Huon sat on the steps before the great iron door that led into the inner world of Talisman. He could not stand to look at it. The metal was blinding to his spiked eyes. But what was more was the power held within that door. It was alive like a soul. Back on Scadrial, metal and souls and metal had similar vibes to them when an Inquisitor looked at them. The Steel Inquisition was so proficient at tracing skaa Mistings not just because they could pierce Copperclouds with their use of Bronze (at least the very skilled ones could), but with the sight granted to them through their new eyes, they could see the intricacies of each individual soul. It was hard to escape someone who could track people with that level of detail.
Souls… Metal. The makeup of my universe.
Huon wasn't entirely sure why he thoughts about it, but there was something profound about sitting before this door that evoked strange thoughts. Bill had said that this door was meant to test the worthy, but they were going to just break through. He and Discord were preparing a special dice roll that would allow them to trump the door for everyone. With the powers those two and a dragon were supposed to have, he wondered why they were even waiting at the door in the first place!
Souls and metal. What makes the universe, and what makes a person. Metals can be smelted into a new shape and new alloy. Can the same be said of a soul?
An Inquisitor, let alone an Executioner, was never meant to wax philosophical. The doctrines of the church were forward and simple. That was a crucial element to holding intellectual control over the skaa and nobility. Simple answers and questions were harder to twist into something more complicated, and if one did, they would easily be labelled as a heretic and take a hook through the throat.
But the answer was, simply, yes.
I have been smelted throughout this journey. Against my entire will, something has changed. I wasn't supposed to be here! No one was supposed to know of my existence beyond my brothers and the Lord Ruler! And yet the Tscheapwhetzar found me and took me. And here I am, asking myself pointless questions.
But it wasn't pointless, something had changed within him. The moment he had begun to learn who the Lord Ruler really was, and that the dogma that he had followed was completely false. That was the kind of thing that shattered one's faith. It had given him the idea to take a hold of the Quill of Inspiration and use it to instate what he had always believed. Why go against the rule of the Lord Ruler? It was a perfect state! And yet, walking through the Tumblrverse, flying through all of these stupidly impossible places had left Huon with a different feeling in his gut.
I have changed. Or at least my desires and goals have. Imposing the world of the Lord Ruler on everything wouldn't work, as much I hate to admit it. What do I want then?
I want… I want to go back to the way things were before. I was bred and made to fight, execute, and then die for my master. That is a simpler way of thinking. Of living. That way I know better who I am and what my relationship to others and the world is. Being with these men has challenged all of it!
Huon realized with horror, I am my own man! It has been so long since I last thought about it!
He jumped as Darkstalker settled in beside him. He chided himself for his thoughts. It was easy to forget at times that he had the ability to read minds. No power in Allomancy allowed for that! It was unnerving.
"I haven't been reading your thoughts," Darkstalker rumbled preemptively.
"Not that you would tell me if you did," Huon spat.
The dragon shrugged and answered, "Maybe. But your face, even with your crazy, passive eyes, is right now easy to read."
"Oh, really?"
"No reason to take offense at that," Darkstalker muttered. "I will be frank with you, Huon, I have been thinking things over a lot lately."
"Because you have been talking with those Lord Ruler forsaken ponies?"
Darkstalker chuckled, "Yes. Those naïve fools have said some things that have triggered some insight."
Huon decided to bite and asked, "What then?"
"We are supposed to be characters from different stories, even though to us we are beings from real worlds. It has made me think, if this all true that we come from stories, then we must be out of them by now. Should we change the stories that we come from? Or should we just go along with them? Or, maybe more importantly, should we do something else outside of them?"
"That sounds more like a riddle, or worse yet, a puzzle without all its pieces to me," Huon stated.
"Maybe, but these are questions we should have answers to before we face Aizen."
Huon did not like the sound of that. He realized that Darkstalker was right though, and tried not to visibly swallow his anxiety. How absurd that a Steel Inquisitor should be feeling anxious!
"Well Darkstalker, since you brought it up, what have you decided?"
"Like all of us," the dragon answered lazily. "I have chosen what is in my best interests. That is the best way to go about things at this point. The item we are all after holds considerable power for each one of us. Since we intend to go back on our word to the Tscheapwhetzar, that I something to keep in mind, because if any of us go against that, ti will cause the strife that will lead to our deaths."
"Now that sounded less convincing than what you said earlier," Huon mused.
"Really? I thought that sounded pretty good."
Huon shook his head. "No. Something is up with you. Have you seen a vision?"
"And here I thought I was the mind reader," the dragon replied with a wink. "I have, but it is not something that I think will bear itself out. The future is an interesting thing, because you can change it. Nothing, and I repeat nothing, is set in stone. It can all be changed."
Just like a man's soul.
"They're almost ready," Darkstalker pointed out. "So we should be ready to go in and fight. I hear tell that the inner world is nothing but bloodshed."
As the dragon got up, Huon also rose to his feet, but more slowly. He was still thinking. There was something that Darkstalker had seen in the future. He should keep close to the dragon. He had a Hemalugic spike in him, and that was always cause for wariness. Keeping close to him could afford him greater chances of staying alive against Aizen wielding the Quill. But there was still something nagging at him.
Long ago, before the spikes, before Ruin's touch, or this cursed trip through the Tumblrverse, Huon had been a man of faith. He knew that the system was not completely fair, but he felt it was perfect. He felt that if he devoted himself to the church he could do a lot of good. And as a naturally born Seeker, he was very well received into the Canton of Inquisition. And then everything changed.
That is what is missing. Where is my faith? That is why I want to go back. But what Darkstalker said, the story has already changed so much for me, and I know how it ends for my world. I think… I think it will be in this forge that my soul takes on its new form altogether. I cannot be sure of what it will look like, but here I must find answers. In violence and blood.
Fitting for an Inquisitor.
"Alright everybody, listen up," Bill whistled. "This is it! Discord and I have set up the dice perfectly for breaking through this next gate. Normally, we would measure each person's might against the power of the door."
Ah, now I see why it feels imbued with a soul, Huon thought.
"But with our new, magical dice, we can break though and then confront what is on the inside," Discord said happily.
"And once we are in, I think Aizen will confront us directly. Our powers are to great for the usual challenges within. They would only slow us down, but I do not think he'll rely on them, still," Bill explained.
"Why is that," Juan asked.
"Simpleton," Bill sighed. "Though Aizen loves working through others, a threat greater than his current minion is here! He'll probably rely on the Quill, but that is what we have prepared for! Our only concern is the Crown! He might have alterted it with the Quill."
"And that is where I come in," Darkstalker said happily. "I will block its influence throughout the battle with my Animus magic, and we'll have a more even battle with him."
"Hopefully," Huon growled.
"Alright! The suspense is killing me," Bill exclaimed.
"I'm not sure if I'm ready," Spike said, looking sick.
"Yup," Big Mac added.
"Discord, let the dice roll!"
A cloud appeared above, and Discord;s head popped out and opened up, letting a die roll off his tongue it crashed into the metal doors and showed the sign of a twenty, but there was something more to this number. It had power in it. Within a second, the doors crumbled like old paper being balled up. Soon they were no more.
Blast of hot hair hit Huon in the face, and with his powerful eyes he saw a hellish world and small mountain rose at the center. Atop it stood Aizen, in all his brilliant glory.
This is my forge. Where I will change forever into something else.
Huon wasn't sure to whom he should pray, but he sent out a small plea to the heavens that he might survive this and find an understanding of who he had become and what he was meant to do. Together, the Villainous Vigilantes walked into the inner world to confront their foe.