Chronicles of Gaia (RP)

After a long silence, in which Rowan and Laura had merely sat together in the tower's mirror room, it would be the Siren that would speak first. "I've always wanted to ask you what was going through your head that night when you escaped." Laura spoke softly, almost to herself, "No... that's not quite true. I know what made you do what you did. A winged angel trapped in an underground cell, of course you'd fight your way to freedom. Even if you had to kill to get there. It was naive of me to think my presence would convince you to stay." "You were the only thing that kept me sane down there, Laura. I don't know what would have happened to me if your voice hadn't come out through that darkness." Rowan replied. The admittance came out easily, perhaps because he felt so familiar with Laura in this moment. Maybe he'd simply run out of energy to keep it down anymore. "I knew you were going to say that. You're so nice Rowan, always looking for the light in people. And you almost always find it too... at least you found it in me. I didn't even know it was there. But that's not what I wanted to know." "Is it about your master? You weren't there at his last moment, when I- I killed him. I suppose the evidence was obvious afterward that it was me. He was important to you, wasn't he? I- I regret it, having to kill him. When my desperation took over, and he stood between me and my escape... I guess it was inevitable I would hurt you like that." A small laugh escaped Laura, masking the tears she was fighting back. "I do miss my master, he was the one who gave me a purpose, confidence in my abilities. But he never really gave me confidence in myself. You were the one who started to give me that. Those long chats down in the dungeons between heists, when we'd sit back to back across the bars and just talk... that's when I felt confident in being myself. I don't blame you for what you did to my master, I understand why you had to do it. Losing him hurt but... its not what hurt me most that night." The silence felt palpable to Rowan, like a great weight smothering him into the ground. After moment that felt like ages, he spoke again. "What is it really? The question that you've kept for so long." Laura trembled, and finally she couldn't hold the tears back anymore. "Why didn't you take me with you? I knew everything, I knew how much you held onto my presence to keep you sane down there. And for the first time I felt like I was someone worth more than how well she could use her magic. I thought you understood. I thought you knew how much I needed those moments in the dark with you, just as you needed them. But why did you leave me behind, as though you didn't care at all... you just left me there, surrounded by all the demons' anger. I was so alone Rowan. You betrayed me... I was finally feeling like I belonged somewhere. I thought I belonged by your side... but you took it all away from me. You could have taken me with you, I could have fled by your side and we could have escaped to a better world. But you didn't think of me... I was thinking of you, but you didn't think of me." Rowan had no response. What could he say, after all? What she had said was true. In his desperation to escape he'd forgotten about Laura, who had been just as trapped down there, even if she hadn't been the one behind the bars. He'd left her to take the blame for everything he'd done, the deaths he'd caused. What could he possibly say now? That he was sorry? What a sad, empty little word. Sorry was for fixing playground fights, there was no word that could fix this. Laura sniffled, wiping away some of her tears. "The other Demons never liked or trusted me, but they respected my master's judgement. Even if I was an untrustworthy Siren, I was a useful asset. They said my only chance at being spared was to hunt you down and bring you to them instead. Between the fear of being killed and my anguish at your betrayal... well it wasn't hard to turn my rage in your direction. You know what happened over the next year... I did everything I could possibly think of to punish you, to make you feel what I was feeling, or even just to try and kill you when I got fed up with it all. Yet you always seemed to find a way to survive. I was envious, that you could simply keep moving, somehow I thought that if I could kill you it would mean I had finally caught up to you again,that I was by your side. Whenever you escaped one of my traps or my attacks it was like you were leaving me behind all over again. Eventually you escaped through the dimensional rift. I followed, but it sent me to a different reality. I was free from the demons but not from my memories. I'm still not sure if I'm free from those yet." "if-" Rowan spoke slowly, afraid his words would cause even more harm, "If we had spoken back then, during that year of fighting and fleeing... if we had spoken to each other even once... do you think things might have changed?" "I don't know Rowan. We never will. But we're here talking now, so I hope you have something to say." "I guess I should say sorry... for everything my actions put you through. For all the hurt I put on you, for betraying your feelings... but I also want to say thank you. I never really did, even during those chats between the bars. Thank you for giving me a chance. You could have treated me like just another prize, the demons certainly did. But you came down to sit in the dark and talk to me. Thank you for saving me from myself in that dark place. I know its selfish of me, to use your words as a light when I ended up giving you nothing but more darkness and pain, but you really were a light. You wee the most beautiful, warmest guiding light I had ever seen. Even during the year we battled, even when I didn't realize it, it was your words and your presence that keep me going. You were the one you gave me freedom, Laura. I could never have gotten anywhere without you. So for everything, I'm so thankful, and so very sorry. For everything." Laura sat very still. Rowan could barely feel her breathing as she leaned against his back. "In truth... I sometimes thought I deserved everything painful that happened to me. I was the one who trapped you down there after all. What sort of person traps another soul in the dark and tried to force them to rely on their captor for light. All the pain you must have been going through while in that little prison... I was the one who brought that upon you." "I guess we were doomed from the start then." Rowan said, wondering if his words were really true or not. "Maybe we were doomed back then, but we have an opportunity here and now. We can finally put this all behind us." Laura shifted, and pulled herself to her feet. Turning she offered a hand to to Rowan, who accepted it and stood up himself. He noticed Laura's eyes were red from her tears. He wondered what his face looked like. Before he had a chance to feel his face the angel found himself being pulled along by Laura's hand. As they walked, the siren spoke, "All that time ago I trapped you in the dark. You're back in that dark again because of this world. So this time i'm going to give you a push in the right direction. I'll help you be free again." They stopped in front of a mirror. Through it Rowan could see what looked like an endless library. Why had Laura brought him here? "I'll help you be free Rowan... so don't you dare betray her like you betrayed me." Laura whispered, as though pleading with him. She gave the angel a firm push, sending him through the mirror and into the vast library beyond.

Aislin had found a realm she could happily stay in until the end of time, as it were. She'd grabbed over a dozen different books of varying sizes, recognizing or being intrigued by the titles displayed. Aislin was tucked away in a small alcove, the books scattered around her. Most were skimmed as she remembered most of what happened and merely needed a refresher; a couple were brand new to her, however. If one were to look at the titles (and were also from her world) they would probably realize what they were right away as well. There were titles such as the thick book labled 'Pocket Monsters'; the slightly thinner book 'The Star Warrior of Dreamland'; a much smaller book titled simply 'Deltarune'; and even a book labeled 'The Cat and the Space-Time Continuum', which was also the one she was currently reading. Fortunately for anyone trying to find her, she practices both tuning out the world and trying to listen to everything around her; chances are very good that if someone calls her name, she'd hear it. ...Unfortunately, Aislin also has a very bad habit of getting irritated and moody if someone interrupts her reading. The best approach would be to use physical touch in some way to get her attention, and then make sure she sets down the book completely; otherwise she might decide to stop paying proper attention and go back to reading.

As it turned out, Celere's estimate of the time in her world was considerably off, her birth was due in a fortnight, but, keeping up the facade of not being her, even using the name 'Parsi' when asked, she got some relative information she wanted out of conversing with her own mother, which put a few misconstrued opinions she'd held all the years to rest, she gave a few choice words of advice regarding the planets untimely destruction, and to allow the woman who would birth a child called 'Leke' to plant their child in the same pod to escape, when she left, she looked sombre, not saying a word to Lynn as she looked up at the infinite stars in the sky, knowing that they'd all be snuffed out in several years... "Just one thing to do, then I go back..." she sighed, knowledge could be empowering, but in her case it became briefly depressing, "Need to kill several out of a race before they can enact anything, even though it dooms many others... and they wondered why I hated the time-travel aspect of the job." -- Seyr had rather swiftly devoured the information she'd sought, and now just sat there, processing it, letting it sink in and be added to her already half-formulated plans for an upcoming 'project' she needed to do, she left the table, the books magically returning to their rightful places, and found herself down an aisle regarding tech and worlds that used strange varieties of it, she couldn't go around with only one arm forever, and Karston... well, "City of Machinery, if anywheres a good place to build one, it's there, now then... what to look up, it's not like I've got a lack of material to work with here!" her voice was hushed, barely a whisper, she knew not the rules of this library, but respected the need for relative silence or quietness, she grabbed a few books, one of which being barely more than a leaflet that she could see was writing itself as she picked it up, and returned to the table, sitting a little closer to Aislin's location on this occasion, wondering where the ordinary, non-special, regular human's apparent thirst for Knowledge could potentially be leading them.

Aislin was by now fully involved with the books, utilizing her imagination and memories to more or less watch and listen to the story being told. She had already looked through two more books, one of which was labeled Pocket Monsters: Fandom, which turned out to be the fan games of Pokemon, such as Uranium, Insurgence, and NG: Next Gen, a remake of XD: Gale of Darkness. It had been a shock to learn that some influences of Pokemon were in this world, mostly by enabling the Summmon Creatures of the entire Final Fantasy multiverse to come here and live peacefully. That reminded her, she needed to ask Kuja and Mizuki what the Genome meant by Odin severing their pact here... The second book was labeled Devils and Angels: Golden Fourth. It took a few minutes for it to click that this was the famous Shin Megami Tensei series, specifically the fourth Persona game. Aislin mused lightly that there was apparently so much story packed in that it was a book all by itself. Still, she had finally found Lynn's world... it was oddly ironic that their worlds were so similar save for that one vital difference. After some time and poking around, she returned to her original table spot with a new book in her hands labeled Desire's Creation: Land of Alchemy, with the subtitle The Lion's Roar. As she knew full well that the only beastman Vayne's group had was a cat named Nikki, she was certain she had found Kudret's story. She felt a little bad going behind his back on this, but some of the things he had said about his teammates had gotten her curious. Checking the labeled chapters, she decided on Chapter 9, 'The Maddened Instinct' and began to read (after skimming enough to know what everyone looked like).

Seyr continued to read through the resources, a blue gridded sheaf of paper being provided by some sort of robotic attendant which assisted around the Library, the Kitsune nodding while still engrossed in a particularly interesting book for her, a tail immediately shot up and a pencil was cloaked in magic, getting the ideas and various blueprints down on the paper provided, the near-feverish scribbling and swiping of papers only stopping when she just felt something change in the library, as if someone familiar had just been thrust there, she stood from her seat, gathered her vast arsenal of literature, and moved to be further away from Aislin while still being able to keep an eye if need be, returning to her designs once seated again, she'd begun to come up with a design to replace her missing limb that she truly considered the pinnacle of any prior prosthetics she'd made in her prior 'life' so to speak.

Celere had quickly taken Lynn to a place where she wouldn't be bothered too much, paid off the Barkeep with a display of power and told her to stay put, she'd 'be right back', two fingers went to her forehead, seeking out a particular set of Ki before she vanished, teleportation apparently being a part of her unrestricted arsenal of skills, she arrived on a ship overlooking the destruction of a planet's populace, the Frost Demon instantly whirling around to bark an order to kill the intruder but finding their head swiftly detached from their neck, and arm through their chest, "No, none of that, one down, plenty to go." she teleported again, going from ship to ship across her universe and carrying an increasingly grisly set of executions, the inside of the spaceships becoming increasingly gory with each one she visited, some were ready, but it didn't matter, with her transformations and skill set... she vastly outpowered them all, it took several hours before she'd finished her task, her second to last teleport having her go straight to the home planet of these creatures, dumping the mangled and nigh-unrecognisable corpse of her latest victim at the Monarch's feet, "This is a warning, I'm sure you can figure out what that warning is." and she vanished again without giving a chance to respond, ending up in a local baths to clean off the mess she'd made. --- It was Toré's turn to finally wake from his self-inflicted unconsciousness, he clutched his head in pain as he rose from his seat, knowing full well what had caused him to end up here, his legs felt like jelly and he wobbled uncertainly before moving forward a few steps and emptying his stomach onto the floor before him, first was the mind control attempt again, which had caused him to knock himself out painfully, now there was just this feeling of dread in his soul, as if there was something in him that just... really shouldn't be allowed to surface. Ever. setting fire to his vomit to remove it from sight, he shakily kept moving forward, ending up in the mirror room and quite frankly, looking like death, his appearance did not hold any punches with how he felt.

(Why do I never know where to start my messages? I'll still try.) After being away from his world and without his trusty spear, Bandana Waddle Dee stumbles across a strange tower. He attempts to get in, but can't get very far due to his size.

Kudret noticed the moment Diemia seemed to shift. "Something wrong?" he murmured aloud, to which the rhino mused, *Something just opened...* The lion beastman waited, and a short minute later Diemia explained, *I have indeed been mulling over what you said cub, but I have also been attempting to analyze the magic of this tower. There is a sudden opening in the energies surrounding it, yet minutes have passed and nothing has happened.* "So someone might be in trouble," Kudret concluded aloud. He rose from the seated position he had taken and, after a quick loook through the different branchways, succeeded in finding the elevator once more. It was a couple of awkward minutes struggling to figure out how to start it, and then embarrassment for finding out all he needed to do was step on it and say, "Down." Kudret rather swiftly found himself back onto ground floor of the tower, recognizing the area they had first arrived in. ...Come to think of it, how long has it been since they came? *Best not to think on it, cub,* Diemia advised, *Look, the entrance is open.* Indeed the rather imposing door that has sealed them in before was nowhere to be seen; instead there was now a door-shaped hole in the wall. Kudret could not see any sign of a body, thus went closer cautiously step by step. A movement noticed after almost fully getting out had him halt and snap his gaze down to find... A creature, possibly smaller than even Carbuncle, attempting to climb the two steps needed to get inside. It was slightly round in shape, with stubby appendages that were probably arms. As it fell from a failed attempt, he could see little yellow nubs underneath it that served as feet. The creature was an odd maroon color that was offset by a bright blue bandana and a tan/biege colored middle that... surrounded its face. *That is certainly something I have not seen before. Go say hi, cub.* The amusement was clearly heard in that last sentence, and Kudret gave a mental deadpan in response. Shaking his head slightly, he knelt down and called out as softly as he could without whispering, "Hello? Would you like some assistance?"

---

Kahlua had poked around the floor of the Mirror Room long enough to find the discarded electric spear with its note of 'It's for Tore'. At the moment he was effectively playing with it, trying to figure out how it generated its electricity and how he could replicate that back home. If there was a way to utilize the crystals as a power source originally, instead of just an added fixture... His thoughts were interrupted by movement, and he turned to look as a goat person walked, or more staggered into the room. Hurriedly dumping the spear next to the daggers he had found a world ago, the cat stood and raced over. "Wall," he mumbled, more intent on leading the goat than talking. A quick look around after settling him produced no sign of potions or items that could be used for bringing this person from death's door. Kahlua checked his claws and sighed; he hated doing this part, no matter how many times he did so. With a louder mutter of, "Sorry about this," Kahlua took hold of an arm and looked for a vein. Finding it after a few moments, Kahlua wasted no time in fully unsheathing his claws and cutting it open enough to hook the tips inside. Just wide enough to get the tips in and let him focus on pushing his poison out to run along the bloodstream. This would take several minutes for the vein to fully circulate the poison; it would go faster if the wound was closer to the heart, but this was about all that Kahlua dared to risk. Especially since this is a complete stranger, like almost everyone else here.

Toré didn't even notice the person he'd have otherwise mistaken for one of his own, nor did he notice directions or just about anything, he was completely out of it, so far detached he was that the other soul in him seized control of his body and followed along with the instructions, when the cat had pierced the body, this other soul took the time to converse, slowly grasping the others connected arm with their free one, a voice slightly more feminine than those who knew Toré's own coming forth, "You'll have to excuse my hosts body, he's not feeling so hot in the head right now, literally and figuratively, theres someone out there who really wants him completely under their control, the third attack on his mind happened so he decided it'd be a good to bludgeon himself a bit, can't say I agree with that." the brown eyes of the Goat were gone, replaced by a fierce vermillion, and the body which had previously been tense, wracked by the mental locks of the goat suddenly relaxed, as if to let whatever they were doing go by faster, "We did agree I wouldn't seize control like this, but given his state I think it better I do so, and keep control for a while until their soul's had time to heal, you'll get to know him soon enough, I'll make sure he knows what you did for him." ((Just for the record, I'll be having the other soul speaking in Italics whenever they do decide to speak, it's not currently Toré speaking, he's kinda in his own body recuperating from his self-inflicted stupidity.))

"Oh. Yes, please." Bandana Waddle Dee accepts the help from the... giant. "O-oh, dear." Bandana Waddle Dee is actually a bit scared of the giant.