towerofanimus | In which the Haruspex awakens...

Entry tags:

In which the Haruspex awakens...

Characters: Artemiy Burakh and you
Setting: Room 2-10 and basically all over the dorm levels
Format: Starting out prose, will match
Summary: Artemiy wakes up in the tower, and needless to say, it's quite a stressful and confusing situation.
Warnings: Weird existential crises and prosey talking!

Artemiy could feel himself waking, the urge to open his eyes and roll out of his reclined position filling his senses. He could only manage to half-open his eyes, though, drowsiness overpowering him as though sleep were trying to drag him back downwards. When he managed to open his eyes more than halfway, white nothingness above him was all he could see, the intense light causing a prominent pain in his temples. Sleep was beginning to let go. As he attempted to roll over and push himself up, though, he found himself at a loss...

His body was limp, and numb, every limb filled with a weakness as though instead of muscle, his bones were wrapped with cotton stuffing. He felt like a doll, thrown and sprawled on the floor, unable to move without a child's hand and imagination directing his actions. The sensation stretched on for what felt like an eternity...

So, it was true then. The childrens' game had ended, and with it, his entire life and his hometown in the Steppe. He'd fulfilled his role as The Haruspex, and as much as he'd tried to deny it as horrible make believe, as a waking dream, an illusion brought on by the strange nature of the Polyhedron, he found the truth undeniable now. Artemiy Burakh, a child's toy, had been tossed aside in a stiff and lifeless heap, perhaps never to be played with again.

Rigor mortis, the Bachelor probably would've declared at his sorry state, all too happy to throw out one of his latin phrases, especially a medical one... He caught himself wondering if all of the others were finding themselves in the same position as him. The Adherents, the Inquisitor, the General and his toy soldiers... stuffed away in a toy box now that their entertainment value had run its course.

The Haruspex was just beginning to accept his fate, forever staring up into the nothingness that was left of his world, a lifeless doll forgotten in the sand and left to collect dust for ever, when suddenly control was given back to him.

He gasped for air as all of the heavy weight on his chest was suddenly lifted, his arms and legs curling inward as he shot upright, sitting on a bed. Artemiy was breathing heavily and coughing, patting his chest, trying to clear his lungs of the stale air that had filled him during his paralysis. After a moment, he found himself reaching up and touching his eyes, pressing his fingers into his eyelids. Those onlooking may have viewed it as an action of rubbing the sleep away, but his fingers were gentle and methodical, feeling them with the inspective touch of a surgeon. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his eyeballs were still in place; there were no buttons sewn into his eyesockets...

Had it all been a dream after all? But then, where was he? Why had he awoken in this strange place, a white room filled with four beds and an assortment of furniture? Some of the room looked rather inhabited as well. Looking at the night stand beside him, Artemiy noticed a few letters waiting for him, an all too familiar sight which filled him with... nostalgia? His time in the town somehow felt now past and distant, enough so that even just finding letters on a bedstand was enough to make him sick to his stomach with an empty sadness.

He read the first one:

"Your world has been destroyed. I saved you. Let's all be happy here."

It was addressed from no one.

The throbbing pain was returning to Artemiy's head, and he set aside the papers to grip at it with his gloved hands. He couldn't even be bothered to read the other letters, as the implications of that single phrase, "Your world has been destroyed," sent his mind reeling. He began to speak his thoughts aloud, a soliloquy for nearby spectators.

"So this preposterous claim of puppetry... it's the truth, then. My whole world was nothing more than a sand castle built from the earth, the Authorities not more than mere children setting actors in motion upon a stage... And the curtain has now fallen."

The Haruspex rose to his feet, taking a stumbling step forward, groaning with a dark and brooding voice. "More than ever, I could use a bottle of poison twyrine in my veins..."

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"That's a drink, I assume?" Booms a deep voice, coming from an inhumanly tall and broad warrior in grey warplate.

Around the dorms, he'll find a seeming angel checking out the name plate next to his door. She blinks at him. "Oh, hello."

"I would no be wishing for poison to loudly." Nesir had been going to her room, and now she was smirking at this obviously new person whose room she was passing. "There do be plenty here who would be obliging you."

Artemiy looks up quickly towards the deep voice of the mechanical warrior, which proves to be a mistake as his headache causes his vision to spin, awful vertigo forcing him to lean against a nearby wall. Was the shock of the fate of his world causing this illness?

"... Correct, a potent elixir native to my... town..." Artemiy takes a deep breath before he straightens, giving the other a rather suspicious look. He was glad it didn't seem as though he had any vicious intent, the surgeon doubted he could hold his own against such a massive soldier.

"You've been discarded as well, then?"

Artemiy stares at the creature before him, in slight awe. What on earth? Had the children pulled this woman out of their imaginations as well? She almost resembled the late Eve Yahn...

Artemiy glances over to the name plate that she was looking at, narrowing his eyes and touching his name. "... What is this? An assignment?"

Artemiy stops and looks at the girl who'd spoken to him, surprised by the cynical answer. "It certainly isn't assuring to hear that those here could so easily mistake my yearnings for ethanol for the much more bitter yearning of death."

He isn't so interested in the people here, though as much as he is about the place itself.

"Tell me, young lady, you wouldn't happen to know the name of this purgatory, would you?"

"Discarded? I'm not sure I know what you mean."

He offers a steady hand, as the surgeon appears to be having a little trouble.

"Yes, you should be being careful of what you do be saying." She nodded, "It do be called the Tower of Animus according to one of those that do be running the place, and apparently that do be meaning tower of souls in some other world language."

V/V shakes her head. "I don't think so... for one thing, there are lots of people here with all kinds of backgrounds, and the only thing they have in common is that they've all been told that their worlds were destroyed and they were rescued."

She takes in a breath and then exhales softly. "I'm sorry."

"Tossed aside, boxed away... Another unfortunate soul the Authorities lost interest in." From his dark and muttering tone, he seemed to doubt that Garviel would know what he was talking about. His strange statements were for his own sake.

Artemiy stares at Garivel's hand, silently refusing the help as he pulls himself off the wall. It seems the vertigo was fleeting...

"You must have been a pawn in a different game of theirs, you're a stranger to my own."

"Latin."

While Artemiy wasn't perhaps formally educated like his rival, the Bachelor, he knew enough Latin to get by. After all, it was almost a requirement to know in his field.

"A tower of souls... You must be referring to the Polyhedron. Yet I don't recognize it..." However, it made perfect sense for a young girl like her to be in this place, with Khan's army of children and teenagers hiding away in the tower. And, he had to admit, he likely hadn't seen all corners of the strange tower. Perhaps this was just another facet he hadn't discovered.

"Ironic, that I would find myself back in this place. I was under the impression that I had destroyed this place."

"I was asking if I'd been assigned this room, not if I'd been drafted. I know my role, I'm no toy soldier..."

He brushes his fingers over his name once more before turning back to look at her. "There was nothing to be done. The Authorities grew tired of my antics and so tossed me aside like a rag doll. Their game has ended and my world with it..." It seems as though he had been expecting something like this to happen. While he didn't seem happy about the whole thing, he certainly wasn't surprised by it.

"Tell me, though, how on earth did a creature like you end up in a place such as this?"

V/V tilted her head to the side. "I didn't understand a lot of what you just said. The worlds we come from are all really different and I don't know anything about what your world is like- so, I'm sorry if I assume anything..."

She cleared her throat. "My name's V/V. I'm just someone brought here like everybody else, but it's nice to meet you."

"Yes I think that did be it." Not a language of her world, but it had been on Hidetoshi's notes.

She raised an eyebrow, since obviously no one had destroyed the tower, she wasn't even sure such a thing was possible. "Well you did be failing."

She assumed he meant another tower in another world but she saw a chance to spread confusion and took it.

"I shall concede the possibility. I'm not a pawn, at any rate."

He's more of a knight.

"... Are you not from a world they created, then? Or perhaps you weren't aware of it... I wasn't aware of it until recently. I discovered my entire life, my town, all those I knew, were part of a children's game..." He seems to mean that quite literally. "I refused to believe it at the time, but it seems that I can no longer deny the truth of the matter..."

Artemiy inspects her closer, glancing over her wings with disbelief. He almost thought he'd be able to spot where they'd been stitched onto her back with needle and thread.

"It wouldn't surprise me if children had invented an angel as a part of their games. I should know firsthand how wild their imaginations run... Sad to see such a beautiful character be forgotten so easily."

Artemiy can't help himself as he gives a bit of a cynical laugh, pressing the back of his gloved hand to his mouth to try and suppress it.

"Either that or it's an insane coincidence that I would come back to a place sharing so many similarities to the one I tore down... Or perhaps not a coincidence, but a cruel joke meant to mock the choice I made to reduce the abomination of a tower to rubble. I'm sure a good 'friend' of mine will be pleased to know his tower is truly unharmed."

The surgeon waved his hand dismissively. "And what do they call you, young lady?"

"To children, all their pieces in their elaborate sets are pawns, playthings with only as much value as the entertainment they have to offer. I'm sure if I hadn't been so resistant to their whims, I might yet have lived another week, perhaps two if I was truly lucky. But I imagine even the most interesting of games will have to come to an end some day... Boredom is all too common to children... Though I suppose I can't fault them for their nature."

Despite his utter disdain for what he was to 'the Authorities', those who were in charge of his world and indeed his whole life, he couldn't truly blame children for acting like children.

He could feel another headache coming on the more he thought about it, and presses his fingers to his temples.

"If you have no twyrine, perhaps you could spare some other drink? Ethanol of any sort, old cough medicine if it's available."

"I am sure they will be." She shrugged with another smirk even if she didn't really know what he was talking about.

"I do be Nesir Aeser." She told him.

That's sort of like what happened to V/V except that she was originally something else, and then everybody gave her the shape of an angel... V/V decides not to contest it.

"It's sad to see anyone here. Whether they're beautiful or not."

"Nesir... I am Artemiy Burakh." He seems to be genuinely pleased to meet her, as he holds a hand out for her to shake. Whether or not she does shake it is her decision, especially considering his gloves don't seem all that clean. Is that blood? It's hard to tell against the black leather.

"How long have you been staying here?"

"I know a certain someone whom I'd like to see end up someplace miserable..." It was a half-mumbled comment. "My name is Artemiy Burakh... As you can plainly see." Artemiy gestures back to his name plate. "I suppose we're resigned here for the time being... How long have you been here?"

She doesn't seemed worried about it blood or not, she shakes his hand like Rei taught her to.

"Nice to be meeting you Artemiy. I have been being here seven months, it has no been the most fun half year of my life."

"September, so-" V/V pauses to count in her head. "Nine months now. It seems longer."

"Why was your life counted in days?" Garviel focuses in on that, surprised by hearing someone's time was so short.

Garviel thinks about what the man is asking for, and finally realizes, "Oh, you desire some kind of alcohol... well, once you come with me to the mess facilities here, we'll see about finding you an intoxicant. It took me a moment to realize that was what you were after, as I cannot become drunk." The downside of having a 3rd kidney now being apparent.

Artemiy seems pretty happy that she wasn't offput by him. He can't say that he was used to the open gesture from others.

"It can't be worse than the hell I went through these past two weeks of my life..."

Well... at least he has yet to be proven wrong on that one. But this place seemed clean and sterile of any disease, he'd been given his own bed and room to stay... It was much nicer living conditions than he'd expected for someone who'd essentially ceased to exist.

"Nine months... Quite a long time, but not a time period that resembles permanence... Are there others who've been here longer than you?"

It seemed he could be staying here for quite a while. Already he was feeling a terrible pang of homesickness ringing through his body. It felt like sheer nausea...

"The children who invented my life gave me only twelve days to live it. Granted I was bestowed with nearly three decades worth of memories... yet in retrospect I don't think it was much more than simple 'backstory' to the pantomime I was set to star in."

Artemiy gives an odd look to Garviel's admittance about his nature towards alcohol. He seriously wonders what sort of anatomy this hulking creature of a man possesses to avoid intoxication. "... I'm sure if you give me the proper time and the proper tools I could fix that issue." Granted it wasn't necessarily an issue. If the man could avoid intoxication, chances were he was also immune to most poisons. Artemiy would have to actually damage his system.

"... Where is this mess hall you're referring to?"

"Uh-huh, almost two years now I think..." V/V didn't know who personally had been here that long, but the network archives went that far back.

Garviel takes a moment to process this, then ventures a question, "So you were an artificical construct then? What was the purpose of the pantomime?"

He shrugs his armored shoulders regarding the question of fixing his immunity to drunkeness. He still enjoys the taste of wine, just not here, so far away from his comrades.

"The first floor. Bottom of this strange tower."

"I think they might be seeing that as a challenge." She said with a smirk, but at least he wasn't freaking out like some people did.

"Two years... Have all of you received notes like this upon your arrival?" The Haruspex holds up the note he'd read when he arrived, the one talking about his world and its destruction. "I find the truth of this note to be undeniable in my case... So there really is no other place for me to go but here."

He wonders if that's such a bad thing, really. He'd been given a chance to live... something he hadn't had more than a moment to do back in his homeworld.

"Artificial. I suppose that's a proper word for what I was. I've already mentioned, though, the pantomime was nothing but a game between two children. Do children need a purpose to weave their tales? They have very creative minds, and stopping a child's flow of creativity is as difficult as stopping the flow of time itself. It seemed it was only an unfortunate accident that granted we, the characters of their story, acute self-awareness. And only three of us discovered the truth behind our existence, so shortly before it ended."

He gives a shudder at the memory of buttons sewn into the eyes of himself and his two rivals... and quickly puts it out of his mind.

"For now I wish to forget... And quite honestly I could do without towers for the rest of my life... Could you show me to the bottom floor?"

He smirks right back, amused by her tone.

"Really? Hah, I'd like to see them try... It's going to take quite a bit to shake me after spending nearly two weeks in a town ravaged by disease, bandits, arsonists, and a blockheaded militia. What could be so much worse than that?"

"I see. How strange. Well, come on." He will lead Artemiy there, standing almost protectively nearby him as they walk, considering what he said.

"So how did your tale end, then?"

"It was a happy ending, unfortunately." Artemiy follows Garviel closely... and he notices his protective demeanor. Well far be it from him to deny the warrior's protection, he was utterly sick of fighting. "I saved my town, I gained a genuine position of respect and honor and fulfilled my heritage, and the story ended." He furrows a brow at the hulking man. "... And how did yours end?"

"The only way a soldier's tale ever ends." He says, without elaborating further walking with Artemiy, and says, "Why are you unhappy about it having a good ending, then?"

"We all do. And sometimes people get sent back to their homes and they're all ruined." A cruelty that isn't needed if you're trying to save someone.

Her face was still neutral as she replied, "Well last month they did be brainwashing a group of us by various methods, mostly pain and experimenting on our bodies to be turning us into monstrous creatures who did only be loyal to them. They did also be going further with some and turning them into their spies." She shook her head.

"Two months before that one of the rulers here did be trying to help some of us, and the boss did be eating him."

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In which the Haruspex awakens...

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