[RP] The Epicenter Maze


Through rows and rows of books, Never kept walking on in the giant library. It was as if he could not do anything but scroll through the neatly arranged books on the bookshelves around him. He stopped to catch his breath. Never was puzzled about where he was, what he had gotten into and what he should do next. He had been given little to no instruction as for what to do next. Never didn't think much, for he was only a kid after all.

He could do nothing more than to browse the library for a way out. From the look of a nearby sign he was in a section of the library titled "Creationism". Walking through this Never looked along rows of books, which in his own eyes looked boring and bland. Never was never much of a scholar himself. He looked ahead beyond the books where the exit to the library would reside.

As he walked, Never bumped into a stack of books sitting on a cart waiting to be stacked upon the shelves of the neat bookcases in the library. His bumping had knocked a few books off the cart, one of which looked different from the stack sitting there. Never picked it up, scanning the title before becoming bored once again. "The Ephemeris: A Guide to the Tiles" looked to be an interesting read, for it contained an interesting cover. From the sound of the title it may help Never solve something in the future.

He set the book down immediately before walking away. As he did this he began to change his mind. Never turned back to pick up the book once more and decided that it may come in handy. He had to keep reminding himself that he was in a "game" after all. What if his competitors were already further than him? What if they were closer to winning this "game"? These questions and many more had begun to form as Never continued North to find a way out of the library.
 
You know, the fact that it was an abandoned airship wasn't the part that surprised Shadow. It wasn't even the fact that about half of it was blown up, and there were a few skeletons lying around.

What was wrong, was that there weren't any little insects or anything. And if it had crashed in such little time for none to show up, why the hell would Shadow not remember even getting on? And why were there skeletons, not your average joe corpses? Curiouser and curiouser.

Shadow was starting to get slightly paranoid. Oh well, it wasn't like anything would attack him in this place...

And that was when he turned the corner and saw the giant 6-foot tall spider.

"... How is this fair?"

This was followed by Shadow ducking as the spider jumped (lunged?) towards him, fangs out. Shadow's scythe went up and cut lightly across the bottom of the spider's torso. The spider turned, hissing in what could be perceived as an angry type of hissing.

Shadow readied his scythe.

"I'm not easy prey..."
 
[Ciridan]

"Can't let you do that dear boy!" the gentleman said, lifting his cane to the sky.

From beneath him rose a geyser of water that obliterated the spires around him and let him rise into the air as well. As soon as a gust of air whipped around him, the water stopped, falling back into the underwater cistern that fueled the city's water supply. He hung in the air, seemingly levitating.

"Another elementalist, eh? And you can combine them too. An even match I should say. But how creative are you?"

Holding his cane like a conductor's baton, made a movement as though in three-quarter time. The water once again rose but this time it combined with the wind gusts around the combatants to create a hurricane elemental. Tapping the cane on the nonexistent piece of hair he stood on, a symbol appeared for a few seconds before disappearing.

The whirlwind held out a single whirlwind arm and from it a blast of wind and rain flew toward Ciridan.

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[Alexander]

It wasn't too long that the jungle ended and a seemingly endless rolling plain began. The pale grass beneath his feet surprisingly cool, Alexander kept moving in the same northern direction he had been. Who knew where he was in this place where ecosystems changed at the flip of a coin. It was a madman's playhouse.

Sol padded next to him, watching for something. Alexander picked up on Sol's wariness and his eyes shifted around as well. it wasn't so much a plain as a savannah and that meant lions. Given the size of Sol, they would be about the same size and probably not friendly. That implied that Sol was friendly though.

In the distance something moved. It was far away though, barely a line on the horizon. Shading his eyes from the overhead sun, Alexander judged it to be about 2-3 miles away. Looking to Sol, it appeared that that was what the tiger was watching.

"Wonder what that is?" he asked to no one in particular.

He hoped it wasn't something dangerous; he had nothing to defend himself except for Sol and would the tiger even fight? Still whatever was moving seemed far enough away that they would be able to avoid it.
 
It had to have been at least an hour since Rouge started moving away from the Oasis. So the large scorpion could walk faster than she could jog, but it was taking its time. She didn't complain, however, since if she were to go on for this long on foot, she would most likely black out from heat stroke. But Rouge had noticed that was sun was beginning to set, so it had to be close to evening - wherever she was. As the two continued Northward, Rouge noticed that the scenery hadn't changed much, but the atmosphere and the smell lingering was different, and not because of the scorpion. The air had felt a bit more dry, but at the same time when the wind brushed against her skin, it would actually have a cold sting to it. The scent that she picked up hinted that something was decomposing nearby. It may have been a dead body, considering that she read on that paper earlier that she wasn't the only one roaming in this place - the smell of someone or something that pushed their limits wandering in this vast desert. Rouge wouldn't stay to look for the source.

The lower half of Rouge's body had numbed a little bit for sitting in the same position for so long, and she sighed a little as she tried to adjust the way she sat on the hard back of the scorpion. Within a few minutes though, she blinked as she thought she saw something up ahead in their way. Eventually, the scene got clearer, and her eyebrows perked up as she saw a body of water not too far from where they were moving. While Rouge was gazing at what was up ahead, the scorpion had picked up its pace in walking, as if it saw the body of water too. It was certainly larger than the lake that was in the Oasis. The scorpion had taken her to the edge of the water, and it lowered its head towards it as if it were about to drink from it. Rouge thought it was alright to have a break. Just look at the creature, she could tell that even it had walked more than it may have planned.

Getting off the back of the scorpion, Rouge saw that the body of water was in fact a river, a large one at that. Looking at both ends to wear it expanded, something told her that she had two choices in the matter; either continue to walk around the river or to leave the scorpion where it was so it could return home and swim across it. It would certainly take a while to go around the river even if she was riding a scorpion, and as much as Rouge was a good swimmer, she didn't know how much stamina would last until she would give out in the waters. She doubted that the scorpion would be willing to swim across with her on its back. As she looked even further, she thought she could see a little mound of land from afar. It had to be an island, and the only reason it looked small was because there was quite some distance to cover between them. Rouge pondered as to wonder if there could be anything valuable on that heap of land - like another clue as to where she could really be, or maybe some kind of item that would help her along her voyage.

As Rouge stared into her reflection in the water, she saw what looked like a water moccasin touch the surface of the water with its head underneath before treading elsewhere. So there was also wildlife in this area, and chances were higher of dangerous creatures being underwater than in the Oasis - disregarding the scorpion. She glanced back at the massive crawler as it continued to drink from the river. Looks like they weren't done walking yet. Rouge knelt down on the sandy surface to let her hands lower into the river water, as they were dreadfully dry from the terrain she's been in for the past while. The liquid was very cold, and Rouge felt trails of relief flow through her body as she rested her hands in it, and it nearly made her shiver. She had a feeling that getting out the desert would be the least of her problems in the long run .
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After trekking through the abandoned town for nearly an hour, Jamie suppressed the urge to rest her palm against her rumbling stomach. Sharp pangs of hunger caused her to curl up against a crumbling outer wall made of cement. The wall which was about 5 feet high must have been used as a supportive structure to fence in the town. About 2 feet away from her was Cronos, his leg having fully healed since she'd taken to speeding up the passage of Time in increments of 2 seconds.

Having rested for about ten minutes or so, she would then return to resting the tip of her cool blade on Cronos' leg and will for the fracturing of bone and the splitting of tendons to be undone. And so it was . . .

"Food . . .," that was the next order of business so she led Cronos to the outer edge of the wall, running her fingers through his slightly matted mane. Since the last couple of hours during her journey she had become rather fond of the horse. She told herself that she wouldn't leave Cronos very far for too long. Although they were alone for now, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something else was taking up residence not too far off. Deciding to shake the temporary ominous feeling off, Jamie set about browsing through some abandoned stores.

What she'd pillaged wasn't much: some spools of thread, a few empty leather-bound books covered in dust, an airship manual, some canned beans, corn, and snap peas, a few packets of dried beef jerky, and a package of smoked meat that was dated from a month back. She placed this away in her satchel and set back towards Cronos; by this time the sky overhead was darkening to a deep shade of indigo and a hulking animal stalked its way toward the now startled horse.

"Cronos!"

Jamie's voice rang out over the expanse of flattened land. Cronos galloped towards her and she swung her leg up just in time to seat herself on the horse's saddle. Adjusting the straps in her hands, she placed her feet in the stirrups and scanned the tall swaying grasses for any sign of the mysterious creature. A hissing sound alerted her to the left side and she turned the horse just so.

What she met was a towering, serpentine, Basilisk, about 8-10 feet tall, pointed fangs bared, and its hooded head flared in anger.
 
Ciridan had to admit he was never very creative. He always went for the direct solution, rather than the creative one. As the whirlwind flew towards Ciridan, he swerved his rock to avoid being hit directly. However, it was impossible to dodge all together. He could feel the wind rock and shake him, but it wasn’t enough to deal damage, just alter his track a little bit, as well as send him spinning.

However, Ciridan has his own tricks as well. Using his own air magic, he boosted his speed and quickly ended up behind the man. He then created a small, confined tornado to cause the man to spin. It was unlikely the man would be able to cast a decent spell while spinning out of control in a miniature vortex.
 
It had been an hour until Never had finally found the exit of the library. He had become frustrated of the "competition" in it's current state. He had been lining the library walls until he had finally found an exit. Up ahead a white light had shone bright through the double oak doors. Never was only meters away.

He had decided to give up on this "game" he was so suddenly placed in. There had to be a way to get out of it without violence and too much thinking. Never thought often about his home in times like these. It seemed years ago since he had been able to safely lay on the green grass outside of his brothers hut staring at blue skies all day long. It seemed forever since he had even stepped foot in his own world for once. Never's childish behavior had caused him to reflect back upon the beginning of his journey to the point where he was homesick.

He carried the spectacles and other items found at the library in his purple cloak tucked away safely. With the Ever sword Never was protected against anything and now since the exit was a couple of feet away he could finally see into the outside world of where he had resided earlier, walking through the oak library doors.
 
Myu-Jishan

After walking for a rather long time along the path that had crystallized whatever was in the way, Myu-Jishan ended up in an area that was rather mountainous area. It was all still clearly a battle field, but things had definitely changed with the combatants. The war technologies had appeared to become more advanced, something he was not used to seeing on his world.Humans were vile creatures capable of destroying anything they so desired. It sickened Myu-Jishan. Someday, they would cease to exist by his hand.

Regardless, Myu-Jishan chose to check out the area. He was still not used to feeling anything on his skin, so the mountain breeze made him feel rather cold. It was very discomforting. Upon picking up something, he discovered the black rope was attached yo another mechanism. It appeared to be a Gatling gun that he had oh so rarely seen before. Putting his hand over the barrel, he charged a small bit of energy that morphed to a red color. When he released it, he shot in a fiery manner into the barrel of the gun, instantly removing his hand so to not be shot by his own doing. As expected, the guns heat cause it to automatically fire, but because of the nature of the ability used, the bullets shot backwards, inevitably destroying the gun.

Taking a look at the path he had just walked through, he then looked at the mountain. Right here looked like a good place to rest. Normally he could not fatigue, but he was not used to having a living body... Sitting down he stared at his surroundings. He kind of missed being able to see from his own perspective...

Haku

To Haku's disappointment, after such a wet walk, he was still to see more marsh lands. Well, whatever happened happened. While he may have gone a poor direction, it would be stupid to turn around to go another way. He may as well move on this way for a while now. Keeping his smile on his face, he looked around. There didn't seem to be any other inhabitants in the area, but that did not bother him at all. He was used to seeing no life in this place.

However after walking all that distance, he was rather parched again. Cupping his hands in a spot that had more water, he got a few more drinks. He really should have a water bottle for such things. He took note of that and would get one if he were to come across one. Until then, he would continue to the next tile, hoping to see something better.
 
[Ciridan]

The scarf began flapping in the vortex as the gentleman elementalist was spun around. Almost as soon as he started, his tempest elemental moved in, its winds swirling opposite the vortex, cancelling them out.

"Good try sah, but not good enough! Not while I've got Tempest here."

Around the elemental, rocks began to float before being dragged into the elemental and being spat back at Ciridan.

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[Alexander]

With his eyes on the movement, he began moving in a northeast direction. The more he walked the shape kept moving, never shrinking but never growing. Still, he kept going forward.

Then the movement stopped and completely disappeared. Alexander stood there waiting for somethign else. Not seeing anything, he kept going, Sol by his side. In the distance he could see a shining building, the sunlight glimmering off mirrored walls.

"Perhaps its a shelter..."

Sol looked at him quizzically.

"Doesn't hurt to check it out."

Unfortunately they didn't get a chance to go much further. From the dusty earth in front of them an insect like creature burst through. incredibly flat, the underside had many small thin legs, liek a centipede. The carapace was a bright white and reflected the sun back into the sky.

The sudden burst and the tremor made Alexander fall flat on his ass. Sol jumped protectively in front of him. At least one question was answered; Sol would stay with him. But what about the monster?
 
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Ciridan rolled his eyes as the man stopped his vortex. He was getting really tired of these games. If only he had his full powers. He was annoyed, and angry, he just wanted this fight to be done and over with. As the boulders flew at him, he jumped off of his, and used the oncoming boulders and stepping stones to get closer to the man. As he neared the elemental, he fired off lightning at him, just being close enough.

He didn't stop crossing boulders as he neared the man, and fired a fireball at him. He continued riding on that final boulder to get away from his enemies before taking control over it, and using that one as his ride. As it zoomed away, he wondered if he damaged either of them. He brought the boulder to a stop, and turned around to face his opponent once again.
 
A deep exhalation disturbed the crows nesting in the trees, causing them to caw angrily and take flight, fluttering wildly above the blackened branches and boughs before taking root again, shooting an amber-eyed glare at the figure moving through the night.

She tilted her head to one side, causing her dark hair to fall over her shoulders and over the corners of straight, neutral lips, a pale face with an expression so still and silent she may as well have been carved from porcelain. She stayed off the concrete, mainly walking on the grass, ignorant of the wear and discomfort it caused in her heels.

So she'd just ended up here had she? Looking around at the black sky, she was immediately a little on edge. -Partially from self preservation that came as part as human nature, and partially just because of her own wariness and distrustful nature. People didn't just end up in places like this. There was something going on here.

Turning to look at the nameless, unmarked stones on the path she was taking, she couldn't help but wonder just where she was. It would seem to be a cemetery, but the unmarked graves and the fact that there was no visible end in sight immediately had her on edge. Scanning for a way out, she found none, and only an endless array of smooth marble graves could be seen in either direction, and behind her was an unclimbable wall stained with lichen, spiderwebbing chaotically across the wall.

A flash of white at the corner of her eye drew her attention, and she averted her eyes from the rows of tombstones to see a mausoleum to the side, made of flawless white marble. The whole location seemed timeless, without even a light breeze to suggest life, but this in particular seemed a little out of sorts.

Wandering down the stone steps towards the mausoleum before she could stop herself, she thrust open the squeaky clean door and stepped into the gloom without a second thought.
 
[Ciridan]

The lightning struck the elemental that had engulfed the elementalist. The shock dispersed over the water droplets contained in the tempest, trapping the man inside his own creation; now he had no choice but to keep it going to save himself. Still the fireball evaporated a patch of water when it hit the whirling winds before being snuffed.

Still, he was trapped and the only escape was spinning around him.

"An interesting predicament..." he muttered. Still he had two elements at his disposal.

His elemental placed its arms on the ground, grinding up the concrete and earth. It began circling to the top of the elemental where it was flung out at Ciridan at high speeds, icy boulders with gale force winds propelling them.
 
(OOC: Prepare for disappoint, Gavin. I R tired.)

The same attack? This is too easy... Ciridan thought. It made no sense, he just threw boulders at him before, why do it again? Was he expecting Ciridan to make the same move? The boulders were moving too fast to think any longer. Repeating his same attack, he boulder hopped just like before.

This time, he really had to be on his toes. They were moving really fast, and the opening around the elemental was tiny, and small. Using his earth magic, he crumbled the original boulder he hopped off of into a spear. It wouldn't be very durable, but it would be sufficient enough.

With the spear close behind him, he hopped on, from boulder to boulder until he was close enough. "NOW!", he exclaimed as he thrust the spear into the opening using his magic.

He was out of boulders, and they were moving too fast for him to stop in time. Ciridan flew and hit the side of a building... hard. As the boulder shattered, he was able to grab onto the ledge of a building, and climb to the top of it.

His head hurt, but he maintained consciousness. He had to make sure the man died...
 
[Ciridan]

He hadn't been expecting that. The other had been able to pinpoint the hole he had made in the elemental. It wasn't a deadly hit, but it was enough. He was falling through the air, an electric current still running through him.

The earthen spike had pierced his shoulder, knocking him off balance and into his elemental. From there the electricity has coursed through him, wiping out the concentration he had and causing the elemental to die.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered, waiting to hit the ground.

He reached to the sky, clutching for somethign unseen.

"Samantha... I couldn't bring you back... But now... Now we can be together..."

What was there for him to do but hit the ground with a sickening crash?

His body began to fade and there was the sound of a snap as it disappeared.

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[Alexander]

Alexander sat on the ground trembling; he wasn't a fighter. And now there was this... centipede thing in front of him, gnashing a pair of gigantic mandibles. Sol was there, his hackles rising as he growled at the creature.

"Don't Sol... Please... I don't want you to get hurt..." he whispered.

The tiger roared in defiance; he would protect Alexander. The young man closed his eyes, not wanting to see the end.

Or you could change it.

Alexander felt a gentle breeze on his cheek, barely even noticable.

You have the ability now. Your fate is what you want it to be here. Even if you entrust it to the cards.

Slowly, Alexander peeked open one eye. Everything had stopped. The insect-thing had been frozen mid-lunge and Sol was rearing up, ready to parry with his sharp claws. Opening his other eye, he could see a single thing that was moving beside himself. A black butterfly, gently flapping its wings next to him.

"Wh- what are you talking about?"

Your cards. The ones you trust your future to.

"My tarot cards?"

Not yours. Mine.

The butterfly disipated and next to Alexander appeared a pair of cherrywood boxes. He opened one and found a deck of tarot cards, an ornate design on the back of each. Opening the other, he found a similar set. Within the boxes were also pouches and straps that seemed that they would fit around his thighs. Carefully, he put them on, shuffling the decks and slipping them inside their puches.

Now draw.

With each hand he drew a card and brought them up to look at them. The Nine of Swords and the Major Arcana VIII: Strength. In each he saw the odd black butterfly somewhere in the artwork. Slowly he stood up, both cards in hand.

"So I can change fate? Do I really have the ability to? Can I protect myself in this place? Can I protect Sol? I have to... Not when I've gone through what I have. I'm not going to lay down and die, not when someone was willing to give me time."

The words were falling off his tongue and there was a silvery aura that began to surround him, focusing on the cards in his hands.

"I am going to protect myself. I am going to protect you, Sol. I am not going to die is this fucked up bastard's game!"

He practically screamed the last part and time unfroze then. The saltskitter lunged towards Sol but slammed into unseen barrier, bouncing off of it. The Strength card in his hand faded away.

Once you use it it goes back into the deck where it is shuffled. Then you can draw another. But you won't need to.

The Nine of Swords glimmered in his hand.

"Anxiety, worry... No more... I can do this now. I can defend myself and you, Sol," he said, flinging the card at the saltskitter.

"Take it back."

It shot towards the saltskitter like a rocket as though it itended to cleave it in twain. Before it hit, the card faded away like the other and nine massive swords appeared in the heavens to came crashing down into the saltskitter, impaling it in multiple places, binding it to the ground.

The creature let loose a howling screech, like a blast of wind through a cave, funneled to a tiny opening at the end. It began to writhe in its death throes, trying to free itself from its fetters. The wounds only opened up even more, greenish blood spewing from them as they widened.

"You won't be free," Alexander murmured. "You're bound by the same chains I was; chains created by you. As long as you live, you'll stay like this. Don't fight it anymore. Just give in."

Slowly, the movements stopped and the swords vanished, the body unmoving forevermore.

Sol padded up to Alexander with what seemed like a knowing smile. Alexander returned the smile before collapsing. Gently, Sol pulled him onto his back and began walking in the direction of the glimmering structure, the corpse of the saltskitter behind them, sword wounds evident.
 
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The spider, hissing it's anger, lunged at Shadow again. Shadow responded in kind by rolling, coming up to the side of the spider and slashing at one of it's legs. While it was a giant spider, it still had little thin legs, and the scythe slashed right through.

The spider let out what could be seem as a spider equivalent of a howl, before turning faster then Shadow would have given it credit and hitting him with a shot of webbing. Shadow was hit and stuck to the wall. Damn, he had to use his abilities now?

"Shadow Fighter."

With that, Shadow and his shadow switched places, so now Shadow was the one in the... well, wherever shadows were, and his shadow was the one "trapped" in the net. Not really.

The spider turned and proceeded to attempt to sink it's fangs into Shadow's image. However, the fangs went right through, and the vengeful spider had struck with enough force to send it straight into the wall, sticking it's fangs there. At that point Shadow popped out it's shadow and swung.

"...Stay dead."

And the body collapsed, the head still stuck to the wall. A clean decapitation. It was a simple trick, but a deadly one for those unprepared for it. Shadow sheathed his scythe, not looking back. He looked out a hole in the hull and saw how dark it was.

"I guess I came here late in the day... but this place isn't safe... I guess I'll explore until I can find a safe room..."

Walking forward, he began to actively search for a safe place.
 
. . .What in the world?

Rouge felt her body pressed against the ground as she slowly awakened from unconsciousness. She must have fell asleep again, and though her eyelids were just now beginning to lift up for her to see, she could feel more sunlight coming down on her. She guessed that it was early morning, seeing that the sun was already high in the air.

The brunette woman was lying on her side, and she pushed herself up in a sitting position and shook some of the sand out of her hair. Looking around, she noticed something was very wrong. She had recalled everything from what happened yesterday; the desert, the oasis, the scorpion. . .she had remembered every detail; but looking around now, she felt as if she were in a spot of the desert that she had roamed through before - which was odd considering that most of the desert seemed endless. The scorpion was gone too. Rouge wondered if it had went back to the oasis while she was asleep or if something happened to it as well. All she knew was that her surroundings have changed somehow.

She stood up on her feet as she looked around once more. To her right, she thought that she saw something poking out from the horizon. Whatever it was, it was rather far away, but she hadn't noticed it yesterday. Then looking directly in front of her, there was nothing but more vast desert. Who knew how large the entire desert area was? She wasn't going to spend all day finding that out; for she had someone she chose to look for, and he definitely wasn't in the desert sands. From the look of all other directions, it looked like there was going to be something west of where she stood, so she made the decision to start moving in that direction. Shame whatever happened to the giant scorpion, though; Rouge began to wonder again how it disappeared, and how her surroundings changed so suddenly. Was this all a part of the game she was in?

Rouge knew that she wouldn't get very far if she did more thinking than walking, so she had picked up her pace as she pondered. This was a totally different realm that she was put in, so she had to expect the unexpected. She wondered if she was going to run into anyone anytime soon. With the terrain that she was in, she doubted it, unless it was against their will as well. She noticed that there were several deep cracks and crevices within the ground, and Rouge could feel that the ground beneath her was getting more rough to step on. That must have meant. . .that she would be entering into another type of terrain at some point. She didn't exactly know when, but this was a hint. Focusing on what was in her front view, she had seen a more clearer look at whatever was up ahead. It wasn't entirely clear, or even close to where she was standing still, but it looked like a top of a building. She realized that there were structures up ahead.

Rouge felt some hope rise within her, but she didn't get her hopes up too high; things don't always turn out the way she plans. Her fast walking had increased to a run as she was anxious to leave the desert behind and hopefully find some kind of civilization. Within 5 minutes of running, however, she found something that she was not expecting to see at all. Her running came to a skidding halt as she saw a crack in the hard sand suddenly spread out and shot sandy air out of the hole. The dirty air had stopped spewing out after a few good seconds, but then the cracks leading to the small hole began to spread out more, and Rouge could have sworn that she felt little vibrations beneath her feet. As if to prove her suspicions correct, she heard a gruesome growl coming from the ground in front of her. Immediately drawing out both of her pistols and holding them tightly to her side, she went completely defensive as a ragged hand suddenly burst out from the sand hole, on the search for something to take as prey.
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As she continued into the murky depths of the mausoleum, a rather bestial sight greeted her. There appeared to be holes gouged into the wall to make a crude path downwards. Had something been...digging here? It was the first...imperfect sight, for want of a better word, that she had seen since she had woken in this ethereal place.

Crouching a little so that she could into the widened nook, she made her way through the dry, rough rock cavern, occasionally jarred by something glistening and white protruding from the cavern walls. Her instinct told her what it was, but she decided not to think on it any further.

At the end of the cavern was a place she could stand up to her full height. This room was like the rock cavern she had just left. Rough and worn, and full of bone, this material seeming more eroded by nature or outside influence than that in the tunnel.

A pillar was standing in the center of this room, made of the same rough earth as the rest of this godforsaken place. Atop it was a cracked cylindrical device, full of slots and cavities. But it seemed like even the slightest touch would disintegrate the device, and so she decided to leave well enough alone, moving back up the tunnel with a backwards glance, hoping that the creator of this vile monstrosity of earth and bone wasn't still down here.
 
Ciridan woke up and instantly noticed that something wet was under his arm. Looking at it, he noticed a puddle of wine under his bag. After the battle, it must have broken as soon as he flew into that wall. He was still somewhat hurt, and it took him a little effort to get to his feet. The first thing he did was go to the edge of the building to check if that man was still alive. He scanned the now cracked and devastated streets and saw nothing. Closing his eyes, he attempted to hear something, anything… and there was nothing.

He sighed as he looked back up, and quickly started gazing into what he now saw before him. The land had changed and it had changed significantly. The towers to the north and the west were similar, but… they were in half. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it. However, he did know he wanted nothing to do with that place. With the buildings in the condition they were in, they could very well collapse at any moment.

Taking out his book, had made sure it was dry. Considering what it was wrapped in, it was perfectly alright. He took out his pen, and started drawing the buildings, and entering the data in it. It was fascinating enough for him to enter in a couple of paragraphs. If he should ever get out of this place, he could make a fortune out of this book wherever he decided to settle.

After he was done, he noticed a large castle to the northeast. He instantly knew that’s where he wanted to go. To the south, there was a somewhat large lake, that would more than likely be his next destination.

Using his earth magic, he took a large chunk of land out of the ground and sat upon it as he urged it to go to the castle in the northeast.
 
Slowly Alexander came back to consciousness when a rough tongue licked his cheek. Groggily, he opened his eyes, the light from above streaming down. He blinked several times as his eyes adjusted. The licking continued so he turned to find Sol looking at him intently.

"It's alright, I'm okay now."

Sitting up and looking around, Alexander saw crystalline walls around him. Hewn out of a gem itself, they were seamless and opaque, stretching to the heavens with spires that looked like fingertips. The top was open and the midmorning sunbeams were falling in. Despite the odd material it was made of, the place seemed to be in the style of a medieval castle.

Around him were ruins of a forge, a market, even a well, the bucket still there. Given those marks, he must have been in the main courtyard. Turning his head around, he finally laid eyes on the castle gate. It was open, as if expecting people with open arms.

Slowly he got up from where he had been laying in a mound of fresh hay. He was still a bit unsteady from the previous day. All that walking, the temple stairs, the insect-thing. And on top of that there was this wierd tarot deck...

"...the decks!"

His hands reached around his body trying to find all three. He let loose a sigh of relief as they were all accounted for.

"Well then, Sol. I guess we can start moving again can't we?"

The tiger tossed his head lightly behind Alexander. Turning, the young man saw an entrance to the keep.

"You're thinking that we should go in there? We don't know whats in there."

The green orbs of Sol peered at him, reminding him of the battle he had had the past day.

"I've got the cards don't I? We should be fine."

The tiger sat down on its haunches and stared him down.

"Alright, alright," Alexander laughed. "We'll go. Just let me see what I can for us."

Finding a strong wooden table, he pulled out a square of black cloth and laid it out on the table. Fully laid out, it was about four feet on each side. Pulling out his personal deck, he shuffled the cards several times, the cardboard they were printed on feeling natural in his hands. He laid out three cards in a row and put two more down, one above the third and the other below. Carefully he began flipping them over. The first was the reversed Emperor.

"Well, I could have told you that..." he said, not elaborating on what it meant.

He flipped over the middle row of the horozontal row. This one was the Tower.

"Seems to be more about this game than what's actually happening... Definitely a chaotic force. I wonder how the bad foundation focuses in... Liberty- he said there would be a wish granted for the winner. What's going to happen unexpectedly though?"

His musings ran until he had flipped over the next card, the Hermit.

"A person? Is this the unexpectedness?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a large smack from behind him, like a large slab hitting the ground as well as the sound of Sol's growl. He quickly gathered the cards and put them back without lookign at the other two face down cards, deftly folding up the cloth as well before turning to investigate.

Behind him a ways off was a man sitting on an earthen slab.

"Careful Sol," he said softly.

"So are you the Hermit that's supposed to appear?" he asked to the man.

Though his arrival had been foretold and the Hermit was usually a good card, Alexander kept his hands on the battle decks, ready to draw if neccessary.
 
As Ciridan landed inside the castle gates, he saw a young man walking towards him. Beside him was a tiger. It wasn’t the most unusual sight that Ciridan had ever seen, but it was somewhat interesting to see. Ciridan stood up as the young man asked, “So are you the Hermit that’s supposed to appear?”

Hermit?, Ciridan thought to himself. He wasn’t quite sure what that was supposed to mean, but it did make sense one Ciridan applied his past to it. “One could say that I’m a Hermit. You’re not here to fight, are you? I just got done with that, and I would rather not have to do it again.” Ciridan smiled and continued, “I’m Ciridan, and you are?”
 
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