An ivory palace ruled by one Mi'ehna Orr, existing in a pocket dimension not unlike her father's dimension Moren Aiga. It is a peaceful place, lush with trees and springs, waterfalls and streams, and the castle itself is like one gigantic garden. The ruler of this place doesn't frequent it all the time, as she wanders quite a bit.

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Niven Archive
Niven Archive 2
Niven Archive 3
Niven Archive 4

Raufante

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Ting reappears here from Istan Aiga in a big hurry, hell more or less on her heels in the form of a tiny little purple fellow. "Gotta findthe study gotta findthe study gotta findthe study this way!" She skitters into Ai's study, eyes darting for red velvet.

The book isn't hard to find. Palisade Aeterna lies locked on Ai's desk, surrounded by clutter. A set of black silk lingerie sits on the table nearby, as well as a punky-cute red-lace dress and a gift-wrapped box labelled 'for my Dewei'.

The key glows slightly through Ting's pocket.

Ting blinks at the lingerie...would giggle, except she's distracted by quite suddenly not sensing Xen'tal or Moorn, and that worries her. Glances down to the key. Has to get to business, right. Breathes out, takes the key in hand, and, ears down, heads over to the book and cautiously tries to slip it into the lock.

It goes right in, as though it had been coated in oil. The key buzzes, sending vibrations all along the covers of the book until it clicks.

And flops open. The first page reads:

"To my darling Ai,
         I hope these words never reach you. I hope I never have a reason to write them. But things have changed, and our promises have broken. Something has gone wrong, and I fear I may never have the chance to right the wrongs I have committed by being an absentee father. I fear that hell follows at my footsteps. If you turn this page, you will find a gate to a place where nothing from this existence can ever hurt you again. This book is the only way there and back, and it will go with you.
         Forgive my failures, beloved daughter. When I am in hell and you in heaven, I can only hope you can forget me.
         Eternal love,
         Radivishe Moorn."

The corner of the page flicks up, and falls down. And again.

The feline's ears wilt at this...eyes actually tear up just a little bit, as easily affected as she is. What a thing for him to have given her...if she can't or doesn't come back...Ai can never have this precious thing. Also...it means he's not sure he can beat Xen'tal. A last shot at protecting her.

Heh. No wonder her mom puts up with him and Dewei and Ai like him. She just hadn't really seen it before.

She sniffles. Fingers find the edge of the page. Hesitate. What if there's still something she can do here, instead of running and hiding? What if her family can use her help? What if existence can?

What can she really do against Xen'tal, except run and hide forever?

She squeezes her eyes tightly shut, and turns the page.

When she does, the study wipes away all around her, like wet paint under a sponge full of thinner. White remains, twisting around the remaining splinters of color, spiraling, and finally pour Ting and the book into a com booth in Palisade Aeterna.

The effect inverts a day and a half later, spitting an excited Glory Anthem Orr and a rested, worried Ting into Ai's study. Glory looks around, instantly blinking at her surroundings.

"My sister is a geek," she sighs overdramatically, hiding a smile.

Spot giggles. "She is! My brother's even geekier. It's why they get along. We're like...their evil twins. Ooo..." blinks. "Actually, I really am a twin! Didja know that? I forgot." She snickers.

"I know now!" Glory gives Ting a lookover. "Bet he's hot. I might get to catfight my sister over him! He'd like that."

"He would!" Ting beams. "And then she would take his notebook and ram it down his throat for him! Ai's a helper." She picks up the lingerie she'd seen earlier by the strap, holds it out, and grins at Glory. "A helper!"

"A kinky helper! She can't fit into this," Glory says with a half-serious chuckle, "that bitch. I guess being divine means she gets this figure."

"Ai is hot," Ting affirms. Nods. "Though her eyes are creepy after this weird thing where she was undead for awhile! They kinda changed for some reason when mom and your dad brought her back fully to life and I dun understand why but they did and stayed that way. Ooo...and our group just got this new girl who looks scary like her. It's creepy. What are we doing? Oh! Finding Haelitwig. Right!" And she trots off towards the door.

"Haelitwig? That's the angsty chick, right? She sounds like I need to salute a tree." Glory follows Ting, taking in the sights of the garden palace as they go. She's never been anywhere particularly magical, despite her lineage, and she can't help but feel a little captivated.

As they proceed, Ting might become aware of undead signatures milling around near the palace entrance.

"Aww..." Ting wrinkles her nose. "Feels like Shigoriath's got his creepies here. That's okay! We don't have to leave just yet, and this is your dad's place and I'm sure it's pretty fortified and will prolly let us go places it won't let them 'cause it's probably smart like my house? We should probably start by scrying for Hael anyway so we're not running around and letting people know we're here."

"Doing what for Hael, now? I only just met you." Glory peeks out a window. Recoils a little at the sight of hundreds of shambling zombies, all milling aimlessly around. "They're so gross!"

"Wait till he breaks out the centipedes. Gyuh." Ting shudders. "Scry! I mean, like, search her out psychically instead of looking for her physically!"

Glory looks at Ting. "You can do that? Can you read my mind? It's in braille."

Ting grins at her. "If it's in braille, do I have to stick to just your mind?"

Glory grins, and sticks out her tongue at Ting. "Nope." Glances to the window. They're scratching at the walls, now.

"Ugh. They stink like old feet. Or my brother after his workdays right after your dad found out he'd slept with Ai." Snickers. Trots up the stairs. "C'mon, let's head farther up in the tower and then shield ourselves in, and I can scry! And you can make sure that no zombies break in and bite us. They didn't buy us drinks yet."

" 'kay!" Glory smiles at Ting. "Wanna go ahead?" She wraps her fingers around the stock of her sawn-off shotgun. "This is a perfect zombie killer, anyway."

It may be somewhat suspect that Glory has no ammunition on her.

Even if Ting had been able to pick up on this, she would have trusted Glory anyway, and just purrs. It's not like her life runs on the laws of logic and physics. "Sounds good!" And scampers up the stairs, looking for a good room to fortify she can still scry out of.

The towers in Ai's palace are easily accessible, but the doors sing with runes that Ting might -maybe, if she's hung out with Dewei much on the subjet - recognize as locks.

Meanwhile, Glory peeks her head out the window. "Ugh," she snorts, and nearly gags. "Nasty." And casually points her shotgun through the window. "Boom!" she shouts, tugging the trigger back.

And giggles when a blue flare bursts from the barrel and pierces a zombie face.

"Aww...most of this place is all locked up." Ting wrinkles her nose. Then her eyes pop open. "Oh!" And she scampers off towards the secret spot Ai's shown her, with the stars and the prettiness and the peeping.

The place is alive and well, open for Ting's use. A few 'cameras' are still active, even: one near Makyon's old hammock, one by the Istan Aiga fountain, one in Dewei's room, and one that blinks in and out of sight, at Radivishe Moorn's grave.

Ting purrs. "This spot should work well! So you've never been around a scrying psychic before, right Glory?"

"Not really," Glory shouts, only just able to hear Ting from the ground floor. The zombies have pushed to the window, by now. "They're trying to come in!"

"Come up and sit with me!" Ting chirps. "We shouldnt' make this any more difficult than it is. Zombies are just zombies, yus...we can fortify this room with all kindasa shields they can't break through."

"Well," Glory crisply snaps to attention. "Good idea! Except there's something really big coming over trees. Big big. And ugly. And legsy. You weren't kidding about those centipedes!"

"Uuugh..." Ting's nose wrinkles. She trots out of the room, then tries to poof-vanish to be next to Glory.

It works just fine. Glory's busily shooting zombies off the window sill, peering through. The trees shake now, a sound like an enormous waterfall bellowing through the sky.

The centipede must be thirty feet tall, and untold length. Its dark orange carapace teems with zombies emerging, falling off and rising to shamble again. The smell chokes the plants, and Glory as well.

"Gross." Ting nods. "Let's go to my house instead."

"But we can't get out," Glory points out. The centipede hisses, spitting sludge all around. 

Ting blinks. "We can't? What's it doing?" And she tries to make both her and Glory vanish to Helantri Deru.

It doesn't work. Just... doesn't. A slight hint of Xen'tal's sorcery lingers on the spectrum now.

Glory aims and fires into the face of another zombie. She's starting to worry a little.

"Aww..." Ting wrinkles her nose. Cringes at the prospect of the big bug-thing. "No good, Xen'tal pinned us down here. Can you handle the zombies and I can try my hand at beating up the centipede?"

"I can handle 'em. They're stupid!" Glory takes the pencil-sized guan dao from behind her ear. Extends it, beaming. "Can you handle a giant bug?"

"Not even if he paid me." Ting snickers. "See you soon!" With this, she jumps out the window, drops to a clear spot of ground, and then springs off after the centipede in large leaps, naginata materializing...and despite an inward shudder. She's not smiling.

Glory hops the window and lays into the zombies, not really twirling or spinning like Ting might. She's a direct, ruthless attacker, fighting with a level of violence suitable to her father.

The centipede's enormous head swivels, antennae lashing at the approaching ting.

She springs, coming down over its head. "Heya, bitch." And Ting's raised naginata blade comes slasing down, a powerful, blade-like attack trailing fifteen extra feet to slice it right in half.

The monster buckles, hissing, but not in pain. Its carapace cracks, and when it does a cloud of fat black locusts swarms into the air, tens of thousands thick, and fan out to start devouring the life on Niven Ai, starting with the grass, trees, and possibly Ting.

Ting's eyes pop open, and she shrieks. Clothes herself in a shield and mutters a spell, Fingers folding together. This just before an enormous orb of fire energy springs away from her, trying to raze the locusts before they get far.