sixth entry ⊗ permanent residency

[flamekthunder]

Sender: Eustace
To: Everyone
Subject: A Method to Stay in This World

As everyone should know, the version of ourselves in this world is wholly separate from our originals that remain awake in our home worlds. What we do here has no effect there, and vice versa. Most won't care whether they are here for a temporary stay, however there are those like me and Tifa who have formed relationships that would be impossible if not for this world.

And I am determined to make it last.

When the Halloween Carnival arrived last October, we had the opportunity to speak to the tapirs and inquire about the nature of our existence here. In short, we are tethered to our home world which allows us to return, currently at random. However, the fae, creatures, and every other being that is not a dreamer like ourselves do not have such tethers. They either traversed into this world or were directly taken through other means.

This leads to the conclusion that if we want to stay in this world, we need to somehow break the connection, either by completely severing it or changing the tether to connect to this world instead. Perhaps we need to completely change the nature of our current "dream self." As the risk of being sent back is high if the tether is cut, I aim to focus on other means.

However, there is of course no known knowledge or means to do this, and the tapirs do not know, either. Thus I am sending this inquiry to:

1) ask if there are any others who would be interested either to help or in the results;

2) if there is anyone who is familiar with dimensional travel or strong magic that could give some clue as to what to look for.

Currently I am looking through the Tree of Stories to find any text or story that could be of use. My current suspicion is dreamotion will be the main component, however manipulating it for such a use will be difficult.

If you are interested, you can respond here or contact me privately.

— Eustace

[ooc: AND THUS MARKS THE BEGINNINGS OF A VERY LONG QUEST but yeah Eustace is trying to find a way to stay permanently in this world and is looking for anyone who wants to help, wants to benefit, or has ideas that they can look into and be possibly incorporated in the actual method. An additional sign-up post has gone up for an official head count. Those who sign-up will be able to play a significant role in finding a clue and/or piece that will lead to the final result. More details there!]

Comments

Sender: Sorey

[monolike]

I'm not specifically looking to stay forever, but I would love to help for anyone who would. It would be nice if people could have the chance to choose.

Can I still help somehow?

[flamekthunder]

Of course. I doubt this will be easy or straightforward, so the more eyes and different ideas the better.

[monolike]

That part you mentioned about us returning home if our tether is cut, how did you find out about that?

[flamekthunder]

The tapirs. We have an opportunity to speak with them so we asked how much they knew. However, this was still a conjecture on their part as they were not completely certainly, only answering from what they could observe.

[monolike]

Tapirs...

I guess that would be difficult to verify. Anyone whose tether is severed wouldn't be able to report back; we'd have to confirm some other way.

[flamekthunder]

That's the most difficult part. Whatever we do will be trial and error no matter how much care and scrutiny we use.

It would help if we could actually study these tethers. See what they are made of how they might change if someone does leave. Even if we can't hear from them, if we could somehow study the traces, it could lead to something.

[monolike]

What about people who already have expertise in tethering souls, or spirits?

On the other side of that, what if we checked in with people from the same worlds? People can come from different times, right? Maybe if they know each other and their times are separate, they can tell us if something odd occurred.

[flamekthunder]

I hadn't considered that approach, and it would be worth looking into.

You seem familiar with the concept yourself.

[monolike]

The concept, yes. I don't really know much about how it would work in practice.

But I bet someone here does! I'll ask around.

[flamekthunder]

That would be appreciated. Thanks. In the meantime, could you tell me what you know?

[monolike]

Not much I'm afraid. I've been entered into pacts that tether my soul to others, but I never personally did anything to make it happen. I just kind of stood there while other people did all the work.

[flamekthunder]

Did the connection risk your soul or well-being?

[monolike]

No not at all! There were some limitations and if I tried to push them it could be harmful, I guess. But it was mutually beneficial, and Lailah- the fire seraph who made the pact with me, she was careful to explain things as much as she could.

[flamekthunder]

How difficult was it to create and break the connection?

[Even if it's different, never hurts to know the general concept and idea about it.]

[monolike]

For Lailah it seemed easy, but she's also very [old] worldly and experienced. What looked easy to her could've been really difficult for someone new to it.

I'm sorry, I'm not a great source for this part. I mostly just did what she told me when we had to make a new pact.

[flamekthunder]

It's fine, anything is better than nothing at this point.

What did she tell you to do?

[monolike]

Honestly? Just stand there for the most part. Usually she had to hold the hand of the person she was making a pact with, unless they were human and then I held their hand for the Squire's pact. Then I just gave them a name in the ancient tongue.

She performed all the incantations and artes and everything.

[flamekthunder]

[That........does sound oddly simple.]

And the one you made the pact with some kind of spirit?

[monolike]

I didn't even do anything. She made the pact with other seraphim, and then I just called out their names when they told them to me.

And when I lay it out like that, it really is obvious how I was hardly involved, huh?

[flamekthunder]

A little.

[More like a lot, but Eustace is being nice. He'll keep the questions coming, it's cool.]

What is a seraphim? And what was the purpose of such a pact?

[monolike]

A seraph is a a kind of elemental spirit, in that they're not humans. They're people but humans can't see or hear seraphim, so it's hard to communicate.

If someone who has resonance can form a pact with a seraph, they can use their powers and even use their own resonance to help other humans see seraphim, though they'd have to get pretty strong for that to work.

[flamekthunder]

[—Ah.]

It sounds similar to something else in my world. But the main purpose is to channel their powers to use for something you normally could not.

How common is it for someone to form such a pact?

[monolike]

It used to be much more common a couple centuries ago, but humans lost their ability to communicate with seraphim and now the number of people with enough resonance to even hear them is really low.

As far as I know, when I left my friends and I were the only ones with those sorts of pacts. I'd only been around one continent though, it could've been different elsewhere.

[flamekthunder]

If the number of people who have the ability diminished then it would make sense that it would be rarer. Which begs the question—is this resonance innate to an individual? By blood or by luck?

[monolike]

I don't know for sure, but I don't think it's passed down. I think it's just a matter of luck and then exposure. It seems like humans who have had continued and prolonged contact with seraphim are more likely to develop resonance than people who don't.

Unfortunately a lot of our historical records are pretty spotty. The general consensus says that humans lost their reverence for seraphim and took their blessings for granted. As a result seraphim had to leave human towns and cities and withdrew back to nature. Most seraphim are nomadic and travel around; it's pretty rare in my time for them to settle anywhere for long, and less so near humans.