The Final Ring of Love

[Kender Bard]

Mina thanked the Mind who had teleported them to Khelek, courtesy of King Twilight.

"I'll be in a local inn and meet you at the temple tomorrow morning," the Mind replied. "Then we'll head back to Talen'sul for you."

"I'm very thankful," Mina replied with a smile and pressed a coin into the man's hand. He gave it back.

"I'm staying on the King's coin," he replied with a wink and walked off, leaving the pair in the center of the city.

Mina sought Nathan's hand and took a deep breath. "Ready?" She had no idea what would happen once this last ring was delivered.

[Darastrix]

Nathan nodded and squeezed Mina's hand. "Ready. Just this one last ring, then home." He wasn't really expecting anything to happen other than that they'd be able to go back to Talen'sul and let the chosen do...whatever they were supposed to do.

[Kender Bard]

"Yes, and then that will be the end of my running errands for Etaf," Mina agreed with a small smile for Nathan, squeezing his hand back. And a good thing. I know how hard it is for him...

The temple wasn't hard to find; they never were, being such a uniquely shaped building almost universally. Mina stepped inside and then paused, frowning. If this was a typical temple, then where would the priests of Love be kept? "Hello?" she called out tentatively in general, hoping someone would hear her in one of the wings. "Are there any priests of Love here?"

[Darastrix]

"Sure you don't want Lust instead?" Schuldig asked, stepping out of Soahc's wing.

Nathan blinked. Hadn't they seen him in Widor once before? "You...."

Schuldig rolled his eyes a little. "Okay, I can forgive a less than perfect recollection since you're Zack's friend and I'm mostly Zira's, but really, I live in Khelek and I'm a priest. This is not a surprising place to find me."

[Kender Bard]

Mina's recollection of the man was rather fuzzy and she didn't feel it was worth probing too deeply. "Thank you for the offer, brother of Soahc, but I do truly need to find a priestess of Love. One in particular. Are you familiar with a lady named Sonata? She came here from Anarlina. I need to speak with her urgently."

[Darastrix]

"Yeah, actually," Schuldig said, walking across to the entrance to the small wing of Love and beckoning them to follow. "This way."

When they'd entered the wing, Schuldig waved down a brunette priestess dressed in heavy robes of Love. "Got a couple Sulans wanting to talk to you," he said by way of greeting. "She says it's urgent."

Sonata blinked in surprise and made her way over. "Urgent?" she repeated, looking at the group. She couldn't imagine anyone having something urgent to tell her in particular.

[Kender Bard]

"Thank you," Mina murmured to Schuldig before stepping forward to Sonata and producing her final ring. "Your name is Sonata, correct? I have been charged by Etaf to deliver to you this ring in the name of Love. Our world and humanity is under threat from demons from the Abyss. Morilanta has opened a rift allowing free flow of them and the Forces are calling out to their champions and chosen in this hour of need." She held the ring out to her. "And Love has chosen you."

[Darastrix]

"We're sadly well aware of what Morilanta has wrought," Sonata replied. "And of what steps the Forces are taking." Her eyes flicked to Schuldig for a moment, resting on the wine and gold ring he wore. She frowned, though, when she noticed the hand wearing it was clenched in a fist. "I-- Schuldig?"

"This has got to be some kind of fucking joke," he muttered. "Love isn't even a Force."

"Some of us feel otherwise," she murmured before looking to Mina again. "Either way, I can't imagine why. I'm simply a priestess. I don't have any special skills or talents to bring to bear."

[Kender Bard]

Mina gave Schuldig an unusual look as well but decided not to comment. She had been skeptical at first as well. Instead, she said to Sonata, "It's funny. You're not the first one to have said that." She smiled faintly. "But it's true. I won't claim to know the will of a Force I didn't even believe in until recently. All I know is that when the Forces call, we answer if our faith is true." She kept the ring outstretched.

[Darastrix]

Sonata looked at the ring for a long moment. "Love's temple gave me peace and purpose when I was taken from Morilanta," she finally said. "If I can pay that back even a little...." She took the ring from Mina and slipped it on.

[Kender Bard]

As soon as the ring attuned to Sonata, something spectacular happened.

The ring glowed--and so did its sister rings on the hands of the Anarlinan royalty and another priestess--with a white light that increased in intensity and began to spread from the ring over the hand that wore it, up her arm, and enveloped her whole body. It was not a warm or cold--it simply was. But there was a feeling deep within each of the ring bearers of something powerful, like an overwhelming emotion trying to break to the surface of their minds.

No voice spoke in their minds like with the Etafian ring bearers. These chosen few heard only their own thoughts springing to their mind like epiphanies. They also bore a shadowed whisper riding along with them, two utterly conflicting thoughts, both born out of their own hearts and minds.

Twilight heard I need to marshal my forces alongside my sister--and once our own home is safe, begin making movements towards Naurorod at a steady pace, wiping out any demons we come across. But he also heard, But it will be such a long and hard journey and many, many will die. Why should I put them on such a brutal path once my own borders are safe? Better to wait and watch.

Dusk heard I need to order the demonically infected to the temples--not only for the treatments they will receive there, but so that they will be easy for me to access. A loving touch. That's what they need, and in the truest sense. As well as but if I expose myself to them, there is a possibility they will be able to pass on their taints to me. And then what will I do if I grow ill or worse? I should keep myself safe for when the Forces call upon me for the final battle.

Nalani, Sonata, and Snowflake heard I need to keep the people calm during this time when danger is so near to us. And furthermore, I need to see if I can find those folks who are infected with demonic taint but do not realize it yet. I'm not sure how, but I just know that I'll be able to pick them out if I chance upon such a person. As well as But during times of fear and panic, people can turn ugly and brutal. The Forces chose me for a reason, but is this truly what it is? I'll be putting my life at risk by exposing myself to frightened people. All it takes is a little too much fear and they may turn on me. It may be safer to just wait.

And then the light faded. For a moment, all the rings were uncomfortably warm--as if sensing a demonic presence near them--before they slowly grew cool again, fading with the echoes of the thoughts in their mind.

[Darastrix]

Nathan stared as the ring's glow spread over Sonata's body. "That...that didn't happen with the other rings," he said quietly.

Schuldig could guess that Sonata's was likely the last of their set--he'd already heard from Crawford what had happened when the last of Etaf's had been delivered--but he wasn't in a mood to explain. Not when it was a set of rings that by all rights shouldn't fucking exist.

"Whoop-de-fucking-doo," he muttered, turning abruptly in a swirl of black and green cloth and striding out of the wing.

"Um." Sonata looked after Schuldig and rubbed a finger lightly over her ring. "You'll have to excuse our brother priest. He's...complicated. But is that so?" she asked, returning to the subject at hand. "The others didn't do this?"

[Kender Bard]

"No," Mina replied and pointed to the ring she wore, now heart shaped. "Their rings changed like yours did, but there was no light. Did anything significant happen?"

[Darastrix]

"I...don't really know," Sonata admitted. "But an idea popped into my head. I feel like I should try to keep everyone calm while this is going on, and try to find the ones who've been tainted unaware. That's happened once already, to people in our own temple. A demon posed as a priestess." She shook her head to set herself back on her original track. "I think...I think I'll be able to recognise them when I meet them, somehow. But at the same time...."

She hesitated. The other idea hadn't been something to be proud of. But they had wings, so they weren't from Khelek; they had to have traveled during all this. "I'm afraid," she finally said. Maybe Mina would understand. "Scared people can do horrible things, even to those just trying to help. Is endangering myself now what the Forces really want?"

[Kender Bard]

"I'm a little surprised the Forces didn't give you more guidance," Mina admitted. "That being said... I think you should do what's right, but exercise caution. You're right about people's fear getting the best of them. Perhaps you could ask some of the enforcers of the temple to assist you in your tasks?"