[forward-dated to after the Jaunt] Fire and Metal

[capital_asset]

I know we've only just gotten back and all, but during the Jaunt I had two more prophetic nightmares. Neither of them had anything to do with the Jaunt - in fact, one of them was very explicitly not about it - so I opted to hold back on reporting them until it was over and we were all back to ourselves.

The first nightmare featured a shattered masonry wall in mountainous terrain, engulfed in incredible flames. It looked familiar, but it took me a bit to place it once I woke up: it looked like the wall separating the Bando Peninsula from the rest of En Zhenming.

The second nightmare was an extreme close-up of a black reptilian scale with an etched line on it slowly being filled with molten metal, which eventually revealed the shape of a clawed hand grasping an egg.

Whether those have to do with the final Jaunt or not I couldn't say, but having them during this past Jaunt would seem to imply that it's not that simple.

Comments

[amadine]

Not remotely. The last Red Illuminant was the leader of a mercenary company before he traded his soul away. And that certainly has the look of a company insignia - not the one he used before, but why should it be?

It's something to keep an eye out for, if we're unlucky enough to find ourselves on that world again.

[capital_asset]

I'd wondered if this one was somehow related to the Illuminants, especially given their forays into Liminal Space before the last Jaunt.

[amadine]

I heard you mention. It's what tugged at my memory in the first place.

We're better equipped, at least, to handle the Illuminants than we were the last time. And the dragons of the Bando, for that matter.

[capital_asset]

Right. Although my main concern is what they've learned since...

[And then he goes quiet for a moment.]

[Filtered from Maria]

I... think we might have a problem with that, actually. Because it's not just a foray.

Private | Protected

[amadine]

Oh? Have you caught wind of one actually here?

Private | Protection 2

[capital_asset]

Not here. Yet. But connected, yes. All of them.

Private | Protected

[amadine]

I suppose it was always too much to hope that the horrors of Harrogate would be the only ones to latch on to liminal space like a tick on a goat's scrotum.

Private | Protection 2

[capital_asset]

Probably.

Perma-private, Perma-protected

[amadine]

Pity.

Are you all right? I hear the last Jaunt was...difficult.

Perma-private, Perma-protected

[capital_asset]

I'm... better than I was. I had to share a body with my overlay again, and his psychic abilities were such that he immediately knew I was there, so we did not have the best start.

The rest of the Jaunt was horrible.

[amadine]

Gods.

How many times is that now?

[capital_asset]

I suppose I should count myself lucky that the overlay I ended up sharing with in the Jaunt previous to that wasn't aware of me, despite also being psychic.

I've been trying not to count them.