You Are Summoned (Takashi Agera)
| You Are Summoned (Takashi Agera) | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 30 December 2025 |
| Location: | Obsidian Tower |
| Synopsis: | Takashi is summoned by an Envoy. |
| Cast of Characters: | Takashi Agera |
Takashi felt the aura of the Envoy walking down his currently unnamed Division's part of Obsidian Tower from a distance. He was sure everyone could feel when an Envoy was coming. Even normal people, even animals had to get shivers up their spine. For those who were naturally able to sense magic, energy in the air, it was like being dunked in molasses - Dark Energy was all you could feel, all his sensors could detect, entirely cut off from the rest of Tokyo's magical background energy - and the sensors hit overload as the Envoy moved closer, turning themselves off to protect themselves and their data. It was so much more intense now, now that he had access to more power himself; it was like the Dark Energy in both himself and the Envoy called to each other, resonated, intensified. And all Takashi could do was hope the aura would come and then go, pass as it had before.
The aura grew in intensity, threatening to overwhelm his senses. And it reached an apex and... stopped. It didn't continue on and reduce in strength as the Envoy continued on its path past his office. That meant...
Three knocks. Firm. Insistent. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. On the door to his Department.
The Envoy was here for him, as it would have had to be eventually. He'd been waiting for this - dreading it, truth be told - ever since he got the notification he'd gotten what he sought - a Director level title. Or at least, a provisional Director level title. He'd gotten the resources, the office - most of it collected from Tomoe and Beryl's old spaces - but he hadn't been put on the Board.
Because you couldn't attend a board meeting until you'd been formally spoken with by the head of Obsidian itself, by Father Obsidian.
And the source of those three knocks, by energy alone, could be nothing other than an Envoy - the hand-picked direct Servants of Father Obsidian. Takashi was already on the way to the door, henshining as he moved. Nobody ignored an Envoy. They represented the will of Father Obsidian directly, and even Joker didn't play around with them.
Riventon opened the door. The thing standing before him... looked only vaguely human, stuffed into a crisp grey suit, but not quite. Its utterly black eyes are the wrong size and not set right, the mouth is too big and the teeth are pitch-black... and both eyes and teeth catch the office light oddly, gleaming like glass. Upon first inspection it's a facismile of a brown haired woman, but Riventon blinks and now it appears to be a young, blonde haired American businessman, and on another blink it's n old, tanned south-asian man. Every time Riventon blinks or looks away, the face and body he returns to changes - but always those black teeth, those black-gem eyes, set wrongly.
"You are summoned." the Envoy says in a chorus of voices that appears to channel all of the forms Riventon had seen - even as they quickly slip from his mind's memory replaced with only distorted images. "Come."
Riventon barely even gave a nod before walking out and closing the door behind him. He went with the Envoy to the elevator, but at some point the Envoy and his energy just vanished from existence, all at once, between heartbeats. It had, after all, delivered the message. Riventon knew where to go, once he got into the elevator. The button on the elevator was simply black, with no other indicators. A button that only appeared when you were summoned.
The elevator did not go up or down. It didn't go left or right or even forward or backward. It went strangely, and the closest feeling to how it moved to Riventon was how it felt when he duskported. And then the doors opened. And... even in the heart of the Dusk Zone, it was rare for him to feel energy of such an intensity. The only things that had ever approached it were the Dusk Titans he'd seen, and now, he couldn't be sure if this feeling was stronger due to proximity, or if it was even stronger. It was cloying, and he could feel part of him - the human part - seemingly panicking, looking for an escape. He was made of sterner stuff now, and was able to keep it together... barely. Shuddering under the weight of the power as the elevator doors opened to reveal a room that was both absolutely dark and yet brilliantly red, all at the same time, his brain struggling to comprehend that.
This was Father Obsidian's office. Nothing so cliché as a desk with an old man behind it, though. Father Obsidian was everywhere. In the corner of his eyes. Never the same face, much like the envoys. All around him. A sensation. A power. A force. When he spoke, Riventon felt it in his teeth, in his eyes, pulsing in his brain, in his fingertips.
"Director Agera. Director Riventon." the voice said in a chorus as well, and sounding as if it was taunting him, as if the two were not one and the same.
For a moment, Riventon almost knelt, but the energy of the room also told him not to. He was baked in Dark Energy, and Riventon's pride was everything keeping him together in the face of it, and he knew that, and Father Obsidian would surely know too. Showing weakness right now might kill him, either from the Energy or from the entity. So he stood, and instead, bowed his head only slightly. A modicum of respect, without total obeisance. He had earned the right to be here, after all, so said the energy pounding in his head.
"Ah, that is what has driven you so?" the voices asked, but clearly knew the answer. "To grow. To fight. To rise. That is why you stand before me now?"
Riventon knew, somehow, this was not a question to answer. He remained in his slightly bowed pose. Remained in that cloying power.
"You fight even your teammates. You fight your brother and your family. You fight destiny. To make your own truths into reality. And that is why you have become Director. But do not think me a fool, Riventon. Takashi Agera. When you stand before me, Dark Energy rolling through you, I can see into your heart. I can see your goals and desires. I can see you seek to use Obsidian, to use my power, what I've built, for your own ends!"
And then a terrifyingly severe blast of Dark Energy - or maybe something deeper, more foul, more violent, erupted through the room and ripped into Riventon, the darkness tearing gashes in his body, punching holes, destroying him as easily as he were a defenseless rabbit in front of a chaingun. What was left of Riventon was hardly enough to hit the ground.
Back in his office, Riventon grabbed at his chest, collapsing, eyes wide, sweat dripping down his face, then a hand to his mouth, the pain so intense his body was coughing involuntarily, blood on his hand.
His phone pinged with a text and despite all of the pain he was compelled to answer it. The text burned into his eyes, and he'd see it after blinking for the rest of the day.
"Everyone seeks to use Obsidian for their own ends, but only one will succeed. But next time you are summoned, do not disrespect me by sending one of your mere shards."
