World Tree MUSH

    "Quite the plot twist... don't you think?" asks Kafka, eyes closed, a wistful smile on her lips.

    Something seems off, but Jessica isn't quite sharp enough to pick up one exactly what the problem is. So she furrows her brow, splays her ears, and thinks hard for a moment.

    Finally, the catgirl sighs and grumbles, "You could have just hired us." Well, that would work for her. Maybe not so much the others.

    THANKFULLY Svarog stands down.
    Clara, however is frowning. 
    "So this was all a set up to get us to come so they would owe us a favor so that when we needed a favor they'd have to offer... That feels so roundabout." The girl says, boggling.

     Some of this doesn't seem to add up, Talia thinks. She furrows her brow at Kafka, sighing. "This is needlessly convoluted, I must admit." She grumbles. Something about Kafka just feels like she's been playing everybody here. And yet, Talia can't prove it yet.

    Kafka sighs. "Like I said: Elio withheld key pieces of information from me. The future holds endless possibilities. Knowing the right thing at the wrong time could spoil all our hard work." She sighs, dipping her chin, and looking up through her eyelashes. "There is only one thing I can tell you about the future: In the best /and/ worst cases, you will eventually have to face Nanook the Destruction. When that time comes, you will need all the help you can get. It will be a brutal struggle of Aeonic proportions... ones that neither you, nor I, nor the Express, nor even your out-versal companions will ever be able to reach. In the vast majority of futures that Elio has seen, that is when destiny ends... but" she dips her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "If we follow Elio's plan, there may yet be a glimmer of hope on the horizon." Her lips turn into a sly little smile. "You know, Stelle..." eyes shift, taking in all the people, then lock back onto Stelle. "Even Aeons can be killed."

    "... You cannot be serious." That's Svarog speaking up.
    "The odds of success in a direct encounter with Nanook the Destruction are infinitesimally small."
    But Clara purses her lips as she looks up.
    "But there is still a chance, right? There is still hope, isn't there?"
    This... This silences the ancient machine as he sets a giant hand gently on Clara's head.

    When the logic driven robot is confused and in disbelief you know it's bad. Talia isn't quite up to date on what a Nanook is, mind. "Hope has led to a lot before." Talia says.

    "Well sure," Jessica points out. "Lots of things are possible, but that doesn't mean they're um... very likely or easy!" She huffs, and glances down at her pistol. "And why is that strange?"

    The catgirl shrugs, "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

    "That's right, it would be impossible for a human." remarks Kafka, smiling sardonically at Svarog. "But then, I didn't bring humans into the picture, did I?"

    She turns to look up at the rotating mechanism of the Matrix. "Long the Permanence, Idrila the Beauty, Ena the Order, Tayzzyronth the Propagation..." her eyes flick down to Stelle, Welt and March. "Akivili the Trailblaze. These names were once known all over the universe, but now, THEY've all but disappeared, leaving behind Masterless Paths."

    Turning back to properly face the group again, Kafka continues. "There are three known ways an Aeon can perish. One, Paths collide. Those with overlapping concepts will eventually collide, with the broader path absorbing the narrower one. That's how The Order was assimilated by Xipe the Harmony." She lifts her bound hands, extending one finger. "Two, War between Aeons. The stronger side eliminates the weaker one. That's how Tayzzyronth the Propagation fell. And under guidance from The Hunt, the Alliance seeks to destroy The Abundance... so they too are engaged in this process." A second finger extends, and a sly smile cracks her lips again.

    Clara's eyes cross. The Aeons may have once been known all over the universe but now Clara is curious...
    "..." She ponders for a beat staring Kafka down as the woman explains the first two ways an Aeon can die.
    "... What's the third way?"

    Talia remains silent, fixing Stelle with a look briefly. Could there be OTHER Aeons around still, just in hiding? Either way, Stelle won't be on her own regardless.

    As for Jessica, she knows nothing about these beings. To her, it's all just a lot of really confusing chatter. Not that she isn't listening at all, but she too frowns when Kafka only lists two ways after saying there were three.

    "I'm guessing you're trying to arrange two to meet in some way," Jessica says. That's how she do it if those where the only options.

    "Hold on... any minute now~." is Kafka's reply to the questions about the third way. "Ahah! It's begun~." she purrs... and the entire Delve shudders as if something alive were stirring beneath the surface.

    A rush of wind blasts across the open platform, almost threatening to lift and toss the lighter people up and away with the force of it.

    In the distance, that once dead tree is moving, stirring to new, unnatural life as golden light fills its branches, and new leaves sprout from its once bare boughs... eerily similar to the leaves and vines that 'infest' the corrupted CLoud Knights, and others.

    During this confusion, Kafka's bindings shatter, and she casually strolls to the edge of the platform. Stelle spots this, and moves to intercept, but a tall man with black hair, menacing orange-red eyes and an obsidian blade that looks like it was forged back together with frozen magma lands, pointing his sword at the gray-haired Trailblazer.

    "C'mon Bladie~" coos Kafka. "Two more places to visit." she says, then with a smooth motion, she turns from looking over the edge, to falling over it backwards... followed quickly by the man who just dives headfirst off the platform in pursuit.

    Talia drops her shoulders and she lets out a soft sigh, "Always on the move..." She mutters, before she dives after Kafka nonchalantly. She quite literally steps off the edge, her cloak fluttering in the wind as she makes her descent. It seems like this is the only way they'll be getting any answers now...

    Jessica raises her pistol, but she can't get a good shot before Kafka is already over the edge. That makes her hiss, a rare sound from her, but it does sound like a cat's hiss.

    "Looks to me like your divination isn't as good as her divination. She knew exactly what was going to happen."

    "Wait what's begu--" The tree. Clara looks that way as it stirs and-- the wind hits.
    "WAH!"
    Clars IS one of the lighter people in the group.
    She goes flying at Jessica as she's bowled off her feet. "Awawawa!"

    March grunts, pushed back by the gale. Her footing gives out and she ends up pinned against Svarog's leg while the wind lasts... luckily for both her and Clara it isn't a sustained wind.. but now there's multiple new issues. Kafka and Blade are loose on the ship, and the Ambrosial Arbor has reawakened.