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Post by Ponic on Jan 26, 2015 21:55:46 GMT -5
(Also taking place after Rem's arc as some unspecified time)
Out in the forest near the river a shadow rose to life and pulsed, as shadows tended to do when extended across realms. It began to search for the nearest person, one certain Light Human by the name of Skylos.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 26, 2015 22:14:54 GMT -5
Skylos was meditating outside of the cabin and by the nearby river. It was something he did from time to time. Skylos had a lot on his mind at the present, but a distraction would be welcomed with open arms.
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Post by Ponic on Jan 26, 2015 22:31:16 GMT -5
The shadow jumped right into Skylos' open arms
The shadow approached Skylos where it pulsed and then it suddenly took the form of Ponic, or rather his silhouette. "Skylos, are you well?"
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Post by Skylos on Jan 26, 2015 22:35:25 GMT -5
Skylos snuggled it like a blanket.
Skylos shrugged his shoulders. "As well as anyone can be. I'm just waiting for the next thing to break..." His eyes were still closed and quite a bit of Gold Aura was shimmering off of him in his meditative state. "How goes your journey?"
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Post by Ponic on Jan 26, 2015 22:38:09 GMT -5
"Dangerously, but progressively," said Ponic, "I require aid." Skylos wouldn't be able to see Ponic's face as the shadow was just a silhouette, even if he did open his eyes. However, Ponic's voice gave off a somewhat amused tone, "Based on the fact that you have time to mediate, I'm fairly certain you have some free time."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 26, 2015 22:44:47 GMT -5
"Basically, you're telling me, 'if you have time to lean, you have time to clean'." Skylos then noted, amusement in his tone. "Even if I didn't have time, I make time to help you. How can I help?" Skylos opened his eyes and stood up. He examined the shade that was Ponic and found it to be fairly interesting. Projecting oneself from one Realm to another confirmed just how strong Ponic had become.
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Post by Ponic on Jan 26, 2015 22:49:27 GMT -5
The shadow in response would into a portal to the Shadow Realm, the meaning being obvious that Ponic wanted Skylos to step through. Once Skylos entered into the portal he would be sent through the passage into the Shadow Realm. Skylos would probably already be used to the Shadow Realm's unique colouring, and he would find himself in the same place that Arianna had first arrived at on her journey: the outer rim of the Velut village, in the left overs of Ponic, Keera, and Markov's house. Ponic was waiting for him on the other side of the portal. "Smooth ride?" asked Ponic with a bit of a smile and nod of his head.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 26, 2015 23:03:01 GMT -5
Skylos nodded his head. "Yeah. Nothing out of the ordinary there." Skylos looked around and took in the somewhat familiar surroundings. "I haven't been here in a while. It doesn't look like much has changed." He then scratched his chin. "Where's Keera? I figured she'd be here to meet me, too."
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Post by Ponic on Jan 26, 2015 23:07:39 GMT -5
Ponic shrugged his shoulders and looked around as well. "The inner village is in better shape than this, it's finally getting rebuilt, but no one really cares about these outer areas. I guess it's a question of priorities, when a whole village is nearly wiped out it's take some time to rebuild it." Ponic then gestured back to the house on Skylos' question. "She's inside, trying to figure out some of the stuff we gathered about her family." Ponic paused and added in a low voice as they moved to the house. "It's hitting her a bit hard. She's happy to be learning about her family, but it keeps landing us in difficulties, and it seems her parents, while good people, were onto something big and by extension quite dangerous."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 26, 2015 23:14:30 GMT -5
Skylos nodded his head in understanding. "I wish there was a way to get everyone to stop fighting, but I guess that's just wishful thinking. Building and rebuilding is all that can be done..." He listened about Keera's family and he shook his head. "Dangerous? What kind... what level of dangerous?" He didn't know what to think at this point; he didn't know how Ponic would answer. Please don't be some sort of atom bomb-like thing.
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Post by Ponic on Jan 26, 2015 23:18:47 GMT -5
Ponic paused for a moment and then gestured into the house, "come inside and we'll talk," said Ponic leading Skylos inside. The house was still standing, but it was clearly in disrepair with loose floorboards and broken down remains, but the roof was at least still over their head. Keera was in the living room, sitting on what passed for a chair, even though it was actually a crate, and reading over one of her parent's books. She looked up at Skylos and quickly moved to him embracing him. "Hi Skylos," she said smiling, "good to see you here. What's new back home? Everything OK in the cabin?"
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Post by Skylos on Jan 26, 2015 23:29:31 GMT -5
Skylos followed Ponic inside. He thought about mentioning Agrios, but he figured that would only cause them unneeded duress. Instead, he figured he'd only mention the other one. "Hiya Keera. Yeah, everything is all right back at home. We have picked up a new tenant for a while. His name is Valdis. He's pretty interesting, but he doesn't seem to understand basic social cues. I think his upbringing was an odd one..." He shook his head. "Anyways, enough about that. How are you fairing?"
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Post by Ponic on Jan 28, 2015 21:25:44 GMT -5
Ponic paused for a moment and chuckled lightly, "remind me to ask you about him, later." Skylos then asked his question and Keera sighed lightly. "I've been better, it's just starting to become more clear, how little I knew about them," she said. Ponic nodded, "and the different races all vying for the same thing. I suppose you might need to be caught up."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 28, 2015 21:39:40 GMT -5
"I could use any information." Skylos noted, giving a somewhat wry chuckle along side it. Because you've talked little about your people...which is why we have a lovely mess with Agrios. "I'll take the detailed version."
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Post by Ponic on Jan 28, 2015 21:56:16 GMT -5
Ponic created shadow and solidified it, then sat on it. Keera nodded at him to go ahead. "Keera's parents, we've been looking for anything about them. If you remember, we tried once before but we got side tracked by Abrianna and her nefarious schemes. Now we have Irates getting in the way." Ponic sighed and nodded, "they are more of an infection than a race of Shadow Wielders. Every Shadow Wielder only needs a certain amount of shadow, but they infuse themselves with way more than necessary and it warps and changes them. Then, if that's not good enough, their powers have the ability to infect other Shadow Wielders and make them into other Irate infections. As soon as Keera and got into the Shadow Realm and started looking for information about her parents, we've been dealing with the Irates."
"The difficult thing is, they were isolationists. They mostly stayed out in their own village, but they've gotten more bold and crossed into our village," continued Keera, "and their leader gained a new ability. She was able to disguise herself, into a very convincing version of anyone else. Well, that was before Neon...well killed her."
"The Irates are clearly concerned about the information that we know about Keera's parents, but we feel like we only have some of the picture. Despite it, there's something else that has taken our attention." Ponic stood up and gestured to the end of the room. Skylos would probably not have noticed it at first because it seemed to fuse with the shadows around it. The orb of the Irates, where they drew on the power of their shadow to create their infection. It was still firmly within Neon's darkness cage and was crackling and pulsing as it was attempting to break free.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 28, 2015 22:15:18 GMT -5
Skylos digested all of this information. So there were other things than Veluts and Ulters. He figured there must have been, but now he had confirmation. He idly wondered just how many types there were out there. The Shadow Realm seemed like a big place, after all. "First you had Ulters, now you have Irates. Seems like you can't catch a break." Skylos noted off-hand. He shook his head. He was glad that he didn't typically have an issue with other humans. Growing up had been quite a bit lonely as a result, though... He looked at the orb and scratched his chin. "That's Neon's Darkness." It wasn't a question; Skylos identified it immediately by sense alone. "What's inside of it?"
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Post by Ponic on Jan 28, 2015 22:25:24 GMT -5
"Don't forget the Nictucs," said Keera, "but everyone stays away from them, then again none of the races particularly like each other. We'll tell you more about that later." Ponic gestured to the orb, "you're right, that's Neon's darkness. He contained it for us. That would be the Irates' orb, which is where they draw on their excess shadow and their infection on. Without it, they can't form more, they may even die out eventually, but that would be years from now. Keera and I can't touch the orb because it would infect us, but Neon's power keeps it contained, still even with the containment we can still minorly feel it."
Keera reached into her shadow and removed something, "give me your hand," she told Skylos and dropped the crystal that her, Ponic, and Arianna had found. "We got that from the remains of the Ulter castle, apparently they knew about it too. My parents created this, does it feel familiar?" Skylos would feel how strange it was. The crystal was the separation of shadow and it both expelled and absorbed light at the same time. It pulsed with energy, and Skylos would feel the light and darkness halves within it. Yet, mixed with both powers, like something wrapped around them, there was another energy but it would be impossible to name because it would feel so foreign and unlike power that Skylos had ever felt on any of the Terras.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 28, 2015 22:35:11 GMT -5
Skylos didn't know anything about the Nictucs, but he figured they were not presently important. He held the crystal and closed his eyes. After a few thoughtful moments, he nodded his head. "It's curious. It might not be made with a Power derived from Sol. Such things are rare, but not unheard of. In any case, I don't recognize the Power that is in the middle, so to speak. Omni might know, but he is impossible to find." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Light Prism. "Have you tried analysing it with one of these? All's I can feel is Light and Darkness, but these things are pretty good with minute details."
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Post by Ponic on Jan 28, 2015 23:01:27 GMT -5
Ponic looked at Keera and she laughed somewhat. "Actually...no," she said, "I don't know why we didn't think of that. You're welcome to try it."
When Skylos mentioned Omni, however, Ponic got curious. "Any word from him?" he asked Skylos. Ponic knew it was a bit of a sore spot for Skylos that Omni seemed to have up and left them very suddenly. Sure he had his family back, but he had inadvertently told both Skylos and Neon that they were placeholders and nothing more, since he had completely unplugged himself from their lives.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 28, 2015 23:24:17 GMT -5
It was a sore spot indeed, seeing as he tensed ever so slightly. A slight glint appeared in Skylos eyes for a nanosecond, but it was gone faster than it appeared. "I haven't heard anything from him." Skylos noted, terse. He had the Light Prism activate and it started to scan the crystal. He wasn't sure what it would find, or if he'd be able to understand its findings. There was a great deal of information that the Light Prism would include in its output, but some of it only Omni could make heads or tails of it.
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Post by Ponic on Jan 28, 2015 23:39:00 GMT -5
"I'm sorry," said Ponic lowly, not needing to be an emotional reader to gauge Skylos' current feelings. The readings from Skylos' prism would also begin to come in. It would register former Shadow power that was separated into its original form of Light and Darkness. The prism would then begin to read the third power that seemed to be wrapped around the Light and Darkness. In fact, the prism would even register that the crystal itself seemed to be partially made of this power.
The reading, however, would be vague. unknown Whatever it was, there was no exact name for it that the prism would likely know. However, it began to list things it was close to, interestingly, everything that the prism would list would not be a single power it would be something mixed with something else. Such as void being light + darkness; but then it would show odd mixtures like love + time or aura + dimension. Whatever it was, the prism couldn't label it directly, but it seemed to be emphasizing that it was some kind of a hybrid mix of powers...
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Post by Skylos on Jan 28, 2015 23:46:13 GMT -5
"You know, it's pretty unnerving when the Prism gets this technical. I can see all of these breakdowns in genomes and Power structure and I honestly can't make heads or tails of it." Skylos gave a wry laugh. "What I can see from the readout is that the unknown Power is some sort of hybrid. Either the Prism can't directly tell me what it is, or I can't understand what it is trying to tell me." Skylos looked very thoughtful. "And you said your parents made this? I wonder how they went about that... They must have been very intelligent people, Keera." He then grinned. "Hey, are you secretly a genius and haven't told us?"
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Post by Ponic on Jan 28, 2015 23:51:23 GMT -5
Keera blinked for a second and laughed, "I'm not sure I know how to take that." Ponic chuckled, and took the crystal back. "It's certainly an interesting thing they did. To manipulate shadow that deeply, it would need to be done with extreme power, which we're guessing is whatever they used, which is trapped within the crystal. We think it can eliminate the Irate infection."
Keera appeared thoughtful for a second and was looking at the paper they had grabbed from the castle. "But hybrid...these mention something about a hybrid, but they're so vague, it's like they're written in code or something." Keera sighed irritated, slightly.
Ponic nodded to her. "We think we can destroy the orb using the crystal, but we can't do it here, and we can't risk doing it ourselves, it infects Shadow Wielders. Being a Light Human, it won't be able to hurt you. We need you to help us sneak it out of the village and out into the plains." Ponic moved closer to Skylos and looked closely at him, "but so you know, Skylos. The plains are a dangerous place with wild creatures and mind tricks of all kinds, no Shadow Wielder travels there willingly unless they have to. Not to mention there are Irates all over the village, and just getting it out will be difficult."
"We have to do it, they'll infect and kill innocent Veluts if we don't, but they'll follow us for their orb," said Keera.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 28, 2015 23:59:20 GMT -5
That sounds too scary. Bye!
Skylos chuckled along with Ponic; however, things turned serious pretty quickly. "They can't be as dangerous as anything we've faced over the years. I think I could manage." He looked at the Darkness covered orb. "I can make it visually invisible, but there is no way for me to make it Auraly invisible. I think making it invisible would still cause enough confusion to facilitate it getting out of the village safely." He turned his head back and smiled again. "I can make it a little tougher as well. Neon has already covered it in Void...so if I cover it in Light, you've got a nice Void containment around it." Skylos nodded his head, thinking about it. "It'll make it safer for others to be around, I'd think."
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Post by Ponic on Jan 29, 2015 17:02:03 GMT -5
Ponic considered Skylos' suggestion for a moment about covering it with Void. "We could try doing that, but wouldn't we risk causing a massive explosion if somehow the orb is able to touch the Void that would be created?"
Keera then commented, "making it invisible might be a good idea also. After all, we want to get it out of the village, but we want the Irates to follow us. They'll sense their orb being moved, they'll follow us to the plains, which is the entire point of this. Then, once we are out there, we destroy it with the crystal."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 29, 2015 18:20:23 GMT -5
"There would be the risk, true. But keep in mind that we would theoretically be safer too. Even they wouldn't be stupid enough to attack the person holding it if it was covered in Void. Chances are, the orb would become irreparable. And they live off of it..." Of course, this was relying a bit more on the point that the Irates were capable of rational thinking. "I'll definitely make it invisible, then."
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Post by Ponic on Jan 29, 2015 21:12:54 GMT -5
Ponic nodded, "let's go with invisible then. I wouldn't trust the Irates rational judgment, and we have no way of knowing that the orb wouldn't attempt to corrupt the void because of the similar power make up. I don't know we'd deal with that if such incredibly unstable shadow touched void." Keera moved to the window and looked out. "Better do it quickly, I can feel it, the mobs are starting to come closer. They'll be here soon, probably..."
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Post by Skylos on Jan 29, 2015 21:36:43 GMT -5
"Invisible it is." Skylos moved over to the orb. He began tracing a box in the air, somewhat reminiscent of miming. As Skylos began connecting points, parts of the orb would vanish from sight! Once Skylos finished, the orb was completely invisible. "I put a stronger invisibility on it, all things considered." Skylos noted once he was finished. "Shall we get moving, or is there anything else I need to know?"
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Post by Ponic on Jan 29, 2015 21:50:45 GMT -5
"Much, but it would take too long to go through it all right now. The most immediate concern is getting out of here, we can't travel by shadows near the Velut village. The Irates are corrupting them, we'll never get through safely. We'll have to go on foot through to the plains." Keera beckoned them forward, "let's go," she said quietly. Ponic encased where the orb was in shadow so it would be transportable. With the orb encased in a layer of darkness it wouldn't be able to corrupt Ponic's shadow. They then walked out into the area.
The house was on the outer perimeter of the Velut village, but even from here they would hear the shouts of the Irate mob and the fighting Veluts. Ponic and Keera walked with Skylos up to the crest of the hill that led down into the main Velut village. Ponic pointed down, "the village is built into the mountain and the outer plains are to the west lunar bound of us." The Shadow Realm was in near perpetual twilight, so north, south, east, and west were relative to the moon. They wouldn't need to cross completely through the Velut village, but they would have to cut through it to get to the plains fast enough before the Irates caused major damage. From here, one could already see they were causing damage. The village was on fire, and there was the distinctive sound of a lot of Shadow Wielding. "Let's go," said Ponic moving in that direction and keeping his guard up for any incoming Irates.
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Post by Skylos on Jan 29, 2015 22:14:17 GMT -5
Skylos walked with Ponic and Keera, cautiously looking around as he did so. He was almost sure that Ponic was being watched by the Irates, so their path would most likely be a perilous one. Idly, he examined the village and its upkeep. This place keeps getting attacked. How long will it be before someone gives up on it? "I wish we could stop and help." Skylos commented, still looking around at the damage. From afar, even here, he could feel the wild flurry emotions of the Shadow Wielders...both sides.
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