Welcome to Gaia! ::

{Janex .:. Forbidden Mountain .:. Maleficent's Castle .:. Hallways}

She ignored his attempt at an insult and kept walking, just as she ignored all the rest of his attempts to catch her attention. At least, she ignored him up until he asked her for a tour of the castle. At that, Janex stopped in her tracks and bestowed her most withering glare on Lucian. It was the same glare she… her original had used on several occasions to cow people who could have snapped her in half. The amazing thing about this glare was that it usually worked, despite her serious height issues. She held the glare for a moment before she gave him the cold shoulder again, and continued walking. She wasn't even going to justify his babbling with a response.

[[ Joe : Disney : Hall of the Cornerstone ]]

Joe had remained relatively quiet in the background as the people around him talked, shifting his gaze between the speakers and the Cornerstone.

There wasn't much he could contribute, really. All of this was based in events he had little to know say in. Still, it was interesting that Yen Sid had kept the small little detail of Kairi getting kidnapped from the group. He'd have to make a note of that habit for future reference.

He was already aware of the fact that Yen Sid, Merlin, and the rest of them hadn't found anything about the Earth yet; they had told him as much when he had arrived. Still, something wasn't adding up. There were apparently parts of the world, like Hawaii, that still existed as part of the patchwork. There was also the matter of the fact that every single other world presence drew something from the Earth: cultural norms, historical basis, mythology...

Then there was the dream he had had last night. That one was weird, even by dream standards. It wasn't a lucid dream by any standards, and yet it was very vivid. Almost too vivid...

Any thoughts about that were interrupted by Yen Sid's next statement: they no longer had to risk their lives for anyone or anything. He heard the others speak out in turn, each giving their reason's for staying. When he finally saw his opening for a response, he took it.

"I haven't even gotten started yet." he began, looking over everyone present. "I've been spending the past week or so stumbling around with no other purpose then to try and stay alive, and now I've been given the opportunity to be apart of something that's actually trying to do something about it. There is no way I could forgive myself if I just stayed here, not after hearing and seeing everything you all have done. I'm in."

[Ashley: Paris: Beauvais Manor: Study]

"cheh, cheeky," Ashley smirked before taking in all of Elleon's information. "I will be right back with your spell tomes. If it takes me more then an hour you don't have to tip me." Ashley chuckled before marking a dark corridor behind her. "Pleasure doing buisness with you 'El'" Ashley said before going through the corridor and shutting it.
______________

[Ashley: Forbidden Mountain: Malficent's Castle]

Ashley quickly stepped outside of the corridor and scanned the castle itself. 'Well this castle is ******* huge!" Ashley thought. 'Gonna take me awhile before finding these "spell tomes" that she wants. Might gain a little information for myself as well.'

Ashley quickly before anyone outside could notice transformed into her water form and slithered into the castle. She made sure to mark each place of the castle into her memory to write down later and to not repeat the same rooms. At one point along her treck across the castle using her ceiling tactics she noticed two people bickering within the castle and focused on what the man was saying to tell El later if she didn't already know. 'Well I guess this place isnt "desolate" afterall. But they seem to be the only two here. No big bad Malficent' Ashley thanked her luck before moving pass them quietly without notice.

Finally after a short period of time she discovered, from what she could tell, the spell tomes that Elleon wanted and touched them as her water shape. The tomes instantly went inside of the water unseen. 'Finally,' Ashley thought worn out from using her abilities this much. 'It was a lot easier doing this within a mansion instead of having to look through an entire ******* castle. Oh well what's done is done.'

Ashley quickly reformed into her human form to create her dark corridor and was out of Malficent's Castle as if she was never there, getting ready to deliver the spell tomes to El and the new information that she had discovered.

[Anthony ~.~ Disney ~.~ Hall of the Cornerstone]

Anthony was surprised when Noelle leaned in and spoke to him. He wasn't really expecting a response. He turned to her slightly, keeping his eyes on Yen Sid while giving his attention to the Agromancer (much like a student trying to avoid getting caught disrespecting the lecturer during a class). "You're right," he quietly admitted, realizing his own mistake. "I oversold it and came off confident. This isn't some walk through the park, and we should proceed with caution. I know I wasn't in Atlantis with you guys, but we still had our own battle above the water with its own casualties. It was scary. I didn't know what I was doing half the time. If it wasn't for Kuja, we probably would've died."

The young man paused for a moment. He thought about the people who were gutted and stabbed before his eyes back on the Pearl. Though he didn't know them as well as the group, they were good men who knew what they were getting involved in.

Though he was talking with Noelle, Anthony picked up pieces of what Yen Sid said. Not all of it, but the gist of it. He knew what he would decide if he was given the choice to stay or go back.

"But we didn't," the knight continued. "And I like to think it was more than just luck. We're heroes, Noelle. Heroes don't lose. And if we want to keep on winning, then we have to hold onto what's keeping us going right now, and I believe that's hope. I haven't been a part of the group from the beginning, and I know we've lost people along the way, but I wouldn't want close calls or failures to weigh me down. That didn't stop Sora. He held onto that hope of finding Kairi and Riku, and when he lost sight of that, Donald and Goofy were there to remind him."

Anthony felt he was coming off rather apathetic when it came to the lives that were lost along the journey. He witnessed some serious stuff, and, though he wasn't showing it, he was horrified and will probably never forget the death he witnessed, but he knew there was a bigger picture. He knew if the group succeed, things will return to the way they were (for the most part). He had to be optimistic. He had to hold onto the hope that things will get better.

"I have hope that we're gonna make it through this just fine. We're gonna save lives and restore things back to the way they were. If we lose that hope, then what are we fighting for?"

[Elleon ~ Paris ~ Beauvais Manor: Study]

Ell scoffed at Ashley's "tip" remark and waved her off. And the poor girl thought she was done for a little while. Just as she was about to relax back into her chair, she received a message from Nicholas. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she drummed her fingers on her mahogany writing desk.

'Sure,' She responded curtly, 'I know of a brothel in London. Tricks are cheap for first timers.'

[Nicholas :: ???? :: ????]

'Ha ha ha go ******** yourself with a rusted spike.'

He responded, running a hand through his hair and sighing. Nick was already regretting his decision to even contact her, but since she was the only other person he was aware that could heal besides Ajora, it left him with no alternative options.

'No, the reason I call is something more professional, if you can get your head out of your a** for a bit. You see, I need a healer. And since you have healing magic... To be honest, it's the only reason I'm even speaking to you. But I know better than to ask for something for nothing, especially from you, so...name your price.'

As soon as every Earthling had given his or her personal affirmation, the room flashed in brilliant light. The source: the Cornerstone of Light, erupting with magic power, streams of light spiraling around the hall like a hurricane had been born from nothing. The intensity of its aura magnified manifold, pulsing throughout the room and past the walls, far and beyond the scope of their conversation.

Yen Sid and Merlin were speechless, forced to step away from the Cornerstone and lift their arms to shield their eyes as they watched in astonishment.

After a few moments of glimmering turbulence, thin beams of light shot forth from the stone--and striking each Earthling in the heart simultaneously. The formed connections seemed to add vigor to the already whirling maelstrom of positive energy. The light grew more and more intense until it was utterly blinding--and then there was darkness.

When they opened their eyes, they'd find they were all still standing in the same positions as before, but it appeared as if they were no longer in the Hall, or the Castle--or even the world itself. The light-strings were gone. They hovered in black, starless space.

Floating before them in the emptiness of space was a single, massive world. But unlike the previous dream, it was certainly not Earth. No, the strange, chaotic hodgepodge of land and sea had a layout that made no sense whatsoever. Deserts near jungles, oceans broken up by countless mini-continents, seas covering the landscape like some unnatural connect-the-dot.

This strange world was easily identifiable as the new World Convergence.


The voice, once more, was distant, beyond any source they could see, but its androgynous voice was audible all the same, like a whisper cutting through eternity. A whisper of fear.

There was a sudden glimmer on the world before them, looking like a star flickering into existence somewhere on the planet. Its Light seemed to slowly spread across the land. However, as soon as it began to shine, a veil of Darkness appeared from the opposite side of the world, slowly creeping around the edge of the sphere and closing in on the shimmering spot from all sides. The stronger the Light gleamed, the more fervently the Darkness spread, consuming the land faster than the Light could touch it--until finally the two walls met and clashed, stopping each other in a stalemate.

From beyond the other side of globe, where the Darkness originated, hundreds, thousands, countless golden eyes flashed into existence against the sheer black wall of space, staring at the world--and at them. Two masses of shadow appeared on either side of the world, taking the shapes of massive hands attempting to grip the planet. Thirteen of the yellow eyes flickered into black spheres before flying closer to the Light--only for seven shimmering Lights to rush to meet them at the walls.

As they approached each other, the spheres began to circle one another, twisting and turning as they hovered over what appeared to be barren land, until they formed two circles--the thirteen dark points surrounding the seven shining stars. The Darkness closed in, the Light pushed out, and the resulting clash shattered the inside of the circle, revealing more blinding light.

As soon as the opening appeared, the rest of the millions of yellow eyes in the abyssal background turned black and rushed forward, like a flood trying to surge inside it. The original home of light seemed to surge momentarily as well, but as the Darkness pushed forward...

... their vision went dark.



They would have blinked and immediately been returned to the Hall of the Cornerstone, as if nothing had changed. But this time, the Earthlings weren't the only ones to see the vision.

"Yen Sid, what was--"

Genie suddenly burst into the hall, looking concerned, eyes comically wide as he looked around frantically. "What happened?! The Cornerstone's boundaries suddenly exploded!"

"What-what-what?! What do you mean, exploded?!" Merlin shot back.

"Well, not exploded--" he said, his body exploding into tiny fragments before reforming. "I mean super rapid expansion!" And on cue, his body suddenly began to grow larger and larger, barely able to fit in the hall before he shrank back.

Merlin turned back to Yen Sid, as if struck by revelation. "That's--that's the same thing that--"

"How far?" asked the tall wizard, his voice and stature already calm and collected. His eyes, however, remained focused on the Earthlings.

"Huh? Oh! Well, the fairies are checking now!" Genie replied. "What should I tell the others? They're all wiggin' out, man."

"Everything is fine and under control. I'll explain later," he said, dismissing the djinn, who immediately disappeared. Merlin remained silent, eying the Earthlings with fascination.

"So," Yen Sid said, a small twitch attempting to curl his lips into a smile, though his facade remained neutral. "It seems there's far more to you than we expected."


[[ PS Unlike the dream, only those present witnessed this. Fairly obvious, but just wanted to clarify in case ]]