Welcome to Gaia! ::

For as unwelcoming as the Hall of the Ancients was inside, outside was worse. Made of sleek black stones, the fortress was an ominous figure. It was tall and imposing, and each spire and sharp curve looked like it was ready to slice through the sky. It could have been considered beautiful, once you got past how intimidating it was. From the outside, it was difficult to make out the stained glass. Once, gold and gemstones decorated it. Now, what the lightning hadn’t charred, the storm had battered and chipped away.

The clouds were knit tightly across the sky, and while the lightning occasionally flashed in the distance, the thunder was only a quiet mumble. When it echoed, it sounded like whispers. Scheming. Preparing.

The ground was saturated with water and every step felt like standing on a sponge. The grass was brittle, but it wasn’t slippery. A great stone wall encircled the Hall, with plenty of room to spare. Watchtowers lined the wall at regular intervals, and though they didn’t offer much defense, their primary purpose was to protect the lights he’d installed. Fire burned brightly behind thick glass to protect against wind and rain and shadow, but spotlights had been installed. They looked out of place, but they were practical.

Outside, the clouds hung low; they were dark and it was difficult to make out what time of day it was on Alastor.

Within the walls, towards the North, was a grassy field. In the center of it, a massive oak tree with black bark, and specks of gold inlaid. It had no leaves, but that wasn’t surprising given the weather. To the East, a waterlogged, withered garden, and a wall that looked like it had been recently damaged. The sound of the rushing river was loudest there. To the South, an underground storage chamber. To the West, the front of the Hall, and the path to the gates that led outside. The forest, distant and dark and the greatest source of Chaos, was just past here.

But, there were other locations, radiating chaotic waves.

A grove of trees to the southwest seemed to be a stronghold for it, something underground near the southern storage chamber in the Hall, to the East, directly across the river, and another to the SouthEast, where there seemed to be some obstruction to the flowing river. Further up the river, lurking in some ruins, another one.

Erytheia, Knight of Cosmos, Super Sailor Mira, Senshi of Sugar, and Sailor Terebellum, Senshi of Resonance have been tasked with guarding the South Wall. From atop the wall, they can see the Wester Gate, the upper layer of the South storage chamber inside the wall, and the southwest Grove beyond it. They can also distantly see the southeast Dam. On the wall, they could feel the wind as it picked up strength. They could see the wall of trees that made up the forest to the west, and they could see the rushing river to the east. This is a great vantage point to view everything going on, but they weren’t put here to appreciate the sights–they were here to defend the wall.

Their post was between two watchtowers, so their platform was well illuminated. Three people fit easily on the wall; there was a pathway with stone rail guards to make sure no one toppled over.

They were stationed near a great weapon that looked very much like an oversized crossbow, and a stack of oversized metal arrows were loaded next to it. They didn’t have to look just towards the ground and defend against the stretching shadows–they’d been warned to look for the sky, too. A recent reading indicated that there were several large rocks and debris being carried in the atmosphere above the clouds, and if this got bad there was no telling what might happen. They were going to need to be prepared to shoot them down–and make sure the shadows couldn’t scale the walls.

The clouds swirled around them and the storm seemed like it might break again soon.

They didn’t have much time to prepare.

Terebellum, Deep Space Senshi of Resonance

Tere was quiet the walk to the South Wall, tail carefully tucked up in her skirts. This reminded her far too much of Terebellum's current state. While her world may not have been covered in roiling storms of chaos, it was still radiating it from every corner. Up until this call for aid, she hadn't known how to start even looking for the Chaos on her world. The fact that Alastor had found it? Gave her hope that she could too.

Plans and thoughts settled into her mind. She'd need to start with the caverns... if she could get into them and down to the Tenebris...

Lightning flickered, bringing Tere out of her own head. Right. Deal with the Chaos here first, then go and see about finding the source of hers. Right.

The senshi shook off her feet as best she could once the trio reached the wall, frowning a little that the mud just seemed to stick to her shoes. They looked a little like she'd fought a mud serp and lost. Ah well.

The crossbow was larger than Tere, and the small woman took up a position at the wall instead. The Cosmos knight seemed nice, if quiet, and she couldn't quite get a read on the super senshi. It was incredibly frustrating she couldn't feel other's Resonances, that had been her go to for so many years.

Though it had not exactly been enough to forestall the end...

Terebellum gently smacked her horns, as one would their cheeks, and refocused. Again.

"I'll see what I can do about keeping them off the wall," she said, reaching over the railing to place her hands on the stone itself.

Now, to see if her magic would back fire when she needed it the most...

Meighei

chi honda

Lightning struck across the Hall, and the air seemed to split with the ferocity of it. The break in the storm was coming to a close, and it was ready to rage.

Above them, clouds moved with an unnatural shape; they were oddly frothy and despite their great volume, it still seemed like they occasionally parted to make room for something lurking in the sky.

Something big.

The shadows weren’t the only problem they were going to have–something was hovering above them. Something big enough that it might have required the giant crossbow with arrow shaped darts might. A rocky underside dipped through the clouds briefly, but it was staying well hidden. It was building up speed.

The clouds grew thick and dark, and the lighting faded somewhat. The shadows grew stronger. It wasn’t easy to make out their forms, but they stretched like snakes in the grass from the forest, from the grove. They were unnaturally alive, and moved at their own pace, weaving and twisting menacingly.

There wasn’t much time to prepare.

It didn’t help that the first few drops of rain had fallen.

Or that the shadows had nearly reached the wall.

Fat, cold drops of water started falling from the sky, and thunder rumbled again, echoing against the Hall behind them. The storm clouds moved like a river in the sky, in a strange, circling pattern. It almost looked as though it might have been the beginning of a tornado, but there was too much stability. The wind started to whip around them but nothing lifted from the ground. Some brittle leaves broke free of the distant trees, but this wasn’t anything surprising.

Lightning struck a tree in the forest, and a thin tendril of smoke rose, but it was far enough away that it wasn’t worth worrying about.

Especially when they had a more pressing matter to deal with.

The clouds parted, for just a moment, and the tip of something sharp and rocky plummeted into sight. It dipped back up above the clouds, but its shape cast a particularly dark shadow on the ground beneath it. Once more, seconds later, another side of the floating debris tumbled into sight. It looked like it might have been a little larger than a car. A few smaller rocks caught in the strange air current hurled to the ground. One splashed into the river with such force that it sent a wave of water towards the group by the river.

Something large and dangerous hurling towards the Hall could cause immense damage–but the floating rocks weren’t all they were going to have to worry about.

The shadows reached the walls and shot up like weightless tentacles. A few smaller tendrils slithered through small gaps in the wall and wriggled towards them. The shadows were trying to wrap around legs, around arms. Once they got a grip on anything they were trying to yank their targets downward.

A shadow slipped over the crossbow, like it was trying to distract the three from it. The debris in the sky was dangerous, and could have been shot down by this device. But the Chaos was the more immediate threat.

Everything moved quickly, suddenly; the slowness of the shadows must have been deliberate, or they were building up speed just for this–shadows splashed over the wall and crashed down upon them in a wave of darkness.

It was cold. It was horrifying. It was isolating.

Erytheia was cut off from the other two by a wall of Chaos that bubbled over him. Sometimes, he could see a break in the shadowy wall–just enough to make out the swirling debris in the sky.

A weak noise of pain echoed, strangely loud; Tama stumbled into sight. The Mauvian looked injured, and the shadows clung to him. He seemed like he was desperately trying to shake them off. When he opened his mouth, the chaos spilled out. He couldn’t even scream for help before the shadows were trying to smother him, trying to drag him back into the darkness.

But, Tama held on. His claws dug into stone and he tried to drag himself closer to Erytheia.

He had no energy signature, but he didn’t seem like he was corrupted. There was so much chaos in the air, it was hard to feel anything specific, but it seemed like it was Tama. His Tama, undefiled by the Negaverse.

…But very nearly being dragged back into the Chaos.

Terebellum heard nothing. Silence descended on her in the chaotic bubble she’d been trapped in. Walls of shadows surrounded her; sometimes she could see a break in the bubble, enough to see the debris swirling in the sky. Sometimes, enough to see the space between her and the wall.

But the shadows rippled, and between one second and the next, she had company.

Kishe stared at her with cold, red eyes. She looked like she’d been crying.

Her white hair was tousled by wind, and her light green skin was covered in scratches, like she’d fought to be here. Hre red face markings were smeared with blood. Her head was bowed slightly but her eyes were firm on Terebellum. Unflinching. Her lip trembled.

“So here we are again,” she said quietly. Her hands balled into fists at her side. “What more will you take from me to save your own skin?”

Mira’s shadows swirled around her; sometimes, they broke enough that she could see Alastor’s world–the debris in the sky, or the Hall within the wall. The wind was swirling loudly, but it carried with it voices–she couldn’t see them, at first, but her mother’s voice.

‘It’s too much pressure. She can’t do it. She’s been growing so distant, how can we rely on her?’

Her father’s, next.

‘I know. You don’t have to tell me, I know. Every change we give her, she lets us down. I don’t know what’s happened. I had such high hopes for her.’

Her mother appeared before her, but she wasn’t looking at her. Her hand was on her cheek and she looked pained. "What are we doing wrong? Didn’t we do our best?"

Her father, anguished; he leaned against the wall and looked into the empty space beyond it. His back was to Mira. “We did. I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t want this. Maybe she never wanted it.”

“It’s just a game to her. She can’t run the bakery. Where is she, now? She’s gone again, I can’t reach her. She’s always running. Her heart isn’t here.”

“No,” he agreed. “I don’t know. I can’t even talk to her about this. She’s ignoring us. Again. I can’t leave the bakery to someone who isn’t going to be here for it. I don’t want to sell it. I wanted to keep it in the family, but…”

“She isn’t the best fit for it. She doesn’t want it. We can’t leave it to her, she’ll run it into the ground. Everything our family has worked for will be dragged through the mud. She doesn’t care.”

They spoke like she wasn’t there, but they were there. Like they’d always been there. It was like she was eavesdropping on a private conversation and, by the sounds of it, one they’d had before.

Tama’s claws dug into the fabric of Erytheai’s uniform, and he held on with all of his might. “Don’t let it have me,” he gasped, tugging and squirming, and–

The Chaos didn’t want to let go. It was a fight, but Tama slipped from its grip. The Chaos lashed out, smacking at Erytheia’s chest as if to push him back. A shadowy tendri grabbed his ankle and tried to tug him, but it lost its grip and slithered back. The wall of darkness retreated, for now; it twisted around them slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.

“Where have you been?” Tama asked, head pressed to Erytheia’s chest as he panted for air. “I looked everywhere. I thought you abandoned me.”

Tama’s chest was heaving; his tail twitched twice, but he was too exhausted for more than that. It took him half a minute to fill his lungs enough that he could even form words. His eyes closed first, but he didn’t answer. He shook his head.

He trembled.

“I was scared. I was lost. I kept calling for you.”

His voice trembled.

“You didn’t come.”

It wasn’t quite accusatory, but it was hurt, like it demanded answers.

“...I thought you found someone else. I thought you replaced me. I thought you didn’t care. I could see you. Did you even miss me? I missed you so much. I missed you so much. I fought,” he insisted, desperate, and he tried to burrow into Erytheia's chest to be held tighter. "I fought so hard. I wanted to come home. I want to go home."

Power began to pool in her hands as she felt for the resonant point of the wall. Lightning flashed behind her eyelids as she felt the shadows surge up the wall. Before she could release the magic held against the wall, meant to shift the wall just so that the shadows would sink into it and get stuck, the shadows enveloped her.

It was the loss of her world all over again.

Silence enveloped her, the bubble around her rippling to give her a peak of the sky or the wall or--

"...Kishe..." she breathed, staring at her. She looked the same as the day Sonya had betrayed her. Had done what she thought was right, to 'save the world'. A lot of good that had done. She'd betrayed this woman, the one who'd stood by her against everything. If Kishe wanted to kill her, Tere wasn't going to stop her.

She deserved far more in punishment.

"...They... they told me you died. When they collapsed the deeper tunnels of the Tenebris. I see they were... wrong," she said, nerves on edge and tense. She should feel elation, she should feel relief that her best friend - her lover - was still some how alive. That somehow, at least someone was spared the destruction she and her people brought on themselves.

So why did she feel only apprehension and suspicion.

"Excuse my paranoia, but the remaining cycles after you... left were not. Kind. To me," she said, stepping forward to Kishe and holding out a hand. "Resonate with me. Like we used to. Show me that it is not just my mind playing tricks on me. Please." Tears welled in her eyes. To think she'd have to make the one person she knew by the sound of their soul so intimately, to prove their existence...

If a Resonator could have survived the fall of her world, maybe some of her people had too.

She'd figure out why Kishe came out of the shadows, here on Alastor, once she knew she was real. Once she knew that she wasn't going out of her mind.

The Space Cauldron

Kishe looked at her blankly for a moment, but there were cracks in her mask. Anger. Disgust.

“...You want me to resonate with you,” she said slowly. “...After what you did to me? To my family? To our people? To our world?”

She took a step back. Anguish lined the shadows of her face.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Her voice trembled. “I will not excuse your paranoia. You ask me for kindness–where was yours? I trusted you, Sonya.”

The anger spilled through, the desperation.

“I loved you!”