*. closed starter for @chemistyeza ( class swap )
THE Beacon had been in their POSSESSION for a WHILE now -- and yet there were SO many things that she didn’t KNOW about it: what did it MEAN for them, having it ?? Sure, it was NICE to have -- SECOND CHANCES at doing CERTAIN things, but it wasn’t NICE to have a bright, dodecahedron-shaped target painted on their backs when they were TRAVELLING around. It was a CURIOUS thing, that’s for sure -- and it’d been KEPT quietly in the haversack for most of their travels. She WANTED to know more about it; suspicious about what it TRULY was and what it could REALLY do.
She pulls out the Beacon when the Nein drifts off to sleep -- clawed fingers gingerly pulling it out from the hot pink bag; and she puts it on the floor, legs CROSSED and eyes running ALONG its surface: pentagon faces and silver grooves running on the sides -- it’s SMOOTH and grey, and the LIGHT is undulating, a rhythmic lull as she feels her conscience get PULLED into the object.
The room goes QUIET for her -- a comforting expanse of black in her vision, with starts and faint motes dancing around the room. The motes blink, twinkle -- and they slowly begin to form FIGURES. They’re FAMILIAR -- and Nott watches as BILLIONS and BILLIONS of herself begin to appear -- all so DIFFERENT and -- entirely NOT her. Versions of her, she comes to THAT conclusion pretty easily: she sees versions of herself where she hasn’t died -- versions of her where the reincarnation spell failed. Versions of herself in much more polished attire, in a ratty, tattered coat, even a VERSION of her that looked EXACTLY the same: just much more UNHINGED -- much more COLD and sinister.
She lets the Beacon pull herself further in -- letting herself MERELY look at what’s going around her -- wondering whether she would FIND something the more she follows the Beacon’s path. She feels the air shift around her, vaguely -- like a ghostly presence wrapping itself around her face -- but her eyes land upon something -- another HER, and her eyes WIDEN. Surprise, shock, confusion -- herself, adorned in a FEATHERED cloak, a raven upon her shoulders.
She turns and looks at her -- and Nott IMMEDIATELY backs out of the Beacon, JOLTING out of her skin as she returns back to her OWN plane of existence.
What the HELL just happened there -- ?? Anything was POSSIBLE, surely -- but even THAT wasn’t POSSIBLE: through HER travels, she’d encountered gods; mainly by the proxy of her friends -- she REMEMBERS the worship of the Wildmother in Felderwin -- and her SITTING aside, opting to read and wander around instead.
Was there another UNIVERSE where she believed in gods ?? Larger-than-life organisms, those she thought were MAINLY UPTIGHT and STUFFY...
She takes in a DEEP breath; blinks once, twice, thrice -- and exhales, looking up from the ground she’d been staring at for MINUTES now. How long had she BEEN in the Beacon ?? How --
She sees the woman again.
And there she goes, tossing the Beacon BACK into the haversack.