The Stormfather

"It... I think it'll tell you where to stab yourself. It told be something about bind points for different powers? I'm not really sure." Mark hands her the spike. "You take it. If either of us are going to have more powers, I'd rather it be you."

"Hey, Astra. This spike says it can give one of us powers if we impale ourselves. I think I'm going insane." @Lotus Blossom

"I don't want this thing in my body. Can I use you if I don't stab myself? Like could I do more if I stabbed someone with you?"

Mark glances suspiciously towards the metal. He looks to his spren, a question in his gaze. "Never seen it." The spren responds. He steps over to the piece of metal. Who are you? What have you done to my head? He focuses in on the thoughts, hoping that whomever was able to place thoughts in his mind was able to hear his thoughts as well. He pokes the metal with one finger, making sure its not a trap of some kind. @Edema Rue you agreed to let Dragonheir do this right? (Just making sure)

"Don't worry Jaksyn. Your final words have been heard. And I will remember you." "I will remember those who have been forgotten." A warm feeling washed through Mark, and he sighed in relief. "Astra... You should get some sleep. It's been too long since we had a rest." @Lotus Blossom

"Jaksyn!! NO!" A guttural roar emerges from Mark's throat. he runs over to Jaksyn. "Please, no..." The Cultivationspren nods encouragingly. "I will remember you, Jaksyn Rogue. You will never be forgotten."

Mark manages to get to his feet, staring at the monster as Jaksyn leeches it. "Wait... I think Astra knows this thing. We should listen to it, at least for a moment." Mark says. His little Cultivationspren nods approvingly. Not yet. You know the words, but the words don't know you. "Are you sure your not a Cryptic? Because you're being very cryptic." Mark murmurs, fairly certain that the spren can hear. I'm not! The spren says into his mind in mock outrage. You may know the words, but you must experience the words for the words to know you! @Lotus Blossom @LightRinger (This isn't VERY important to you two, but since Mark's right near you I may as well ping you.)

Mark steps backwards and trips over his own foot, falling ungracefully to the ground in a heap. “I’m done. I’m done. I’m done.” He repeats over and over in a whisper, barely audible.

The latter.

burnt to ash

@Argenti @Silver Phantom HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH

"Astra. Jaksyn. RUN. I don't know what this thing is, but I'm certain its trying to kill us." @Lotus Blossom @LightRinger

I think the joke is if you use the aonic pronunciation, its ee-hee, which is similar to the weird vocalization that Micheal Jackson does in several of his songs. You're overthinking it. Its just the noise.

Who's Cal? I know who those other people are, but I ain't never heard of no Cal.

Tears begin to flow from Mark's eyes. "Can we please just... not talk about this? Like... literally anything else?" Memories flash in his eyes of all the times spent with Sereine. The bar where they'd had their meetings. The small apartment they'd bought with what money they had before Mark began killing. The training room below the innocent school where they sparred for hours on end. Then the alley. Again and again he relived the moment where his knife plunged into Sereine. The moment when he realized who he'd killed.

"No, that's where your wrong. When she died, the murderer inside me died alongside her. I would still kill her again." He paused. "There's a bit more to this story... Once I had... killed her, I saw two of her minions crouching out on the street, who were meant to be guarding her. They had been a bit too relaxed when going through their own territory, I suppose. Well, they charged me." "I didn't move a muscle. For a while they thought I was insane, sitting there beside the corpse for nearly two hours. Nearer to the end, the two of them started chatting about some soft of plan, one that couldn't go through without their Mistborn. Sereine had been Mistborn, apparently." "After this, they said that 'they'd have to find another way to take the hovels.' They hadn't been planning simple crimes or murders. They'd been planning a conquest. In that moment I knew that as long as Sereine was dead, the city would be safe from her gang. It was the only way."

"...Yes."

"I... No. I love the idea of her if she wasn't a spy. I was in love with the fake part of her, the facade, the mask. I don't think I ever met the true Sereine. It was all a farce." Marks eyes flare with anger. "She modeled herself to be perfect for me. There was nothing real about it." It was almost as if he were trying to convince himself of that fact. " I don't love her. In fact, I hate her. But I hate myself more, for killing her. Because she could have done great things. " He paused. "In killing her, I realized that all of her potential was eliminated from this world. Everything she could have been. Gone." "But no, I don't love her."