middleofsomewhere | So Familiar a Gleam: Finale

YOU R̴̨̬̗̞̺̖̣̱͌̋̅͊͒̃͘Ų̴̨̨̦͎̭̥̰͍̞͙̲̰̞̭̎̆̓͂́͒̑͌̆̉̕͝Î̶̲͖͙͍̮̮̯̭͘͝N̵̡̢̢̛̛͔̳̲͚̙͕̘̠̞̈͊̂̋̆ͅÉ̸͖̟̻̯̪̭͉̭͖̱̙̠̺͎̥̿D̸̥́͒̈́̔̓̅̋͛̉̀͒̇̚̚ MY WORLD

A TL;DR notes version of days/prompts: (click to show)

EVENT BASICS:

DAYS 8-9 (M11-M12):

Buildings had begun to disappear during days 7&8, facilities and even whole streets begin vanishing. There are signs of crumbling infrastructure everywhere they look.
In the early morning of Day 9 (M12), the cracks in the city - in this illusionary world - finally spread. The void sky above shines brightly in its colours. Chaos - also referred to as the Entity, or That Guy - is heard screaming of vengeance against the Voidtreckers, blaming all that has happened onto them. It shows what happened to the original Diagad: It was destroyed by blocky shapes in the sky that came down and destroyed it, while Chaos itself fell into the void.

There is also some light mind torture, as a treat, to really wake people up. Memories, visions of their past assail them. This is the sort of stuff the voidtreckers have been training against and it's a good time for them to put all that work to the test.
Anan's group then takes over any electrical device still left. She explains that they have a way to get the non voidtreckers (4th wall characters and npcs) home and also a way to temporarily seal the world. The entity takes offence at this and the screens smash. The entity appears as a cyclone of crackling colourful energy.
Illusionary creatures are sent around to find and attack Voidtreckers, but they're also going after 4th wallers/NPCS. There's also monsters from other worlds leaking through, real monsters. People will have to move around more carefully, as going out on the streets is dangerous.
However, there's word that buildings are disintegrating/disappearing farther out from the centre sector. People see where the city limits are as the illusion of there being more to the city has completely faded.
Their SCA's begin to work fully, including comms. Of course not everyone was wearing their SCA when they got pulled and the 4th wallers don't have one so it will be up to those who do to make sure everyone is kept in the loop.
The main tasks are as follows.

"YOU. YOU WISH TO RUIN MY WORLD. TO TEAR IT ASUNDER, BREAK AND CRUMBLE AND INCINERATE ITS EXISTENCE AGAIN. AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. I WATCHED IT. THE END OF DIAGAD, PURPLE SKIES, THE CHILDREN WHO LAUGHED IN JOY, THE SMILES I BROUGHT TO LIFE. THE REASON I WORKED AND WOKE AND WHAT KEPT ME GOING EACH AND EVERY DAY. MY EXISTENCE. MY BEING.

FALLING. FALLING. FALLING. I FELL AS IT CAME, BLACK TERROR WITH A HUNGER. HOW DID THE CHILDREN CRY? DID THEY SUFFER? I CAN HEAR THEM ALL, I CAN IMAGINE THEM. SEE IT. THE POSSIBILITIES, THE MAYBES, THE TRUTH. THE WORLD-- MY BEAUTIFUL DIAGAD, OH! THE VOID HAS BLESSED AND CURSED AND DAMNED AND DESTROYED AND BROUGHT TO ME A CHANCE TO SAVE IT THIS TIME, I WILL SAVE DIAGAD, I WILL HEAR THE CHILDREN LAUGH AGAIN, NO ONE WILL DESTROY MY CITY AGAIN. NO ONE, NO THING, IT WILL BE BEAUTIFUL AND SAVED AND IT WILL PROSPER FOREVER.

ALL WHO HARM US! ALL WHO STOP OUR RETURN! I WILL FIX WHAT HAS BEEN BROKEN. NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU YOU VOIDTRECKERS HARM MY WORLD AGAIN. TWISTING AND RUINING OUR HOME NO MORE NO MORE I WILL END YOU."

The spiel comes in the early morning of Merriment 12, their ninth day on this strange world, though morning and night are indistinguishable now with the void-scarred sky burning above Jinnjar. Little exists of the sectors but the education and political district, and everyone has had to take shelter in its buildings, on cold tiled floors and with few blankets. There is no waking comfortable, feeling at ease. The city continues to crumble, and the citizens turned into the Entity's Heroes never quit their search and harassing of people who may be secret Voidtreckers, regardless of the ruinous world around them.

And then it speaks. The Entity's voices wakes everyone, enters into dreams, reality and the fake undefinable between one another. Scenes switch from one to another. A sky. Purple, serene and calm. A feeling of great contentment. But then come the shadows. Dark clouds filling the sky, blotting out that most perfect sky. A scream. No, a thousand screams. A world of screams echoes in every ear. A shadowed figure falling into the void. Pain erupts through the body, the mind, madness and grief suffocating every sense, every fibre of the being, and more attempts to fill and drown each and every person in Diagad. There is grief, there is love, there is despair. A longing and desperation that can never be fulfilled that cries out.

Once it's over, many have collapsed from the experience, and there are screams of those scared for their lives. Go out into the streets if you haven't already, and you will see the streets breaking, buildings being pulled like cubes, splitting people and trapping them. And there is a surge that hits people - Voidtreckers, others - with a brainwashing that makes them think of only one thing:

NO MORE. END. WE WILL END THE VOIDTRECKERS.

In amongst all of this chaos screens switch on. Any screens left working in buildings, on buildings, peoples phones. All show a young woman, a droid sat on her hair, metal legs curled around her head.

"Malin?"

A woman's voice. "Yes, go Anan. Now."

"LISTEN UP!" Anan isn't as loud as the booming voice echoing through the city, but she makes herself clear. "We need to evacuate and seal this world. It is falling apart." Stating the obvious, perhaps.

"We can temporarily seal it and we think there is a way to get the others back to their worlds. I know you Voidtreckers have had no training and this is advanced and really dangerous but everyone who is not a void traveller is in a lot of danger."

In truth, even the void travellers were in danger, but she doesn't want morale to be too low.

"Anyone willing to help meet me in the big park. You'll know it, it's the only park left!"

'HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU THWART ME. NO. NO. YOU DON'T. THIS IS MY CITY. MINE NOT YOURS. NOT YOURS TO DESTROY.' There's a huge crack as the sky itself seems to crack apart as colours twist and turn, a cyclone that forms at the edgez of the city, slowly beginning to devour it.

Over the camera Anan looks visibly shocked, terrified even, lost for words. An older man with reddish greying hair steps towards her, putting a big hand on her shoulder.

"Focus Anan. Voidtreckers. We do not ask it lightly. Please those that can, fight. Buy us time to set the seals. Buy time for those with no void craft to evacuate."

The screens flicker in colour before it cracks into static.

'NONE OF YOU WILL SURVIVE.'

A DISJOINTED REALITY

[ FALLING CITY. ] The city has been torn apart, fragments of roads, buildings and structures floating in a horrible mess. Friends and comrades split apart, some trapped in rooms that once had exits, or with no way out than to fall to nowhere. Pieces may stitch back together again at random, but with the same unpredictably, tear apart.

And if it couldn't get any worse, those core lights buzz around the environment, searching for individuals. They will do anything to hinder our heroes: turn into monsters from their minds, attempt to encase them inside illusions of their fears; even try to make them see pathways that don't exist, to make them fall into nothingness.

But for those who honed their resistances against illusions, this time may be different from the last. And with some experimenting, or just some lucky wishful thinking at the right time - some will find they can bend the illusions to do as they want, if just for a while. Stitch back together pathways so they can be crossed over, or make a weapon appear where it's needed.

It requires concentration, will be exhausting with too much use, but still - when isn't an axe or road on call handy?

[ HINDRANCE OR HELP. ] But it isn't only the core lights and environment they need to worry about. There are monsters coming out of the void - monsters they may recognise, monsters they may not. But unlike those of illusions, these are real, monsters - mechanical, ghostly, flesh and blood, something else entirely - slipping through from other worlds to rampage here.

There are also civilians, those who remain brainwashed, going after the Voidtreckers with powers of their own: telekinesis, pyromancy, superstrength and endurance, and so forth. Their skill levels vary, but the strongest of all are those who features have become twisted, chaotic. Streaks of colours dance under the skin, and they listen to no reason but their own. The entity - no their god, Chaos, is remaking the world. Remaking it the way it should have always been.

Strangely, but luckily, not everyone is harmful. Amongst those out there are a peculiar sight: a short hybrid between child and woodland-creature. They're keen to help, particularly anyone young or good of heart. They will help to lead them to safe shelters - the safe-houses made by Voidtreckers, the protected rooms all that are left. They may even interrupt the core lights from harming youngsters, knocking and shattering them, and then staying close to the youngster.

[ THE EVACUATION. ] For those who manage to make their way to the park, Anan is there, looking grim. One good thing though, as voidtreckers rush towards the entity or get ready to protect those helping evacuate this world- those with SCA's will see them burst into life, comms online.

The evacuation area needs protecting. Those acting as beacons aren't able to fight for themselves and the evacuation process is intense, slow and there are many many people in this city. The main entity is distracted but the monsters are drawn towards this gathering of people. Holding them back is vital to this plan working.

It's going to take everything the voidtreckers and their new friends have, to pull this plan off.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Ugh," is the muttered opinion from Xehanort, who, for all his dislike of the situation doesn't seem like he's going to just leave this lunatic behind. Cursed obligations! How hard can making a belt into handcuffs be, really?

No sooner does he set to giving it a go than the entire area they're still on shudders with the impact of ... of .. that thing. What the hell is it?! At least ONE of them is used to fighting by the way Tidus pulls a sword out of NOWHERE and immediately goes on the offensive, leaving Xehanort to frantically make loops out of the belt to try to make some kind of restraint and then drag the comatose chaos-worshiper towards a more stable looking bit of ground.

Actually this is going slow. He's going to just pick the person right up and sling them over one shoulder with considerable ease. "How do you feel about running away?!" It sounds like a good idea to him, especially with the ground coming apart! Tidus might well be a master fighter for all Xehanort knows, but he's got four spells to his name and no weapons beyond the scenery to throw at things, so escape seems like a far better idea to him!

You know that dumbfounded second you take to consider a suggestion made, and a fiend from another world gets the chance to breathe fire at you? Probably not, but it's what Tidus gets a taste of when his attack gets paused by the thought Xehanort puts into his head, making an opening for the other.

Tidus manages to swing himself out of the way of most of the flames, but not entirely, but the hit mostly on a spherical barrier that appears around him - a spell given off by a buckler shield he wears. Still, some of the flames get through, and he has a small cut-off grunt at the pain of singed skin; but of one than when he directs his blade to dig and plunge into the fiend's eyes, earning a far more distraught scream.

He only digs in as far as he feels need to before pulling out, then starts running with a "Run run run!" because, yes, running is a great idea, please run as far as this road extends, and then find somewhere to run some more!

Tidus will be able to help, once he gets over the dizziness that the pain in his one arm is making, makes his sword disappear again - and he can throw out a haste spell for Xehanort to enjoy.

It's ok, he'll be ok, he can keep up, just keep having good carrying skills there, pal!!

Xehanort is a big fan of surviving encounters more than making bold dramatic last stands, and while most people even on the train might well think their best shot is battling that thing to the death, he's certain they're best off.. NOT doing that, even with the thing screaming in pain. Because it already got Tidus once.

And there goes the sword. Just like it had appeared. And on the bright side, his idea seems to be a good one! Which means he's ready to go as soon as Tidus is with one tiny exception. Haste spells are nice on many levels! And while Xehanort doesn't know that one, he does know Cure! A little haste goes a long way in reducing cast times, and as the swordsman scrambles away from ...whatever that thing is, Xehanort puts his One Healing Spell to use, to hopefully dull some of that pain and damage before heading AWAY from the big ugly scary thing at top speed.

Which isn't actually that slow, he's not doing bad for a nerd who prefers to be in a lab! Downside: there's really not a lot of places to go with the world literally falling apart, and his burden of unconscious actual person means he has to go around things he'd rather go up and over. Further downside: they're going to run out of street REALLY fast.

It might explain the sudden detour he takes between crumbling buildings, skidding a bit on the rubble-strewn ground. "This way!" Why this way? The alley is just a bit narrower than that monstrosity!

Bless Xehanort and his One Healing Spell. Tidus feels the effects as the spell hits, some sense of relief to his arm, but now isn't the time to be giving thanks. He's focusing on this running, and for however smart it may be or isn't, he's actually following Xehanort's lead than looking for his own. He was further away, so it makes sense to! And he doesn't want anything to happen to him and the one he's gotten stuck lugging around.

What a sight.

There's a roaring from behind them, but a lagging too from the fiend, Tidus notices. But he's really not interested in sticking around or slowing either, as smaller versions of its flames and fireballs are eating around the road - the big downside to making this illusion pissed, apparently. So he puts some extra oil into his sprint as Xehanort turns for the alley, hand smacking against the wall as he runs on in, getting his other shoulder to knock into concrete.

"This is where we could do with those stupid transgates!"

You know. Just for some very valid complaining. WHERE'S THE MAGICAL TELEPORT TO THE PARK WHEN YOU NEED ONE.

Honestly he needs to work more on expanding his combat skills. He has more than enough of them inherently, but finding the time between all the sciencing to do anything with it is pretty difficult. But maybe it would mean not sprinting down an alley with a dead weight person over one shoulder, glancing back now and again to make sure 1. Tidus is still there and 2. is still ALIVE.

Teleportation would be fantastic right about now.

Xehanort works on dragging himself and his comatose burden over a crumbled bit of wall, panting a bit. A year ago, Terra wouldn't have even broken a sweat at this level of exertion.. "Didn't someone say these SCA things have an emergency port on them??" He waves the hand with the bright orange wristband on it angrily, as if this would somehow actually do what he thought they were supposed to. "Or something worthwhile at least?"

So far all it's really doing is making that You're In Danger warning that honestly Xehanort didn't need a watch to tell him about.

Tidus barks out a laugh, half-breathy by their continual movement. "I wish! We can evac out, and that's it. Complain to the train!"

And he starts to say more, but there's a piece of wall that decides it wants to be a piece of flying debris right under him, causing him to stumble onto his knees. Which hurts, but he grits through the pain, gets up without even acknowledging it as he continues with a short-lived limp.

"I'll see who I can get!" Through his own purple-strap SCA, bringing up his wrist to tap through the names of the finally available comms function. "If my friend left someone at the park, we'll be able to track 'em!"

Hopefully. 'Tracking' doesn't account for roads that may not exist between them and the park.

"I will!" And he's going to. As soon as he figures out how, if they survive this. There's probably a complaint box. First thing he's going to do!

Until then it's trying to come up with alternatives, and as Tidus stumbles, Xehanort slides to a stop in a shower of pebbles and broken concrete and immediately backtracks, glancing around quickly in the available obvious directions of attack for potential enemies. "That'll give a direction at least. If there's still roads."

It SEEMS like he's just waiting for Tidus to finish but frankly he's taking a break for a moment, shifting the person on his shoulder a little for more comfort.

Not that they'll have too long to take a break and see who else is around. It starts innocuously enough, a single incredibly large raven flapping down to land on a pile of debris from the way they'd come. It ruffles its feathers up and caws once, displaying a beak full of sharp teeth.

In the distance, more caws. Birds aren't scary, what's the worst that can happen!

So Familiar a Gleam: Finale

I have no icon for AAAAAAAAAA

it's ok, as long as you emobody it via text. by going AAAAAAAAA

someone's gonna get eaten by a fiend!

happens all the time, nothing new

let's avoid becoming an eaten-by-fiends statistic.

no subject

no subject