[avalon] IC Inbox

[emet_sulk]

I am currently not available at the moment.
If you were directed here by Hythlodaeus, kindly inform him that any messes he creates are his responsibility to clean up.

If this is Hythlodaeus: Please act like a bureau chief for once in your life and stop referring complaints to me.


(A place for private network messages or overflow threads from Isle of Avalon!)

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Text from Walter's direct number, backdated to late October?

[angel_of_death]

[Walter sends the text late at night. His inverted sleeping hours mean he's wide awake. He isn't sure if Emet-Selch is, too. Most people aren't. But something has been weighing on the boy's mind.]

Are you up?

[A moment's pause, and he follows it up with another text.]

It's Walter.

[emet_sulk]

[ He isn't, but the phone's repeated chime rouses him unwillingly from slumber.

As such, he sends only a monosyllabic reply. ]

What?

[angel_of_death]

Have you ever encountered something that devoured souls before?

I figured, since you're not mortal, you might know about that sort of thing. Or, at least, you'd understand more.

[Than most of the others here, that is.]

Most people here are just obsessed with that dragon that torched Celliwig.

[emet_sulk]

There are many such creatures where I am from. You are speaking of that golem which nearly advanced upon Camelot, I presume?

[angel_of_death]

The giant golem that ceased to move in the Forest of the Felled, yes.

[emet_sulk]

Creatures which consume souls, in my experience, are the sort who require immense amounts of energy in order to function. Unless souls are different here, they ought to contain the greatest concentration of such energy and thus make ideal fodder for a golem.

[angel_of_death]

I've already taken steps to research it. I and another boy actually managed to uncover a small bit of information about it when we went to the Archivist not long after the incidents happened.

I'm still working on it.

[Half a minute later, another message comes through.]

It still bothers me though.

[emet_sulk]

[ At this point he has given up on trying to sleep. He rouses himself - careful not to wake Hythlodaeus - and plods to the kitchen for some water. ]

How so? We consume the lives of other creatures for our existences as well.

[angel_of_death]

It is one thing for the body to die. That sort of death is to be expected. All mortals die, and even immortals are not invulnerable to death. But the soul continues to exist even beyond that death. It's the one part of us with any potential for permanence.

Yet so many here seem more obsessed with physical danger and death than the dissolution of the soul.

It feels backwards to me.

[emet_sulk]

Ah, I see. The death of the soul troubles you.

[ He sighs to himself and rubs his eyes. The light from the device makes him squint and he's drowsy besides. ]

You are not wrong to feel that way. In my world, when the soul is consumed in such a way, it is denied entry into Lifestream. It is effectively a true death for the individual as their aether is absorbed by the consuming creature. But when said creature dies, its aether scatters and the souls return to the Lifestream once more. In this way, I believe, we are reborn.

I cannot say for certain how new souls are created. 'Tis the work of forces beyond my ken, a gift from the star itself - the one thing that my people could never recreate on their own.

[angel_of_death]

This golem they call the Stone Giant might be a part of a greater race of Elemental Giants. It is an ancient being said to have come from a time before afterlives were established, and is said to pull the souls of the dead into the River of Lost Souls. The souls then slowly lose their sense of self, cease to exist as separate entities, and are transformed into raw energy to be put back into the universe.

That is what I have uncovered so far. That, and that it might be here under the goddess Morganna's graces.

[emet_sulk]

Seeing how she has the means to resurrect the dead, that somehow does not surprise me. Whether her designs are for good or ill, however, remains to be seen.

That said, if such is truly how the giant functions, it seems you have no cause for worry. All is returned to the world in time - souls included.

[angel_of_death]

Do you really think a soul can be reconstructed even if it is dissolved?

[emet_sulk]

What you need to understand, boy, is that the soul is not simply some finite amount of aether to be consumed. It simply transfers its energy elsewhere and returns to the aetherial sea upon release. Those souls will find their way back into new life again. I am sure of it.

[angel_of_death]

Thank you for the explanation. I won't keep you any longer.

Good night.

[emet_sulk]

If aught still worries you then you may call upon me during daylight hours.

Good night.