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 Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:31 am
Total Word Count: 2,201
When her eyes opened she was standing on a road extremely familiar to her. The rainbow colors of the Surrounding swirled under her boots, the expanse of space and its stars stretched out in front of her. Her eyes centered on something obscuring her otherwise flawless vision of space. It was a pedestal, oval in shape with a tapered and slim post holding it aloft. The pedestal stood on a small outcropping, with three stairs leading up to it. The railings were ornate, though each oddly different and not symmetrical. The entire piece of architecture, Bifröst supposed, was made of an iridescent material that seemed to ripple with colors as she moved her eyes around.
She walked up the steps to get a better look at pedestal itself. The middle of the oval was etched with the shape of a hand, the mark of Chronos in its center above something akin to… a bridge? She traced the edges of the handprint with a finger lightly.
“About time you showed up. You’re late for duty.” A crisp, if echoy voice, snapped from her left. Bifröst froze and whipped her head to look at the owner of the voice.
She was a small woman, much like Bifröst was herself, except with more curvature and a weathered look to her. Her white blonde hair was pulled into a tight bun on her head, bangs framing her face. Her eyes centered on the rich purple ones of the other woman, hard with annoyance. She wore a simple hooded coat like Bifröst, with the same gold trim to the hood. A pair of copper colored shoulder plate pieces adorned her shoulder, a breastplate of the same material over her bust. The armor covered her hips (connected with a belt), shins and boots. The white coat fell to mid thigh, from what she could see, and then simple magenta pants continued from there. She had no weaponry beyond her expression, and the arms crossed across her chest.
And she was see-through.
Well that wasn’t something you saw every day, now was it? Then again… she was standing on a rainbow road, in the middle of space, as a superhero. It really shouldn’t surprise her.
“W-who?” she asked in surprise, hand jerking off the pedestal. The older woman let out a sigh rubbing her temples for a moment.
“… She has no idea what’s going on, she didn’t have a teacher like you, just calm down and explain, slowly…” muttered the woman to herself, still rubbing her temples. Bifröst watched her, hand still awkwardly raised off the disk. The woman took a breath, and then bowed low to her.
“I was wondering when you would arrive, Bifröst. You should have been here much sooner, but perhaps they do not educate you as they once did,” she stood back up, purple eyes glancing her over for a moment. The woman gave a small smile, almost a sad one. “I am Prena.”
Bifröst frowned but returned the bow. “A pleasure to meet you, She Who—Ms. Prena. You seem to already know me… and what this place is,” said the Page, gesturing to the outcropping. The woman nodded, looking at her if she expected something for a moment. Prena sighed again and moved off the railing she was leaning against.
“Yes. That is because I was a former Bifröst Knight; you may call me Grandmother Prena if you absolutely have to. Prena is fine otherwise….” said the ghostly knight. The Page’s eyes widened as Prena looked her over from a closer angle. “…Good to see the blood lines carried on… though I wonder who diluted our eyes so… no matter…. And as odd in your skin as I was…” She seemed to tap her chin with her fingers for a moment.
“So you’re… my ancestor. A pleasure to meet you Ms. Prena.” Bifröst was over using the formalities, and decided she would focus on the pedestal than her great-great grandmother’s eyeing her over. Her fingers once again traced the imprint of the hand.
“Press your hand into it and say, ‘By my will Bifröst, open a path way to between Cancer and Leo.’ Simple, hm?” Prena folded her arms over her chest again and waited. Bifröst looked up at her in mild confusion for a moment before turning her gaze back to the indentation. She slipped her hand into it, the depression bigger than her small hand, and power surged around her hand, turning the iridescence into almost liquid rainbow.
….to go…
Where would… to go…?
Where would you wish to go?
The energy seemed to sing to her and Bifröst almost found herself simply answering in her mind, with her will. But Prena had told her to say something. Perhaps she needed to do that instead, at least for now.
“By my will Bifröst, open a pathway to between Cancer and Leo,” she said with a firm, if quiet voice.
…as you command, milady Gatekeeper…
Power surged out from the pedestal and forward. A rainbow erupted from the end of the outcropping out further and further until it could no longer be seen. The railing split down the middle and swung open like a gate.
…It is done…
The power ebbed out and Bifröst let out a rush of air in awe. She removed her hand from the indentation and walked around it to stare at the rainbow road that had been formed.
“This, is the Bifröst. A bridge that will connect you to any other piece of Surrounding from this place, except between Libra and Chronos. Don’t ask why. I have no idea…. Yes girl step on it.” Prena scowled at her and made shoving motion with her hands. Bifröst stepped onto the pathway and found it to be exactly like the rest of the road. Bifröst tapped it a few times before taking more confident steps. Her ancestor followed without sound.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:32 am
“This is… amazing…” she said softly as they walked down the path way. The Wonder’s outcropping almost disappeared after a good twenty minutes of walking. Bifrost stopped to look around, mouth opened in awe. She stood in the middle of space, on a bridge, with faint specs of colors for the other Outposts mixed into the pricks of light from stars.
This is quite amazing, Mary… You should be proud that you protect this… said Arga softly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the gryphon looking around too, an invisible presence next to her. He didn’t speak to her much now; not after what she’d said on the Surrounding. She wasn’t sure if he was mad at her, or if her faith in him had been shaken because of it. It was rather unnerving, knowing he was still there, and would answer, but never fully talk with her, not anymore. Roleplaying him had become hard, and Mary often found herself trying to mimic Arga’s reactions to things to get posts out. Someone had asked her a few days before if she was okay, because Arga seemed slightly out of character. All she could say was that he was being temperamental, and not cooperating with her.
She felt that it was deeper than that.
Bifröst tilted her head up and looked out at the stars for a moment as Prena jabbered on about the technical things about her Wonder. Bifröst tried to picture Arga fully, and only was able to see his head. Was there… really something wrong? Or was it something else she couldn’t understand? It hurt her head to try and think about, but she had to. Arga was important to her, and if he wasn’t okay with her, than she needed to fix it.
How you fix something like this with your own character, who is technically a figment of your imagination but not really anymore, she had absolutely no idea.
Prena’s voice pulled back from her thoughts after a while of Arga not responding to her prodding.
“There is something you need to find, Bifröst.” The woman was saying. Bifröst blinked and glanced at her.
“Something I need to find? What is it that I need to find?” she asked, turning towards the woman. Her ancestor seemed to debate something for a moment before replying.
“A ring. Your signet ring.” Bifrost blinked again, but nodded, spinning her rings around her fingers for a moment as she waited for the woman to give her some kind of hint or what not. Prena was not amused.
“I know what you’re thinking, and no I’m not giving you any hints, besides one,” the ghosty knight lifted up a single finger. “It is not on the road we are standing on.” With that she floated back towards the way they came, not bothering to wait for Bifröst. The Page blinked a few times and then jogged after the woman.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:33 am
Searching the Bifröst was harder than expected, Bifröst was finding. It was a small little wonder, surely, but every post was slightly crooked and could hold a ring or a compartment. The pedestal had been ruled out early when she found it was completely smooth. Not even a seem of production, or a notch that a finger to slip into to push a button to open something. The stairs could have held something, but she was unable to get any of them to open, if they even did open. The railing was smooth as well, and only broken where the posts connected to it.
This was really failing at a National Treasure search.
“Why is it that only in National Treasure did all the things have hidden compartments…” she muttered as she once again checked the railing posts.
“… National… Treasure?” Bifröst paused and looked at Prena, seeing the very confused look on her face.
“[cololr=darkgreen]You know… movies?”
“Mo…vies?” The astral woman blinked a few times, seriously confused. She didn’t know what movies were? Everyone knew what movies were, even socially awkward kids like Bifröst. This one… Prena really had missed out on things.
Just how old was she anyway?
“Ah… moving pictures, kinda like those in Harry Potter?” she tried, rather unsure if Prena even knew what a picture was. Her ancestor’s eyes widened for a moment, and then went back to being completely confused.
“Portraits move now!? … And what is Harry… Potter?” If this had been a scene in one of the manga that she occasionally read, Bifröst would have a huge drop of sweat sliding down her cheek. It wasn’t, but she sure as felt like she was.
“Its… ah… never mind…” The Page said as she went back to her search. Hands slid along all the posts, feeling around their rises and dips. It almost reminded her of one the bridges back home, except incredibly shiny.
This went on for a good half an hour more (or she assumed it was. It could have been four hours and she never would have known, what with not being able to tell time up here). She checked everything three and four times before pouting and glaring at the Wonder for a moment. She saw Prena move off to the side and give her space as she thought. She’d ask if she couldn’t find it on this last pass, she decided. Bifröst crouched down once again in front of the posts. The first two were duds, the second could have once held something but didn’t now. Three through five were also duds.
Her fingers hit something out of place on post number six. It was about a third of the way down from the railing itself, on the back, and about the size of a generic nail head. No wonder she couldn’t find it before. She frowned and pressed a small round button in she’d missed the first four times. There was the sound of a click and the grinding of stone above her head. Bifröst moved back and looked at the small compartment that had opened in the railing.
Bifröst stood up on her knees and reached in, pulling out a small object. It was a muted green, etched with the Chronos symbol and a bridge symbol on it. She held it in her hands for a moment, in awe.
“I think I found it… numquam a oves demens… what does that mean?” she said allowed, looking up at Prena. The woman smirked and gave her an appraising look.
“You’re definitely a green skin, Page, but you’ll do well. Remember that your duty is to your Wonder, and that is your primary duty. Live you duty, Page.” Bifröst raised an eyebrow in confusion, sliding the ring onto the ring finger of her right hand. It was a good fit, surprisingly.
“But I have other things I have to do Prena… stuff at home…” The word home rang out clear in voice and in her head for a moment. Home. Prena’s eyes widened again but she sighed and shook her head at Bifröst. Her mouth moved but no sound seemed to come out.
“… home.. is…” she seemed to say. Bifröst couldn’t hear what came after it. Home was… home was the bridge in Grandmother’s gardens.
There was another gasp from Bifröst and she winked out of existence.
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