• Graded • The Choice.

[Oluwànjẹ]

➸ 120th Ashan, 719. Midnight ➸
➸ Mood: Terrified
➸ Company: Flock of Red Chickens?
➸ Current Thought: We not in idolas anymore
➸ Current Theme: Save Me From Myself

➸

"Shit, shit, shit, shit"

whispered as I tried to force myself through the barrier. I didnt come all this way just to be stopped here, no not in the least bit. I gave everything I had, everything I could possibly sacrifice in order to get here. I had no fearful heart and my soul of ambitions and intent were given up too.

Even if I still felt like my normal self, I knew that so much had been taken to get me here. I refused to turn back now. As I banged on the unseen barrier I could have sworn I say......chickens!? Red chickens just waddling about and just as fast as they appeared they were gone.

Things were definitely screwed up here, and it only got worse as I felt a hand grip my fist that laid against the barrier. Turning my eyes shot wide at the figure before me.

"Asiwaju?!"

I gasped, not knowing how in the world it was here. It was tall, really tall, its visage pure black with a mane that looked like writhing tentacles. He stood on two legs and had giant red glaring eyes. He held no mouth but I could tell he was smirking deviously from how his face curled at me.

With a strong yank, he pulled me through the doorway. Who would have thought it would be that monster to aid me in a time like this. Finally, I could see it, I could see the room, its vaulted ceilings that seemed to reach into the heavens. The sloping stairs and pillars that lined the room. As I descended I saw her, this figure dawned in red. She was offputting as she held no mouth, only jewels.

When she spoke, she gave me a choice. I had to choose an element it seemed. I gripped the mirror handle in my pocket and went to speak. Then a voice came into my ears. "I have eaten the Nightmare King, and relish in his divine taste." Just what did that mean? Who said that and who was this Nightmare King? I looked at the woman this woman dressed in red and spoke my answer.

"I choose Water."

I began as more came to mind. Before I could speak however another vision appeared. I didnt recognize him, but he seemed to be in the same predicament I was in. I couldnt believe what came next, stumbling back a bit as I watched him be ripped to shreds by unseen forces.

It only made me realize things were much more serious than I had assumed. Looking to the woman I found myself on my feet again, shaken a bit by that display of brutality.

"If the Nightmare King has been devoured, then what happens now? Does it mean this apple can be used for who is in that thing? Does the balance of this place fall apart, and if that's the case what can I do the fix it, I'll even replace him if he truly is gone. I've given everything I possibly could, but I'm willing to do what is needed to fix this, for that caterpillar fellow. I must be special cause the gatekeep of the cathedral allowed me in free of charge."

I had rambled due to nerves. ➸

"Common Speech"

"Xantheon Speech"

[Rakvald]

Rakvald approached the archway, but could not take another step as Toraj and Patrick disappeared into it. He could no longer see them, or anyone but himself. He closed his eyes against the maelstrom winds blasting his face. It was as if the wind itself had turned on him, only now after having given it his voice, his immortality. Were those sacrifices just another swindler’s trick on the gullible rancher? What more would they all have to give, before the apocalypse consumed and dashed everything to pieces of rubble in the wind.

Even through the wind, he felt his legs moving forward. He couldn’t reckon whether he was making ground on the archway. His eyes were closed against the raging gales. Finally, at the moment when all seemed lost, as if he might be carried away by the winds entirely, he reached out with a hand and felt it fall on a cold hand. Rakvald opened his eyes only long enough to see his old master, Tobol, young as he remembered him once upon a time, when he himself was just a lad. He didn’t see him as he was when they met in a previous life. Those lives and memories being gone forever.

Heartened by the appearance of his old father at the end of the world, he pulled his hand, and found it with the strength enough to bring Rakvald through the threshold. Then, stumbling into an open chamber, what looked like a tomb, he found himself completely alone.

There, a sarcophagus lay in the middle. A person, red hair, red clothing, wearing jewelry of a fashion Rakvald couldn’t recognise.

He then heard a voice, lifted his chin up in the air to listen. It was Alistair, the Duke of Venora. What was this? Another Swindler’s trick? No, that sounded real. Had they come so far and sacrificed so much only to see their efforts dashed against the maniacal designs of a powerful mage?

Rakvald breathed in and out, though his breath carried no sound anymore. His nostrils flared, in and out. He’d had enough. He’d given enough. A voicce asked him to make a choice. It was made.

He left.

[Pegasus]

The End.

"But Mama, I don't want to go to bed!"

Silf's mother gently stroked her daughter's hair from her face. Since it happened, things had been so very difficult. Silf had always been a sensitive child, there was no doubting it. Ever with the vivid imagination, seeing things awake which many would be amazed at dreaming. "It's alright, darling. Sleep."

"If I do, Mama, they'll come. I'll see them."

Taryc smiled at her daughter. "No one is seeing anything, darling. No one dreams any more." She didn't know why ~ that was for better brains than hers, but everyone knew it. Yet, her daughter looked up at her with nothing except honesty in her eyes. "I do, Mama."

Taryc shook her head, but Silf reached up and caught her mother's chin, gently, between her tiny fingers. "I dream, Mama. I dream of dragons."


At some points, it had seemed complicated no doubt. But the Choice had always been simple. Forward or back. Onward, or not. What else was there? Because once upon a time, in the middle of a maze, those who held Dominion over Dreams had been placed into a dreamless sleep. It was that which was key ~ a sleep without dreams.

What happened when those with Dominion over Dreams and Nightmares slumbered dreamless? This did. Mortals were drawn in - asked to strip themselves of those things which held them to the waking world so that those who slumbered might be awoken. So that they might once again be who, and what, they were. So that the world might have a chance.

Ari'sora and Hart spoke, they made their choices. Hart had questions, but The One did not answer him. It was almost as though The One did not see him. Or saw his twin, too. Whatever it was, it was.

Then Alistair asked a question about fate. This whole thing, of course, had been about fate ~ destiny. Or just sheer luck. But, whatever it had been, he asked and The One answered. Which caused him to act. Actions which would send ripples throughout all of Emea, and the waking world.

He made his Choice.

Rakvald too, made a choice, and that choice was to leave. So he did. Eliza made her choice, emotion threatening to overwhelm her. Yet, until that moment things were only tipped slightly. There was still Hope.

And then, Tio arrived.

Now, choosing four elements made The One annoyed, and Tio was ripped apart for his impertinence. But then, as Alistair reached in to suck the very soul from the Mortalborn of Nightmares, so too did Tio attempt - from the Waiting Place - to swap places with the One.



"He couldn't know!" She looked at her twin and rolled her eyes as said twin shook her head.

"That is not an excuse!" The second twin was determined. "He knows what is at stake here! He understood and still! Still he tore the still-coalescing form from where it should be!"

"That is easy to say, my sister!" She was in full attack mode, now. "How could he possibly know that The One was the slowly emerging form of the Twins?"

"He was there with Auya Trueheart! He knows - on some level he knows!!"

A slight sigh. "So you would have us take him? Bring him to judgement?"

"No, my sister. I have another idea for Tio Silver. And for Alistair Venora, come to that. Let's go and discuss it with those who will be most interested, shall we?"

It had started as an Idea.

The realisation that the Twins were sleeping and that Emea was dying. The scraps of notions and memories, pulled together and formed. But, the longer the Twins slept, the stronger The One became. Snippets of remembered dreams of her - of him. Snatches of nightmares and Nightmares. Powered by dreams of children and the screaming terror of the same.

It grew stronger.

Because it was holding together this place. This Cathedral of Dreams and Nightmares, Oblivion and Imagination. It was holding it together and, slowly, it was becoming it. Every sacrifice they made which meant they were closer to their true, dreaming selves brought them closer to the twins. To it. To them. Each sacrifice, It discovered, pulled Them closer, the Waking Dreamers, and in doing that, it made It stronger. As Jesine and Kielik merged into one.. into The One, it seemed like things were moving the way they were. The Waking Dreamers would come, they would choose an element and thus, so long as all four were present, with the fifth represented, then the Twins would wake.

But that was not what happened.

One of Them reached and began to rip out Kielik's soul. The One turned all it's attention to this, to stop it, for without Kielik, there would be no Jesine and thus, It would cease to be. The exchange of power was a delicate one and, as The One began to fight against Alistair's attack, the Cathedral began to collapse. Rubble started to fall, revealing the endless chasms of nothingness which awaited them in The Untold. Alistair began to rend Kielok's soul and Emea began to crumble.

The very fabric of the Realm was unravelling, but The One was there to balance it. Unable to stop it, The One could.. at the very least, pull back what It could - save what could be saved. Save Emea.

But then, Tio turned to the Sphere, the Heart of Emea, and he swapped places. For just the briefest trill, Alistair got to drink the full taste of Kielik's soul and the others suddenly all saw. They all saw what Alistair was doing, what Tio did and what The One did, also. For a brief moment they all had absolute, picture-perfect clarity.

And then, Emea ended.

There was no explosion, no fanfare. Fireworks didn't go off, it simply was, and then it was not. The One lifted It's face to the sky, apparently seeking something.

"Father?!"

And it was gone.

And then with a flicker from a shield none of them knew they had, so were they.

And, as the Waiting Place crumbled away, as the Prison fell to nothing, there was nothing else to be done. Not that they could.

It was over. The had come within a hair's breadth of waking the Twins, of saving the world.

But saving the world was a binary thing and, as oblivion enveloped them they knew, each one, what had happened here - what train of event had tipped the scales and what they did with that in the waking world?

Well... that was a different choice.

Mission Failed......

Off Topic

The events above are, hopefully, clear. Due to PC actions and choices, Emea has been destroyed. This will have global and long term implications. From the beginning of the new season, there will be significant fall out from this event.
No PC involved in this event may post after the date of the event. Please don't assume whether you've lived or died. I'll let you know when I review.
From that date:
Jesine and Kielik are no more
Emea is inaccessible.
Further information, and the consequences of actions here, will follow in the review. Any questions, drop me a pm

[Pegasus]

The Moment

Potential futures, possible pasts and every conceivable instance of 'right now' coalesced in those brief ticks of the timepiece. Immortals watched and, as Emea crumbled, the fabric of the world itself shook. Alistair moved and began the process of flaying - of murdering - a sleeping being. A being of Emea, in Emea - part of a pair which, when awake and whole, brought about balance.

Which, some might say, was not the best idea.

Then, Tio Silver attempted to rip the heart of Emea - The One - from the one place It could be. Thus, the two mortals impacted the world and ~literally~ every soul in it. No one was safe, no one was saved. In fact, just the opposite happened. Those two actions combined and a ripple went out across the world. There was no where to hide because everyone sleeps. And they all knew, in that moment, that every soul in the world saw them.

Every one.

But for those gathered in The Heart Of The Cathedral, and those in The Waiting Place, it wasn't so much what they saw. No, for them it was a different sense which would haunt them for the rest of their lives. For those gathered heard the Domains of the Immortals crumble and they, alone, were witness to the sound of Immortals... all of the Immortals... crying out in pain as Avatar and Truth merged, as Domains crumbled and the world changed in a completely unexpected way.

The sound was beautiful and awful; no matter who they were, it made their very souls reverberate with pain, with hopes shattered and, of course, dreams lost. It was a sound so beautiful that there was no choice but to sob.

Yet, they didn't really have a chance.

Because as the Domains crumbled, as the Immortals cried in pain, as Emea died, it ejected them. Forcibly. As it did, they all saw the tendril of Kielik's soul whip out and wrap around Alistair. And then, they saw only blackness.

Yet the Song continued.

That was what it was, by this point. A song ~ Emea's Requiem.

As they were exited from Emea... they all shared a vision. The mortals of Idalos saw all that happened here, they knew who had stopped them from dreaming and how - they knew who each and every one of them was. Those gathered here knew it, without doubt. But they all shared a sight no other did, only them.

A desolate landscape, devoid of life or hope ~ a place where none could live, none could be. The tiniest flicker of Emea's breathing. Vast expanse of emptiness and nothingness. And in the middle of it a figure.

Alone.

He lifted one hand and pointed ~ in a direction which did not matter ~ and where he pointed was to them - to their story. Yet, as they looked at the hand which pointed, they all knew who he was.

Or who he once had been.

If Tio Silver had eyes, no doubt he would have cried. But he did not. They had offended him, and thus he plucked them out.

The Review

!	Message from: PLEASE NOTE!
	There are other rewards which will happen - some of these will be.... major. These will come in the 4 x Endgames + Waiting Place threads. Please do not assume anything!

Everyone In This Thread

XP: 15
Renown: 20
Dreamwalking XP: 10 (this counts as an Initiation if you need it!)
These are alongside rewards in tabs.
Please note: Your Dreamscape is what you will need to "solve" in order to pass Stage 1 (see this post and the one below it). However, how you solve it, what the solution is etc, is up to you. It will need to be signed off by me and, I want to see it be a real challenge to your pc psychologically and emotionally. These threads must be dated before the 30th Ymiden. When you have completed (might be one, or multiple threads - multiple is more likely to meet the standard!) - please post here. NO MATTER WHAT - you always hear Emea's Requiem when you sleep. It literally haunts you.What aspects of what I write about your dreamscape are important - and which aren't - are entirely up to you. Thanks for flying Pegasus airlines, we hope you've enjoyed your thread!

Ari'sora

+1 NPC = Shadow.

!	Message from: Your Dreamscape
	Whenever Ari'sora sleeps, she finds herself chasing through the Curious House. Except, it's a ruin and she is being chased by Nightmare Beasts. She knows that Shadow is here, but Ari'sora can't find her friend. She hears the sound of children in rooms out of her sight and there is the smell of almonds throughout the House.

Hart

Karshe is there when you wake.
Wren, however, is not.

!	Message from: Your Dreamscape
	Whenever Hart sleeps, he finds himself in a library; he's running full-speed through the stacks and he knows that he's being chased. Yet, he also knows that there's a book he has to find. If he can find that book, it has the answer - although he also knows he can't read the language it's written in. The scent of roses permeates the place.

Alistair

A number of things happen to Alistair simultaneously. For a moment, he knows the taste of Divinity and he has an experience of what it would be to walk among the Immortals. Then, Vri pops in and they have a chat (see my modbomb on your thread) - at that point, when Alistair wakes, the three consequences become clear.
~ The sheer amount of Divine Ether which Alistair has been subjected to pushes him into a place where he has three revealed sparks (including the existing). This will need to be dealt with in the PSF.
~ This will, inevitably, change the way he looks. He will become obviously non-human, an abomination. Again, PSF.
~ He has been cursed by Vri. The curse is:
[spoiler]There is only one Curse for the Condemned of Bellinos. Much like the blessing of Undying Vri lays upon his Champion, the Condemned of his mark too will never die. They will not age. Any blow that would take the life of this individual instead places them into a coma as they slowly regenerate. Unlike his Champion, this individual feels the agony of rebuilding and returning to life acutely, unable to forget. The most sorrowful memories they possess will become the clearest, overshadowing those of joy and any other emotion. The Condemned will fade from the minds of those he interacts with, slipping out like a dream. Doomed to wander, damned to never make a relationship, and cursed to never die...Vri's cursed wander Idalos consumed in their own self loathing, unable to end their own suffering. Should they learn a lesson, perhaps Vri will release them, but they will find that any relationship they currently had slipping from them as even those closest will forget their face.[/spoiler]

!	Message from: Peg
	I must be clear. Every single person on Idalos knows who you are, and what you did. Vri knows that you tried to murder his son. Etc. The curse is a very serious one and must be RPed by all who write with you. As of next season, Vri will be watching Alistair and the choices he makes.

!

Message from: Your Dreamscape

Alistair's sleep is filled, from this point onwards, with dreams of flaying Kielik. He relives that moment, time and time again in his sleep and his dreamscape is that room. That place. Air whips around him, and he's trying not to do it - he's pulling away. But he can't and Vri is standing, watching him. He hears whispers, and he can almost make out what they're saying but not quite and there is the unmistakable aroma of ginger.

Tio

With this review, we are releasing an update to Dreamwalking. Tio has an automatic skill of 100 in this.
That's the good news.
Tio swapped places with the One. The One was a being of Emea. Tio now is.
He can not leave Emea. And Emea is destroyed. So. This is how this is going to work, mechanically.
In all threads which happen after this (so any CitW follow ups and / or all threads started after 1st June) Tio is considered invited into the thread - as long as it's in the Emea forum / subforums. You have full "Modbomb" privileges. Tio may manipulate the Dreamscape of any CitW member (although that will be temporary and will reset when they dream again) and he may help/ hinder them as he wishes. You may also post as a mod in any dream thread started after 1st June - I will liaise with you in order to make sure that you get any and all support you need in this.
Until such time as Emea is "fixed" (if ever) - Tio is stuck. Threads after the 30th will be dealt with differently - I'll pm you! And it's odd. But there's no one else here. No one. But if there was? They wouldn't like you. .....

Eliza

When Eliza wakes up, Wren is with her. He doesn't remember what happened and is generally confused.

!

Message from: Your Dreamscape

Eliza dreams of walking through a desert. It's scorching hot - or fantastically freezing - and she can see some bright caravans in the distance. They are gypsies, she knows, and she's going there to meet someone. Family, she thinks. But whichever way she goes, she never quite catches up with them. In her hand, she's holding the small whirligig she put in her hair here, and in her hand in a small glass heart. She can smell the campfires burning and hear the sounds of bells on ankles as the dancers dance yet... she can't quite find it and she has to. Because there's something important there.

Oluwanje

You are no longer haunted by a Nightmare Beast.
+1 apple. You will find that, should you eat this apple, it will heal you. But, it doesn't regrow itself or anything 1 bite = heals major wounds. 2 bites = regrows limbs. There are 4 bites.

!

Message from: Your Dreamscape

Olu is sitting on a tree and swinging his legs. He's in Desnind, with friends.... or they were here not so long ago. One of them was hiding in a tree but now, all the trees are dead. And... then all the trees are attacking you and you don't know why. Branches scratch at you and you feel them cutting at you. Yet, you know, you have to find... what was it again? It was something important, you know that and it gets more important when you realise that what you smell is obvious. The forest is burning...

Rakvald

When you wake up, you open your eyes and... well, there's a modded thread waiting for you. First of the new season, please start the thread where Rak is doing his thing. Vri wants a word.....

!

Message from: Your Dreamscape

Rakvald is giving a lecture in a University-type building. But it's destroyed, decimated. All the students are corpses, burnt away husks of what used to be. Yet still, they're asking questions and he doesn't know the answers. He's being asked 100 questions and, when he looks down at his notes, the whole place is just ruins so there aren't any. There is the permeating smell of coffee and, in the distance, he can hear the dawn chorus.

!	Message from: Peg
	If your review wasn't here - I will give you your Dreamscape the first time I review you. I will be doing nothing else (not PC posts, not nothing) till I've got all the pcs who completed this event reviewed at least once. Thank you for your patience