World of Untold Stories

"Understood." The runes were swiped away, with her deciding to cross her arms as she walked after Alice. "You got any family? That and how long have you been at this and how did you meet your partner?" Some questions to pass the time for now.

That question would have Alice nearly miss a step, before she continued ahead regardless. "I... had... a sister, mom and dad. But I lost contact with them. My first death, before Fate made me immortal, ruined all that. As for Val? We met here in Dalamun, though it was mostly us thinking the other worked for him."

"Five years, huh?" That seemed like one of her quick trips in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, so yes, to her it was rather short. "Still, being immortal means you can play the long game, right? Or do you think these Infernals can and will destroy the planet in given time, making it so that you'll end up in space, where it's cold, there's no oxygen and you eventually stop thinking?" Well that was a horrifying scenario.

Then she mentioned the Infernals destroying the planet, and she paused at it. "I... I doubt they'll destroy it? As far as old records go about them, they once ruled the planet as divinities, but most people assume they're just taking names of said divinities to try and gain power from it. If they were to somehow avoid burning from mana, they'd try to take over and rule? Unless they're omnicidal, then we'll have that issue."

"Hah, here I thought you'd jump at the chance of a stranger offering to do that part and not have you burdened with it, but seems like despite being immortal, you still have quite a lot of humanity left in you." Selene seemed pleased for some reason, before giving a nod, accepting that warning.

"Oh I see, so basically if you take out Fate, you may or may not have to deal with the other concepts like him? Are all of them assholes or ya reckon some would even help you erase him in exchange for some price or another?" A fair question as usual, but for now Selene relaxed a bit.

"Oh if you were anyone else and pissed me off, I absolutely would. But people I like? No, I'm not going to do something like that at all." She'd done it before, and she damn well would do it again if she had to. But she nodded before stopping a bit.

"So... I don't really know how other Infernals would react to us killing Fate, but I have to assume they'll be fine with it. I mean, they must hate him as much as we do, if not more. So it really depends." And a nod would come from Alice as she turned from Selene.

"How long have you guys been immortal and at this whole spiel? If it's been several centuries, then her family likely ain't around anymore, unless they too somehow are immortal?" From the way Valeria explained it, it didn't seem like there were many immortals on this planet to begin with. Maybe they were a long-lived species? She could find out later in a library, if such things existed here.

"So much for keeping a low profile." Ruby muttered to herself and gave a nod. "We can do that then. As promised, I won't do any of the fighting, but if it gets too dangerous and you could get lethally injured or close to dying, I will step in regardless of your wishes." A pause. "Unless you face Fate itself, then I will be watching from the sidelines." Preferably with a bucket of popcorn in hand.

"Five years. We've been at it for five years now. Not very long in the whole scheme of things, but long enough that it's... A painful situation." Valeria shrugged a bit before she would gather her gear up, placing her sword on her back to prepare. Though she glanced over to Ruby again as she nodded.

She could handle being basically allowed to fight and die if she wanted. But stepping in only when she was on the verge of death basically...

Still, Ruby offering to help by keeping her safe? And not killing Fate? Well, Ruby was actually offering some good help rather than pissing her off! Finally!

"I don't know, maybe use the shit in your hat? I mean, the infinite space... I really don't know." She said, but nodded at the other. "Look, I get there's a lot of flaws in it, but I just... I've died enough times I'm sick and tired of it all, damn it! I want to be able to rest, relax, and enjoy my life! Yet I can't because these fuckers like Fate... Exist." She shook her head again.

Does it matter if nobody died? Maybe not to Ruby. But... She took a breath and nodded to herself. What else should she have expected. She had to stop thinking that Ruby would think like her or Alice. She was just her own kind of 'normal'.

"Because it isn't. Life's unfair like that. I learnt that the hard way several times over." Selene gave a grimace, before shaking her head and hearing the other out. It seemed like people here used mana, much like herself, but also something called prana? "I don't quite know if this mana is the same magic energy resource that I use, but that makes it quite hard in killing an Infernal, does it not? Would it be wiser to summon them and seal them eternally into some object or is that not possible either?"

"It might not be the same?" Alice ignored her statement that life was unfair, since she knew that by heart, and focused on the other's words after that. "And if you can do that, great. But I don't know if it'll work if you put it in that hat of yours. Would he get out or just take over your hat? I don't know..."

But she would look to Selene and frowned. "We've tried summoning Fate to reality and it just ended in me and my partner separated across Morai. I've done all I can to find any way into the Gateway south to find that asshole, but if I go in, I'll never get out. So we came up with a plan last I contacted Valeria. We remove Fate's name from anyone who knows of it. So killing his cultists is step one. Step two is erasing the old stories of Fate from any records on the planet. Step three is... Probably finding a way into the Gateway, kill him there, and then die there."

"No I do not." Selenespoke, shaking her head and listening to Alice explain. "I see, immortality with quite the healing factor. Reminds me of a few people I know, though for them it's more or less just a natural part of their abilities." She did hear rumors of some Immortal Slayers being around, but they were far and little that she didn't think it was worthy of mention here.

"Now how the fuck is that fair?! Me and Valeria have to get cursed with immortality and some people just get it for free? I'd call them lazy fuckers, but what the hell." Alice griped, mostly because while she'd love another power... immortality had its uses.

"Well I certainly didn't wanna sing, but I was dancing up there in the air." Ruby pouted and then crossed her arms about her chest. "No offense taken and damn do I really look like a villain that much these days? Haa, still I didn't really do much more than give them a hint that I exist." A pause. "That and I'm on the other end of the planet, so for 'em it'll be a wild goose chase, for me it'll be entertaining."

"Kind of? I mean, you have the look of a rough and tough person willing to punch someone, so yeah." Valeria would murmur, before shaking her head. "Look, I get it will be entertaining for you, but how many people did you decide to panic just for having it?"

Just like him really. All for 'fun'.

There was a hope that they might be able to capture this person, question them for another location nearby and move in from there but as he slowed his pursuit into the woods, letting the rest move out and set up in a series of zig-zagged observable locations one-by-one, they all waited for Ezekiel to make his move.

The vanguard let himself slow to a much easier to track pace before darting left into a brush, and kicking off the trees close to the trunk in the dark to give this presumed scout the bait and switch, to end up behind them. He matched their pace in their shadow, timing each step behind theirs and slowing his breathing to an annoying crawl to keep his presence hidden until they'd traveled together within a few paces, right into the middle of the group's formation. With a swift step, he launched himself out to the would-be stalker's side, halting their forward step with his blade drawn out to his side and right in front of the young woman's throat.

"Well, well. What do we have here? A little birdy lost out here in the forest at night? Surely, it's about that time where all the good little cheeps should be resting in their aviaries. Did this one fly the coop because it we set fire to it's roost? "

Tears dripped as she realized that this may have been a big mistake to approach them like this. But they were saving the slaves! How could she not approach them like this!

"I-I assure you, I am not with the Masters. I'm fighting against them, the same as you. T-they call me the Witch. A-ask any of the former slaves or your contacts you made, and they will say the same! I promise, I am not one of the Masters. I want... I wanted to see if I and my group could help...?"

"Hey now, I never said it was a good idea. I simply said it would be a funny idea. That aside I only was in the sky and powered up a bit, putting on a light show as they say. I didn't know their first reaction to seeing an unknown flying object was to throw stuff at it in an attempt to kill it." Admittedly that surprised her too. She did frown a bit when the other went to her name, but decided to let it pass, seeing no point in commenting on that.

"You want 'em all dead?" Well, Selene usually didn't really care about who died or lived. "I'll help you out, but if you say any influence here, does that mean you're planning to off yourself at the end too? Or maybe leave this place altogether? If he has done something to you, doesn't that mean some of his essence exists on a conceptual level within you as well?"

"You... Right, you don't know our curse." Alice murmured, before shrugging. "Fate cursed me and a... friend, we'll call her a friend, with immortality. I can die, but I'll just get right back up. She tends to show it off by stabbing herself in the heart. Me? I just... blow up. And yes, we've tried the whole cut into pieces and separate. We just reconstitute after a minute." They tried more than that, but it just... didn't go well.

"You've missheard me. I didn't take his attack, I dodged it. It totally woulda burned me alive and you'd have had toasted Vacosian for dinner." Ruby repeated herself, techncially not lying and only giving a shit-eating grin towards Alice. "No really, that attack didn't hit me. I used that teleportation trick from earlier to come back here."

"YOU ARE THE DUMBEST, STUPIDEST, MOST BRAIN DEAD MORON I'VE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF KNOWING AND CONSIDERING MY FRIEND! AND I HAVE A FRIEND WHO ENDS UP EXPLODING EVERYTHING IN HER WAY! FOR THE LOVE OF THE INFERNAL GODS BEYOND, WHY DID YOU THINK INCITING THE HERO LEAGUE WAS A GOOD IDEA!? DID YOU LOSE BRAINCELLS WHEN YOU WERE BORN!? DID YOUR MOTHER DROP YOU DOWN THE STEPS AS A CHILD?! THEY MUST HAVE IF THIS WAS CONSIDERED A GOOD IDEA!"

"Cultists? Not my first time taking down some, so I'm game." A thumbs up from the Duskborne Witch. "What are these cultists worshipping and what's the name of the cult? Is it some sort of old god that will plunge the world into eternal darkness? Maybe chaos or destroy it altogether?"

"The Observers of Fate. They worship the so-called 'concept' of Fate, same asshole who ruined my life and a... companion's life as well. Don't know if he's done the same to others and I don't care. I want them gone, and I want them all dead." She explained, gathering her gear.