There are mages in my homeland who are capable of such things — extracting memories without the subject’s consent. And for a force capable of trivializing death, such a task, along with the manipulation and erasure of memories, may be simple.
[ Healing, summoning, long-distance teleportation, memory manipulation, time reversal. He’s seen all of these being accomplished through magic, just never on this scale. And if each individual element is possible, then ... he’s forced to accept that Abel’s explanation, no matter how unsavory, is at least possible.
It’s a sobering thought. The possibility that he’s been here for so long — that he’s died here before — and Vangeance silently stares out the window for a long moment as he processes it. There’s a sickly, heavy feeling gathering in the pit of his stomach, pervasive and nauseating, but he pushes it all down to deal with later, in private. His role necessitates that he always remain steadfast, and it’s only the pale of his knuckles, the way he laces his fingers tight, that betrays any discomfort; his voice remains quiet and calm when he finally speaks up again. ]
I suppose the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Grief and the pursuit of an altruistic goal. [ The unspoken ‘but’ is obvious in his words, though. He gets why the thought is unnerving. Personal loss and pain can drive people to consider truly warped solutions. And while he can’t possibly condone this solution that the Administrator might have settled upon, he ... does feel a creeping sympathy for his reasons. That, too, he suppresses for now. ] ... may I ask what he’s said to you of his loss? He’d hardly seemed the personable type when we spoke. You must have earned a fair amount of his trust.
no subject
There are mages in my homeland who are capable of such things — extracting memories without the subject’s consent. And for a force capable of trivializing death, such a task, along with the manipulation and erasure of memories, may be simple.
[ Healing, summoning, long-distance teleportation, memory manipulation, time reversal. He’s seen all of these being accomplished through magic, just never on this scale. And if each individual element is possible, then ... he’s forced to accept that Abel’s explanation, no matter how unsavory, is at least possible.
It’s a sobering thought. The possibility that he’s been here for so long — that he’s died here before — and Vangeance silently stares out the window for a long moment as he processes it. There’s a sickly, heavy feeling gathering in the pit of his stomach, pervasive and nauseating, but he pushes it all down to deal with later, in private. His role necessitates that he always remain steadfast, and it’s only the pale of his knuckles, the way he laces his fingers tight, that betrays any discomfort; his voice remains quiet and calm when he finally speaks up again. ]
I suppose the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Grief and the pursuit of an altruistic goal. [ The unspoken ‘but’ is obvious in his words, though. He gets why the thought is unnerving. Personal loss and pain can drive people to consider truly warped solutions. And while he can’t possibly condone this solution that the Administrator might have settled upon, he ... does feel a creeping sympathy for his reasons. That, too, he suppresses for now. ] ... may I ask what he’s said to you of his loss? He’d hardly seemed the personable type when we spoke. You must have earned a fair amount of his trust.