Log:SinLore, Part 1

SinLore 2020/02/16 Talia Arthur Aevus 1

The CBSU anthropology department managed to procure items from a Viking archaeology dig in Norway. Ancient weapons, jewelry, statuary, tablets, and a few tombs. The research department has them secreted away from non-graduate students to study and examine before a handoff to a museum.

It's 8pm and most professors and employees have gone home, and some graduates students may have stayed to get some extra work done. But at the moment, the clean, temperature controlled room is apparently devoid of all except Adjunct Professor Arthur Aevus. At least, that's who he's posing as today.

He peruses the laid out artifacts in search of something he accidentally left behind in one of this time jaunts. "Oh Ylva. You romantic, you. You kept it," he murmurs to himself as he spies an old viking necklace he had used to bribe his way out of being killed after being mistaken for a Saxon.

Talia Sintergaard would be shocked that Arthur Aevus wasn't mistaken for an Anglo, rather than a Saxon, but maybe that's just her...

Speaking of Talia, she's parked at a workstation on the opposite end of the research floor. In fact, Talia is facing away from Arthur and his necklace. NOW IS THE TIME TO STRIKE, ARTHUR!

Of course, there's more than just an old viking necklace on display. There's more than just an old viking necklace waiting to be meticulously examined, catalogued, authenticated, and cleaned. For instance, there's that bracelet half-crusted in grime next to the necklace. It's certainly not uncomfortably similar to Arthur's watch, but clearly lacking in any actual clockwork.

Maybe Arthur isn't about that silver life. Perhaps he's more interested in the heavy golden chains studded with rubies and sparkling with small obsidian shards. Certainly it has more bling to it than the grimy old watch/bracelet.

Arthur's breath catches at the oddly much-too-familiar-for-his-liking bracelet that looks a bit like the Torus-imbued PowerPixie+, which at times looks like a fog watch with strange stellar markings on it when Kat is being Arthur. The ability to alter the look of the PowerPixie+ was only a recent development, though.

With gloved hands, he carefully picks up the grime-encrusted "bracelet" while thinking apologetically to the Torus. o O (Oh Torus, I'm sorry. How could I have ever left you behind? But if that's really you, then...what happened to me?) Arthur wouldn't be completely stranded in time now that he's learned to copy Timewarp's abilities, but he still prefers the method the Torus uses for time travel. Plus it gets him to where he needs to be. Even if it's not where he wanted to be.

He squints at the magical enchantment the bracelet radiates. That's...different. Odd. He looks to the gold chain with the stronger magical enchantment. As much as he wants to preserve history, he knows he can't leave powerful magical artifacts just lying about. And certainly not potential future items left in the past.

Arthur studies the gold chain very carefully before deciding whether to pick it up or not, thinking back on Porter's magical studies from the Big Giant Tome.

On closer inspection, the bracelet is not a duplicate of Arthur's PowerPixie - Plus or otherwise - so much as it is an homage to his wristwatch. The magical aura around the bracelet seems like several enchantments interwoven toward a common purpose. There's one enchantment that seems to be dedicated to preserving other things tangled up in the web of enchantments. Or, perhaps, it's dedicated to preserving the enchantments?

As for the gold chain, it radiates a strong binding magic. The enchantment laid over the chain doesn't seem dangerous to Arthur or his sensibilities. Rather it seems laid to affect a singular target, but Arthur can't be certain of who that target might be. Based on the age of the artifact, it couldn't possibly be someone in the modern day, could it?

Arthur smiles at the homage. . o O (I guess I left an impression.) As he studies the enchantments, he worries the two artifacts shouldn't be separated. Which may happen if they end up at different museums. Though considering the enchantment is meant to specifically target a person who is (most likely) long dead, it may not be a concern at all.

He debates whether he should leave the facsimile of his watch, given it could skew the historical view of the vikings. It's certainly already been documented and photographed. He would need to alter the records to erase its presence in the collection. Looking about, he ponders where the documentation is kept.

IN THE CLOUD!

Oh. Wait. It looks like that short-ish young woman with short red hair is working on the database for this collection of artifacts.

Arthur doesn't see anything that magically binds one artifact to the other. They may not even be related, save that they ended up in the same dig site.

Some things can still be wiped from the cloud if one has access. Arthur looks about an spies the short red-head. He sets down the bracelet for the moment and tries to decide how to approach the situation. Wait until she goes and hope to guess the password? No, that won't due. It'll take ages, which he has, but he doesn't want to spend.

He brushes his hands off lightly, then makes his way over to the young woman.

"Yes, Professor?" inquires Talia. She pushes away from the keyboard and swivels in her seat just as Arthur arrives behind her. Talia adjusts her lab coat absently, making sure it sits professionally across her upper body. Cocking her head to one side, Talia peers up at Arthur as she tries to figure out why he looks vaguely familiar.

Arthur smiles warmly at Talia. He may look a bit boyish for a professor, but the getup does scream "eccentric academic". "Hello there. I was wondering if I could check the files on the latest items we received for study. I wanted to see what notes we already had on them."

"Of course, Professor... ?"

Talia smiles warmly, trying to lure a name out of Arthur. She half-turns toward the console to start logging out while she smiles cheerily.

"Aevus," Arthur pretends to remind her. "What was your name, Miss...?" He mentally curses his...luck...as she logs out.

"Sintergaard," replies Talia. She tilts her head to one side, considering Professor Aevus for a few moments. After some consideration and a shrug, Talia climbs to her feet and smiles cheerily. "Always nice to have an excuse to stretch."

"I do hope I'm not interrupting your work too much, Miss Sintergaard," Arthur says kindly as she relinquishes her seat.

"Not at all. I can only go as fast as the artifacts get cleaned," replies Talia. She smiles cheerily and steps around Arthur, rolling her shoulders in the process as she works on her stretching plan.

Arthur nods and takes a seat, noticing how toasty the chair is. It's cozily warm. Now...how the heck is he going to log in. Well, there may be some default admin settings he can break into, since university IT departments tend to be lacking in diligence. He takes a breath and starts his attempt.

Talia takes a walk around the room. She pauses somewhere in the background while Arthur goes full Hackers on the computer. For the moment, Talia doesn't seem to notice that Arthur didn't just log in using his university RFID badge. Instead, Talia is busily stretching while inspecting the haul of artifacts on the table.

Arthur gets access to the system again, looking up the details of the dig while he searches for the entries on the bracelet.

"Huh..." opines Talia in the background.

Arthur is busy interrogating the system that has mistaken him for Talia. He feels the tingle of mystical energy much too late to do anything about it. Lightning and heat blast off of the cataloguing/cleaning table and sears through the room. Talia is thrown across the room, off of her feet, to SLAM into the wall hard enough to leave a Talia-shaped imprint in the hardened construction material. Seconds later, with a groan, Talia succumbs to gravity and slams into the floor.

The computer system in the room sizzles and fritzes, static displaying on the monitors as the electrical discharge interrupts the electrical systems. Arthur may have just gotten very lucky in not having to manually delete the system entries. It's been rather too little time for there to have been even a rudimentary back-up run on the work stations.

Arthur pushes back from the computer monitor as it sparks and sizzles. . o O (I didn't do it! Did I?) Sometimes things risk going on the fritz around him. At least the evidence is wiped, but not as delicately as he would've liked. As he spins around in the chair, he sees Talia hit the wall and slump down.

"What?!" How could that have happened. In a second, he's out of his seat and rushing to kneel by Talia's side to inspect her condition. He glances briefly towards the cleaning table, expecting a villain perhaps? "Miss Sintergaard, speak to me. Are you alright?"

Arthur acts entirely on automatic pilot, kneeling down beside Talia while he's still looking at the cleaning table. He can see the golden chain floating in the air where Talia must have been holding it up to the light, one of her white exam gloves burning away as mystical lightning continues to discharge into it. The other examination glove is on Talia's hand, half-molten as it continues to burn. Talia struggles to get herself together, but she's clearly conscious as she tries to meet Arthur's gaze.

More than once, Arthur gets the impression of Talia's eyes having been replaced by motes of briliant green flame. The next instant, they're simply green eyes. She works her jaw a little bit before letting out a whimper of pain as she sags down into a prone position.

Arthur stares briefly at the necklace. o O (But...that enchantment wasn't supposed to be activated unless the right person...wait. Her?!) He looks back to Talia and sees the burning glove. Knowing it's going to hurt, he still tries to smother the burning item with his coat and hands. "I'm sorry, I can't take the glove off. I could do more damage removing it than leaving it. I'm...I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks," he offers, trying to sway karma and fate to make that the case.

"You'll be alright. I promise. Where does it hurt?" he asks tenderly as he gazes into her eyes. How strange...was he imagining that, or did things change?

Talia almost seemed like she was about to pass out. Arthur tried to sway Fate. He feels the skein of Fate grow taut in just the right way and he's certain that things are going to work out.

Which is, of course, when everything goes horribly wrong.

Sitting bolt upright, Talia's eyes are definitely glowing a vivid green as she unleashes an unholy scream of agony. Her palms are smashed into the floor hard enough that she's white-knuckling matters as she unleashes that horrific sound. Blood starts to drip from her nostrils, ears, and the corners of her eyes as she wails with pain.

Mystical lightning starts to charge up around the gold chain again. The replica of Arthur's watch starts to rattle on its tray, the clean side of it struggling to lift into the air. It's almost as if the grime is impairing its ability to defy gravity.

Arthur gasps and leans back from Talia as she starts screaming and bleeding. That's never happened before! He looks to the gold chain and wonders if that's the cause of Talia's agony.

"I'm sorry, Miss Sintergaard. I think I know another way to help you!" he tries to reassure her. He scrambles to his feet and runs for the table, arm raised and forearm trying to protect himself from the mystical lightning as he attempts to get close enough to the bracelet to grab it and clean it enough in the hopes that its enchantment is meant to contain the gold chain's.

Tendrils of mystical lightning lance off of the gold chain, lashing around Talia's throat and wrists. Arthur finds himself inadvertantly surrounded by lightning, but none of it seems to afflict him as he charges headlong toward the table. It takes a few seconds for Arthur to thread the needle between the lightning surrounding him, but he reaches the table and the duplicate of his watch. He quickly starts rubbing the dirt and grime off of the watch, watching as a rune of viking - or perhaps simply proto-Germanic? - origin begins to appear on the watch face as he clears the grime from it in the least preservationist way possible.

One can't take the time to follow best preservationist practices when someone is getting attacked by lightning. Arthur is at least trying not to destroy the watch as he removes grime and uncovers runes he can't ready. Hopefully this thing doesn't need an incantation to be read. It already seemed to try and float on its own. Once all the runes are revealed, he holds out the watch facsimile in his open hand towards the gold chain.

Arthur holds out the bracelet as two more lightning bolts lash around Talia's ankles, wrenching her free of the ground and into the air. Promptly, the watch wrenches itself free of his grasp to float in the air, freely rotating in the open air as blue-white light starts to pulse across the lone rune on the face of the watch.

"I knew your evil could not be forever contained," booms a voice with no obvious choice.

"And I knew that your greed would be your undoing."

Talia wheezes as she struggles against the lightning that binds her. Arthur can see, if he looks in her direction, how her flesh is starting to burn under the lightning lashed about her, holding her almost spread eagle in the air as she is drawn inexorably toward the chain.

That didn't work. That didn't work! If anything, it made things worse. Arthur panics as he sees the student begin to burn. "Oh, come on!" he says in exasperation. He runs back to Talia, if only to get clear of a potential improbably accident. More improbably than it already is. Like maybe that rush cleaning job scratched one of the runes enough to make the enchantment misfire.

The watch whines as the rune finishes lighting up with blue-white light. It promptly detonates, magical energy bursting off of the face of the watch to send it sailing across the room before it simply crashes into the floor. Nothing seems to stop the gold chain or its lightning chains lashed around Talia's body, inexorably dragging her through the air toward the chain.

"You cannot escape your fate, Pale Cinder Queen. No matter how you may struggle against me, you cannot overcome the new chains I've forged to bind you."

Arthur wraps his arms around Talia and digs in his heels to try and stop her from getting dragged closer. All it does is drag him along. Neither of his composite parts are particular strong in the muscle department, as reflected by his skinny build.

"What...is that thing...talking about?" he grunts with exertion in the hopes Talia is capable of illuminating him. He could destroy the gold chain potentially instead.

"How should I know?!"

Talia scrabbles in the air, eventually getting herself twisted around in the air so that she can grab onto Arthur. Green eyes spill an ominous green firelight from somewhere deep within her irises as she silently pleads with Arthur, fingers curled like talons as she tries to hold fast to Arthur. Lightning is tangled around her body now, starting to burn into her clothing as she struggles against inexorable electrical force that's dragging her toward the chain.

"Why do you struggle so, Professor?"

Wait. Arthur has a moment to process the difference between the disembodied voice and Talia's actual voice. That voice is echoing about inside of his head. It's not actually even speaking English, but Arthur understands the intent behind the unfamiliar words streaming into his brain.

<< The Pale Cinder Queen - THE GOLDEN SPARK OF WAR - must suffer her fate for betraying all of Midgard! For abusing the good faith of the gods to walk a bloody path of vengeance across the Nine Worlds! SHE MUST PAY!"

Ow! She's strong! "D-don't worry. I won't let it take you," Arthur promises with a strained, but uplifting smile that almost borders heroic. If Arthur has to reveal some of his secrets to stop this, he'll do it. He tries to dig in, but keeps skidding across the floor.

"Because! It's a Professor's duty to protect the students of this...nngghh...academic institution!" Arthur shouts towards the voice, only to realize it's in his head. "She's just a student! Whoever you are, this isn't your time anymore! There is no Pale Cinder Queen!" He's so wrong, but he says it so confidently. "Release this student at once, or so help me!" He shoots a glare at the golden chain. Maybe it'll cross the streams of its own lightning and burn itself out. He can hope! Or sway karma a bit.

<< You need not lie, Professor. I know you are not of this... Place. >>

Talia gasps sharply as the lightning lashes around her body sputter. Somehow the magical lightning has gotten so thoroughly entangled by Talia's thrashing and twisting that they're shorting out. After a few seconds, there is a peal of thunder as the lightning detonates in a spray of force, light, and electricity. Arthur's shoulders cry out in silent relief as Talia is thrown completely over his body to slam into the wall.

Again.

Slumping to the floor, Talia looks a properly bloody mess. The golden chain hangs limply over a divider on the table. Once again, the watch bobs into the air, floating toward Arthur as its rune continues to slowly correct itself while radiating blue and white light.

"It's a professor's duty to protect students of -any- academic institution. It doesn't matter than I'm not officially a member of tenured staff," Arthur retorts. Then gasps as Talia is thrown back and over. He's relieved that his arms are no longer getting wrenched out of their sockets, but he's deeply concerned with how injured Talia looks. He already tried swaying karma to make sure she was okay before. He's not sure he can try again and succeed. "Who are you, and where are -you- from?" he says, looking back to the fallen chain before his eyes lift to the floating bracelet.

The bracelet spins freely in the air, turning around a number of different axes. When Arthur begins to directly interrogate it, the watch snaps into a fixed position in front of Arthur as though it were being worn by someone. Soft blue-white light washes out from the watch face in waves, gradually creating the appearance of a rather familiar figure. Arthur sees his viking friend, with whom he left an artifact in the past.

<< Who do you think I am, Arthur? Where do you suppose I am from? Why do you suppose punishing this... This traitorous witch is so important to me, Arthur?! >>

The voice is unfamiliar, but that countenance is familiar. It takes a moment for it to click once it forms. "Ylva!?" Arthur asks in surprise. No wonder it knows his name.

<< Yes, Arthur. You left before the Pale Cinder Queen arrived with her horde from Muspelheim. You did not see the pain and suffering and destruction that she caused. >>

Ylva's hands waver, threatening to reach out for Arthur. Looking away, Ylva folds arms over chest while breaking eye contact to instead glower in Talia's general direction.

<< Not so tough without your jotun form, are you, Witch? >>

"I'm sorry, Ylva. I didn't know. I wish I had been there to stop it," he says compassionately. Arthur may be able to travel through time, but now that he knows this happened and he didn't stop it, it's become a fixed point. He can't go there to undo this, because then he'd never know of the incident to stop it.

"But you have to realize that young woman isn't the Pale Cinder Queen you're seeking out," he tries to reason with Ylva.

<< She is! >>

Ylva's head snaps toward Arthur in an unsavory manner. She points toward Talia with her braceleted hand, cold fury burning through the palely lit shadow of Ylva's face.

"Her body is different now. I grant you her body is different, Arthur. The spirit in that vessel, though... That spirit is that of the Golden Spark of War. You cannot convince me otherwise. Sinmore Hateslake's soul is embedded deep in that body. The Pale Cinder Queen operates that woman's body like one of your... What was the word you used? Marionettes? That marionette is controlled by The Pale Cinder Queen, Sinmore Hateslake. No other soul would activate the wards and enchantments laid on the trap I laid for her. >>

Arthur looks again to Talia, then back to Ylva. "Alright. It seems by your enchantment that perhaps this Sinmore Hateslake's soul is entwined or reincarnated within the girl. But she didn't act anything like this person you described. She's an academic. Unwitting. Marionette or not, there's an innocent bound there, and I have to protect that," he says gently.

"What was your enchantment going to do to her?" he asks.

<< Bind her away again, as the gods did to her when last they caught the filthy, traitorous witch. They would not act against her! They would not make her pay for the crimes she committed with the gifts they piled high upon her. WERGILD, Arthur! She was paid in endless wergild, but she squandered it in search of revenge upon the man that wronged her with the blessing of the gods. >>

Ylva gestures wildly as she pleads her case. She plants ghostly hands upon Arthur's shoulders, her grip only faintly palpable to him through his ability to sense energy. There is, of course, also the faint tingle of magic from the enchantment laid upon the watch itself. It's mostly the feeling of a complex energy field organized only fleetingly by the enchantment.

<< They caught her, Arthur, but would not slay the beast that she had become. Instead they bound her into a crown of gold and obsidian, studded with rubies, body and soul to watch the world pass her by. Endless time, endless opportunities to wreak her vengeance upon a world that would not let her reap her revenge upon those who wronged her. Impotence forced upon her after centuries of gaining power to keep her from ever being impotent again. But it could not last. Her rage was too great. She entangled herself too well in the workings of Fate! She could not be held fast against the workings of Ragnarok any more than could Surtr himself! >>

"Then where is her crown? From what I've seen of this girl, she doesn't seem at all like what you describe, Ylva," Arthur replies, sympathetic and trying to be understanding while reasoning with the image of Ylva. "There's been no occurrences of a vengeful being attacking and slaying people. And wouldn't those that wronged her be long dead?"

<< Fine! Keep the girl safe, Arthur, but don't come looking to me for aid when she destroys Midgard again! >>

Ylva looks both hurt and furious in the moments before she winks out of existence. Her bracelet clatters to the ground, inert once again.

Arthur sighs softly and sorrowfully at Ylva's hurt expression, not even getting a chance to apologize. He crouches down to pick up the inert bracelet. "I'm sorry, Ylva, but I promise I won't allow her or anyone to destroy Midgard." His thumb gently brushes over the bracelet to wipe a little leftover grime, then pockets it for now in his outer coat pocket. He'll have to find a suitable resting place for Ylva.

He rises up and hurries over to check on Talia. "Miss Sintergaard, please, speak to me. It's alright. You're going to be alright," he says quickly, trying to help calm her. He still hopes that perhaps she looks worse than she is.

Talia appears to still be unconscious. Arthur inspects her body for a few moments while trying to forcibly heal her body.

By the time Arthur gets to Talia, many of her most obvious bruises and nicks have already healed over. Arthur's power makes the hemmorhages around her head close up somewhat, though there's still clearly more to her open wounds. She groans quietly, stirring slowly as her stormy ocean green eyes crack open. Her left hand absently rubs at the drying blood on her face.

Arthur is surprised she's doing so well even before he tried to alter fate. Maybe he did it sooner than he realized? "Please don't move too much, Miss Sintergaard. You've been through a traumatic experience," he tries to calm her down. "But you're safe now."

"UUuuhhhnnnnngggggghh..."

Talia stares blankly up at Arthur. She looks like she aches... You know. Everywhere.

Arthur gently places a hand on Talia's shoulder to steady her, while offering his hand. "Do you feel up to sitting, Miss Sintergaard? Would you like me to call you an ambulance?"

"Could I get an icepack?" inquires Talia, eyes closing as she struggles not to moan in dull agony at the feel of Arthur's hand on her shoulder. It's been a very long time since Talia felt this sore. She's glad that the floor is so cool and solid beneath her; it makes her feel securely tethered to Earth.

"Maybe you should stay laying down," Arthur decides, letting go of her shoulder while she rests. "Right. An icepack." He starts to get up. "Where is the closest one I can find?"

"Uuuuhhhnnnnngghh..." is all the help that Talia provides to Arthur.

"Right, just a moment." Arthur will just have to figure that out. He prepares to head out, deciding just in case to take the gold chain with him. He doesn't want to leave it here with Talia after what happened, just in case.