ...Ah. Having visited twice before, Rukia could now recognize the signs that the discussion was now over. She released her breath in a quiet sigh and rose to her feet.

November, then. They had time to prepare. And it was good to know that her suspicions about October not passing peacefully were confirmed at least, so the trouble was less likely to catch them unaware.

"Thank you for the warning, and for your time." She bowed politely before looking at the door, then at the sage. He'd said others would show up late, but no one ever did. Unless that person was invisible...? Ah, well. It didn't matter now. Rukia departed to begin the long journey to the bottom of the stairs. There was a lot to think about and discuss.

Kaji's moogle, Shinji, silently flutters forwards. The Black Crystals again. He has hated every step that's put them closer to those Crystals, and he has hated both Mograma and Artemicion for dragging them into this. But if this is the only way?

"We'll- we'll do this, kupo. We'll use the Black Crystals for you. But." Shinji's mouth forms a line like he's screwing up his courage for a second. "If you do this, you'd better promise to win!" He nods hard, and the Scholar hat on his head wobbles. "We can't lose any more of you, kupo."

He's talking to more than just his own Hero, but Kaji gives Shinji a proud look at his words. "We'll get to work finding the other two, then. So that we can do this a little faster."

Event || Beginning Of The End

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