The moment Nym touched the clear stone, her vision darkened.

However, there was light around, but it did not illuminate the darkness, just define certain areas of it. The Shadow was standing before her, a tall as her and standing a short distance in front of her, yet infinitely large and infinitely far away.

His features, such as the could be discerned, showed confusion yet a certain happiness. "Nym? I have not seen you since the portal. And yet I felt the fruition of Meri's wish. I am glad you have finally found your heart's desire, given to you selflessly. That is the secret of the Wish, and what I hope I may bring back to mortals. Did you need to use the wish I gifted to you, now?"

However, it seemed as if The Shadow, despite his features all being back, suddenly had uncertainty and radiated concern. As if he could sense something in Nym or her mind. "Wait, when you touched the stone, you said something about Meri. What is wrong?" Deeper concern. "Is this something to do with the warning I gave you both?"

The Shadow then seemed to look through Nym, or perhaps was looking deeper inside Nym's mind.

Nym looks up at the Shadow.

"Oh, um, yes, hello." she says, looking around. "Well, this place is either more boring or more interesting than where I just was. Um. So, we were in a big tree that just grew, which was really nice, but then it all went weird and me and Meri were in a sort of...I don't know, weird deserty place or something. And there was a big red star thing in the sky and then a big face, and he had a big hand that he tried to squish us with but he couldn't, and he didn't seem very happy about that but I think he was pretending not to show it. And he was talking about nothics and Trachers and Students and being the Teacher and turning a world all icky but wanting to do it anyway so apparently that was alright and umm, some other stuff. Anyway, then he tried to squish us again but it didn't work and then he waved his hand and then I woke up back in the tree again with everyone, but Meri was still asleep and everyone seemed all sort of worried, but then Goodwin said maybe I should talk into the stone thing and so I did and now I'm here. And umm...I think the big red face-person was the one that was, umm, the other one. The opposite of you, that you said we weren't suppoed to talk about, or think about. Except I'm not really sure if you're both the same person, or something, but I don't know if that matters right now. But Meri won't wake up, so maybe you could help with that? I wonder if I should use that Wish to make that big red face-thingy never be able to affect her or trick her or anything ever...then she wouldn't ever get stuck asleep by him again. Could you do that? I mean, I'm not wishing it now, but I might if you can do it. Could you?"

This whole spiel is given at an increasing speed as Nym gets into it, ending with her tilting her head questioningly to one side as she looks up at the Shadow with a curious expression.

Nym wields the mighty Wall of Text! Raaarr!

The Shadow's eyes appeared to flick to Nym occasionally as she spoke. It seemed that between her near constant speech, and whatever she was thinking of, The Shadow managed to make sense of the situation. Barely. Eventually.

"I am sorry I could not speak of Him when we first met, but I did warn you that the portal room had thin walls. Now you know what I feared. We are not the same, but two sides of the same coin, perhaps? I was the chain on mortal power, that the gods steal as faith. And He is the chain on demons, and their infernal power that mimics that of the gods, preys upon mortal yearning. I can read your mind, and He could read your heart. He is still trapped, that was why I chose so carefully who I let free me. And yet not carefully enough, it seems. He must be desperate or bold to contact you both in the open. I hope my warning has spurred this action, but fear something else has given him this opportunity."

The Shadow gave what appeared to be a smile to Nym. "It is the sad irony that almost anything is within my power, but I cannot gift it freely. It is not mine to give, after all. It is your own power, and my task to portion it out. However, the gods have not yet discovered my return, and your wish is a selfless one. Speak it back in the world, and I can make it so. That is perhaps why this deceiver comes out in the open, I see his minions managed to read your minds when you confronted them. He must have seen the danger a single wish of mine posed to Him. He must have long relied upon the greed of mortals, and not counted one one keeping such a power unused."

The Shadow temporarily looked sad. "It is a selfless wish, yet I would gift its benefits to you, too, if I could. Alas, it is your trust in the wish that will make the wish work, and I cannot interfer with your mental state when it manifests. Still, it will empower Meri's own doubts, and keep this monster from co-ercing her. As long as you both remain strong and together, and share all that you know, then this other will not be able to deceive you. Sadly, I fear this means you must trust no one besides yourselves. The followers I hoped would aid you are most likely tricked to following him, for I have been able to contact none of them. Trust yourselves, and know I will do all that is in my power to help you. I can do no less."


So basically - yes :) Is there anything else you want to ask him, or would Nym shake off the connection to go tend to Meri?

Nym considers this.

"So...if I wish that the big-red-face-person won't be able to ever do anything to Meri or be able to trick her or lie to her or anything like that, she'll wake up?"

Nym smiles and nods, giving a small clap of her hands.

"Yay! That sounds lovely! So then she'll be safe from him forever!"

Cool, so if I can use my Wish (when I get back to the "real world") to make Meri immune to everything the Not-Shadow can do, including him tricking or deceiving her through lies, misdirection etc without necessarily using actual magic, that would be cool. I suppose it won't be quite as long-term a wish as the lifetime of having a familiar that was gifted to Nym, but at least it'll mean one of us will always be able to see through the Big Bad and never be able to be directly harmed by him...though I suppose that won't prevent him sending minions and stuff. But...well, it's a start ;). And given our recent discussion on the true nature of Nym I suppose having a familiar may not last "the rest of her life" either ;).
So yeah, if Nym can snap back to the tree now I'll use my Wish and we'll see how quickly Meri wakes up. I don't suppose there's any way I can make the Wish without her player seeing? I think it migth be quite amusing if both she and Meri find out at the same time that Nym has just got her immunity to the Big Bad, even if that takes until she encounters him again for her to find out ;).

"As long as I have power, she will be safe," reassured The Shadow.

You can always have Nym whisper the wish under her breath when in the real world. I ahve an idea for the mechaincal effect of it, but I'll leave that until we're passed this initial bit to discuss.

I'll go ahead and let Meri know she can post :)