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AldrickZearse Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:53 am
[Kaldar: Between Worlds(Near Twilight Town): Personal Ship]
Kaldar stared at the light in the distance, watching it slowly grow bigger and bigger. It was apparently a world they were somewhat near. Kaldar tapped on the console with his knuckles. "Hey, Com. What's that world?"
A moment of computing, and Com responded. "I do not have any information on this world in my databases. However a preliminary scan indicates that it is well-populated. Appears to be a city-esque world, with numerous life signatures. There appears to be a large clearing just outside the city that is suitable for landing."
Kaldar seemed to vibrate at this info, before literally growing, gaining muscle mass and fur, nose and mouth suddenly a bear-like snout with tusks coming from the lower jaw, jutting out. "I can't wait to explore it."
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:26 am
~~~~~Suria~~~~~~
(((ON route Traverse town<>Traverse Town First District/By Item shop stairs: w. Doresk)))
“Many faces, places, stories mingle with flavors and secret methods to make the tongue sing-“ Suria mumbled in response to Doresk’s response. Somewhere in that babble was her understanding of his reply.
Settling into silence though could only mean she was listening now beyond him. Lifting her chin up she leaned up to the expanse of space around them and there in the dark, like a distant star in the lack there of, was a lonely world, clustered in it’s shape-
“Louder- it’s coming closer. See! There!” she cries, she pointed excitedly. The orcish man would feel the large bird beneath him shift, it’s wings spread and beat with the force of a thunderclap, none too loud though to hurt the ears. It began a circling decent towards the world.
“When we get close enough Wakanya will leave us, but do not worry- we won’t hit the ground hard.” She assured him. Wakanya was massive so it made some sense the creature could not truly land in the middle of town, its body alone would cause chaos in the middle of the town square- and run the danger of flattening innocent property. Suria checked her satchel and then braced herself as the bird spread it’s wings to it’s fullest and dove down, closer, closer-
The town came rushing up to meet them, and just before the buildings windows could be looked through with clarity, the bird seemed to turn translucent. Doresk would see through Wakanya. The bird began to fade like a shadow under sunlight, the sound of a powerful wind roared in his ears, and then the bird was gone entirely!
Still they dropped, but drift at the same time. Suria flung her arms open like she was flying, breaking into a fit of giggles like she was used to this and found it fun. And indeed, they drifted as well as fell, magic perhaps? Then again, if this creature was a being of wind, it would make sense if they were protected by the wind itself until they hit the ground.
The force of the wind that carried them made chairs and tables move if they were not fastened to the cobble stone, and in its wake the two of them landed softly on their feet in the middle of the First district of Traverse town. Suria looked up at the large stairs in front of the two lamp posts. To their left was a restaurant of some kind, the tables closer to the street had been pushed by the wind back under the building’s roof.
Beyond that they could see the item shop, and to their right was the mailbox. Suria turned around and checked on her traveling companion. “Everything alright? Not dizzy?”
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:28 pm
{ Inira : Traverse Town - First District} BGM - Bonds with CompanionsInira tilted her head to the side, in confusion. She had never heard of such an animal before, though right before her eyes there are enough to probably eat out the Abbey with their size. And that's a lot of food. "Humans? Do you have gender differences?" Inira pondered hard at this thought, since she really can't tell with all the different coloured manes and outstanding features that don't seem to have anything common. They are closer to gorillas in the sense they walk upright. Their furless skin really didn't help either, lack of markings which she can use to remember certain ones by. "Not to be rude, but I just can't tell you apart from the rest of the herd." Inira continued, and then listened to what Sveta had to say. BGM Change"I'm from Mossflower, though I don't think you would have heard of it. I don't -" Inira spoke until a mighty gust of wind suddenly rushed pass in the area. The poor squirrel was taken off guard as she was flung due to her light weight off the tree and into the air upwards and away. It was quite a sight seeing a squirrel with a green cloak tumble through the air, even though it was the same squirrel minutes before on the ground flailing. Thankfully, she wasn't just an ordinary squirrel, she was a flying squirrel. Once gaining bearing of what was happening she spread her arms open and flapped her "wings", creating an uplift and soared back toward the middle of the area. Once the dust settled, she glided for landing though the wind had scrambled her brains a bit (flying squirrels aren't made to tumble around with turbulence) and set course straight for one of the figures who arrived there, face first. (Who she collided with? Whomever wants a flying squirrel to suddenly hit you I guess? XD Or dodge?)
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:41 pm
[Doresk: Traverse Town: First District]
The half-orc was just a little panicked as they fell/drifted. This was something new for him, and he flailed around a bit before settling on allowing the fall to happen, only struggling to keep his chef hat on his head.
When they landed, he straightened his pack, his apron, and his hat. Everything seemed in it's place...
"I'm good. Surprised, but good." Though he was curious as to what kind of place this was. Seemed modern...or at least urban. And there even seemed to be a person nearby, who Doresk nodded at in acknowledgement. He wasn't quite sure what to say considering how he and his ride showed up, after all.
Though he as a bit distracted as suddenly a squirrel was attached to his companion's face.
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AldrickZearse Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 6:11 pm
~~~~~Suria~~~~~~
(((Traverse Town First District/By Item shop stairs: w. Doresk)))
“Everything is fine, good, all in place, all together- surprised, but no fear. Strangeness is expected..” she muttered, partially to herself and to the orcish chef. But as she beamed up at his towering mass while he gazed around, taking in their new surroundings. Her expression changed though as he did and her muttering pandered in topic-
“..fluttering.. flowing, no knowing.. tumbling, toss, the wind is taking me where I don’t want to-“ And then there was a tiny furry squirrel on her face. “-go.” Came her muffled finish.
The girl did not shriek, or flinch though. Suria looked directly at her nose where the tiny mass was plastered, blinking once or twice, before lifting a hand to offer it an alternative place to perch. “...you are not where you want to be.” Well that much was obvious right?
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 11:21 pm
[Chibi: Traverse Town: First District]
Loud, trumpeting "KWEH!"s and "GAWK!"s would precede Chibi's sudden entrance into the first district of Traverse Town. Although, whether or not they were heard over the sounds created by the appearance of the winged summon was another story. Even if they were, the sounds didn't give much time in the way of warnings. The domesticated chocobo was racing wildly around at unsafe speeds. He seemed wild, crazy, almost rabid at first glance, but as reckless as his movements appeared, there was also something very tame about them. Earlier, he had tried to hop onto a roof once to gain a better vantage, but the edge he had grabbed onto quickly gave way and since then, he had taken care to stick to the streets. Many in Chibi's path were close to getting trampled over but not quite. At the very last moment, the chocobo would effortlessly leap over or, if it happened to occur at an intersection, turn to a direction without casualties. That same consideration for those it was almost but not quite trampling over, small as it was, was also what kept the stalls that Chibi raced between untouched, even if the wind of his sudden passing ruffled them more than just a little bit.
At several points in his frantic search, Chibi poked his head into random open windows and other openings, sometimes honking very loudly. One such place happened to be a forge. The sudden rise in temperature that met Chibi's face as it was lowered and poked in below the awning of the forge elicited a rather uncomfortable, "Gawk!" from Chibi.
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Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 12:27 am
{Salvos : Traverse Town : First District ; Salvos' Forge}
{{Cue: Blacksmith's Forge}} {{Reference for the location: The Forge}} Amidst all of the chaos outside in the far corner of the district near the large entrance doors, the dwarven blacksmith, Salvos was contentedly at work in his forge. The dwarf was hard at work heating the blade of a sword that had been commissioned for an adventurer. The privilege of hand forging a blade nowadays was a rarity, most adventures who came into his forge needed blades repaired or sharpened. The Dwarven Dragon hated to see the state that some travelers would let their weapons get into before finally finding someone to drop them off on to be mended.
The blacksmith was pouring his magical flux, crushed magicite onto the blade when everything outside went crazy, first was the sudden onset of a thunderstorm, nothing new to the dwarf, or to Traverse Town either. But then came a massive gust of wind that blew through the open side of his forge stoking the forge and rattling the rafters and windows above. Such a random and solitary gust, now that was something out of the ordinary. Still though the blacksmith continued his work, taking the hot blade over to his anvil and pulling out his smithing hammer. As he did so he took a deep breath and began to breathe fire in a controlled and steady stream, directing it up and down the blade to keep it at an even heat as he worked the metal.
"Gawk!"
The sudden sound caused the blacksmith to look up with a start to face the entrance into the forge while still breathing fire, resulting in a short burst of flame flying right at the large bird's head. Due to his control over the flame it would billow out before it got near the chocobo, though he was certain it would startle it.
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Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 1:34 pm
[Chibi: Traverse Town: First District]
which was all that Chibi was looking for, and, were both good enough reasons for Chibi to, after a surprised, "KWEH!", dash off slightly faster than the already reckless pace he had been maintaining before. This time with a more urgent string of "KWEH!"s being sounded out as he did so.
"KWEH! KWEH! KWEH!" the chocobo trumpeted as it zigzagged in some sort of plaza, weaving between people and minor rubble until fate decreed that Chibi set his eyes on someone who's green head reminded the chocobo of sylkis greens--green, tomato-shaped vegetables that were Chibi's favorite food. Realizing he was quite hungry indeed, Chibi made a bee-line for the half orc and gave his head a glomp with his beak from the top-down. Some chewing was attempted, but after it failed, Chibi had to admit that what he had in his mouth were not sylkis greens, nor would they be no matter how badly he wished they were. Rather put off now, the chocobo's mouth remained on Doresk's head simply because Chibi now disliked the half orc for not being Sylkis Greens. Rather petty, but today was hardly a good day for the big guy.
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Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:57 am
Kauze Location: Traverse Town: 1st district alleyway Company: None HP: 80% MP: 80%
Kauze groaned as he shook his head and raised himself slowly from the ground; his head aching the fennec surveyed the alleyway before him with bleary eyes What happened? Where am I? He winced as he became more aware of the pain in his head and alot of noise nearby; the twin irritants combining to pierce his skull and drive him into immobility, After some moments Kauze managed to force himself to walk slowly towards the alley’s exit though what he saw there was not comforting; a collection of strange tall creatures with no fur; though they did have some plant-like fronds coming out of their tops; and one appeared to be two-thirds feathered with the other third having green flesh instead of the various shades of brown the others shared, it was all too much for Kauze to take at the moment; with a moan the Fennec sank to his knees and clutched his head with both hands
OOC: Well he did just get violently thrown though another world after all
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Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 9:07 pm
[.:.Snow.:.Traverse Town.:.1st district alley]
Snow sped through the water like a rocket. She had no idea where the Team Rocket portal had taken her other than a smelly sewer. Her white fur was splattered with dirty water. She finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Snow burst into the alleyway of this new world. Never had she seen so many bright colors, except maybe for neon town. Before she could stop, she bumped right into someone. Snow fell to the ground, out of breath. "I'm...I'm so sorry" she panted.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 7:00 pm
[ Sveta : Traverse Town : First District Corner Café ]
Oh, this creature's going to be a handful...
At least, that was her first thought as the squirrel began to ask questions about anatomy of all things. Then, however, things got... hectic.
First, the large gust of wind that blew the squirrel away and forced Sveta to bring her arms up to keep the dust from her eyes. The two made their landing--and quite a unique one, to be sure. Most come through the gates, but these two must have taken some... new form of transportation.
Then Inira landed on the face of the small girl, and the lot of them were speaking... when the large chocobo, that no one so far had been able to catch, ran up and latched on to one of the new arrivals.
Slumping her shoulders slightly, she sighed, deciding to just go back to the café.
Once she was out of the square and back behind the register, she prodded Jean. "Go tell Al we've got a handful of new arrivals. And if you happen to spot one of Leon's crew, could you ask them about the damn chocobo?"
"Is that what that racket was outside?" the kid asked as he stood up, snorting. "Generally wild things don't survive a fall unless their owners do, too."
"Yeah, well, maybe they got rid of it," she replied, shrugging. "Seems to cause enough of a mess as it is, so who'd be surprised."
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 7:12 pm
[Doresk: Traverse Town: First District]
The orc technically had heard it coming, the things calls fairly loud. Of course, it didn't exactly prepare him for the sudden 'breeze' as his hat was knocked off his head. And then it was suddenly getting chewed on.
Needless to so, Doresk moved around, and when that failed to free him from the large bird's maw, he reacted a bit harshly. As in he punched up at the bird's head with a fist and a grunt, hoping to get the oversized chicken to let him go. He was NOT a fan of getting eaten, that was for sure.
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AldrickZearse Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 12:08 am
{ Inira : Traverse Town - First District} BGM - Rainbow RouteSo dizzy, Inira felt her eyes spinning within her own skull as she collided with one of the human's face. After a few comedic moments, she released her grasp falling backwards into the hand of the human. The squirrel's blood was rushing to her head as she was sprawled widely like a wet napkin on the perch offered. "S-sorry...everything is spinning..." Inira muttered as the limp flying squirrel heard some squawking in the distance that sounded like half formed words. Another animal? That's good, there were too many humans around anyways. Once getting orientated enough to stand up properly, Inira dusted herself off, organized her cloak to be more presentable and stared at the maple wood pigmented human. "Apologizes, normally I have better landing than that." She spoke, stroking her long fluffy tail embarrassed while picking out some of the debris of leaves. It was almost as bad as the time she landed on Constance the badger's face trying to soar through the hall. At least this human doesn't seem vicious or generate any malice toward her, one angry badger was enough for her to learn her lesson. "My name is Inira, what is yours?" She politely asked, then snapping her head to the side as the leave toned odd looking human (She couldn't tell that the individual was another species on it's own) and noticed a very large ostrich chicken hybrid animal gnawing on the top. "Oh dear. I don't think that is edible my friend." She directed it to the other animal. While she spoke, she could hear the spirits twinkling and making soft bell sounds similar to chimes in the other plain acting as a spiritual language communication translator. It helps Inira decipher the squawks and gwaks of the bird. (Inira can understand and speak animal languages due to the spirits, so she can somewhat understand and communicate with Chibi. Also checking everyone profiles again, Suria can hear the spirits as well apparently so she would be able to hear the chimes but unable to do the animal language thing I believe.)
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:45 pm
[Chibi: Traverse Town: First District]
Chibi yelped a rather offended, "Kweh!" as he drew his head back after being punched firmly on the beak. A glare from the chocobo followed as he focused a louder "GAWK!" right in front of Doresk's face. After the rather loud display of distaste, Chibi started stomping in place while issuing more "Gawks!" and "Kwehs!" to add noise and movement to his tantrum. Sadly, Chibi didn't deem it his responsibility to respond to some tiny rodent. Although, the complaints he was issuing--all very much on the issue of food, being hungry, being lost, an unfamiliar location, no Ciel--through his kwehs and gawks probably was more than enough to explain what he was doing in the middle of a crowded plaza.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:15 pm
[ Ciel : Dive to the Heart : Station of Awakening ] The ground gave way below Ciel's feet and the wind that she had been leaning into suddenly stopped. All of her reflexes couldn’t have saved her from the inevitable fall, and fall she did from solid ground into absolute darkness. The lurching sensation of a sudden descent remained with Ciel, and she imagined she felt it even when she could no longer see the floating piece of land she had fallen off of. Confusion, fear of the unknown, and curiosity filled Ciel all at once. “Floating land? Where did this darkness come from?” her voice spoke these thoughts but they, like in the storm, were swallowed by the darkness. Ciel felt like she was just falling straight, almost as if this was a controlled dive into water, but if that was the case, then she shouldn’t have been approaching a circle of what appeared to be stained-glass feet-first. There had been no shift in weight or a second lurch to herald her falling feet-first from head-first. Upon the stained glass, Ciel floated down gently before landing with a soft, “flump.” Apparently, she hadn’t been falling at all.
All in all, to sum up her thoughts was a single, “Oookaaaay. And this is?”. One moment she had been struggling against the wind of some torrential storm, trying desperately to get to the barn that housed Chibi. Now, she was in some strange place she had never read her heard of. Off to one side of this large circle Ciel saw an image of herself, eyes open and dressed in the exact same outfit she was currently wearing. It was unsettling, especially since Ciel changed clothes everyday so to see her exact outfit was, “Weird.” Barring the self-portrait of herself, which was in full color, everything else on the platform was either a shade of white or cream. There were two thin rings bordering the circle, both simple and rather generic in design. A thicker third ring followed these rings. This ring was filled with circles and within each circle was what appeared to be a thicker but smaller circle with spikes extending away from the center and an x-shape crossing through the center. Overlapping over the top of this inside border but not the two outside rings was a larger circle that part of Ciel's leaning body covered. There were what Ciel could guess was a total of seven circles filling this circle, three of which her body covered so only four were visible. Three of the four visible circles had that same spiked circle that filled the innermost border. The fourth circle, the one surrounded by the other three, had an image of Chibi's face. Most would think that it was just some random chocobo's face, but Ciel would recognize it as Chibi's anywhere. What space was left that was not covered by a picture of Ciel, borders, or more circles was limited to, essentially, the bottom of this platform with some spillage into what part of the upper half that was not covered. This space was filled with a simplified version of what Ciel recognized as the view from atop a mountain that was a favorite place for Chibi and her to ride to. The view, framed by some stray tree branches and a bit of the mountain ground, showed some ocean and a lot of sky. This simple landscape was not colored in creams and whites but was fully colored like Ciel's own body, and its coloration made Ciel think that it was supposed to represent the view from the mountain at daybreak. Of course, Ciel couldn't possibly see everything in such intimate detail from where she stood in the center of the circle. She was tempted to move for closer observation of the beautiful floor, but she was too scared to move on, . A rumble, however, broke her dedication towards standing absolutely still and Ciel had to step erratically to keep her balance. Once the shaking stopped, she felt obliged to look down to see how much damage she had caused to the work of art. To her surprise, “None at all,” a tentative step, “Well, whatever this material is, it sure is really scratch-resistant.”
Looking up, Ciel noticed three pillars had erected themselves around the circle. Ciel took a step towards the pillars before stopping and muttering to herself, “So these things suddenly rise out of the ground with floating objects on each of them. I think I’m supposed to take them but… I think taking them would cause something. In that case…” there was only one thing to do. Ciel would have to sate her curiosity of this new place by looking all around it before taking one of the items. She wandered around the circle, getting her fill of every little detail she could grab a hold of. Her curiosity even drove her to the literal edge of the platform, and Ciel carefully peeked out over the edge as far as she dared to. It looked like she was atop some giant pillar or pedestal herself, the bottom of which she could not see past the darkness.
Once her curiosity had been sated, Ciel finally directed her attention at the three pedestals with their items. A sword, a shield, and a wand. For the first time, she approached one of them with the purpose of observing it specifically, and in reaction, an unfamiliar male voice echoed in her head, “The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction.” Ciel stepped back, then approached the shield, “The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.” Finally, the rod, “The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin.” Ciel backed once more to the center of the circle, and was given further instructions for her unintentional effort, “Choose one. Discard another.”
“And what if I don’t want to?” came Ciel’s near-automatic reply. She always disliked having to choose between experiencing one thing or another, much preferring to trying both whenever it was possible. She wasn’t indecisive. She was simply decisive about having both. Of course, her complaint was just a mutter that wasn’t meant to be answered. Too bad whatever was making the disembodied voice apparently had ears everywhere, “Like your mother… but you do not have a choice like your mother did. You must choose.” “What?!” interest perked, Ciel started to frantically search for the owner of the voice, “My mother?” it hadn’t been verified, but something told her that the voice was talking about her biological mother, “As in the one who gave birth to me, right? You know her? What do you know about her?”.
Silence answered Ciel’s questions, and it didn’t take her long to realize what the voice wanted of her. She swept her gaze around the entirety of the platform, taking in the sword, the shield, and the rod. “Choose one,” she thought aloud to herself as her eyes settled on the shield, “Discard another." If she absolutely had to, then she preferred, "The sword, like the heroes in most stories. Plus, shields are kind of awkward to use on chocobos, and the girls in the legends always get stuck with magic." She walked over to the bladed weapon and the voice asked her to confirm her choice, which she did. "Now to discard," she walked to the pillar that held the object she would discard, "the shield because being a guardian with terrible power sounds kind of weird." Confirmation was asked of her once more, and she agreed.
As Ciel suspected, something happened when she made her choice. The platform she stood on shattered and Ciel fell back into the darkness. This fall, however, didn't take nearly as long as the previous fall and Ciel soon found herself on another platform, identical for the first except its tones were centered around black and silver. It depicted a view of the horizon from the mountain at high noon, and in the hand of her image, Ciel was holding a sword just like the one she had chosen. Despite the dark color scheme, this platform shone with light just like the previous one, acting as the only source of light Ciel could see in the darkness that surrounded her.
All those little details, however, were just background to the main point of interest, several black figures jittered to and fro on the platform. This time, Ciel stood to one side of the circular landing, with these black figures popping in and out of the floor on the other side. "Those are?" Ciel's curiosity instantly took a hold of her and with wonder she moved carelessly towards the black creatures. As a group, the three noticed her and before Ciel could react, they slipped into what Ciel figured was their shadows. They slid right to her, popping out of their shadows to strike at her. The attacks tore at Ciel's clothes but did not do any direct harm to her body. "Watch out!" the disembodied voice came a bit late, "These are Shadows, a type of pure-blooded Heartless." Ciel couldn't help but interrupt with a "Huh?!". However, the voice seemed to expect a question from her, "There is no time. Right now, you're island is being invaded by them. It seems a few have slipped into here. Hurry, you have to destroy them." "But. You. Wha-HEY!" Ciel tried to search for the words needed to shape the questions she had, but another attack from one of the so-called Shadows forced her to reassign the importance of her tasks. She relented, "FINE! You first!" to attacking first and asking questions later.
Ciel went with her first instinct to run up and strike the first thing with her new sword. Strangely, she expected the metal weapon to feel too heavy for her to use with any sort of ease, but it felt as light as the wooden swords she'd use to play-fight with the other kids from time to time. Her hit landed, but it opened her to an attack from another Shadow that forced her to step back and re-think her actions. This time, she waited, recognizing a sort of pattern in their movements. One moved to strike, she dodged. Another struck, she dodged, jumping as far away as possible. The third slid all the way up to her and away from its companions to attack Ciel, and Ciel took the chance to bash it away with three quick strokes. She repeated this process over and over, making her way carefully around the platform, until all three Shadows were finally destroyed.
After they were all down, she took only a single breath before spilling forth in a barrage of questions, "Where am I? What are you? Who are you? What do you know about my Mom? What the hell are shadows? They're attacking the island? What do you mean the island is being attacked? Get me out of here! I have to make sure Chibi and Mom are safe!". No answer. "Please!" Ciel pleaded, even falling to her knees, "PLEASE!". Fear engulfed her thoughts. Entering this strange new place and fighting these unheard of monsters were just shrugged off. However, once Ciel thought of what could be happening back at her home, she couldn't stem the worries that filled her to the brim. Her curiosity and imagination maximized each anxiety to the point that when still no answer came, Ciel was muttering, "No no no no no no," until the male voice that had guided her up to this point finally spoke. Weakly and with many breaks, the voice just managed to inform, "My connection… is breaking." As if to prove the point, the darkness surrounding the platform Ciel was now kneeling on began to encroach upon it, swallowing it little by little. There was clearly not much time for the voice to say what it had to say, and its words were filled with unspoken urgency, "This and the platforms below and after it are known as the Station of Awakening. Heartless have consumed your island and they will move on to other worlds. Fight them, become stronger, more experienced, and then stop them. Never… forget…"
The darkness had swallowed the station before Ciel could hear what she was supposed to never forget or even tell if "Never forget" were meant to be the last words. The darkness took Ciel with it and, for perhaps the first and only time in her life, she was afraid of the dark.
With a start, Ciel awoke to nothing but darkness. Sitting up, what meager hopes she had of everything she had just experienced being just a nightmare vanished with the sight of the pristine stained glass that depicted her image among other things. This time, reds and oranges filled the floor. The view given at the bottom reminded Ciel of twilight at home. It made her homesick. For some time, she just sat where she had landed, paying no heed to the rest of the station, which was cluttered with boxes, chests, and other assortments of random items.
At one point in her thoughts, Ciel just broke. Not permanently, but for just long enough that she couldn't do anything but feel angry. The rage got her on her feet and in no time she was smashing whatever she could find with the sword she had found. The boxes, barrels, and even the chests were not spared. Although, the chests remained largely intact even as everything else around them broke into small pieces that mysteriously disappeared from sight. Despite all the noise she caused with her actions, not a single peep escaped her stony face. Once her anger, largely at her uselessness and confusion, ceased, Ciel could think clearly. "I can't just be doing this," she finally managed to find words for her thoughts. Her breathing still heavy from the sudden outburst, she continued, "This is the Station of Awakening still, right? Well, I'll try my best to remember everything here, including what I was told to do. That'll be the first step to finding answers, right? Like Dad said, I need to keep a calm mind even in a crisis." Out of some sense of guilt, Ciel felt obliged to glance at the much emptier station. She gulped in slight shame, "Dad also said that it's always best to start late than never," a cough to put her tantrum behind her, "Now, what do I need to do from here?".
Two chests had survived Ciel's rampage. She approached one and did everything she could think of to open it but to no avail. The chests remained firmly shut and no amount of budging, shoving, begging, punching, and even magic words could get either of them opened. Mind wholly dedicated to this problem, Ciel lifted her sword, which she had placed on the ground to free both her hands, and in doing so cause a bright light to emit from it. Before her very eyes, Ciel saw the sword replaced with some strange but very large key. She raised it and recognized that it had taken the form of an enlarged version of a skeleton key as she had read in some book. Extremely simple in design, with the only noteworthy part being a rod that crossed straight through the back end of the key so that Ciel could comfortably wield it without having to try and wrap her hand around one of the edges. She felt the need to wave it around a few times, which was just what she did. It felt light and abnormally easy to wield, even easier than the abnormally light sword it had once been, as if it was moving ever so slightly according to her own will. She tried twirling the key in one hand once, but all that resulted in was a clumsy dropping of the object and Ciel having to bend down to pick it up. She noticed at the very end of the back that there appeared to be some sort of something. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was meant to be, but it felt important. After hard enough thinking, she concluded that she felt something belonged there.
What was more, she also thought she knew what she was meant to do. Following some long lost memory, or at least something that felt like that, Ciel extended the key at the closest treasure chest. A beam of light shot out from the serrated tip of the key to the keyhole of the chest. A click sounded and the chest popped open. "A keyblade," Ciel realized the name of what she was holding, "Wait, a blade? So this is a weapon?". She stared at the giant key doubtfully, eyes narrowed before they opened in realization, "Ahh…. Dad told me this story when I was really young about all the keyblades and stuff. Some keyblade graveyard and… uh… I can't remember it. Figures, I'd forgotten about it until now after all." Done grumbling, Ciel peered into the chest to see her prize for opening it: A small charm hung from a chain, rather anticlimactic to most but Ciel appreciated it all the same. She picked it up preciously and intended to thoroughly appreciate its design when it glowed upon her touch. Likewise, her keyblade glowed as well and before she could do anything, the chained charm disappeared from her hands in a flash of sparkles only to reappear hanging from the keyblade. Her keyblade had also changed in form. Before it had been a dull, bluish gray but now it was black as a raven's wings and it had lost its simplicity for something that hinted at darkness. Not the darkness Ciel had been scared of not too long ago, but a darkness like the normal darkness she liked so much. She admired the new shape her apparent weapon had taken, saying out loud a few choice thoughts, then moved on to the next chest. She unlocked it and in it, just like the one before, was a charm of white and cream coloration. The one before it, which now hung from Ciel's keyblade, had been black and silver. The white charm did not attach immediately to Ciel's keyblade, but she suspected she could choose to attach it if she wished to. She had no reason to at the moment, though, so Ciel simply pocketed the charm safely on her body before standing and taking one last look at the station. One full turn showed her that everything, including both chests, had disappeared. One more turn and she saw herself face-to-face with a door of some kind floating on the edge of the station. "If it unlocks chests," Ciel muttered to herself as she posed with the key pointed at the door. A beam shot from key to door just like how one had shot from key to chest and the door creaked open. White light obscured whatever was on the other side of the door. Ciel took one deep breath then stepped into the unknown.
The unknown turned out to be yet another platform. No doubt a part of the Station of Awakening. Ciel let out the breath she had been holding, simultaneously relieved and slightly irked. "At least," her eyes traced the most interesting thing she could see, "this platform has stairs extending from it to… somewhere else?" the second most interesting thing was a change Ciel had been half-expecting, "And again, I'm staring at another eerily accurate portrait of myself. Minus the torn clothes, but she's holding a keyblade just like me now." The new tones of this platform, dark blues with smatterings of yellows, and the depiction of a night view were of marginal importance to these stairs. Ciel strode to them, only stopped by another shaking, this one much more severe than the last. Crackling followed it and Ciel watched as the stairs slowly crumbled away. Fearing the worst, she rushed to the edge of the platform and peered down. As she suspected, the base of even this platform was beginning to crumble away. In a panic, Ciel made a turn to run for the door. It had closed since when she entered, and no amount of pushing or pulling seemed to budge it into opening in the least. Panicking, Ciel backed to the middle of the platform. From here no signs of damage to the platform she stood on could be seen. Although, the stairs were an ominous reminder that it was only a matter of time. "Alright, calm," Ciel spoke aloud to contain her thoughts, "This place had shattered before and nothing bad happened, right?" except she somehow knew that this cracking was different and more deadly. In a desperate moment of clarity, Ciel thought to get out the way she had come in. Turning back to the door as the edges of the platform showed the first hints of cracks, Ciel held her keyblade up at the magical entrance. Again, she sought to unlock the door. Her mind naturally focused on Destiny Islands, . A bright keyhole shape lit up in the center of the door as the keyblade worked its magic. The door creaked open and Ciel made a run for it. The cracks had spread, completely destroying the outer edges of the station, so that Ciel had to make a jump to get through what she hoped was her ticket out but get through it she did.
After jumping through the door, Ciel thought she'd land standing at whatever destination the door led to. Instead, though, she woke up. At least, she thought she woke up. That was the only explanation she could give for why she suddenly found herself laying down on her side and her eyes felt like they had just opened for the first time in a good bit. The lack of any eye gunk crusting up around her eyes, though, told her that if she had been asleep, it hadn't been for long. Drenched and sandy, Ciel picked herself up from the sand. "Wait," she patted the what should have been dirt but was actually sand around her, "The beach?" as her eyes took in her surroundings. Palm trees, a towering cliff face, "This is the island! What?! How?!". Curiosity over how she started at the ranch and ended up sleeping on the beach gripped Ciel for longer than she would have liked. Once the impulse passed, however, she focused herself on more important things: like getting back to the ranch and she had a plan. "I'm sorry Kairi, Riku, and the boy who's name I can't remember," Ciel apologized out of habit as she picked herself up and made to run for where she was pretty sure the trio's raft was, fully intending to use it to return to the main island. The first step she took, however, did not bode well. Immediately, the ground between Ciel's legs split and she had to rather awkwardly fall over to the side she just stepped into. was the philosophy behind the decision. Although, considering the rapidly multiplying land divisions, Ciel's wasn't so sure how much more progress she could make. She made a desperate running leap to another piece of land that should have been connected to the piece she had been on before but wasn't. After this, she didn't know what to do. The next leap had already grown too large for her to make even in her wildest dreams. Before her very eyes, Ciel could see her home drifting apart. She felt that if she listened closely, she could also hear the sounds of some sort of conflict, but that all felt so very far away. Now she didn't have the luxury of worrying for the safety of her own family, not when she was thoroughly stranded on a small piece of land she now noticed was also slowly crumbling away from the edges in. "Think. Think," Ciel could see crumbling come nearer and nearer. As it had fixed things before, Ciel turned to her keyblade to solve everything. She didn't have it out yet, but, "If I raise my hand like-Yes. There it is." One good thing, that was something to be happy for. Keyblade out, Ciel tried to form a door or… something… she wasn't sure what. Consequently, nothing happened. She lowered her keyblade when it did nothing and started scouring for other solutions. A memory of Stiltzkin entering a dark portal flashed through her mind. "Corridors of darkness," she easily recalled the name of the much coveted spell, "I'd been wanting to learn that forever." Of course Ciel had; it was the only way she knew how to travel between worlds. For that reason, Stiltzkin had made it clear it was the last thing she was to learn. He had made it equally clear that going through corridors of darkness unprotected was extremely dangerous and put her very heart at risk. More cracking and creaking of Ciel's now rapidly shrinking piece of land. "At this rate, I think better my heart than my life, though," Ciel muttered apologetically, "I'm so sorry. I promise I'll never do this unless it's an emergency like now," and put her hand out. Creating a corridor was classified as darkness magic, "Probably." Ciel had heard her father had a special talent for the darkness. She could only hope she had the same now. She pictured the spell, what it was meant to look like and do. The theory behind it she knew pathetically little about, but she knew it was meant to travel in the dark spaces between the worlds or something like that. Okay, she just guessed that alongside several different theories. This was the last thing she could think of so she put her all into it: one hand outstretched in front of her, the other holding the keyblade at her side, and eyes squinted tight with concentration but being unable to resist a peek every now and then to see if she had succeeded against all odds.
As the last parts of the beach crumbled away beneath Ciel's feet, she felt a surge of energy run through her arm and expel itself in front of her. Her eyes opened wide at this sensation and she saw as clear as day a swirling, oval-shaped vortex of black and dark purple. Ciel leapt off the very last remains of her home into the portal to wherever it chose to take her. She just barely learned how to summon it. There was no way she had yet figured out how to control it.
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