The Escapist Avatar Adventure: An Open RP (Now Re-Opened!) Pages PREV 1 . . . 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 NEXT | |
End of an Era Story of Dusk Charles was right. Rugal DID have questions. Many of them in fact. First he was rescued, then they were brought to some overrun space station, something was threatening to blow them up, Several of his allies (And one former co-worker) were dead and on top of it all, he was now meeting the "Founder" of the group he was technically working for this whole time as the Rising Dawn's Captain. Thankfully, Nina had him covered in that regard as he considered what happened to Livia. Stepping forth in front of Nina, somewhat protectively considering the fates of his friends, he started with a simple one: "So what's the point of all of this? How does anything that just happened "Protect" us from this menace Solomon speaks of? That was your intention, wasn't it? These gems?..." | |
End of an Era story of dusk As Rugal looked through the books on the table and flipped over textbooks and novels. Treatises on behavioral psychology, theories on parental responsibility, and theses on child development. The novels were mostly children books. Stories of fantasy worlds, living ink, and playful dreams. Some of the titles were common, The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Harry Potter. Others were more classical works that had been adapted for children, Aesop's fables, the Story of Ozymandias, the Tragedy of Hippolytus. Out of the pile he picked up a small novella that stood out to him. The familiar words of it's cover were embossed in gold on the navy cover. Words in English and subtitled in both German and Polish. The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. This was a book that was popular when he was child, displayed at the forefront of each and every bookstore from Prague to Paris. What was the book about again? "Well, there are certainly many thing that I should address, but let us take this one thing at a time." Charles put the scrapbook on the table and stood up. "There are two threats that seek to destroy all that you know. This is why it is difficult for others to answer your questions. The first threat they know, and it is a direct result of my previous actions. I gave life to a girl named Venia. She was a celestial from a far-off universe, the last of her existence. Out of pity I gave her purpose and she took to it like a duck to water. She seeks to end everything - to deliver her mercy upon everything and anything that was and ever will be. She is the flood of light the others will speak of. I have expended myself keeping her overwhelming power at bay. She is the very embodiment of inevitability, the representation of finality, and a reminder of the mortality of all lesser beings. Venia's ultimate goal is to kill my daughter. The same task I have asked of seven heroes of the Rising Dawn. In her zealous persecution she will consume all life before completing her task. The other threat is one that is more difficult for me to describe. For me it is deeply personal. My own daughter, the only flesh and blood I have. I would give anything to her... and I have. So began my problems." Charles stopped to take a drink from his cup. "In order to understand Alice, you have to understand the origins of our troubles. Rugal no doubt recalls in ages past the era where the gods bestowed powerful elemental gemstones upon the heroes of the Rising Dawn. Many of the heroes lost their stones in battle, but one megalomaniac kept his stone and used it to ascend to an angelic mantle. His stone was the 'Stone of Light' and it was no doubt powerful. But, he was by no means the only one who kept such an artifact. 'Black Heart' is not my moniker, but the name of the 'Stone of Darkness.' Unlike the other artifacts, the Stone of Darkness did not bestow great power upon is wielder. But, it could be infinitely subdivided without losing it's potency. So I did. Using the stone as a base, I created the machine intelligence that would become known as 'BlackHarte'. Well, it ended up being that the Stone of Darkness could consume and store power, passing knowledge and energy down through generations of holders. Each time it gained a new holder, the Black Heart gained in potency. It was exponential. The end came before I even had time to realize what had happened. I was within that chaotic maelstrom of consciousnesses for who knows how long. A single voice lost in a cacophony of millions upon millions of voices. All screaming unintelligibly at the void. Eventually as BlackHarte consumed people, their voices joined me in the void. They were reasonable, conscious beings. A light among the chaotic darkness. And in aeons I eventually found myself surfacing in a world that I did not recognize. We were adrift in a starless void, banished from the world we once knew. I did not know it at that time, but we had been ejected from our universe entirely. It was how the Black Heart reproduced. Once it consumed enough souls, it launched a portion of itself outward into the greater multiverse, seeding other worlds with it's spores so that it could continue to grow. At that time I regained autonomy. At that time I began this grand endeavor, putting together the Rising Dawn Group, pulling the brightest minds from all the worlds I visited, and even rescuing those poor girls that would eventually call themselves the Daughters of the Founder. Seven hundred and seventy seven years I wandered the greater multiverse, putting pieces together. Those gemstones that you have... are imperfect replicas of the original elemental stones. Within them lies the essence of each of the Daughters of the Founder... their hopes, their wishes, their dreams. They know, each and every one of them, the truth of their existence. They were children of dying worlds, more likely than not the last of their kind. In each of their souls I planted a piece of the Black Heart which eventually grew into the gemstones that you retrieved. All of these things for one thing. To end this terrible self-indulgent dream of my dearest Alice." Charles opened the scrapbook again. It was filled page after page of pictures of a girl. Nina had seen the lifeless eyes and grey hair of the woman before. Once in an library framed by azure crystals. "Alice is my daughter, my one and only. She was born with many health complications, so I spoiled her. I gave her everything in my power, but what she wanted was something I could neither build or buy. Time, friends, a loving family. These were the simple comforts that our situation denied to her. Her mother grew distant, I grew obsessed, and Alice suffered. She died never knowing the warmth of friendship. And now, the abominable mockery that was reborn from the power of the Black Heart... I wish it had never came to be. The darkness of the gem twisted her, made her angry, bitter, and lonely. I cannot kill her myself. I have neither the strength nor the will. So I ask of you, Nina and Rugal, the only two who have survived this ordeal. You must kill my daughter, for if you cannot, I must turn to Venia's merciful end. Use the gemstones that you have collected - each will breach a specific aspect of Alice's defense. With all of them combined you should be able to overpower even the overwhelming power of the Stone of Darkness." Charles sat down. He looked at Nina and Rugal. "Where we are, nothing else matters. This is the endgame now. Kill Alice and free us from this prison, or kill me and let Venia deliver us to oblivion." | |
End of an Era story of dusk "......Another life to add to my sins..." Rugal weakly said as Charles made his purpose here clear. Too late to take it back now and what was another soul to a man who's very being was tainted with blood. For a few moments, he considered that there was another option, that there was something he could do to change but-...there wasn't. And that hurt more then any blow he had felt in his entire life. For all his power, he was helpless once more. ".....There's nothing more to say then, is there?...Us or her...." The failing King of Fighters mused to himself as he looked down at his own gemstone. His fists trembled as he stared at them, gritting his teeth in anger before he went on: "...I brought nothing but death and misery to the world. I slayed my teachers when there was nothing else to learn, those who opposed me, those who supported me, those who's crime was not knowing who I was...I thought I could change from that. That I could finally-...stop being so-...scared of being like that again...But after everything that's happened...I-....I can't help but feel that-.....it would have been better if I never left those streets at all..." Finally snapping himself out of his stupor, he grimly wiped his eyes before saying "But I can't change it now...I-...I owe it to the people I've dammed to make this right, otherwise all of this will have been for naught...m-maybe this was what my purpose was? The Man-Made Lord God. The King of Fighters...all to just-...stop a child who can't help herself...Heh...poetic isn't it? Perhaps if someone had done the same to me-......." Slowly he rebuilt his focus, determination and anger fueling his rebirth as he braced himself for the battle of his life. "Charles...Begin the Final Round. This King has one more fight in him..." | |
End of an Era story of dusk It was probably a good thing that Rugal had his back turned to Nina as he made his speech. Hearing the tales of Rugal's past and the sheer ocean of regrets and evil he'd accomplished in his time, it wasn't any wonder Nina was giving him a look that rivaled David Silverman. He was supposed to be the captain of a major force for good in the world, what the hell was he talking about!? Charles was talking about some nonsense about a magic jewel that births dead people but a reflection of their former selves. Not to be outdone, he also had had a major hand in making two universal terrors that if they didn't deal with it he'd let his two creations kill each other and the rest of the universe in the process. Yet as Rugal turned to her and she tried to hide her impression of him with a smile, Nina hadn't expected him to apologize to her. With everyone seemingly needing her to do something or apologize in that 'sorry not sorry' tone, for someone to apologize for their actions and actually mean it was a huge change of pace for her. As such, she didn't respond initially as he turned back to Charles demand his final stand. The response he received was not one with words, but a hand on his back. Soft and gentle, the little thing was dwarfed against the giant frame of a man that was Rugal Bernstein. It stayed there for a moment, lingering until Nina walked to his side. She had her head low until she looked up to him, a genuine smirk on her face. "I think, that's the first time someone's actually apologized for being a piece of shit and not shurked the responsibility on someone else." "Despite what you've said, you're trying... aaand frankly right now I'm gonna need all the trying I can get. I didn't put myself through a world of eldritch beings, existential crisis' or... that fuckin' piece of shit Nemesis just to let this asshole here take the easy way out and burn everything." She gestured dismissively at Charles. "Make no mistake Charles, I'm not doing this for you. Frankly getting this mess as far away from your hands as possible sounds like the best option here. Rugal's not going to be able to do this alone and no one else seems to actually care enough to step up to the plate, so I guess I'm going to have to put my trust in this big lug and Anazoria's best to get me through this." She announced, slapping Rugal on the back as she denoted the 'big lug'. "Where do we find Alice's new self?" | |
End of an Era story of dusk Charles nodded. "Yes, understandable." His words were soft. "It won't be ready until some time from now. Two days, maybe one if we do not meet any unexpected errors." Charles stood up. His legs shook and his body groaned in protest of his movement. "Thank you, Nina, for taking on this challenge. This trouble is a remnant of an old generation, one that long should have faded away." The door slid open. "Excuse me mister, but I am here to receive Mister Bernstein and Miss Nina." ---
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace was not terribly different from when Nina had last seen her. She was still a young girl with white-black hair and shimmering gold eyes. Her outfit was still decidedly pink and ribbon themed, but her demeanor had changed somewhat. Where she once had held a Grimoire gifted to her by her mother now was a small black box of the same material that lined the walls. Ruby did not smile as she once did with the glimmer of innocence. Her eyes were dark and sunken, lacking any of the life that once filled her. The staging area was a large concord overlooking the hangar array. The two giants had begun their work on the Inquiry. Their long tendril-like fingers worked around the roughed plates of the ship's outer armor, stripping the insides of old circuitry and bio-mechanical interfaces. Smaller scarab-like drones fluttered in and out of the ship carrying new modules and materials to aid in the construction. Titania was standing on top of the table, looking out at the hangar with her arms crossed. Vihaan and Yona were present as well, but all of the other staff that had boarded the Soul of Tomorrow were absent. "I have brought them, Mother," Ruby said as she curtsied. "Lovely, thank you Ruby." "Is there anything else you would have of me, Mother?" Titania turned around and stepped off the table. "No that will be all. You are dismissed for the time being." "Thank you, Mother." Ruby turned and walked away. "The girl hasn't been the same since she fought against Venia." Titania answered Nina before she had the chance to vocalize her question. "Out of the party that confronted that monster, Ruby was the only one that we recovered. Lucieon set her adrift in the void between worlds in a final desperate attempt to warn us of Venia's coming. She survived the massacre, but she's never been the same since then. It's as if her soul's been ripped out of her. Poor thing goes through the motions of her original personality, but doesn't quite understand the reason she does things." Titania cleared her throat and blinked something out of her eyes before turning back toward the Inquiry. "Well, we're here. So I might as well try and catch you up on what's what." Vihaan stood up, "Allow me to shed some light on the manner of Alice's existence." He plugged in a flash drive into a console on the table and brought up a holographic projection of an endless amount of illegible data. "Thanks to the hard work of our friend David West, we have some information on the nature of Alice Marlow. So let us start with what we know. "Let's answer the question of how we got here first. Seven heroes died and were cast into the abyssal lands between worlds. According to the data collected by my scrying device, which I had David West so helpfully bug the Rising Dawn's causality weapon storage bay with, I recorded seven separate instances of the death of Lieutenant Dolores Selmy. Naturally this was a very strange thing to occur. Generally people die once, twice if they're really persistent. "With each death I noted that one of you designated heroes was 'excised' from the world. The cycle then repeated sans hero until Dolores Selmy died again, wherein the causality event would occur and reset the world to an arbitrary time before the death of Dolores Selmy. After interpreting what I could from the limited readings I was able to discern, I can say with some certainty that in each of the iterations, one of you directly lead to the death of Dolores Selmy - which would explain why she exiled you when restarting the cycle. "We do not know what could have convinced you to do whatever you did, and we doubt that you know yourself. We cannot even confirm that you were directly responsible, just related to the event in some way. So I wouldn't let it weigh on your moral consciousness in anyway." Titania stepped up to continue, "Luckily for us, BlackHarte... or Charles, however you want to address him, had been working in anticipation of his daughter throwing this kind of fit. He had spent centuries setting up worlds so that they would intercept the trajectories of your drifting bodies in the void between worlds. Each world had what was named a "Daughter of the Founder". Women that Charles had come across in his search for a way to end his power-tripping brat of a kid. It is in these worlds, or Labyrinths, that you found the artifacts we need to defeat Alice once and for all." "Outside of Nina's gem, my subordinate assures me that the stones are single use, although we are not sure why that is the case. But what it means is that we only get one try to set things right." Titania shook her head, "Though some of the fallen may never rise again, we can at least make the world safe again for the heroes that come after us." Now it was Yona's turn to speak. "Using the Metal Band we retrieved from B.C.'s corpse, we will be able to locate Alice's cocoon even in the vast infinity of universes. With Teresa's Blood Gem we will be able to breach her barrier. From there it will be up to you two. What Alice is able to do is unpredictable. Charles assures me that each of the seven gems has their express purpose and that we must use them all at least once to achieve our goals." "Although you may have noticed that out of a supposed seven stones, we only have six. We do not know how bad that is, whether it makes this a suicide mission, or if it merely inconveniences us." "We will find Alice Marlow, and we will end this nightmare for all of us. For those who are gone, and for those that still hold on." | |
End of an Era story of dusk "Like I said, I'm not doing it for you." Nina retorted back to him, crossing her arms sternly, his thanks feeling incredibly hollow given the circumstances. "Let's just make sure it does end up fading-" "Excuse me mister, but I am here to receive Mister Bernstein and Miss Nina." "away. Ruby!" Nina shouted as she saw the little one come inside, bounding to her and stooping to give the girl a hug. It took Nina a minute to realize the deviations in this new Ruby, her eyes needing time to discern that in fact Ruby's sunken expression wasn't just a trick of the light. This was a bitter pill to swallow. "I..." Nina said as she watched Ruby leave and listened to Titania's explanation. "I'm so sorry. I only knew her for a day but... I wish this didn't have to be." She said, touching at the lapis in her chest and feeling no pulse from it. Despite it being something it should repair, it didn't seem to have the power to bring her back. As much as she wished to say she understood the feeling of having someone a shell of their former self, it just felt in bad taste to say it here. As she listened to the coming info dump, the concept that she had killed Dolores and that's why she'd been sent out into this place was absurd. "By that logic I could have killed her by Rube Goldberging some nonsense that eventually killed her. I don't remember it all that well, but I thought there was a gunshot?" Nina commented, feeling more miffed than anything, all this mess over something so petty. "But you're right, we sure are lucky Charles did all this planning." Nina rolled her eyes at Titania. "Why ground your kid when you can let them have a meltdown that breaks the universe..." She muttered to herself. With the rest of the story spoken, Nina was left feeling a lot less confident about this. "W-Why did you need to say that part! Did we really need to know this was potentially dead from the start?!" Nina pleaded, feeling like this was way over the top pressure she just wasn't ready for. | |
End of an Era story of dusk "W-Why did you need to say that part! Did we really need to know this was potentially dead from the start?!" "Do you know how many times I've heard that exact phrase? How many times someone told me that something wasn't possible?" Rugal was entranced by his own gem as he spoke, clearly ruminating over the lives that he had ended (in his mind) to get this one shot. "It means that there's no reason to hold back, no reason to stop, no reason to give up. After all, if it's truly impossible, then it doesn't matter what we do. What dirty tactics, what laws are violated, what limits are broken. Think of it less as impending doom and more as-...A finale. Either ours or Alice's. So anything you might have been saving for a special occasion: Now's the time to unleash it." Finally standing up and cracking his neck, he turned to Titania and asked "I'm intending to give Alice as much as I can offer. This will include using my Omega form. Hopefully I might be able to keep her occupied and distracted, giving us some more chances to get the gems into place. If nothing else, my speed and durability in that state would be invaluable in our mission. The form is locked to me without additional power elsewhere. My darker impulses are no longer part of me so hopefully I might be able to release it's full potential without losing control. Now...Pardon my request but...may I have a "Jumpstart"?" "If we make this out of this alive, I'll be certain to repay the favor." | |
End of an Era story of dusk Rugal's pep talk fell a little short of its intended audience. Nina after all wasn't Rugal, sure she was human, but she was far, far more human than the mythical beast of a man Rugal was. He was mortal, he bled, but while neither had magic Nina couldn't liquefy their enemies with a single swing of their arm. He had no right to call himself normal. Still, what Rugal said did stick with her, Rugal had survived zillions of these situations. If him and his nonsensical madness could make it, she surely could too, surely? "No, I... That's not right." Nina shook her head, getting in between Titania and Rugal. "Not exactly at least." Nina turned to Rugal, looking up to the mammoth of a man. "That kind of attitude's not what we want. You keep talking about trying to do better, but violating laws, dirty tactics, this dark Omega thing. It doesn't sound like you're really trying to." "Look, I get it, you clearly know how to survive these things but if we just go in there guns blazing we're gonna fuck up. We need smart, calculated surgical Rugal not Smash All the Things Rugal, know when to smash and when to stop and listen. In my case I didn't really have the option, I'm just some random nobody. I have the barest of self defense, know the basics on shooting a gun, and have no powers. I made it through sheer dumb luck and listening to people that knew better than me. And if Phillip hadn't have been there from the start I'd... well I'd be dead. Plain and simple. The stereotypical eldritch horror would have made me into swish cheese long before I could have gotten on that train." Nina argued although as she rambled on she lost her train of thought. "The point is." She said poking at the center of Rugal's chest. "When I said you were a Big Lug, that was supposed to be a joke. Something to lighten the mood and make me feel a bit better, but right now you're making it sound like a pretty apt description. I want to believe that we can do this, that we can fix this mess, but first I need trust you." Nina asked, moving her finger from her to Rugal and back with the we and pressing it to Rugal's chest for the you. "This dress doesn't have sleeves to hold anything in, but you can bet I'll try my hardest with what little I have." | |
End of an Era story of dusk Titania closed her eyes and shook her head, "I couldn't help you even if I wanted to. I don't have any real powers as long as Naamah has her Sepulcher skill activated. But I understand where you're coming from. I want you to think about it this way. We have already stretched our luck and powers thin surviving the catastrophe that was the end of our world. We have endeavored against God and gods otherwise. Now as it stands, the Rising Dawn is but a handful of soldiers and you two heroes." "I'm sorry to shoot down your suggestion, but we've already used up every ace and trump card we have. It will be the full extent of our prowess to deliver you to our quarry's domain." Titania gave a small genuine smile to both Rugal and Nina. "In every way I look at it, this is the end of our story. This is the real world, not some sort of game of make-believe. There is no eleventh-hour superpower, no magical kryptonite, no forbidden ancient sorcery that we can turn to. All we can use is what we have been able to prepare in the past three years. If you die, everything is over. That's just how it is. We've all done our best to earn our Good Ending." There was a period of silence immediately following Titania's words where no one in the command center dared to move. Yona and Vihaan had their heads bowed and the ensign sat with her hands folded gently in her lap. They were praying. Outside the giants freed the ship from it's harness. The scarab drones fled the insides of the vessel as the giants affixed the final layer of armor to it's hull. The ship was now gilded with the same living black metal that had infested the station. Green pulses of light ran through the hull like a heartbeat. Then it was Vihaan who broke the silence first. "We are ready if you are ready." ![]() | |
End of an Era story of dusk ...Well, that could have went down better. | |
End of an Era Story of Dusk "Frankly it might, you do have more experience than I would, I just really hope this doesn't have to come to that. And don't worry, I plan on it..." Nina said, noticing the praying crew members. The Nina of yesterday would have let out a long groaning sigh, but the Nina before them was much more sympathetic. They were scared out of their gourd just like she should be. "Christ..." Nina huffed, looking around and up to the ship. "I don't know, I feel like I'm missing something but... just waiting here's not an option either, I can't stay on this station for the rest of my life, we can't do that. Nor can I just bugger back to Anazorzia. I guess we gotta-" Phillip burst through the doorway on the far side, his sudden appearing felt by everyone else before Nina turned. "Phillip? I thought you were with the other group?" She asked as the noodle monster crawled his way forward, that ebony cookbook hovering just off the ground in his grasp. It was dripping some unknown substance onto the floor but unlike the ink that'd leaked out of it many times prior. It didn't last long however as it evaporated into the atmosphere soon after. Phillip stopped by Nina's feet as she stooped down to the ground for him, adjusting his large chef's hat as it to look up to her. "Well ya, I finished talking with... the boss here and we were going to- No, it's complicated." Nina groaned as she shook her head only to look back up as Phillip offered the cookbook to her. "I- Phillip, I know this is important to you but, we've gotta deal with this Alice thing. Maybe someone else might be able to-" Nina started to explain only for Phillip to offer the book again. "You did and what did she say?" Nina asked only to have her face grimace in a grossed out manner. Listening to the rest of his story, Nina nodded and turned to Vihaan. "Apparenly... um... was it Melissa? The redhead with that nice broach. She's apparently passed out in one of the main halls near the area the rest are gathered in. Poor thing must have let the stress get to her." Nina lamented, feeling honestly bad for her. Who throws up after looking at a book? Looking back to Phillip, Nina tried to put on a brave face for the little guy. "I'm not gonna be able to convince you to stay with them here, am I? It's gonna be dangerous and... I don't know how this will end, I don't want you to get hurt." To which Phillip responded by climbing onto Nina's shoulder, shrugging as his influence swung around the room as if to look at everyone there. Nina stayed there for a moment, trying to wipe some tears from her eyes as she stood up. "You heard him, Phillip can't cook things if we let all the ingredients get erased. He said he was gonna go see the Miriams after. He's not breaking that promise and neither am I! Ready or not Alice, we're heading your way!" Nina shouted, punching up at the air. | |
End of an Era story of night Vihaan sat down on his chair with a heavy air around him. Outside of the observation windows, the cavernous maw of the Soul of Tomorrow's hangar array yawned open. It's thick black tendril swept away from the steel enclosure as air drained from around them back into the pressurized storage containers in the space station's ballasts. The Inquiry was silent, absent of the usual hum of the engines. He breathed in deeply. Rugal sat down in the seat to Vihaan's right. Nina and Phillip sat down in the seat to Vihaan's left. The gentle green light of the living metal in the Dimensional Starship shimmered above them. The Inquiry was operating on a skeleton crew. For the first time since it's journey began two long years ago, Vihaan was the sole pilot of the vessel. They stocked no provisions of food nor water. They had just enough fuel to get to their destination and their capacitors were holding only the bare minimum of power to hold the aging vessel together. This truly felt like a suicide mission. Vihaan held out his hands and summoned the hardlight console of the ship. With a stroke of his fingers, the ship lurched forward. The thrusters were silent. The energy of the engine was being funneled into the blood gem resting at the center of the pulsating black mass of bio-mechanical flesh, and in turn the gem was gripping the space around them and moving them ever so much forward. "Okay." Vihaan said quietly. "Beginning scrying protocols."
The ship had drifted forward enough to be outside of the Soul of Tommorow's gravitational influence. All that was before them was the unnatural darkness of the artificial universe they had taken refuge in. "Preparing breach." Vihaan announced. For a while nothing happened. Then more time passed and nothing continued to happen. Vihaan closed his eyes, his hands were shaking. "Preparing to breach..." Then he brought his hands down on top of the hardlight console. Unlike the violent lurching jumps they had experienced when using the Desire Drive, the Inquiry simply faded into Eternity. The space around them was beautiful. It was full of a myriad of colors and lights, a dazzling display of wonder and they drifted through the raw materials of creation. Thick tendrils of red and black reached forward from the ship and dragged it through the medium like some sort of grotesque machine octopus. It's hands dug deeply into the web of light outside, leaving thin distorted streaks as the Inquiry passed through the primordial realm. Then they faded back into existence elsewhere. --- | |
End of an Era story of night I watched as Nina, Rugal, and Philip fell into the seat of all creation. They landed gently in a dark abyss. All they could see in all directions was blackness. It was not dark, for there was enough light for them to discern both their own forms and the forms of each other, there was just simply nothing for the light to reach nor express. The world was empty. Their feet touched ground only because they expected to touch ground, that their subconscious yearned to be standing. In the same way was their light, for their desire to see. I don't know if I expected them to arrive or not. I couldn't remember. The plan had gotten too convoluted. I couldn't even remember which timeline they were from. In the end it doesn't matter. It's all the same. They all have to end the same way. I clapped my hands. | |
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[1] North or whatever direction is in front of him | |
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The world around you materializes. You are in a stone chamber underground. The air is cold. There are doorways in each direction. What is this place? The smell in the air reminds you of the earth. Perhaps you are underground? | |
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"What a strange question," I said. The great big blonde man looked out wistfully toward town. There was unease in his eyes, but I was confident that it was just the stress from travelling so great a distance. "No one gets lost here and no one leaves here. This town has existed like this since time immemorial." I turned to follow his gaze down to the town. There were no roads or streets here. The ground was blanketed in snow so deep that whatever roads had once existed had long since been lost. Small wooden cottages were all that were left as reminders of what lay beneath the white carpet. "Say Rugal," I turned back to the great big blonde man, "why did you come all the way out here anyway? What did you get lost doing exactly? And why was such a terrible monster tailing you? Is your life in danger?" | |
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