[E-mail: Lera, Ezra, Rhys, Harriet, Gabe]

[inchesofevil]

[early Sunday, post-merge]

You guys are going to find out sooner or later so I might as well tell you myself.

I'm the Vahishta, as of yesterday.

So I guess welcome to the club, self.

Comments

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[turnsteptwirl]

I know. ;)

It'll be okay, honey. Really. It's not that bad.

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[inchesofevil]

I guess on the plus side I get to see you all again.

I missed you jerks.

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[turnsteptwirl]

You do, indeed! And we missed you, too.

Though that reminds me, I still have a promise I need to keep to the former Asha. Let me know when you have some free time, honey? I need to pick your brain about something.

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[inchesofevil]

Uhhhh...

What promise?

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[turnsteptwirl]

I promised him I'd learn a few things about holy magic. It was something he wanted to learn about, but never had the chance to before he died.

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[inchesofevil]

Ohh

It requires a center, as far as I know. That's a paladin/cleric thing, it's like a well of holiness in your chest that you draw from. Different from your mana, you pull mana through it.

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[turnsteptwirl]

What, did you think I was going to set you on fire or something? The Asha before had an issue with Vahishta, yeah, but I'm not setting anyone on fire unless they deserve it. :(

Huh. That's kind of cool, actually.

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[inchesofevil]

wh



Gabriel.

Can you do me a huge favour and stop being weird, maybe, please?

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[turnsteptwirl]

Surprisingly, that's not that weird. I just forgot you're missing the context.

See, before the war, I was going through the former Asha's notes, and there were a lot of sketches in there of the former Vahishta on fire. I still have no idea what that was about.

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[inchesofevil]

Maybe he knew somethi

OH SHIT YOU GUYS

YOU GUYS, FUCK.

Before he [was murdered!!!!!!!!] died the Vahishta told me he was 2100 years old and there had never been another Vahishta before and all the Vahishta candidates that had been picked over the years were just fucking killed off.

Maybe the Asha knew? Or suspected?

I DON'T THINK I WAS SUPPOSED TO TELL ANYONE ABOUT THAT BUT FUCK IT, THAT SHIT WAS CRAZY, OKAY.

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[firecracker_hopping]

Shit.

That's crazy. Let's keep that quiet, since... thing the world wasn't supposed to know? We better know why they weren't before we tell everybody.

I wonder what it means.

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[turnsteptwirl]

Yeah, that's... not something I think we need to share with everybody.

How the hell did he manage to cheat death entirely, though? I mean, if I'm remembering correctly, we do get longer lifespans with the god-organs, but not thousands of years worth.

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[inchesofevil]

Are you nuts, of course I'm not going to run around telling fucking everyone about that shit.

The heart's different, apparently? I guess I'm immortal now.

['immortal,' ha ha ha...]

Or, well, eternally unaging.

He said that since the heart let him conquer death, it insulated him against it too. Or something like that.

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[brokencrescendo]

He told me he hated the Vahishta. That wouldn't be a bad reason. Who knows what he saw before he couldn't understand what he was looking at.

Keep this quiet unless you're prepared to prove it. If they don't believe it, they'll turn on you instead.

But some of those clerics may have been in on that story. Be careful.

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[inchesofevil]

Fuck, I'm telling you guys and fucking no one else. I thought he was going to kill me after he told me.

It's a given that there'd be at least a few clerics in on it.

Fuck, though. Does this mean that in a hundred years they'll start looking for brown-haired blue-eyed boys with perfectly straight noses? Shit, man. Shit.

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[brokencrescendo]

You're the Vahishta now. I can't imagine you won't have enough influence by then to the change the rules.

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[inchesofevil]

What if I don't! What if the clerics are actually controlled by some sort of shadow-council that tells the Vahishta what to do?!

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[coolmonsoon]

What

Aw, fuck man

No, that doesn't make him creepy at all, jesus fuck.

[ it's sort of a weight off, not having to deal with the guy anymore, let's be honest. but 2100 years? fuck. he knew something was off, but that makes for a lt of time to scheme and plan.

...suddenly he doesn't feel better about the old vahishta being gone. ]

Shit, shit, shit.

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[inchesofevil]

FUCKING

I KNOW, RIGHT?

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

And then I asked why they were killed and he said to preserve the secret and I was like HOLY FUCK THE VAHISHTA IS GOING TO KILL ME

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[inchesofevil]

he didn't though

[ :|;;;;;;;; ]

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[coolmonsoon]

Don't worry, I can sense undead. We'll know for sure when we meet up.

But- fuck, I mean, fuck man. I spent a lot of time with the Vahishta. But I mean. I mean, I can see it.

[ because he can still remember the Vahishta willingly let people die by the Vairya's hand. ]

Thinking about it, I'm not as surprised as I thought I should be.

Re: [reply all]

[inchesofevil]

[ha ha ha Ezra that's not the issue here but thanks maybe]

What, was he like creepy around you or something?

He seemed kind of ineffably calm and paternal when I met him.

I mean, before...that thing.

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[suddenly_science]

HOW LONG HAS THIS CONSPIRACY EMAIL BEEN IN MY INBOX

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[inchesofevil]

I don't know. Timestamp?

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[suddenly_science]

An hour and thirty minutes.