Prometheus's mind snagged on that little detail: 'survived with our souls intact', 'shards of their souls'. The Xeroran Phenomena hadn't been entirely understood when Prometheus went to investigate it, the reports describing unnatural, persistent starfalls of a magical origin, exploding monster populations, and people suffering from mental degradation that either resulted in suicides or violent insanity. Nothing about sundering of souls - the amount of energy required to shatter the soul upon a physical death was staggering for one person - a Xeroran, to be exact, and not even an Amaurotine whose souls were considerably denser! So, what, the phenomenon couldn't be-
Unless the Sundering occurred during the soul's transition into the Lifestream beneath the planet's mantle? The reports had stated that the phenomenon was heralded by a 'scream from beneath the earth', so, hm, potential parasitical entity, mass-control over monster population to cull physical bodies, to harvest souls when they transitioned from temporary surface Lifestream to the 'Underworld'...? But, no, that would imply the soul was be devoured, not merely shattered. So, not a parasitical entity preying on souls - which was unlikely anyway since Prometheus doubted their planetary survey team would've missed such a dangerous creature lurking in the crust of their star - so, what? Aftereffect from the mental degradation? Erosion of Self, causing soul instability upon violent deaths- that could cause enough weakness for souls to crack, but not shatter to the point of creating shards.
He felt like the answer was there, he had the pieces for it, but his mind simply couldn't assemble the facts into a coherent theory. A dull headache started to thump behind his eyes, and he frowned, lowering his gaze to his knees. He should... know the answer. He felt like he already knew it, but... it was all clouded in fog, smeared and indistinct...
Hades was speaking, and Prometheus reluctantly stirred out of his thoughts. His headache was too distracting to dwell on it any further now.
"Yes, it is..." he said absently, then properly refocused on Hades, studying him closely. It was weird to 'see' with visual sight again - Hades face looked a little different, and so did his hair. Weird. But, the soul was undoubtedly Hades, with a faint fuzzing of Something around the edges. Contamination or scarring from whatever the hell killed off their people maybe?
"Hades," Prometheus started, then paused, because he wasn't sure what to say first. There was a lot to ask, to get clarification on, fuck, even a summary on the history of this world since the apocalypse, apparently. If only three people survived, what... just what have they been doing? Why was Prometheus possessing his memories if everyone else needed Hades, Lahabrea or Elidibus to intervene in their recovery? What was the end state here? Reviving Amaurot? Where would the city go? All these civilisations were already established, and Prometheus didn't want to imagine how these impatient, young races would react to a city of ancient, long-lived beings springing up and recommencing their duties as caretakers of the star. One only had to look at Ishgard-Dravanian relations to understand how violently they acted upon their jealousy and ignorance.
But, he knew Hades probably didn't want to talk about that right now. Stars, he was probably hoping for them to pick up where they left off before Prometheus apparently got killed, or eaten, or Sundered, or whatever the fuck happened to him. He couldn't begrudge him that, and, he supposed there was... time, for Hades to explain. It'd be unfair to demand a comprehensive explanation now, anyways. Right?
Right... yeah, right. That sounded right.
"So, I guess no Hythlodaeus to play mediator when we inevitably squabble about something," Prometheus said quietly. He intended it as a weak joke, but it came out sadder than he intended. He dropped his gaze again, exhaling shortly, "Sorry. I, yeah, it's lucky we managed to find each other like this, despite everything going to shit, apparently. I'm happy you found me, but... I dunno. This is a lot to process..."
no subject
Prometheus's mind snagged on that little detail: 'survived with our souls intact', 'shards of their souls'. The Xeroran Phenomena hadn't been entirely understood when Prometheus went to investigate it, the reports describing unnatural, persistent starfalls of a magical origin, exploding monster populations, and people suffering from mental degradation that either resulted in suicides or violent insanity. Nothing about sundering of souls - the amount of energy required to shatter the soul upon a physical death was staggering for one person - a Xeroran, to be exact, and not even an Amaurotine whose souls were considerably denser! So, what, the phenomenon couldn't be-
Unless the Sundering occurred during the soul's transition into the Lifestream beneath the planet's mantle? The reports had stated that the phenomenon was heralded by a 'scream from beneath the earth', so, hm, potential parasitical entity, mass-control over monster population to cull physical bodies, to harvest souls when they transitioned from temporary surface Lifestream to the 'Underworld'...? But, no, that would imply the soul was be devoured, not merely shattered. So, not a parasitical entity preying on souls - which was unlikely anyway since Prometheus doubted their planetary survey team would've missed such a dangerous creature lurking in the crust of their star - so, what? Aftereffect from the mental degradation? Erosion of Self, causing soul instability upon violent deaths- that could cause enough weakness for souls to crack, but not shatter to the point of creating shards.
He felt like the answer was there, he had the pieces for it, but his mind simply couldn't assemble the facts into a coherent theory. A dull headache started to thump behind his eyes, and he frowned, lowering his gaze to his knees. He should... know the answer. He felt like he already knew it, but... it was all clouded in fog, smeared and indistinct...
Hades was speaking, and Prometheus reluctantly stirred out of his thoughts. His headache was too distracting to dwell on it any further now.
"Yes, it is..." he said absently, then properly refocused on Hades, studying him closely. It was weird to 'see' with visual sight again - Hades face looked a little different, and so did his hair. Weird. But, the soul was undoubtedly Hades, with a faint fuzzing of Something around the edges. Contamination or scarring from whatever the hell killed off their people maybe?
"Hades," Prometheus started, then paused, because he wasn't sure what to say first. There was a lot to ask, to get clarification on, fuck, even a summary on the history of this world since the apocalypse, apparently. If only three people survived, what... just what have they been doing? Why was Prometheus possessing his memories if everyone else needed Hades, Lahabrea or Elidibus to intervene in their recovery? What was the end state here? Reviving Amaurot? Where would the city go? All these civilisations were already established, and Prometheus didn't want to imagine how these impatient, young races would react to a city of ancient, long-lived beings springing up and recommencing their duties as caretakers of the star. One only had to look at Ishgard-Dravanian relations to understand how violently they acted upon their jealousy and ignorance.
But, he knew Hades probably didn't want to talk about that right now. Stars, he was probably hoping for them to pick up where they left off before Prometheus apparently got killed, or eaten, or Sundered, or whatever the fuck happened to him. He couldn't begrudge him that, and, he supposed there was... time, for Hades to explain. It'd be unfair to demand a comprehensive explanation now, anyways. Right?
Right... yeah, right. That sounded right.
"So, I guess no Hythlodaeus to play mediator when we inevitably squabble about something," Prometheus said quietly. He intended it as a weak joke, but it came out sadder than he intended. He dropped his gaze again, exhaling shortly, "Sorry. I, yeah, it's lucky we managed to find each other like this, despite everything going to shit, apparently. I'm happy you found me, but... I dunno. This is a lot to process..."