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Carna     Enark has asked Kord to come to his study in the Library of Murdered Knowledge. There have been some changes since the count was last here. More furniture (still only one item of it chained to the floor, so the rest is safe. Hopefully), some modern ammenities, a metal arm and leg or armor or something being worked on at a table, Carna's discarded clothes and weapons and gear piled on Enark's desk for some reason, and still no sign of Crow.

    The absence of so many of this trio leaves the study feeling emptier despite the fact that more space is being filled, and it looks busier than ever.

    Whenever Kord arrives, likely by the Shrine of Light in that circular alcove right inside the door, Enark is busily looking over some books, with the blueprints and schematics and notes that Priscilla found in that Moonlight-altered reality laid out before him on his desk.
Count Kord     Kord steps away from the Shrine of Light, and reaches up to pull off his half helm and pull down the face mask. He steps through the room to find a place to set down the helmet and approach Enark, his steps slow but purposeful. He looks at the man with a silent stare, expectant... then leans to get a peek at the documents he's perusing, because it's a point of curiosity for him as well. He hadn't actually much opportunity to look at this.

    "... is this what you wanted me to see?"
Carna     Enark looks up when Kord arrives, and smiles. He looks tired. Spreading the papers out he says, "No. Or not completely. Many or most of these papers are labelled with the name 'Cro'. Meaning our dear friend might have some connection to their origins. I scarcely understand them. Some of them seem to be plans for... Building a Moon." He gestures at the more involved ones. "But even there, there is more to it than simple physical structure. These might be... Weapon systems or manipulators of some sort. I can not tell which. There are notations in languages I can not read, that might not even be languages, and what I can read is complex, abstract, and possibly only partial notes scribbled down as the one writing all this thought of them, fragments of thought with the context hidden in his or her or its head."

    Enark rubs his face. "I am getting a headache from looking at them at this point."
Count Kord     "... okay."

    Kord straightens and he begins to pick some of the papers up. He seems passive about it, not really seeming openly interested in what he's looking at beyond their oddity. He goes over the images, looking at them in detail as he goes, and he prompts Enark with a vague circular motion of one of his hands. He doesn't understand what he's looking at, either, so he'll need the scholar to keep explaining.
Carna     Enark shakes his head. "As I said, this is not entirely what I wanted to show you." He hefts up a heavy tome and drops it onto the desk with a *THUMP*. He opens it to one of three bookmarked places. "This was a Black Book. One of the records of human knowledge that humanity is hypothetically capable of knowing, but which has not yet been discovered. Like the one we saw down below. You know, with those... Fish people." He rubs his head and points to the page, where there is a grand, godly-looking edifice, replete with statues of deific figures woven throughout the architecture. "This library, the Bibliotheca, is like the Library of Murdered Knowledge. However, it contains the sum total of all DEIFIC knowledge. Everything a god, and possibly other associated beings like titans and demi-gods and eternals, have ever known, is recorded here."

    He gives Kord a few moments to look at it, before flipping to the second bookmark. There is another library of sorts, but it is not depicted explicitly. There is just a large golden door. "And this is a third library of knowledge. The Akashic Records. They are, like this library, a record of all human knowledge and information. However, both the Bibliotheca and the Akashic Records have qualities to them that the library we stand in now does not. Namely, they bar entry to anyone who does not fit the type of knowledge they contain. Therefore, only a god can enter the Bibliotheca, and only a human -- or perhaps only a mortal -- can enter the Akashic Records."

    Then he flips pages again, to the third bookmark, and an artist's depiction of Escher from the outside. "Escher does not have those protections. Further, though it is said to contain all human knowledge, it was built by as godly as a being as there can be, Lord Tharmas, in a joint effort with humans, those who would become the Blue Scholars."
Count Kord     Kord follows along with what Enark explains to him as well as he can manage. His inhuman eyes focus on the pages, and he sets aside what he was gawking at a moment ago to really get an eye on the golden door. That seemed to gather his interest... deeper secrets than what Enark would be able to gather. He leeeans in and places his hand to the table and gets a nice good look.

    "... what you seem to be saying is that Escher was a medium between these two ideals of knowledge, a meeting point." He looks around the room and remembers how... twisted it all seemed at first, but now the nonsensical nature of it actually felt like it had a purpose. He looked back to Enark. "Is there anything else?"

    Kord is smiling. That's not common. His tail is wiggling, too. He must be excited. It'd almost be cute if not for his heritage apparently stemming from apocalypse birds.
Carna     Enark smiles back, glad to have an audience as enthusiastic as he is for once. "Yes, actually. Quite a bit. Though the implications might not be to your liking." He shows Kord again the designs for the Underworld Moon, and then the designs of each of the libraries. Each of them has a very particular aesthetic to them. Particularly, there is a certain moon motif in each of them. Even the golden gates of knowledge that lead to the Akashic Records, which seem emblazoned with all kinds of other imagery, including the sun, has a moon in there somewhere.

    He also pulls out a sketch of the moon designs seen on the walls and columns in the subway system in the Umberdark Tunnels. And then a from-memory reproduction of the moon designs on Crow's gauntleted hands from those few instances Enark has seen them.

    "I believe our dear friend Crow, or at least 'Cro', has had an involvement in the construction of all three libraries. There are no moon designs on the exterior or interior of this library, but behind one of the doors down in 'Escher-space', there is a view of the Moon from the Crimson King's palace." He waves a hand as though to wave away any objections. "I know there is still the possibility that this is all coincidence. Moon imagery is not exactly restricted to a single culture or person. And here is where we get to the concerning implications."

    Enark goes back to the Akashic Records page. "You recall during the conversation we had in your office, that I mentioned that I thought the contents of the Library of Murdered Knowledge might be being tampered with? The fact that this place is not off-limits to gods means that they might have the means to edit or remove items from the Library. Further more, that a Black Book has turned to actual knowledge is something that should not be happening, because that would require that a human had learned of it. And there are no more Living humans. Or so we have been led to believe." Enark looks very intently at Kord. "That knowledge about the Bibliotheca, the Akashic Records, and what was discovered about Escher, is all information gained by a Living human. That could mean that Living humans native to this universe survived somehow, that there are outsiders from the Multiverse who are exploring places we still have not gained access to in Lumiere as we speak, OR..." Enark holds up a finger indicatively. "The one we know as Orc, the 'Human Shadow', qualifies as both human and god. And he is out there right now, getting information, that is then being recorded here. It might be his way of communicating with us, if for some reason he can not come back. Crow might 'count' as a Living human. He is also the only god we know here and can confirm to exist."

    Enark taps the page. "And someone who is both god and mortal, a demi-god, is a description that fits a small number of our party. Meaning you might be one of the only people who can find Crow and bring him back, if one of these places is where he is hiding or trapped."
Count Kord     "..."

    Kord squints at the pages as Enark talks. He seems skeptical, the way he grimaces at the possibilities ticked off a list. As Enark explains the depths of odd happenstance that have to align in order for them to get this knowledge. "Humans are ... resilient," he begins, with a quirk of a corner of his mouth, strange mixed emotion showing off his sharp teeth as he speaks, "If we had a desire to perpetuate ourselves, we would find a way to try. Living humans persisting here in Lumiere is not a strange idea, to me. But if Crow is what you claim he is, then..."

    Kord straightens, and runs his fingers through his hair, breathing through his nose. His mouth creases into a frown.

    "I have to get into that library. Do you have heading to point me down?"
Carna     Enark shrugs. "It is not I you need to convince of human resilience. Though, even we have our limits. However, yes, I do in fact have a heading, so to speak. It appears that the Akashic Records are not easily accessed. After all, one would not want, say, Evil von Evilson to obtain all the human knowledge there is to know, for example. However, there are some clues in this image as to one of the potential locations this door can be found -- it would make sense if there was no fixed location for a plane that exists distinct from all the others, after all."

    He lifts up yet another book, a thinner one, due to less knowledge on the part of the one or ones whose memories make up its composition. "You recall that sunken city we visited? The one connected to Atlantis? The ruins of that metropolis, outside the Temple of the Drowned? I believe it is there. THe architecture is the same, at the very least. I am still not certain how such a metropolis came to be flooded in such a manner, but I have come across some interesting legends regarding a previous King of Lostrata who was actually two people. They did not take the Crimson Throne and so were not part of the lineage of the Crimson King. But these twins were selected by the gods to rule the First Candle. I do not know what became of them though."

    He shrugs. "And it is a better starting point than trying to find the Bibliotheca. I highly doubt the gods would leave such an edifice of their secrets accessible to 'mere' mortals."
Count Kord     '... twins were selected by the gods ...'

    Kord was really into this all the way up until that part. He even had a wry smirk at the 'Evil von Evilson' comment, since he visually exemplifies that kinda thing. But that part makes him bring a hand up to his head. No, this place has already done things like that, but he isn't ready to accept that reality could reshape itself so easily without consequence. The narrative flows too easily. The way he frowns, quite visibly, shows his frustration.

    He ALMOST slams his hand into the surface Enark's got the books on, halts himself, closes his eyes and flattens both hands out. He breathes in a big sigh, with a big frown on his face.

    "I had a dream of a city drowning," he tells Enark, "You know, you all know, how I feel about PROPHECY."

    "... nevertheless, I shall find a way down there," he relents, "And confront this 'twin,' I imagine."
Carna     Enark blinks at Kord's reaction. On the verge of asking if he is alright, the count seems to get ahold of himself, though unhappily. "...Well, to be fair, the drowning of the city already haopened. And likely a very long time ago. So it might not be so much prophetic as postcognitive. Reliving events from the past, instead of seeing the future. That is, at least, one way to look on the bright side, yes? It already happened and can not be changed. But now YOU can decide what happens from now on."

    The cynical translation, of course, being, 'Loads of people drowned a very long time ago and were were completely unable to prevent it and now we are going to go see how they suffered and all the remains of a civilization that is gone forever, and maybe run into whomever or whatever caused it. But Enark is trying to be positive!

    "Further, you are not going there to rule, are you? You will be looking for a missing friend. Except as they pertain to the matter of clues that could help us find Crow, the affairs of long-gone souls has no bearing on your own destiny whatsoever."

    Enark gives a hesitant double-thunmbsup as he smiles at Kord.
Count Kord     "That is a daft way of putting it."

    Kord is a little bitter, perhaps, when he says that. He gestures sort of vaguely toward the door that they came through in their circuitous route to finding out about the painted duplicates.

    "There is a forged version of me gallavanting about, spouting off about vassals, and now some kind of unfulfilled promise about a dual king, and then I have a dream, /exactly/--" he jabs his finger at the floor, with kind of a maddened grin, "Exactly about it. A vivid dream, wherein many people were destroyed and were helpless to stop it. The sky fell on them, Enark. The air became like chaos. I was one of the twins, and the duplicate was the other."

    "I will be very, very surprised if it isn't what it feels like it's going to be," he concludes. "I'm inches from just taking my double's head right off the moment I see it just to be contrarian about it. But maybe not. I want to see how this plays out, just out of morbid curiosity."

    Kord is nothing if not genre savvy by this point. Something is fishy. But he has repeatedly mentioned that he'll keep on trucking, whatever that brings him, so...

    "I... just need to go home and think about grain prices for a few days," he says, retrieving his helmet and stomping off, rubbing his forehead and grumbling about all of this.
Carna     Enark reaches out for Kord to try to grab his arm, his sleeve, his cloak, whatever. His voice is very worried. "Jakob," he says clearly, trying to get the other man's attention. "What are you talking about? The other version of you?" He says slowly and carefully. "You killed him, remember? He was consumed by the Marble Guardian. Turned into one of its blood monsters. We defeated him and destroyed the Throne. That 'other' Kord is as dead as Priscilla's own duplicate. Unless you know something I do not."

    He frowns and withdraws his hand, whether successful or not in getting a grip. "Please take all the time you need. It seems there are a lot of details that still need to be sorted out. I highly doubt we will be mounting an expedition down there any time soon. Our first priority is a full exploration of Escher. We do not even know with certainty that Crow is trapped anywhere. Gathering more information before setting out for a place of unknown dangers is something we should have been doing a lot more before now. And while having Crow around helped in that quite a bit, relying solely on him is not a long-term solution."

    He looks at the book in his other hand and puts it away, starting to close the others arranged around him. "I apologize for ruining your good mood. For all we know, my theory is complete nonsense. I should have researched more before bringing it up. Please relax and consider what you want to do. I need to consult with the others as well." He glances briefly at the pile of Carna's belongings piled on a table, then back to all the schematics that he has nowhere near the education or mental faculties to comprehend.