As the voice echoes past the little island, off into infinity, the knight and the shepherd gather themselves. As they process the past minute they have very different reactions.
The knight stands up the moment she feels the ground stop shaking.
Whereas the shepherd, well…
⟱⟱⟱
The cool smooth gray rock underneath me does nothing to soothe the immense feeling of… of hate that burns inside me. The fucking unfairness of this dimensional hellscape picking me up after years, decades of absolute horseshit finally coming to an end. It makes me-
No… no. No more of this. Behold the glory of Sol. Let its light wash away your worries, your blemishes. You are whole, you are loved, praise Sol.
As the light implanted within me by… by-
Panic sets in as I come upon a hole in my memories, not something I've forgotten, a hole. Because I've not only forgotten the name of the person who gave me the benediction of Sol, I've forgotten everything about them. Not only has this place taken my future, it's also ate some part of my fucking past. I ball my fists, ready to find whoever-
Does the light not soothe? Does your turmoil run that deeply? Do not wo-
I call out to the angel that resides inside my frontal lobe as it fails to recognise my righteous fury. 'Lightbearer, who placed you within my head?"
What an odd question. The benediction of Sol was bestowed upon you by-
The lightbearer stops speaking abruptly.
'Do you understand why I am angry?' Although I am blessed (quite literally) to have them in my head, angels tend to be quite strict in their rulings.
The lightbearer remains silent for a mere moment, doubt in a being that should not be capable of such a thing is something that scares me deeply.
I will curtail only your worst impulses. Your anger is not misplaced.
At least I have that going for me. I can feel the clamps that squish down my emotions lift, the anger is an old friend that quickly smothers the despair I feel at ending up here. Now with the backing of the light, I am ready to deal with anything that comes in my path.
⟱⟱⟱
An unexpected turn of events, to learn of the going-ons inside of what seemed to be a lowly shepherd. While he was speaking to the construct imposed upon his mind, the knight has quickly stepped around the cube, staring off into all directions to see if anything was disturbing the White.
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Had she had better eyes, she could see the ripples of the vibrations in the liquid, moving away in the far distance. But no hidden threats were missed, no monstrous creatures risen from the depths to end the unworthy and thus she turns back to the shepherd. The shepherd who's mumbling a constant stream of invective.
"-and this fucking thrice damned cube too."
With an eyebrow raised and a hand held out, the knight helps the shepherd to his feet. She notes the changes in him, the way he stands up, the certainty in his movements.
The steely determination in his eyes, which don't shy away when she looks at him.
The heavy frown he wears now.
She adjusts her assessment of him slightly, erasing the previous one of bumbling idiot, noting the way he grips his crook has changed too.
She smiles slightly, she can work with this.
"May I ask what your name is?"
The shepherd nods after a moment.
"Yes, my name is- fuck. FUCKING REALLY? EVEN MY OWN FUCKING NAME? REALLY?"
She takes a slight step back, after all this person is still a stranger, slipping into a more comfortable stance to punch his lights out. Something that doesn't seem necessary as he is just angrily screaming at the sky.
She can put the pieces together though, enough context clues- shouted very loudly -to check for herself.
Check and realize she too, cannot recall her own name.
She remains stoic and examines further. She has been trained to deal with beings that can mess with all sorts of things; Looking through her own memories, although the reason is worrying, is nothing compared to fighting a beast that rewrites natural law.
⟱⟱⟱
Hm, the face of a mentor, but not their voice. My birthday parties but not my parents. Could this be brain damage from the fight? If so this entire place is imagined, otherwise the shepherd wouldn't have the same thing happen to him.
Not a useful thought to have, assume it's real. Let's see, a magical effect or curse but oddly untargeted in what it erased, as far as I know. There's edges to the holes which I can sort of trace, which could be intentional, but that would be rather hard to do.
A quick glance around confirms that 'rather hard to do' is currently on the menu. I'm not going to figure this out on my own, nor with the help of the shepherd, so for now, I need more information.
I interrupt the shepherd in his shouting.
"It's the same for me. Gaps in my memory, no clue what my name is." he seems to cheer up a bit from that. "I propose we take a good look through those hills, see if we can find anything."
He nods."I passed an obelisk or something earlier. No clue what that was about, I headed straight for you." He turns towards the hill and starts walking.
The difference is rather stark… well, as long as it gets results, I'm not prying.
⟱⟱⟱
The knight and the shepherd walk into the hills, determined to find answers.
At the same time, far above them in the depths of the Black, an eye manifests and opens. It gazes from the void, awoken by a voice ringing out, its counterpart speaking. It notices the speck of creation in the void.
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