hugtopia | [Video] All that we See or Seem is but a Dream within a Dream

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[Video] All that we See or Seem is but a Dream within a Dream

[When the video starts, those who know Regis might notice that his face is a little redder than it usually is. He's also wrapped in what looks his own cloak and a heavy riding cloak, one that a person would expect to see out in the frozen wastes, not in a city like Havenwell. Honestly, he looks a little silly all curled into the cloaks as he is, but since waking up out in the backyard under Peter's silver apple tree, he has yet to shake off the cold. It might be a long process considering he has no idea how long he was out there.

Actually, considering he usually puts off heat like a furnace and still feels this cold, he has an idea and it's one he doesn't like. Cor would have his head if he was still here.]

Those who have been here for a while know that we have been communicated with through dreams before.

[Who could forget the strange warning that came before the break in last October?]

I think it may be happening again. How many people are having dreams with the ghosts who visited us in them? And how many of them are talking to you? Mine had quite a lot to say and in regard to something I have investigated before.

[He takes a moment to fight back a shiver and then quotes what he remembers from the dream, once again grateful for how good his memory is. His hands had been shaking too hard for him to write anything down when he first returned to the house.]

"The world began as thus: it was a rock. He came upon it first, and loved it immediately, this empty rock where nothing lived. He burrowed deep inside and devoured it inch by inch, teeth breaking upon the surface and growing anew. Through Him, over time, the stone became soil. The soil grew fertile through His work, yet all was still naught but rock and soil.

Then the Winged Lord appeared, uncertain of the path He was to walk. He was hungry, so He clawed at the stone to find where His prey crawled."

The natives have just remembered the Winged Lord for some reason, but we still don't know who the first "He" is. Could "He" be trying to contact us in some way in order to keep things in some kind of balance? I am very curious to hear what everyone thinks.

[The video ends here, but once he is done with that Regis sends out two quick texts.]

[Locked to Ardyn:]

Remember when I told you I would inform you if anything weird happened after touching the ghosts? I think I just hit "weird."

[Locked to Honerva:]

By the time you get this, I am certain you will have seen my video post. Would you be willing to work with me on a new investigation if I started one? We have talked before of how strange it is the natives are now remembering the Winged Lord. How far behind do you think his fellow is?

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[ There's a considerable pause before her text appears again. Reviewing... something. ]

For a time I had been considering... what sort of influence it was, to push them so far as to abandon their forms, and their despair once they had achieved it. Perhaps once the world had shifted to inexorable decay all around them they sought to achieve balance by seeking their version of immortality, involving the transference of their souls to their new forms.

And yet that had proved no solution, and some still pass away regardless.

And the other gods, the ones that are honored now and have protected them... seem to have no role in these uncovered tales. These tales that only seem to have been uncovered by bringing new life to the planet - our presence.

During the festival of the Winged Lord there was no mention of the Crawling One. Though if it is "He" that is sending the messages, that would imply he would protest against the revitalization of the world, given the state of what lies beyond the barrier, all in this supposed call for Balance. Or perhaps a "sacrifice" is desired to resurrect the Winged one.

Oh, dear. Here- [Ardyn snapped his fingers and summoned a small flame into his hand, holding it out like a magic-based space heater.]

That certainly does qualify as 'weird'.

[Her lips flicker up into a warm smile.]

I think I wouldn't have minded to see you fuss, but I thank you for your patience and consideration nonetheless. [She tilts her head.] If it is not inconvenient, shall I come to visit you in person?

[Talking over video is convenient, but feels somewhat impersonal. Also, she can't heal him over video!]

From the priests and temples, we know that the gods are sustained by some sort of power generated by touch. This power waned when the locals began replacing their physical bodies with mechanical ones. We also know that the barrier is powered by some sort of divine energy, too, one that's made up of four unique types that converge together.

I'm not sure if these recent messages about maintaining a "balance" has to do so much with how this world first started to decay when the locals turned their bodies robotic, or how there may be an imbalance with the different energy-tributes each deity receives from us.

Each deity has a temple in this city. Maybe there used to be one for the Crawling One and the Winged One long ago somewhere.

If it is a matter of memory, perhaps a recollection of this first being will come to the natives in time?

Perhaps. I trust neither side, for my part. We are merely pawns for them. I'm sure we will hear many stories from all sides painting themselves as morally superior.

I never cared so much for something as fickle and transient as 'morals' myself. We should learn what we can and do whatever is necessary for our own protection.

[And he'll include Regis in this 'our'. As otherworlders, they were all hostages here.]

This entire idea of doppelgangers is unsettling, though. Especially when we have yet to find missing persons such as Rin. Perhaps we should be skeptical should we see a person we once knew again.

I'm not certain it was even an attempt to prove moral superiority. I think He just wanted to be remembered so the balance would be maintained. When there is life, there is also death. It's how it's always been.

[Though, knowing what is outside of the wall, Regis can't help but think that death holds more sway here. After all, the little bubble that is Havenwell, is only a small part of this entire world.]

You suspect that those who have returned are not just a 'new version' so to speak, but an actual doppelganger instead?

[Normally, Regis would find this hard to believe, but Verstael is not the only one who has made the suggestion, and the cold uneasiness that hit him when Honerva brought it up, descends upon him again.]

Do you have thoughts on what using such doppelgangers might gain them?

[Regis lets out a soft sigh when the heat from the flame hits him. Maybe between it and the cloaks he will finally warm up enough he can summon a flame of his own without the risk of shaking hands setting something on fire.]

I'm not certain why the wandering part of this was necessary. If a message needed to be delivered through dreams, why not have it be like the dreams we had before the wall was breached? There was no wandering involved there.

I can't claim to know. I presume there must be some reason to it, whether intended or otherwise. Would you wish to talk about it?

How long has Rawna had power?

[Were they speaking face-to-face, that comment would be muttered as if Regis was thinking out loud. He had been so caught up in getting new information about the Crawling One and the Winged Lord that he hadn't stopped to consider things from that angle. All of the deities here have seasons they seem to rule over, but even those who were brought here at the beginning have only been here a short time and they just saw how quickly the natives can change course when they get new information. How routine is the year they just lived through?]

The missing temples might be just outside the wall for all we know. Laying in ruins like the Arena and Factory were.

[There is a sudden pause in his messages as something strikes him, the insight caused by the new view Pyra has given him. It takes a few minutes for him to sort out his thinking and then he responds again.]

For all that I have learned of different worlds by being here, one thing remains the same. Each would has the eternal balance of life and death. When we first learned of the missing gods, I remember thinking it strange that all of the gods we help here represent good aspects and are strengthened by positive feelings. Many would say these are the best aspects of life itself.

One of the old lore fragments mentions the Winged Lord falling to the Crawling Ones' poison, but there cannot be death without life. Do you think it is possible the gods we help now were born to fill the gap left by the death of the Winged Lord? But they are weaker, and they came into this facing a world already ravaged by death...

[He trails off there uncertain how to continue to meld his thoughts into a whole or if it is even worth it. Sometimes his leaps of knowledge push him in the right direction and sometimes they do not.]

A visit from you is never an inconvenience, though I would hate to make you travel across the city just for me.

[He pauses a moment to pull the cloaks a little tighter around himself.]

Are you certain you don't mind?

[There is a pause in his return message as well, because his discussion with Pyra has just made him realize something, and it definitely is related to their conversation as well.]

What if there is no need for a sacrifice to resurrect the Winged Lord? What if he has already been resurrected in some form? The Crawling One might not be against the revitalization of the world, per se, but instead is just playing His role as the counter to life in whatever form it takes.

[And in this cause, that form is the deities they now aid.]

"The power of connecting?" Do you mean the way contact helps strengthen the gods here?

[It is possible, but Regis feels like it is a stretch somehow.. Perhaps the young man is speaking of something from his own world?]

Perhaps.

There may also be a possibility that he might reject the new form it has taken, if it is not the form of his old friend, that he misses. Those that experience loss over the extension of lifetimes do not take well to change so well.

If it is the Crawling one from beyond trying to send messages and infiltrate, whether physically through piercing the barrier or mentally through dreams, or the presence of ghosts that would take our place... the energy yet gathered within here is not nearly enough to counter what has been amassed in the world beyond. Perhaps the Role he holds does yearn for a confrontation but what kind? The messages are similar to what was found buried in history. It is not... a current story.

[Oh, there is a voice he hasn't heard in a while and a face he has not seen for a while either. It's odd how Regis feels he knows Emet-Selch, but almost all of that knowledge has come from Era and hearing information from another is very different from learning it firsthand.]

I know little about how robotic memory works, but it seems strange they can remember anything at all about these old gods, since when I investigated them before, some of the natives actually had to purge the memories they had of the "Lost Gods" as non-functional or corrupt. That is probably why they are having such a hard time agreeing on what the Winged Lord looks like.

But, I believe you are correct. Memory of one should follow memory of the other considering how closely tied they are.

Perhaps. We should maintain healthy skepticism of their motives regardless, lest we fall prey to the gods and their games.

[Yes, Niflheim had religion too, of course. But did Verstael look like the type who did a lot of 'honoring the gods'?]

It's a rather new theory based on recent happenings. I can't be certain if there is merit to it or not, but... it is troubling. And it wouldn't be completely out of left field. We know they regret parting with their biological bodies, and I have long suspected that our purpose here may be as 'samples'.

On the other hand, I have also suspected that we are not from the same world as we might be originally led to think, but from neighboring dimensions that are similar to one another, which would also explain the reappearance of similar but different people. I think our own experience in what would, at a glance, seem to be a 'difference in timelines' lines up with that. However, I would prefer not to rule out the potential of cloning.

If you recall your return visit to your world, you were present here the entire time - though unconscious. I originally thought perhaps it occurred mentally somehow, though there was an obvious physical transformation. But the idea of doppelgangers of us running around and taking our places... It is another explanation for how someone could be in two places at once.

Not at all. I've already spent so much time to myself, I would very much like to visit with you.

[Kaito might not know Regis well at all, but that was kind of an intense amount of get up for anybody. He could understand someone like Shinji, a lad from a world of endless sweltering Summer, being bundled up like that but. Was Havenwell colder than Kaito thought it was? Uhh?

The recounted dreams were tugging familiar phrases out of his memory. They were the whole reason he felt compelled to reply, but they were being put on the backburner in favor of squinting at the screen.]

Are you like... okay, man?

Hm. [A warning. Maybe he would have had more luck interacting with those dreams - or the figure that appeared in them. Oh well. No point in dwelling on what can't be changed.

"A typical slant toward life." Nico hmphs.]

Isn't there always? Though...

[The camera wavers from side to side - because Nico likes to use his hands when he's talking.]

Doesn't it seem more tilted the other way? The plants being everywhere only happened shortly after I arrived here. The robots have their souls, but their bodies aren't exactly... [Living? It somewhat reminded him of Daedelus, who kept himself alive for centuries by building himself new bodies and transferring his consciousness into them.]

An individual unit needing to purge its own memories shouldn't have any bearing on the central database. Assuming there is one to which they can refer.

[And if they are having trouble coming to a consensus, there may not be. That or the database itself is somehow incomplete, to say nothing of the fact that Emet's experience is with Allagan technology, which these are not, for all they might be similar in function.]

Still, if the memories are connected enough for one to be mentioned in the stories of the others, I see no reason the data on this initial "He" shouldn't exist somewhere.

We slacked a bit on the data over two summer months, but one band of energy has had more levels, consistently. Since it's Rawna's temple and familiars that seem to have had the most growth, we've typically associated this particular wavelength with Rawna.

Perhaps the Crawling One's temple is below ground, and the Flying One's in the sky somewhere. Or maybe on a mountain. I know this is all speculation, however. We'll simply have to make another excursion outside again.

[ As being a part of the trio of creator-deities in her own world... "there cannot be death without life" is a bit of an assumption. The gods and creators will make whatever world with whatever rules there are, separate from what how some god makes their world elsewhere. What one world's "balance" and such doesn't necessarily apply to the other.

But his point is worth discussing, so. ] Sort of like a generation of gods? That could be the case.

I'm not sure if the four deities came in while this planet was already consumed, though. I had been assuming that the four deities were alive and well when the population still retained their flesh-and-blood bodies.

And speaking of, eventually, they're going to need flesh bodies again, if they wish to maintain whatever restoration we happen to help with. That, or maybe all of their original bodies are stored in a cryogenic state somewhere.

Edited 2021-01-08 01:08 (UTC)

[Regis first response is a thoughtful hum. Of course, Verstael would not rule out cloning, but Regis doesn't let himself get caught up on that. Instead, he is pondering the possibility of doppelgangers harder than he has before despite how must he dislikes the idea. It's Verstael's last suggestion that has him shaking his head, though.]

I'm not certain the doppelganger theory applies to that particular thing. Era told me once that a friend of hers watched over her while she was experiencing the same thing I did. This friend could see souls and told her that it seemed her soul was stretched in a way. Part of it remained here while the rest went back home.

[Regis nods, then takes a deep breath and then begins to speak.]

"The world began as thus: it was a rock. He came upon it first, and loved it immediately, this empty rock where nothing lived. He burrowed deep inside and devoured it inch by inch, teeth breaking upon the surface and growing anew. Through Him, over time, the stone became soil. The soil grew fertile through His work, yet all was still naught but rock and soil.

Then the Winged Lord appeared, uncertain of the path He was to walk. He was hungry, so He clawed at the stone to find where His prey crawled."

This is what I was told in the dream. As I recall, we've heard something like this before.

Oh, lovely. [Ardyn sighed as the flame flickered in his hand, a rare shred of dry sarcasm in his voice.] A pair of heretofore largely unknown gods? Sometimes I really do detest when a guess comes out right, dear nephew.

[One thing Verstael definitely was was a man of science, so he appreciated new information. Which was why he didn't seem to hesitate to take it into consideration.]

I recall something similar, where a certain person was able to sense the energy created with physical contact.

Though that would be... quite the stretch. I wonder if it would be similar to being in the Beyond and on Eos at once.

This information. Are you confident in it?

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[Video] All that we See or Seem is but a Dream within a Dream

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