florescences | shadowheart catchall

[i'm throwing us right into it, we're opening a door and are yeeted into the funhouse.

The mirrors lead you and Shadowheart down a path that shows a similar descent into a dark underground temple. The twisting path heads further into the dark, until the reflections that show back to you are only lit by the dim glow of purple lamps.

Shadowheart and three of her traveling companions - Gale, Karlach, Astarion - stand before an altar made of stone, glowing purple. On the altar, an inscription reads, “Brave the Gauntlet of Lady Shar, Surmount Her Trials and Rise a Dark Justiciar.”

The mirrors on the opposite sides of the room reflect other memories, other moments. They’re hazy and dark, you can’t even quite make out what’s down that way, as though parts of the mirrors are hidden from view. But you see reflected in them the story of the Gauntlet of Shar, a legendary place - a secret temple to the goddess buried deep underground in a massive cavern. There, her truest servants will prove their devotion to her by undergoing trials and will be rewarded. You see reflections of Shadowheart asking a woman, whose face is wreathed in shadow, for permission to prove herself, to show that she’s worthy of being made a Dark Justiciar, and being rejected again and again. But the rest of the memories you find that way are dark, and hidden, and there’s a feeling of dread if you even think to approach that particular hallway. There is something quite bad down there.

The better lit path ahead shows the four adventurers still at the ledge overlooking the temple, discussing their options. Shadowheart tries to explain to them what you just saw reflected on other mirrors.

“In order to join Lady Shar’s elite, you had to pass her trials, and then make a sacrifice in her innermost sanctum when you’ve proven yourself. Very few make it that far.”

But all of them are clearly uneasy, not knowing what the sacrifice will be or what it would even mean for Shadowheart to be a Dark Justiciar, other than that she professes it is her innermost desire to do so.

“I’ve dreamed of this place,” she insists, harsh. “This is my destiny.” And then she softens slightly, looking all of them over. Karlach worried, Gale suspicious, Astarion interested in something else that can be found here and skeptical of whatever it is she’s asking. “You know me better than most,” she admits to them, more vulnerably. “But I need to find out whether I’m worthy.”

The skepticism is still there, so she adds - “If I prove myself to Lady Shar, she’ll bless me with power we can use to fight the Absolute, and rid ourselves of these parasites once and for all. Please.”

Other flashes on the walls of other mirrors. A relic buried at the bottom of the temple. The Nightsong, the key to Ketheric Thorne’s immortality. A directive, from a stern, no-nonsense woman with two swords. Find it and destroy it, so Ketheric can be stopped. An image of a fortress, Moonrise Towers, ruled over by a cruel man who cannot die and an army he has absolute control over. Whatever Shadowheart is after, it’s not the only reason to continue. There’s something else important here.

You follow more twisting paths. Despite the reluctance, Shadowheart’s friends help her pass the trials. Puzzles, tests of wit and skill. And at the end of the gauntlet, there is another altar, made a stone, where Shadowheart insists she be the one to cut her hand with a knife and let blood drip down. The altar reveals the prize inside.

From the altar, Shadowheart collects a spear. She’s distracted, and the other side of the mirror reflects back the feelings. Lady Shar herself, encircling, embracing, a presence felt only by Shadowheart, which she does not mention to the others, even as her obvious awe and fear both grow. “I just feel we’re on the right track,” she says, her voice shaky. “I’m right where I need to be, under Lady Shar’s gaze.”

(Video of this part until 2:45)

And despite her misgivings, she goes deeper into the temple. Once they reach the bottom of the temple, arriving at a statue of Lady Shar and a deep pool of water with stairs descending down below, words suddenly are spoken, ones that only Shadowheart can hear. One more test before you. Descend to the Nightsong. Make a sacrifice. Rise a Dark Justiciar..

She kneels before the statue and begins to pray.

The final threshold. You made it, Shadowheart, just as I knew you would. Despite these words also echoing all around, once again only Shadowheart appears to hear this.. Now all you must do is step forwards, and the rest will prove simple.

What do you need of me? Shadowheart’s prayer.

Nothing you are not capable of. The punishing of a wicked Selûnite. All you must do is use my spear to end her light. And then you will become a Dark Justiciar, blessed with my power. You will become my voice to those embrace me, and my sword arm against those who would do me harm.

I will. I will not fail you.

The others ask if she heard something, but she lies, says she was just communing with her goddess, paying respect.

The four descend into the pool and arrive iin another realm entirely, a void of dark shadows, clouds, rocks from some ruin in swirling nothingness, dark purple lightning occasionally lighting up the otherwise murky sky. The Shadowfell, the realm of Lady Shar.

“See my actions, Lady Shar,” Shadowheart prays, speaking out loud now. It seems almost like something she’s doing to calm her nerves, focus her thoughts. “Hear my words of faith. Blessed Nightsinger, witness my adoration. I have emptied my heart of falsehoods. I have vanquished your foes. Lady Shar’s will shall be done, as sure as night shall fall.”

In the platform down below, in the center of it, is a woman. A circle of light surrounds her, and you know that is her prison as much as the chains she is held by. She is a beautiful woman, tall and strong, with pale skin with cracks of gold flecked through it and white hair. But captivity has not been kind to her. She is in rags, dirty, wounded and broken.

More images again on other walls. This woman, called the “Nightsong,” has been kept prisoner here for a century by a necromancer who has sapped the strength and power she was born with for that long to transfer it to the man who rules Moonrise Towers, Ketheric Thorne. But the necromancer is dead now. No one is holding her anymore, except for the spell he cast which has not dissipated.

(Video of this part is here to 2:44, though some stuff is different with dialogue choices and this being an origin playthrough)

“I have felt you come, Sharran” she says, her voice hoarse. “The first in a century.” She looks at Shadowheart directly, expression on her face defiant despite how weak she is. “You, who have come to seek the praise of your wicked goddess. You, who have come to drive a dagger through my heart. Go on, show it to me. Your sword, your knife.” She lunges at you, and she’s held back by her prison.

My spear, child. Shar’s voice also echoes, something only Shadowheart can hear. Pierce her heart with it and become my sword hand, my Dark Justiciar.

“Not a dagger,” Shadowheart spits back, defiant. “A spear. My Lady Shar’s spear.”

“Well, well, well,” she says. “A spear empowered by your goddess to kill the child of a God?” Her voice is furious, dripping with contempt. “But there is much your mistress does not tell you. My death will come at a terrible price, one you will not grasp until it is too late.”

Shadowheart is not alone in this memory. Her companions have stayed silent, maybe surprised by what Shadowheart is doing, but they are looking as though they’re planning to interfere. At least Gale and Karlach are probably not willing to see her murder a woman in cold blood who is currently in chains.

“Her fate is mine to seal alone,” Shadowheart snaps at them.

“The fate you seal is your own,” the woman says. Her voice has lost some of its temper, trying to persuade now. “To be a Dark Justiciar is to turn your heart from everything but loss. You will know no love, no joy, only servitude. Until, of course, your mistress inevitably discards you.”

Shadowheart is still fierce, looking at the woman like she plans to kill her, but if you know her well, if you’re familiar enough to pick up on smaller changes, there’s hesitation, too. What she’s being told is breaking through to her in some way, she’s just resisting it.

“Do you know what I am, little assassin?” the woman, anger back in her voice. “I am Dame Aylin. Out of this hellish realm, I carry my sword for my mother, Selûne. The very sight of me would disgust you if you were a true Sharran. But perhaps you are something more.”

And then Shar’s voice. Shadowheart, do not listen. She seeks to distract, to confuse, to prolong her unholy existence and deny you your destiny. Shut out her words.

There’s another hallway through the house of mirrors that opens at these two conflicting messages. A path through the mirrors, dark, but lit by moonlight; Shadowheart looks down that way, but does not move to travel there. The mirrors in that direction reflect something much older than she is, an ancient war between the goddess of darkness and her sister, the moon goddess. The battles fought in that war, the pieces used, the way one goddess might seek to gain the upper hand against another.

But Shadowheart is focused on Dame Aylin, who is watching her as though she suddenly recognizes her. “Yes, I know you,” she says, as though she’s seen something suddenly. “A lost child, frightened by wolves in the dark.”

Another hallway through the house of mirrors opens in the other direction. And there’s a sense of terror about what lies down that direction. It’s too dark to see that way, but there’s a sound of snarling, howling. There’s pain in that direction. There might be more that way than only pain, but the way is too dark and there’s no way to tell.

Aylin is still speaking. “Much has been promised to you, hasn’t it?” she asks. “But what has been taken from you? What do you know of your own heart, your own life?”

Shadowheart looks down that direction, almost as though she intends to travel that way. There’s a part of her that wants to, wants to see it, and there’s a part of her that’s very, very afraid. She changes her mind, turns away from it. Gathers her resolve.

“Whatever you think you know of me won’t matter,” she says, but she’s faltering a little. “Once I become who I’m meant to be.”

“If you lay your hand on me in friendship, free me,” Aylin says, “I will lay another path before you. But you must decide whether to walk it.”

Enough. Close your heart to her craven words. Strike! Shar’s voice, brokering no more argument, no more hesitation.

“There she is again, isn’t she?” she says, looking directly back at Shadowheart. “Why does she fear truth more than I fear death?”

Reflections on the other mirrors - memories, only half formed, of fear, of duty, of the need to obey. Of kneeling on a stone floor, body growing weak, reciting prayers until they’re right. Of pain. Of growing strong enough to endure it, and the pride in that. Of being told lies and learning to always believe them anyway.

Shadowheart calls the spear to her hands.

There are two directions to take out of the memory, one where Shadowheart plunges the spear into the woman's heart and another where she takes the spear and tosses it off the side of the platform, lets it fall into the abyss. You can decide which one seems like the right path, or else you can explore somewhere else, one of the other avenues that opened up while exploring the memory.

[ there are bits and pieces where elysia has context and so her understanding comes sooner rather than later. it becomes clearer and clearer the longer the scene plays on the mirrors. elysia does not easily forget, and she does all she can to remember.

shadowheart told her something not too long ago, and elysia notices the doubt in the mirror's reflection.

she wishes to see the end of the memory where the spear is tossed aside. ]

[the next scene is here from 3:18 to 5:20

shadowheart holds the spear in her hand, and then she flings it over the edge, into the abyss, getting it away from her before her resolve can falter.

there's nothing, no negative reaction. just aylin's obvious joy, her awareness that she's going to be freed of this prison. she smiles at shadowheart with pride.

"Your path is not yet set. Your future is not yet fixed. Lay a hand on me in friendship, not-quite-Sharran, and I will fight the battle that has awaited me for a century. And then, oh then, will we have much to discuss."

shadowheart does as she's asked, without speaking, still somewhat in shock. it really does only take the hand of friendship from shadowheart to free her. the reason why is complicated, and something shadowheart herself does not know. but there's an image on one of the mirrors, an ancient battle between two goddesses, and in this gesture, a victory for one of them over the other.

aylin rises, her power restored to her, recovering from her wounds and degradation, until she floats above you, a bright glowing angel with a span of feathered wings in resplendent silver armor. but she doesn't stay; she flies from the shadowfell and leaves shadowheart and the others here. there's another battle that is waiting for her.

and in the aftermath of this, despite nothing happening, despite complete silence and no feeling of shar's presence, shadowheart is very, very afraid.

"We must leave," she tells her friends, but there's a sense, as well, that you must escape from this memory now.]

[ sacrifice is nothing new to elysia. neither is choosing to fell or save someone, but she feels there is much at stake here for shadowheart with more hidden meaning that she can't all decipher, things reflected in other mirror fragments that flash away too quickly.

breaking away from the memory, she has to ask: ]

Do you regret your choice? Would you choose differently?

[ she knows shadowheart is already considering what to do with her faith. ]

[hard to say. absently, she rubs her hand.]

I do regret it. Or rather, I did?

[it wasn't exactly easy, to choose to defy shar. to turn on everything she'd been taught and throw away her only opportunity to succeed at the one thing she'd thought she'd wanted all of her life.

and then it went so wrong. she died. she was promised a new path, a new sense of identity - at least the chance to try. but aylin flew away to fight another battle and she never made it long enough to talk to her again, to learn what she knew.]

I tried to change, but it didn't work. It just got me killed. I wanted to know what life could have been without her, but I never learned anything.

If you believe in what the angels have said, you can still change, and you can still learn. I don't think this is the end for you.

[ elysia's confidence is not so unfounded. it takes a lot of courage to make the kind of choice shadowheart did, and even here, dead after making such a choice, she didn't completely lapse into embracing shar's ideals. that says enough to elysia. ]

The way you have acted here - isn't it a continuation of the choice you made? How do you like how you've been here, with the people here?

The you now, even if you're still uncertain, is beautiful to me, and whatever choice you settle with, whatever change... I think will make you even more so.

[she smiles a bit at this, almost exasperated - it's just so elysia to still have faith in her.]

Last week, I saw what my life would be like, if I had embraced Lady Shar. And it was a bit embarrassing, wasn't it?

[i mean, also, she changed completely. she lost all of her feelings, all of her regrets, all of her beliefs. aylin warned her that sacrificing her would cost her a price she didn't understand, that shar had never explained, but now she knows what she meant by that - it changed who she was on such a fundamental level. and then she had feelings again here, and it was driving her mad, knowing what it was like to no longer feel pain or uncertainty and then to be thrust back into it.

it's terrifying, knowing how close she came to completely losing herself. but we can go with embarrassing.]

I don't think I want that, so it leaves me few options.

You were striking then, but I do think you're cuter now.

[ the possibility of last week was real, and it does make elysia wonder how close shadowheart was to making that decision. the past can't be changed, and she is happier to see this shadowheart.

she will let shadowheart keep it at embarrassing. ]

Although if making that choice got you killed, we'll have to think of a way to get around that, right?

Cuter, but less striking? Hmm. A difficult bargain to accept.

[striking is better but, well, elysia is probably not wrong.]

...Yes. I should think so. It's not exactly an easy path I have waiting for me back there.

Aww, Shadowheart, cuter is much more versatile. I should know~

[ she crosses the distance between them and reaches for her hand, the hand that shadowheart was rubbing absently not so long ago. ]

You'll have to tell me how you'll avert the danger that awaits you.

[a small smile at that, but she will take her hand. the mark is still on the back of it, present as ever.]

It's unusual for a goddess to kill a mortal directly. [something happened in a way it wasn't supposed to, to have her wind up here.] I was trapped in her realm, in the Shadowfell, but once I'm free of it, that isn't the concern.

[though she looks at her hand.]

Pain, yes. But it won't kill me. No, she'll send followers after me. I'll only have to be stronger than they are, even without the blessings Shar gave me.

[and despite the fact that she rudely flew away, there's still aylin. and... there's still selûne. who at the least must owe her a debt by now, even if that's still hard to contemplate.]

[ that's confidence enough for elysia. even if it'd better if there were no pain and that followers wouldn't go after her, she doesn't think shadowheart would have an inflated view of her abilities. she remembers there were friends who went with shadowheart, friends she was willing to be vulnerable in front of. ]

All right. I'm appeased enough by that. Shar isn't your biggest concern, but what is....?

[ she tries to remember what else was mentioned in the memory. ]

Parasites?

The parasite is not great.

[though maybe it's more accurate to say that shar is her biggest concern, but she doesn't want her to be.]

I'd like to try... having the things that were denied to me. Knowing who I am, having a future, having things that are mine. That cannot happen until the parasite problem is resolved, but if I'm being honest, that's more worrisome to me.

[ she squeezes her hand gently. ]

You deserve all of those. I don't know what kind of threat the parasite is, but surely, you and your friends are on your way to solving it, right? If your trial was in the middle of it...

[ she does not know enough to dim her optimism yet. ]

I would not be surprised if the solved it without my aid entirely. Although Gale's plan for it was a tad drastic.

[maybe he already blew himself up and ended the whole issue.

also give me elysia memory?]

Gale?

[ before memshare swept us away, elysia would have answered shadowheart in our last thread. she would have said she was battling something that was corrupting her world, the elysian realm. it did not go as planned.

the images in the mirrors change.

the honkai is a threat to elysia's world, to human civilization more specifically. it manifests in monsters, in beasts, in radiation, in illnesses, in natural disasters. it can take over certain humans and create vessels of them and wield unimaginable powers based on a concept they are named for, an authority. that is a herrscher.

it is finally time for elysia to face the herrscher of corruption, and she talks to her first, to understand. it does not mean she will let her live. an enemy remains an enemy to elysia.

this is story with(out) any significance. (2:05:24 to 2:12:14 when it says delete completed )

yay ]

[being so yuri for elysia you become evil... relatable...]

That's how it ended for you?

[even though there are still five minutes left in this video. it seems unfair.]

What will she do?

[ those five minutes could be world ending?

she nods. that was how she ended up here. ]

She has the ability to corrupt and propagate. She can infect and corrupt machines and humans both, so she'd probably fire nuclear warheads at every major city. Nuclear warheads are one of the most destructive weapons of the world I live in.

[thanks for clarifying because she was going to ask.]

So you needed to stop her from spreading, even if it cost you your life.

[ she remembers shadowheart is not modern. she is trying to be good about it. ]

Yeah. I want the current civilization to have a future. That's always been my goal.

When you said you expected your story to come to an end, is that what you meant? You would give your life for this, but you would want the chance to stop her from succeeding?

You understand me.

[ she's pleased, but she'll add more softly: ]

Every story has an ending, but it's never easy for me to say goodbye. I wouldn't have existed for so long, if it was.

Is that all there is, to understanding you?

[that she genuinely means the many wonderful things she says, that she would give her life for those things? shadowheart smiles at that, slightly amused.]

If understanding you means believing in you, then I do. To my surprise, but I do. [it isn't natural for her not to question people, doubt their intentions, but it's hard to doubt elysia.]

[ there's a flicker of surprise that disappears when a smile blooms on her face. of most of the people here, she did think it'd be more difficult with shadowheart. ]

Thank you, Shadowheart. I do enjoy surprising people that way.

[ it's said lightly but no less sincere than she's ever been. ]

It's not all of it, but it is a huge part of it. You asked me once what I was afraid of. I doubted the truth of my existence once.

[ in front of the mirrors, it's more difficult to deflect when she thinks it can reflect what she wants to take time to address, what she'd like to lead people to slowly, but she'd prefer to be the one to say it. at least, in this moment, she prefers it. ]

You doubted the truth of your existence?

[she's not sure whether she means she doubted herself, or if she means it on a deeper level.]

What did you do, to change?

shadowheart catchall

week 3; monday

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