Scene #4285: Meteoric Immigration

Owner	Pose
Heaven's Armory	Kansas, "America's bread basket." Right in the center of the country--of every instance of it, in this part of the multiverse, except those scarred by nuclear war. Putting that aside, this one is pretty ordinary. That makes it all the stranger when meteor over a hundred meters wide smacks right into it. Fortunately, no one has been hurt, but some farmers are in heated debate over whether this was an act of god and whether their insurance should cover it. Others are mainly concerned with figuring out whether the huge rock--which has scattered what looks like pieces of constructed masonry around the field--poses a threat, or is just going to just keep sitting there indefinitely. The local association has even tossed some money in a hat to cover a low-key investigation.
Guest Psyber	When people want investigations done, low key or high key, Psyber tends to be one of the first people that most agencies hire when they're looking for Multiversals, what with the fame and all. And so that sees him here today. His equipment for this investigation is pretty casual: A machete with a silver-lined blade, a big flashlight, and a gun at his side. He's dressed casual with jeans, t-shirt, and jacket. He's also got a canteen at his side in case he gets lost in subterranean caves, or another dimension, or something. So it's in a beat up 1970's Charger that Psyber rolls up to the field, stepping out and heading towards the impact site at a pretty decent clip. These people wanted this handled fast, and they paid him to handle it fast, so no reason to slack off.
Heaven's Armory	There's an impact crater, but maybe not as much damage as someone with a casual-to-good knowledge of astronomical events might expect there to be from the size of the thing, and little sign it was spinning when it fell. Still, there are just bits of red-painted metal to show that there used to be a tractor somewhere under there. There are also pieces of cut stone and mortar, which doesn't match the landowner's architecture. From close up, the thing is maybe four stories tall, well wider than that, and mostly rock. It's also covered in dirt--a medium-brown layer of soil, not just from the huge dust cloud still surrounding it--which doesn't quite hide the resemblance of parts of it to a transplanted stone building. There's a raised bit, like a broken cylinder, on top.
Guest Psyber	Psyber shines the flashlight inside the crater, heading into it and drawing his pistol with one hand, "Huh. Looks like a ruin, almost, from all the masonry," He theorizes to himself, wondering how a ruin from space wound up in Kansas, "Knowing my luck, there's an infant superhero inside that I'm gonna need to raise." Comic book tropes aside, Psyber approaches the giant object. He puts away his flashlight, but keeps the gun in one hand, trying to find good handholds to climb up the side of the thing. Hopefully it's not radioactive or carrying a space disease. Or infested with C'thulhu space monsters.
Heaven's Armory	Nothing on the outside of the meteor is hostile, at least. Climbing it is on the difficult side if one were inexperienced, but with some care for loose holds, definitely possible. At least one route up the irregular surface will let one avoid almost all the sheer portions. Up top, the surface is flat enough to make 'ruins' seem a lot more likely. Flat and solid. The hardened earth underneath was not likely formed in space, unless it's from space-plants that decompose to the same color as Earth-plants. Either way, being on top now reveals that the 'broken cylinder' portion is what remains of a stone-covered entrance to a staircase, leading down. The stairs are wide and reasonably level, giving a shallow route inward. The air inside has a different feel to it, even right at the entrance. It's cold enough to raise hairs.
Guest Psyber	Psyber, luckily, is quite experienced with free-climbing and ruin excavation from his younger years as a hunter. Back in Germany, Vampires used to nest in ruins on top of mountains all the time, making it a pain to get up there. He's careful, goes at a decent pace, but doesn't take too many risks. "Starting to get on board with this ruins idea. Maybe a planet exploded, though I woulda thought the ruins would be obliterated on entry. Must be sturdy. Or magical." He theorizes, "Maybe magical. Hard to say." He starts to descend the stairs, using the flashlight to illuminate his way.
Heaven's Armory	'Magic' is a fair guess, and would also explain how the cold changes gradually to a skin-crawling sensation without apparent, physical cause. It's still pretty mild for the first couple flights' worth of stairs, but once the stairs end and open into a stone-walled room, it gets harder to ignore. The corpses could be related. The first room is flanked by narrow slits, and wooden barricades litter the floor haphazardly. There's not all that much smell to the half-armored figures, which have been reduced quite thoroughly to bare bones. Some lean on spears, and some are stretched out on the floor with their swords still sheathed, but most look like they were fighting each other when they fell. To most people, that's all they'd look like, but someone with his eyes can see that a lot of these skeletons still have some traces of soul attached to them. There are a lot of unhappy ghosts, down here, keen on making that unhappiness felt, though not seemingly inclined toward any other action. The path ahead is clear enough to step over, with a larger room on the other side of a metal door, broken off its hinges. There are more of the dead through there, too, and some slivers of light from cracks in a high ceiling.
Guest Psyber	There's the click of the gun as Psyber gets it ready, stepping carefully along the ground as the feeling in the air changes to abruptly. The pistol points at a corpse or two, expecting them to spring to life as he shines the flashlight over the room. He didn't like this at all, mostly because whatever killed all these people might still be here. And the chill in the air meant he didn't know how long they'd been dead. Could be days with a revenant cleaning bones, could be decades due to the souls still clinging to the bones a bit. None of it's good, though, "Anything still alive down here?" He calls out sharply, "Come out now, or I'll assume you're hostile." He warns, stepping forward towards the broken door. Probably the best place to sweep next. Things like to nest deep, when they do nest.
Heaven's Armory	The bodies in the next room are in a worse state, with skulls and limbs separated in more cases than not. Not too much mangling--more like single, crushing blows to finish the job. There aren't just men in armor, here, but some without. What they were wearing, once upon a time, is no longer clear. Little that isn't metal survived, but at least one skeleton holds the steel bindings of what should have been a very heavy book. He's facing a heavily armored figure, a good seven feet tall with the helmet, collapsed over the guard of a similarly massive sword that has been driven straight into the stone. No one has affirmatively answered Psyber's call, but getting through the door and coming anywhere near the two corpses of note does cause something to respond. An indistinct presence fills the suit of armor, which rattles as it raises itself--and then the armor collapses back down again, leaving behind its silhouette as a faintly glowing shadow against the light streaming from above. "Hail, traveler," says the spirit(?). There may be other in the room, but none seem as yet able to manifest, any more than the last room's did.
Guest Psyber	"Hail," Psyber says reflexively. It's an old sort of greeting and one that he'd used a lot, so it's not unfamiliar to him, even if it's not as used in modern times. Nonetheless, he does seem a bit wary of the potential spirit. "You seem to have uh... wound up in another world. Kansas, ironically," A movie joke mostly for himself. He doubts the spirit will get Wizard of Oz irony. Psyber mentally shrugs and continues, "I need to know if there's anything hostile still in here. And if it's going to be a threat to the people around where your uh..." The fuck should he call this place? "Your current location is located. Because they're worried that they're going to get attacked or something. Do you need help passing on?"
Heaven's Armory	"A priest! Thank the heavens." The spirit seems pretty relieved, even through the unnatural echo of its (or his) voice. It leans on the sword--or appears to, given that it shouldn't weight anything--and takes a few moments to ponder the rest of what Psyber said. "I do not know of the land of Kansas, but I wish no ill to it. The danger should have long passed. Only resentment remains, toward myself and the villain. If you would help all here let go of their remaining ties, I shall keep you in my prayers in the hereafter. For those laying here, it is that I--and he, aye--killed them. For myself, it is that my quest ended without successor. This was never meant to be a tomb."
Guest Psyber	Psyber nods his head to the man and says, "Of course. I can help you with that," Psyber notes, carefully considering everything he says, "Tell me of your quest? I would hear it." Psyber replies, taking a small pouch of salt from his jacket. He begins sprinkling it around the room and muttering a bit, generally blessing the area to help ease spirits, "And of the villain that did all this?"
Heaven's Armory	"Many thanks, good priest." The spirit stands straighter, and begins its attempt to recall, "It is a long tale, I'm afraid. It began with... hm, what was it... the injustice of it, the..." In an easily-missed split second, the spirit bends like a candle's flame in the wind, no trace of the motion remaining when it's passed. "I remember the righteous fury of my young self, but... ah, yes, the villain! The one laid out before me, after our vile disagreement. I regret the necessity of it, but when his magic began to turn all within this place, I could think of no better plan but to end them, and so I ordered Ari to purge us all." It sighs. "Perhaps the next hero will be one who could have preserved their lives. Death has shown me my faults, if nothing else." The dead, resentful though they may be, don't offer any resistance to Psyber's preparations.
Guest Psyber	"It is the nature of justice that one should act according to what they believe to be right and what they know to be wrong," Psyber says to the man in a philosophical tone, "But know that Justice, righteous anger, is something to be held in the moment and in its purest form. By dwelling on your unfilfilled quest, you have by nature perverted the justice of your quest." Psyber smiles at the spirit, using the sentiment to try to convey a more poignant point: "Do you not see? You, and all here, who were harmed by that villain. The best way to render justice upon his actions would be for your spirits to move on. By no longer dwelling here, you would erase his wrongdoings from history with your final act. In death, you can finish the justice you left incomplete in life. Your final act of justice will be the erasure of all evidence of the evil which has bound you here. There is no greater justice than the complete removal of evil from the hearts of men." Psyber smiles, "I am not a priest, per se, but I am what you could consider an angel if you wished to stretch so far. You should rest now. I will take care of whatever you wish as a parting gift."
Heaven's Armory	It's hard to tell how well someone is paying attention when they have no visible face, but the spirit does nod when Psyber is done speaking. "You have the right of it, sir. I can certainly believe you a messenger of the heavens, for I feel your message lead me. Again, my thanks!" He sounds a little more human, now, and noticeably younger than that first, booming greeting. "To think that I let him keep us all trapped here, ever after--but no more. Already, I feel lighter." He takes a step back, head tilting backward, looking up into the light. "All that's left is her, then. Please, traveler, see that my sword is not left here, all alone. She supported me throughout all my work. If you cannot, perhaps you can find another that can carry her." A pause. "I should need trust you, angel, for I feel that already, my vision slips away from here, though to where I do not yet know."
Guest Psyber	"Sure. Tell me where I can find her and I will see that your sword is taken care of and given proper treatment," Psyber replies solemnly. He knows that, for knights more than any other, a sword is a scared implement. And that him being requested to watch after one means he will likely be returning to someone, enshrining it somewhere, or ensuring it is kept safe. "Especially if it will help your spirit find peace."
Heaven's Armory	The spirit gestures to what he'd been leaning on. As tall as he is, the sword--stabbed into the stone floor with remarkably little splintering--gives just as massive an appearance, even partially hidden. It's a straight, two-edged blade with a wide guard. "Here she is. Fare well. Wherever I go, I shall remember." Though he says this, the spirit doesn't quite fade away, instead merely becoming more indistinct, like a large but cooling flame.
Guest Psyber	Psyber nods his head and then assesses the sword. A greatsword, a very large greatsword in fact. One of his actual favorite weapons in terms of sheer damage, though for practicality he usually used a longsword. Still... To help the spirit move on, Psyber does reach out towards it and try to grab the sword from the ground and remove it from its lodged position, "Well. Let's get you out of here."
Heaven's Armory	Touching the sword's hilt has an immediate effect. The appearance of another figure is even more sudden than before, coming from nowhere. What's more, she looks every bit a fully formed, solid human being. The coloration is off this Earth's standard, with long, grey hair on a girl in her upper teens, and her half-armor outfit is at least as foreign, but she doesn't have the same feel as the restless dead at all. Her hands are on either side of the cross guard, the moment she appeared. Her expression is perfectly neutral, her eyes slightly wide as she stares into Psyber's, and speaks. "The first judgment has been passed. The second judgment has been passed. Authorization has been granted to qualified wielder, name unknown." Lifting the sword out of the stone would be easy at this point, as she's helping. Even if Psyber stops, she'll continue.
Guest Psyber	"Uuuuuuh," Psyber's tone is one of curiosity as he holds the sword's grip in his hands. He'd be strong enough to carry a sword that size on his own, once it let him. He tilts his head at the girl a bit, "You must be..." And he can't believe he's gone through this enough to be able to guess this rationally, "Ari? Or so the knight's ghost said." "My uh... name is Psyber. Did you just say I'm your new wielder?" He pauses, watching her, "Not that I'm saying no. Just making sure that's what just happened."
Heaven's Armory	The girl's expression subtly relaxes before she answers, first with a nod. "I am Ari, of they called Heaven's Armory." Then, a shake of the head. "You are now qualified. You are not my wielder until you have accepted me." She looks down at her hands, still holding onto the guard, then up again, tilts her head to one side, and presses the sword a few inches in Psyber's direction while he's still holding onto it. It make a sound a lot like it just tore through more of the floor.
Guest Psyber	Psyber blinks a few times, "Oh right. Right. Yeah," He reaches out towards the sword. He'd try to easily draw it up from the ground and, unless she particularly objects, rest it across his shoulders in a smooth and practiced motion. He's clearly got some skill and practice with a huge sword, to say the least of it. "I accept."
Heaven's Armory	The sword comes out, and the human-looking half has no further objection, letting go as soon as Psyber again began to pull. When done, she stands at attention. "Henceforth, I am your blade. I will go where you go, and your quest will be my quest. Use me well." That must be all she has to say, since she disappears a moment afterward, apart from a vague presence, like the knowledge that someone else is breathing within a room without actually hearing their breath. The weapon on Psyber's shoulder is a sword and, therefore, doesn't breathe, but it retains that feeling of a person's presence.