Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
10-04-2009, 07:41 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.
Vyrm'n took in Maxwell's words. They fell in the Faceless' mind like drops of water upon a pot earth as barren as the ground the two sat on. It was a stream of consciousness, without the usual filtering and purifying which went on before it reached you. Somehow, that always made the words seem more distant; tools to effect a change you saw, rather than the change itself.
In comparison, Maxwell's rambling engulfed Vyrm'n's psyche, and the dark spirit revelled in it. It was a flow that neither demanded nor rejected response from the Faceless, happy with it either listening or responding. It was exactly what Vyrm'n had longed for, without realising it, in the harsh laboratories it had been experimented in; harking back to the long-forgotten shared song all the Faceless sung in unison at the edge of the universe.
His is a beautiful soul, Vyrm'n thought to itself. The only beautiful thing I have seen since... ever. I must protect him.
"... the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget..." Something in Vyrm'n stirred at those last words. Maxwell seemed to detect its response, and glanced up at the Faceless. "Yes?"
I... know where my family are. I suppose, if I had freedom, I'd go back to them. But... I don't know why. Why I want to. Something in me does know, but I don't remember... Maxwell was about to reply, when suddenly the Faceless rushed off its seat, almost leaving Maxwell sprawling.
"What happened?" The Faceless' demeanour had completely changed, hackles of jagged crystalline nature rose from the bend in its towering bulk. Maxwell, uncertain, placed a hand on the smooth darkness-
What'sgoingonwheredidtheygothere'stwomissingbutist illsensethemwhat'shappeningthisisimpossible
and swiftly pulled his hand away with the rush of uncontrolled thought coursing through the Faceless. It darted across the ground until it stood in front of the spot where the Professor and the golem had been only moments before. Maxwell caught up some moments later, trying to figure out what the Faceless was staring at. Vyrm'n's focus was shuffling between what registered in his senses and Maxwell, who stood there looking confused. Suddenly, the array of knives and other parts of Gestalt emerged from the dark being, and fell to the ground with an unresponsive clatter.
Withdrawing its preferred writing-knife, Vyrm'n carved roughly in the ground:
<THEY ARE STILL HERE BUT NOT HERE.>
Maxwell blinked, and studied the offending patch of ground. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "What am I supposed to be-" Vyrm'n grabbed him roughly, and pulled him infront of the Faceless so its bulk towered over him. A single thought echoed through their link - You will see it as I see - And then before Maxwell had time to respond, it lunged forward and engulfed the man in darkness.
Maxwell thrashed and tried to escape, but the darkness soldified around his limbs and face and would not yield. He noticed, at least, it had given him enough space to breathe. A moment later, Maxwell tasted fresh air coming through a gap to his mouth, although the channel must have been curved for no light reached him. To see like the blind, you must blind also, explained Vyrm'n. Maxwell didn't respond; he was trying to conserve his breath in case something went wrong, and still hadn't gotten the hang of replying in the same manner to the Faceless.
The connection opened again, but this time, Maxwell sensed the creature's entire being rushing at him like a torrent. At the front was a message. Take it. I will protect you. Maxwell couldn't have refused even if he wanted to. The Faceless' being engulfed him, dissolving and consuming the existence of Maxwell Deakin.
An instant later, the rushing stopped. Maxwell tried to open his eyes, but somehow found the notion ridiculous. Trying to stand, or move, seemed to yield a similar reaction from his mind. He extended his consciousness around, to see what was there, and found Vyrm'n all around. A blizzard of light swirled around Maxwell, although this blizzard appeared slowed down, every mote heading in an indiscriminate direction at a pace that would take forever. Every single piece sang out a story that rang in Maxwell's hearing; or what had substituted for that sense. Although the song was shouted at by every atom, no two in time, Maxwell managed to get the gist of some of it.
This is Vyrm'n, Maxwell thought to himself. My point of reference hasn't moved. That would mean... he extended his consciousness out beyond Vyrm'n. If every one of those points was an atom, it should have taken forever to cross the several feet of darkness that shut Maxwell off from the rest of the world, but he quickly realised it was simply a matter of scale. Scale and focus.
Leaving the boundary of Vyrm'n's matter, Maxwell took in what the Faceless' senses showed him. He could differentiate everything at an atomic level, every point of existence singing out to Maxwell the nature of its being in the same way Vyrm'n's particles did. The song of the air and earth and wind and walls was somewhat quieter than the cacophony within Vyrm'n, but the sheer abundance of EVERYTHING else and its associated singing was almost enough to drive Maxwell insane. He wondered how Vyrm'n managed to avoid it, and listened to Vyrm'n's song again for clues. Focus on one thing. That would do, Maxwell thought to himself. To start with, he listened to the air. Maxwell heard the wind, and not just the song its constituent atoms of air and dust sang to him. The vibrations of sound resonated in Maxwell, matching a known sound and let him recognise it as wind.
Extending his range of consciousness even further, Maxwell noticed the other feature of Vyrm'n's "vision": The matter of sentience was brighter, its song louder, than the rest of the music around it. Maxwell could "hear" the presence of Galus, Samuel, Cabaret, the Sunset, and of course Vyrm'n easily. He counted them and noted their positions, before remembering he was supposed to be looking for the missing two.
Restoring his focus to the patch of earth where Armidillo and Gestalt had last been, Maxwell was surprised to see their song was still present, though quieter than the non-sentient matter of this plane. In a process akin to tuning, Maxwell shifted some facet of his being until their song reached the volume similar to what Vyrm'n's had been. He noticed that while Vyrm'n's was still strong, the others' songs had faded into the background.
He glanced around at the matter on this plane, and was amazed to find himself in a lush, beautiful garden. Living things without sentience, again, had their own song; not as loud as sentience but louder than dead matter; which was richly complicated to suit each atom's complex story of use and reuse in plants and animals since the dawn of time.
The professor looked at Maxwell in amazement. "What on earth are you doing here?" Maxwell started, and couldn't really find an answer. He noticed on that on this plane, he was stuck in the position he was entrapped in within Vyrm'n on the other plane. As such, it was rather awkward and his feet weren't touching the ground. He must've looked rather stupid.
Back on the barren plane, Vyrm'n noted all of this, albeit with a vision slightly obscured by the cry of matter in this plane. The process to extricate Maxwell from the garden was easy enough, to break the connection should do it as Maxwell was still, technically, residing on this plane also. Noting its friend's embarassment, Vyrm'n adjusted his body so Maxwell stood a little more normally, though his feet still didn't touch the ground.
Vyrm'n took in Maxwell's words. They fell in the Faceless' mind like drops of water upon a pot earth as barren as the ground the two sat on. It was a stream of consciousness, without the usual filtering and purifying which went on before it reached you. Somehow, that always made the words seem more distant; tools to effect a change you saw, rather than the change itself.
In comparison, Maxwell's rambling engulfed Vyrm'n's psyche, and the dark spirit revelled in it. It was a flow that neither demanded nor rejected response from the Faceless, happy with it either listening or responding. It was exactly what Vyrm'n had longed for, without realising it, in the harsh laboratories it had been experimented in; harking back to the long-forgotten shared song all the Faceless sung in unison at the edge of the universe.
His is a beautiful soul, Vyrm'n thought to itself. The only beautiful thing I have seen since... ever. I must protect him.
"... the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget..." Something in Vyrm'n stirred at those last words. Maxwell seemed to detect its response, and glanced up at the Faceless. "Yes?"
I... know where my family are. I suppose, if I had freedom, I'd go back to them. But... I don't know why. Why I want to. Something in me does know, but I don't remember... Maxwell was about to reply, when suddenly the Faceless rushed off its seat, almost leaving Maxwell sprawling.
"What happened?" The Faceless' demeanour had completely changed, hackles of jagged crystalline nature rose from the bend in its towering bulk. Maxwell, uncertain, placed a hand on the smooth darkness-
What'sgoingonwheredidtheygothere'stwomissingbutist illsensethemwhat'shappeningthisisimpossible
and swiftly pulled his hand away with the rush of uncontrolled thought coursing through the Faceless. It darted across the ground until it stood in front of the spot where the Professor and the golem had been only moments before. Maxwell caught up some moments later, trying to figure out what the Faceless was staring at. Vyrm'n's focus was shuffling between what registered in his senses and Maxwell, who stood there looking confused. Suddenly, the array of knives and other parts of Gestalt emerged from the dark being, and fell to the ground with an unresponsive clatter.
Withdrawing its preferred writing-knife, Vyrm'n carved roughly in the ground:
<THEY ARE STILL HERE BUT NOT HERE.>
Maxwell blinked, and studied the offending patch of ground. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "What am I supposed to be-" Vyrm'n grabbed him roughly, and pulled him infront of the Faceless so its bulk towered over him. A single thought echoed through their link - You will see it as I see - And then before Maxwell had time to respond, it lunged forward and engulfed the man in darkness.
Maxwell thrashed and tried to escape, but the darkness soldified around his limbs and face and would not yield. He noticed, at least, it had given him enough space to breathe. A moment later, Maxwell tasted fresh air coming through a gap to his mouth, although the channel must have been curved for no light reached him. To see like the blind, you must blind also, explained Vyrm'n. Maxwell didn't respond; he was trying to conserve his breath in case something went wrong, and still hadn't gotten the hang of replying in the same manner to the Faceless.
The connection opened again, but this time, Maxwell sensed the creature's entire being rushing at him like a torrent. At the front was a message. Take it. I will protect you. Maxwell couldn't have refused even if he wanted to. The Faceless' being engulfed him, dissolving and consuming the existence of Maxwell Deakin.
An instant later, the rushing stopped. Maxwell tried to open his eyes, but somehow found the notion ridiculous. Trying to stand, or move, seemed to yield a similar reaction from his mind. He extended his consciousness around, to see what was there, and found Vyrm'n all around. A blizzard of light swirled around Maxwell, although this blizzard appeared slowed down, every mote heading in an indiscriminate direction at a pace that would take forever. Every single piece sang out a story that rang in Maxwell's hearing; or what had substituted for that sense. Although the song was shouted at by every atom, no two in time, Maxwell managed to get the gist of some of it.
This is Vyrm'n, Maxwell thought to himself. My point of reference hasn't moved. That would mean... he extended his consciousness out beyond Vyrm'n. If every one of those points was an atom, it should have taken forever to cross the several feet of darkness that shut Maxwell off from the rest of the world, but he quickly realised it was simply a matter of scale. Scale and focus.
Leaving the boundary of Vyrm'n's matter, Maxwell took in what the Faceless' senses showed him. He could differentiate everything at an atomic level, every point of existence singing out to Maxwell the nature of its being in the same way Vyrm'n's particles did. The song of the air and earth and wind and walls was somewhat quieter than the cacophony within Vyrm'n, but the sheer abundance of EVERYTHING else and its associated singing was almost enough to drive Maxwell insane. He wondered how Vyrm'n managed to avoid it, and listened to Vyrm'n's song again for clues. Focus on one thing. That would do, Maxwell thought to himself. To start with, he listened to the air. Maxwell heard the wind, and not just the song its constituent atoms of air and dust sang to him. The vibrations of sound resonated in Maxwell, matching a known sound and let him recognise it as wind.
Extending his range of consciousness even further, Maxwell noticed the other feature of Vyrm'n's "vision": The matter of sentience was brighter, its song louder, than the rest of the music around it. Maxwell could "hear" the presence of Galus, Samuel, Cabaret, the Sunset, and of course Vyrm'n easily. He counted them and noted their positions, before remembering he was supposed to be looking for the missing two.
Restoring his focus to the patch of earth where Armidillo and Gestalt had last been, Maxwell was surprised to see their song was still present, though quieter than the non-sentient matter of this plane. In a process akin to tuning, Maxwell shifted some facet of his being until their song reached the volume similar to what Vyrm'n's had been. He noticed that while Vyrm'n's was still strong, the others' songs had faded into the background.
He glanced around at the matter on this plane, and was amazed to find himself in a lush, beautiful garden. Living things without sentience, again, had their own song; not as loud as sentience but louder than dead matter; which was richly complicated to suit each atom's complex story of use and reuse in plants and animals since the dawn of time.
The professor looked at Maxwell in amazement. "What on earth are you doing here?" Maxwell started, and couldn't really find an answer. He noticed on that on this plane, he was stuck in the position he was entrapped in within Vyrm'n on the other plane. As such, it was rather awkward and his feet weren't touching the ground. He must've looked rather stupid.
Back on the barren plane, Vyrm'n noted all of this, albeit with a vision slightly obscured by the cry of matter in this plane. The process to extricate Maxwell from the garden was easy enough, to break the connection should do it as Maxwell was still, technically, residing on this plane also. Noting its friend's embarassment, Vyrm'n adjusted his body so Maxwell stood a little more normally, though his feet still didn't touch the ground.
peace to the unsung peace to the martyrs | i'm johnny rotten appleseed
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow