The Longest Thread (Misadventures)

[Immortal Platypus]

The door now knew more that perhaps everyone on TLT. The only one who could challenge his knowledge was No One.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

I promise I will respond to you soon, @Immortal Platypus I just have this scene to make first.

"I couldn't save you.

"I said I would, but it didn't work. It didn't. And now you're dead. I will avenge you."

Memory is a cruel mistress.

Micheal fired, hitting a guard. The guard crumpled. Micheal moved to fire on the next guard in quick succession. But just as he went to shoot the third guard, there was the visceral sound of a thud nearby. There was a shuffle of leaves and shouts all around him. "What's going on?" he asked into the radio, stepping back as the guards scrambled for back up. He shot one in the face, sending them to the ground in moments. 

"Narrator, we think. He has two swords on him. Micheal, you have to get out. Shadow is confronting him. He says you'll have time to hide the rest of the group."

"No! Shadow has to make it. He's more important than me. Where are you?" Micheal's thoughts moved faster than he could comprehend. Memories flooded every corner. Lindy. Kelsier. Thaidakar. And now Shadow? Would one of his mentors fall to one of Micheal's best friends? 

The person on the other side of the radio gave their coordinates, "Be quickly if you do come. You need a plan to escape."

"Don't worry about me, worry about Shadow."

"Yes, sir."

It took him two minutes to run through the darkness, under leaves, over logs, tears leaving a burning trail in the cold rain. Micheal would not lose another person to the endless duel of opinions. He couldn't.

Not again.

He arrived, gun at the ready, a scrap of a blade made from some mordite and another metal in one hand. There Shadow stood, dark blade in one hand, facing Spook. Oh Spook... Grief had taken another victim.

Spook regarded Shadow with casual sarcasm, blocking each sloppy blow with an expert block, akin to his father's style. A field of corpses surrounded them. The remnants of Shadow's team. Shadow turned, saw Micheal, smiled. He snapped his fingers. Micheal had begun to move, running towards Shadow. But now he was frozen in place.

"Spook," Shadow said, "Surrender now."

"We both know who is the better swordsman here, Shadow. You've been suffering since your brothers have been removed, your skills slowly leaving your pool of resources." How emotionless Micheal's friend sounded!

"I know. But you know that this isn't where it ends, Spook," Shadow moved forward, trying to put a hand on Spook's shoulder. With a flick of Spook's wrist, Shadow's hand was in the mud. Shadow didn't flinch, "This useless fight means nothing in the end, Spook. You know it. No-one will remember this day. No-one will remember who wins this fight. But they will remember your failure to become what you think you can be."

Before Shadow could continue, Spook stabbed Shadow in the chest with both blades. Shadow didn't react, simply walking forward into the blades, "You will lose, Spook. Darkness will fall. Whether today or tommorow, whether by my blade, or by Micheal's, or by Platypus', or Moni's, or Nameless', or your own, Darkness will fall. This conflict, this petty conflict will end. They already begin to move on! Look! Randomness is here! Reality has returned! Go back to your master, then, son of one of the most broken men I ever knew. Take the final blow, take my life. But your master's plan was doomed to fail from the beginning.

"Serving Darkness will never give you true revenge. You gain that by trying even when it's bad. You gain revenge against the great evil by not falling to its prey of inactivity, of shadows, of secrets, of hidden pasts, of dark futures prevented by throwing even more darkness in its face and asking why it's even worse?

"It's worse because you chose to do evil to prevent evil. Evil is evil and cannot win forever. TLT is random because true freedom, the kind of freedom you feel in your heart, is randomness. Freedom is spontaneous. You will never win because forcing this kind of freedom into chains is unnatural. It requires constant effort and soul drenching activity to maintain. 

"We will win because we are the defenders of natural order. You will-"

"Enough," Spook yelled, lifting his blades up through Shadow's body. Two sides of a smile fell into the dirt on either side of Spook's blades. 

Micheal screamed. Spook turned, saw Micheal, opened his mouth, closed it. Spook turned away, "Thus is the price of blasphemy and turning against Darkness." Micheal rushed forward, trying to reach Shadow's corpse, but it was too late. The corpse melted into purple energy, lifting into the sky and to Darkness. 

"I will avenge you."

"I will avenge you, Shadow. I will avenge Lindy. I will avenge Kelsier. I will avenge Thaidakar."

Micheal stood, looking around the rows of graves. A group of people stood at a distance behind him, the rest of Shadow and his rebels against Darkness. Someday, someday Micheal would bury his blade into Darkness' chest. He would find his revenge, and avenge Darkness' ideals. Someday, they would be reality.

 But today, Micheal had a primordial entity to find and kill.

[NameIess]

2 hours ago, Immortal Platypus said:

The door now knew more that perhaps everyone on TLT. The only one who could challenge his knowledge was No One.

And of course Eof, who knows everything that has happened and will happen.

[Scars of Hathsin he/him]

Umm... Hi, I am back, has anything important happened while I was gone?

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

1 hour ago, NameIess said:

And of course Eof, who knows everything that has happened and will happen.

As such, Eof sensed the Door's rise to power, and also knew that Nin somehow had a part to play in it all.

[NameIess]

28 minutes ago, Scars of Hathsin said:

Umm... Hi, I am back, has anything important happened while I was gone?

When'd you leave?

21 minutes ago, The Bookwyrm said:

As such, Eof sensed the Door's rise to power, and also knew that Nin somehow had a part to play in it all.

In fact, he specifically knew what part Nin had to play, but he was smart enough not to spit it out.

[Scars of Hathsin he/him]

About November

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

41 minutes ago, NameIess said:

In fact, he specifically knew what part Nin had to play, but he was smart enough not to spit it out.

There was one other besides Eof who knew of Nin's part in the Door's tale. This was Nin's old master.

He did have a master, right...?

[NameIess]

2 hours ago, Scars of Hathsin said:

About November

Well, I think what happened was mostly Nameless and Platypus fighting for a while before ending without a victor, then Platypus and Darkness beginning their battle. Also, I think Shadow's dead (maybe all of them?) Spook's on the dark side, Mythos has been captured, and Micheal is doing something related to killing a primordial entity.

2 hours ago, The Bookwyrm said:

There was one other besides Eof who knew of Nin's part in the Door's tale. This was Nin's old master.

He did have a master, right...?

I honestly have no clue. Probably at some point.

Nin's old master was very old, and he held the record for longest beard in all of TLT. It was not, however, white.

Edited January 24, 2024 by NameIess

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

Abalador was disappointed by this. He also wondered if the old master had to wear clothes.

[NameIess]

(He did. On-screen nudity was against the unwritten rules of TLT)

Edited January 24, 2024 by NameIess

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

Just now, NameIess said:

(He did. Nudity was against the unwritten rules of TLT)

Abalador was relieved.

[NameIess]

Nin's old master had retired seventy years ago, and was most definitely absolutely not one of those old guys who are secretly incredibly powerful.

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

In fact, he was so powerful that he had been able to single-handedly topple the Ghanderflaffle Empire in one of it's previous iterations.

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

Abalador wanted to speak.

 

Sleeper was smiling.

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

7 minutes ago, TheRavenHasLanded said:

Abalador wanted to speak.

 

Sleeper was smiling.

Though Nin's Master knew many things, he did not know everything, so he did not know why Sleeper was smiling.

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

1 minute ago, The Bookwyrm said:

Though Nin's Master knew many things, he did not know everything, so he did not know why Sleeper was smiling.

Sleeper found a worthy opponent. Their battle would be legendary.

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

2 minutes ago, TheRavenHasLanded said:

Sleeper found a worthy opponent. Their battle would be legendary.

This opponent was, of course, the Door.

[ʟɪɢʜʈ]

11 minutes ago, The Bookwyrm said:

This opponent was, of course, the Door.

The Door of bsys.

[NameIess]

Nin’s master had of course grown much weaker in his old age (no, not stronger, weaker.) but his last apprentice the Door of bsys had inherited much of his skills, and was even closer to how he’d been in his prime than Nin was.

Edited January 24, 2024 by NameIess

[Immortal Platypus]

18 hours ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

I promise I will respond to you soon, @Immortal Platypus I just have this scene to make first.

"I couldn't save you.

"I said I would, but it didn't work. It didn't. And now you're dead. I will avenge you."

Memory is a cruel mistress.

Micheal fired, hitting a guard. The guard crumpled. Micheal moved to fire on the next guard in quick succession. But just as he went to shoot the third guard, there was the visceral sound of a thud nearby. There was a shuffle of leaves and shouts all around him. "What's going on?" he asked into the radio, stepping back as the guards scrambled for back up. He shot one in the face, sending them to the ground in moments. 

"Narrator, we think. He has two swords on him. Micheal, you have to get out. Shadow is confronting him. He says you'll have time to hide the rest of the group."

"No! Shadow has to make it. He's more important than me. Where are you?" Micheal's thoughts moved faster than he could comprehend. Memories flooded every corner. Lindy. Kelsier. Thaidakar. And now Shadow? Would one of his mentors fall to one of Micheal's best friends? 

The person on the other side of the radio gave their coordinates, "Be quickly if you do come. You need a plan to escape."

"Don't worry about me, worry about Shadow."

"Yes, sir."

It took him two minutes to run through the darkness, under leaves, over logs, tears leaving a burning trail in the cold rain. Micheal would not lose another person to the endless duel of opinions. He couldn't.

Not again.

He arrived, gun at the ready, a scrap of a blade made from some mordite and another metal in one hand. There Shadow stood, dark blade in one hand, facing Spook. Oh Spook... Grief had taken another victim.

Spook regarded Shadow with casual sarcasm, blocking each sloppy blow with an expert block, akin to his father's style. A field of corpses surrounded them. The remnants of Shadow's team. Shadow turned, saw Micheal, smiled. He snapped his fingers. Micheal had begun to move, running towards Shadow. But now he was frozen in place.

"Spook," Shadow said, "Surrender now."

"We both know who is the better swordsman here, Shadow. You've been suffering since your brothers have been removed, your skills slowly leaving your pool of resources." How emotionless Micheal's friend sounded!

"I know. But you know that this isn't where it ends, Spook," Shadow moved forward, trying to put a hand on Spook's shoulder. With a flick of Spook's wrist, Shadow's hand was in the mud. Shadow didn't flinch, "This useless fight means nothing in the end, Spook. You know it. No-one will remember this day. No-one will remember who wins this fight. But they will remember your failure to become what you think you can be."

Before Shadow could continue, Spook stabbed Shadow in the chest with both blades. Shadow didn't react, simply walking forward into the blades, "You will lose, Spook. Darkness will fall. Whether today or tommorow, whether by my blade, or by Micheal's, or by Platypus', or Moni's, or Nameless', or your own, Darkness will fall. This conflict, this petty conflict will end. They already begin to move on! Look! Randomness is here! Reality has returned! Go back to your master, then, son of one of the most broken men I ever knew. Take the final blow, take my life. But your master's plan was doomed to fail from the beginning.

"Serving Darkness will never give you true revenge. You gain that by trying even when it's bad. You gain revenge against the great evil by not falling to its prey of inactivity, of shadows, of secrets, of hidden pasts, of dark futures prevented by throwing even more darkness in its face and asking why it's even worse?

"It's worse because you chose to do evil to prevent evil. Evil is evil and cannot win forever. TLT is random because true freedom, the kind of freedom you feel in your heart, is randomness. Freedom is spontaneous. You will never win because forcing this kind of freedom into chains is unnatural. It requires constant effort and soul drenching activity to maintain. 

"We will win because we are the defenders of natural order. You will-"

"Enough," Spook yelled, lifting his blades up through Shadow's body. Two sides of a smile fell into the dirt on either side of Spook's blades. 

Micheal screamed. Spook turned, saw Micheal, opened his mouth, closed it. Spook turned away, "Thus is the price of blasphemy and turning against Darkness." Micheal rushed forward, trying to reach Shadow's corpse, but it was too late. The corpse melted into purple energy, lifting into the sky and to Darkness. 

"I will avenge you."

"I will avenge you, Shadow. I will avenge Lindy. I will avenge Kelsier. I will avenge Thaidakar."

Micheal stood, looking around the rows of graves. A group of people stood at a distance behind him, the rest of Shadow and his rebels against Darkness. Someday, someday Micheal would bury his blade into Darkness' chest. He would find his revenge, and avenge Darkness' ideals. Someday, they would be reality.

 But today, Micheal had a primordial entity to find and kill.

you're good, I'm enjoying the TLT chaos for now, but I can hop back in whenever.

 

The odds were 15000000000 to 1 in the Door of bsys' favor. According to the experts, Sleeper had no chance at all. On a completely unrelated note, Hacob popped in to say hi to Bookwyrm before he left.

[NameIess]

The battle began with the door taunting Sleeper, opening and closing in an insulting way.

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

7 minutes ago, NameIess said:

The battle began with the door taunting Sleeper, opening and closing in an insulting way.

Sleeper counters with a mocking demon.

[NameIess]

3 minutes ago, TheRavenHasLanded said:

Sleeper counters with a mocking demon.

The door opens a little wider, and the demon is dragged through into the infinite abyss that lay behind it.

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

Just now, NameIess said:

The door opens a little wider, and the demon is dragged through into the infinite abyss that lay behind it.

Sleeper pokes it slightly.