[The casual dismissal of Maruki stung in ways he didn’t want to unpack, the words echoing in his head with an irritating persistence.
Maruki was my only friend in that godforsaken place.
He shook his head and let out a quiet sigh, deciding to shelve that particular thought for later. Maybe he’d ask about this Sparrow kid some other time. If their Maruki and his Maruki had anything in common, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer just yet.
Instead, he focused on the explanation Ren gave about Palaces, his eyes scanning the text again.
“Palaces are like... if a person is really twisted in some way. Not always evil, just twisted. Their cognition is distorted…”
The description was eerily similar to Jails. Monarchs in his world ruled their cognitive prisons, fueled by the collective desires of the public rather than a singular treasure. The way Ren described the shipwrecked ruins of Japan in Shido’s Palace only made Zenkichi’s jaw tighten.]
The way you described Palaces sounds a hell of a lot like the Jails I’ve dealt with. Monarchs ruled those, and they were powered by collective desires instead of a treasure. Jails didn’t twist the landscape as much, though—most looked like exaggerated versions of real places. The castle at the center was always where the action was.
Shido’s Palace, though? That metaphor’s disgusting, but not surprising. A ship for the elite, sailing over the ruins of the world? Sounds like something he’d come up with. Most of the people in my world are already on that ship, metaphorically and literally.
[Could Palaces still exist in his world? Jails were their twisted counterpart, but that didn’t mean Palaces couldn’t be out there too, buried beneath the wreckage of cognition and despair.
Akane’s voice chimed in suddenly, pulling him from his thoughts. Her avatar popped into his visor, red headphones glowing faintly. "Hey, Wolf. That new app on your phone? The MetaNav? Yeah, I did some poking around. It’s... different from EMMA, but it’s got similar functions. Kinda like a reverse-engineered cousin."
Zenkichi blinked and pulled out his phone, the unfamiliar icon on the screen seeming to glare back at him. "MetaNav, huh?" he muttered, rubbing his thumb over the screen.
Akane nodded, leaning casually against a holographic projection of his phone. “Yeah. It’s definitely tied to the Palaces Ren’s talking about. Not universal, though—it’s more like a key. You get the right keyword, and it’ll open the door to the Palace dimension. Think of it as a focused entry point, rather than the whole Metaverse EMMA had access to.”
Zenkichi returned to the chat, typing quickly.]
This MetaNav app I’ve got—does it have anything to do with entering Palaces? Seems like it’s connected from what you’re saying. Is it universal in places where cognition exists, or just keyed to specific places, universes, circumstances or people?
no subject
Maruki was my only friend in that godforsaken place.
He shook his head and let out a quiet sigh, deciding to shelve that particular thought for later. Maybe he’d ask about this Sparrow kid some other time. If their Maruki and his Maruki had anything in common, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer just yet.
Instead, he focused on the explanation Ren gave about Palaces, his eyes scanning the text again.
“Palaces are like... if a person is really twisted in some way. Not always evil, just twisted. Their cognition is distorted…”
The description was eerily similar to Jails. Monarchs in his world ruled their cognitive prisons, fueled by the collective desires of the public rather than a singular treasure. The way Ren described the shipwrecked ruins of Japan in Shido’s Palace only made Zenkichi’s jaw tighten.]
The way you described Palaces sounds a hell of a lot like the Jails I’ve dealt with. Monarchs ruled those, and they were powered by collective desires instead of a treasure. Jails didn’t twist the landscape as much, though—most looked like exaggerated versions of real places. The castle at the center was always where the action was.
Shido’s Palace, though? That metaphor’s disgusting, but not surprising. A ship for the elite, sailing over the ruins of the world? Sounds like something he’d come up with. Most of the people in my world are already on that ship, metaphorically and literally.
[Could Palaces still exist in his world? Jails were their twisted counterpart, but that didn’t mean Palaces couldn’t be out there too, buried beneath the wreckage of cognition and despair.
Akane’s voice chimed in suddenly, pulling him from his thoughts. Her avatar popped into his visor, red headphones glowing faintly. "Hey, Wolf. That new app on your phone? The MetaNav? Yeah, I did some poking around. It’s... different from EMMA, but it’s got similar functions. Kinda like a reverse-engineered cousin."
Zenkichi blinked and pulled out his phone, the unfamiliar icon on the screen seeming to glare back at him. "MetaNav, huh?" he muttered, rubbing his thumb over the screen.
Akane nodded, leaning casually against a holographic projection of his phone. “Yeah. It’s definitely tied to the Palaces Ren’s talking about. Not universal, though—it’s more like a key. You get the right keyword, and it’ll open the door to the Palace dimension. Think of it as a focused entry point, rather than the whole Metaverse EMMA had access to.”
Zenkichi returned to the chat, typing quickly.]
This MetaNav app I’ve got—does it have anything to do with entering Palaces? Seems like it’s connected from what you’re saying. Is it universal in places where cognition exists, or just keyed to specific places, universes, circumstances or people?