MASKTOURN

5:57 PM

"The soul of one of my incarnations." Naiyta answered simply. @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷

Hm. That was a bit worrying. [At least it narrowed things down somewhat?] Clearly not Albanes- so that left the other five who he'd heard very briefly about; Yeonaixho, Anore, Ttakeqeri- agh, that was only three. Damn. "The soul of one of your incarnations does not...belong in the Fold?" Ace repeated, brows pinched together in a mixture of surprise and doubt. "As in, do not belong in that afterlife specifically, or in the afterlife at all?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"The Immaterial Fold is a realm meant only for the dead." Naiyta said. "And the Lifebringer cannot ever truly die." @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷

"So if the Lifebringer does not belong there, where...do they go, when their reign ends? I thought that this...place, this realm, could only hold two incarnations." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"They are meant to go here, in the citadel. But for as long as that soul remains in the Fold, this realm is only strong enough to fully manifest two incarnations." @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷

"The presence of the Lifebringer in the Fold is weakening this place," Ace slowly said. While he seemed to be retaining all of this information, he still seemed very doubtful of everything. Not that he was going to vocalize that, anyhow. "I see." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"It is. Which is why I need to extract that soul from the Immaterial Fold." @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷

"See, that's the part I don't quite understand yet," Ace sighed, tapping a finger against his arm with slightly more force than necessary. "By 'extraction', you're- what, just going to use the souls of the deceased to get in to the Fold? What then?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Once I'm actually within the Fold, I should easily be able to take my incarnation's soul from it and return back here." @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷

"And the contestants?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"And once I return the fold to its natural state, they'll remain there." Naiyta maintained. "I am not in the interest of bringing back the dead, if that is what you imply." @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷

"I didn't imply a thing," Ace replied. "I was only inquiring." It wasn't a matter of could it revive the dead, but more of would it. How...very unfortunate. And disquieting. "I believe that's all the questions I had anyhow," they sighed. "I only came here to ask about Darcy's punishment." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Mhm. I have business to attend to, anyways." Naiyta abruptly stood up. "Good luck out there. Ace. It's an inhospitable world you've found yourself in." @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷

"Mm," they hummed, stepping back somewhat as it rose. "I...thank you. It, ah. Seems like it is." Oh, it wasn't like they were dragged here to begin with, yes? It was almost like they made the conscious decision to get trapped in this place. Ace began to cross the river again, fighting the urge to turn around and watch Naiyta as they left. They were not paranoid. They were not worried of them. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs (edited)