2017-11-19: Judgement Falls
- Cutscene: Judgement Falls
- Cast:Malfi
- Where: Dreamscape (Guardian Temple under Wayside)
- Date: 19th November 2017
- Summary: Malfi confronts some not-so-pleasant truths about herself.
(OOC note: Takes place directly after "Mission Underway" and before the boss battle for the Schturdark Statue).
Ambrosius (in Nimue) and Neriah are busy excavating a tunnel to the surface from the Guardian Temple under Wayside. No one had expected to find such a thing down here, but the ancient humans had been legendarily eccentric in their building habits, especially their penchant for exasperating puzzle locks. Malfi knows nothing about geology, so she has settled into one of the dry corners of the temple for a nap with the blanket from her backpack. Pity digging the tunnel wasn't quieter. Still, she should be able to manage a snooze of a sort. Either the floor is surprisingly comfortable or she is uncharacteristically exhausted. No way to tell. Maybe both. It had been a tiring journey, and she is literally recharging her batteries.
She is sleeping. She is dreaming. She is standing before a mirror that shows her ideal self -- strong, competent, confident, golden skin gleaming in the light, white tresses longer and fuller than they are in real life.
"You are pathetic," Shadow!Malfi pronounces contemptuously.
"You failed at Adlehyde." That wasn't my fault! she wants to protest.
"You were defeated by a human." True, that had happened once, but the human was far from ordinary, bolstered by the power of the Sword Guardian. She does not know the Guardian's name, only its nature. It hates her people and wants to destroy them. Malfi had felt its despite firsthand, intractable, implacable, relentless. Such malice could never be argued with, only returned.
"You failed to destroy the Turtle statue." Ah, the most recent dereliction of duty. She doesn't know the name of this Guardian, either. Turtle will suffice. I was ordered not to, she wants to say. She rolls over in her sleep. The Guardians would get no quarter. It was her survival or theirs. Surely, she resolved, the statue would be obliterated the instant it was safe to do so. Mother must awaken!
"Your excuses are disgusting. You are a disgrace. No better than a Tainted. Not even fit for recycling." Judgement falls as consciousness rises.
And the dreamscape falls away as Malfi awakens to a commotion outside. You know you're on a rough planet when the very Demons have to wrestle with demons.
So reaches groggily for her flask of coffee. What's all that racket?!??