(Renose/Flamelord Collab, Part 3)
Thomas listened carefully once again, attention divided between the story and the pretzel, which was filling now that he thought about it. He hadn't eaten at all in the trip through the Horned King's world, whatever it was called. He just hadn't noticed because of how busy he was. He wasn't too surprised that the two had been born special compared to their average counterparts, though the condition itself was strange, there not being a real counterpart in the regular realm ofr fairly evident reasons. "Okay, so Oblivion. Does that mean you two would have just, ceased to exist or something?" Now he could finally see some of the stuff that the other mage had had to go through, though he didn't know it at the time, and it made him feel slightly better with his own problems, if it was unable to resolve them in their majority.
Oner gave a nod to Thomas' question. "It is more than ceasing to exist. You may have noticed it when you were with Reno, but were there times when he went completely emotionless? When Oblivion begins to onset, the personalities are the first to go. They act emotionless, only acting on the results of actions and ignoring all consequences and feelings brought by said actions. If we are able to pull ourselves back, we have no memories of the incident. If we are not able to pull ourselves back though... our entire existence shatters, like a broken mirror. We cease to be, but it is not just us that ceases to be".
Oner paused and for the first time there was a bit of fear in his voice, a bit of dread, but he took a sip of the beverage to calm himself down. "All memories of us also cease to be...meaning that anyone who ever knew us... all of the memories they had of us would simply cease to exist. Sure things we physically have left behind stay, but the memories... they all vanish. Oblivion for us means that we truly cease existing everywhere, even in people's minds..."
Thomas frowned, humming as he considered that. It was definitely bigger than he had thought. "Wow. I could see why that would be an issue. though I'd have to question whether that would actually affect, say, the group, since we aren't from the Mirror realm, and the fundamental differences between the two may result in a preservation of the memories of you. Or something. I don't know, and it's not something we'd want to attempt to put to the test." He took another bite from his pretzel, then nodded to Oner, for him to go on with his tale.
"Aside from our existences, some basic appearance differentiations, and the fact that we live for around 1000 years, give or take, we aren't that much different than humans. And yes, while you may be right... I still do not wish to test it out nonetheless, as testing it out would mean that Reno and I would have to cease existing". Oner then saw the nod and continued on with his story. "Our parents did not want our existence to shatter before it even began, so they placed a powerful spell upon us. It would begin slowly evening out our existence, allowing it to seperate and turn the single half into two, but that wouldn't be good enough."
"So our parents decided to send us to this realm to have us live among humans, beings with an individual self. They decided that if we lived as a human then we could experience ultimate individuality. The spell they placed on us would make only one self present while the other one remained in a deep sleep trance and give us a more human form. After that, they sent us to the human realm where we ended up in Radiant Garden and were found by our father, the only thing they had given us being a letter written in our realm's tongue and the stone that holds within it Bahamhut".
"For a while, eight years to be precise, Reno managed to grow up as a human child would. I slept, able to experience the world in my dreams, but not aware of where I was or even what I was as I was truly asleep. Until Reno learned magic that is. Him learning magic when he was eight must have done something to the spell, because the moment Reno obtained this power, I also obtained power as well, and was suddenly awakened somewhat. I still wasn't fully aware of what was going on, but I had a general idea. From then on, during the nights, I would come forth, still looking the same as Reno, but being myself".
"It didn't take father too long to find out that I was someone different and I told him what I knew, which wasn't much at the time, but I knew a couple things about what we are and where we are from. You see, along with the spell our parents implanted within us memories of our home that would come to us when the spell was broken, but with it weakening or changing a few of them returned to me. For the next three years I would come out at night while Reno slept and father would teach me white magic and swordsmanship while teaching and being with Reno during the day". Oner then paused there, drinking more of his drink before it melted too much and to also take time to answer any questions Thomas may have had.
More and more information about Reno, and this was still intriguing information as it was. He had to wonder if the denizens of the Mirror Realm just had a greater affinity for magic, or if it was something else, but he didn't expect Oner to know that much, since he had spent most of his life in this realm as it was. It might have been in that letter, but he felt he would be more able to glean the answer from listening, rather than directly asking. "I'm impressed Serin wasn't run ragged training the two of you day and night," he said, amused respect in his tone. He finished off his pretzel ,brushing his hands, before leaning back some and letting Oner go on.
"Well we didn't train all of the time. I mostly read books at night, magic books, sword technique books, history books. Certain days father would train the both of us, and other days we relaxed and enjoyed growing up and childhood, even if my childhood was mostly reading books and playing the occasional video game that Reno played that would pique my interest. Everything was nice, until three years after that". Oner took one more moment to finish the last of the beverage, making the now empty cup float in his hand before pointing to the trash can with his finger, the cup flying into the can with that single point.
"When Reno first obtained his Keyblade I obtained mine at the same time. After that, the spell was affected once again, but not for better. No. This time I lost my ability to surface during the nights and I gained a bit more knowledge from the spell, but not pleasent knowledge. It was more knowledge about what we were, but mostly about our existence. Oblivion and everything else, but most importantly... it was about how our people sleep. You see, Denizens of the Mirror sleep differently than humans and we do not need to do so every day. You see, when we sleep we enter a Trance, and usually identify our sleep method as Trancing".
"During this we dream, we rest, and sleep as humans would. Only difference is, we also keep our existence in harmony with trancing and we are semi-aware of our surroundings when in a trance. Not only that, but one self is capable of trancing while the other goes out and about, so technically we never need to truly sit down and sleep. Reno was not able to truly sleep as a Mirror Child should. He was able to sleep like a human, keeping his body and mind refreshed, but never able to keep our existence in harmony with his sleep, which he was also unconscious during like all humans are. Luckily we lived peaceful lives, so if we could have just continued until the spell broke on its own, we would have eventually awoken normally and we would be as we are today".
Oner paused for a short moment to once again allow Thomas to ask any questions.
Thomas shrugged, no questions present. Trancing wasn't too strange, if one accepted the rest of the facts that had been previously given. And it wasn't like it was totally different from normal sleep, so he didn't feel the need to kick up a fuss about it. There was a slight twinge for the individual childhood he recieved, but he let that pass as well, not in the mood to dwell in his own past. He wasn't the one explaining things after all, so back to the story here it would be.
"Well, when Reno got summoned by King Mickey he was eager to answer, and went on that journey with you and the others. We both experienced trials and tribulations that we had never experienced before. While normally this would be a good thing, for our existence it wasn't. All it would take is one push to make Oblivion begin to onset for Reno. This happened when he failed to save Scroop. Even if the man was a horrible villain, Reno wanted to save him and teach the errors of his ways, but he was unable to. That... was the one push Reno needed to shatter our precariously balanced existence and begin the onset of Oblivion".
"Luckily... Reno is strong and so am I. I was able to help him regain his strength and go on, helping him keep things together. Reno is not invincible though... even if his magic is great. Reno, just like myself, dislikes fighting. With all of the fighting that was going on it was only making things worse as our existence was still slowly crumbling, more onsets of oblivion appearing with me and him barely able to pull ourselves together. Eventually in Narnia I had managed to save up just enough strength to temporarily break the boundaries of the spell, with which I was going to take Reno to a different world were we could be alone... I was planning on then focusing all of my efforts on trying to get Reno to hear me through the spell so we could break it with our combined strengths and be whole again... but that wasn't the case. I overestimated my remaining strength and was forced to return...which is how Reno ended up in Prydain".
"Eventually Reno met Jake after letting the skeletons of the Horned King take him to prison, which Reno let them do since he wanted to see what a prison was like. After escaping easily with Jake and the other natives of that world he eventually met up with Belle by himself. The two of them went to fight the Horned King and save Hen Wen, but Mika of the Six Senses was there. He kidnapped Belle and Reno went after him. The two of them fought, Mika being quite tough, about as strong as Reno even. During that battle my voice finally managed to reach Reno, me and Reno combined powers to transform into our more powerful form to not only take on Mika, but also break our spell, and Mika fled after seeing that. The rest is history..."
Oner gave a heavy sigh after the story was finished, chuckling a small bit as he realized how long that story was. "Well, I hope that story wasn't too long for thee. Dost thou have any more questions about anything I have said?"
The blanks were filled in ow, and now at least Thomas knew the relative story about what had happened while he and Belle were separated on Prydain, though he nearly facepalmed upon learning that Reno had voluntarily gone to prison to see what it was like. The knowledge that they had a combined form that was even more powerful was somewhat daunting in terms of his goal of proving equal in his own mind, but he would figure out some way to do it. He most certainly knew more than before, and even his oher self was silent as it digested this information, for what intent he didn't know. and this in mind he supposed he could at least try and stand Reno longer, however successful that would be.
He sighed, stretching, before he responded. "Eh, I've seen nobles before, so it's not too bad. And I can't think of anything at the moment. If I do, I'll ask." He rose from his seat and looked at Oner. "Guess we should be back on our way then."
"Nobles?" Oner seemed a bit curious about this, but decided it could wait. "Actually I was thinking we go visit Ascot in the hospital, as that was my original intention. After all, he was hurt pretty badly by his new power, so I thought it'd be nice to see what he was up to. Hopefully Reno will have recovered by then, if not then I am sure he and Ascot can talk tomorrow. After all, Reno does need to catch up on some proper sleep since technically he hasn't slept in five years, so right now he is in a very deep trance, not even aware of what is going on right now".
Well then, apparently Ascot had gotten another ability as well. Good for him. Though Thomas couldn't help but wonder if the dark explosion was related. Not that that made much sense in any case, but he hadn't been there so he couldn't judge on the matter. "sounds good," he agreed, and moved off with Oner towards the hospital in question. Oe at least the one he had hopefully gone to. Otherwise there would be a lot of walking in the near future. Eventually though they did find the hospital, and were directed to the room ascot had been lodged in for the duration of his stay, arriving to find Jake still there and ascot resting in bed, though the younger warrior appeared to be awake now.
Stepping in, Thomas moved to near Ascot's bedside. "Well then. good to see you're looking better," he said casually, noting that he didn't look too bad, all things considered. "Let this be a lesson, that standing next to dark explosions is a bad thing."
"So how are you doing Ascot?" Oner stepped in as well, giving a small smile to the warrior of light in his bed. "Are you feeling any better? We did manage to heal you alot with those usages of Curaja, but even that level of healing magic can't restore everything".
