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I am ready, Captain Rogers, to talk.

[ as promised. ]

Okay. What's your take on what happened over there?

You are not going to like my answer.

[ as a pre-emptive warning. ]

But the Void is not something that should be tampered with. I am connected to it, and I can utilize the energy within it to access other worlds. It is how I send you all from space to space . . . mortals cannot manipulate that level of energy.

Had I known that that was what the King was planning, I never would have sent you there. The world was doomed the moment it opened.

[ or, at least, so astoria thinks. the rift may have been able to be closed without losing akvos altogether, but astoria will never know, now. it's simply a void, where it once was, to her. she can no longer feel it attached to her being through magic. ]

[It's not too far off from what he thought. Steve knew it couldn't have been them exactly. Trying to stop infighting and risking your sanity to save old men isn't going to wreck a world. Something weird and dark? That will do it, he thinks.]

So Akvos' leadership doomed the world? Not us? I'll be honest that's the take some of the folks are having here and it's eating them alive. At this rate, you're going to have a group too traumatized to do anything on our next mission.

[Zari and Tony especially worry him. Steve can keep going. That's his superpower more than anything the serum gave him. He can't give that same will to the others.] We had a lot of problems while we were there. Our comms were down, we were separated from each other, and so on. What caused that? How can we prevent it in the future?

I could use an explanation on the Void if we could fit that in too.

Akvos' tampering with things they do not understand doomed the world. The Circle did the best they could with what they were given.

[ she pauses, before sending another message. ]

The magic I use is an imperfect science. This is the first attempt I have made at organizing something of this magnitude, and there are bound to be mistakes made. I believe the magic King Ka'Pouli was using in order to open the Void, and create the Rift, interrupted my connection with the Circle, which caused the separation and the network not working, but I cannot be certain. I will likely never know.

[ another pause. ]

The Void is a longer explanation, if you would still like to hear it. I will try to make as much sense of it as I can.

I'd like to hear it. The more we know, the better we can understand what the Hell is happening around here.

[Considering what he saw in the Rift and the voice Astoria heard? Weird coincidence people came back to haunt them after that thing was opened.]

[ it takes a few moments, for the next message to appear. it's not because astoria is avoidant, but because she's trying to figure out the bext way to explain this to someone who may not be entirely familiar with what it is. it's hard, to find words for something only you know so intimately, and so she tries, but it's obvious this is something she's never had to do before. ]

It is the connective material between worlds. Time does not matter, within them, and threads between universes cross frequently. It is the nothingness between realities, and it is what I am connected to. It is how I feel the universe, and how I know what word is suffering, and what world is not.

Entering it, disturbing it, or opening it without an understanding of how to use it will create rifts in time and space, which will devour anything within it. It is like a black hole -- it will eat, and eat, and eat, until nothing is left. That is what happened in Akvos -- the rift in the Void tore Akvos apart, because the magic that the King used to open it . . . it was like mixing oil and water.

I can interact with the Void because I am a part of it, and it is a part of me. But mortals . . . it is an incredibly risky thing to do, and there is no telling what you may find when you enter it. I protect you all, when you go from world to world. You saw what you did, when you entered the Void, because you did not have my hand to guide you.

[That is so much information. Steve tries his best to follow it. It certainly helps that once upon a time he woke up in a strange world and had to adjust. He knows how to process crazy things. It's still no easy task. He'll definitely have to pour over this information with Tony later.]

So that story about him being a gift from the gods.... Is that how he did it? Did he get that ability from someone like you?

How did you become connected to it? Is this going to be an issue moving forward? We'll lose worlds because we'll find out after the fact some other immortal gave someone the ability to use that nothingness?

That's a lot to ask, I know. What I really need to know is how we stop this from happening again. We made the best of what we were given, but that's not enough to keep morale up.

I am not sure, where he got it. But I certainly did not give it to him, nor did I point him in that direction.

I have always been connected to it, since my creation. I do not remember the first time I felt it, because it has always been there. . . and as far as I know, I am the only person like me. The only being . . . goddess, witch. Whatever you want to call me.

The universe is a massive place, but even I don't know every single person that is out there. You require magic, to close the Void, powerful magic, and I possess that magic. Perhaps . . . using what I gave you? I am not sure, but you all carry a piece of me within you. That is likely how you managed to go in and out of the Void without being permanently lost in the first place.

So there might or at least there were other players at play here? Like the fella with the gold eyes?

Maybe they're not gods or witches. Whatever you are. Something is out there capable of giving him and others like him the ability to tamper with the Void. We might want to figure out who they are going forward.

Even if you're always with us... somewhat? I don't think we can let this go forever if we'll end up on worlds that are doomed from the start like this one. Once it happens, it's bound to happen again. It's how these things work in my experience. The problem always comes back. I rather not lose our people because we think that piece of you will keep us safe.

Yes, Kathashun . . .

[ Astoria's version of texting seems to be a speech-to-text function. you can almost hear the tilting in her head, the musing tone, translating across the message. ]

I have never met him, but members of the Circle told me a great deal about him. He is an interesting individual. He possesses a fantastic amount of arcane power, which he believes was granted to him by a goddess. The Blessing, he called it. Only members of the Royal Family were granted the gift . . . it was how they picked their leader.

But he should not be able to traverse the planes of existence, with his ability. And I do not know how he learned how to do such a thing, at such a young age, without dying, or tampering with the Void.

At any rate, I will do my best to prevent a situation like Akvos happening again. And I apologize that I was not able to do more.

Edited 2019-02-19 15:24 (UTC)

That's all I needed to hear. Thank you for your time. I'll get back to you if I have any other questions.

ic inbox | acatalepsy

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