To Rule Death’s Dominion, or The Counterfactual World

A play in λ parts

OH DEATH, why does your victory taste so bitter? Why do you toil without rest, all to ensure a drowned world breathes its last? Why did you make your daughter hate you so? Why did you pull back on your great black bow and let loose that arrow?
Why did you kill her and drown the world?

What if you could take it back?

This ritual begins when a godling, drunk on her divinity and radiant with power, challenges you for your throne and offers you a choice: to take the road not traveled, or to abandon the past to hunt her down and slay her. But you are not a petty mortal man. You are He, Death, He, the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy, The Lord of Death’s Dominion, He, and yours is the wellspring of all possibility to study.
Before you is a choice.

What will you choose, and what will you destroy to find out?

This is what is true:

• On that day, Jade Irinka died by your hand; to resurrect her whole and unbroken in the Now is hubris
• On that day, the void boiled over and drowned the whole of the Lands Beyond Creation and almost all of Creation; the tide may go out, but to wish away the ocean larger than the world is hubris
• No matter what choice you finally make, the events of this play are true

:black: Ritual Actions

-A Scene of Nightmares

• Describe a scene of the Now. The present is a state of constant chaos and motion, and the fools that disturb you are troubled by yourself, and other terrors besides. Frame a scene in which conflict is playing out between them and the things that haunt their lives. The world in these moments is dangerous and cruel and the Bleak waits in the wings.
• The scene ends when someone is hurting, or has sacrificed more than they wanted, or is dead
• Dramatis Personae: The Student, Corona Violet; The Herald, Liza Voronina; The Voice of the Academy, Ovida; and any other god, nightmare, or unfortunate companion besides

-A Scene of Dreams

• Describe a scene of Then. The past is languid, a slow and thick current that nevertheless is easy to become lost in, and even you cannot escape the intoxicating allure of changing it. Frame a scene in the days and moments before you killed her. The world in these moments is beautiful and painful, and tragedy waits in the wings.
• The scene ends when you yearn to stay your hand, or you commit to grim duty, or you cannot stand it any longer- yet turn away too late
• Dramatis Personae: He, Death, He; The Angel of the Houses of the Sun, Jade Irinka; The Inheritor, Jasper Irinka; and any other god, dream, or lost companion besides

-A Scene of Emptiness

• Describe a scene in the emptiness between perception, where the futures that haunt the ritual congregate and observe. The future is ambiguous and changing, raw divinity and wishes of the heart struggling to be born. Frame a scene in between dreams and nightmares, and make the voices of those who do not yet exist heard. The world in these moments is frightening and full of grandeur, and it is not known what waits in the wings.
• The scene ends when a point is made, or a choice is contextualized, or the desire to know what happens next wins out
• Dramatis Personae: The Eidolons; The Keeper of Mysteries; Emptiness and Longing Herself; The Lord of Death’s Dominion; and any other majesty that may exist in the world to come

-A choice is made

If a symbol of power is invoked as part of a combo move, name the character of its scene and play it out.

The Ritual ends when the choice is made, the curtains fall, and a door is closed.

As performed in the following scenes:

1. Nightmare: A Pursuit by the Minotaur, in which Cora and the Grey Man clash within and without the Labyrinth
2. Dream: The Last Happy Memory of Jasper Irinka, in which Death and his daughter go riding
3. Nightmare: Pitohui and Ovida Fight, and a Confrontation Between Lizas Occurs, in which Pitohui expresses frustration, and the Architect meets her final end as her heart beats once more
4. A Stolen Dream: Cora Makes a Promise to Yulia, in which the specter of death is confronted with love
5. Nightmare: Cora and Death Meet in Soma Village, in which another escape is made
6. Dream: Death and the Sun Discuss the Future and Their Daughter, in which visions for what comes next are made
   An interlude, as the state of the board is examined
   A pause, as another director makes herself known and addresses the audience
7. Nightmare: Cora Twists a Summons, in which Death calls and Cora does not answer
8. Nightmare: Liza and Pitohui Break Open the Sky, in which the chick is freed from the egg and one thing need not remain one thing
9. Nightmare: Ovida and Death Meet, in which Ovida expresses her hopes, and Death his sorrow
10. A Choice is Made, or there is no turning back
11. Epilogue: The Death of Corona Violet