Viridian Plague--New Spring [Trayah]

[Rystil Arden]

"Meh, you have some spine after all, to take the word of a trainee over that of a spirit. Even so, can you truly say that your motives are pure? Do you fully realise what you will release into the world? Are you prepared for the consequences? No, I know your kind. You want to use her power to make yourself stronger and defeat your foes."

 

[unleashed]

“Believe what you will spirit, but I wouldn’t be here had I not tried all other options available to me first. As I do realise the enormity of what shall be released into the world, should I manage to wake Arylyra, but I fear that if I don’t there won’t be a world left... so I am left with little choice. Hrrrmm, no, I won’t lie and say I’m fully prepared for the consequences. I can only say I will make my best effort to retrap or destroy the Lord of Winter after the current crisis is resolved... assuming I survive that long, of course.”

 

[Rystil Arden]

"An empty promise, Shaman. The guardian you picked to represent your strength is not on par with a mere Carapaceshifter, even after being bolstered to about 150% her usual strength by the summer's light. She has been engaging the thing in combat for several minutes now inconclusively for minutes now, and only because she brought in outside healing runes, or she'd be dead. The King of Winter would kill a Carapaceshifter within seconds, or your Guardian, fully bolstered, with but a thought."

 

[unleashed]

“Be that as it may, there is little I can do about it now unless I am permitted to help her. We had no idea of what we’d face here, but we were all willing to sacrifice ourselves to waken Arylyra, as without her aid we must let the darkness do as it wishes, and that is not a choice I can live with for the people of this world, when I still have breath left in my body. As for making an empty promise, I can offer nothing more than to sacrifice my life to the tasks before me, but if you think that is not enough then I don’t know what else I can say.”

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Well, you've changed your tune now. You may be the least arrogant Shaman to attempt the trials, but you are certainly the most pathetic. You knew you were unprepared, and you led your friends to death. Most likely, the girl representing Winter will be the only one to survive..."

*An image appears of Obscurity being blasted by an ice ray, slipping, and failing to jump four feet up to a platform, and another appears on the other side of Whinoah being bashed by a giant creature to within an inch of her life and then tripped onto the ground.*

 

[unleashed]

“Changed my tune? You speak in riddles spirit, as my reason for being here and my willingness to sacrifice myself to protect this world has not changed. I admit I was unprepared for the trials, but then I did not come here seeking Arylyra’s power for myself, so I had spent no time studying what we would face beforehand or consulting the Great Shaman who was watching over Arylyra’s shrine, as he was no longer there. Then, no Shaman has made it through the trials from what I understand, so preparation seems to have done them little good in the end either. As I said though, I came only in dire need and with time running short if we are to stop the darkness before it destroys this world, thus I don’t see what I could have done to prepare any better.”

“So what point is there in showing me this,” Trayah asks, waving his hand at the images, “if I can do nothing to help my guardians or be sent to battle in their place?”

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Oh, plenty of Shamans have passed these trials. The trouble is the evil things that kill them afterwards, actually. You, however, look like you will probably fall into the category of the other plenty of Shamans who failed to pass these trials. If not, well, all the spells you wasted on nothing will put you in the former category easily enough."

"As to why I show you your Guardians, well, perhaps it will prepare you to pick up after their deaths. In any case, it shows the folly of your choices...Unprepared and underskilled. Why don't you just surrender now? It will spare your comrades agonising deaths, and you will all be expelled safely, never able to enter and attempt to wake Arylyra again."

 

[unleashed]

“You misunderstand me spirit, I am referring to the entire trial, the complete journey to waken Arylyra, not just these initial tests... to my knowledge, no one has completed that.”

“Show me or not, I will do what I must to waken Arylyra or die trying. As for surrender, while I would do anything to spare my comrades from death, we cannot leave without Arylyra’s aid unless we wish to allow the darkness to triumph, as only her power seems to be able to drive it back. So, no, we will not be surrendering, we all knew we risked death before entering, and agreed we must take the chance to waken Arylyra to help us drive the darkness back.”

 

[Rystil Arden]

"That is correct. None has ever completed it. And thus, so it seems, your selfishness has doomed your comrades to death. So be it--the offer to retreat and live shall not be made again."

"Funny that you think your 'darkness' is so great that it merits Arylyra's power. Do you even know exactly what it is you face? Have you seen its face? Do you understand its true nature?"

 

[unleashed]

“Better death here, than being corrupted by the darkness and used to spread it’s influence further. At least here we have the hope of stopping it, if we can reach Arylyra. Funny though, that you should use the word selfishness, as I would have thought selflessness would be more appropriate, considering our purpose here. Then, the ways of spirits are often a mystery, even to those of us who can see into their world.”

“To answer your questions, no, no, and no, but the only power we have found which seems to hold back or even challenge the evil that is the darkness, is Arylyra’s. Well, except for the Great Shaman who was guardian of her shrine, and he was only was able to protect a single village and it’s graveyard from being corrupted by the darkness, by sacrificing himself and tying his spirit to his healing staff. Though the people there could not leave and their supplies were almost gone, before we brought them back to the copse around the shrine here. That was the only village within days of Arylyra’s shrine, which has not fallen to the darkness, including the one we were sent from to seek the source of the dark beasts they had seen, and we have no idea how much further it has spread past that, or even how long the Shaman can hold the darkness out. Do you know the nature of the darkness, spirit?”