Board Thread:Roleplay/@comment-26517142-20170106142830/@comment-28358106-20170421004437

"Yes, I have heard of this theory," Adelaide says, her voice even and cold. "It is one of many that Thomas has postulated. Its state of theory does not interest me, however, as much as the ills you seem to carry with you, Mr. Yozama."

She folds her hands calmly, her stare never shifting. "You, an otherworldly traveler, here against your will. Unnatural events swirling about you, intrigue and misfortune your traveling companions, causing the lives of those around you to spiral out of control.  Like a candle whose dim light throws the blackest of shadows, you attract even greater evils to you, ones who would see you undone for the power you hold."

She pauses, her words hanging. "And I care nothing for it. Not your power, nor your false influence that hangs about you as if it were a lame limb, alive, but useless, and ever a part of you.  Whether you like it or not, these things define you, regardless of what you do.  But still, you still attempt to rectify the problems you cause by seeking shortcuts through adversity.  Dangerous shortcuts."

As she speaks, she holds her hand out to her side. Kashvi places a small object in her hand. She places it on the desk in front of her, but she does not move her hand to show what it is.

"You may have forgotten, Your Majesty, that Thomas is my friend. He is my dearest, closest friend, second only to my beloved husband.  As it is so, he tells me what chronicles he endures for the sake of his craft and his family and his home.  He tells me everything.  Everything, except the REAL cause of his deepest woe.  I know of Alcamarie, and the terror she spawned in his family, and how she almost destroyed creation.  I know of how she created the Crucible, and what darkness shall follow Thomas to the end of his days because of it.  But I know of other things, as well.  Allow me to explain."

She moves her hand. A flat obsidian shard emerges from under it, shimmering with the corruption of the Void.

"This shard holds no power, except as a reflection of Thomas' mind. He entrusted me with this shard, plucked from the deep reaches of the place he calls the Memento Mori.  With it, I know what he knows.  He gave it to me so that, should he fall or falter, I would have the knowledge of his travels beyond, and how best to combat the foul things he found there.  Dark things, heralds of doom and the blackest of secrets, held by an eldritch being whose power could extinguish the light of a thousand heavens."

Her next words fall quietly, like shards of ice.

"A being that, I understand, you have just made a bargain with."