Wizard's House

[wizardseason]

"Hey"

The Wizard greets the evil-allured knights the same way every night, with the same word, while casually sitting on the steps of the porch outside of her little home. The building looks handmade, like it was built by people who cared about the place they were going to live. Surrounding it on all sides are fields as far as the eye can see. Vegetables of all kinds, with fruit trees and bushes placed throughout the landscape. Closer to the home are bigger trees, willows and others, providing shade from the strange three suns above. Wherever this is, it isn't the world that the knights know.

Plunged into the ground a mere few feet away from the steps leading up to the home is a handwritten sign that states the following:

Knight Rules:
- Tell others if you want
- You can't reveal others
- The world ends this year

Comments

[wizardseason]

"Some of the children are right here." She answers, before turning away from him to look at the other pedestals. "Others haven't found their way back yet."

[sustainer]

He...... hates that. He's had his suspicions since earlier today, but his stomach drops when she says that. He hates to just make assumptions when she's being so vague, but there are not a lot of other answers that he can see right now.

"Are they the monsters?"

[wizardseason]

Why beat around the bush with this answer?

"Some of them are."

[sustainer]

Did the air get cold? Gyre's demeanor certainly frosts over, his expression going hard and dark. He takes a step towards her, his hands tensing into fists.

"What does that mean?"

[wizardseason]

"It means there are four of the children in this room, and there are twenty more out there." She watches him, curious what he's going to do with his emotions here.

"But they're all only pieces of one whole."

[sustainer]

He's going to get mad! The shift takes a moment as he processes that first bit there. The second she calls them pieces though, he completely loses his composure.

"They're children! You want us to fucking kill kids??" he shrieks, and his hand swings out to absolutely belt her across the face. This is not the tact to take with Gyre!

[wizardseason]

She lets him have his outburst, but when he swings at her he hits nothing but air. His hand passes through nothing at all, like she's just a hologram, and she waits for him to process that before she speaks again.

"Tell me, Gyre, why are you angry?" She doesn't give a pause as she speaks, instead rapidfiring questions at him all at once as she approaches him. Then, all at once, she's physical and oppressive and he can't raise his hands anymore as she shoves into his personal space.

"Because you think they're being used? Because you think they're trapped? Because you think they're helpless? Because you think they're tools?" She brings a hand up, raising his chin so he can't look down at her. She finally stops advancing, holding him in place.

"Tell me."

[sustainer]

He doesn't expect her to escalate? She's always so calm, and she wants them on her side, right? When his hand goes through her, he's not surprised and he sighs, beginning to straighten. He's furious, but he also knows he can't do anything to her, and that initial spike of anger is passing through him.

Instead of letting him settle though, she's suddenly advancing on him. He moves to get his hands up between them protectively, but it's like something is holding his wrists down. He's trapped. He can't move his body, and while fear grips his chest for a moment, his brain also uh lights itself on fire. His anger returns doubled and then tripled again as she bombards him with questions instead of answering a single one of them. By the time she's finished, he snarls at her, barking, "Let-- go--!"

And he lifts his foot. To slam it into her chest.

[wizardseason]

This situation is important, and it's important that that not be glossed over. Fortunately for him, when he snarls and attempts to slam her in the chest his foot goes right through her and she disappears. He can move freely again, and she's standing about six feet away from him taking a sip out of her coffee. Instead of advancing or continuing to escalate, she just watches him calmly.

Take a second and reflect, Gyre. Then answer her question.

[sustainer]

He stumbles when his boot passes through her and then she's gone, completely imbalanced by the force he put behind it not meeting anything but air. He catches himself before he falls completely at least, hands out as his eyes dart around him. Trying to find her. When he does, he bares his teeth at her and retreats. Six feet is not enough in this moment, and he slides back to the edge of the circle, glaring deeply at her the entire time.

Only once he's there does he actually take a breath and try to process all that. His anger doesn't fade at all here. What she's told him is that they have to kill all the monsters, and that at least some of the kids are monsters. He has dealt nearly the killing blow on all of them, and the idea that she or the Protector or both of them have tricked him, and all the knights before him, into this is making his stomach twist into knots. And she has the pure audacity to sip coffee instead of explaining herself.

He thinks his disgust is completely justified, so no, he's not going to answer her question. He's going to demand, "You tell me. You're the one looking for allies."

[wizardseason]

She allows him his retreat, allows him his space. She's done escalating, and she wants answers. But he won't give them without something to bite at, so she'll give it to him to get him talking.

"They know the price better than anyone, and they understand the motions we have to go through to bring this cycle to an end." She explains, watching him.

"If you show them what you think is mercy, you'll be hurting them worse than the Protector is by keeping them here."

[sustainer]

There is this pure acidic hate in his eyes as she starts talking. How can she speak so calmly about children paying any price at all? Much less the price of dying. Dying for forty years straight. The mere idea of it makes him nauseous, and he's still furious when she finishes.

"How can that possibly be true!" he barks. He's still furious, but the fury is pulled off her very slightly. He doesn't know what happened back then, but the fact this was ever an answer that was on the table is so utterly disgusting to him.

[wizardseason]

Because she's spent forty years with these children, Gyre. They may have looked like children when he saw them, but their age is anything but that. She lets him be mad, watching him.

"They want this to end, they're tired of being used like pawns in some big game." She starts walking again, a slow pace around the circle as she repeats something she'd said before.

"And they are pawns. Pieces. Because someone decided it was easier to control something in smaller pieces than it is to control it as a whole."

[sustainer]

He doesn't move but he keeps his eyes on her, watching her with this guarded anger. He's not going to let her get top close, but he's not going to retreat until he has to.

"Which someone?" he asks, and he's pretty sure he knows the answer to this one. Getting solid details is important though, so he'll ask it. And as he asks it, his mind finally picks up a piece that she's been setting in front of him over and over and over again. He can only hope she'll answer the question if she keeps mentioning it like this.

"What are they when they're whole?"

[wizardseason]

"You know which someone." She answers his first question, holding up a hand so a mug can pop into existence in it. On the outside of the mug is the word 'Protector'.

"You'll see tomorrow." She answers, her smile widening just slightly before she adds:

"I hope you like them."

[sustainer]

Of fucking course she doesn't answer. Why would she answer a single fucking question with any clarity.

"How will I meet them if they all have to be here with us to be whole."

[wizardseason]

She answered the first one, and she answered the second one vaguely. At least Gyre asks for more details, and she'll provide them.

"You won't meet them whole." She clarifies, watching him carefully. "But that won't stop them this year."

[sustainer]

He feels... exhausted now. He's still got this simmering anger in his chest, but it's not directed at anything. Maybe the Protector, but he doesn't know when he'll get the chance to confront that issue. So instead, his voice goes dry, rasping after the irritation of yelling at her.

"Are they going to try to hurt people?" he asks warily. He needs to know what to expect tomorrow before he goes back and tries to put all the pieces together. Hopefully she can confirm what he knows a little better then she does answering questions.

[wizardseason]

"They're probably not happy with anyone." She answers, leaving the answer up in the air before she decides to share a juicy tidbit.

"The last person they interacted with, forty years ago, got thrown through a mountain." She gives her mug a little swirl, the Protector's face on it giving away who she's talking about.

"He deserved it."

[sustainer]

"Mm, sounds like it," he mutters, glancing upwards at the ceiling. Everything he's heard about the Protector so far makes him hate him, so he wouldn't be surprised if this thing inside the planet shared his opinion. Especially after these decades.

"They know that we didn't trap them, right?"

[wizardseason]

If anyone hated the Protector most, it was definitely them. At least she assumed as much.

"I hope they do." She answers, watching to see how he takes that idea.

"Are you going to convince them if they don't know?"

[sustainer]

He's definitely not happy about it, but there is a firm determination in his expression. He thinks he knows exactly how this is going to go and he's ready for it. It'll suck, but no worse then any other fight he's been in.

"I will. And I'll protect anyone they might try to hurt."

[wizardseason]

Or Gyre will get his head knocked clean off. I mean, really, who knew? She nods at his determination. Their conversation here is probably at an end, but she has to add the obvious words here at the end:

"I hope you do."

[sustainer]

Well he doesn't know they're at an end. He can feel the conversation slowing, but he still checks around them, chewing his lip. He needs to know more, but he doesn't know what else he could possibly ask. All he can think is to reassert himself here.

"I will," he says, firmly. Utterly confident. Or as confident as he can be when he doesn't really know what's coming just yet. "Hope isn't important if there's nothing behind it."

[wizardseason]

"I agree," she answers as she lifts her mug to her lips to take a sip.

And really, what could anyone do but back their hope with thoughts and dreams?

Gyre will get to think about that, but not here in the dream space because he'll snap awake and, well.

It was all a dream, wasn't it?