Ah, no, not especially. The Empire of Garlemond is a nation far, far to the north of here. They lack the ability to use magic, and instead rely on a mastery of technology and an army built upon the backs of many, many conquered nations. When they invaded mine and Lambard’s homeland of Ala Mhigo, they crushed us and subjugated us for twenty long years.
[ His eyes remain on the scene before them as he speaks, on Lambard’s smirking face as he outlines his quest to command even greater magicks than that of the black, the white, or the red, and the transformation he undertook to achieve such a thing. ]
In the early days of the invasion, I returned from patrolling one night to find the Crimson Duelists – my fellow red mages – slain by one of our own. After two decades of nary a peep, I thought the traitor to be dead, but not so, as you can see.
[ Other than the talk of magic, it's a familiar enough story: a nation that decides that it deserves to rule over all, and conquers country after country to that end. There are a number of different examples within Earth's history.
It's hard to imagine why someone who'd be subjugated by this Empire would decide to join forces with them, but it's also hard to imagine why "Reaper" would work with Talon when he'd spent a good chunk of his life working against them.
Really, wrestling with something like that isn't something 76 would wish on anyone. He watches for a few more seconds before glancing back to X'rhun. ]
Did he ever give you a real answer? For why he did it?
[ Wanting more powerful magic doesn't seem like a good enough explanation. ]
He did not. I’m inclined to believe that’s the whole of it, however.
[ There is more there, things that he would learn some time after this confrontation, things that might paint the situation to make it seem as though Lambard had no choice in the matter, but he knows better. There is always a choice. One’s fate is not absolute.
In the memory, Lambard and X’rhun are squaring up, blades drawn and ready to clash. When at last steel chimes with steel, it seems as though X’rhun has the upper hand… but the rug is taken out from under him as Lambard reveals the darker side to his power. His need to feed on the life force of the living. The present X’rhun presses a hand to his middle, over the scar that still sits there, discolored and made strange by Lambard’s magic. ]
Come, walk with me. There is little else to see, unless you wish to watch my students give him a thorough thrashing.
[ It's not the first time that 76 has heard of someone being driven to do terrible things simply for the sake of obtaining power, and Lambard's talk of altering his body to do so makes him shift uncomfortably. When the price for that is explained as needing to feed on another's life force, 76's eyes narrow behind his visor. It's similar enough to work its way right under his skin.
Reaper's victims had been left as lifeless husks, after all.
The black and red energy that surges out of Lambard is also eerily familiar, and when the purple glowing wound appears on X'rhun's past self, 76 glances to look at him in the here and now. ]
Are there any lasting effects?
[ 76 will take X'rhun's word that his students managed to stop Lambard, at least for a while, but that doesn't mean that this was the end of it. ]
[ It was the end, and yet it was not. Lambard's tale was a complicated one, a web that entangled more than just X'rhun and their long-dead comrades. For now, however, it shall remain a tale left untold, since X'rhun begins to move away from the scene, as the memories of his students step between himself and the traitor who laid him low. ]
From the wound, you mean? A rather unsightly scar and some bad dreams, but other than that I seem to have recovered well.
[ Once they've gained some distance from the sounds of battle behind them, following the shore of the lake, he turns to regard his friend. ]
I had hoped to learn this from you, personally, and not a scene from your past, but now that proverbial cat is out of the bag... may I call you Jack?
[ 76 can't shake the feeling that there's more to this story than what they've seen here, but he's not going to press for details when X'rhun is already leading them away. He follows close after him, continuing to take in their surroundings. This is probably the last time he'll ever seen this place, so it seems worth some close examination.
He isn't prepared for the forward question about his name, but it's not really an unfair request. 76 has kept his real name a secret mainly out of habit; it doesn't matter who knows here. ]
Yeah, that's fine. [ Even then, his response is a little reluctant. They've been forced to see into each other's pasts, so now he may as well fill in the blanks. ] What you saw back there... I was the head of an international peacekeeping organization called Overwatch.
[ This isn't something he would have been likely to tell X'rhun if it hadn't been for this unintended trip down memory lane, but there's little point in hiding it now. ]
I don't exactly make that common knowledge, but that's the truth.
I thank you, for telling me. Would that it had not come about like this, but I am glad you trust me all the same.
[ He’s aware of just how secretive his friend is, giving out a number instead of a name. Jack has no reason to fill in the blanks as he does now. He could just as easily leave X’rhun to wonder, remaining tight-lipped about the whole of what they just witnessed, so X’rhun appreciates the show of trust for what it is.
A story for a story, then. ]
Lambard and I were members of an order of red mages called the Crimson Duelists. Ere the Empire scented blood in the water and came to call, we took up our blades alongside the Ala Mhigan people in a civil war to oust our then-ruler, the Mad King Theodoric. We intended to the same during the invasion, but obviously that did not come to pass.
[ Trust is not something that 76 comes by easily these days, and someone like X'rhun can probably understand why. He'd trusted Gabriel with so much, only to have that all thrown back in his face. X'rhun hasn't given him any reason to distrust him, though, and he's never pushed too hard to know things about him.
There's also an equal exchange between them, as X'rhun is quick to fill in the blanks about his own past. It seems like this Empire has been plaguing him for years now, just as Talon had plagued Overwatch. ]
Were you still fighting them, when the Storm came?
[ It's hard to have something that you're working toward (something you define yourself by), only to have that taken away so unexpectedly. 76 knows that they still need to somehow find their way out of this illusion, but he waits for X'rhun's response first. ]
[ There is a pause, then. It’s not a long one, but it sits heavy with a mix of emotions that X’rhun cannot fully give words to. There is some degree of pride, and unfathomable sorrow. Joy, and pain both. ]
No. After two long decades of subjugation, Ala Mhigo met the Storm a free nation. ‘Tis the only solace I can take from the destruction of my homeland.
[ Losing their homes is something that will never really stop hurting, as much as 76 has seen all of the refugees do their best to repress that. It's something too overwhelming to even face head-on; they have to focus instead on what's in front of them, which is why these memories are so unwelcome. ]
Not much of a consolation, in light of everything, but at least it's something.
[ Now really isn't the time for dwelling, though. Back to the task at hand. ]
We still need to figure out how to get out of here. Any ideas?
[ In those two decades, X’rhun stepped foot into Ala Mhigo but once, all too briefly in search of help for his ailing student. He never went back to stay, to see who among his old friends and fellow soldiers, if any, yet lived to see their home freed from Garlean control. He regrets that, but he knew it would be in poor taste to come sauntering back in the hour of Ala Mhigo’s victory when Lambard’s betrayal had cut so deeply.
Would that he could have seen it grow and thrive and truly spread its wings. Fate is cruel like that, sometimes. ]
Let us keep walking, I think, and see if we can unravel the memory again. Eventually, it’s got to dump us back where we belong.
[ Eventually. Yeah, it doesn't seem like a vision this detailed could last forever, but 76 doesn't like that it's already gone on for so long. They could be unconscious in the real world, ready to be snatched by those shamans again for all that they know. He'd rather not wake up in a freezing cave again, if it's all the same to everyone.
So 76 follows close at X'rhun's side, continuing to study the environment around them. It's as he's doing so that he notices something strange in the distance, a part of the scenery where there seems to be some sort of fissure, almost like a mirage that's making things look blurry.
This isn't just a trick of the eye, though, is it?
He taps X'rhun on the shoulder and points it out to him. ] There. Something's not right.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ His eyes remain on the scene before them as he speaks, on Lambard’s smirking face as he outlines his quest to command even greater magicks than that of the black, the white, or the red, and the transformation he undertook to achieve such a thing. ]
In the early days of the invasion, I returned from patrolling one night to find the Crimson Duelists – my fellow red mages – slain by one of our own. After two decades of nary a peep, I thought the traitor to be dead, but not so, as you can see.
no subject
It's hard to imagine why someone who'd be subjugated by this Empire would decide to join forces with them, but it's also hard to imagine why "Reaper" would work with Talon when he'd spent a good chunk of his life working against them.
Really, wrestling with something like that isn't something 76 would wish on anyone. He watches for a few more seconds before glancing back to X'rhun. ]
Did he ever give you a real answer? For why he did it?
[ Wanting more powerful magic doesn't seem like a good enough explanation. ]
no subject
[ There is more there, things that he would learn some time after this confrontation, things that might paint the situation to make it seem as though Lambard had no choice in the matter, but he knows better. There is always a choice. One’s fate is not absolute.
In the memory, Lambard and X’rhun are squaring up, blades drawn and ready to clash. When at last steel chimes with steel, it seems as though X’rhun has the upper hand… but the rug is taken out from under him as Lambard reveals the darker side to his power. His need to feed on the life force of the living. The present X’rhun presses a hand to his middle, over the scar that still sits there, discolored and made strange by Lambard’s magic. ]
Come, walk with me. There is little else to see, unless you wish to watch my students give him a thorough thrashing.
no subject
Reaper's victims had been left as lifeless husks, after all.
The black and red energy that surges out of Lambard is also eerily familiar, and when the purple glowing wound appears on X'rhun's past self, 76 glances to look at him in the here and now. ]
Are there any lasting effects?
[ 76 will take X'rhun's word that his students managed to stop Lambard, at least for a while, but that doesn't mean that this was the end of it. ]
no subject
From the wound, you mean? A rather unsightly scar and some bad dreams, but other than that I seem to have recovered well.
[ Once they've gained some distance from the sounds of battle behind them, following the shore of the lake, he turns to regard his friend. ]
I had hoped to learn this from you, personally, and not a scene from your past, but now that proverbial cat is out of the bag... may I call you Jack?
no subject
He isn't prepared for the forward question about his name, but it's not really an unfair request. 76 has kept his real name a secret mainly out of habit; it doesn't matter who knows here. ]
Yeah, that's fine. [ Even then, his response is a little reluctant. They've been forced to see into each other's pasts, so now he may as well fill in the blanks. ] What you saw back there... I was the head of an international peacekeeping organization called Overwatch.
[ This isn't something he would have been likely to tell X'rhun if it hadn't been for this unintended trip down memory lane, but there's little point in hiding it now. ]
I don't exactly make that common knowledge, but that's the truth.
no subject
[ He’s aware of just how secretive his friend is, giving out a number instead of a name. Jack has no reason to fill in the blanks as he does now. He could just as easily leave X’rhun to wonder, remaining tight-lipped about the whole of what they just witnessed, so X’rhun appreciates the show of trust for what it is.
A story for a story, then. ]
Lambard and I were members of an order of red mages called the Crimson Duelists. Ere the Empire scented blood in the water and came to call, we took up our blades alongside the Ala Mhigan people in a civil war to oust our then-ruler, the Mad King Theodoric. We intended to the same during the invasion, but obviously that did not come to pass.
no subject
There's also an equal exchange between them, as X'rhun is quick to fill in the blanks about his own past. It seems like this Empire has been plaguing him for years now, just as Talon had plagued Overwatch. ]
Were you still fighting them, when the Storm came?
[ It's hard to have something that you're working toward (something you define yourself by), only to have that taken away so unexpectedly. 76 knows that they still need to somehow find their way out of this illusion, but he waits for X'rhun's response first. ]
no subject
[ There is a pause, then. It’s not a long one, but it sits heavy with a mix of emotions that X’rhun cannot fully give words to. There is some degree of pride, and unfathomable sorrow. Joy, and pain both. ]
No. After two long decades of subjugation, Ala Mhigo met the Storm a free nation. ‘Tis the only solace I can take from the destruction of my homeland.
no subject
Not much of a consolation, in light of everything, but at least it's something.
[ Now really isn't the time for dwelling, though. Back to the task at hand. ]
We still need to figure out how to get out of here. Any ideas?
no subject
Would that he could have seen it grow and thrive and truly spread its wings. Fate is cruel like that, sometimes. ]
Let us keep walking, I think, and see if we can unravel the memory again. Eventually, it’s got to dump us back where we belong.
no subject
So 76 follows close at X'rhun's side, continuing to study the environment around them. It's as he's doing so that he notices something strange in the distance, a part of the scenery where there seems to be some sort of fissure, almost like a mirage that's making things look blurry.
This isn't just a trick of the eye, though, is it?
He taps X'rhun on the shoulder and points it out to him. ] There. Something's not right.