Rifts® Between Disaster and Atrocity: The Shadow of Xy -- Concluded.
As Willy hugs the shadow of the house and moves towards the barn he is addressed (of all people) by Dale. Whose dashing words of reason seem to strike a moment of sympathy with the diabolic scarecrow… but only for a minute…
As he back towards the barn with a wicked-gleeful smile on his face he opens his hand to reveal eight tiny orbs of light circling a larger central orb. The smaller orbs are wispy and grey and the baleful shadows of the fallen Corrupt, the central orb is luminous and blue and flickers through a series of images that recount the life, the rise, and the fall of “Cup” the nameless man. Yumiko recognizes it instantly that these spheres are their essence, their raw psychic potential (or as some theorize their souls).
With a mad laugh Willy shakes his head at Dale with a gesture towards the barn the orbs weave past the remaining Corrupt and vanish from sight. Then he licks his sandpaper lips with his warty tongue and goes on to explain that he couldn’t sacrifice the Corrupt and didn’t have the power he needed to complete the ritual of transubstantiation that would allow him to call Xy to this world because the sacrifices needed to be unwilling ones. And that kidnapping all of you was the greatest thing he had ever hoped for; you had given him the ley line, you’d killed all his minions, and your carelessness and bravado had given him a powerful soul that he could use to complete the ritual.
After a little more bravado and dispatching the remaining Corrupt he explains that now Xy will return and he will restore the OLD TIME and then Willy will cheat time and simply wait for his father to be born. Then he will kill his father’s parents and raise his father in their place and they will finally be together for ever.
With that he chants some final words and there is a massive explosion of light, the barn is blasted into tiny smithereens as gigantic geomantic patterns fill the sky and Willy laughs like a madman while the dismembered corpses scattered about the pentagram in the barn chant “Xy!, Xy!, Xy!” as their vacant dead eyes stare from beyond dead into the realm of the living as an ultimate sign of the conquest of arcane power over the most primal natural law of the megaverse—Death itself!
And then… rising up from the pentagram in a flood of golden light… is a 200ft tall alien God with the head of an Ibis. And Willy looks very confused. Actually, so does the summoned deity (its Thoth). Willy breaks down and goes over the ritual again and again insisting he made no errors but all this seems to do is “annoy” the giant silent deity which then raises its huge hand into the sun and casts (not a shadow) but a radiance over Willy which throws him into convulsions of agony. While everyone else is still basking in awe or reeling in shock Willy continues to scream how it is impossible as his body blisters and burns from the sunlight and then vanishes in a sudden flash of blinding light and there is an awkward silence.
The God just sort of stays there looking at the party longer than should and although it is awesome to behold its inhuman bird like features make it more… alien... clearly it means no harm but it doesn’t say anything. Eventually, after a long silence with everyone just standing around Thoth finishes accessing the party (stoic and silent, even when questions are asked) and then for reasons no one may never know (perhaps as restitution, payment, or just a simple mercy) there is a blinding pulse from Thoth’s eyes that throws Dale to the ground and sets him on divine fire. Thoth then, ignoring anyone’s responses or feeble mortal attacks) raised its head skyward and ascended into heaven.
When Dale eventually stops burning with golden flames and ranting about universe truths beyond the ken of mortal men he is remade. It is still obviously Dale… but he has a full head of hair, his I.Q. (and physical stats) are all 18 (minimum) and he is a Demigod
Considering the fact that Akashic is one of the best dms i have had since i have started to play in roleplaying games says alot he goes to the time and effort to make the actual world feel alive as opposed to the dull non trying of a good deal of dms who just tend to concentrate on the combat and the other parts too much and forget that it is in fact a living breathing world as well.
