They stand aside, allowing her entry. Yannika's men aren't exactly thrilled by the idea, but have little choice except to follow her orders. Inside, she finds a converted cathedral, high gothic architecture mostly unchanged by the heretics. Walking through the place alone, she finds it deserted, her footsteps echoing against the stones. Moving through the cathedral and into the side passages, she finds a staircase leading upwards. At the top, she hears screaming.
She was unnerved by the emptiness of the cathedral, although with how many monks had been outside perhaps she shouldn't have been. She felt a cold chill run down her spine as she moved through it, and once again fear crept into her steps. But she forced herself onward. Yannika froze at the bottom of the stairs and debated with herself if she wanted to go forward or not, but she was committed, and pressed on up the stairs towards the screaming...
"How interesting. It sounds like a utopia. And yet, I take it this utopia crumbled?" Vizelle cooed, awed at the sight of the powerful looking city. Coupled with the extremely powerful psionics. She takes the chance to see if she could learn a few new spells, or learn of where they keep their books. "Fufu. How impressive."
The screams end as quickly as they began, as Yannika reaches the top of the steps. Easing the door open, she sees a belltower, unexceptional and like most others she's seen in various places of worship. What's quite exceptional however, is the woman tied to a chair beneath the bell. Priestess Barra, the Holy Mother, has not seen her beauty too profoundly marred, despite the fact that she's bound hand and foot to a chair, her mouth gagged and her eyes held permanently open, with tears streaming down her cheeks. Altogether she looks not unlike the photo Yannika saw of her. What's exceptional, however, is the pure energy radiating off her her. Yannika feels herself bathed in it, invigorated and energised by the woman's mere presence. "Incredible, isn't she?" Turning, Yannika sees Rhaiya, the priestess who welcomed her to the planet, beside the door. She walks over to Barra, dropping liquid onto the bound woman's eyes.
Yannika stood in shock. "W-what have you done to her?" she asked incredulously. This had not been what she'd expected. Why was the priestess bound? Why was Rhaiya not helping her? What was the energy that was coming from the priestess? So many questions without answers. What the warp was going on here!?
Sadly, there's nothing specific she can find amongst the images, only the impressions of power. "It did." Varrick nods, helmet shimmering in the light of the wonders above him. "With no problems, with all our needs met, we turned to violence, perhaps secretly trying to exterminate ourselves, in constant war, a dark age that lasted centuries. It helped, for a time, but we were simply too advanced by that point. In a span of years, the dark age ended, and we went back to our golden age." He sighs. "Then, we hit upon a thought. If we were gods, what was there to stop us from discovering the truth behind the creation of the universe? For the first time in millennia, our societal apathy waned, and we threw ourselves into work. We strived to discover what had created the universe. We failed to find God, but we did find something else. The Old Ones."
Rhaiya simply continues to wet Barra's eyes. "The priestess is here of her own volition. We're not doing anything she didn't consent to." She looks at Barra, smiling sadly. "She's a hero."
Vizelle nods, listening to how the downfall of his world came to be. "Fufu. An obvious outcome. A perfect utopia means you've nothing left to strive for, which leads to stagnation, and a stagnant world is a doomed one." She giggled, until Varrick started talking about the old ones. Vizelle's grins, her curiosity peaking. "Old ones? An older species? Or perhaps even more ancient humans?" She asked with interest in her tone.
"I...I can't be sure." Varrick shakes his head. "I know they're not humans. They predate humanity, perhaps even the universe itself." He shakes his head. "They're creatures of unmatched psionic power, who exert some sort of influence on the fabric of the universe itself. How and why, I don't know. All I know is that humans grew to the point where we could conceivably have challenged them at some point, so they put us back in our place. Every man was a God, but they were still infinitely our greater."
The priestess doesn't move. Her eyes don't even follow Yannika, only contracting expanding slightly as she steps into the light. "She's cognizant of her surroundings," Rhaiya explains, "and can see and hear you." She puts away the dropper. "But, she needs to save her strength, focus all of herself on her work. If she even blinks, they could get through."
"How interesting." Vizelle hummed, grinning as she learned about even more ancient psionic beings. "But those will be enemies for another time. So, let's get back you. Why did you try and destroy the empire's space station? I can see no gain for you."
"Demons. One of the most powerful demons of the warp, and its entire retinue." Rhaiya sighs. "The bishop was given an artifact, a box, and opened it. It contained...hell. To stop the powers from the other side from invading, Barra absorbed the box into herself. In effect, she's the door between our reality and the warp, and her every effort is in trying to stay shut. She started to flag and fail after a few minutes, but something aided her. That's the power you're feeling right now."
"I didn't try to destroy it." He laughs. "My plan was to send it falling down, right on top of the palace. Your Empire would fall, the Northern Empire would be implicated, and all human space would be in chaos."
She had been so incredibly wrong. Sister Barra wasn't divine, but if this was true she was certainly a saint. Her mind raced, what could be done? She was so far out of her element she didn't know where do begin. She looked around trying to think before she asked, "Why is she gagged? Why are you keeping her eyes open? And why is she under the bell?"
"Oh? So you want us to end up like your own people then?" Vizelle teased, "But still, now I see you do aim to cause chaos for everyone. How womderful."
{The most important throw, is before us...} Elena smiled and took note to allow the woman to spend more time with the admiral. She frowned seeing the dreadnought. "I hope you have a plan on taking it down." She said, but in her mind she could not help but think, what a great addition it would make to her order, what a prize! But for now, it was in a way. She looked at the admiral. "It looks that I will be buying you some time to put your tactics in place." She grinned "Connect me with the enemy admiral." She ordered.
'Thanks,' Xavier nodded, 'I think that would be all for now.' Xavier enjoyed the fruit and rum, before he headed to the bath, having a look at the data slate while relaxing.
Rhaiya says "The gag is because demons were beginning to speak through her. Sometimes they manage to take over parts of her body. To continue the door metaphor, they're managing to get a foot wedged in the doorway, at points. Some were casting incantations. It's why we tied her down as well. As for the eyes and the bell, it's to keep her awake. If she falls asleep, it's all over. She hasn't slept in months." Rhaiya shakes her head. "If it wasn't for the entity bolstering her strength, she'd have fallen apart already. Still, even with whatever's helping us... it's taking her so much will to keep this up. I have no idea how she can be so strong. I'd have cracked after days of this."
