What their Eyes See: Finale

[voidtreckermods]

It’s been a weird mission. The Voidtreckers have been busy investigating, making headway in mapping and saving citizens from the video games and strange illusionary creatures. Those in the fourth tier have made contacts, followed leads and gotten close to the high and mighty of the criminal underworld.

Yet what exactly is happening here is still unknown. Their new found ally Anan is as stumped as the rest of them, but even so, the hackers and technological knowledgeable voidtreckers have been successful in isolating the virus to study and make an anti-virus. A netpoint network has been set up across the city, and enough access data stolen that they can start throwing everything into the systems and networks across the city.

While the illusions remain a mystery and how they got there, finally the world is purged of the strange virus as the anomalies begin to clear up by noon of day ten. Spectura victims wake up in hospital beds, dazed and confused, while no more sightings of the impossible plague those on the other tiers.


On the morning of day eleven, the once housebound and terrified citizens leave their shelters with the first tendrils of light reaching through the fog surrounding the enclosed city. An exodus of people, from fighters of tier four to elites of tier one, are making their way into the streets...and heading down into lifts and outside, out into the smog-filled wasteland.

“It’s so beautiful,” is heard, a rumbling through the crowd as people smile, laugh or wave into the fog.

”I won.” Fighters from tier four look around in wonderment. Other exclamations, about a blue sky, a greeting to a friend fill the air.

There is a pull. The voidtreckers will feel it too, though to them the world looks and feels no different. This pull is easy to resist, or they can follow and investigate it, attempt to lead citizens back inside the city. It’s not safe in the smog, no one has canisters, but none will heed the warnings.

Nor is there time for better efforts when a crackling sounds in the air, light and colours flashing in the smog, everywhere at once and too quick to get a hold on.

“STOP THWARTING ME!” booms out, and a great force pushes them back while pulling the citizens farther into the wasteland, sand and dirt kicked up in a frenzied storm. The voidtreckers can hear the civilians in the smog, but getting to them will prove harder than they may like.

Grabbing an air canister is highly recommended for those who prefer life.



CIRCLE ONE: THE MAZE
No matter where one leaves the city from, they will find themselves in a maze of walls, of metal sheets, each blending into each other. It feels surreal, as if nothing is quite real, nothing quite solid.

But it is solid. For those voidtreckers who cannot see illusions it will look like they are merely stood in the wasteland of the world. But when they begin to move they will learn those walls are tangible, and those that look close enough will see the same almost-light as the creatures that purple team have been fighting as the source.

For those who are not immune to illusions it is a strange place indeed. No smog to be seen, just high unyielding barriers. The pathways are different colours giving off hues of brightest pink, red, purple, neon green, glowing white, darkest black. Sometimes there are symbols on the walls, Capsule Corp, royal insignia, ravager flames, HYDRA, marks of royalty. They are emblazoned on the walls, the floor, sometimes even in the sky. And the deeper in they get...

➤ WINDING ROADS
It's noisy as they move around. As well as the distant noise of the citizens in the distance they can hear an acoustic guitar, erratic piano playing, the sound of bamboo on stone. Or perhaps an eagles cry, a lullaby or a song is heard as they move their way through the maze.

Objects stand in their way, blocking paths and needing to be moved or destroyed. Larger than life playing cards, red apples, flowers. Spears and daggers hang in the air as does the moon and the sun. Water often cascades through routes, making it difficult to move through or fire creeps up walls, nonthreatening but ever present. There are clouds of butterflies and ravens perched on walls, watching their every move, and the smell of sugar often hangs in the air.

But it’s better to navigate these turbulent passages with perseverance than violence. Daggers and apples will shatter and slice apart to attacks, creating a way through to begin with - but those that try the method of destruction to solve their problems will find these walls crowding them tighter, rising higher, becoming all the harder to destroy than they were before. They will become trapped, and will need assistance from the outside to untangle them from webs or jails made from crystal.
➤ STALKING THE STREETS
It isn’t just the Voidtreckers or locals who wander the maze. Wolves, dogs, zombie sheep and ghost animals mostly mind their own business, sometimes inclined to growl or bahh, but easy to pass. But other times, you may sense that you’re being followed, a presence hovering over you...while another companion will see as well the large shadow shrouding you before a decaying hand grabs at you from above, threatening to send its victim to some other part of the maze if not stopped.

Monsters also stalk these paths from various realities. The dead will be met in robes of white while others in armours from medieval times. All are fast, unrelenting in their attacks, unconcerned with pain or stopping without being properly slain. Ghouls of all shapes and sizes search for prey, and many more seek victims.

How they act and how to defeat them may be known to some, but not all. Is it worth the effort to stay and fight illusions, however? Sometimes those illusions don’t give a choice, but in other instances, a person from the city may be found on the ground unconscious, the smog air getting to them. They’ll need help, and fast.

CIRCLE TWO: IS THIS HOME?
Voidtreckers will realise they’ve left the maze when they find themselves in an open field. It spreads out far with vineyards in the distance, a campsite, all of this leading into a forest of childrens board games. While the campsite is not a true campsite as many will realise, it is the first moment everyone will have to come together, to perhaps plan ahead. Air canisters are essential in this environment, and locals have been found needing, unconscious. Backtracking through the maze is a death wish for many, but with the talents of the voidtreckers, setting up a checkpoint here may not be that impossible before going on ahead.

And then, when they finally do…

➤ FAMILIAR
It is almost dream-like as they walk, areas changing without them fully crossing the distance needed. One moment they are in a shopping malls food court, the next the interior of a spaceship; streets of palaces, temples, and mansions line up as a mish-mash of glamour, while others offer more humble abodes, taverns, family homes, bakeries. Medieval structures blend into tech bases, maintenance bays and dark rooms. Beautiful gardens, beaches and dusty souks all share space. But as they move through it, they will be tempted towards what is theirs.

And these can be anything. Ships, palaces, home, and even singular rooms: all of these are seen, doors providing access, doors that draw your character towards it, as if they know what’s on the other side. Spaces personal to the viewer, and with the constant pressure of these illusions, somehow draining to be around, they will find it harder to doubt what they see. Even if their bedroom leads towards a volcano, a blacksmith housing hospital beds right beside it, it will not seem so bizarre to find these natural.
➤ DEARLY BELOVEDS
But it’s not only structures that exist in this labyrinth of streets: there are people, animals - family, friends and pets. Beloved mentors, a smiling loved one. The night sky will wash over, the ocean within view; your favourite plush rabbit, a worn jumper. Your favourite song playing, losing you inside this new reality.

Even people from the Voidtrecker Express are around, whether or not they’re still passengers. Feanor, Zetta, Noctis, Cassie Cage, Jin Ling; Elfnein, Link, Mami, Gyousou, Duo; Senku, Jiang Yanli, Olivia, Bucky Barnes. They walk this plane, friends and lovers of the voidtreckers, coaxing them further into the illusions. Assuring them everything is alright, offering reasons to give in.

Over all this though, they can still hear the citizens in the distance; their voices sounding more confused, frightened even. To push on the voidtreckers must walk away, ignore these temptations and push on to the third ring.

CIRCLE THREE: TWISTED HEART
For those who manage to get through the second circle, pushing away the temptations of home, they will find themselves back in the smog filled wasteland. But through the smog they will see more, always more. Once again the scenery blurs into impossibilities, from testing labs with padded beds, to other imagery associated with asylums of old, to dark cramped spaces, to hallways raging on fire. They sense fear itself, and even the most stoic will find apprehension digging into them as they make their way forward. Is this their fear? Or is it your own?

It may be hard to discern in this twisted reality.

➤ MISERY LOVES COMPANY
This time, as the scenery shifts around them, so does their own sense of self try to match what these places mean. The despair of being lost in darkness, the belief that they can’t be seen by others, all sound fading from their ears. They are on the moon, trapped there for years; at the edge of the vast ocean, on the bank of a river of lava, despair in their hearts. In a wrecked city, their own city destroyed almost beyond recognition. By opposing forces, by weapons of mass destruction.

They have lost everything. There’s no fixing this.

A Pandora box of fears have been unleashed, with seemingly no hope. Your worst enemy has been granted a second chance, family stumbling towards you on the verge of death before your eyes; forces that you were meant to be dealing with back home have found you, surely leaving your own world in ruins, from titans to ayakashis.

Or they might stumble upon a graveyard, stretched out as far as they can see where every name is someone they care about.

There are even voidtreckers of now and old opposing you: Danny Fenton, Lan Xichen, Darth Vader, Vegeta, Xue Yang. Kerry stands pointing a gun straight at a fellow passenger while shadowy ravens and terrifying dragons swirl in the sky.

All this emotional turmoil will do a number on the voidtreckers, but there is strength in numbers. More civilians have fallen unconscious at this point, and those willing to aid them can take them back to the city. But no matter how the voidtreckers move, they must keep their nerve and hold onto hope as they cross the final hurdles.

Comments

[worthallthis]

The worst thing about all this is pulling people away from their loved ones. But it's not real, and it's not safe to stay here. Soldat stands at ground level for now, looking up at the pair of them sadly. "Buttercup," they say. "It's time to come down now, kiddo."

[knifewithnoname]

She looks around at her name and wriggles to the edge of the roof to look down, to see who is there. She smiles at them, her sister's face appearing behind her, wary.

"They do be being alright." B told her sister. She waved at them.

"We do no be finished yet. We do still be having honeycakes. Do you be wanting one?"

Was there a reason she would have to go? She can't think of one. They still have a lot to catch up on.

[worthallthis]

"No, thank you." They chew on the inside of their cheek a moment, heart sinking a little at the clear disregard for what's really going on, then asks, "May I come up to join you?"

[knifewithnoname]

They look down at them for a moment and then turn to each other, pressing their heads together to whisper conspiratorially for a moment.

"Can we be trusting him?" The barefooted girl was asking.

"Yes. They will no be hurting you. I do be promising." She looked down at them.

"You can be coming up if you do be wanting to."

[worthallthis]

They nod, couch, and jump up to catch the edge of the roof and swing up, out of easy grabbing reach of the two girls for their own peace of mind. They probably could jump all the way up, but why expend the effort?

They settle down, knees up and one arm resting across them, non-threatening. They can't forget where they are or what's going on, but they need more intel before they start pushing. "Who's your friend, Buttercup?" Friend. Twin sister? Clone? Life model decoy? They don't know, but she's very similar-looking.

[knifewithnoname]

B put her hand on her sisters shoulder, as if reassuring her as they swung up onto the roof to join them and then took another honey cake and bit into it.

Once she'd eaten a bite she answered them. "This do be being my sister." The girl nodded, holding a hand up in a wave. "She do no be having a name. But we can be thinking of one for her."

One like Buttercup, or something cooler.

[worthallthis]

Soldat nods once, slowly, in greeting. "It's nice to meet you, miss. I didn't have a name for a long time, either." Then, to B, voice carefully neutral, "Will you be bringing her back to the train with us?"

[knifewithnoname]

The girl nodded at him, looking intrigued almost. "It do be being nice to be meeting ou too."

Buttercup frowned, looking at her. "If she do be wanting to, though we could be staying here as well. There do be being lots of honeycakes." And going back to the train... That didn't seem such a good thing right now.

[worthallthis]

"You can stay out here, Buttercup," Soldat says as gently as they can. "It's not safe. You'll get sick from the bad air." Remember where you are, kiddo? Remember the maze and the city?

[knifewithnoname]

"The air do be being alright here."

No smog at all. She's not sure where it's all gone. But it's not a problem. After all she is with her sister and there are honeycakes. Sure there was a mission but surely they were finished now? Some people who were good at the computers had made a cure for the virus and that would help.

So she could relax now, it was fine.

[worthallthis]

Soldat shakes their head once. "Remember how a bunch of people in the last mission saw illusions? Not us on Red team, but the people in the castle, or defending the castle. This is like that. It's making you see things that aren't there. The air isn't clean. You just think it is."

[knifewithnoname]

She frowned, looking at them and then around at her sister. She did remember that. But this wasn't the same. They saw a city and thought the demons were gone...

She shook her head. "But I do be breathing fine. It do no be tasting or smelling horrid."

Maybe seeing clear air she could believe, but she knew how mad that air was. This was not bad at all.

[worthallthis]

"The illusions can hurt you," Soldat reminds her. "So they can probably make you think you're not being hurt, too." They sigh a little, and pull out the breathing apparatus from their air canister to offer her, just in case. Maybe trying some pure air will help prove her mind wrong. "It's not safe here, Buttercup."

[knifewithnoname]

She sighed but took the breathing apparatus to take some breaths of fresh air, even if the air was fine. She breathed a couple of times before passing it to her sister so she could breathe some air too. She trusted Soldat, they wouldn't lie to her.

"Okay. I do be believing you. So we do be needing to... Be making sure we do no be breathing the bad air..."

Right? There were other people out here. They were probably supposed to be helping them. But she didn't so much care about that as much as she cared about eating honeycakes with her sister.

[worthallthis]

"Yeah. And collecting the others who are breathing the bad air. Stopping the illusions. That's our mission." Remember, Buttercup? There's work to be done here. They don't know that humanitarian pleas will help much, but a reminder of duty might. She does participate in these missions, after all.

[knifewithnoname]

She wrinkled her nose but they were correct. Stopping the illusions, collecting the citizens. That was their mission.

She sighed. "You do be being right. The time for resting do be being over." No more honeycakes. Sadly. She stood and held out her had to help her sister up.

"Do you be knowing where the citizens do be being?"

[worthallthis]

They don't, not specifically, but they can guess there's more back the way they came. They don't think they managed to find all of them before winding up in the deeper illusion. They gesture in the direction of the first portion of the maze, but don't dare jump down alone just yet, in case the illusion sinks its teeth in deeper when they get out of direct talking range. "Want me to help you both down from the roof?"

[knifewithnoname]

"We can be climbing."

Her sister looked less convinced about going with them but she nodded and the two scrambled down, both clearly very used to such things.

B looked around as they reached the ground, wrinkling her nose. This was strange, she can't see any people but she trusts Soldat and knows they will not lead them wrong.

Her sister doesn't know Soldat but stands ready, awaiting orders.

[worthallthis]

Soldat swings down from the gutter and lands lightly on their feet. Maybe getting her away from the site of the illusion will be enough to break it. At least she trusts them.

They give her hair a brief little ruffle, then say, "This way, Buttercup. Little miss." The latter, of course, to her illusory sister. Just because she doesn't exist, doesn't mean one shouldn't be polite to her.

[knifewithnoname]

She grinned at them and then glanced at her sister, reassuringly. She trusted them. It was fine. Her sister looked less convinced but nodded back and followed with B.

"We can be scouting." She told them with a nose wrinkle, looking identical to B.