"Runs around everywhere?" Aegeas said, smiling. "Doesn't know what sarcasm is? Won't shut up? Too nice for his own good? Yep, that's Taber."
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
@meltheplat, I'd love to have you as a part of this roleplay! Do you want me to PM you so we can figure out how to get your character(s) into the story?
Codix took a deep breath. "I have no idea what's going on, but shouldn't we be focusing on how we're being cloned?" he said, pointing at pod closest to him. He couldn't even begin to comprehend why someone would clone him of all people. Sure, he was an alien. But why choose him, and how had they done it? Wouldn't he have noticed if someone had suddenly appeared and taken something with his DNA on it?
He looked back down at the rows. What made even less sense was the presence of the guy who looked just like Kartiel. Same black hair with platinum highlights, same facial structure, same type of body. Was this how gods regenerated? He didn't seem that godlike to Codix if that was the case; he seemed like an alien filling a predisposed role.
And he didn't like it all.
He had to get a good look at the guy in the pod, just to check that he really was Kartiel. He went to take a step forward. But before he could even put his foot down, a man emerged from behind one of the pods on the other side of the room. "I should have locked the door," the man said. And then Codix felt a chill race up his spine, because the red dot suddenly made sense.
All of Bo’s warnings about not jumping to violence likely sounded like bs as his gun went from his side to trained on the man who’d suddenly appeared. It didn’t take him more than a second or two to do the math.
It was a wraith. Apparently wraiths could talk, but he would waste no time shooting the guy if he made one more move even slightly towards the others or himself.
“Don’t move,” Bo barked coldly, his tone much different from the warm and familiar one he’d used with the others. “You’ll tell us immediately who you are and why we’re here, and why you’re cloning us. Anything else will be considered a threat and I will not hesitate to do what is necessary.” Or in other words, kill him.
Aegeas turned around slowly, eventually catching site of the stranger walking from behind one of the pods. His blood froze. He wasn't sure if this was the wraith, since the stranger could talk. However, any stranger here couldn't be trusted. They could be the wraith, or Kartiel, or some other dangerous creature. Better to trust Bo's instincts. Aegeas hadn't pegged Bo as a soldier, or much of a fighter, but that tone of voice and raised weapon reminded him of a warrior.
Pulling out his sword, Aegeas pointed it at the stranger. Bo had already said everything that needed to be said, so Aegeas kept silent.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
The wraith sighed and raised his hands in temporary mock surrender. "I hate when people don't listen to what I've said," he complained, a look that was a mixture of frustrated and tired appearing on his face as he did so. "Although I suppose since some of you weren't there the last time I met Bo, I can give you an explanation."
He lowered his hands and did a little bow. "Kartiel, god of souls, at your service. You're here because your souls are restless and I needed a test run of Atlantis - but I'm sure you've already shares that with each other."
Codix gaped at him. How could he be looking at Kartiel? Sure, they both had the same color hair that was probably the same length - long and black, with platinum blond steaks throughout. But this guy was a wraith, and Kartiel was human in appearance!
"But isn't Kartiel over there?" Codix nervously asked, raising a hand and pointing at the man in the pod.
The wraith followed his gaze. "Yes and no. That body is mine, but it's currently a bit... empty right now."
So this was indeed Kartiel, that was something of a relief. I believed that he might be more easily reasoned with than an insatiable creature that feeds upon life.
But what was it that he meant about restless souls? That must have been a lie. I loved my home, I loved it all from the murky sunless seas and forsaken ruins up to the cobblestones and bricks to the glowing stones in the great black ceiling of the Neath. And I was still irrevocably devoted to the cause that lead me there to begin with.
And yet... And yet, did I not spend my last moments at home drinking to forget my purpose? Aye, and moved on to drugs when the wine was not enough. Had I really wished so hard to forget my brother, that my soul called out to be moved? Had I betrayed him? I must have.
A foreign and unusual desire came to me. It was the desire for atonement. I knew then that I had to stop at nothing to escape this exile.
But there would be little I could do if Bo or someone else got Kartiel's guard up first. I needed to let him think he held all the cards if I was to get anywhere with him. I had to step in, before any damage could be done.
I left my position in the group, stepping in not too far ahead from Bo, to meet our mysterious foe. I sheathed my dagger, and lifted my hands in a friendly gesture. Hopefully this would draw the attention away from my well-armed friends.
''Forgive my easily startled companions, we thought we would be meeting a real Wraith in here. How thankful I am to be mistaken.
Illustrious Kartiel, I am Boris Dietrich, glad to make your acquaintance. I admit that the world I come from does not know of you, but I would be amiss not to pay my respects to the God of Souls when I meet him. Tell me, to what do I owe the great honour of this felicitous meeting?''
Bad souls have born better sons, better souls born worse ones -St Vincent
Kartiel took one look at Boris before a laugh escaped him. It would have been terrifying solely based on its suddenness, but this was even more so when it was coming out of the mouth of a wraith.
"I never thought the day would come when someone tried to flatter me," Kartiel said. He had stopped laughing, but there was still an amused look on his face. "Should I be offended or impressed? You must be trying to manipulate me, but there's just something satisfying about being considered powerful enough to need flattery as a means of manipulation in the first place."
He turned his attention to Bo, who was standing only a foot or so behind Boris. "I could pretend that this was all some part of my evil plan, but no villain in their right mind would ever let his little test group end up in his secret laboratory. The truth is that I didn't choose to be a wraith. Mistakes happen - if things had gone the way they should have, I should have been in that body."
He pointed at the pod with the man inside of it.
"But they didn't, so now I'm currently using a body meant to be more an emergency one than anything else."
Bo didn’t laugh when Kartiel laughed, but he did feel a slight chill up his spine. If Kartiel possesed bodies, then... it was possible that’s what the bodies in the tanks were for. No. That was what they were for. Bo wanted to ask several questions, but for some reason he was stuck on the wraith and it being a loose end. He lowered his gun.
“And what happens when you’re out of that body? Does the wraith wake up? Or just... what happens in general, when you leave a body, I guess.”
"This body will go into a comatose state once I leave it," Kartiel explained, pointing at himself. "All bodies need souls to function. If it doesn't have one, it's just an empty shell. A soul is what carries your identity, essentially. The wraith can't wake up because there never was one - my soul is the only one that ever resided in it. I'm not some demon possessing unsuspecting people. I was the one who created every single body in this room."
He held his arms out, taking the room in with a wide sweeping gesture.
"I achieved it through a combination of science and magic. A difficult thing to do when Earth, for the most part, has little knowledge on how to successfully clone a person, but I've had a long time and countless realities to build my knowledge from."
Aegeas looked down at his arms. They looked perfectly normal to him, even accounting that one was in a sling. The same fur, the same claw-like fingernails, the same tiny scars from fights. His stomach churned. This wasn't his actual body? This was just some creation of Kartiel's? He felt the blood rushing to his head again. Aegeas couldn't trust this wretched body if it wasn't his own, particularly if it imitated the real one so effectively. What was to stop Kartiel from using Aegeas's own body against him?
Unless Kartiel was lying. Aegeas kept his sword raised and took a step forward. There wasn't any point in killing someone who could take another body, but it made Aegeas feel a bit more secure. "Sorry to mess up your plans," he said.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
"Wait," Codix said, "are you implying that we're clones of our actual selves?" That was crazy! It would have taken an incredibly long time for the bodies to mature, and that didn't account for Nadira - who had never had a normal body in the first place. Kartiel couldn't have cloned her-
He slowly turned to look at her. She wasn't a clone in the traditional sense, but she had to have been made the same way he had made her original, humanoid body. And that was absolutely terrifying. Because while he was certain Kartiel had no control over the actions of their bodies, her body was at the whim of her programmer.
And that person would be Kartiel.
"You're somewhat right, Codix," the god said, ignoring the weapon that was now being pointed at him by Aegeas. "Your body is the clone of the original, but your soul is yours. There is no other you out there in the world. It's just the version of you standing in this room right now."
He thought for a moment. "Though that isn't to say that there might be another you in a different reality. But that's a completely different story, and one that I'm not interested in talking about right now."
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