Fractured Reality: Desert Layer

[Saint Morning]

Fractured Reality


OOC:http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=379713

Welcome to the World Of Fractured Reality! This RP is based off a fanfiction story a friend and I currently are in the process of writing and will feature places, elements and OC Characters from that universe. The story is simple, your character has been ripped from his/hers home universe and teleported to a mysterious new dimension ,more specifically, a lovely little planet called Peril, the reasoning is unclear but as the heroes explore the world and the story progresses they will find that they are on a journey to restore the world of Peril by traveling through the different layers and defeating god-like entities known as Guardians to bring balance to this godforsaken world.

IC

Group 1

Sweat dripped off a figure's pale skin as he began to lift the basket. The figure released a soft grunt before he began his journey through the blazing desert, his shoes seemingly becoming a sand magnet as he trotted to the thick sand. "Dammit, why can't that idiot do his job!" he whined, his face becoming slightly red with anger. He stopped short suddenly. The surrounding dust particles began to rapidly rise in a circular fashion, encasing him within its boundary, he quickly raised his hand protectively over his face blocking out some of the roaming dust. His eyes widened slightly as the sky slowly cracked open spitting out four individuals with both pairs splitting off in the sky.

The outsiders would find themselves being harshly dragged down towards sheering hot sand below which did little to soften the blow from their fall. However if they were to access their surrounding they would noticed that they were missing five members of their party.

Elizabeth (Spindle), Elizabeth (Naval), Caite, Pelene, Cynder and Flame were no where to be seen. (Group 2)

The sheering heat bared down upon those that were unfortunate to land in the middle of the desert where nothing could be seen for miles. The figure from before simply stared at them with wide green eyes, his brown locks dampened with sweat, as he regarded them all cautiously. He looked no older than 14, however looks can be deceiving.

"Who are you people?"

Group 2

Group 2 was separated from group 1 because of some odd surge in the wind after exiting the portal. They were thrown completely in a random direction and gravitated to a floating temple-like structure. They would see that they were heading towards one of the cobblestone wall at a rapid pace, but instead of smashing into it, they simply phased through it. The group came tumbling into a bright hallway of a large temple building was made of a type of stone that was emitting an ominous yellow light very similar to that of Flame's castle. The walls were covered in strange writing and scenes that were carved onto the stone then brightly painted so that the light wouldn't consume it.

Towering glass windows depicting Goddesses and Gods filled the room, the light of the sun, barely passing through, giving the room a dim setting, books were left scattered and torn all over the hall, and the scent of dried blood polluted the atmosphere.

Wherever they were. It was clear that they weren't in friendly territory.

[Taigawa]

Neyla

The tiger's armor locked up as she hit the ground, taking the force for her. Neyla was slow to recover, ordering her ancilia to unlock it for her so she could move. When she was finally able to do so, she reguarded the human with contempt. Even after all that happened, she still was'nt about to trust a member of the race that had attempted to destroy hers. Despite this, she deactivated her armor, knowing the Forerunner base material would only weigh her down. She kept her robe on, the yellow-dyed silk reflecting some of the light away from her. Reguardless, she knew the desert would eventually kill her without help.

Cynder
As the dragon approached the temple exterior, she phased into shadow, using her magic to protect herself. However, it was for naught as her body phased through the wall and into the rooms behind. As she recovered from that, she sat down and attempted to get her barings.

[Spindle]

Elizabeth Keasan
Group 2
The Citadel

Pain.

Pain shot through her body and Elizabeth's eyelids flickered for a moment, before pulling apart to reveal the steel-gray eyes beneath. Servos whined in protest as she sat up, eyes glancing around to take in the room they were in in one smooth sweep. It looked...old. Worn. And then, a few moments after realising that, Elizabeth's eyes wondered onto the dried bloodstains and widened. With more whining servos, she managed to pull herself to her feet, teeth gritted against the pain of movement, even movement as clunky and slow as her servos permitted.

Glancing down at her own body, she winced at the realisation that she looked at least as bad as the room. Blood formed a wide streak down her left cheek, across her shoulder and down her arm, wrapping around the wrist like a serpent and and moulding itself to the scratches and dents covering her chassis. Black marks covered her from the neck down, paintbrush patterns which obscured her once-pristine paintwork, now scratched and scored away to reveal naked gunmetal, glinting in the weak light.

Internally it was no better. Her nanites didn't normally conduct charge, but the arcing electricity running across her casing had caught a sizeable portion of them, burning them into microscopic chunks of metal which were now being slowly reconsumed. None of her servos had survived unscathed and three were currently burned out completely, turning her movements from lethally graceful dances into slow and painful actions. Her synthesiser was operating at little more than a whisper and she didn't have enough nanites to fix it without compromising the more vital repairs. But, worst of all, Deuterium Reactor Two was offline, its fuel bled away through an open cut perhaps six inches long that had meandered over the reactor and was proving difficult to close.

She could feel the damage reports in her head, trying to reach her IRD, but she held them back for now. There was something she needed to do before she lost her sight to the blue warning indicators telling her to keep out of trouble, and her eyes scanned the room desperately until they found it. Lying on the floor was Flame, currently unconscious. He seemed alive, but Elizabeth felt a small lump forming in her throat as she glanced at the angry red marks on his skin. Kneeling down alongside him a hand reached around the back of his head, lifting him gently into a sitting position as she set him against one of the brightly glowing walls. Her other hand fluttered to his chest, feeling a soft rise and fall as he breathed.

For a moment her eyes softened in what could have been a smile if she'd had lips, before her stomach blossomed open and detached one of her hives, the device falling out into her open palm with a soft ting. It was roughly eight inches long, a black metal ovoid with a cut-off tip and it was responsible for the production and renewal of the nanites which functioned as Elizabeth's red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and blood plasma rolled into one.

In short, she was going to regret using it like this later.

Raising it to Flame's neck, the cut-off tip kissed his flesh and hissed once before Elizabeth withdrew it. Placing it back within her stomach, which folded up protectively around the ovoid, Elizabeth could already see the burn marks beginning to fade. More reports tried to pop up in her IRD, warning her that Hive Three had been emptied of thirty percent of its contents and that Deuterium Reactor Two would now take seventeen minutes more to become fully functional. It was a pressure growing in her head, to let the information through into her eyes.

And now that she'd taken care of Flame, she allowed them through, neon-blue flashing to draw the eye as the room around her was obscured under layer after layer of warning and report. Acknowledging them as fast as she could, Elizabeth set to work cutting back the thicket of reports which had built up in her mind. She knew she must look bizzare sitting next to the unconscious Flame and blinking as if she had something stuck in her eye, and with eyes glowing nearly solid blue to boot, but that was just how the IRD worked. And besides, it wasn't as if she could get a patch for it here.

Wherever here was.

[Talchyon]

Dr. Feng Xu
Group 1
The Desert

Bad things happened when traveling through wormholes. Not only were there the ill effects on the body afterward, the disorientation and somewhat queasy stomach. Those were to be expected. That's what even the lowest midshipman received training for, and why every Talchyonite ship carried an abundant supply of antacids. But for those who ventured close to the sides of a wormhole while crossing through, who knew what to expect as the end result? Countless scout drones had been lost to who knows where. A few research ships, too, in the early days. Reports of clones. Madness. Convulsions. Hallucinations. That was why any captain who had any sense stayed close to the center of the wormhole and let the sides be when traveling through.

Normally that would not be an issue. Normally, a jump was made only after astronavigation calculations were made and checked by both AI and human. Normally a drone scout was programmed to go through first, and then return after sensor recordings (to prevent the obvious disaster of jumping into the middle of a rogue moon or asteroid, of course).

But after their three ships had jumped to face an alien army with hundreds of warships and all comms were jammed and sensor readings distorted, and shots were fired at them, what else could be done? The Prometheum opened another wormhole to get out of Dodge, quicker than a politician could break a promise. And so came the unenviable flight where his ship had taken a vector that would prove to be dangerous, grazing the wormhole's edge, that led to Dr. Feng Xu feeling like he had been split, ripped down the middle.

And now? Brighter light, blurry vision, dry heat, queasy stomach - and a hard landing on what seemed to be sand. Xu held a hand up to his aching head under his short black hair. Groaning, the leading researcher from Mendeleev University at Talchyon's New Home felt his head throb. He gradually pulled himself to his feet. What a day.

It was sand he had fallen on. Sand all around in dunes as far as the eye could see. "So this is what happens when getting too close to a wormhole's edge..." Xu thought. "I should record my observations so future research can be done on it."

And that's when Xu noticed he wasn't alone. There were others with him. One, a brown-haired kid by the looks of him, said, "Who are you people?" Xu hoped he was some kind of native. Maybe he could lead them back to civilization. Giving his usual expression - a frown - Xu simply glared at him. He had little time for dealing with children. They annoyed him greatly. Instead the good doctor took inventory of what was on him.

His stiflingly hot space suit was no longer on, which Xu silently rejoiced at. That thing had lost him 20 lbs. of sweat before they had launched. He had a military standard issue phasegun, fully charged. Not like he knew how to aim or even use the thing. His white lab coat covered his other clothing. There was a sensor pod in his pocket - that would come in handy. Also looked like it was fully charged. His monitor that held his research notes - including Dr. Talchyon's which he had learned how to translate. And then - Xu broke out into a rare smile. Attached to his belt was the device! The sleek metal device he was wearing was the reason he had a ticket on board the Prometheum. An invaluable thing. Xu's latest research - actually culled from the notebook of the great Dr. Hugo Talchyon, the founder of the Talchyonites - was his very own entropy field. That would shield him from any kind of energy - even kinetic! - dismantling and breaking down into harmlessness whatever passed through it.

Now he had to figure out how to get back. Xu wondered what his original would think if he saw him now. Life as a clone was going to be different.

[Britanania]

Caitie, group two

When the group landed, Caitie slowly rose from the pavement and stretched her back. As a person who spent most of her life in rural England and later in New York, the first thing the beautiful young woman noticed was the scorching heat. For a person accustomed to cold weather, the heat was indescribable: the closest she had even gotten to something this hot was a job she did in Vegas, but that didn't even prepare her for this.

Caitie approached the symbols on the wall and touched them with her hand.

"Remind me of the things in Uncle's books," she muttered under breath. "Granted, I was never a Thelemite." She looked back at her comrades, who were also getting their bearings. "Well, what do we do now?"

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Purilla Azolla Sakar
Group 1

---

Purilla opened her eyes, only to cover them almost immediately. After a moment she uncovered them and naturally adjusted. There was sand, everywhere. She then looked around to see who was there. There was familiar faces and some new ones.

"So a desert... It could have been worse. This actually isn't that bad." She said and looked to the young looking boy who was obviously a local, "Drem Yol Lok." She said and approached, "Am I to assume you are a local? Where are my manners. I am Purilla Azolla Sakar, and I am not actually from this world of yours. I'll leave everyone else to introduce themselves...." She looked around, "Mainly because some are new faces.... Such as you."

She pointed to Zeva who had just started to get up.

[The United Equstrian Front]

Marcus Peters
Group 1

He groaned, and didn't open his eyes for several seconds before he felt a mental chant go through his mind and he shot to his feet and whipped his head back and forth before calming down and opening his eyes. The sun scorching his eyes was not what he was expecting and he hissed while blinking rapidly, after making sure he wasn't seeing black spots he glanced around him before settling his sight on the Gravity Manipulator from before, who was talking to a boy no older then maybe 16. He shrugged while skulking over to them while glancing around them, he noticed his beloved wasn't anywhere and this agitated him, but for the time being he stopped till he was beside Purilla and stared down the boy,
"Okay then one where are we? Two is there a town nearby? Three are you going to help us?" His eyes cut through the boy's with repressed rage and hate.

[Taigawa]

Sylvia Xi Leng, Planet-Breaker Ascendacy, Olea, Freedom star system

Theme for the battle

A collision alarm sounded after the exchange, turning the wolven lady's perky expression into an aggressive snarl almost immediately. "Projected casualties: 15,000 organic units, 10,000 Promeatheans, 5,000 sentinels. Predict breach of shields and extensive hull breaches." came the voice of the ship's AI.They were'nt going to meet with me....they're going to ram my ship. Such treachery..." she thought, her expression suddenly serious. She took control of the ship herself, beginning to move it above the plane the enemy ship was approaching from. All the while, her ship and the fleet were bombarding it with their weapons. As Sylvia prepared to initiate the firing sequence of The Composer, she was consumed by a blinding light....

Peril

A light streaked across the arid landscape, crashing near where the group was gathered in the deasert. Sylvia was knocked unconcious by her impact into the sand, and laid unmoving in an elongated crater.

[Saint Morning]

Fractured Reality

Group 2

Flame’s eyes snapped opened and he jolted upwards. His gaze shifting through the room he had awoken in, his eyes catching the sight of several other familiar faces before his gaze landed on Elizabeth and he visibly relaxed. Dusting himself off he glanced around and saw that Cas, Loric, Void and Iris were nowhere in sight. The heat that prickled his flesh and made even him uncomfortable told him that he was no longer in the forest.

They had entered the desert layer didn’t they? Did that mean that they killed Iris? They killed a freaking Guardian? Who knows what kind of consequences that would cause later on. But he didn’t have time to focus on that, he needed to get everyone else sorted out. Moving towards the unconscious form of Pelene, the flame-harried boy worked his magic and healed the giant woman from her fatigue and superficial wounds she might have possessed.

When he was done he stood up again and took in his surroundings more clearly. Moving to one of the mirrors, the book peered outside and his eyes widened. “Were in some sort of floating temple!” he informed the rest as he stumbled backwards.

Glancing around at all the decay he couldn’t help the feeling of familiarity. “We need to move, like now.” He informed the others she quickly made his way down the hall and motion for the others to follow him. “Let’s go!”

Group 1

The child stared cautiously at Purrilla and visibly took several steps-backwards when she approached. “Um.” He didn’t get to finish as he was suddenly hounded by a strange man wearing a really creepy mask. Glancing around at the peculiar set of people, the boy couldn’t help but want to flee, but something told him that wasn’t the right thing to do… after all these people would most likely die out here… but that wasn’t really his problem now was it?

But he knew that Yuma would throw a fit if she ever found out that he left strangers, correction, Adult strangers out in the open. “I’m Sage.” He said rather meekly. “You’re currently in the middle of a blazing hot desert. Uh several miles north of the town of Despairia.”

"You are all adults… right? I haven’t seen one in like a century. I thought you all were dead…. How did you manage to avoid Zeon?”

[Taigawa]

Cynder

"A temple? What happened here then? Why does this place seem like it was the site of a massacare? The room I see looks like the Apes tore through it. Why should we leave?" the young dragoness asserted.

Neyla and Sylvia

"I am Neyla, not that titles mean much out here, but I am empress of the Ecumene. Who is Zeon? Is he like the one who tried to bind me? who turned that warrior-servent against me? Perhaps here is not the best place to be asking questions, but I'm curious."

Sylvia remained unconcious in the crater nearby that sorrounded her.

[Clan Ericssen of the Norse]

The Woods outside Clan Bergthorsson, countryside of Arinetha

Haverd Haengsson was a man with a heart of gold, a quick joke, and skill in the area the Vikings prized best, battle. And yet, for all that he seemed to have going for him, Haverd was also a man who was used to a lot of "alone time". When all the other Vikings went on their coastal raids, Haverd was not invited to come. Other Vikings had their close companions, their drinking buddies and shields bearers. But Haverd was not invited to join them. It was an awfully lonely life, but Haverd made the best of it that he could. Loneliness was to be expected when you stood at least 24 feet taller than everyone else in your clan. But, with a joke here and a funny story there, Haverd got people laughing at things, and while they still wouldn't call him "friend," at least they weren't calling him names and reaching for their pitchforks and torches.

So it was that the others were out sacking other ships and feuding with other clans, and Haverd Haengsson was alone... again. Walking in the woods near his home, dug out of the side of a mountain, Haverd wondered for the millionth time if he would ever fit in. He ran through ideas through his mind, conversation starters, really, that he might use to get others his age to like him. "'So, Anlaf, how's the weather?' No, that's no good. Talk about weather and people start making jokes about how big you are. What about, 'So, Sigenoth, I saw some elders hunting an elk the other day, and they still have it! They weren't acting old and weak at all!' No, that's no good either. That's the kind of conversation that lasts only as long as yer talkin', and then Sigenoth would just be bored and try to leave. Shorely there has to be some good words I can say that will make me fit in with the rest."

As Haverd was walking, lost in thought, and not really paying attention to where he was, a sudden sharp pain shot up through Haverd's knee. Then his other knee. The pain spread from his knees to his back, to his arms. "Blimey!" thought Haverd, as he looked down at himself and saw that the places where he was in pain were also glowing brightly. Even more, Haverd looked like he could see through his leg and then all his body. "Blimey! I'm becoming a ghost! I've always wondered how ghosts get to be ghosts!" And then, the glowing light surrounding Haverd pulsed and intensified to a blinding light...

====================================================================================================================================================

The Desert, Group 1

The pain surging throughout his body was something awful when Haverd fell the short distance to the sand below. But, in his mind, that wasn't all a bad thing. "Pain is a good thing to have, because the more you feel it, the more you know you're alive. That's what Dad always used to say. It's only when you stop feeling pain, that you could be in trouble, because you could be dead." It's not that Haverd enjoyed receiving pain, or hurting. He could bear it, yah, even though it wasn't ideal Even stubbing his toe wasn't pleasant. "But it's a matter of perspective," he thought. "Yah, it stings. But I'm just glad to be alive!"

Alive. That meant he was not a ghost. "Rats." Alive it was, then. Alive on a beach somewhere, where there was a lot of sand for him to lie down on. Haverd hadn't been to the beach in years. No real point to go when you aren't allowed on boats. Haverd stretched, and sat up despite some sharp lingering aches in his joints and back. And his eyes, adjusting to the brighter environment, could take in more of his setting. No water. So not so much of a beach. Big sandbox, then.

In addition, there was a group gathering a little ahead of him. Quite the collection of sorts, too. What looked like a white-cloaked figure in odd clothes. A midget. And look - a striped kittycat someone dressed up in silk. A few others. They were apparently talking to each other.

Haverd slowly rose to his feet. "Great. First impressions count. First impressions count" he told to himself again and again. "Need a good interductory... interduction so these people don't think bad about me." But nothing was coming to mind. Inwardly, Haverd was trembling as he approached the group. "Need a good first impression," he thought once more to himself before coming a fair distance from the group.

"Haverd Haengsson, at yer service," he said politely. "Specializing in jokes, humer and other funny things. And if you don't want to call me Haverd, I do have a nickname too. Some people just call me "Thwack." Yer choice."

"Quiet, oaf," Haverd thought to himself, kicking himself mentally. "Ya don't have to tell yer whole life story. That'll do fer now." And he waited to see if he would have a good reaction from the people gathered together.

[Gaia Concordis]

β
6:12 Terran Time
Orbit of planet Douglas, Sector 18, aboard UGM Mercurius-class corvette Aquae Spei
Operation Vulcanus

There were many things that Beta had done in his relatively short life.

Killing a dragon in the midst of an erupting volcano was not one of them, but he was pleased to say that the first time he had attempted it ended quite nicely- he had only nearly died. The run back to the dropship that would take them to safety was quite exciting as well. Pretty satisfying to see all those stupid lizards get crushed by the debris, too.
Beta and the rest of Caesar had been deployed to take on a difficult mission- this one was near suicidal. Just another day in the life, really. They had been tasked to assassinate a high-value target commanding hostile forces in sector 18- a dragon, it seemed. Their intel had tracked the dragon to a volcanic planet, with minor activity on the surface. Obviously, they had gone underground. Building their damn base partially inside a volcano... Talk about cliché. The plan was to sneak in, kill the target and any witnesses, and get out quickly. It was straightforward and easy.
What ended up happening screwed over the plan so fantastically, it was comical. And pretty badass
Their infiltration had gone well, with no complications. They got into the base easily. Soon, Beta had hacked into the base's network, and found the location of their mark- the power plant. Making their way downwards into the belly of the base, they found the mark attending to a huge geothermal power plant, powered by magma in a huge cavern. This gave them a spark of creativity- they would blow up the power plant and vaporize the dragon after defeating it.
They quickly found out the dragon had control over magma, and they were battling in a cavern full of it. They still went along with destroying the power plant- to get the dragon out of the cavern- it just involved a lot more running and shooting than anticipated, as they were trying to evade a dragon, the base's security forces, and get outside the blast zone before all hell broke lose. They succeeded, obviously, and continued the fight with the dragon several miles away from the base of the volcano the base was built under- which was now spewing lava.
It seemed either the power plant's explosion had somehow caused an eruption, or the damn dragon set it off.
After a long and arduous battle- one which left Beta's armor pretty banged up- they managed to kill the dragon. Damn oversized lizards... It was an annoying thing, hurling rocks and other debris at them as well as breathing dragonfire and attacking with its claws. The dropship nearly had to take off without them after the fight- the extraction area was right in the path of a pyroclastic flow. Alpha had said they had several minutes left at the time of dustoff, but Beta thought that took away from the story. He would be sure to omit that particular detail when he told it to anyone else.
Currently, they were en route back to Terra, where they would be debriefed and given some off-time. Hopefully. All of Caesar were going to spend it in different ways. Zeta was probably going to meditate and recover what power he had expended, Sigma was going to polish her weapons and medical supplies, I hope she'll bake something... Alpha was going to talk with the captain and work on a report to give to the Emperor upon their arrival, Delta was going to do something, probably, What the hell does he even do in his downtime? Rub his hands together menacingly and plot to take over the universe? Freaking Hunters. and Beta...

"For the love of the gods, if you don't start working right his instant, I'll toss you out the airlock." Beta raised the attached gauntlet and vambrace of his armor, and moved his fingers to the position that would fire his wrist-mounted grappling hook. With a whir, vambrace began to open... before sparking and snapping shut.
"Damn it," Beta yelled, pulling the piece off of his arm and tossing it onto his bed. He leaned back, exhaling sharply. Currently, he wore only his helmet and the boots of his armor.
"Beta," rang a voice over the comm. "we're all gathering in one of the common rooms. Care to join?" Beta chuckled.
"Sure thing, Alpha. I just need to finish up with these repairs," he replied. "Technical stuff, you wouldn't understand."
"[i]Copy that. I'll be sure to have the rest of them save you some food." Beta rolled his eyes. Alpha ignored his comments, as usual. Sitting up, Beta glanced around the room. His tools were strewn messily around, and various parts of his armor were deconstructed and lain across the desk- now appropriated into a working table. With a sigh, he began to put his armor pieces back together, and slid them on one by one. Soon, he stood fully armored in his room. Quickly, he placed all of his tools back into his digital storage device and clipped it to his armor's belt. Then, he exited the room.
"Motor functions seem... Optimal," he spoke to himself. "Going to test it now." With that, he began walking to the observation deck of the ship, activating his comm as he went.
"Alpha, this is Beta. I'll be there in a few minutes. Taking a break from the repairs." The reply came a second later.
"Copy that, Beta. Looking forward to seeing you." Beta smiled and severed the connection.

Within a few minutes, Beta had arrived at the observation deck- which was closed, as they were in the middle of a wormhole. Damn it, Beta. Get your head on straight. He shook his head and took a look around the room anyway- when his armor gave him a warning message. Curious, he opened it. There were no hostiles on this ship, were there? Surely, they would have been found. With a flick of the tongue, Beta opened the report. It said that a powerful spatial anomaly had been detected.
"What...?" Turning around, Beta saw a shimmer of white light. Opening a comm line to the entire team, he said,
"Caesar, this is Beta. We may have a problem."
It was all he could say before the light enveloped him.

. . . . .

β
??:?? Terran Time
Peril, the Desert Layer
Group 2

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why the hell does this happen to me of all people?!" Alarms were going off in his armor, and warnings were popping up as fast as he could open them. Velocity warnings, mechanics failures, disorientation- what the hell was happening? Beta tried to fire his thrusters, but they had been damaged in the fight. For now, he was in freefall. Quickly, he attempted to right himself and slow his velocity. Looking down, he saw- wait, was he going sideways? Wait, shit!! Beta moved his arms to cover his visor, and braced for the impact that never came. Removing his arms from his visor, he saw that he was phasing through the wall. Well, this is new. Suddenly, he came tumbling into a hallway, landing loudly, facedown, on the ground.
"Hodie pedicare," he hissed, bringing his hands and knees underneath him. "Deis testor, hoc merda bubula est!" Beta failed to notice that his armor's speaker system was on, allowing him to be heard.

((For clarification, Beta speaks Classical Latin. His thoughts and conversations with his teammates are translated for convenience's sake.))

[Spindle]

Elizabeth Keasan
Group 2
The Citadel

Elizabeth flinched backwards as Flame jerked back into life, servos screaming at her to slow down. More blue boxes popped up in her vision, warning her of the five-second increase in repair time this was going to cause on any number of her ongoing repairs. Right now, that was secondary. Flame seemed to be alive and fine, and he visibly relaxed as his eyes landed on her. A few moments later his vision had moved on from her, glancing across the other faces here, and his face fell a little at what he saw. Presumably it was the lack of other Lumen here which had done it, something which both worried and interested Elizabeth. In more ways than one.

And then he was moving again, brushing past her to gently lay hands on the giant girl lying on the floor like a discarded doll. As tendrils of fire reached from his hands to caress her, Elizabeth couldn't help but feel a pang of envy for the other girl. Moments later, she caught herself and blushed lightly in mortification. Pelene had been beaten to a pulp by Iris, she genuinely needed that kind of attention. Still, Elizabeth turned away from the scene, gazing out of the window absently as she waited for it to end.

Hearing Flame's exclamation, she turned around to see him stumbling away from the walls. A small smile sparkled in her eyes for a moment before she composed herself again. Now probably wasn't the best time for unconstrained mirth, after all. Taking a second to check her repair status, she emerged to find Flame calling for them to leave, the dragoness rebuffing him. For a moment she considered her points, but there was the undercurrent of seriousness in Flame's voice which prevented her from staying.

"I concur with Flame." She broke in, "We need to meet up with the others as fast as possible: we're in no state to fight anything more than a stiff breeze as we are. And besides, I'd much rather not find out what did thi-"

Elizabeth was cut short by something mechanical appearing through the ceiling without smashing a hole in it before making a sizeable dent in the floor and pulling itself back to its feet. Up close it was advanced: in terms of energy output it was easily as advanced as her body was. Not a comforting thought in the slightest. IR showed up a second heat source inside the figure, so it was probably a powered exoskeleton of some form. After a few moments, it began to pull itself out of the hole it had blasted into the floor, spitting something in Latin. A few seconds later, a broken translation appeared in her IRD and Elizabeth sighed to herself.

"Custodi linguam tuam!" She said, hoping beyond all hope that the message translated across properly. Her translation software was fairly rudimentary, and had almost certainly screwed up the sentence structure. But with any luck, it would be enough to get him to stop swearing at...whatever it was he was swearing at.

[Talchyon]

Group 1, The Desert
Dr. Feng Xu

His face inscrutable. His skin still sore from ripping away from his original, and then being ripped from his reality to here. But his mind was fully engaged. And it was his mind that was needed most right now.

The strange group of people were all speaking and hardly listening. The boy - Sage as he called himself - had been explaining that they were a few miles from a city. They would need to head there. Xu preferred that this group all come with him for a few reasons. First, there may be safety in numbers, especially in a strange land. Second, this boy Sage seemed to know where the city was, and could hopefully guide them there. Third, one of them may know why he was brought here.

While the others were talking, Xu looked at each one carefully and sorted through initial impressions. So far, he could understand them... which meant that they knew English. How that could possibly be, Xu had no idea, since some of these were not even human, but apparently sentient creatures. Each had a fierceness about them, an arrogance too, but all in their individual ways. The one with the mask obviously wanted to use intimidation and upset delicate psychologies. The woman nearest him was taut and lean, with an obvious disdain for not being front and center of attention. The purple-ish tiger creature carried herself in a regal way, but reacted to the words the boy was saying - so she understood, obviously. And the new one - a giant Viking! Xu could hardly wait to use his sensor pod and run some scans on everyone here, at the very least to see what their genetic makeup was.

As his mind was processing the impressions, his ears were also at work. Names like Purilla. Haverd. Neyla. The mysterious Zeon. Some very unusual backgrounds. An empress? Warrior-servants? But what caught his ear and wouldn't leave was when the boy said he hadn't seen adults in centuries! Hundreds of years! This child could be no older than 15! Xu didn't know what to make of that yet. Best to observe first and ask questions later.

This group needed some nudging and direction, he decided. And what was needed now was to go check out that crash that shot out of the sky and landed to the southwest, right before the giant showed up from the east. After that, they needed to take shelter in the city. Spending any time in a desert without proper supplies and clothing was foolish, and Dr. Feng Xu was no fool. He raised his voice:

"We can all make introductions and ask our questions later. Right now, we need to move. Something crashed that direction from the sky," (pointing southwest towards where the crash happened) "...and we need to find out what that was, and if it was a ship, if there is someone there." (Xu wondered what condition any ship might be in after such a landing. Maybe it could fly them out of here with adequate repairs?)

He continued. "After we find what the crash was about, we should move again. I for one don't want to sweat out in the middle of a desert without water or supplies. I think this boy should lead us to the city he was talking about. When that's done, we can figure out what each of us want to do. But as for now, we're safer in numbers in this strange land and we should at least caravan together to the city."

With that, Xu turned toward the southwest and started walking off towards the crash site.

[The United Equstrian Front]

Marcus Peters
Group 1

He blinked and shook his head, while the two new comers talked in the background all he could hear was his sister's screams and the pain filled roars of his best friend and finally the dead glazed look his brother had when they met for the final time. He sunk to his knees and took off his mask, his scared tattooed face was filled with age that shouldn't be there. He sighed and whispered out,
"Sage was it? I'm Marcus some used to call me Strife, please don't call me that. But we didn't avoid this Zeon character, we are here to help. So kid are you going to help us?" He waved his hand at the giant and flipped off the doctor. He could care less about some crash, if the doc was so adamant on going there he could take the cat lady and the giant. At the moment he was barely able to focus on anything other then the adult comment and the implications it held.

[Saint Morning]

Group 1

Sage took several steps away from the group of people. Confusion clear on his face as he tried to wrap his brain around the fact that these people didn’t know who Zeon was, then there was the fact that some of them didn’t even look remotely Perilian like the oversized cat-like creature.

“How do you now know who Zeon is?” The brunette questions, who were these people! “ Have you been living under a rock for the past century? He’s the guardian of this layer… he’s the reason this layer is nothing but sand-filled, ruin decorated, wasteland!” He shook his head in exasperation and took several more steps away from the group.

“Help you? I don’t even know you!” He exclaimed. “For all I know you could just be a bunch of looter, Despairia has enough problem to deal with, now that the sharks are in town, we don’t need adult strangers causing more problems.”

He shifted the basket he had in his grasp as he began to make a hasty retreat away from the group of strange aliens. He wasn’t going to get involve in their problem, even if that meant leaving them to die out here.

It was, after all, survival of the fittest.

Group 2

Flame paused at the sight of yet another outsider appearing out of nowhere. Shaking his head in exasperation he turned away from the group and pointedly ignored the dragon’s questioning on why they should leave. “This is not the time for a meet and greet guys!” The redhead scolded as continued to make his way down the hall until he was standing in front of a pair of large, intricately decorated doors. On its surface was the image of a beautiful woman, with flowing red hair that reached her waist wearing a white dress with a bow on top and a pair of silver wings attached to it. A tall and muscular male with well-groomed fiery red-hair and piercing violet eyes adorned and a long white toga.

Flame paused at the sight and stared at at the depiction of the two individual with what could only be described as admiration and… longing. After a moment or so the demi-god pushed the doors opened to reveal a grand-library at it centre stood a pedestal with the giant number 7 plastered on the centre.

Around it large orbs depicting various worlds could be seen and one could only guess that those worlds were the various layers of Peril. The moment he stepped into the room, he felt a strange tug and instantly gravitated towards the book, completely forgetting the urgency of leaving the temple as he picked up the ancient book.

[Taigawa]

Neyla and Sylvia

The tigress used her armor's psionic abilities to pull the man to her, shifting the pieces of Forerunner base material around them both. She was'nt about to let the man leave her to die. "How dare you accuse me of being a common thief?! I am Neyla Haijira Patalia, empress of the Thessian Ecumene and forth head of the Patalia Dynasty!" She shouted angrily, holding back the urge to do anything more. "Now...If you value the future of your primitive civilization, you will help us. We killed Iris...and we can kill this Zeon you so fondly worship."

---

Sylvia awoke slowly and held her head. Her armor was heavy, but as vision returned to her, she saw others. Unsure of her legs, the wolven lady began to crawl across the sand to them, slowly trying to get feeling back into her lower body.

[The United Equstrian Front]

Snip

Marcus Peters

He blinked and stood while replacing his mask, he cracked his neck and knuckles while turning to the cat-lady and to keep himself from doing anything stupid he grasped his hands and with a barely controlled voice,
"You know Neyla I'm glad you know your name and all that. But did you stop and think about how we look? Or how the fact the kid here is pretty much terrified? I hope you know that you might've screwed us over with your dumb fucking pride. Now if you want to stay alive in this desert release the kid and maybe I wont fill you with lead the first chance I get." At this point he was clenching his hands with such force they started to bleed in places where nail met flesh.

[Taigawa]

Snip

Marcus Peters

He blinked and stood while replacing his mask, he cracked his neck and knuckles while turning to the cat-lady and to keep himself from doing anything stupid he grasped his hands and with a barely controlled voice,
"You know Neyla I'm glad you know your name and all that. But did you stop and think about how we look? Or how the fact the kid here is pretty much terrified? I hope you know that you might've screwed us over with your dumb fucking pride. Now if you want to stay alive in this desert release the kid and maybe I wont fill you with lead the first chance I get." At this point he was clenching his hands with such force they started to bleed in places where nail met flesh.

"So he can leave us all here to die like he wanted? I think not. This one needs to know my name and our achievement...A guardian is dead, and yet he would leave us to die an slow death due to us being what we are. Humans tried to kill off my kind once...and..." she activated her armor again, inadvertantly losing concentration enough to drop him. "...I will not let them try to kill me again, even indirectly. Another thing...Your weapon is too outdated to breach my armor. Try it and I will do more then simply hold you aloft with my mind."

[Gaia Concordis]

β
??:?? Terran Time
Peril, the Desert Layer
Group 2

Beta's mind was racing. Where the hell was he? Cursory analysis showed that he was in some sort of stone chamber. What had brought him here? Magic? Tech?
"Custodi linguam tuam!"
Beta perked up at this. Guard my tongue? Keep safe my language? What? Closing out all of the error messages his suit was throwing at him, he made an attempt to get to his feet. His armor creaked and Beta experienced some difficulty moving a couple of his joints- especially his left shoulder. Fucking wonderful, he thought. It seemed any progress he made fixing his armor had been un-fixed after his fall. After some difficulty, he was standing straight, a good eight feet high (his armor adding a few extra inches to his height). He was clad in brilliant (if scarred and worn) white armor.¹ Most notably would be large scars on the front and back of his armor, looking like hastily filled in gashes of some kind. As one continued to look at the armor, they would see it was dented or deformed in some places, as if it had been struck with some sort of powerful force, and then bent back into shape. On the limb areas and helmet, there were areas that seemed to have been charred or scorched by powerful fire. Finally, his visor was pitch black, a stark contrast to the white of the rest of his armor. Occasionally, a spark of blue would dance across his pauldrons, and arc to some part of his armor. The purpose of that would appear to be unknown, as nothing was coming from it. Obviously, this set of armor was meant for war- and it had seen much combat in its lifetime. Turning his head to find the source of the noise, Beta nearly backed away in surprise. Before him was a cyborg.
Cybernetic enhancement to this extent was illegal in the Imperium.
Beta narrowed his eyes. Either this was a criminal or he was not in the Imperium. As he looked around, it seemed the latter was more likely. Nobody was groveling at his feet, bowing in respect, or running away, as people were wont to do when a Centurion was in close proximity to one of them. His visor highlighted several entities with magical capabilities. Beta's brow furrowed. Could one of these people have brought him here? More importantly, how the hell are they here anyway? Usually the Imperium would find individuals of magical ability and conscript them. Unless... They were rogues. That meant he had to be extremely cautious. Sure, he had killed dragons- but at least he knew what to expect from them. He moved his hand to the hilt of his deactivated sword as a precautionary measure. Upon closer scanning, it appeared none of these gathered here would be able to drag him to... wherever this was. Beta slowly let his hand return to his side, away from the hilt. Beta allowed himself to relax a bit- but not by much. These people were unlikely to hurt him, if they even could. Who in their right mind would even speak to a Centurion with malicious intent, let alone take an action against him? Most people are either terrified of them or stay well out of their way. That made him realize... Beta turned to Elizabeth, frowning under his polarized visor. Just who the hell did she think she was, telling a superhuman killing machine to watch his fucking language? Beta took a step towards her, crossing his arms.
Easy, Beta. You don't know where you are. You could be in another universe. One never knows. Sighing, Beta turned and took a couple steps away, leaning on the wall in a semi-relaxed position with his arms crossed. As Beta stood there in silence, he heard another person shout. He glanced over at them, but tuned it out, preferring to keep his eyes on Elizabeth. Finally, he said,
"Tu 'custodi linguam tuam' vacationem mihi narrare non habes. Autem, verba meliores sit 'specta linguam tuam' aut 'specta dictionem tuam'. Quis Latinum tibi erudivit?" That should put her in her place, he thought. Looking around once more, Beta began again. "Etiam, quis es? Quid huc facis? Ubique sum? Quomodoque discedam?" Finally, as an afterthought, "Quisque ceteri sunt?"

1: ((Accurate representation, but not perfect. It is completely white instead of white and black, and it just looks a bit different. For all intents and purposes, however, it can be envisioned as that.))

[Spindle]

Elizabeth Keasan
Group 2
The Citadel

Elizabeth watched as the armoured man pulled himself to his, well, his suit's, full height, looking down on her with an impassive faceplate providing little in the way of facial body language. But the rest of his body told her enough. He was tense: he didn't expect to be here. His hand was straying back and forth towards the hilt of what looked like some kind of energy projector, his shoulders were squared against her and his head kept moving around the room and its inhabitants. He didn't expect to be here anymore than she had when she'd first arrived. Which meant that he was going to be something of a loose cannon until he got his feet on the ground.

Which would only cause problems.

As the speakers on his suit blared again, Elizabeth felt a pang of sympathy for whoever was in there. They were being an arsehole, but they had just been torn from their world and flung into a completely different world, with completely different people. Not too dissimilar to her when she'd first arrived, except that she'd generally been able to come up with better retorts than: "No, you shut up". Still, whatever their wit might be like, they were still likely to be a useful addition...Elizabeth hoped, anyway. She'd just have to brief them on what was going on.

Interfacing with her pectoral Hive, she ejected it down to ten percent and then began to modify the remaining nanites to certain parameters. They could already form complete interfaces with almost any device, but Elizabeth now modified them to to do so without compromising their memory. Then she began to download certain files to the nanites, including a threat analysis of Iris, a summary of their adventures so far (with certain parts, mainly about Flame, missed out) and an explanation that he was as in the dark as everyone here. After two seconds, her gut unfolded and the hive rolled out into her open hand. Lightly tossing the ovoid to the newcomer, she gestured to her neck.

"Inject in armis, culus." She said simply, "Et da eam."

At Flame's scolding, her head whipped around and she flushed lightly in shame. Glancing for a moment between her Hive and Flame, she made her decision and sprinted down towards Flame, catching up with him as he stalled in front of a set of double-doors. Glancing at them, her eyes widened for a moment. It might just be a coincidence that they looked like Flame...but the look on his face warned her against assuming that. The sudden urge to get him out of the temple overtook her in a moment as he pushed the doors open and stepped into the room beyond, like he was sleepwalking onwards. An itch developed in Elizabeth's hands, and they twitched towards the blades on her back. As he stopped in front of a book, Elizabeth lightly, hesitantly, laid her hand on his shoulder, eyes roving over his face for any sign of...anything.

"Flame." She said, voice catching a little, "Let's just go. Now. Please."

[Gaia Concordis]

β
??:?? Terran Time
Peril, the Desert Layer
Group 2

Beta watched with quashed disgust as the cyborg's gut opened and some ovoid thing came tumbling out. Beta had seen many things, but that was not one of them. Gore, he could handle. Magical horrors, he could handle. Jumping out of an exploding spaceship, he could handle. This cyborg... He was grateful that over time, he had become less susceptible to- oh goodness she was throwing it at him. Beta caught it deftly, and raised an eyebrow at her words. His suit spat out a translation for 'inject', but he knew what she was saying. It was funny, really. He had learned English, since many on Terra (the location of Caesar's base of operations) spoke it. Glancing down at the ovoid in his hand that had come out of the cyborg, he decided not to inject it into his armor for the time being. One could never be too sure.
Well, I'll be damned. Just where- or... when, am I? As the figure began to move, he followed. Seeing the door open, his eyes widened. His visor was picking up some strange things. Looking back to Elizabeth, his thoughts were confirmed as she spoke in English. Glancing down at the ovoid still in his hand, he placed it in a container in his armor (that worked, thank the gods) and moved into the room, putting his hand back on the hilt of his sword. As he entered, Beta felt the familiar feeling of going into a magical field, and cursed quietly in displeasure. It seems the anti-magic field on his suit was also nonfunctional. Normally, he was protected by it. Anything magical that went into the field or came into contact with it was weakened or outright dispelled. It seems he would not have that luxury and extra layer of protection- at least until he got a chance to address the problem.
How much stuff am I going to have to fix? Gods in the heavens. Beta scanned the room, tensed and ready to defend himself should the need arise. He felt naked, in a sense, without the added level of protection his energy shields offered. They were like a third skin above his armor, and had saved his life many times. Seeing nothing (for the moment), other than the obvious magic, he glanced over to Elizabeth and Flame.
"I think," Beta began- in English, "he is under a..." Beta struggled to find the word, but couldn't- so he settled for the Latin term, "incantatio. This place... has magic." He tapped his visor with his free hand. "Helmet sees it." My English is rusty. I need to brush up on it. Then, more urgently, "You must leave." He inclined his head towards Flame, and resumed scanning the room for threats. His visor was malfunctioning. It wasn't being reliable. Just like everything else these days, it seems. Beta tried to turn off the speaker system that was allowing him to be heard- but that too, failed to activate. "Estne quispiam in hoc armo non fractus," Beta hissed- more to himself than anything else.
Fucking dragon did a number on my armor. When I get to a safe place, I'm fixing this first thing.
"I am trained to... Deal, with this," he began- to offer reasoning for his orders. Beta sounded unsure with his words as if he was unfamiliar with the language- which for the most part he was. He rarely went out, being sent on missions almost as soon as they were debriefed from the previous one. "Magic is... Unreliable. Dangerous. Too dangerous," he growled. In his experience with magic, magic usually resulted in death for anyone caught in its way. Sometimes, it was even dangerous for the caster itself. In his opinion, the ways of technology were far superior and much more reliable.
Though he would admit, it had its uses- very good uses.

[The United Equstrian Front]

Marcus Peters

He shrugged uncaring of the fact that he was obviously outmatched,
"Well you seemed to have dropped him kitty so I really don't care about how good you are. Also we could've followed him from afar but hey if you want to look all big bad and scary be my guest." He released his hands while checking his nails.

---

Aluric Peters
Group 2

He hissed in pain as he stood, it seems he traveled through a portal of some sort and landed somewhere in a temple. After making sure his jacket was still in place he started to follow a sound of voices unconsciously morphing his feet into padded version of themselves, after a moment he found what appeared to be two individuals covered in metal and a ginger, he felt their minds but they were too complex in wavelength and were too damaged. He sighed and made his feet morph back and started walking to them, if the clicking of of marble meeting chitin the greeting would,
"Hello there new people, I'm Aluric Peters." He thought of waving but that was too cheesy.

[Clan Ericssen of the Norse]

Group 1, the Desert
Haverd Haengsson

So far, so good. No one had reached for their weapons at the sight of him. "Maybe those words were good words to use. I'll have ta remember them in the future," Haverd thought to himself. Yeah, everyone had tilted their necks up, and at least one person looked startled... all normal reactions people had when seeing Haverd... but no one had tried to slice him open. "Could be the beginning of a good thing," thought Haverd.

People had been questioning the midget, asking all numbers of things. Somethin' 'bout adults and a city, and who they was and where they was from. Haverd didn't pay much attention. He was still feeling some of that great pain that let him know he was living, but also was gettin' hot. Sweat formed over his brow and fell to the ground, almost as big as the others' heads. Haverd hoped that these people wouldn't think him gross. "A clean Viking is a good Viking," as Dad always said. "Oh, Dad, I miss you," thought Haverd for the thousandth time.

The white-cloaked man was now getting in an argument. 'Parently there had been a crash or somethin' right before Haverd had come? The white-cloaked man wanted the group to go there and stay together. And he headed off towards what Haverd only assumed was the crash site. The rest of the group seemed to ignore him. One of them gave him a rude gesture, the one who had waved at him, the guy (or girl? Haverd couldn't tell from this angle) with the scary mask and long hair. But that one said, "The giant and cat lady can go with him..."

"Oh! Right! Yes, I'll do that!" volunteered Haverd. It wasn't every day that people wanted him first to stick together in their group, and second, to help. Most of the time Haverd felt like he was a nuisance to the other Vikings. So being asked to go and be part of a group and help? A dream come true!

As Haverd took the first few giant steps towards the white-cloaked man, who had already headed off by now in the distance, he could see something glimmery and shiny in the distance. Shouldn't take too long to get there.

But his larger-than-normal Viking ears picked up other words as he left. Haverd stole a glance back, and saw the masked figure take off his mask - to reveal scars, weariness, and was that even kindness? Haverd could see why he wanted to wear a mask. This man probably fit in with his people about as well as Haverd did with his. That thought made Haverd feel sorry for him, just as at the same time he saw a chance at becoming friends.

Others were talking, then arguing. The midget got angry and then left... only to be pulled back by some kind of magic. Held in place, that little guy looked surprised and not very comfortable. "Not the midget!" thought Haverd. "Ya don't pick on midgets. They can't help themselves." Haverd felt sorry for him, too, and wondered if he should turn back. But the white-cloaked man was still ahead and it wasn't good for him to be alone. What to do?

The kittycat was also angry. Then the unmasked masked man got angry at her. They was arguin'. That decided it. Haverd was not good at settlin' arguments. He'd be in the way, and then they'd get angry at him, and that was easy enough to do and hard enough to undo. So Haverd kept going after the white-cloaked man towards the shiny object, hoping that the others would just settle down. And be nice to the midget.

[Taigawa]

Marcus Peters

He shrugged uncaring of the fact that he was obviously outmatched,
"Well you seemed to have dropped him kitty so I really don't care about how good you are. Also we could've followed him from afar but hey if you want to look all big bad and scary be my guest." He released his hands while checking his nails.

"His mistake was insulting my honor with that accusation. Honor is everything on Thessia, and insulting one's honor can get you killed. Even if our laws no longer apply, I will uphold the centuries of tradition upon which our society was built." Looking at the kid, she stated "If we were thieves little one, I would have already killed you and took your things. Such people have no honor, and I refuse to be assocciated with such scum. Do not insult my honor again."

Sylvia
Desert dunes

At last the wolven lady stood, dressed in her Fleetmaster uniform. "What in the Creator's name is this? This certainly is not my Planet-Breaker. I need to get back to the battle...the enemy were going to ram the Ascendacy!" she declared, panicked.