SOMNIA INBOX

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Sharon da Silva
Illusionist

telepathic text | voice | projected apparition

CODE

Comments

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[ That earns a chuckle. ] It does sound like it. Good job, Ash. [ Both the murmur, and their tether, ring with a hint of genuine pride. ]

[ A beat, and then: ] So, what'd you guys learn?

[sculptedash]

Well I'm not exactly looking to lure a bunch of other people to their deaths. At least not right now. It could be a cool party later.

[Okay. She really can't help herself with that.

This is where things get a little complicated.]

Well- We kind of hit a dead end. There's too much wreckage and grossness that would lead to succumbing.

But there was like- something else down there too.

Like old magic- both physically from broken wards and just the feel of it in the air.

It felt like there was something down there that needed us, and needed us to not give up.

It didn't feel hostile or anything, but maybe I wasn't wrong about there being some more answers down there.

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[ A cool party later. Jfc. Never change, Ash.

A dead end, old magic, and the sense that something needed them. ] You were there when they got, uh... Two's fragment, right? Do you think it could've been another one? Or maybe one of his other friends?

[ Or maybe even other survivors. ]

[sculptedash]

I was there! Really got knocked around during that one. Not the most fun I've had ever had.

[But she thinks about it briefly. Considering how the fragment felt. How the messages from other people who went underground in the messages on the murmur felt.]

...It was different.

I don't know how to really describe it other than that.

I originally went down there looking for clues from those messages that came through the murmur.

But nothing quite matched whatever this was.

[merged]

[ Hmm. ]

Maybe you need to enter from a different tunnel, might be able to get around the blockage—not that much can be done until the next Blood Moon. But if there are other survivors... [ This could be big! ]

[sculptedash]

Different tunnel could be the option. I kind of feel like if there was a clear way through the Hosts might have gotten to whatever's down there already.

But it's definitely something to try next time. I think we may have lucked out with the hosts not being... super aggressive this time. You know?

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Yeah, I know. I think all our luck is because of One's sacrifice, and if that's the case, I can't see it remaining by the next Blood Moon. Might need more people next time around.

[sculptedash]

[There's a bit of uncertainty and sadness that passes through the tether at the thought of that.

Sacrifices rarely led to good things from Ash's experience.]

We had a good number of us for this, and everything working in our favor.

I think unless the stars somehow align, we're getting another shot at it.

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[ Truthfully, Sharon doesn't see One's sacrifice as a net positive. Even if the Hosts weren't as hostile, it somehow influenced so many Vessels to sacrifice a part of themselves, too. ] ...stranger things have happened.