Terminus: Centricon-Eternal 1

[15:21] Empusa says, "Greetingsss kin."
[15:26] Terminus appeared to be brooding... Mulling over something... Otherwise, idling.
(Terminus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[15:26] Terminus says, "Hm? Ah, Empusa... And Orfeas..."
[15:26] Empusa says, "Yes, yes...Greetingsss Terminusss."
[15:27]
{Character Loaded, IC Year: 2126}
[15:27] Orfeas says, "Mhmm... Hello, Terminus...."
[15:38] Terminus was... Of an awkward size for this tent.
An encampment arranged by Vana'Rath, was moreso outfitted for humans...
Given his size and height? It required Terminus to hunch over, draping its four arms across most of his half of the encampment.

With the two others entering in two, it was getting too cramped for its liking. Besides, it had done enough idling...
The candidate it had selected was awake and present.

"Perhaps, now is the time..." It declared outright, making its first step for the entrance.

As it walked, one of its arms closest to Orfeas' side of the encampment curled in to dig itself into a scabbed pit that Terminus refused to actively regenerate, squelching as its digits searched about. By time he was looming for the outside, the hand would re-emerge, revealing...

A flesh-vial: A substitute for a daemonic alchemist with no casual access to glass containers nor glassmaking. The cap was forged of a finger-bone segment, that once snapped open would reveal a culmination of Kar'anann and Basilisk's blood, diluted with magus-conjured water and Terminus' essence. The concoction was riddled with the taint of Undeath...

"Your endeavors will be assured by my Will..." The arm, unoccupied by handing over the boon on Orfeas' side beckoned their approach. As for Empusa, it was likely that their audience was implicitly expected.
(Terminus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[15:46] The youth had some form of paper prepared, and set upon the table by the time Terminus was aware of their presence- Though, before mention of it could be made? Terminus declared it was the time for... Well, something.

Ominous.

The youth could not help but wince at watching the Harbinger dig into their own pit of flesh- The wound evidently unhealed, despite the capability being there.

Only to watch as the perturbing vial was produced from it. Disgusting, though handy as a means of storing things, they supposed.

Words were about to spill forth from the lad's own mouth at last- But again, they faltered. Not due to reluctance in any capacity. But rather, they were beckoned.

A brow was raised, but nonetheless? The youth would rise from their seat on the stool nearby, eventually centering themselves before the harbinger, a curious glint in their eye. The matter of the potion could wait.

Still, they did not speak for the time being. Assuming that the other had yet more to say. Lest all remain quite cryptic.
(Orfeas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[16:06] One step after another...
Until it had come to a clearing on the island...

How many years had it been, since it had spawned from the depths of Hel.
How many times had others threaten to slay this incarnation upon the mortal plane? Foiled time and time again... But no more...
It had all come to this...

A translucent mauve miasma hissed from his image, as he took his last step forth -- and laid eyes to the night skies above.

This time, there were no more distractions...
"I have sacrificed countless humans and demons alike to conjure powers beyond the initial scope of the Occult that most would come to know... To understand on this plane of existence..." Their arms extended out, as though to finally embrace the cosmos high above...
As though to take in the stars and all they hid beyond them.

"I have studied countless texts... and observed countless magics... To find myself limited from the capacity of humans..." It explained, "--for I have no soul... Thus, the powers of the Fel I was born from? Are beyond me..." An admission of a lack of power? That seemed undemon- "But there are plenty of means to transcend..."

Hands grasped into tight fists, sounding off akin to strained leather. Muscles seemed to flex, reflexively to a build of mana from within his person. It was being siphoned from... everything. The soiled below, and grasses upon it. The air...
And even... Terminus himself.

A grit of teeth, and close examination would reveal the atrophying of his anatomy. This spell he was conjuring was taking some time, and clearly was taking a physical toll on his persona. However, there could be no mistake...
As the powers of the occult stirred, and illumination further encapsulated the ancient with its lavender pyre? It was undeniable that he was repeating that same ritual he was attempting to cast before.

Wouldn't that simply destroy him? Consume the immediate area in an explosive burst?

To what end...?
There was still some time to speak on it...
To perhaps, even reason with him...
Though, there was always the curiosity... What if, he were simply allowed to follow through with it?

(Terminus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[16:19] The youth opted to simply follow along as the Harbinger lead out beyond the small scope of the encampment's walls.

Listening as they took position, and spoke. Mentioning of the countless that were sacrificed just to come to this point in their existence.

To understand the plane in which they lived. Understanding the capacity of humans, and creatures with souls, however mortal they may be. And in such, also what they were shut off from in terms of accomplishment. Denied the very Fel power they were born from.

Then? Came the familiar sensation. Of the gathering of extremes amount of power. Their brows tensing, as they watched. This time? Making no effort to sway them from it.

The conviction in the words they spoke- About transcendence. They betrayed a little more of what they were doing. It was by no means, an attempt to destroy themselves, as far as the boy could now tell.

Instead, opting for idle conversation amidst it all.

"I am... Aware... That many opportunities exist... Some seek gods... Some seek Fel patrons... Some even attempt... To find power on their own... Through Necromantic arts...

Just as I... Seek the Dream... For my... Purposes..."

The implication of that, now apparent and clear, with the context of both these words, and those of Terminus.

The child as well, sought more than what their gaunt vessel permitted of them. But through different means than the ritual that Terminus had evidently discerned for this very moment.
(Orfeas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[16:25] Empusa was still trying to put together what was going on and see why Terminus was acting the way he did. Initially, she thought maybe him and Orfeas were plotting on her behind her back, but that was a thought she'd keep to herself.

Serpentine eyes gazed upon the wispy skurn of human corpses, wondering just what it was he was doing and why. She sat there, watching the creature wither away before her very eyes.

But the she'd turn towards Orfeas, her precious son and move out to bring him close to her. That is, in the event Terminus exploded and she needed to get both herself and Orfeas out of harms way.

But as for now, she remained silent.
(Empusa)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[16:25] Empusa was still trying to put together what was going on and see why Terminus was acting the way he did. Initially, she thought maybe him and Orfeas were plotting on her behind her back, but that was a thought she'd keep to herself.

Serpentine eyes gazed upon the wispy skurn of human corpses, wondering just what it was he was doing and why. She sat there, watching the creature wither away before her very eyes.

But the she'd turn towards Orfeas, her precious son and move out to bring him close to her. That is, in the event Terminus exploded and she needed to get both herself and Orfeas out of harms way.

But as for now, she remained silent.
(Empusa)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[16:41] The hum of malefic energies whined their incessant song for the air to all unfortunate enough to behold it. The air wafted, flickering and glitching within close proximity. The surging of mana betwixt the matter of the Occult and Spatial Manipulation triggered a warping at Reality on the most minute of levels. He was actively fighting at ancient curses, versus the physical ones of the immediate age.

Reverse Occultic Casting was applied upon himself, but there was seemingly no target - no subject to be relegated to receive the essence borne of such artistry. Instead, the aura forged an opaque spheroid, obscuring the elder Kaor into naught but a silhouette. Somewhere beneath it all, Terminus could finally smile...
He was all in one piece, and finally able to execute his fullest potential.

Flashbacks to his initial debut upon Meranthe wrought him back...
Back to a time, when he had beheld a Kaor having finished their battle with a religious magi. At the time, he was nothing more than a Mega-Class in stature.

"Ah... I forgot that Kaor's name..." He thought to himself, amongst this flashback.

'They kill us, in the name of their Gods...' It spoke...

"Yes... Yes, they do..." Terminus answered to his flashback memory.

'Can I... Become... God?' -- asked a mega-class Terminus, human-sized, peering up to their master of olde.

'Perhaps... In time...'

"Ah, yes... I remember now..." Terminus thought to himself once more.

"Balor..." It spoke quietly to himself, "I, am Become God... Harbinger of The End..." Transmogrification seemingly tickled at his image, further blurring it from the outside.

That was... Until the spell was finally cast, by uttering the demon's true name:
"Usque Terminus."
A flash of blinding light, and the spheroid it had coalesced around itself finally gave way. However, rather than exploding recklessly in all directions? It coned upward, courtesy of the Spatial Manipulation at play.

The earth quaked and tremored...
Shattering akin to crumbling glass...
A pillar of lavender light skewered for the skies above, parting clouds to form an aerial halo. The gales conjured wicked at trees nigh and even those spectating. All the while, the shadow of Terminus within this chasm was atomized. The demon's laughter unceasing throughout, before a final 'answer' from the skies above, smited where Terminus stood.

The pillar abruptly collapsed, casting for a shockwave that threatened to brush back Orfeas and Empusa without abandon. Dust and debris were kicked up... And in the aftermath? Ebonic static danced across the ruin...
A crater was left...
But the daemonic image of Terminus? Was gone...

Instead...
At the pit of the crater, lied... A book?
A grimoire...
Its cover forged of daemonic flesh -- Terminus' flesh. Grotesque eyes skittered their glance from its topside, scanning the immediate environment it found itself bound to.

Despite the fact that Terminus had disappeared...
His presence? Was very pungent... As though, a spell was still being cast...
His laughter seemed to continue, albeit... Disembodied.

Had it done it? Was this... Transcendence?
Not in the form of a hulking fleshy transformation, but rather...
(Terminus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[16:42] {Item} You throw Centricon Of The Eternal.
[16:54] No effort was made to stop Terminus from what they had desired to accomplish here, under the starlit night sky. The youth was unmoving, as they watched the form of the Demon go up in profane light.

Their visage softening slightly as they witnessed their form steadily atomize within the pillar.

For it seemed, as though, despite the words they spoke- Revealing even their true name unto the audience they would seek to ascend before? It had failed.

But on, did that laughter go- Not even a mere echo. A continuation beyond the confines of physicality.

"They..." The youth paused, watching as the pillar thinned to naught. And finally making an approach to the crater. Recalling the words from before. When they had spoken upon matters related to this. The last time they attempted this rite.

Gazing upon the tome left in the wake of the Harbinger's physical disappearance, they knelt down to pick it up.

And examine it closely. Staring the living grimoire eye-to-eye.

"So... This was... The route they... Would take... Abandoning... Flesh... For immaterial... Form...?" They'd presume.

Impressive, to say the least. If not peculiar. And it left the question, of what may have happened, should this have been attempted last time- With less resolve than this exact moment?

"But... I am unsure... What this... Book... Is... If it was... One of his belongings... That survived... or... Otherwise..."
(Orfeas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[16:57] Terminus's voice (to Orfeas): You, are a prime Candidate... <*From Book*> Behold my texts, and study of inevitable Truth.
[17:05] And yet again, after all this time of watching...…Empusa was still confused as to what all was going on. In what appeared to be some sort of implosion, with lavender light coming from the very heavens above them, Terminus vanished from sight, but his presence didn't. In fact, that foul sense of ease only became more and more apparent as Empusa looked around, trying to identify a physical form to match the voice that was echoing all around them.

Serpentine eyes, slitted and yellow in color, focused on the centricon that was left in the absence of Terminus. Empusa, curious as to what it was, slithered closer to Orfeas and extended her hand towards him.

"Orfeasss. Let me sssee that...I'd like to take a look at it." There was an ominous feeling about the area still, almost as if she was still being watched by an unknown presence. But she'd focus on the object that appeared and not anything else.
(Empusa)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[17:13] Orfeas was close in his assumption, though there were a few faults. At the core of it all, despite the Demon Patron's claims - it was still of daemonic origin. It was incapable of taking to a spiritual form - there was no soul to forge such a spirit.

Thus, it had to compensate. An extreme amount of time with an extraordinary list of magical arts applied to its arsenal allowed it to initiate powers of the transmundane vastly beyond the average demon. The same abilities that allowed for anatomical transmogrification into an element of choice could be amplified, tens if not hundreds of times over. In this case, while Terminus no longer took a physical form as he did before? His essence was spread out across the scope of the island.

It was akin to a subtle ebonic fog, but the tether to the Centricon was without question. Every ebb... Every shift...
The sway of the trees, the scampering of the rodents... Even the subtle wilt of flowers could be felt… But this omnipresence was very limited: False in nature. There was so much beyond it, that it couldn't feel...

This, was something he hadn't felt since the destruction of Abendrot. Since the Aspect Of Change itself, and Varrach destroyed it all. The regenerative process Terminus took, forced it to take an unorthodox form. One that spread himself out across a vast distance... Which made this, merely an evolution of such.

Physical contact with the Centricon established a strong, albeit abrupt psionic link between him, and the user...
Allowing him to speak clearly...
But otherwise? It would appear that the sacrifice of the majority of his flesh, left his other abilities drastically weakened.
(Terminus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------