[OoC: Moving along now ... I apologize for the sudden rush in scenery, but I'm already tired of the Rift.
'Sides, we got a plot to pull, and there's still a looooooooot more stuff that needs to take place.]--
"Ash," prompted Siltharyn. The wolfess nudged her and Ashowan responded with an instinctive jerk, however subliminal, backwards. "Are you alright? You don't seem like yourself."
Ashowan blinked. "What're you talking about? I'm fine."
Her defense is poor, thought Sheikka, taking in the conversation with eyes half-lidded: narrowed. Siltharyn wasn't the only one to take note of the peculiar difference in Ashowan's demeanor. Something seemed ... very off with the girl. Whether it was because the approaching Samhain - or Halloween - induced a caffeine high or because something was rumbling and tumbling within, the jackal-headed woman did not know. All that she understood was that it was getting unnerving. Seriousness and casual Ashowan-ness punctuated by sporadic behavior. The reaper was erratic. Just not overly so.
"The sooner we get out of here ... the better."
Agreed. Sheikka nodded, grinning somewhat. Her eyes fell upon Valtiel's hood, his gaze turned elsewhere, and she frowned. What was up with him? He was being far too quiet for somebody who previously took plenty of interest in the goings on of their plots. Recently he'd become ... rebellious? Not, not rebellious. Regretful, conforming, and conservative. He did not agree with Sheikka's and Ashowan's attempts to rile up the higher ups and throw their destinies into their own hands for once. Yet here he was trailing after them - some silent shadow following like a puppy. That was creeping her out too. Juno's next words caught her attention. Connection? Before she could respond, Ashowan gave an angular nod.
"True enough. The whole lifeline travel is somewhat more beneficial though." She jerked a thumb towards herself, Sheikka, and Val. "We reaaav - reapers - " Nice save. " - can only teleport to any world at any time once we've been there before. We rely on image memories, recollections, anything that could flawlessly send us from one place to another without any incidents of displacement occurring. Valtiel's the only one in our group that's ever been to Ethernos. He could poof there right now. The only reason we're in the Rift is so that we're provided with a safeguard. If something should happen - say, our teleportation abilities get silenced - we would just need to enter the Rift, remember what lifeline we took or what star we entered, and voila."
Sheikka smirked. She tugged softly at the lifeline with a wild twinkle in her eye. "And it's one helluva ride, too. Lucky t'ing we got 'ere early. Wit' Halloween comin', dis place'll be packed wit' ghosts trying ta find a way home. It'd be like da Garden State Parkway on Turkey Day. No worries, d'oh. From here on in we can poof back and forth."
Movement. The Incubus was mouthing something towards her. Sheikka only caught 'any' before Juno cut him off with a rudimentary, "Hey JINGLES! Pay attention, unless you want to be stuck in an endless void forever, doomed and possibly never able to get back to the bonny lass here."
When Juno gestured to Sheikka, the Anubis-child laughed. Now that was humor. While Sheikka was perverse and 'playful' of her own accord, she was just messing around with Ashley to alleviate the inner tensions of the situation at hand. For all their goofing off, what was to come was much more drastic and terrible. The good taste of laughter now would be needed to prepare for the misery that lay ahead. Glancing at the eyes appearing around them - visibly shuddering when she recalled who they belonged to - Sheikka added, "Whatever you say Bub." In an aside to Ashowan, she whispered, "Why're so many of his lackeys here? Dere were never dis many before ... "
Ashowan's reply was equally low. "All Saint's Day's coming. Considering how fuzzy the reception gets between worlds when the spectral and physical plains ... " She trailed off for a moment, watching with a grimace as Juno split his sword in two. The last time that happened ... She shook her head and continued. " ... intercept, he knows we'll probably pull some kind of stunt. They're on patrol."
"Will they follow us?"
"They'll try."
"Well then we'll just have to fix that, won't we?" Sheikka patted a steel-colored satchel tied to her waist and hidden beneath the rain-soaked cloak.
After handing off 'Thorn' to Entropy, Juno turned his attention towards Ashowan, announced that he already gave her her weapons and that he hoped she wore them soon. The reaper knew what he meant and nodded. Though not presently visible, the blade was definitely around. Sheikka blinked. She threw an inquisitive glance Ashowan's way, where it was met with a smile and a shake of the head. Ah well. As the girl turned to grab the line and observe Siltharyn's taking of the parchment, Sheikka suddenly tensed up. Sensitive olfactory picked up on another disconcerting scent but this one originated from Ashowan. It reeked of corruption - dark things and madness. Concerned, Sheikka poked Ashowan in the shoulder until she turned around.
"Hey Nay?"
"Yeah?"
"You sure you're okay? I mean ... ya been actin' weird and yer scent ... s'like dere's two people inside ya. Da last time I seen ya like dis was when ... well, you know ... "
Frowning, Nex Ventus looked away. "Don't worry about it," she monotoned.
"I think we're good to go ... "
"Good, 'cause we're leaving."
Ashowan dug her free hand into one of the many vest pockets. She pulled from it a gray sphere that was small enough to fit into the palm of her gloved hand. Sheikka took the hint and also went digging on her person. She sifted through that steel gray satchel around her waist where she grabbed up a handful of dust, clenched her hand into a fist, and compressed the substance into a similar orb. Holding them into the air as if in direct defiance of the many lime green eyes staring at them from oblivion, Sheikka and Ashowan threw down the orbs in unison. Though there was no ground for them to collide with, the smoke bombs exploded on contact. Plumes of dust kicked up around them. Up and up it billowed, choking vision and concealing anything within. Alarm flickered across the lime eyes of the watchers. All at once they dove - malformed beasts of different sizes and shapes veined with neon green tattoos, intent on grabbing at the prey before it escaped. No such luck. They jumped into the smog ready to latch onto something but were met with nothing but air and pillows of smoke. Ashowan, Sheikka, and Valtiel had tugged the lifeline and yanked the entire group along with them at mach speeds. Jetting through the air like rockets, they were already at the Ethernos world star when the first lime-eyed monster fought his way from the smoke to stand in dazed confusion of its surroundings.
Bright light blinded them all. The closer they came to the star, the whiter their environment became until everything bleached totally and completely.
"Farewell Rift - "
--
" - Hello Ethernos!"
The sight-incapacitating brightness of the Ethernos star was temporary. Suddenly they were greeted with blue skies, rolling clouds, a cool breeze and an everlasting sense of here and now. Birds tittered and wildlife jumped about. Having been brought to their destination, the lifeline receded and faded from existence while the temporary wormhole closed behind them. The group no longer had the support of the line to hold onto and was sent flying upward, then plummeting downward. The landing would be rough if the proper precautions were not made. Ashowan and Valtiel landed with grace, their feet crushing fresh, dew-filled grass. Sheikka ended up smashing the earth on her side. "My spleen ... " She rolled over with a groan, splayed on her back with arms spread out, staring not-so-peacefully at the sun of ... what was it, summer? No: Warm, but not too hot. Spring?
"Finally." Ashowan sighed. There was a strange weight to her single word: like the entire universe and the centuries it contained were held within it. She took a step forth, glancing back to the others and finally looking Valtiel's way. Disrobing the wet cloak to reveal her fighter-gear garments, Ashowan addressed him with, "Does it look any different?"
The man shook his head. "Look? No. Feel? Without a doubt." Valtiel had no idea how to go about explaining this but ... this world, for all its natural beauty, smelled and felt and seemed old and aged and diseased. Lifeless. Listless. Decrepit, despite the lush grass surrounding them and, in the distance, an abundant forest. "Ethernos has not changed in appearance since I last saw it. Given different circumstances, it would be considered normal. However ... " He gestured before them. Ashowan followed his indication, as did Sheikka, who despite her pain and agonies managed to pull into an upright sitting position. She crossed her legs and clasped claws before her, tilting her massive muzzle to one side. Both gawked for quite a while at the scene which befell them. Having emerged from the Rift just outside a massive wall's equally massive open steel gate, they'd gotten front row seats to an awesome vision.
A city.
But not your ordinary city ... How would one describe this? Let's see ... Think Big Apple and you've got yourself a rough sketch. Now strip the pollution, trash, and homeless people. Delete the cars and trucks and highways and subways, add a couple - no, a lot of trees and green plants. The final step? Imagine that all of the skyscrapers and buildings weren't built on foundations. Imagine they were built on ... nothing. That's right. The buildings of this city were floating and there were no stairs or elevators that led up to them. Everything below them was natural - grass, dirt, weeds, trees, even wild animals.
Sheikka pulled down her hood. Jackal-in appearance, her fur was obsidian dotted with golden hollow circles here and there. The strange addition of a giant bleached serpent skull - including the fangs. Bright red eyes blinked through the sockets of the helmet, gawking. "If dey're houses be floatin', how do da people of dis place be gettin' around?"
Val shrugged off his cloak. Standing at about 6'1", he might be considered an angelic if not for the pallid blue hue of his skin or the black feathers of those enormous wings pinned to his spine. Hawk-nosed with long black hair cascading down the length of his back, Valtiel's ears curved upwards, split in two, and ended at sharpened tips. Aquamarine orbs lined with age wrinkles granted him with a feel of seniority. Valtiel the dark-winged angel was dressed from the waist to his ankles in a white gown adorned with embroidered swirls of silver and gray. Two huge leather straps crisscrossed his chest and back (delicately loopied around the base of the wings). A thick silver bracer attached to his left forearm. Heavy boots coated his feet. Valtiel was weaponless.
"The Ethernian people," he informed Sheikka, "are a race of ghostly beings. They have their ways."
Ashowan nodded a couple of times. She too stared wordlessly for quite a while. Eventually, though, patience caved in. She held open her right hand. Threads of air swept from each finger and lengthened about six feet as they curled about each other. It was as though they were forming from a mold - the wind magic took the form of the scythe Juno handed her back when she first came to Deep Forest (pre-Lost Fields battle), solidified into wood and metal, and became material. She spun it expertly as the last few ethers of wind element dissipated into the air, bringing it to a rest on her shoulder.
"Let's get going." With that she walked through the gates, not pausing to look back.
Valtiel's crinkling face indicated displeasure."She's being hasty," he said with mild disapproval, draping the black cloak over his arm.
"Wouldn't you be, too?" She snapped her fingers and a long, crooked wooden staff appeared in her outstretched palm. It was carved from oak or elmwood. Two shrunken human heads hung from the top portion of it, faces gaunt and dried skin stretched tightly about brittle bones. Utilizing it as a walking stick for no reason, she followed Ashowan.
"She shouldn't get her hopes up. This mission could be a faux. You know that as well as I."
"Dat defeatist attitude of yer's ain't helpin, Val."
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they're never the same twice in a row most of the time, so just fly with it XD))