middleofsomewhere | Event: Healing Waters

"Good morning passengers, it is day twenty three of the month of Grasshopper. All passengers of the Voidtrecker Express require rest. Next stop Jema’grethy Island. All passengers prepare to disembark."

It is a very strange morning message that rings through the train on the morning of day twenty three but as the passengers of the Voidtrecker Express wake their screens glow with the colour of the void and a holographic screen pops up for them to read.

World #2554098133741: A world once inhabited by an ancient civilisation and now preserved as a historical site, nature reserve and well-being retreat. It is famous for its relaxing hot springs, calming atmosphere and beautiful beaches.

It is a popular void-traveller destination, particularly among void missionaries as a place to rest and recuperate after difficult missions.

The Voidtrecker Express will spend three days here, arriving today and leaving on day twenty six of the month of Grasshopper. The dressing carriage is open for your convenience.

It is time for a holiday it seems!

Preparation

For those who go to explore the dressing carriage they will find a variety of beachwear and wetsuits. One cupboard has a pile of tents and groundsheets in all four team colours.

One cabinet is exclusively filled with beach towels, in a kaleidoscope of colours, designs and patterns. Another is filled with different shapes and sizes of plain towel dressing gowns. There is even a cabinet with buckets, spades and small rock-pooling nets.

It seems they are in for quite an adventure.

Arrival

"Shortly arriving on World #2554098133741. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train lurches and rattles as it leaves the void they will get a glimpse of silver-purple sky and a beautiful ocean below.

However some passengers might be a little more than distracted, one staring at that table for a second too long, another seeming lost in thought for a couple of seconds, a longer than normal pause in a sentence. They see a vision, a glimpse of a life that is not their own. Not all at once, but here and there as the train descends to the island.

But then it is gone and things are back to normal. Just in time, as they come to land.

Jema’grethy Island

The train has landed on a grassy ridge, overlooking a beautiful beach of white sand and the ocean beyond. It is warm, but not too hot, a cool ocean breeze cutting through the heat making it pleasant. Behind them is a grassy plain, changing to forest in the distance. There is the sound of birdsong in the purple sky. To the west the land is more craggy, the silhouette of a fortress in the distance. In a word, it is idylic. A sense of peace permeates the island.

A little more worrying is the volcano-like structure in the north. But even a quick glance will show it is not a typical volcano. There is no smoke and the liquid slowly running down it in rivulets is pink and blue.

Exploring the passengers will find beautiful beaches, ragged cliffs to walk and caves to explore. Where it is more craggy the beaches are made of pebbles- perfect for rock pooling.

The place has no people, but it is clearly maintained. The eastern beaches have racks of shallow boats, both canoes and one- or two-person sailing dinghies. There is also a small building in which scuba gear is stored, along with several waterproofed manuals and instructional literature.

Ruins of ancient houses are scattered across the island, but the main settlement is built into a rocky section in the north-west that has been secured with ropes and stairways cut into the cliffs, perfect for scrambles and hikes.

There are no living quarters, but there are sheltered sections with basic toilet facilities marked as camping grounds in five different sections of the island - by the hot springs, within the ruined fortress, beside the harbour, on the eastern beaches, and on the northern face of the mountain.

Hot Springs

To the west are the hot springs. They have both outdoor and indoor areas; the indoor areas being wooden loghouse saunas, changing rooms and storage sheds, whilst the outdoor areas are a tiered series of pools spilling down the side of the mountain and shaded by brightly flowering trees. The waters are hot, mineral-rich and soothing.

Perfect for overly stressed, world weary Void heroes...

(OOC: More setting information is here, please feel free to go wild with the setting and have a fun and relaxing time. You can use this post as a catch all for your holiday or make your own posts on

middleofsomewhere. More information about how the memory event is structured is here!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yes... Though the people are tied to the land, it is all connected..." But it was the people who were important, the people of Tai were those he existed to serve, to help.

"Sorry... What is the Helaraxe? Is it part of your home?"

He moves his mind away from thinking about people, and the chances of them ever returning to Tai. It is too painful to think about. He can hope, but so far they have no real plan.

Glorfindel took a deep breath. "It was an ice bridge between Valinor and Middle Earth," he said.

"For those of us who followed Feanor and his sons after...the situation with the boats, it was the only way to cross. It...felt like an eternity, but was only a handful of months. But the ice was harsh and the going rough and not everyone survived," he said sadly.

"In the Halls of Waiting those souls were always the closest to the fireplace," he said, smiling again. "Even though souls feel neither cold nor heat. But Namo has a kindness that one wouldn't expect from someone called the Doomsman."

An ice bridge. That sounded... beautiful. But also potentially terrible. A dangerous bridge, but one that would be awe inspiring to see.

"Halls of waiting... Is that... Your afterlife?"

That makes sense in the context. Souls, wanting warmth after dying on an icy bridge. A doomsman...

He looked sadly at the golden man.

"Not exactly? It is...well, exactly what it says," Glorfindel said with a laugh. "You go there, when you die, to wait until it is time to be reborn. Elves are immortal, you see. So even though our bodies might perish, we go to the Halls and wait for new ones."

"While there, you heal any wounds of your spirit. Because until your spirit is whole again, how can you be reborn?" He was very fortunate that, despite all that transpired in his life, his spirit wasn't hardly wounded at all, and at that, mostly by the deaths of those he cared for. Seeing them in the Halls rejuvenated him, and he was then able to turn around and help them.

"Oh." He knows of immortality and of resurrection though this is the first time he had heard of such a thing as this, a hall where the dead wait to be reborn until they can find new bodies.

"I understand. Are they then reborn into children? Do you remember? Your life before I mean..."

"Some will be, others will just walk from the Halls when it is time. Or so I've been told," Glorfindel said. "I was reborn as you see me now, full grown."

"We definitely have all of our memories of our previous lives," he added. Though those who needed a fresh start due to what had happened to them in their first life may only remember the happier bits.

"I was in Gondolin, one of the King's Captains, and the Lord of the House of the Golden Flower," he said with a smile. "Those are precious memories to me, so I am glad I still have them."

He looked at Taiki. "You are relatively young, if I understand the roster correctly? Are you on your first life?"

"Oh." He nodded, reborn as he was. There were so many different worlds, different ways that those worlds worked. And people in Glorfindel's world remembered their previous lives. Would that make them wise?

Or would that make them sad?

"I am glad, that you have precious memories of your previous lives." He tilted his head slightly.

"We don't really have an afterlife in my world. I don't think." At least it was not one that people believed in and spoke about. "We do have those registered in the books of sages, those who rule and who serve those who rule, they live a long time. I guess... There have been Taiki... That is there have been kirin of Tai before me, and there will be after me but we don't share any memories or anything like that."

Event: Healing Waters

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