Welcome to Gaia! ::

Erebus was completely lost and separated from his friends; he had no idea where Llyr and Pachua had disappeared to once he had stepped back into the building. Or whatever this... structure had become.

Maybe if he managed to get to the top, he would find them again. He did hope that everyone was alright, despite the agency being uprooted by the sudden growth of the spires.

It was a beautiful garden-like place with huge colorful pools. For a while, Erebus wandered around, wondering where the exit was, but soon stumbled upon the sign.

...Apparently he had to drink four times from the pools.

He stepped up to the green one, and cupped his hands, dipping them into the water. Before he raised it to his lips, Erebus paused, wondering if this was even a good choice to make. What if it was poison? What if it killed him right then and there? What if it changed him and turned him into something different--

But there was no way to get back besides to follow instructions. He had no choice. He couldn't stay here forever. He had to do something, to make sure the rest were safe.

As the last drops drained down his throat, he felt as though he had shrunk down a dress size. "Wha--" The boil clapped his hands over his mouth. His voice sounded different and way higher than usual. Eh?! Erebus squeaked, his sleeves starting to roll down his arms. They had normally been folded up tightly just above the bone structures that jutted out of his dark skin, but now it was all coming loose.

What was going on? Was he shrinking? He certainly didn't feel as tall as he was before. It was the strangest sensation he had ever felt... maybe there was another pool that could reverse this effect?

Age: 12
Drinks: 1/4

[ 6 : POOL OF YOUTH ]

The tower was unlike anything he'd ever seen, and that drew Ever up short, hesitating, uncertain. If it hadn't been for the wave of Hunters alongside him, sent on the same task, the memory of Caelius's imperious orders, the knowledge that if he didn't do it, he might just end up back in one of those pods for a month, a year, a decade -- well. Eventually he'd give in, goggles settled low on his nose and shoulders tense, driven into a strange room.

He'd never woken up before. He'd never experienced the strangeness that was the world Hunters dealt with, Halloween and Horsemen. He'd been on the island less than a month and hadn't left it in that time, was still learning what all this meant. So the words on the pool, instead of driving him forward with a purpose, made him hesitate: stooping, arms draped over his knees and eyebrows knitted, tense and uncertain, while he worked out their meaning.

There was movement, he thought, around him. He looked up, and there was no one there, then back down to the pool, and pressed his mouth into a line.

Carefully, he leaned forward to scoop the water into his hands and sip, a long drink that was at first reassuring. It was cool water, refreshing after his time in the dust searching for artifacts.

// Yes, but hold on to your hat, kid. //

Amory knew better. He was ready for the wave of magic that washed over them and left Ever blinking as he was drawn from twenty four back toward eighteen, all the little lines gathered in the past five years fading back into his skin, the slight haze that had crept into his vision clearing. He blinked down at his hands, now missing scars he'd picked up at work.

All at once he was nervous, flushing, looking back over his shoulder to spot another young man down the way. He licked his lips, started to say something, and then caught himself. Uneasy, uncomfortable talking to strangers. He shut his mouth, and completely failed to notice the tail.

Instead he stood, to go find another pool.

[ Roll 2 || 4 : POOL OF FEAR ]

Already he was nervous, everything about this strange, unfamiliar, unexpected. Shaky and unsure what to do with himself, he stepped up to another pool, trying to figure out why he felt so gangly and out of sorts. It was an old feeling: one he associated with years spent searching for places to sleep, not having enough to eat, a gauntness to his face --

And once he drank from the pool, it was all the worse. He took a long sip, and before he'd even swallowed he could hear his heartbeat speeding up, his breath coming shorter. Ever had to sit next to the pool for a moment, rubbing arms up and down his hands, and catch his breath.

This place was doing something to him, and he didn't fully understand how.

// Fear, // was Amory's reply, casual, easy, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. // Drink up and buckle down, kid. I won't allow you to die here and now. //

The implication was that his death would come later. Still. It was oddly reassuring. He only lingered for another minute before standing to find another pool.

Ever paused, as he straightened, blinking at the same kid man at the same pool as him once again -- and raised a hand, slowly, in something like a wave. Yes, he wore the pale coat of a hunter, emblazoned with gold trees across the back, but he didn't quite seem aware that Erebus was anything but human. Instead he looked like a somewhat-nervous, 19-year-old, half-starved street kid, lost in the tower.

Too nervous to say anything, except that it seemed to him Erebus was far too young to be in here.

Erebus had never heard enough horror stories about Hunters to be afraid of them. In fact, the few he had met seemed to be quite nice, and yet when he saw the white coat flapping in the distance, he jumped, eyes wide.

His heart was still thumping loudly in his chest. He wondered if that Hunter could hear it, and swallowed back a lump in his throat.

He looked three years younger than he normally was; dark arms were thinner and it seemed that his shirt did not quite fit him as well as it did an hour ago. The boil fidgeted, black ears pressed back against his head, wondering if he should just flee. Slowly, he found himself taking a few steps back to where he had entered from. "....hi." He squeaked out finally, thinking it was probably quite impolite if he simply just ran away with his tail between his legs.

And if he was nice enough, maybe the other wouldn't hurt him.

[ Roll 3 (above) : 3: POOL OF SLEEP ]

"Hi." This hunter? Certainly: smiled at him crookedly, without really seeming to understand, his own fingers shaky as he lowered his hand, heart in his throat -- and he wouldn't stop Erebus from running, if he so wanted. Right now, Ever was more nervous teenager than tough Hunter, and he was on a mission of his own.

Keeping the kid at the edge of his vision and trying to figure out exactly what you said to teenaged boys in strange, mystical towers, he'd stoop next to the pool of sleep to scoop up another mouthful of water and drink, while he thought: water pouring out between his fingers as his hands knocked together.

Of course, after he'd had his drink would be another story. As Fear and that strange, dream-like sleep combined, Ever looked back up at Erebus, a question on the tip of his tongue -- but to his eyes, the young man warped, teeth growing, ears and tail all too visible all of a sudden, and all at once he knew that this was a monster.

Breathless, his dagger appeared in his hand and the amicable teenager melted into something more like a scared rabid dog prepared to do what he needed.

Looking back down at the pool of green, the ghoul would discover that she hadn't changed much at all, appearance-wise. She would notice, however, that her head felt lighter for some reason, as though a heavy burden of troubles and worries had been lifted from her.

The room was beginning to look much more interesting to her now.

Edel wandered along the edges of the pools, taking in the beauty of the entire place. She wondered who was it that resided here, surely someone of great power and taste.

The water from the red pool beckoned. Using the same bowl, the frost demon drew from it and swallowed a gulp. The lightheadedness was gone. Edel looked down at the pool, and saw a much wiser person staring back at her.