Keine Quest (Part 5): Broken History

[Hello Purvis]

>Stand up.
>"See, nothing bad happened."

[DracoOmega]

>Stand up.
>"See, nothing bad happened."

>You stand up and try to reassure Mugetsu.
>"Yet," she says.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Still a good start. Come, the others are this way."
>Depart. Make sure Mugetsu is following along.

[DracoOmega]

>"Still a good start. Come, the others are this way."
>Depart. Make sure Mugetsu is following along.

>Mugetsu nods slowly.
>You head back to where you left the others. Mugetsu follows at a substantial distance, enough such that there's always a few trees or bushes between you and her. It feels a little strange, but she keeps pace with you nonetheless. After a little while you see Mokou and Ran again.
>"Was starting to get worried," Mokou says, moving towards you as you come into sight. "Find anything? Or are we gonna have to spend all bloody night crawling this place?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I found Gengetsu's sister. It seems Gengetsu herself has also vanished. We suspect that thing from the gap Rumia and I fought might be related. I'm taking her, Mugetsu, to see. She's a bit shy, though. Convinced everything out here is going to hurt her. So act like she's a scared kid or something."
>Motion for Mugetsu to join us.

[DracoOmega]

>"I found Gengetsu's sister. It seems Gengetsu herself has also vanished. We suspect that thing from the gap Rumia and I fought might be related. I'm taking her, Mugetsu, to see. She's a bit shy, though. Convinced everything out here is going to hurt her. So act like she's a scared kid or something."
>Motion for Mugetsu to join us.

>Ran's brow furrows as you explain Gengetsu's disappearance and possible relation to the shadow creature. You can practically see her theorizing.
>You motion for Mugetsu to join you... and realize you've lost sight of her. Oh, wait, there she is. You see a tiny flash of color a few dozen feet away, mostly obscured by plant life.
>Mokou frowns as she follows your gaze. "I'm not gonna hurt ya, kid," she calls out. "As long as you don't pull something first." Mugetsu doesn't move.
>"Look, I promise," Mokou says after a few more moments, raising her hands in a disarming gesture. "No more sleepy business and we'll get along just fine."
>There is a small rustling of leaves and another part of Mugetsu's face pokes into view. She still doesn't come much closer, though. "...promise?"
>"Promise," Mokou replies. Mugetsu starts to move, then hesitates. Mokou sighs and shakes her head. "Look, I don't know what more I can say, kid. Just gotta trust. You trust her, she trusts me. 'sides," she adds, grinning. "I'm not brave enough to try pulling anything that'd put me in her bad books. I've seen what happens to those people."
>Mugetsu ducks back behind the leaves.
>"...dammit."

[Hello Purvis]

>"If you're not in them yet, you're probably not going to be. I would have done something already."

[DracoOmega]

>"If you're not in them yet, you're probably not going to be. I would have done something already."

>"...maybe," comes the eventual reply. Mugetsu takes a few steps towards you, come out from behind the trees.
>"See?" Mokou says. "Not so bad, is it?"
>"...maybe."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Don't worry, you'll like it out here. This is where all the interesting things happen."
>Offer a hand to her.

[DracoOmega]

>"Don't worry, you'll like it out here. This is where all the interesting things happen."
>Offer a hand to her.

>"I don't think so," she says, shaking her head. It's not entirely clear which statement she's disagreeing with.
>You offer a hand to her. She eyes it with some trepidation, then steps forward and accepts it, looking at you with an expression of mustered determination. "Show me where she was. Please."

[Hello Purvis]

>"It's this way, we have a little travelling to do."
>Toward the crater!

[DracoOmega]

>"It's this way, we have a little travelling to do."
>Toward the crater!

>"I understand," she says.
>The group of you exit the forest and head back towards the crater. Every now and then you catch Mugetsu nervously glancing around her, as if she expected some new threat to fly up out of the trees at any moment. She stays close to you, however. In fact, you start to wonder if she's making a point to keep you interposed between herself and Mokou. Nonetheless, you arrive at the crater without incident.
>Mugetsu frowns when she sees it. "This... is the place you were talking about, isn't it?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"It is. Rather nasty looking, isn't it?"

[DracoOmega]

>"It is. Rather nasty looking, isn't it?"

>"It...  is," she says as she lands, and has a slow look around the crater, still twinkling with tiny slivers of energy. "And you think what my sister did caused this somehow?"
>She reaches a hand out towards one of the slivers, but it winks out of existence before she can touch it. "I can just barely sense the echoes of the creature you fought here," she says. "That I can sense it all suggests something unusual about it. I think... it was a fragment of a dream, itself. "

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod.
>"So, we can safely conclude it was at least related to her in some way."

[DracoOmega]

>Nod.
>"So, we can safely conclude it was at least related to her in some way."

>"We can't manifest ourselves like that. We either inhabit a world of dream or this one. Dreams do not walk among the waking."

[E-Nazrin]

>"Except for that girl Gengetsu was investigating?"
>Consider the wisdom of bringing up Reimu and Marisa.

[DracoOmega]

>"Except for that girl Gengetsu was investigating?"
>Consider the wisdom of bringing up Reimu and Marisa.

>Mugetsu frowns. "Maybe I should say that they're not supposed to. I don't know how or why the girl did. But Gengetsu herself could not have created this shadow through her own power."
>You really have no idea whether there's still any bad blood between them. It has been a very long time, however. More that matter, how many people have resented Reimu for beating them up? Must be some mighty good tea she serves...

[Hello Purvis]

>Out of idle curiosity, see what the lodestone has to say about Gensokyo.
>"I wonder if we could chase another one out?"

[DracoOmega]

>Out of idle curiosity, see what the lodestone has to say about Gensokyo.
>"I wonder if we could chase another one out?"

>You take the attuned lodestone out of your pocket. It is glowing quite a bit more brightly than it was in Kyoto, and appears to be pointing at the very fissure you're standing in.
>"Do you know what caused it to emerge originally?" Ran asks.

[Hello Purvis]

>Not unexpected. Is it pointing toward any place in particular.
>"I took a sample of the energy from one of the rifting using a crystal Patchouli had given me that was enchanted for that purpose."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Not unexpected. Is it pointing toward any place in particular.
>"I took a sample of the energy from one of the rifting using a crystal Patchouli had given me that was enchanted for that purpose."

>It seems to be pointed a little to your left, at an area roughly off-center. You don't notice anything especially significant about it.
>"I wonder if that attracted its attention somehow?" Ran says.
>Mugetsu tries to touch another one of the slivers, but it too dissipates before she reaches it.

[Kasu]

> Head for the specific location the lodestone is pointing to.

[DracoOmega]

> Head for the specific location the lodestone is pointing to.

>You move towards the location, about a dozen feet or so away. Nothing feels especially different about this place, either.

>"So, let's enumerate what we know," Ran says. "Maribel dreamed that she was in Gensokyo, 11 years in her own past and this dream took on physical form here. Yet, some element remained about her that identified her as part of a dream in a way that Mugetsu and her sister could detect. This is something they had never witnessed, and something they are incapable of performing. After meeting each other, both vanished without a trace. Later, another fragment of dream manifested here, being some resemblances to Gengetsu, despite Gengetsu not having the ability to do this herself, as best we know. The location where it manifested is connected to the place and time where Maribel lives, and traces of the energy between here and there can be found on Maribel herself."

[Hello Purvis]

>"As well, it shouldn't be possible for Maribel to manifest herself here. She simply hasn't happened yet. Which means, something from the present had to be drawing her here, or something created the world she lives in and set it apart..."
>Walk around the bit where the lodestone is pointing, try to get an idea how large it is.
>Is this where the thing first attacked us?

[DracoOmega]

>"As well, it shouldn't be possible for Maribel to manifest herself here. She simply hasn't happened yet. Which means, something from the present had to be drawing her here, or something created the world she lives in and set it apart..."
>Walk around the bit where the lodestone is pointing, try to get an idea how large it is.
>Is this where the thing first attacked us?

>"Well, whatever power she's connected to seem to be able to transcend time," Ran says.  "Not just for herself, but for others. Something, at least, has opened up a connection though time." She pauses and frowns. "What do you mean about creating a world and setting it apart?"
>You walk around a little, observing the lodestone. It seems to be pointing at a specific spot, rather than a larger area
>You don't believe this is exactly where the creature attacked you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Is the dirt loose enough that we could mark that point with a circle dug our with our toe.
>"It's the only other workable explanation I have. It's not the future, but rather another world in the same point in time that we are in, but based off of what the future was most likely to be like from a certain point in time. Which is...pretty far fetched, to be honest. But it's a possibility."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Is the dirt loose enough that we could mark that point with a circle dug our with our toe.
>"It's the only other workable explanation I have. It's not the future, but rather another world in the same point in time that we are in, but based off of what the future was most likely to be like from a certain point in time. Which is...pretty far fetched, to be honest. But it's a possibility."

>The ground beneath you is quite solid rock. Your reentry would not have been nearly as uncomfortable if it were not.
>"...who could have created such a world?" Ran says. "The scale of it is beyond vast and to be able to replicate the outside in such an accurate manner.... At least from Sanae's reaction to the events in the paper, at any rate."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Quite. But still more plausible then someone who doesn't even exist yet coming into this world. ...well, doesn't exist as an adult. So it has to be either something is reaching into a potential future to drag her here, or there's a fake future coexisting with us."

[DracoOmega]

>"Quite. But still more plausible then someone who doesn't even exist yet coming into this world. ...well, doesn't exist as an adult. So it has to be either something is reaching into a potential future to drag her here, or there's a fake future coexisting with us."

>"I suppose, in a sense, it doesn't matter which of these is true," Ran says. "In either case, Maribel exists 'elsewhere', and somehow, most likely unconsciously, she projected a dream of herself into this world. She's the only being Mugetsu's ever known to do this. Then a second walking dream, or something like one, appears here, along a path between Gensokyo and 'elsewhere'. A path that is already connected to Maribel in some way. Could Maribel herself have been responsible for this shadow in some manner?"