Chapter 15: Sinister Motions
Cassandra planted her hands on the table. "The Moon Lord..." she said. "He spoke to me. He entered my headspace and talked to me. I know all about his agenda."
"How can we know if you're not being possessed now?" asked Bryn.
Cassandra gestured towards her eyes and face. "Do you see any goop?" Indeed, her face was clean and her eyes were their normal colors.
Bryn sat back. "Good point."
"So, anyway, I know the Moon Lord's entire plan," Cassandra continued. "There are four of these weird pillars all around the world, and four suns. In order to raise the Moon Lord, the pillars need to come together and subsequently be destroyed. In order to come together, a sufficient amount of people have to die. You stare at the light for too long, you become hypnotized and start oozing this colored guck that eventually congeals over your body, turning you into a statue."
"And the statues' purpose is...?" asked Calythé.
"Basically, they're food for the pillars. If enough goop statues are made and enough of the alien creatures die, the pillars will start to move."
"And then?"
Cassandra grimaced. "It can't be stopped, it can only be delayed. If the pillars stay up, the human population of Terraria will be eradicated just by the pillars and suns. However, the first opportunity to stop the carnage will be when the pillars are destroyed and the Moon Lord rises."
"And our chances of slaying the Moon Lord?"
"Honestly? Slim."
Calythé massaged her temples. "Well, isn't this a fine scenario to be in. We're all going to die."
"I know how that feels," said Bryn.
"Oh, will you EVER shut up about that?" Calythé snapped. "Little Miss 'I-Met-Four-Different-Gods-and-Saved-The-World.' You know, you're not the only person alive with that on your shoulders."
Bryn gave Calythé a queer look. "You know, if you hadn't opened that stupid chamber, this whole thing would never have happened."
"What are you saying?" asked Thunder, rising swiftly to defend his sister.
Bryn stood and moved towards him, close enough that he could feel her breath on his face. "I mean that if she hadn't let that kid princess out of her room, we wouldn't need to deal with this apocalypse thing. THIS IS ALL HER FAULT!" she finished, her voice rising to a shout, pointing an accusing finger at an enraged Calythé.
Calythé stood and swept over to Bryn, pushing her brother aside. "Listen to me, you insolent brat," she snapped. "You think that being Monavelle's kid will help you? I was young, and in the right place at the right time. Gods know, if I hadn't opened that room, it would have been you. It was a time bomb waiting to happen, DO YOU HEAR ME?" she spat, staring straight into Bryn's eyes with her own cloudy, blind ones. Summoning a ball of purple fire in the palm of her hand, she leaned closer to the terrified girl, who backed slowly away.
"My gods, lady," she stammered. "We're cool. We're cool." Slowly, hesitantly, without breaking her eerie eye contact, Calythé sat down, closing her fist to extinguish the magical fire.
"Guys," Cassandra reprimanded, "you don't realize the danger, do you? If we can't destroy the Moon Lord... well..." She did not finish.
Lorre stood up. "All right, let's do this," he said. "Just do your best not to look at the light or the pillars, keep the alien creatures away from those who haven't yet started oozing goop, and take these," he said, passing out headgear to Cassandra, Bryn, and Thunder.
"Thunder and I were tinkering with these," he said. "They're mostly just ordinary sleeping masks, but we managed to securely attach a pair of lenses to each."
"The lenses are specially enchanted against most hypnotic influences," said Thunder. "We're not sure, but we think they'll filter the hypnotic frequency from the alien light."
Cassandra strapped hers on. "Trippy."
Lorre performed a quick head count. "We've got one extra..."
Thunder stood up in a panic. "Where's my wife?" Indeed, Emi was nowhere to be seen. He raced out of the room without putting on the mask, screaming her name.
She was outside and staring at the pillar. Mauve fluid ran down her cheeks. Thunder screamed and ran to her, embracing her. She continued staring at the pillar, but her mouth opened slightly and she emitted a small noise as she slowly raised her purple-stained hands and folded her arms around her husband.
Cassandra screamed and ran to her parents. They stood inert, arms around each other, staring at the purple sun. The magical device in Thunder's missing eye fizzled and short-circuited as the violet liquid burst forth.
As their daughter screamed, the two enfolded each other in a last embrace as the liquid hardened, turning the two into a misshapen purple statue.
Cassandra dropped to her knees and wailed piteously. In the sky above her, the violet sun and pillar let out a shuddering groan.
All over the world of Terraria, people were covered in goo that had hardened into colorful statues. With these odd sentinels staring at them, the four pillars and suns emitted a collective grinding noise as they began to move.
