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~Devil's Bayou--> Deep Swamp~



~Devil's Bayou --> Swamp~

Vereor smiled down at those before him-- Soryuju included--, his golden eyes surveying the collage of warriors and travelers that had come to pay tribute. Different castes, different colors, even different species had all coalesced in the ruins.

"I am merely acting as a host-- an usher for the first act," he responded, answering Soryuju's question and, in a round-about way, Kuroda's. "You will bear witness to the first unveiling of the Conclave of Ruination. The true maestro, our Superior, the Transcendent Tyrant, has brought us all here to set into motion the events that will alter the fabric of our universe forever!"

"And now, every piece is in place."

Vereor turned to the side, motioning for all below to look behind him; there, hovering above a large, multi-layered glyph of magic energy, was a hooded man, his cloak sleeves ripped at the shoulders, his arms crossed and head down as if in contemplation. Only, a moment after all eyes turned to him, the shadow hiding his face was illuminated by his glowing yellow eyes, crackling with stored energy.

"The time has come. The balance shall be restored-- gods shall be made as men, and men shall ascend as gods," he said, his deep baritone resonating eerily with the ruined hall. "Power shall be granted to those deserving..."

"... with the gathering of the Keys."

The glyphs beneath Kyozuto glimmered for the briefest moment, and as if jolted with pain, the Living Doorknob gasped, eyes wide open at the man between himself and the others.

"A heart of whitest gleam-"

Without warning, Kuroda would have stood upright and stiff, finding himself unable to move, let alone speak; his body hovered off of the ground and floated so that it was just above Kyozuto, facing the group.

"A heart of blackest pitch-"

From within Vereor's cloak (and much to his surprise, as his face conveyed with a look of mild confusion), a white drama mask, its conveyed expression a demented, wild smile, flew toward Kuroda, taking its place snugly over his face.

"A font of life and vitality-"

A small sphere (which Aiko would immediately recognize as the item that granted her immortality) fluttered from within Kyozuto's cloak and hovered around for a few moments before soaring toward Kuroda, hovering over his right shoulder.

"A font of death and decay-"

Once more from the group, an item soared out of its owner's grasp; this time, it was the tome of necromantic magic that Nymira carried with her, which she had taken from Maleficent's abode. The book flew toward Kuroda and hovered just above his left shoulder, pages lightly flowing back and forth.

"A token of the White Sentinel-"

Despite Soryuju's tight grip, his spear flew from his hand (much to his outrage), soaring directly into Kuroda's right hand.

"A token of the Black Harbinger-"

Now it was a Conclave member's turn to forfeit something-- Fal'Navi's tome, detailing his Dragon God, flew from him and into Kuroda's left hand, held against his side.

"Seven Stars, their Hearts Most Bright-"

Kyozuto spread his arms now, and from his open palms came six glimmering hearts, visibly larger in size than the average mortal heart; behind him, the Living Doorknob once more gasped, only this time his mouth was forced open wider than seemed comfortable. From within, though few were close enough to see, light glimmered in the form of a Keyhole, which shattered, letting free another larger-than-average Heart. All seven hovered up to Kuroda, where they slowly revolved, vertically and clockwise.

"And Man's Determination made Manifest-"

Finally, Fortuna would have felt her False Key soar away from her, hovering directly in front of Kuroda, the tip of the key pointing toward his chest.

"The Balance shall be restored, and with it, the Keys to the Kingdom shall be freed."

Suddenly, the amalgamation of items (and Kuroda) began to glow with contrasting auras of Light and Darkness, white and black, all fluctuating back and forth, as if trying to counteract each other, until finally their energies began to accumulate, swirling directly over Kuroda's chest in the form of a Keyhole, outlined in white and filled with black.

"Rejoice."

The Keyblade stabbed into the Keyhole, and in that brief moment, there was a pulse of energy-- causing everyone, friend of foe, to black out.

For some, it may have seemed like an instant; for others, an eternity. However, reality was restored soon enough, and what was witnessed would likely remain cemented in memory for the rest of their lives.

Indeed, what they witnessed at that moment was a universal paradigm shift.

The Bizarre Ruins were no more-- at least, not as they'd originally been. The corrupted rubble had been altered once again, leaving them all in a massive, circular chamber, the floor's checker pattern still in place. There was no cliff and there were no balconies; everyone and everything was on even ground now, near the edges of the room. The walls of the room looked like ancient marble, colored by a plethora of gray hues. There were archways, each open and leading out of the room-- though where was uncertain, as all were large Corridors of Darkness.

The second-most noticeable detail, however, was the lack of ceiling. The sky of Wonderland was visible, but it was not clear; black and violet clouds covered the opening, and hovering high in the sky, much like any lost world, was a massive, spherical Dark Hole, consuming all sorts of rubble from the rest of the world.

Everyone, to their surprise, was still standing, despite the loss of consciousness. Those that had been with the Conclave were on one side, and those who had come to see them were on the other. Kuroda stood among his peers yet again, as if he'd never been moved. All the items that had been taken were back with their respective owners... except Vereor's mask, which had vanished entirely.

They might attempt to look around, to notice their change in surroundings, but their gaze would likely be fixed upon the most noticeable detail.

In the center of the room, hovering a few meters above the ground, was a swirling mass of energy, colored pure White and Black, like a Yin and Yang in constant conflict. After a few moments, this mixture began to grow, but not uncontrollably-- it seemed to take the form of a massive Keyhole, the White Energy surrounding the Black Energy, despite the Black's obvious frustration. However, there was a noise, distinct throughout the sound of rustling wind and rubble.

It was a single click.

The Keyhole erupted with energy, and numerous black and white projectiles soared outward, over everyone's heads, and blasting straight through the marble walls, heading for lands unknown. All that was left were the two conflicting energies, White and Black, still conflicting...

Only now, these energies had taken somewhat-humanoid forms as they soared at near-blinding speeds. They rushed at one another as if to collide, only to deflect off into another direction, at which point they would turn back toward each other. And with each 'collision', there was a very distinguishable, metallic 'clang'. This seemed to go on for a few moments before, finally, the two entities didn't return for one another. They hovered at the edges of the room, the Black over the Conclave and the White over the others, and merely stared at one another.

They could be seen holding blades of some sort, but they, too, were made of energy, and the details were unclear.

The Black Entity chuckled, and though the White Entity seemed to tense, getting ready to launch forward again, it hesitated... before soaring off into the sky, avoiding the Dark Hole entirely and vanishing.

The Black Entity, still chuckling, hovered toward the center of the room, lowering itself gently to the floor. As he did so, details began to emerge, his form becoming physical.

His body, from the feet and hands toward his chest, before finally moving up toward his head, manifested itself as a tall man, covered in a black Conclave Cloak, though its lower regions were tattered beyond repair. His head was covered by the hood of the cloak, revealing no details.

Next, the blade began to materialize as well. The tip of the blade formed three long, jagged black teeth that jutted upward; the actual blade was curved, with smaller, hooked teeth lining the length of it, all colored black with a hint of blood-crimson. Finally, the hilt began to manifest, revealing itself to be web-like obsidian structure with a sinister, monstrous face grinning wildly outward, its mouth open to reveal sharp teeth, as if preparing to bite something. Two of the web-extensions drew back over the handle of the blade, and connected to its end was a keychain, the charm upon which was somewhat obscured by the man's cloak.

Last, however, from the shadows of the hood, a face was revealed... but it was not human.

It was a white, ceramic drama mask, its expression one of sadistic glee as he glanced around at those gathered.

[[I still need to recolor the blade, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal.]]

[Fal'navi and Fortuna :: Wonderland :: Bizarre Ruins]

The Keyblade Master woke, seeing the dark creature hanging above her with a wild grin. Fortuna's eyes widened in a wide range of emotion under her helm, her golden orbs seeming to vibrate in awe at the black figure. It had been a very long time since she had sensed that demon; the demon that had caused the destruction of her homeworld, of Darten's homeworld, who had humiliated her in combat. She quickly began making hand seals and released a fire ball towards the blank entity full force.

The Dark Dragoon had awoken from the magical slumber, watching the Keyblade Master prepare a fire spell to attack the demon. The Alvi'anei remembered the dark dragon back on his homeworld, and he immediately released an orb of water that fizzled out the blast.

"Keeper of a key, I would advise you do not attack the entity. It could cause catastrophic events...If the master wants you to attack, you may do so. Wait for orders." The Dragoon stared at the Keyblader, who slowly lowered her arms and shook in a futile attempt to calm her rage.

....Everything started with nothing.

... now hearken the silent cry of joy oh ancient hearts.

.... Hope gives wings to flight in the hearts of those who hear it.

....with it a silent warning of events to come..

Youni was busy assessing all the required adjustments to the ship, taking in the missing hardware, and what needed to be replaced and remade. Like a busy bee she was calculating and making the instructional illustrations on her papers and set them up in a stack order , going from the inside to the outside, and a logical order of priority.

If the others returned with the right materials, Youni would have all her Pictomancy would need to re-craft their gummi ship to at least a working condition again. She scribbled and scribbled unceasingly, eyes never leaving her pages and setting them in a slowly growing stack on her lap, as she sat on a tree root by the wreck site.

When suddenly her scribbling stopped, and her quill fell down rolling into the spine.

Stillness befell the girl as she sat in place, until a shiver ran its course mercilessly through her body from the core out through her farthest extremities. From a glazed expression rose up an almost euphoric look of awe, and her head craned backwards to observe the heavens causing her bangs to fall back and part. The sky reflected in two miss matched eyes, yet one the golden sphere began to softly glow illuminating her face all the more. Her lips parted in a sigh so expressive it was her best to record yet.
A deep and long exhaling.
“-aahhh…it’s…just like... that time…before time.”
She felt- She FELT it all.

Something had changed. The balance of what was, had been disturbed.
It was all around them. Beneath the veil of what was and is, and will be, something was profoundly different! Like feeling the tide shifting all around you. Suddenly her empty heart was assailed by the most wonderful sense of freedom! Like all this time she’d been holding her breath till her chest ached- till she no longer recognized how much it ached, and now- this release. Suddenly able to truly breathe!

She had felt this way before, only in reverse.

This sense of freedom- being ruthlessly taken away. It was over.
It was over now! Whatever it was it was over and now…and the universe was moving back into place.

“...could it really be? The beginning of true balace?”

For the second time since she first began in this form, Youni wept. Tears fell down her cheeks as this joy… this..hope. Yes! That was the light.

The nameless something, within the nothing inside her heart.

This was what this feeling was waiting for. Hope. And Hope reached out to this sign as if it had been waiting forever for it, and it held this event fast against it so it could grow and stretch its influence wider inside this cocoon. Inside Youni’s slowly developing heart. And yet that wasn’t all that came with it. Something else accompanied hope, anxiety.

“… it’s beginning.” She said again, her brows creasing as if she suddenly realized what this meant.
Anxiety pushed against her again, reminding her that it was there, and she should not forget it- but Hope was there too, and it caressed her before she could panic. With Hope comforting, and anxiety prodding, Youni needed to move and she sat up right, her pages spilling to the marshy ground. Hastily she began picking them up before they could get dirty and ruined. The glowing of her golden eye began to slowly dim once more.

Solaris

Sorry...

...I'll be taking my leave now.

{Devil's Bayou}

As he sat pouring through the manual, absorbing the information, he felt something strange going on. It was an odd feeling, something he hadn't had much experience with, but knew instinctively that it was his heart. Putting the book on his lap, Solaris looked up to the sky and watched as a streak of lights shot out of a single star, before the star itself winked out of existence. What had just happened? Something he couldn't explain just yet, but it was something important. And he wanted to know. And Youni seemed to know.

"What do you mean? What is beginning?" He asked, his curiosity overtaking his shyness and fear. The girl knew something. What had she been talking about? True balance? Between what?

~Devil's Bayou--> Deep Swamp~



~Devil's Bayou--> Swamp~





((OOC--> wink )

"Well, I suppose that concludes today's show," Vereor spoke with a clear tone of amusement as their Superior strolled into a Corridor of Darkness, vanishing from the world as it swallowed him whole and shrank into oblivion. "Xanatos, please dismiss our guests-"

The masked entity turned on the group, his facade seeming Diabolically Happy, and pulled back his hand as if to charge a spell-

"-peacefully."

With a small grumble and the face of Frustration (though they might have been looking at the mask the whole time, they would not have seen any sort of transition; it simply happened instantly), he flung his hand forward toward the group. Though there was no visible spell, the entire group opposing the Conclave was blasted backward by powerful gusts of wind through the dark archways surrounding the platform.

They would have found themselves transported back to their original positions in Wonderland, before the entered the dark portals that led them there. Only now, those portals were gone, sealed shut. The only way to go was back.