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Those Who Watch For Aeons

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Those Who Watch For Aeons

 

IC - OoC (link) - Discord (link)

 

...

 

 

...

 

...

 

...oh.

 

How many aeons... was it? But now...

 

They... the gods... named Aetherials... they who created the multiverse...

 

They are awake...

 

Yes... now... the end... or a new dawn? It's up to you now. You.

 

But remember this - you are going up against something far aeons old.

 

Far aeons angry.

 

After all...

 

Those who watch for aeons are forever angry.

 

Those who watch for aeons are those you should fear for aeons.

 

Those who watch for aeons are arising once more, coming to end it all.

 

Those who watch for aeons are not easily sealed.

 

 

...

 

And to seal them...

 

Heh heh heh...

 

Hahahahah...

 

Really...

 

It's all anyone can do...

 

To stave off aeons of devastation...

 

The death of this world...

 

Come now, why do you stand there? It's your turn. The ancients sealed them aeons before. And it's on you now. To stop them.

 

---Plot---

 

Long ago, the Multiverse was young, created by gods named Aetherials, and given aeons of life.

Long ago, the Aetherials watched over their creations, and they? They were the primal incarnates of the multiverse. They were - they are - those forces embodied by aeons of time. But power as theirs... comes with a cost. They were corrupted, and they were sealed.

 

Oh! But those aeons of imprisonment angered the betrayed gods. They had aeons to sleep...

and aeons to kindle their ire. Aeons to wait and watch. Aeons to plan eternal destruction.

 

The seal the ancients charmed into existence, and powered with aeons-old runes, is fast fraying.

 

It is breaking. Shattering. The Aetherials are free once more...

 

And you are one of the many denizens of the Multiverse. A rampaging Aetherial, tearing holes in reality, has left you in a timeless, ancient location.

 

It hums... with aeons of an Aetherial's fury

 

So now you have one task. Seal the Aetherials, seal them again. You can't destroy them, as much as that would stop their wrath. It would destroy that element. And they are far too powerful to go gently into that good night.

 

No, you must seal them for aeons, as the ancients did, travelling across the Multiverse to find them. And along the way, you'll have to gain the aid of what the ancients left, of the power in the Multiverse, and the power you have. You'll have to defeat the eldest gods, become monsters after aeons.

 

And if you do not?

 

The price is aeons of devastation, as the Aetherials rampage unchecked, shattering and destroying their very elements.

 

Indeed, the stakes are high...

 

---Rules---

 

-All DC and Freeform RPs rules apply

-No powerplays, please

-Keep it PG-13

-Subtle romance, only. No overt, Twilight-style romances. One thing to remember, we're all busy trying to defeat mad Aetherials here.

-Please use good grammar - it's frustrating for others to read through a mess. On that note, no chatspeak or 1337speak either, as it can be hard to read.

-No Mary Sues, by the Aetherials. I know I can accept powerful characters due to what you're fighting, but I also know there is such a thing as too much power, or too much adoration.

-Please post at least 4 sentences per post.

-Please do not use a text colour including bold - I'd like to reserve bolded colours for Aetherials.

-Do not start till I say we can.

-Post forms in the OoC, please and thank you.

-No more than 3 characters allowed per RPer. Characters added before the rule may be kept.

 

Inactivity: RPs can get held up by inactive posters all too easily. To prevent this, if you do not alert the GM (TehUltimateMage) that you will be away, and fail to post in IC or OoC within 7 days of your last post, you character is open to NPC. Failure to post within 28 days will result in a mod kill or usage as Aetherial pawns to your characters.

 

While real life comes first, please tell me if possible. Don't be afraid to drop, either. If you tell me you will be on hiatus, your characters will be ignored or NPCed with your permission.

 

---Characters---

Ashur (Original)

Reshiram "Shiro" (Pokémon)

Roxous Loucut {Roxy Locus} (Ascension - A Race Against Time)

Rick (Rick & Morty)

Kyle (Original)

Gamma (Original; same as Ashur)

Jessica "Jess" Velcheck (Original; same as Kyle)

Obsidian (Steven Universe)

Tetra (Original)

Penta (Original)

Aerith Gainsborough (Gaia (Final Fantasy VII))

Isadora (Dee Ehhfff Ohhh (Great Metastasis Dimension))

Shadow (Original)

Lazerhound (name forgotten) (Original)

Pouncer Drone (nameless) (Original, same as the Lazerhound)

Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xilla 1)

Griffin "Grip" Remington (Soul Eater)

Cheria Barnes (Tales of Graces)

Moonstone "Luna" (Steven Universe)

Alfendi Layton (Professor Layton (Mystery Room))

New (Minecraft)

Blank (Original)

Nomad (Fire Emblem)

Cú Chulainn (Type-Moon)

Edited by Dusky_Flareon

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Beep. Beep. Beeeeep.

 

Kyun groaned, before snapping awake at the alarm. It was still dark outside as the Mpere stretched their legs and leapt out from underneath the covers, which fell to the ground in a heap. Kyun peered out the window, taking note of the dark sky, before glancing at the alarm. Oh. Snap.

 

The Mpere rushed out, snapping their beak. They weren't going to be late to the spaceport!

 

Geting ready was a rush, and sloppily done. Still, they had their identification, and their supplies.

 

---

 

Ashur growled as three dragonets raced past him, knocking scrolls to the ground, a few dark grey and blue scales littering the floor beneath their feet.

 

"Hey! You three, stop!"

 

They ignored him, continuing.

 

"I said stop!" He snapped after them. They skidded to a halt, claws screeching, and turned slowly.

 

"...fine." One of them sulked. The other teo fodn't look bery happy, either.

 

"Take your races out of my library, you three. This is not the first time, but it will be the last time. Do I make myself clear?" The Tenebris dragon snapped, finally fed up with the dragonets' shenanigans.

 

The threesome left, dragging their tails, scoring the ground with their spades. Ashur huffed at the troublemaking triad and the mess he'd have to clean up.

 

---

 

So long.

 

 

So long.

 

 

 

 

So many aeons.

 

 

 

 

Those who betrayed.

 

 

 

Those who lied.

 

 

For aeons beyond counting...

 

They would pay. Pay for their sins etermity over. Reality would crumble. And it would take eternal joy in the destruction.

 

It was aeons old. Aeons betrayed. It was Reality Itself, alive after aeons of imprisonment. Of watching. Of imprisonment, of waiting. Waiting to rise up once more, to rend and destroy.

 

It had no mouth, but it howled out a curse.

 

"I am Reality, come to rend eternity. I am that which binds and connects, and reigns in eternity! As I bind... so I unbind."

 

It raised its colorless taloned claws. Eldritch eyes glowed. A thin, bony body with sn exoskeleton, near transparent save for eldritch filaments of blue-grey light, twitched. A pressing, suffocatingly powerly aura, forged of something timeless and immortal.

 

All around it, reality seemed to warp, to bend, to become almost...

 

Unreal. Shifting. Anchorless. The worlds warped and it screamed, a long cry of hatred. An ancient cry. And then it snarled and slashed out.

 

Talons tear a hole.

 

Talons tear a hole in reality. The deity rushes forwards, its claws slashing and ripping into reality, eternity bending all around it, twisting sickeningly.

 

Reality has come, for aeons of vengeance.

 

The gods named Aetherials are awake and angry, perfectly awake....

Edited by Dusky_Flareon

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Somewhere, some place... At the DWMA

 

"Grip, Grip, stop sleeping in class!" A girl with curly orange hair roughly nudged her friend, who was sprawled across the desk of the lecture hall. He was drooling a little over his notes. "This is gonna be on the exam!"

 

"A sound mind... dwells in a sound soul..." the blonde muttered in his sleep. He didn't appear to feel anything, until a thick book was brought to smack his head into the table. Jolting instantly awake, Grip nearly fell out of his seat, but thankfully the professor didn't notice -- though likely he was just ignoring the antics in favor of continuing explaining soul resonance.

 

Not that Grip needed to hear any of this again, since he read the textbook and understood that passage. A Weapon and a Meister used each other to amplify their soul waves, much like how a laser worked. He never really got into theory, since he found the practical combat classes much more useful. Tabitha, his partner, seemed to disagree, but she cared way too much about him.

 

Unlike his rule-abiding brother, Rudolf, Grip tended to skip classes. And that's what he was planning to do, in a second. He held his head in mock hurt. "Ow, watch where you swing that thing... I'm not made of metal right now...!"

 

Tabitha put a few fingers to massage her temple. Good. She was oblivious to his intentions. She'd ask him to stay instead of coming with him, since she wanted to actually be a good student. Maybe that's why they were such a good team, but Grip had never encountered anyone he couldn't work with.

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A vaguely-corporeal bat peered into a cardboard box, glum as the squeaking within died down. He emitted his own squeak and leaned in further, before swiping up a wing-full of brightly-colored, animated objects. The objects shuddered in the palm of his wing, made a few more squeaks, then fell silent and stopped moving. He watched them for a moment before dumping the wing-full down into the box, with the rest of the little objects.

" Master?" He asked. He then sat up straight, looking around the vast hall of a library, or lab, or whatever this place was... the only place he called his home. " MAASTERR!"

" What?" A grumble from the other end of the room.

" My sprinkles stopped!" He sniffled. " They aren't moving anymore. I think... I think they're DEAD!" He began crying loudly, his endearing voice reaching an unbearable pitch. " My.... my sprinkles diiiied!"

The figure at the other end of the hall groaned, dragging her claws down her technically-nonexistent face. Rather than berate the bat for his behavior though, she simply teleported over sympathetically, already reaching into her cloak for a vial.

" I told you the excitement would have to be given in bursts. They're hyperactive; you spend too much time around them." She grasped around for a bit, growing frustrated. " Where in the Creator's name did I put that stupid thing...?"

 

" My sprinkles died...." The bat sniffled some more. The cloaked figure let out an unamused growl upon not finding the vial, and teleported over to a far wall that was littered with drawers and shelves that were once drawers.

" I know I put those gerbil souls somewhere..." She muttered, pulling open the drawers to impossibly-long lengths using simple spells. " They were in with those... Kazul, where did you put those ogre eyes?"

The bat perked up immediately, as if his box of inanimate sprinkles no longer mattered. " With the pixie dust! Like you said!" He cheerfully answered. The figure choked.

" Pixie dust?! Kazul, I said fairy dust!!" She waved the drawers shut and ran over to the other side of the wall, releasing a clasp on the drawer there, and no sooner did she do that than the drawer flung itself open. She jumped, glaives automatically sliding out as multiple, glowing orbs flew out, promptly going up to the peak of the vaulted ceiling and startling plenty of nesting crows nesting there. The figure relaxed, glaring at the taunting orbs as they harassed her birds.

" Sorry Master...." Kazul squeaked. " I... thought that was fairy dust."

The figure simply bottled up its anger, forcing her glaives to sheathe; there was no point in hurting him. He was just a summon, after all, never to be as smart as the creatures he was based off of.

" Fairy dust doesn't make fun of you and tell you your toes smell bad when you look at it funny." She clarified. Kazul simply shriveled up further, saying nothing. " Fortunately for you, my day has been well enough so far." She sighed, rummaged around in the drawer a bit while muttering about the much-needed organization, found the vial she was searching for, and promptly closed it. While she made her way over to her servant she double-checked the contents to make sure the rogue pixie dust didn't use its new ogre-eyes-hosts to pull a prank on her. The last time it did she had to chase a stink demon around her fortress for weeks... boy, was it relieving to incinerate that thing...

 

The figure uncorked the vial and dumped it over Kazul's cardboard box; despite the colorful contents appearing to be liquid, they came out slowly and separated into hundreds of tiny glowing orbs. The bat grew excited as the orbs floated down to the literal sprinkles.

" Remember what I said..." She purposefully faltered off. Kazul looked up at her, but was tongue-tied.

" Umm..."

" Gerbils are..."

" Hyperactive!" He guessed with the enthusiasm of a small child. " They die if you play with them too much!"

" Exactly." The figure didn't bother clarifying that it was really the reanimation spell not being able to handle that much stress, but the little guy wasn't bound to remember that. Once the vial was empty she crouched down and handed it to the bat, who correctly assumed that he now needed to place it with the plethora of other vials she had kicking around in storage; but before depositing it he eagerly watched his master draw a rune circle in the air above the box. He couldn't see what she was drawing, but it still boggled his tiny mind how she could just doodle in the air, then "press" on the drawing with outstretched claws to activate it; in an instant, the orbs were sucked into the box, and it began to regain activity, the little sprinkles inside gaining a new life with jubilant squeaks and happy little hops.

" YAAAAY!" Kazul bounced in place, then looked up as his master began to leave. " Shadooooooww, where are you going?"

" I need new ogre eyes." She said factually. " ...Why?"

" Nothing..." He resigned. Shadow's tail twitched, recognizing he was choosing not to say something, but didn't press for information; it'll come out in time. So she conjured up a portal to the closest high-fantasy dimension and went through, fully expecting a quick hunt and a quick return...

Except something tore open a hole in the inter-dimensional tunnel and redirected her to a completely different place...

 

(Edit: In the intro she starts out with a high power level but the reality rip will suck most of her power from her; don't worry about the spells she's using!)

Edited by skwerl56767

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Zole walked quietly down darkened halls, light from the moon outside illuminating little patterns on to the dark polished hard wood floor. Cool damp air drifted in through the openings, condensation settling on his skin.

 

A open corner lead to a small porch, a balcony to flowers and a tranquil pond. Koi swam freely with leasher through the water, nibbling at plants growing across the ponds surface.

 

The back of his legs settled onto the cool wood as his feet swung down, draping over the entrance to the underside of the porch.

 

Tranquility…

 

It was peaceful compared to how it was 3 years ago. War and bloodshed had littered the planet, two strong factions fighting for power. It was almost unbelievable how much the world had changed after the war had ended. And him, he was once a slave but now he was free. No longer subjected to long nights with rough partners and sickening smells, but blessed with sweet fragrances of flowers and beautiful moon and sunrises.

 

“Hey you ok.” the soft voice of a young girl broke the silence that he was surrounded in. It added a layer of music to the sounds coming to life in his ears. Tilting he glanced his way, a playful smirk on his face.

 

“Yes, I'll be going in shortly.” Looking back at the moon that rose slowly into the dark sky he heard the light padding as he left.

 

Silence…

 

Silence broken only by his light breathing and the singing of the crickets, it was peace full. In the morning he would wake to start another day making a honest living.

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"So did you hear" The insectoid asked, his digital translator filtering through his buzzes and clicks.

"Hear what?" The humanoid man with slit eyes in the captain's chair asked.

"Hear that the Phantom hitchhiker was spotted in the last sector"

"You actually believe in that crap? It's just a way for lazy crew to explain how they let a stowaway on their ship"

"But...it's the same person every story."

"yeah, well bigfoot has the same description all over earth"

"What? What's a 'bigfoot'"

"Nevermind, keep your eyes on the void"

After that, the two men fell silent...

 

...until a woman stepped from somewhere in the back of the ship wearing only a towel and eating a sandwich. She walked past the two dumbfounded men and leaned over the controls, her eyes forward in the unmoving void of space. She took a bite of her sandwich, "So. Where are we going" she asked nonchalantly to the baffled men at the helm.

 

The humanoid was the first to regain his senses.

"Where the hell did you come from?!?" he demanded, rising to his feet and squaring off with Roxy. Roxy raised an eyebrow, her mohawk shifted to a muddy shade of red, "Well, I just got back from using your shower. Then I made this sandwich. Now I'm here" she said innocently.

 

the man looked like he was going to explode with anger. Roxy was used to getting reactions like this. She was a professional stowaway after all so it was understandable. She was calm until the bug man pulled a laser rifle from under the console. Her mohawk changed to yellow and she swallowed her bite of sandwich.

"O....k? Bye then"

 

That was it. Roxy was gone. There was no puff of smoke, no distortion, no sound. She just blinked out of existence. The two aliens were left standing alone on their small ship.

 

Roxy spun backwards in the vacuum of space. Her skin was shimmering gold and her fins were open to slow her down. Once she was right side up, she watched the ship silently burn away towards god knows where. Roxy huffed, a gesture that made no sound. Roxy spun around until she spotted something in the distance. There was a station glimmering in the distance. Sher found a truck stop. Roxy aimed herself towards her destination and shot off through the void.

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((Tetra and Penta use unique color codes, Tetra is #00e5e5 and Penta is #7ec0ee. And if anyone's curious, Tetra's tech communication is #71d6cd.))

 

Day 591: Combat Training

 

Subjects have excelled in all fields and are making progress with new tech.

 

Expected re-deployment in: 0 days

 

--------

 

A large airship touched down, releasing a ramp that glided silently down to the ground. Two figures on it descended, footsteps barely brushing the dirt beneath their feet. One of them, a feminine figure wearing a white suit, touched a hand to her visor as she glanced at her surroundings and nodded to the other figure. As soon as they were both safely on the ground, the airship retracted its ramp and took off, zooming into the distance in the blink of an eye.

 

[Objective received: Eliminate all lifeforms]

 

<Add objective location to map and scan surroundings>

 

[Location added. Scanning surroundings...

 

--Temperature: 78°

 

--Zone: Desert

 

--Weather: Sun

 

--Wind: 8 mph]

 

<Send information to Penta>

 

"Thanks. But, you know, I can scan the surroundings myself."

 

"That would be inefficient."

 

"Alright, alright! Whatever you say."

 

It was impossible to see his expression from under the visor, but Tetra could have sworn Penta was winking and giving her that irritating smirk of his. She personally groaned in exasperation and glared at him, although she knew he couldn't see her glare any more than she could see his smirk. With an exaggerated slicing motion, she detached her drones and stabbed them into the ground mere inches from Penta's feet, leaving half of them to hover around her in a menacing ring. He instantly jumped backwards, keeping a protective pose for a moment before relaxing.

 

"Focus on the mission."

 

"Whoa, okay. I was trying to get a reaction out of you, but I didn't expect to nearly get shish-kebabed. I'll be serious now."

 

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, tilting his head upwards to take in the sun for a moment. It was a nice day... pity there'd be nothing around to enjoy it in a few moments. Ah, who was he to complain? It wouldn't accomplish anything anyway. Best to get their mission over with, even if it meant they'd be shipped back to the building faster. He'd savor what little he had of the outside for now, even if Tetra seemed to view the environment as just another obstacle to overcome. Sigh... I wish she'd recover faster. Maybe I shouldn't tease her so often, but it's fun. Kinda reminds me of-

 

"I've set the drones on autopilot towards our destination. Let's get moving."

 

Tetra's voice broke through his thoughts, causing him to jerk his head back down and search for his drones. Sure enough, they were hovering next to an impatient Tetra. A quick leap brought him atop them, their levitation systems bobbing slightly as they adjusted to his weight. As soon as he was properly adjusted atop them, the drones took off, zipping towards a cave in the distance. Sand flew in waves behind the two riders as their drones carried them forward at high speeds, reaching their destination in mere minutes. The moment the drones glided to a stop, Penta stepped off, giving an appreciative whistle.

 

"That's some cave there. Wonder what they want us to practice on that lives in such a place."

 

"Not your business. We're supposed to follow orders, not question them."

 

"Actually, considering that we're the ones that have to fight against whatever creature lives in there, it kinda is."

 

"...fine."

 

Tetra stepped briskly off her drones and into the cave, barely sparing Penta a second glance. Wow... she's really in a bad mood today, isn't she? He stared at her disappearing form for a moment, as if contemplating something, before shrugging and following after her. His eyes automatically adjusted to the darkness, but he turned on the light built into his suit for extra visibility. Up ahead, Tetra seemed to be doing the same thing, brightening the glowing circuits on her suit so that he could see her better. It wasn't very stealthy, but then again this wasn't a stealth mission and it was more important not to hit each other than to remain hidden.

 

For a second, there was nothing but the soft whisper of their footsteps across the sandy floor, but then Tetra paused. She was about to order another scan when a sudden distortion engulfed her, separating her from Penta. Hastily, she made sure all her drones were still around her, before checking the series of flashing indicators on her visor.

 

[WARNING: COMMUNICATION LOST]

 

[WARNING: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION]

 

[WARNING: SENSOR ERROR]

 

[WARNING: GRAVITY ERROR. DRONES RETURNING TO SUIT]

 

[WARNING: CHANNEL LOST - PENTA]

 

"W-what? Penta? Where are you? Where am I? Wh-why is nothing working?"

 

She stood in a void, real yet unreal, heavy yet light. Alone. For the first time in forever, Penta was not by her side, and she didn't know how to react. Not even her tech kept her company, as dozens of flashing symbols and alerts scrolled past her visor. There was nothing she could do, she realized, without her tech. She was helpless.

 

"I swear - if this - if this is just a joke, I'll..."

 

 

"...I'll..."

 

 

"..."

 

 

"Tetra!"

Edited by Silverphoenixx

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A woman screamed, catching the attention of a detective and their assistant who were lying in wait across the street. They were quietly arguing right before they heard. The assistant swore and started off towards the sound, followed by the detective not long after, though the detective was still rummaging around in their clothes as they came into the moonlight. Across the street, a mostly unremarkable house stood. But there was a light flickering in the attic window, with her silhouette clearly visible as the two closed in--

 

Something inside of her seemed to hiss and raise its head. Isadora pulled her attention from the book and looked around, left hand snapping the book closed with a smooth motion. Her office didn't look any different, the floor of the library outside seemed to have its usual "bustle," there was no ominous, arid smell in the air, no unusual disturbances in mana, or really anything uncanny at all. But something was gnawing at her, and by this time she knew that these "gut instincts" weren't just impulses.

 

"What could make me feel this way?" She murmured to herself, slipping the book absentmindedly in her sleeve while she stood. If she was feeling trepidation, would she be able to ask others? She undid the latch and pushed her windows out--

The air was wrong. Behemoth should have been flying east, so the north wind should have been blowing portward, but now Behemoth was riding a tailwind.

 

The ground seemed to shake slightly. Something clattered to the ground. She can hear the people on the streets start to wonder or worry.

 

"Behemoth? Do you sense it too?" Isadora shook her head after she spoke, annoyed with herself. Obviously. And she still didn't have any idea what that uneasy feeling was stemming from.

There was a cracking sound echoing from everywhere and nowhere. The feeling in her flared again, and her eyes widened as she saw space itself warping and rippling right over the Middle Ocean. Behemoth bellowed as it opened and seemed to force himself to swim faster, but it was almost as if he never moved at all. It was impossible, demented-- the rip in reality seemed to be as wide as the sky, reached all the way to the ground, and yet it was only a thin sliver, right on top of Behemoth... Wait. She could see Arad, despite being in the middle of a city on the back of a giant cetus. Something seemed to be reaching out through the rip. Was it causing space to warp? And if so, would there be any way to stop it? "In a few seconds, I will be doing something very, very, stupid, aren't I? Ele!" Isadora stretched her hand out and grabbed her rod as he appeared, jest dying on his proverbial lips as she vaulted out of the window. Barely a second later in her fall, she snapped, expecting herself to be transported to the roof she usually appeared on when teleporting. Instead, when the lavender smoke cleared, she saw nothing except a vast sea of stars, and she was falling, falling, falling....

 

~~~

 

Aerith dusted the dirt off her dress before doing a little bow towards the monsters she killed. She didn't stay behind to watch as the lifestream absorbed their bodies, resolutely continuing on to the Forgotten Capital. She had to get there quickly now that Sephiroth had the dreaded Black Materia. When he calls down Meteor, only Holy can stop the Planet from being destroyed; And to activate Holy, she needed to go to the old capital of her ancestors. As the last Cetra in the world, she is the only person that White Materia will respond to, but she needed to learn how to use it.

As she walked, she wondered if Cloud would know where she was heading. She told him not to worry, that she will protect the Planet from Meteor. Hopefully he wasn't beating himself up too much over what he had done... It was painfully obvious to her that Cloud wasn't himself right now. Here and there, wisps of another personality seemed to appear instead of the Zack-like persona he has. Then, during one of her conversations with Tifa, the younger of the two had noted that Cloud seemed different to her than the Cloud she remembered. And when he handed the Black Materia over to Sephiroth, he wasn't doing it out of free will.

 

A scream from nowhere jolted her out of her thoughts. Aerith was immediately on alert, Princess Guard ready and fira queued. She spun around, looking around for the source of the scream. How could anybody get in this place? The scream echoed again, and this time she noticed the trees shook and the winds moaned. The Planet itself was screaming out. Aerith felt a sharp stab of pain, then ran as fast as she could. The sooner she arrived to the Capital, the better.

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Kyun pushed the door open with a shoulder, wincing as a cacophony of noise reached their ear-holes. They stepped out into the cold street. The sky above was dark, but a red light crept over the horizon. Their head swung as the Mpere looked about, before proceeding onwards with a clattering and clicking of claws.

 

All around them, the awakening city was already beginning to bustle. Thd last few night flights and spacecraft roared overhead, and the streets were alive with draconic Mpere, equine Bagolian, and rabbitlike Froo Froo, amongst others. The iccasional vehicle pushed through the tide of bodies.

 

The city was so, so alive.

 

But now as Kyun lowered their head, sped their gait, and strode towards the skyport, the world shook. Reality itself seemed to twist, the ground uneven, vehicles in other shapes. The air and the earth shivered, rips rent open in them. Screams of panic. Cries of fear and shock.

 

What was going on?

 

 

Spode above in your eternal wisdom, what is this?

 

 

And then a portal tore open beneath Kyun. They screamed, as they fell.

 

Long into the darkness did they fall. So long. The void was real, but not real, as they fell. Now it was thick in air, now they felt as though starved for breath -- and then the yellow Mpere hissed.

 

Ground rushed up. Tiled ground, blue-grey and cracked. Purple-pink and whole. But all glassy. They were falling, and then they landed.

 

"Gah!" An involuntary cry.

 

And then the power rumbled in their bones. Were their memories real? Had it all been a dream. No... it couldn't be. Could it? Memories just out of reach, or were they there?

 

And when Kyun looked up and all around, there was fog. Grey-purple and grey-blue tendrils chased each, swirled into one another.

 

How had they got here?

 

What was here?

 

And why... why did their memories... seem so unreal?

 

This place... was not right.

 

A ghostly, sinister aura, an aura seeming off and otherworldly, leeches from the tiles. Energy leaks from cracks.

 

"Oh... Spode... what is..." They twitched, looking around frantically for someone else, preferably a familiar face. If they strained, they could almost swear they saw shapes in the fog. Now they paced instinctually, looking around, head darting, eyes flashing.

 

---

 

Ashur snarled as he went to clean up the mess. Dragonets like these could be rather irritating... and sometimes they remonded him in flashes of a past he would much rather forget. He reached out a claw, sweeping the scales and paper shreds away with it. The building had a faint babble in the air from patrons, but the librarian ignored it.

 

What didn't escape his attention was when the ground warped and twisted. Reality became unreal, twisting, shattering a thousand fractals. The ground beneath threw him back. He landed on his tail with a startled grunt, and looked around - before a suffocating power slapped him. Nearby, a few scrolls vanished and a shelf became something else, a mass of brown and grey and parchment-coloured goop. The air in front of him tore to shreds, pitch black darkness yawning out, and distantly through it was, barely visible, a colourful world.

 

The power and unreality was stronger behind. He turned, and suddenly was looking up at the sky. An attempt to look down left him looking through one window of the library. Everything twisted and spun and danced, dazing the Tenebris. What was going on?! He snarled to himself in confusion.

 

A cold, echoing, strange voice rang out, echoing from a thousand unreal surfaces.

 

"Face me, mere mortals. Face Reality itself." He was dragged and turned around by the warping of the world, to face in the midst of all the chaotic distortion an equally distorted horror, face nothing more than barely-there flesh woven with powerful and ancient magic that twisted all around, twisted the world, a glass sheen over a glass skull he yet could not see. Its body was skeletal but seemingly covered with a carapace, and its taloned feet were blades ripping dark holes in the ground and the air as it stood on the distorted atmosphere. It gave off an eldritch aura, and Ashur twitched involuntarily as he durveyed the horror, before he tried to look away. Others were doing so, too, unable to look and comprehend the creature and its suffocating, disorienting power.

 

And then there was a mad cry. Reality tore shreds around Ashur snd the other shocked dragons there, and talons slammed him through the rip - there was pain and a coldly twisting feeling where they made contact, and the last he saw of his world was a distorted, breaking blur as he tumbled into void.

 

It seemed like aeons before he fell to the ground, but in reality it was seconds. The power, the magic of this place made him doubt his memory, and he could almost swear he saw some of his scales swirl. But then they were normal again, and now it was his memories that were strange and warped, chilling the dragon. He had seen things better forgotten... better forgotten than warped. A purply-grey and blue-grey mist swirled all about, magic spurting from blue-grey cracked tile and glassy purple-pink tile humming with ancient, furious magic.

 

He took a gasping breath of the air, tasting that age-old magic. But the magic here, while slightly disorienting, was not so suffocating as the magic of that creature nor as unreal and warping.

 

Ashur looked around, a growl on his lips, his pupils narrowed into slits. There were figures in the mist. The closest one he could tell was a dragon of sorts, but it was far too long-necked for a Tenebris or Aurora, and that in and of itself made his scales prickle.

Edited by Dusky_Flareon

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At last, all the 4-A bands had finished up, and were waiting outside the MetLife stadium for the results. The air was abuzz with spirit cheers, chatter and even some music over the loudspeakers. Kyle stood among his fellow musicians, wearing his varsity jacket and form-fitting athletic pants. Excitement danced in those near-black eyes of his; even though it was his sophomore year, and he'd done this before, he was as giddy as he was his first year. He socialized with everybody, joined in a few selfies, and took a group selfie with Terrible Squad. Jess had her dad's professional camera, and was taking pictures for the Band Booster's Facebook page. Her photography skills were something to admire. She managed to capture an embarrassing photo of Nick, and he sharply glared at her. She goofily grinned back at him, her teeth plastered with braces. Frankly, he felt bad for her. His braces had been removed almost a year before, and good riddance.

 

The crowd of teenagers quieted down as someone tapped the mic. Kyle couldn't hear the first words, but by the time everyone stopped talking, the rankings were already being announced. After each band was called, a little bit of anticipation was released; if you weren't called, that meant you were one rank higher, and that was always hopeful. By the time rank 6 was passed, the East Brunswick band was whispering a bit with excitement. Top five? Out of twenty bands or so, that was pretty fantastic. Fifth place was called. Fourth.

 

"And in third place, winning awards for Best Visuals and overall Best Performance, East Bruns-"

 

The rest of the sentence was cut off from Kyle's ears by cheers erupting. His bandmates jumped in the air and whooped. Ryan wrapped Terrible Squad into a group-hug, Kyle being squished in there. "Third place! We got third place!" One of them gleefully shouted.

 

"We're getting Scott a Fatty Patty!" Jess jeered. Scott, who was nearby, cocked his head in confusion.

 

"I'll pitch in a five." Nick sniggered, and all of them laughed. It was mean, but Scott was just fun to make fun of. Nobody liked Scott, and his selfish and whiny antics drove Jess out of her sanity.

 

Suddenly, a loud riiip sounded. Almost everyone turned their heads to see some sort of...slit in the sky? It looked to be a small window into a glassy-colored world. That was impossible. Nothing like that existed. Riip. Riiiiip. Black claws suddenly slipped out from the crack, widening it, and the claws gripped the side of the slit. With a rough jerk, the strange opening yanked wider, and a head appeared. Some sort of bony creature with an exoskeleton of sorts. Suddenly, a strange feeling overcame Kyle- one that could barely be described with words. It was as if anything real was suddenly dream-like, time stopped, reality itself twisted? But how? It took a little while for a shrill shriek to pierce the air, as the warped face dragged itself out, revealing a body. It landed on the ground, smashing teenagers as everyone began to scramble.

 

Adrenaline rushed through Kyle, and he pushed past other people to get out of the way. The thing was huge. The hole it crawled through began to suck people in. His surroundings began to look like twisted mirrors, and it gave him a headache. He crashed into Jess and the two fell to the ground- the ground itself began to form into weird shapes. "What's going on?!" She yelled, but both of them knew nobody had an answer. The creature was killing left and right, in some sort of raged fit. Its tail whacked Scott into the Metlife Stadium letters, and Kyle couldn't help but flinch. Ouch. One of the monster's claws shanked Nick in his left side, and he crashed down with an agonized yell. "Nick!" Kyle screeched, running over to him. As he ran, however, the monster's tail whacked into his side. In a last-ditch effort to stay outside of the hole, Kyle hugged Jess, hoping she was grabbing onto something stable.

 

She was not.

 

Jess shouted in alarm. "Oh GOOOOOOOOOD!" Kyle screeched as the two of them were sucked in the hole...

 

~~~

 

It felt like an eternity that they fell, through a glassy tunnel. For a while, he screamed, but then he just gave up. It took a while before their shoulders barked cold tile, and they laid there for a few minutes, gasping for breath and groaning. "What just happened? Was that a dream?"

 

"That was some Doctor Strange s*** right there." Jess rasped, managing to pick herself up. Kyle followed suit, wincing at a pain in his foot. "Well, if we both experienced the same thing, it's extremely unlikely we both shared a hallucination...what is this place?" The two looked around to see grey fog, and blue and pink swirls of color poking from cracks in the tile.

 

They walked forward a little, one in a varsity jacket and one in a sweatshirt. Kyle wrinkled his nose at the dirtiness of the place. "Damn, this is gonna ruin my jacket."

 

Jess rolled her eyes. "Suck it up, dolphin. We have to find a way home." As they inched closer, they could see a silhouette of some overgrown lizard.

 

"But what if there's no home left?" They both shuddered. What if?

Edited by Esko_the_Wolf

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"Something's coming...!"

 

Gnome had materialized by her ear in a flash of yellow light. Milla gave the small rabbit a questioning glance, but she could read the worry in the spirit's squinted gaze. The Spirit of the Earth must have felt minute tremors below their feet. She knew better than to ignore the warnings of her spirits -- they were much more attuned to the environment than she was, an ability that had saved her on many occasions.

 

"But it's... weird," the spirit continued with its childlike voice. "Doesn't feel like something coming from the surface, or from underground. It's like...

 

"Like something's biting chunks out from the earth and turning it into nothingness."

 

Milla stopped in her tracks. That was an incredibly unusual way of describing it. When she put a hand over her spirit, she could feel it trembling against her palm. In the distance, she could see the dusky aura of Fenmont and its millions of magical lights dancing in the city's spirit clime of eternal night. It was less than an hour's walk away and she could have flown there in a matter of minutes with Sylph's power, but it seemed more prudent to approach by foot. She had a mission to fulfill, after all, and the next step in the heart of that city.

 

"Which direction, Gnome?"

 

"South-southwest, less than two clicks away, but it's approaching fast." A pause. "Not heading directly towards us, though."

 

"Then it doesn't matter," Milla concluded. She would deal with whatever monster was doing that, if their paths happened to cross, but she wouldn't engage it unless necessary. That anomaly seemed to come from the other side of the city, after all, and human cities were excellent at keeping monsters out.

 

Still, it would be worth being careful. The earth spirit gave a small nod, and vanished for now.

 

~

 

Silently, with the wind powering her feet, Milla climbed high above the guards posted at the city gates and touched down lightly on the other side, using the cover of some of the roadside plantings to sneak forward. It was a fascinating human city, very much different from the rural lifestyle of Nia Khera, and it was almost a shame that she couldn't stay very long.

 

Her goal was the daunting silhouette and glowing blue lines of the Fenmont Research Facility in the eastern wing. It almost looked like a diseased tree. There would be guards posted at the entrance, but there was a waterway that ran under it, supplying the building. Without hesitation, Milla swung herself off the stone bridge and right before breaching the water's surface, a shining blue glyph appeared beneath her boots to allow her to walk without falling in.

 

Screams, above her. Milla twisted her body and looked up, her hand instantly gluing itself to the hilt of her sword. Did someone spot her? No, the humans were panicking because of something else. Part of the bridge cracked and Milla leaped backwards to dodge the falling stone, which created a wave that threatened to throw her off balance on her glyph. The air seemed to distort, as if the whole town was an illusion that was nearing its end.

 

Seeing no other choice, she ran along the canal, as if reaching her destination would give her shelter from... whatever was trying to tear up the city by unraveling the very fibers that held it together. Whenever she looked over her shoulder, Milla no longer saw the city, just water falling into an endless void. With a final struggle, she launched herself up onto the sewer pipe leading into the research center to perch atop it.

 

She rubbed her eyes to make sure it wasn't just a defect in her eyesight or her mind, but the spirits could feel it too. She could feel the ones in the city, and how they simply... vanished. Consumed by the void, and turned into something else. Things began to exist, and ceased to exist in the same heartbeat.

 

The sudden unreality started to climb the tower, and Milla found herself surrounded by smoke, no, vines? Or did it turn into fire or a glowing rip in space? No longer could she trust what her eyes were telling her nor the sounds echoing in her ears or the fresh breath of the air. She had to use the spirits to guide her instead, but, they seemed as disoriented as she was.

 

Lights danced behind her eyes even when she had them shut. For a moment, she had no idea which way was up and which was down, until her feet felt a solid surface beneath them again. While the physical space began to solidify, Milla still felt a heavy mental fog over her mind, as if there was something she needed to recall but couldn't. Her hand brushed the handle of her sword. She squinted and perceived monster-like shapes in the distance, but also some human ones, though nothing felt aggressive. Yet.

 

"You all okay?" She asked out loud to her elements, though surely others in the area would hear her. The answer echoing in her mind wasn't as immediate or as enthusiastic as it usually was, but she dismissed it as a byproduct of the haze playing with her head.

 

 

 

 

~~~~

 

"Skipping class again, Grip?"

 

Class was going to end soon, anyway, as day began to give way to night. Golden rays shone through the gothic windows, staining the hallway orange. Grip couldn't help but compare the moment to the Hall of Judgement from one of his video games. The boy swung around on his toes when he was addressed, giving a mischievous grin with his sharp teeth to his brother, the addressor. He made a gesture with open palms, as if to feign innocence. "You know me. When the going gets boring, I'm out like lightning."

 

His rhyme was met by a small chuckle.

 

His brother was just enjoying the sun rays and staring out at the city below. He was on his spare, but his partner was nowhere in sight. He and Grip usually let each other do their separate businesses. Rude had always been the quiet, introspective, perfect kid, and that was probably what led Grip to be so... extreme at times. But they got along for the most part, as family tended to do.

 

"Must be nice, to not have any worries," said Rude. He looked absently through the window, leaning against the sill. His younger brother gave him a puzzled look. "...Nevermind," he ended up answering.

 

Without warning, the window shattered. Rude ducked and protected his head with his arms, but Grip could see some blood on his scalp, among the strands of his bright hair. A witch? He frantically looked all around him, trying to see what kind of devil managed to enter the academy undetected. If it was a witch, then it seemed like they were clearly outmatched, with massive wind currents forming in the hall and the tiles of the floor beginning to peel off and twist.

 

He made desperate eye contact with Rude, who, despite the ringing in his ears and his shaky vision, willed himself to dematerialize into tendrils of gold light that reformed into a shining blade etched with runes. The sword flew towards Grip, into his waiting hand, except his fingers seemed to phase right through the weapon when he tried to grab it like he had, hundreds of times before.

 

His brother landed with a deafening clatter behind him before returning to human form, looking just as surprised as he was. Grip was sure he saw his own fear reflected in his eyes, before they were forcefully pulled their separate ways.

 

"I am that which binds and connects, and reigns in eternity!"

 

He tumbled. This place was swirling with smoke and darkness. Through the mist, a ghastly figure of bone and glass appeared before him, eyes glowing a dangerous blue. He could barely see it, but he couldn't look away. Even when it was gone, he had its image burned into his mind. Was this the Madness they cautioned against?

 

Cautiously, he felt around the ground while his eyes adjusted. There were walls, and a tiled floor, but the hallway stretched forever into the mist on both ends. "Rude! Rude, are you there?" he called to his brother, his voice croaking from desperation. No answer.

 

Slowly climbing to his feet, he approached one of the walls and put a hand to the surface, just so he wouldn't be lost in the fog. He tried to breathe more slowly, to still his racing heart. If this was a witch's trap, he was as good as dead, without a Meister. He could see other figures moving in the distance, but there was no telling if they were going to attack him.

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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The detective smiled coyly at his assistant and the woman standing warily on the other side of the table. They were standing in a small room, lit by a candle that was giving out a steady light. The walls of the room were painted a calm blue with softly shining sigils spinning slowly on them. The assistant seemed to be a little confused, and asked the detective a few questions. The detective pulls out a pen and a notebook from one of their pockets, then starts speaking and gesturing animatedly to the assistant, marking the notebook to show the assistant every once in a while. The woman watched on, still wary as the detective talked. The assistant nodded and rushed off, leaving the woman alone with the detective.

 

Isadora looked up from her book again, more out of curiosity than expectation. It felt as if she had been falling for a good two hours or so now, and frankly, though it was alarming at first, the incessant falling eventually started to grate her. To stave off the ennui, she had reclined back to stare at the nothingness around her-but it wasn't really nothingness, was it?-in hopes of seeing something. But after about a minute of trying and failing at sensing anything around her, she eventually returned to her original task of reading, though this time she had to rely on her light and fire runes to see. This time, however, something was here. Isadora quirked an eyebrow when she realized that she was starting to see fog and colorful tendrils coming from somewhere below her. She looked down, not expecting anything-hold up, is that a tiled floor?!

 

She waved the lavender smoke away before looking around, feeling relieved about how phase shift matched the caster's momentum with the object they wanted to head to. Fog, more fog, tendrils, and a lot of ambient magical energy. Energy that felt old, almost familiar, but not exactly. It was getting hard to think... A shiver ran up her spine and she let the runes she was holding disappear.

She could see indistinct silhouettes in any direction she looked towards, some stranger than others, some moving while others were not. The floor had glowing pink tiles that almost thrummed in place and cracked grey tiles with energy coming out of the cracks at irregular intervals. Were the grey ones broken pink ones? Isadora kneeled down, ignoring the clinks from the metal disks she was wearing, putting a hand on a crack in the tile she was standing on. A stronger feeling of that ancient mana shot up her arm and she flinched back. She glared at a pink one beside her before making a face and putting her hand on that one too. After she was done with her investigation, she dusted her dress off and stood up, with those same disks still clinking gently together. No time for regretting her choice of accessories now. She looked around at the silhouettes, wondering if she should approach any of them.

 

~~~

 

Edit:... Mispressed >_>

Edited by beiningtian

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"Penta? What is this place? Why doesn't anything work here?"

 

A distressed Tetra turned towards Penta, floating above a sea of unreality. Like him, her drones had reattached themselves to her suit at the first sign of a malfunction, but unlike him, she seemed to be on the edge of panic. Makes sense, since she doesn't remember a time without her tech... or me. Well, if she was relying on him, then he would have to step up to the role, wouldn't he?

 

"I'm not sure. But keep calm, we'll find a way out of this, whatever it is."

 

He wasn't sure how well walking would work in this strange plane of existence, but he didn't think it was worth wasting precious power to propel himself forward. There wasn't much point to it anyway, besides reaching Tetra, since the space he could detect around them hardly varied from stark nothingness. Sure, there was an occasional flash of something beyond the warping veil of reality or a bend in their small sphere of observance, but it was pretty bland and boring most of the time. Eventually, a few wisps of gray, purple-blue fog began to creep up, the closest to variation the landscape had received in a while.

 

[Channel Reconnected - Tetra]

 

Huh? My stuff's working again?

 

He shot a glance at Tetra, checking to see if she was experiencing the same thing.

 

{Tetra, are you receiving this?}

 

{Yes.}

 

A few more seconds, and they were clearly rushing towards a colorfully tiled floor. Instantly, he deployed his drones, and he could see Tetra doing the same beside him. Their levitation systems kicked in mere inches from the ground, bouncing him up and down for a few seconds as they tried to adjust to the sudden momentum. When they were once again stable, he stepped off and glanced at his surroundings, noting the glassy tiles and the network of cracks running through some of them. In the distance, a few figures were visible, but their identities were unclear. He would need to make sure his tech was in working order before scouting them out.

 

<Run system checkup>

 

[Running system checkup...

 

ERROR LIST:

 

--Communications error: Unable to connect to Headquarters

 

--Location error: Unidentified location

 

VITALS SUMMARY:

 

--No signs of damage

 

--Power at 99%]

 

A groan from Tetra drew his attention as the last bits of info scrolled across his visor, causing him to whirl around instantly with his weapons in hand. Thankfully, there was nothing threatening her, but she had a hand pressed to her head as if in pain. Dropping his combat stance, he returned his weapons and went to her side.

 

"...ugh."

 

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

 

"Yeah... I just don't like it here. It gives me a headache."

 

Tetra bent her head for a second, as if taking a breath, before looking back up at Penta. She - she felt confused. There was something just beyond her grasp... but that wasn't possible, was it? Something was off, yet there was nothing irregular displaying on her visor. Magic. But from where? It seemed to diffuse across the very tiles themselves, seeping into the tendrils of fog and wrapping around her mind. A blurred memory flashed through her mind as the fog warped into the shape of a hand, then a body - but she blinked and it was gone. Why couldn't it stay?

 

No. This is nonsense.

 

She would not be governed by the whims of the strange power ruling this place. Though she was no longer at her objective location, she would not allow it to compromise her judgment. Her original mission would go unfulfilled for the moment, but returning to Headquarters was of far greater importance. An anomaly like this needed to be reported, in case it endangered other operations. For now, she would accompany Penta and make her way to the figures in the distance, drones at the ready. None of her tech had been damaged by the fall, and her scanner was ready to analyze the figures in the blink of an eye. If they turned out to be hostile, they would be swiftly eliminated.

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Roxy was waiting to cross the long line of carrier ships waiting to pass into the warpgate ahead. As far as she knew there were only a handful of species in the galaxy that can spacewalk without oxygen. As cool as it might be that Phangites were one of them, that also meant that crosswalks were none existent. Roxy grew more and more impatient until she opted to collapse the space between her and the truck stop, instantly appearing close to the station. She was drifting towards the door when all hell broke lose.

 

The space above the pit stop seemed to rip open. A physical tear with flickering, chaotic nonsense emitting from within. Without warning, a missive, inky black tentacle shot from the tear and punched a hole through the station. A pulse of green energy threw Roxy backwards and into a parked freighter. Roxy opened her eyes just in time to see green fire racing through the interior of the space station. The engine explosion ignited the atmosphere inside, killing everyone instantly. Roxy glared up at the tear that was pouring carnage into their world. Looking at it hurt. It was as if she was viewing it from all angles. Like it was bending physics around itself. Roxy unzipped the bag strapped around her thigh and reached inside. A baseball bat longer than the bag itself was drawn out by Roxy. She pushed off the freighter with enough force to force it off course and sending it tumbling through space. She increased her density and rocketed towards the tentacle. with a silent cry, Roxy's bat connected with the flesh of the monster. The shock wave was visible in the soft flesh of the appendage and it recoiled back into the tear. Roxy gritted her teeth and chased it into the portal.

 

Once inside, it was like passing through a prism. Colors were all wrong and Roxy couldn't get her bearings. Once the light show ended, it was like falling through a black hole. It was just inky blackness that pressed in from all sides. It was as if the void of space lost all matter. roxy couldn't even feel any gravity wells nearby. This made her nervous. She had alway been able to feel the distant pull of a star or galaxy. Here was the first time she felt truly alone in the universe.

 

After falling for what seemed like ages, Roxy finally saw a light. Next thing she knew, physics returned and she was drifting through a thick fog. She raised her density until she began to fall. The clouds cleared and she was finally able to see where the tear had taken her. She was in a room covered in smooth tiles that reflected the strange light from above. She tweaked her density as she neared the ground so she floated gently to the floor. Her combat boots clicking softly as she landed. Looking around, she could make out forms in the distance. Maybe they could help? "Hey! Excuse me Where the hell are we exactly?" she called to the closest figure.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Rick Sanchez was fiddling with a machine that looked like a old computer monitor with a tangle of sci-fi components spilling from the back like an eviscerated animal. On the screen was a series of lines that flickered around the screen. Sometimes there was only one, others the screen was almost completely green. This was not a good thing. Rick dug around in the cabinets beneath his desk until he found another mismatched machine with a square opening. He plugged in his portal emitter and tapped a few keys on the keyboard. The screen was an invention by Rick to track universal anomalies that effect their galactic backyard. Normally, there wasn't even suppose to be a line, just one dot. Lines were a bad thing...probably. Mystery aside, he would be heading out to investigate once it was done programming it's location into his portal gun.

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Zole stood to make his way inside, the cold air finally having gotten to him. It was late and his bed now beckoned to him calling for the close of a late night. Everyone it seemed was already asleep or at least in their own rooms. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there to miss everyone's retiring for the night.

 

Passing by another door, one that lead to to gardens, he felt a warm breeze. It was fall, the time when leaves start to change and the nights get colder and longer, a warm breeze was out of place.

 

odd….

 

Glancing at the door that blocked his view of the garden he took a step in it's direction. A quick look wouldn't hurt anything, just to check in case a fire had broken out wouldn't hurt. The door was warm to the touch, not scalding but enough to tell something was wrong.

 

The door scraped open and the sight before him had him wavering. What was happening, heat undulated in the air giving a rippling effect. It was like looking at the road in the middle of summer, when the blistering heat burned even the air.

 

Time slowed, sound and air was sucked out of the area as a blood curdling roar filled the space. Claws, large and black tore through nothing, nothing but everything creating a vacuum. Nothing was spared from it, no matter how big or small. Trees, animals, and him.

 

The pull was too much, pulling at his clothes and him. As the claws retreated back into their void he was pulled with them, turning and flipping head over head.

 

He couldn't see anything and the motion was making him sick. Endless falling giving a raise of despair in his stomach.

 

A flash of color…

 

Pink-grey…

 

Blue-grey…

 

smack

 

“Ow” Zole hit the floor with a hard thud, black spots bancing in his vision. Shacking his head side to side he waited til it cleared, the spots being replaced with cracked blue grey tiles.

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"It would be wise to be cautious and avoid unnecessary conflict," Milla heard Undine's voice in her mind. Heeding the water spirit's advice, she unsheathed her blade slowly. With the blade pointed down to the floor and Sylph's magical wind on standby, she paced forward through the mist to get a closer look at the faintly glowing humanoid figures in the distance.

 

There were two of them, both clad in strange, sleek armor unlike anything she had seen before. Both gave off a cold blue light, with one of them shining a lighter shade than the other. Milla could see smaller, rock-like pieces floating around the air, and she slowed to a stop once they started to notice her.

 

"What is this place?" she risked the question.

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((Giant catch-up post eeeeeeghh... Hope my writing for the Aeon of Reality is fine.))

 

Depending on the portal you're using, the universe it's from, and even the time period of its use, traveling through one could be miraculous or downright dull. In this case Shadow conjured only a simple portal, meant to take her to the Fae Realm; instead it took her someplace completely different.

It was like surfacing from water. The deep, swirling vortex of blue and black opened up into a bright, airy world, carpeted by green grass covering rolling hills and far-too-happy-birds in a far-too-blue sky. Shadow stepped out onto the grass, took a look around, then sunk into the depths of her mind in confusion the way a reader dives into a book.

This doesn't look like the Fae Realm... She thought, digging through her mass of accumulated information. I should have surfaced in the Dark Pines, near Rinstead. What the heck kind of dimension is this?

She held out her right hand and flexed it, summoning a map of the Realms she knew; although it wasn't really a map, so to speak. The miniature orb of stars and nebulae spoke of no familiar dimensions; this was completely new territory.

She closed her hand, causing the map to disappear, and looked around. There was no mana of any kind in the air, it was just unbearably happy... She sighed, figuring that her portal must have interfered with that of one of her inter-dimensional allies'. She still didn't quite understand the phenomena itself, but sometimes portals could interfere with one another when the "tunnels" crossed or intersected; it was a nuisance she had yet to find prevention for.

 

Shadow began tracing another rune circle in the air, when the land shuddered. She automatically braced herself, paused, then continued tracing; she was used to bizarre behavior at this point. Wouldn't be the first time she accidentally teleported into a dimension that was about to implode. By the time the rune circle was half-formed though, a giant slash in the sky tore its way across the horizon, distorted colors and shapes morphing behind it.

I haven't seen a dimension tear itself apart like that before... She thought, giving it some concerned examination. With a few more quick gestures the portal formed, but it had a lot of static; an indication of instability. Shadow hesitated for a moment, second-guessing her escape choice with a simple Tier-3 portal, which could be torn to shreds in a faltering dimension and scatter her essence all over the universe... Hm, bad idea. She dismissed the portal with a wave and began drawing the rune circles for a Tier 4, but rips and tears were rapidly forming in the fabric of the planet and its outer regions.

She started at a booming voice that hit the world like a shock wave:

" As I bind, I unbind! This shall be no more!" It ended with a loud scream. Shadow hissed, but recovered in absolute frustration and exasperation.

" Good Creator, what is it now?" She grumbled. " I thought I told Nikotu to hold that peninsula so Goreroot would stop harassing her!" Her shock had dissipated her half-formed spell, so she began drawing again, from scratch, recalling bitter memories of her Realm's rival: the supposed "Queen" of Thorns. Even after her overwhelming defeat the little brat just wouldn't give up; Shadow simply believed that this was another one of her half-hashed traps to try and dismantle her enemies. Goreroot, another Hell Lord like her, wasn't helping with the shaky peace treaty; but then again, who can expect a Hell Lord to not cause trouble?

 

Shadow finished her portal, but the Tier 4 doorway looked no less stable than the Tier 3; assuming exponential flux growth, which typically caused instability, she then dismissed that portal and now attempted a Tier 7; which unfortunately meant drawing on the ground. At the moment though, the ground was being broken up and dismantled against gravitational will, things warping and dying spontaneously. Shadow braced herself again as the ground beneath her feet began to rupture, and a void of both ice and heat emerged from what should have been the exposed core of the planet. She jumped up onto a free-floating rock that looked relatively stable, looking up in time to watch a bird change from flying, to an airborne eldritch anomaly, to a ball of fiery coals in a mere instant.

What the hell?? She wondered, looking around. The Queen of Thorns can't do that!

" Which entity are you? Name yourself!" She challenged the unseen force undoubtedly causing this. There was another scream, and through the rips in space-time Shadow glimpsed a distinct form that took the shape of something alive. It was moving too fast for her to gauge what it was though.

I wonder if it bleeds... or has a soul. She thought, growing bitter. What nonsensical summon did the Queen throw at me now?

" If you're trying to kill me, you're doing it wrong!" She called out at the large, flitting entity. " You should know better than to send summons to do your bidding, Queen of Thorns! Haven't you learned?"

 

The entity lashed out at Shadow, striking her and sending her flying. She flared her wings and hovered amidst the chaos, laughing; it's always great to have a fight!

" You are nothing to me, mere mortal!" The omnipresent voice growled.

" 'Mortal'?" Shadow barked out. " So your intelligence is inversely proportional to your size!"

The entity shrieked and lunged out from a space-time rip, massive claws extended. Shadow dodged the strike, slid out her glaives, and struck back at the creature with amazing accuracy; she struck where she presumed was softer, corporeal essence, but when the clawed limb pulled back it had only a scratch!

Magic. Shadow immediately determined. I need a spell! Before she could react though the hand, paw, or whatever it was struck her, throwing her into a rip. She fought back against the forces, preparing a mass-effect spell, but in exhaling in preparation of the force she found her breath coming out in a colorful mist... far too colorful...

My souls! She realized in panic. Despite seeing her own power slipping away from her, she flung the half-formed spell, causing it to explode out in the torn-up dimension which just added to the unpredictable chaos.

" Insignificant creature!" The entity roared, rearing back.

" You haven't seen squat yet!!" Shadow screamed back, even as the void sucked her in. " I'm not done with you...!"

 

--------------------------------------

 

Counting her tiers of power slipping away was painful, and only filled Shadow with bitter vengeance. Her intuition of the Creator told her that this was not the Queen of Thorns's doing, but as she strained to think of any powerful, supernatural beings she may have angered, nothing came up. Nothing that matched a massive, clawed, exoskeletal summon, anyway. Assuming it even was a summon. The fact that it leeched her power from her stomped all over her ego and agitated her to no end; this was not the way a respected Arch Angel should be treated!... At the same time, she knew better than to just pout about it. No... she needed a plan. She needed to store away information and energy so that when she met that infuriating summon again, she could send it to her Realm's Hell Lord, then its Dark Lord, then back to her for additional torment.

Assuming her compassion didn't rise back up again at some point in stop her... which, frustratingly enough, it often did.

 

Shadow's travel through the scattered fabric of reality finally came to an end when she was spat out in an unfamiliar dimension, and she fell into what looked like a fuchsia room made of glass. Pink, purple, and blue - colors familiar to many magical realms - all formed the shapes of tiles and inscriptions of a tall room, with a ceiling of mist. At first Shadow's perception told her this was really a long hallway, so she landed on the wall and began skidding down it. When the gravity suddenly switched, she reared and forced herself to fall backwards, keeping her cry of surprise inside her, and landed semi-dignified on the floor on all fours. She took a moment to wait for the room to explode outward, or maybe bow out, or do something equally-psychedelic to make her fall again, but instead it held shape... So it was finally over, hm?

 

She stood up and looked around, her glaives on a hair trigger. With any luck a tall, cloaked figure falling out of the sky was unassuming here. At the same time...

Wait...

Wait a second...

Tall cloaked figure? She was..? Oh right... no, yeah, she looked like that. Why did she look like that again?

Shadow tried to delve back into her memories, but there was a vast emptiness in her mind, like it was a ransacked library. Didn't she have tons of facts memorized? Spells? Some of it was here... but the memories felt wrong... flawed...

Flux? She wondered. She had a similar experience after going too deep into blood magic, and after the Queen of Thorns captured her the first time, so obviously something was tampering with her memories; but with everything she was remembering becoming evanescent, how could she rely on them? This was... problematic...

Shadow grew more tense and annoyed, defaulting to her best option: become a slayer and gather more power so she can figure out what the heck was going on. Worse comes to worse, she remembers nothing but adapts to a new life here.

 

Speaking of here... where was here? She didn't recognize this place. Tentacles, tendrils, and tile... oh, three T's. A nice, alliterative dimension. That would be easy to remember, at least. What made her most uncomfortable though were the figures in the thin haze of the room; some she recognized as draconic or alien, others were humanoid. Two of the humanoids even had mechanical implements. What didn't fit about these creatures is that they all noticed each other, were all wary, and most notably, didn't fit in this environment at all. Which meant...

" Inter-dimensional organic displacement." Shadow hissed under her breath, backing into a corner in hopes no one would bother approaching her; come ten minutes of no movement and they would forget she was there, at least. She felt weak, but she still had some soul power in her. " Who did it this time...?"

Edited by skwerl56767

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Ashur heard... something behind him. Steps. Lighter than a dragon's. He whipped around, and spotted two figures emerging from the strange mist. They were two-legged creatures, the both of them, wearing something that reminded Ashur of armour.

 

"Who are you?" He snapped, trying to determine their reaction and hostility levels from their reaction.

 

---

 

Kyun heard a cry. Someone was searching for a... Rude? Had they heard that properly? Their tail twitched. They decided to go investigate, going in the direction of the cry. The mist parted to reveal a bipedal figure.

 

They had their hand on the wall. Kyun couldn't blame them, after the chais of the odd portals and reality itself... warping... The Mpere shuddered. They opened their beak to speak, but closed it again, unsure of what to say, before opening it again.

 

"Erm... if I may ask, who's this... Rude?" Kyun might have asked ehst was going on if it seemed they knew any more than Kyun did, but they fidn't seem.

 

--

 

In the ,ist, two figures battle. A short blond man with a mustache and a winged helmet parries the tooth-blade of a dog-humanoid creatures.

 

Asterix dodged the swing of the blade that looked like a tooth as the dog-faced creature snarled at him, scraggly grey fur fluffing. Or what could be seen of the fur - most of its body was hidden in a cloak. He aimed his own blade at the thing, which danced on its paws away from his blade before returning.

 

The Gaul could hear voices off behind him, but ahead he saw no one but the creature in front. A snap of jaws once again, and Asterix jumped back to avoid bloodied fangs before aiming a punch at its muzzle.

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It was... some sort of dragon? Whatever approached him, it had a long, serpentine neck and horns like one, but it was small and wingless. He had never met a dragon -- at least, not a live one -- and all he knew about them were from the pages of his textbook. Not that it helped very much, since dragons varied in intelligence, alignment, appearance, and ability.

 

Grip stilled himself and quieted his breathing, but the creature already noticed him. It did not seem hostile, but he had to be careful in case it was a summon working for whoever was behind this trap.

 

Then it spoke.

 

The teen was taken aback for a moment, then was certain that there was powerful magic involved somewhere down the line (if that wasn't obvious enough through the reality twisting). But, none of it made sense. However, even if it was a sentient summon working under someone else, the yellow creature looked like it was just honestly curious about his situation.

 

"Rude?" Grip echoed. "He's my..." ...His what? It was definitely important, but he realized with horror that he couldn't remember. He squeezed his eyes shut. Damn witch trap toying with his memories. "I... I can't remember. But he's important."

 

"Look," he continued. "Something's definitely not right, here."

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Kyun listened to the mammal. They - no, he - had a point. What was thst energy...

 

And why couldn't they remember where they came from? The Mpere shook, before considering, tail twitching. They paced, wondering. Wondering what was wrong here. Why was it all warping before...? And what is the energy that thrums through here?

 

Still, this creature wasn't hostile, though... thank Spode...

 

"... did we introduce ourselves? I'm Kyun. I'm a ..." Their voice trailed off as they grasped at the evanescent menory, and a look of horror dawned on their face. Even as they recalled ehere they came from, now another memory slipped out of reach. And now vomes snother unbidden memory, one they aren't even sure is theirs.

 

"...what now..." A faint hiss at the end as the yellow creature's voice trails off.

 

They looked down at the ground and the glowing tendrils issuing forth from cracks, before jerking their head back up to the one they'd addressed.

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The screaming was getting more constant as she walked. Aerith was going much more quickly now, with both hands over her ears to keep out the screaming as well as she can. She tried to plead with Gaea to tell her what was wrong, but it didn't seem as if the Planet could answer her. In fact, all of nature seemed to be on edge, or at least nothing had answered her: the sky, the wind, nothing, only contiuing with that unnerving moan. She had even been unattacked by monsters since the screaming started.

Soon, please! Aerith sent a silent prayer. She could see the Forgotten Capital--just another half an hour, and she should be in the city!

But then, the most deafening howl she had heard sounded into her ears, making her recoil and stumble back before all hell broke loose. The air right in front of her seemed to shatter into glass and she raised her arms to shield herself. But what splattered her wasn't glass, or most of it wasn't. With howls of anger and pain hammering her ears, she looked up at the air to see a rift--no, several rifts, opened in a manner reminiscent of claw marks. Something was moving in the holes--or was it? Aerith couldn't tell, and another scream joined the howling, pushing her to her knees. Beside her, something exploded out of the ground-- but there was no shower of dirt or sound, just a blast of cold air as another tear opened in the world and something emerged. Aerith turned her pounding head. It was shifting, formless--but it had a shape like a skeletal thing, with tendrils that hurt to look at. Somewhere in her mind, she wondered how something can be formless with a shape. But with each movement, Gaea seemed to get louder, and now the chorus was joined by the trees, the sky, and so many more it hurt. And as the last of the Cetra, she had to protect them all. Aerith forced herself up with shaking hands and despite everything, channeled the mana needed for quake. When she released the spell, the ground shook, a light running along the earth like cracks until it hit the monster. At least, she hoped she did.

It seemed to pause, then look in her direction. Aerith looked up, glaring at it, then suddenly claws seemed to slam into her--but they didn't, she only seemed to feel that, but then the feeling was gone before the world turned into a kaleidoscope of colors.

 

When she came to, she was standing in a strange fog, both outside and in. She was Aerith, last of the... Ancients... But there was something more, she knew it, she felt it. But is she right to believe it when things that defied all explanation had happened to her? But nothing was changing now. She saw the ground beneath her, either in tiles of pink or grey, with wisps of energy coming out of some cracks. Around her was a fog, and in the fog... Was a strange feeling. A feeling she should know, she was sure, but could she be? And sounds. Sounds she knew but wasn't right somehow. Like... There was a crashing sound, of a strange variety that brought to mind two things hitting against each other. Then a growl? Then a snapping sound. Aerith gripped Princess Guard and ran towards the sounds she heard. She was sure of it now, that was the sound of fighting. As the sounds grew louder, the glassy orbs in her staff hummed, and she pulled at one of their songs, the one about life, movement, of energy and fire. Intense emotion and energy seemed to pick at her and dwell in her hands. A man was fighting a thing that looked like a dog, except meaner and on two legs. One hand still holding her staff, she brought her other up and aimed her palm at the dog monster. A scarlet energy seemed to gather, and fire started to gather at the ground under the dog monster.

 

~~~

 

Most all the cracks that had been on the floor were patterned differently, but most of them implied some great impact fractured them instead of pressure from below or the other tiles. Though in that case, how big was this place? Persistent fog. Though considering what she experienced earlier with the falling, would there be an end, or would it just stretch endlessly? Isadora looked at the cracked panels, then at the obscured figures in the distance, and shook her head. Logically speaking, for her to be able to see either, there would be actual dimensions to this place. Even if it was a sphere of some sort. Then again, logic didn't really have a choice in what just happened, did it? Falling for an hour or two then suddenly finding ground, and before that, one hell of a phase shift gone wrong if she ended up in this place. But that creature...

 

"Hey! Excuse me! Where the hell are we exactly?" A voice from somewhere to her left called out. The voice was strange, with an accent she never heard before. She hesitated, not sure if she should reply or stay quiet, since she really doesn't know what was here. But the tone didn't seem hostile.

 

"I'm not sure. I would have said this was some part of the Interdimensional Rift or maybe even the Otherverse, but if it is, I need to contact and write some.... Strongly worded letters to some of the members of the Mage Society," Isadora called back. "But those stuffed shirts should know what they're doing. Most of the time. In short, I'm trying to figure that question out myself, mind helping?"

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"You're a dragon?" Grip tried to complete Kyun's sentence.

 

"I'm Grip. Grip Remington," he introduced himself. Even his own name felt a little false when he said it out loud for the first time. He felt like they had to hurry to get out of this place or dispel the magic surrounding it somehow, before it stole all his memories. "Pleasure to meet you, Kyun. A shame that our meeting place is so dark and dreary..." He stretched his arms over his head, then crossed his fingers behind his neck to stretch his shoulders. It didn't soothe his anxiety, but it gave him something to do.

 

Without a Meister he felt blind, and without a partner he felt useless. His first priority was to find someone compatible so he wasn't completely defenseless. Nevertheless, he was glad to find a friend in the yellow dragon creature, who at least had claws and what looked like a ray gun strapped to them.

 

Shifting his focus away from Kyun and the worrying smoke seeping out of the cracks, Grip lifted his chin and closed his eyes, listening for hints of the others he saw through the mist but hadn't approached.

 

"You all okay?"

 

"Hey! Excuse me Where the hell are we exactly?"

 

"Who did it this time...?"

"There are others just as confused as we are," he reported. "And some sounds of fighting, but we should try and get away from the magic of this place."

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It had been so long since she had just sat and looked up at the stars. They were beautiful and so bright here on this planet without civilization on it. Luna was reminded of the earth before the revolt and before Homeworld had begun building. She had been apart of the exploration fleet and she had seen everything for the beauty it had possessed.

Of course Luna hadn't had the courage to speak up against the destruction being a simple moonstone like she was, but one gem had and her name had been Rose Quartz.

 

Luna sighed at the memory of that amazing gem, of the bravery required to take up arms against Homeworld. She had been among the first to pledge her loyalty to Rose's cause, and had survived the war through her own bravery and loyalty. Of course things hadn't gone according to plan and in the end she had been captured. Other gems had made it clear that she was to be interrogated so that the Earth could be retaken in the future, but somehow, in some miraculous series of events, she had managed to escape and flee from the loyalists.

 

That had been over 5000 years ago and during that time Luna had wandered among the stars, visiting planets and trying to find Earth again. She didn't know where the planet was or how to find it and the shuttle didn't know either, which meant she had to pick at random and hope that she got lucky.

 

Today she had found a planet that was almost like the earth, it had trees and plants and water, but it was also different with three moons and none of the humans that Rose had loved so much. Luna had found a place to lay and look at the stars then, saddened by another failure. She could pick out the faraway star where Homeworld was but she couldn't find the place she truly cared about...

 

The ground rumbled beneath her then and Luna sat up as some of the animals ran or flew away. Everything shook then as though from an earthquake, but this wasn't natural, it wasn't something caused by a natural phenomenon.

Light flared from above in a long rip and even as Luna stood and drew her bow she couldn't figure out what was happening. She wasn't a gem designed for science, not that that had stopped her from learning in the past, but she also hadn't put much effort into that. She had learned about nature and the plants and animals there, not about things like this...

 

Blackness came from the rip then and Luna pulled back on her bow, an arrow of light appearing there which she aimed at the black thing which was grabbing chunks of earth as well as animals and plants.

The arrow flew from Luna's bow then and impacted the black thing to no effect. Again and again Luna fired the bow, but to no avail, and then the black thing was grabbing for her.

 

Luna turned to run, her feet already moving, but she was stopped in mid-stride by the thing which grasped her around the middle.

Luna struggled hard against the grasping appendage, but the thing only squeezed harder, making Luna cry out in pain as she felt her form breaking beneath the onslaught.

With a poof of smoke only a gem remained in the things grasp as it withdrew into the portal leaving the stone to fall down, down into the blackness.

 

Above Grip and Kyun another tear appeared in space, this time not spewing out a person but instead letting a gem fall to the ground where it bounced a couple of times before lying still.

 

It rested silently for a moment, it's single round facet glinting even in the gloom before the whole thing began to glow. The gem raised off the ground then and twisted in mid-air as light began to congeal around it, slowly forming a humanoid with the gem at its throat like a necklace.

 

Just as suddenly as it had started the whole thing stopped and Luna fell to the ground reformed in a dazed heap. It took a few seconds but she quickly recovered and stood upright, taking in her surroundings only for her blue eyes to lock on Grip and Kyun.

 

Instantly Luna's hand reached to her throat where her gem glowed again. Without pausing she pulled from seemingly nowhere, a bow which she pulled back, an arrow of bluish-white light appearing on it's string.

 

"Which one of you brought me here?" She asked her voice shaking but her bow steady. "I swear if you're working for Homeworld you'll regret it. I didn't fight the entire rebellion just to be captured by some weird looking things and brought back to those tyrants!"

 

 

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Kyun nodded. Dragon didn't seem right, but they couldn't figure it out...

 

This place.

 

This place. Yes. They needed to get away...

 

Then a stone fell from the mist. It swiftly became a humanoid, who leveled a bow at them. Kyun hissed, their raptor claws practically sharing, as they - no, she? spoke.

 

"Which one of you brought me here? I swear if you're working for Homeworld you'll regret it. I didn't fight the entire rebellion just to be captured by some weird looking things and brought back to those tyrants!"

 

Kyun jumped a bit, claw flashing up, beak clacking. "Homeworld? Whose homeworld? The only one I work for is Tesskaract, home of..." thry trailed iff. Augh. Still couldn't remember what they were. "... and I didn't bring anyone in here, things warped. Like they shouldn't have. I fell..."

 

--

 

Dog-Face yelped and danced back from the fire - but they weren't quick enough as it ascended, burning their front. Snarling, baring their teeth at the new human and raising their sword, they bayed - and then Astérix, taking advantage of Dog-Face's distraction, slashed their side.

 

The dog-creature growled, glancing between the two, before deciding to make for the new humsn and her fire. Dog-Face howled as Asterix punched them forward, throwing them off-balance enough they stumbled forwards a couple paces.

Edited by Dusky_Flareon

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As soon as one of the figures was within scanning distance, Tetra flared her drones out in a combat position with Penta at her side. The scan took mere milliseconds as she simultaneously took in the physical appearance of the humanoid before her, noting the relative lack of armor and long hair.

 

[scanning lifeform...

 

--Appears to be a magical, sentient female humanoid

 

--Currently non-hostile

 

--Capable of combat

 

--No obvious weaknesses

 

Moments after the scan, the humanoid began to speak, seemingly as unfamiliar with the surroundings as she was.

 

"What is this place?"

 

She shot a glance at Penta out of the corner of her visor, unsure of how to react. Should they reveal their lack of knowledge? The humanoid was non-hostile for the moment, but they couldn't be sure how it would react in the future. Eliminating the humanoid now was an option, but a rather excessive one.

 

{Don't kill the human yet, we can afford to reveal information. Worst comes to worst, we've been trained for this and it's two against one.}

 

{Okay. Stay on guard.}

 

{You don't need to tell me twice. I've got your back.}

 

The whole exchange happened in the span of a brief glance, hidden by the visors over their faces. Without hesitation, Tetra began to reply to the humanoid, still crouched in a combat stance.

 

"We do not know. But if your intentions are hostile, you will be swiftly eliminated."

 

From further away, she could catch the faint noise of combat, but it was of lesser concern than the humanoid before her. Whatever was happening there would not be able to reach them, and so she would not address it now.

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