expiationnet

[ A tired but otherwise hale William appears on the video feed today. ]

Hello, everyone. Thank you again to those who helped fight the octopus a little while ago. I hope you're all recovering well. Since the recent disaster is no doubt keeping our clinic busy, please don't be afraid to visit me at the church. I can ease the symptoms of most common sicknesses and cure minor ailments. All I ask in return is a small donation to help maintain the church. It doesn't have to be coin - only whatever you feel you can spare.

[ And if someone can't afford his help, well, that's fine. He won't withhold treatment. ]

I'm also letting you all know that I'm hoping to have our compiled questions presented to the Council soon. Whether we'll get any worthwhile answers, I don't know. But I'll be sure to share whatever answers we do get when they come.

[ He starts to reach forward to end the video but then abruptly remembers something. ]

Oh! If anyone is willing to help provide food for the people of Rumpitur while they're under house arrest, I would greatly appreciate it. It will take a while for their fields to recover.

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It's about the Council. When they called me in for sentencing, I observed something odd happening. I wondered if my eyes were deceiving me.

[ She hesitates. This is probably going to sound strange. ]

What do you mean? What did you see?

One of the council members I was speaking to... froze up suddenly. Then his figure seemed to all but vanish for a moment. Everything returned to normal a while later, and he didn't notice anything strange, so I started to doubt if I was seeing things.

[ She hopes William won't think her mad. Even now she doubts whether she was in the right mind - the sentencing had been stressful for her, after all - but a small voice in the back of her head tells her there is more going on. ]

It's just. Do you remember the maze a while ago, and how the villagers disappeared?

Froze up and vanished...?

[ He frowns a little, dropping his gaze down as he mulls that strangeness over. ]

I was in the maze for a while myself so I don't know what was happening outside. Did the villagers disappear the same way?

I'm not sure, but the way he reacted as if nothing had happened reminded me of the villagers back then. They weren't aware of the maze at all.

[ It's unsettling. ]

...You said 'all but vanished'. Does that mean that he didn't vanish entirely? That he...faded out or something?

No, it was more like... In that moment, all I could see was the outline of his body.

[ 'Wireframe' doesn't exist in her vocabulary, so that's the best she can describe it. ]

The outline of his--

[ He trails off. It's been, well, some seventeen years since he has thought about his previous life. While the faces of his parents and others are foggy, his final few years had been spent in front of a computer. But how to ask about something that someone clearly has no experience with...?

He drops his gaze, quickly writing something on a scrap of paper. He holds up a crudely drawn outline that is approximately a human head. ]

Like that?

[ She leans forward to see what he's drawn and her eyes widen. ]

Yes, just like that. Has it ever happened to you before?

No. But... What you're describing sounds an awful lot like-- Ah, how do I put this...?

[ He presses his lips together, thinking. ]

Like they aren't...real. They're holograms. Virtual.

What do you mean?

[ She looks lost. How could they not be real? ]

I'm sorry, I don't follow.

Um...

[ He runs a hand through his hair, trying to think. ]

So, it's as though he's a ghost. You know what a ghost is, right? They don't have a physical form but they might look like the people they were in life. But in this case, it isn't that they're dead. They're 'ghosts' in the sense that they don't actually exist. We just think they do.

How can that be? I saw him pick up papers.

[ A ghost couldn't have. He looked as if he possessed a solid form. ]

Do you mean the councilman was an elaborate illusion?

Sort of... I'm not sure what's going on, but if you're absolutely sure about what you saw then the councilman is either not real or is hidden somewhere and is just sending out a projection of himself. We still don't fully understand the native magic of this place so I can't speak with any certainty.

I don't suppose you ever touched him? Like brushed his sleeve or shook his hand?

No, I didn't come in contact with him. He looked to be busy with work. If it was some kind of spell malfunctioning, he didn't appear to notice.

[ She knew of spells that could disguise someone, but that was dark magic indeed. ]

Hmm...

[ Without being able to touch the guy during one of those lapses, William doesn't want to assume the worst. It would be easy to let this paranoia eat away at him. ]

I'll try and meet him and see for myself. I have to report for sentencing sooner or later. Try not to tell everyone else just yet - I don't want them to come to the wrong conclusion and stir up a frenzy.

Alright.

[ Marianne nods solemnly. She wasn't planning on telling many people, not when she's unsure of what it means. She only wants to make sense of what she saw. ]

It would be good to get a second account. I could be wrong.

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