[RP] The Epicenter Maze

Sol padded to stand in front of Alexander, teeth bared. A growl started to rise up in his throat.

"Calm down. He's not going to hurt us. At least I hope not."

Alexander walked up next to the tiger and knelt down. He ruffled the fur around Sol's neck and the tiger, relaxed a bit more now, sat back down, still watching Ciridan.

"Forgive him, he's very protective. Just don't make any sudden movements. Now then, Ciridan the Hermit..." he started to look the elf up and down.

"You don't look to be from my world. And given the Hermit, you're a magic user aren't you? Cautious, patient, disciplined, thoughtful, insightful. A writer too I would expect and despite your youthful appearance, I expect you're quite old compared to me.

"All alone aren't you? A wanderer? Or are you running away? Did something happen to you at home? Something big? Something that made you run away? Or were you forced to travel?

"And you're searching for something aren't you? You have the book knowledge I think, so what philosophical truth are you looking for? Maybe you're tired of running and just want to go home?

"Heh. I see it now. You have to run; you can't go back home. Of course, its not really home anymore is it? Thats the truth you look for: Home."

"I think that sums you up, Hermit. I'm Alexander Hartke, the Wheel of Fortune. And if you want to get out of here, I may be the only one with some idea of navigation."
 
The basilisk hissed threateningly, baring 5 inch fangs and certainly it intended to rend Jamie's flesh. Grabbing a hold of the leather straps, she adjusted her seating on the saddle, and charged towards the basilisk, unsheathed dagger in hand. She willed for time to slow down, for the dust particles swirling in the air to drift lazily along the currents of invisible air, and for the basilisk's body to slow down in its fluid precise movements. Closing her eyes she felt the energy trickle from her spine and drift out of her body through her fingertips in a throbbing rush of frigid energy.

Retardo . . .

Everything ceased within the fraction of a second, every minute detail became maximized in importance. The feel of sunshine slapping against her skin, licking her arms in fiery, unforgiving heat, the balmy breeze drifting across the plains, stirring the grasses to life. Chronos whinnied and stomped the ground as the basilisk reared its head and Jamie narrowed her eyes, looking for any weapon that could possibly stave off the enormous creature. Spotting a discarded dust-covered sword of a foreign make, Jamie took her chances snatched up the sword at the last second, and thrust it; catching the basilisk's squishy stomach. Blood sprayed out of the wound as the snake reared back, splattering across Jamie's tattered traveler's clothing.

Yet she didn't note that the snake had since taken to wrapping its serpentine body around Chronos, frightening the horse beyond measure. Panicking, Jamie looked around wildly, trying to think of a way to slay the beast.
 
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This definitely wasn't something Rouge was expecting. With her pistols being held tight in her hands, she observed in awe as what looked like a dead body had began to break its way out of the ground. More than likely, it had to be a mummy of some sort. The more it came out of the sand, the more clearly she could see that its body was entirely decomposed, with what looked like loose pieces of fabric hanging off of it's skin. To Rouge's dismay, it appeared that it wasn't entirely ancient, and the smell that seemed to have spread in the air when the fiend appeared was very revolting. She attempted not to gag as the zombie growled in irritation, but something else had caught her eye. There was what looked like some sort of mineral dug into the rotting body's flesh, while some parts of it was covered with skin, she still barely noticed the sparkle it gave off when the sunlight hit it.

Was that...another player? Rouge began to wonder. She came to the conclusion that there were people here that were placed in the same situation before she was, and this person clearly didn't make it in time to complete whatever purpose he or she had. What she didn't get, however, was how was their corpse coming alive before her eyes? It was almost as if the presence of their own kind had brought it to life, but it was making a rather poor introduction. By the time it was standing limply on it's feet, the cracks in the ground had somehow began to fill themselves back with sand, and something told Rouge that it wasn't going to make nice with her, whether or not they were placed in the same situation. It held out a rotting hand in front of it, some dirty threads hanging from it, and something began to illuminate beneath its palm with a blue glow.

Rouge didn't know what it was doing at first, but had received no warning when she suddenly felt a spreading pain in her chest. It had gotten sharper as she cried out and grasped her chest with one of her hands, and she suddenly realized where the source of the pain was located. It had been where the spike within her was placed, and it almost felt like some invisible force was trying to either tear it apart or rip it out of her. Whatever the case was, the effect was excruciating, and if she didn't act immediately, the result would more than likely be fatal. She glared at the zombie, who's position hadn't changed since it completely came out of the ground. She bolted one of her arms out in front of her, holding Malady firmly with her hand, and she pulled the trigger. The bullet had came out fast in the corpse's direction, and it had shot right through the hand that it was holding outward, and Rouge watched as some pieces of skin was blown off of it's hand. It cried out in an instant and brought its hand back, and the pain that was lingering in her chest had nearly disappeared in the blink of an eye. She inhaled sharply from the sudden numbness in her chest, glad that she had taken action in the nick of time, and she had gotten an idea on what kind of person this creature was before they passed away.

"A psychic, are you?" She asked the breathing cadaver, not exactly caring if it understood what she was saying or not. "Two can play at that game."

Considering that this thing was a corpse, Rouge doubted that effecting it physically with telepathy would do as much of an effect as it would a living person; despite that it was moving, chances were that it's brain and other organs were completely functionless. But if it was moving because of some spiritual or mental force, then that was how she was going to put it back down. Putting Malady back in her belt loop, she brought the same hand back out in a flash, sending an invisible jolt to it's conscience. It let out a angered cry as both of it's hands went up to hold it's head all while seeming to stumble in it's footing, eventually falling over to the ground. Rouge hadn't stopped at that point. She kept her focus on what was controlling the corpse, putting all the force she could into interrupting the connection until the fiend was no longer moving. Only several seconds had passed during the process until the corpse let out what sounded like a groan of relief.

Rouge had halted her attack, keeping her eye on the body for a short while to be sure that it was no longer moving. To her relief, it was back in its resting condition, but she still wasn't completely satisfied with the circumstance at hand. For some reason, she felt that this was too easy to handle. For the kind of power that zombie had, it had went down rather weakly. As if to confirm her suspicions, she had felt more pulsations in the ground. Her guard hadn't gone down after she had put down the creature, but it had tensed up more once another problem was met. The vibrations in the ground was no longer coming from the ground area surrounding her, but it was coming from directly beneath where she stood. She gaped as she realized what that had meant.

You cannot be serious! Rouge almost thought out loud as yet another decomposing hand had burst out of the ground without warning, getting a tight clutch on her ankle.
 
"Well, what I'm looking for doesn't seem to be here.... Too abandoned. And I'm getting tired of seeing the same emptiness over and over...."

Shadow had climbed to the top of the airship at this point. And there wasn't any other creatures that had been stupid enough to mess with him. The dead spider head in the wall had made a point. However, Shadow had found the desertion of the place oddly... discomforting. So now he was looking in each of the four directions.

North and East didn't seem to hold anything new.... at least not from what he could see. But he was getting a good feeling to the West. He also felt like there was life to the South, but he preferred the feeling to the West.

West it was.

Thankfully, it seemed that the hull was ripped apart to the point that it could easily be climbed down. Shadow, after jumping past a few areas and climbing using the handholds for the most part, made it to the ground with a slight thud. Laying his scythe across his shoulder, he began to run towards the West, in hopes of finding something useful...

And perhaps someone who knew what the hell they were doing.
 
“You have summed me up rather correctly,” the Mage smiled, rather impressed. “Interesting little trick you have there. I could have used your help earlier. The name is Ciridan, Ciridan Nenmacil. Well met.” He looked down at the tiger, “I mean you no harm” he said then looked back towards Alexander. “I suppose I will be joining you, then. Any kind of company that isn’t trying to kill me is fine by me, and a sense of navigation is always welcome.”
 
Eleanor continued traipsing further into the cemetery, heading east with no end in sight. Her eyes tried to scan ahead for any sign of danger, seeing as whatever had dug that savage tunnel and left the bones in the wall was dangerous, assuming the bones weren't the remains of those left here after they had died.

There were only more graves ahead, and a thick fog was setting in, making it harder to see both ahead and the way she had come. A chill set in her arms and legs, and she gritted her teeth against it, wrapping her clothes tighter around herself to preserve what little heat she had. These weren't the sort of clothes she should have been wearing so late at night-especially when it was so cold. She needed to find a shelter, or a friendly homeowner...and get some sleep. Yes, that was her first priority.
 
"You may find my company to not be the best suited for anyone but the animals and my methods are a touch unorthodox so bear with me. As it was. I was divining whether or not to enter into the keep. Sol seems to believe that there is something in there."

"Whether or not there is, I don't know, but this is the first castle I've seen. Whether its the one in that note or not I don't know. But it may also have a clue to what is going on. I find it hard to believe someone is just playing around with us."

Alexander looked to each side as though someone were listening.

"I don't know where we are but there are odd things. Things like this."

With those words he pulled out the odd pendant he had found at the temple.

"It doesn't look like some simple piece of jewelry; it was made for a reason. I don't know what, but it hink we may find more in the keep. Or at least Sol thinks so."
 
Never's exit from the library was all but normal. The boy came to learn that this place in which he was in had seemed awfully quiet. There was no noise echoing about anywhere. All he could hear was his own deep shallow breathing, his own footsteps, and his own objects within his purple cloak clacking around together as he walked. He was truly alone in this place. His competitors were nowhere within his sights.

Never looked north and could see a town. He wanted to explore. There had to be someone who could point him in the right direction. He still had no answer as to why he was in this competition. What if all of the players were criminals somehow? What if they were being kept hostage? Either way Never would have to find a way to break out. There had to be a way to settle what was going on without mindlessly killing/fighting others in the process.

As Never took more steps westward he had reached a street. This road was long and winded through houses and buildings alike. Never could see nothing, not a soul in sight. "Hello?" He called out into the town.

Just like he expected there was no answer. No reply back to him only made the boy shiver. Never never liked to be alone at times like this. It made his uneasy and a bit lonely. But pushing his own feelings aside he would have to find someone to help him. Never ran through the streets of a suburban looking neighborhood.

It was interesting to see the scenery around him change from rows of books to outside of a building to a neighborhood. The homes were made of brick from what Never could tell and the lawns were neatly kept. It was an odd site to see an abandoned town like this so neatly manicured. Never stopped running to catch his breath. The sky was bright and blue and the brightness shining was almost overwhelming.

"This has got to be oddest place I've traveled to so far."Never said in an exhausted voice.

He took a walk to one of the homes. This one was a big house and it looked different from the rest. This home had Blue shutters and a blue door to match. It's lawn was greener compared to the yards of the other homes and it's brick looked red, only it was not worn out, it had to have been fresh brick that had not been worn from weathering. Never went up to the front door of the house which was large enough for two to enter at the same time unless one was obese. "I wonder if anyone's home." Never said as he rang the doorbell.
 
Shadow was comfortable in cemeteries. He really was. It allowed him access to the spirits of those long dead, and he was taught more by them then anyone else. The chill emanating from farther ahead was a bit eerie. Shadow's grip tightened on his scythe as he walked carefully among the gravestones... that had no names?

Shadow walked closer to one and inspected it. It had writing... but it seemed to be constantly shifting, as if refusing to tell what it has. Slightly annoyed, Shadow turned away and continued walking forward, keeping his scythe at the ready. It was bad enough that he couldn't see that well in front of him due to the fog... but Shadow didn't mind. He was used to the fog.

Less so when he saw a figure in the fog.

Shadow's scythe moved slightly, so it was perfectly in position to swing.

"Who's there?"

This was called out as Shadow stared at the figure. Out of the corner of his eyes, he also noticed something tall... a tower? It was black, and it seemed to get chillier around as he noticed it.

OOC: I leave it to Diar to initiate bone wave thingy. Full permission to god-mod me with bone wave so we don't waste posts getting over there.
 
(OOC: Short, sweet, and the the point.)



Ciridan looked as the piece of Jewelry for a few seconds. It seemed simple enough, but in this place nothing could be taken for granted. Nothing was what it seemed. “Well, I did come to this keep for the sole purpose of exploring it. By all means, come along.” Said Ciridan, as he walked towards the keep, eager to explore it. He didn’t know what he would find inside, but he was excited all the same.
 
Eleanor rubbed her right hand against her left arm nervously, eyes alert. She had been drowsy at best when she had woken up here, but now she was on high alert, every sense in overdrive, and unpleasantly prickling goosebumps raising on her limbs and neck as the cold intensified. This wasn't easing her caution.

The graves appeared to be thinning out a little, for even as Eleanor continued moving, the ground was getting rougher; less sleek. She almost missed the cleanliness of that place of death she was now leaving in her wake.

Almost.

Her surroundings were getting definitively different. A dark tint had gathered in some parts of the air, but there was a cold blue tint for the most part, representing the plummeting temperature like some corrupted aurora permanently active.

However, that was the least of her concerns, for there was a tower in the distance, a cast dark spire that practically radiated repulsion. Every nerve in her body told her to move away, but her feet clearly didn't want her to move, or they would have obeyed her mind's instructions by now. It wasn't that she was afraid. She was simply in awe of the construct before her, and she didn't seem to have the energy to move just now. The tower had frozen her, and that increased her distaste even further.

"Who's there?"

The voice, a sign of life other than herself in this place, was enough to tear her eyes away from the tower in the distance to a figure not far away from herself. Her eyes immediately narrowed, and she wrapped her arms around herself, and was about to ask not to be approached- at least until she could verify the newcomer's identity- when yet another distraction dragged her eyes away.

She hadn't noticed the bones littering the ground; broken pieces of what was once human scattered haphazardly around what had become a desolate wasteland. The fact that she had noticed the tower but not the wreckage of bone disturbed her, not that she would show such emotion with another here.

But that was not what had drawn her attention. There was an odd rattling sound, like solid objects clattering off one another, and her eyes darted alertly from side to side, looking to the north, the south, the east...

And the west, from which a huge white and brown something was hurtling towards her and the newcomer to this barren world. A low howl echoed across the plain, and a deep rumbling sounded from beneath Eleanor's feet, vibrating as if in response to this barbaric cry.

As the thing in the distance got closer, Eleanor had a sudden and jarring revelation. That it wasn't going to stop for them. It was a wave of bone, gathering up the bones littering the plain to add to its mass. And they were next.

All Eleanor could do was take a huge, gulping intake of breath before the tsunami of rotting, marrowless bone hit her, knocking the breath she hadn't held right out through her nose and mouth, and causing a burning, sharp pain to make her grunt in pain with the last of her breath, ravaging her throat, lips and nostrils like heated razorblades.

Forcibly turned over and under by the array of bones, she felt like a rag doll, unable to control the movements of this bizarre force of nature smothering her, enticing her to join them, lending her own bones to the growing mass of this unstoppable thing. She couldn't even see the one who had interrupted her thoughts a moment ago. She couldn't worry for him now though. She had to focus on not giving into the encroaching darkness; the hot black spots dancing and flickering in front of her eyes.

And then it was suddenly over, and she was on her back, staring up at the night sky, taking in short breaths, glad for the privilege of oxygen flowing through her lungs again. Within seconds, she was back to normal, aside from a few scratches on her arms and legs; dripping dark scarlet. However, they were shallow. Nothing serious; for now at least.

Getting onto her knees, she looked up to see the tower, surrounded by an immense fence of reinforced iron, like some ancient Victorian construct. Stone pillars bound the barred, spiked creations of metal and molten heat together.

Looking around, she saw her fellow human nearby, and stood up shakily, looking around for any sign of the bone wave, but it seemed to have either vanished or moved on, dropping them by the wayside on its journey.

As she stood, another howl ripped through the sky, and the ground in front of her erupted in a cataclysm of dust and bone, a chill worse than any she had felt yet setting her skin into a cold sweat, beginning to freeze before the droplets could even flow. Similarly the blood on her skin began to freeze into coarse droplets of scarlet.

And before her eyes was an abomination, an alchemical disaster of blue bone, surrounded by a chill that only seemed to expand as the four legged, four skulled creature of bone completed its ascent from the ground.

Looking around her as its shallow, rasping breaths continued the outflux of chilling air, she caught sight of something glimmering a short distance away from her, and she slowly moved towards it, before picking it up in one hand. A rapier. Known as a weapon of elegance and grace. It was a little heavy, but not so much as to make her uncomfortable.

And it was then that she finally noticed the spike through her shoulder. She gasped softly, and tentatively reached out a finger to touch it, but then something told her not to; that this thing was something to be left alone for now.

"Defilers..."

The voice echoed in her head, as though she was thinking it rather than directly hearing it, but she could not have imagined such a voice. It was raspy, cold, and dead. Toneless, as though the creature was just a construct rather than an actual array of eroded carrion.

"Those who would tread upon this grave will be cleansed by coldflame."

Something awoke in her when she heard those words, and she narrowed her eyes, lips parting slightly. Yes. This felt familiar alright. Natural even. So it would cleanse her, would it? Something like that couldn't hope to take her out. She was Eleanor Rose. She would not go down so easily.

Yes, this was familiar. This was right.

Swiping her sword through the air and standing to the side with one foot and one arm facing the creature of cold bone, her sword was pointing away from the creature, but this was her battle stance. She wouldn't be cleansed. Not that easily. Staring at the atrocity in front of her, she spoke for the first time. "I hope you know how to fight," she said softly, not disclosing whether or not she was talking to the construct or to her fellow human.
 
Jamie watched in remote revulsion as the basilisk's upper jaw splint into four divisions, saliva coating the inside of its cotton-white mouth in a sticky wet sheen. It wanted to ingest them and liquefy them for dinner. She recalled reading in her now deceased master's library that the basilisk's stomach acids were strong enough to liquefy bone, marrow, and all. No skeletons of its victims were ever spat back out.

Chronos whinnied, stirring up dark brown dust in a fine display of bravery. The stalwart horse reared on its hind legs and tossed its head back, baring its teeth and pinkish gums as if to challenge its much more intimidating opponent. Fingering the cooled metal of the antiquated mysterious blade, the young parent-less girl tightened her grip on the Adamantine plated hilt. Then in a hesitant display of desperation, plunged the sword into the softest part of the basilisk's underbelly. It shrieked deafeningly, whipping its bladed tail around with the intention of smacking Jamie off her loyal steed.

"Blimey, damn beastie!"

She barely banked left before narrowly avoiding the vicious blade as it rend her cheek. She lifted up a tremulous hand to touch the droplets of bright blood blooming from the fresh cut. Clutching at the saddle in a panicked frenzy, she just managed to regain her seating on the horse. Sanguine and salty like sea water, the cloying smell was odoriferous enough to sicken her. Ignoring the fluttering of her bowels, she swallowed down the bile rising up in the column of her throat and pressed on. Green blood oozed out of the vicious legendary creature's molting skin. What was previously a bright azure tint dulled to a flat indigo hue. The shed skin peeled off in flaky strips and disgusted Jamie even more.

To add more issues to the list of burgeoning worries, night fall was fast approaching. To the north the tiles had shifted displaying a paved roadway out of the small plain town. She knew that she needed to head there. But first she needed to slay this damn thing.

"Chronos, work wit' me 'ere!"

She urged the horse to press onward, circling the basilisk yet her judgment was erred as the snake wrapped its coiled body and constricted around Chronos. The horse frightened beyond belief reared its head back and shook Jamie off. Landing on the ground in a disheveled heap she quickly traced the proper characters into her dagger, willing for time to speed up. Her movements accelerated, her breath quickened, her pulsations were mere rapid little flutters, and Chronos struggled in a painfully tangible quickness.

Regaining hold of the saddle's straps, she pulled herself up exhaustively, slumping over the horse's body, and barely managed to lift her weapon up. Slicing the head off of the basilisk in a lightning speed, Jamie took no heed of the green blood spattered across her shirt front and speckling her face. She'd clean up later, for right now she needed to get the hell out of this town.
 
"Hey- let go of me!" Rouge shouted. She instantly took out Snake of Eden and had stabbed the hand that had gotten a grip around her ankle. She felt it loosen a little bit, and it gave her the moment to shake out of it's grasp. It was a dreadful sight to say the least. She noticed blue blood had flowed out of the area where she stabbed the hand, and although it may have let go of her ankle, it was still moving around, searching for a spot on the ground to push against tightly. Unfortunately, Rouge's troubles weren't over as she spotted the other hand sprout out of the dirt in an instant, preparing itself to bring it's owner out of the ground. If this were the only fiend left that Rouge had to take care of, she would have had no problem; however, there were actually two - no, three more sets of decomposing hands spawning out of the ground, making her surrounding. All of them eventually had their whole bodies begin to crawl out of the sand, the faces of death being exposed to the bright sunlight.

Rouge was stuck at the very center of their circle as they had then completely come out of the ground, howling out cries of lust for blood - and seeing that she was the only living thing around, she was their immediate target. She was aware that they were being brought alive by some kind of invisible force - what it was, she wasn't aware of - but she would have to weaken the corpses down before cutting off the psychic bond between them all. The first one she faced she was pretty sure was going to rip the spike out of her body if she hadn't acted quick, so she was going to have to act faster than ever with a group of them. No time for thinking - just act. Rouge quickly put away her venomous dagger, despite the blood of a cadaver still stained on it, but that was the least of her concern. She pulled out both Malady and Acrimony now and held it in front of her, and without a second to waste, she began to go trigger happy on the zombies, firing non-stop at each body until they were all screaming from the shots and possibly in a fallen position. She had continued firing for at least 5 seconds before she examined the corpses' conditions. There couldn't be any way for them to attack now, which gave her the immediate upper hand.

She knelt down on one knee and brought her fingers to her fingers before closing her eyes deep in concentration. She imagined a line that was outlining an invisible barrier around her and her targets before releasing an astral bomb, obliterating any invisible forces that were within the telepathic circle she created. The fiends around her had shrieked out from the pain of her attack, and Rouge watched as they one by one fell to the ground - whether to the side or flat on their front. She had then fell on both needs and breathed heavily trying to catch her breath, for it was rare that she had to use a method like that in battle, so it took a bit of her own energy to initiate. Whatever those things were, they were dead for good now, but Rouge knew now that this would be a dangerous world to roam in on her own. Whoever the others were that were trapped within it with her, she would more than likely have to look for them so that she could at least have some assistance. Finding - and defeating - the Chained One was probably going to make the battle with the ghouls look like child play.

For now, the only thing she could do now was to head for the city she was originally going to before she was interrupted. After taking a few more breathes, she had stood up on both legs and brushed them off, looking around to give one more glimpse to the corpses. And stay down. She thought, almost as if she knew that they could hear her. On that note, she began running once more - running towards the town that would hopefully have clues in solving this enigma.
 
[Skeleton Construct]

The construct held out an arm, the bones that made it up not indistiguishable. In it gathered more bones to form a gigantic axe that radiated the freezing cold just liek the construct. It began to burn with the same blue fire than covered the construct.

"You shall not defile my master's tomb..."

Grasping the axe's haft with both of its bony claw-liek hands, it brought the weapon down upon Eleanor in a great overhead smash.

"kill her... we need her... the power hidden away..."

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[Alexander]

Several steps behind Ciridan, Alexander followed with the jewelry pocketed, Sol only a few more behind him, warily looking to the sides. The interior of the crystal castle was darker, still made of crystal but black. The sun shown through from both holes in the crystal and through clear panes of crystal. In places where there were none, there hung crystal orbs that shimmered with a dim light.

It seemed to be furnished like any other sort of castle, obscenely extravagant and unneccessary; everything was mad eof crystal. The opulence would have made Alexander sick if it weren't for the fact that he had gotten used to that sort of thing already. The oddest thing though was that there seemed to be sign showed where to go.

Somehow applied to the wall, they denoted thedirection of the foyer, the lavatory, the west wing kitchen, everything. Then came an interesting one. They had come to a four way corridor with sign tellign them thaqt to the east was an armoury, the west was a library and the north was a library.

"Hmm...which way do you think?" he asked aloud, not making any distiction to whom he was speaking to.

In truth he wasn't speaking to anyone but had pulled out his deck of tarot cards and was now shuffling them. The three options were all lucrative. In a place where no one seemed to be surely there was someone sitting on the throne? But there was also information in the library. On what he didn't know; but it could be useful. The armoury might hold other useful things.

He drew a card, at least he thought he drew a card; he had drawn two instead: the Magician and the Six of Swords. Interesting. The Six of Sword denoted cooperation and diplomacy- probably in relation to Ciridan. But it also dealt with travel and future directions, more often than not across water. Maybe they would be sailing soon? But its other portent, of radical dislocation, summed up the entire place. Yanked here from his home...

The Magician pointed towards the library-education. But maybe magic as well. He had already assumed The Hermit was a mage. The library would interest him more than likely. Maybe he could even find out why he could do these sorts of things with tarot cards.

There was somethign else too. A position of advantage... What did it mean?

(OOC: Ringo, PM with your decision and I'll tell you what you need to know.)
 
“Hmm… which way do you think?” Alexander asked. Ciridan already knew the answer to that question before it was asked. “When in doubt, go to the library,” he replied. Ciridan then turned down the western path. Just as he expected, even the door to the library was made out of crystal. It looked to be quite heavy, but Ciridan wasn’t about to turn back due to a heavy door. Using his wind magic, he blew the doors open. It was a little loud, but the keep seemed empty enough. The odds of him upsetting someone over that were slim to none.

As the doors flew opening, Ciridan had already begun making observations. There were, of course, shelves everywhere. Each of them filled with tomes. As he walked into the library, he noted that they were all tomes on magical energy. The subject of which had Ciridan rather excited. There were different sections clearly marked for different type. There was elemental, natural, and quite a few others. To top it all off, there was even a section titled “miscellaneous”.

However, the thing that had Ciridan’s interest captured the most was the pedestal with the open book on it. Without a doubt, he was going to read it. However, there was a window with a spyglass near the top of the tower. Climbing up there, he looked into it. He was amazed at the magnification on it, he could see another castle in the far off distance. However, this one was made of gold. There was a small town in front of it, and he could see what appeared to be two people there as well.

Suddenly, Ciridan had to make a choice. He could either stay here and do some research, or he could make a trip to that castle. There was the option of taking a few tomes, but his bag wouldn’t fit much more into it.

Turning down to Alexander, he asked, “What would you rather have us do? Would you like to stay here, and perhaps do some research? Or go check out that other castle? I’ll leave it up to you. I’m far too indecisive at the moment.”
 
Never was never one to intrude into people's homes, but this one was a different occasion. He was playing a game, a rather dangerous one, and he would need to find anything so that he could escape. There was no answer at the door, only silence. Pushing the doorknob Never was not surprised to see the door freely swing open.

The air was different in this home. For it smelled a bit stale and the layout only gave an eerie feel to it. From the inside Never could see a staircase leading to an upper floor. Never stayed upon the bottom floor of this house and walked along a hall further in. His heart jumped at the sight of what he saw in the dining area of this house. A skeleton sitting down in a chair, it's frame in the position of playing an instrument. Never couldn't figure out which instrument but though it looked odd.

Another skeleton sat in a room next to the dining area in a position so as to be reading a book. The book's pages looked fresh, but Never payed it no mind. "What is this?" Never gasped in surprise.

Not only did these dead things frighten him but they made this game even more frightening now more than ever. Never ran back towards the door in fear that the skeletons may come alive. From what he had experienced in the past never could honestly say that he had a fear of the undead. he turned to look upstairs. he knew that the same would be found in upper floors: Skeletons of humans eerily standing around. Never took a nervous step toward the staircase. He then took another, and another, slowly rising into the upper floors of the large house.

Never took a gulp looking down the halls. He spotted a big door. The door was as big as the front door. Maybe this was where he would have to go in order to find something to get him out of this game. He walked down the hall, closing his eyes every time he walked past a room with an open door. He glanced to his right and accidentally saw a pink room and a skeleton with a brush in it's had and it's arms above it's head in a position of brushing. Never shut his eyes completely now,rushing to the giant door.

A thud against the big door at the end of the hall left a bruised arm and a notification that Never had reached his destination: All he wanted to know. He opened it slowly and entered. The first thing that he saw was a pedestal with a blue orb upon it. It shimmered light blue and never was drawn to it's presence. Behind the pedestal however was a frightening nightmare of a huge skeleton with it's arm outstretched, just barely gettin at the blue orb. Never hadn't noticed the skeleton, but when he did is mouth let out a clear, brief audible scream that could be heard from even outside the giant house.
 
[Alexander]

"Another castle?" came the incredulous voice.

Alexander made his way up the spiral staircase to the large platform at the top of the tower, Sol awaiting him at the foot. Peering through the spyglass once he got there, he saw what Ciridan has described and even more. There was a town near that castle too. And miniscule figures were roaming around there. Two of them it seemed. Other players.

"Did you see the other two players running around there? Seems like they've teamed up as well. One the two of us could handle. Two we would need to observe what they can do before we make our move. SO I think we should stay here in our position of advantage. Or at least until we've taken what we can from here."
 
(OOC: Cue scary music.)

The run to another location was thankfully shorter than Rouge was expecting. If she had to go through anymore desert land, she would have been more than exhausted at this point. But as she predicted, the new venue she was exploring was in fact an old town; but the majority of it looked abandoned. Rouge had stayed quiet, even tried to limit the sound of her breathing, and she didn't even hear any wildlife wandering around. The feeling was very eerie, and too quiet. Rouge walked through the streets, where her vision was somewhat foggy, but clear enough to see. Most of the homes looked as if they've been around for quite some time now - like that oasis that she had been exploring in before. What was it about the world she was in where everything seemed ancient? The only way she'd find out where she was was to look around some more.

Rouge had checked some, no - several houses to look any anything mysterious about their structure. She studied the pattern of some of the designs put on them, and she would rub the texture of some of the materials used to build the houses. It had felt very brittle as some parts of wood and stone looked as if they've started decaying not too long ago. She would then check the doors, and to her dismay, many of them were locked - which aggravated her a little bit. She stepped back to the center of the abandoned road, looking around at her surroundings more strictly. The library that she had seen from a distance was a few yards behind her, and it was the biggest building in the area. She had thought foolishly not to check there first of all places, but she would check it out now.

However, before she could make two steps to her next destination, something else caused a disturbance. In fact, if it wasn't so quiet outside, she probably couldn't have heard it. Barely traveling through sound barriers was the sound of a scream - a terrified shriek at that, and from the tone of voice, it sounded like it was coming from...a kid.

There's a kid here!? Rouge thought, clearly puzzled. The scream had come from one of the homes, one that she had surprisingly ignored. The other realization that Rouge came to was that the kid could have possibly been one of the players in this game.There didn't seem to be any other life forms around here, and if there were - they turned out to either be animals or a threat; judging from what she had encountered so far. Rouge immediately headed towards the house where the sound was coming from, surprised to find out that this door was unlocked as well. Strange. She thought. Reaching in her belt loop to pull out the Snake of Eden and then stepping through the door, she entered into the mysterious house as she closed the door behind her.

There wasn't a source of light within the corridors, but light shining through some of the windows had been enough to see her surroundings. There was a table sitting in one of the main halls with a small plaque on it. What was weird about it was that it didn't look like it was aging at all; it actually looked like it was recently polished. 'Welcome To Lead Shelter' it read. So this place could have possibly been a home to someone in the past, but right now, it was just a shelter. Rouge quickly strode through the halls to track down the other person within the shelter. She had made a stop at some point, to see that she had reached a room where skeletons were motionlessly positioned. Her grip on her dagger had tightened slightly as she examined one that was placed to look like it was playing the violin. There was another that looked like it was trying to listen to whatever had been played before - bony hands crossed through each other so that the skull rested the chin on them. It was like seeing a scene that had been halted in time, yet the aging process of whoever these skeletons were before hadn't stopped.

It was a strange sight to say the least, and Rouge didn't linger too long to find out the meaning behind what she had seen. She had found a stairway several feet from the room she was in, and so she had began walking towards wherever the stairs led, beginning to feel her heart rate quicken. The second floor was build like a large rectangle, there being several doors in different directions to explore. Rouge decided that it would be quicker to glance into each room to find the kid. She was fast at the task, quickly opening each door and only looking around for a brief second as her mind was set to find another human body within visible range. So far, most of the rooms were bedrooms, studies, or bathrooms - yet she couldn't seem to find anyone else besides her within the area. Had it been a hallucination? Rouge walked back over to the center of the room and placed one of her elbows on the opposite hand, tapping her chin nervously with her free hand as she went deep into thought of how mysterious this place seemed. But as she started to think, she could feel something trying to get through her head.

...Help...me..

The message had started Rouge out of her thinking state as she looked around the room. No one was around, and the voice hadn't echoed through the room. There was telepathic energy in here, and someone - or something was calling out to her.

...Help...me..

Rouge figured that calling out to it wouldn't do any good. The only way to find out who the voice was coming from was to send a message back.

What's happening? Who are you?

...Help...me..

That didn't work out as planned. As the voice began to sound more dreaded the second time around, Rouge had noticed a door at the other end of the hallway that she hadn't noticed before. It was a set of double doors, and they looked as big as the entrance that she had walked through. Rouge examined the other differences on how it looked compared to the other doors, and she knew she had no choice but to look there next. Re-tightening the grip on the Snake of Eden and holding it to her side, she had began to walk towards the double doors. It felt like her adrenaline had gotten a boost, so she was just as suspicious to find out what was inside of the room as she was anxious. As she placed her hand on the knob, the voice had once again invaded her mind.

...Help...me.....

This time, the words had gone through her head more sharply. Whatever was giving her this message must have been in this room. Forcing herself to take action, she immediately twisted the knob so the door would open, and Rouge stood in her place as she quickly scanned what was inside. Her eyes widened as she found who the scream came from. It was a male, as she could have guessed, but he didn't seem like he was a kid - unlike how he sounded. In fact, he looked like he was around her age, but not quite as old as Rouge was. Regardless, he looked terrified of whatever else was inside, but first Rouge wanted to be sure he was alright.

"Are you alright..?!" She asked him, but nearly at the same time, something else caught her eye. Her gaze had shifted to what looked a crystal orb sitting on a pedestal. It was glowing a bright ocean blue color, and the sight of it was nearly mesmerizing. Both of her eyebrows furrowed as she nearly felt like her mind was being sucked into the orb, but she tried to stay aware of what was present as possible. She saw something behind the pedestal, and her eyes had slowly narrowed to whatever it was her vision could make out. Sitting behind the pedestal was another skeleton, it's hand reached out far towards the orb. Rouge wasn't sure what was happening, but the telepathic bond in this room was so strong, she could have cut it with scissors and she would feel the disturbance. As if on cue, something had shot through the bond and once more into Rouge's head; only this time, the effect was not as pleasant.

...Help...me..

Unaware that she had dropped her dagger, Rouge shot the hand that was holding it before to her forehead, crying out not from fear - but from pain.​
 
Never gasped as he heard noises from the floor below. There had to have been someone nearby. Maybe one of the skeletons came alive? He thought in fear.

Never could just picture the bony figure slowly dragging itself across the hall towards the room. He stood in his tracks nearly petrified until the footsteps of the other person in the house came closer. Under his purple cloak Never grasped the Ever sword in a tight, firm grip, readying for a strike if need be. "Are you alright..?!"

A woman had come through the door. She had to have been older than him and she looked nicer than an undead skeleton crawling out to get him. He smiled a bit in reply "Um, nah I'm just fine!" He spoke, for his fear had left him once company arrived.

The lady was attractive, and seemed to not want to "eliminate" other players as the disembodied voice in his head had informed him at the start of the game. Just then within that moment the woman droped her dagger and had began to cry out as if in pain. "What? What is it?" Never said looking around.

He noticed her gaze at the blue orb from before and ran towards the pedistal. "Is it this?" Never said as he grabbed the blue orb from it's holding place. "What's wrong lady?"

Never had never seen a woman in this state before. So as a way to ease her pain Never sttempted to bash the blue orb against a wall nearby.
 
Please...you must..help me...

The headache had become excruciating. Rouge heard the boy say something earlier, but she didn't completely make out what was said. Probably confirming that he was alright, but she didn't pay too much attention. The pain had forced her down on one of her knees, suddenly feeling an influx of thoughts. Though it was nothing like how she felt during the battle with the corpses in the desert, she didn't want this feeling to go on for too long. She could see numerous visions in her head, but they were all flashing in her mind too quickly for her to make out what any of them were.

"What? What is it?" She heard the other person ask. It was like the situation she was in before had been reversed. She could hear concern in his voice, and she wanted to assure him that it wasn't anything out of her control. The only thing was that it felt like it. She had used more telepathy within a few hours than she probably should have, and it was wearing her out. "Is this it? What's wrong lady?"

She glanced up at him for a brief moment, seeing the orb in his hand. Whatever was happening to her, it must have been because of that orb. Rouge then saw something he did that she wasn't expecting him to do. He smashed the orb hard against the wall, and it had shattered into several pieces, blue light reflecting off the shards. Somehow as she looked into one of the pieces, one of images in her head had slowed down so that it wasn't being cut off by a new one each second. She could see much of what was happening in it since the vision was very dark. She could only make out a hand laying on the ground, and it looked like it was holding lightly onto some kind of charm. The noises were a blur, but Rouge could tell it was a man that was speaking; and he sounded like he was on the verge of death.

You must...help me..- save him....it's the only way...out of...-

The scene had cut off there, and she had gotten a clear vision of reality once more. Her head was no longer hurting, and everything had went quiet; at least everything but the sound of her heavy breathing. That was the strangest thing that she had experienced in her lifetime. Eventually, she felt strong enough to lift herself up from the floor, using the wall as a balance so she wouldn't stumble. She would pick up her dagger later on. Her focus was then brought on the male that stood in front of her.

"I'm...alright now. The pain's gone. Thanks." She said, looking briefly over the shards of the orb. It was odd to see that some of them were still resonating with light. This place definitely wasn't normal. "I heard you scream from outside, so I came to see what happened."

She looked back at the hallway that she came. Not a normal place at all. If she was going to continue to look for clues in this game, she would possibly need this boy's help, especially with what happened a moment ago. With the vision she had just gotten, there had to be something here that was useful. Although the answer may have been clear, she decided to ask the boy anyway, dark purple eyes narrowing over to him. "So, I take it you were put in this game too?"
​


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