Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gabriel scoffed lightly, as if mocking Truinthil for bothering to try and waste his time with another offer. Instead, Gabriel inhaled rather deeply and then exhaled strongly. Oddly, what was produced was nothing but smoke, and within a few seconds Gabriel was almost completely gone from view: smoking all this time had apparently done something to him, so it seemed. The smoke continued to grow in volume and it wasn't certain certain how big Gabriel planned to make it.

Without warning, Gabriel suddenly appeared just a foot behind Truinthil, having used the smoke to shield his teleportation. The instant he appeared, Gabriel brought Ethanvous down almost right on Truinthil's head, trying to slash diagonally from his neck down to his hip and cut the man in half. However, as the blade neared Truinthil's neck, the energy which had gathered around Ethanvous ignited and 'exploded' in an almost shotgun like pattern with five of the aura arrows like which Hama had used at Truinthil. Like the first, these five would probably ricochet off the wall and floor. Gabriel was still putting out smoke on each exhale.

"Hazardous for you maybe." Gabriel commented rather bluntly. He never really cared much about his smoking habit, because that's all it was to him. The five arrows that had been released from his attack indeed ricochetted off the walls, growing more random each time they did so from another wall. Smoke was continuing to limit visibility in the room. Although Gabriel had ceased blowing out the toxic substance, it still seemed to be expanding while retaining its density. Clearly it wasn't just cigarette smoke. Within a minute it would probably almost fill the room.

As one of the arrows ricochetted towards Gabriel, he batted it with his own sword and sent it at high speed towards Truinthil's gut, curious of how he would respond to such a simple attack. At this point, the energy in Ihranthos was contained but radiant.

As Truinthil left, his fate still sealed, Gabriel stood up, his swords powering down and the smoke dissipating. Relaxing his muscles almost instantly, Ethanvous and Ihranthos disappeared from his form. Truinthil's escape would be temporary; there were several ways to track him without directly pursuing him. Also, Gabriel had a promising new weapon-type to explore, Twilight's acquisition from the fight. Twilight would be ready to sortie before Hama's wounds recovered. Gabriel vanished from the combat dome shortly after. "Enough playing around."

A small mote of thought crashes into a mountain range almost halfway across the world from the Citadel. It makes no impact of note, just a puff of dust as it buries itself. Like a stone cast into a pond, psychic ripples flow out calmly from the point for a time, then they too disappear. And so the mote would remain.

Unless someone finds it.

"A better recovery than I had expected. Interesting. Anyway, I suggest you get seated and strapped in. It's going to be a rather rough ride into the cosmos." Truinthil himself was already in the process of strapping into one of the large seats. He had not even pressed a button, but already the rocket had entered a countdown. Another ten seconds and they would be airborne. "Be quick about it. I would hate for you to get injured during the ascent." Five seconds.

The mote didn't stand a chance, being as close to non-sentinent as was possible for a semi-sentient it barely even registered being devoured.

Of course course, being just a mote of thought and emotion, there really wasn't much to the mote as was. It simply melts into what had eaten it and incorporates itself.


To many people, halfway across the globe is quite the distance.

In fact, its usually enough to prevent two beings from ever having contact with one another.

So then imagine if you will, the sheer improbabilty that halfway across the solar system, 2,734 dimensions in reverse spatical existence from Gaia and 29 divisions of time, how four beings could find themselves so intricately tied to a fifth.

Light, omnipotent, bright, and harsher than that of earth. The sun, our sun, lies hugely in the sky. So close that the man and everything else around him should burst in flames. But they do not. In fact, the light isn't as bright as would be expected. It's like a clear summer's day with a little more light

He is standing alone on the edge of a cliff. Behind him stretches a barren wasteland devoid of even the remnants of life. It seems to stretch into eternity and an involuntary shiver crawls through the man as he contemplates going into that endless land. The ground beneath his feet is stable. It is slightly warm, just enough to realize that it should be much hotter at this time of day. The massive sun hangs overhead, slightly to the west; yet the naked stones under his feet are simply warm and not scalding hot.

The air has a rich taste to it, a scent of life and vigor. It is heavy not just with moisture, though laden it surely is, but with the weight of ages. The realization comes without any sudden flash of insight, just a slow dawn of what now seems obvious. There will be no flight here, no extra-physical movement, but not because the man is being held back by any invisible field. No, this is so simply because the place will not allow it. Tradition and ceremony holds sway in this pace, and its presence demands an unwritten code on one's very soul.

The sight before him takes his breath away. The cliff at his feet drops sharply and curves around to outline a massive crater. After the drop it tapers down to a gentle slope and finally onto flat ground. However, it is not the perfectly formed crater that is so stunning. It is what lies within…

The castle, if it can be called that, dominates the area from the middle of the crater. It towers into the sky improbably, a creation flowing with life and brooding with ancient power. Made of gray slate and white granite, marble in red and black, tan limestone and jewels throughout the spectrum. The massive structure is nearly a mile square and nearly two tall. That this fact seems completely improbable doesn't seem to bother the castle as it thrusts into the sky. At its center rises a huge onion dome covered in gleaming mosaic. Its peak seemed to stab huge holes in the cloudless sky. At nine points around the dome's perimeter, ornate fountains cling and shoot water up the tiled roof. The liquid gleams as it runs back down, sluices into channels, and pours from nine waterfalls into floating pools below. The streams descend nine flying buttresses to nine twisting minarets. From there, the waters follows the spiral grooves down to join a wide lake below. The crystal clear lake radiates from the castle like a perfect mirror. Light reflects off it's surface coolly, in complete opposition of the massive sun above. The lake extends only a short way from the castle, spanned by graceful arches made seemingly of purest spun silver with the fragile appearance of glass. Just as water drapes the palace in finery from top to bottom, so does foilage. Hanging gardens fill the castle, brimming with fruit and verdant life. Enormous balconis hold whole glades, palms flourishing amid fields of orchid. Vines trail down to dig their tips in the cool waters. Everywhere, curtains of moss veiled the lower reaches.


Inside the castle, through twisting hallways and massive vaults, past replesent galleries and morbid tombs, lies the oldest and most ancient room in a place full of old and ancient rooms.

It was a room of walls, endless walls without ceiling above or floor below. Lit by pale light that shines from everywhere and nowhere, present without a source.

On one walls lies a door, which opens slowly to reveal the cherubish face of a small child of six. His tosseled blue hair falls into his eyes which he blows away with an irritated upwards puff.

"Master? You wanted to see me?"

The other occupant of the room would strike awe into the hearts of even the most formidable. A man that feels as ancient as time itself, shrouded in layers of brown rags so only his long long snow white eyebrows and beard poke through. Even the man's eyes, hands, and feet are shrouded. Even so, the mere sight of him would bring a god to its knees. He sits cross-legged at the center of the room, the center of this castle, and the center of this plane and this galaxy.



"You weren't paying attention little one."

The man's voice is old and wise, but not notably so. Whatever was so special about his presence was not to be found vocally. Even so, the little boy cringes.

"Yes Master, big big brother was quite clear in telling me so. I'm very sorry."

"Do not worry little one, perhaps this is for the best. We were supposed to let existence take its course do you recall."

"Yes, but, Master, he..."

"Enough little one, what we have done this far is interference enough. The project will stand on its own if at all."

-_-

"Yes Master."

And that.

Two beams in a building don't have much to say to each other.

Though the mote did taste yummy.