Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I'm not going to go and separate the story into different physical parts like I used to. Episodes aren't going to restart, they'll just keep going. So after this'll be 21, and so on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...

[Cruce has met up with Rainbow Dash in the village's small flower garden. With the guidance of Ruinous Vesse, he is intending on heading through the Strayer Void.]

Rainbow Dash: [Silenced by Cruce's sudden announcement.] ...

Cruce: I'm taking you home. I know why you've lost your memory, and how to get you back to your home world, but I'm going to need your help.

Rainbow Dash: Anything! I'll do anything! Just please--

Cruce: Shhh shshshsh! [Looks around...] I'm not supposed to be doing this, because it's dangerous, but listen... You've passed through something called the Strayer Void, which Rush was talking a lot about. One of the side effects of doing that, since it was supposedly sealed off long ago, is that you lose your memory. There are ways of fixing that, like naming the specific things of your life, or just passing back through the void.

Rainbow Dash: The... void... Hey, I remember that, I think... All I can think about is the big red cloud with the hole in the middle.

Cruce: That's it. Where did you come from, Dash? Where on this world did you fall out of the Strayer Void?

Rainbow Dash: It was near a weird looking river. I'll show you. [She lifts herself into the air.]

Cruce: Great, thanks. We'll need to hurry, and I mean hurry hurry. Rush won't buy what I told him for very long.

Rainbow Dash: No problem! We can get there in a few minutes if you can keep up with me. Let's go. [She hurries off in the direction of what she explained as a strange river: the Siren's Delta.]

Cruce: [Carefully watching Rainbow in the dark of the night, he begins running.] (Here goes... I'm sorry Safiri. No hard feelings.)

...

Rush: [Waiting at the statue, he crosses his arms and sighs...] (Cruce, if now wasn't already the time to start something mushy, could you at least not take like twelve hours to do it? I feel like the Pull's going to get me any second.) ...

[Rilia walks outside, approaching Rush shortly after.]

Rilia: Rushy, hi~. What'cha still doing around here, don't you gotta be safe from our Ecliptic Pull?

Rush: Yep. Cruce decided to pay Safiri a visit before heading off with me. Said it was about--er... He... just wanted to thank her again.

Rilia: [Tilts her head exaggeratedly far.] Huuuh? But I just came from Safiri's. I was looking for Rainbow Dash because she wasn't at my place, aaaaand she wanted to stay there. Safiri's brother thought maybe she fled because she changed into a Safan, but since she became part Eclipse with the evil void thingy, the Pull doesn't affect her. Oh, but but but I didn't see any Cruce activity~.

Rush: [For a moment, his eyes widen.] What? So Cruce AND Rainbow Dash aren't... the void... Dammit, Rilia, get Safiri! Quick! Tell her to run as fast as she can up at the place the older Slianna mentioned--I think it was the delta.

Rilia: Yes sir Mr. Rushy sir! [Salutes Rush before running off to Safiri's den...]

Rush: (Dammit dammit dammit! I can't believe this!) [Activating his hover boots, he takes off at full speed towards the Siren's Delta.]

...

"Hi hi Safiri~. So Rush wants you to run super fast up to the Siren's Delta."

"What? Why's he need me for that?"

"Call it a hunch, but I think Cruce and Rainbow Dash are meeting there..."

"What fo--THE STRAYER VOID!! THAT LIAR!"

[Safiri darts off, leaving her den without any warning. She is a beam of light, dashing through the village and swerving around the scarce trees, ahead of Rush within a half of a minute.]

Rush: [Notices Safiri's flash pass him by. He becomes progressively slower and slower.] (Aaah, yeah... Safiri... Get to 'em. Stop them if you can. I'll be grounded before I make it...)

...

-Siren's Delta-

[The array of large streams scattered around the wetlands is breathtaking by nightfall. A red luminescence can be seen lining the bottom of each of these streams, no matter what the size. Damp portions of the land, which is about ninety percent of the area, emit a very faint glow. From high above, the brightest markings can be easily made out. In one portion of the odd delta, these bright lines form a perfect circle with certain tangents running off of it.]

Rainbow Dash: [High above.] Whooaaa! Cruce! I wish you could see the view from up here!

Cruce: [Having only just caught up, he raises his head.] (Wow, this is cool. 'Must've been why that other Slianna was here. Studying the lights or something.) I can see the lights all around. How's it look for you?

Rainbow Dash: Like completely and totally killer awesome!

Cruce: Makin' me jelly, Dash. Wh--[The Crossblade materializes in his mouth before he can speak again. Its three blades glow red, the neon streaks of green overtaken in this sense. It seems to overwhelm the Crossblade, forming jagged shapes of bright red all throughout the blades.] (Agh, Crossblade! What the--... What happened to the Spirit Cross--is it the place...? Must be, I mean the color's the same. Gotta mean something...)

Rainbow Dash: [Lowers herself near the ground, watching Cruce.] Whhhaaaaat theeeee?! What is that?!

Cruce: [He shakes his head, mumbling with the Blade in his mouth. Suddenly, his weapon begins shaking a bit. It pulls him to the center of the delta. As he reaches the deeper streams, a path of red light forms under his feet, guiding him along the surface of the water. Rainbow Dash follows silently in the air.] (This is way crazy... I-I'm not doing any of this!)

(Vesse: Cruce Maximilius, your Spirit Cross is resonating with the Strayer Void... This seems to be the purpose of your weapon: crossing the realms; traversing the multiverse.)

Cruce: (A ticket through the Strayer Void. Literally a right of passage... I-I didn't think the Crossblade did that...) [Having stopped at the center of the circle of light, the area itself begins orienting to the Spirit Cross.]

[Beacons of brighter red form at certain points along the edge of the circle. Each of these beacons shoot a narrow light at the Crossblade, forcing Cruce to raise it high into the air. The weapon becomes an even greater beacon, emitting even a warmth at a distance.]

Rainbow Dash: [Watches this show unfold before her eyes with fascination.] ...

Cruce: [His own beacon bolts into the sky, resulting in an immense beam. It brightens the region as it ascends. Upon breaking through the cloud cover, an eruption of chaos assumes its place. The clouds part around the beam, blackening before they transform into a cyclone of crimson wind. The scale of this airborne storm is enormous. It overshadows the Oathlands and the wetlands together, along with the Ancient Growth Forest and areas beyond. Blood red lightning strikes at the Siren's Delta.]

...

Rush: [Still a few miles from the site, he is quite close to the cyclone given its size. He gazes at the light which brightens the great storm in the sky.] (Oh gods, no... Cruce!!) [Summoning all of the power he can currently muster up, he pushes on, flying to the pillar of light.]

...

Rilia: [Standing, stupefied at the sight of the Strayer Void.] Oh no... oh no oh no oh no oh nooo...

Slianna: [She approaches her friend's side.] It's really here... H-how could it appear like this?

...

Rainbow Dash: [Yelling over the commotion.] Yeah! Cruce, this is the thing! This is what brought me here!! Waaahh!! [The force of the winds draw her into the light. She is taken through the Strayer Void via Cruce's beacon.]

Safiri: [Sprinting on, she shouts as she reaches the delta.] Cruuuuuuuuuuce!!! [She dashes over the rivers, only to be sucked into the spiraling beacon as well.]

...

Rush: [Setting his hover boots to the highest power through his own magical energies, he has covered almost as much ground in ten seconds as he had covered in minutes upon setting off. He reaches the delta.] (I'm... I'm out... [He descends rapidly, though, before striking the ground, he is sucked into the light...]

...

Cruce: [Before the Strayer Void's window closes, he, too, is taken into what his Crossblade had called forth.]

...

[The rift closes in a split second, air shimmering around its location. The world darkens as the lights disappear. It is almost as if nothing had happened...]

...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~