Things of Myth and Legend RP (2)

[Dwayna DragonFire]

((OOC: Back due to popular demand, here is the Things of Myth and Legend RP! Aura and Dark Soul helped me to decide that it would be best just to start over from the beginning, so here we go. I changed the intro to have it done by Nerezza's perspective so that the RPers would get to know her better as a person.

Anyone can join at anytime just as long as they give descriptions of their characters to be reviewed by myself before they post.))

BIC:

Humans were always such a peculiar species. They fought constantly for more power, always greedy to have more. In some way, all of them wanted to be better than someone else. Wars were constant, sometimes over quite trivial things, and it was never fun to watch these people die.

The planet was dying with them, and as the years and wars wore on, this became more and more apparent. The climate was changing at a rapid rate, becoming less bearable to go outside. Sometimes it would be hot enough now that if anyone stepped outside, they would literally melt. Winter became the only safe season to tread outside everyday, and there wasn't ever snow anymore. Snow was almost an unknown concept now, a thing of myth and legend.

The outside became an ugly place, the green of trees fading to yellow, then to a more dead state as water became more and more scarce on the planet. Humans drank any liquid they could to survive, soon not caring about their struggle for power, but more for their continued survival. They were always the most persistent with this factor.

At first we were reluctant to appear and help them. They had always thought of us as things of their imagination, and some of them would no doubt want to do experiments to us. As the planet kept dying, science soon became the least of our concerns as everyone turned against each other. But it wasn't trivial this time. They needed to kill to survive.

We had always watched them, from the beginning of their lives to what almost looked to be the end. We had already had the technology to travel between different planets and solar systems before they had even discovered fire. Some of our people showed themselves to the humans over the years, being remembered for several millenia afterwards.

Some of us frightened them, but others thought the ones that they saw were awesome beasts of strength and power. As technology grew in their culture as it had with ours, they became more interested in capturing us for study, and we invented devices to help us hide from the malicious, greedy humans. They soon started portraying many of us as threats, so we decided it was best just to watch from the stars, with only a few of our kind still in place.

We took pity on them as we watched the cycle of Earth almost go in complete reverse in a matter of a few centuries. Soon some of them were scared to go outside, but at the same time, they knew they needed to. We decided to seek out the ones who just wanted a way out. The ones who wouldn't care who or what it was as long as they were saved from the wasteland that Planet Earth had become.

On that fateful day, we decided to change the climate in our own way, with our own technology. Clouds started gathering together all over the planet - the temperature outside dropping - causing several people to relish in the cold that had become so rare. It was an appropriate introduction for what was to come, as we were thought to be things of myth and legend ourselves.

We made it snow.

---

As the sun set behind the horizon and night came into full swing, dark hair shone in the moonlight in a way that made it look like part of the sky. Peering out from beneath the black locks of hair were blue eyes, so light they would probably be described as ice-blue, if anyone knew what ice was anymore.

The feminine figure had pale peach skin and tattered clothes from all the hunting that she had to do over the years. She had always tried to settle for killing the smaller animals, but as those became more and more scarce, she had to hunt bigger prey. She had to hunt other humans.

Her name was Nerezza Dellanotte. At one time that name had apparently meant something regarding the darkness of the night, and it was appropriate in a way, with how her hair seemed to blend in with the night sky. She flitted between shadows as she slowly crept up to another human who was stupidly wandering around by himself. She would have snuck up and killed him, if it weren't for her noticing the changing sky.

Suddenly, things like the stuffing from pillows started to fill the sky, covering up the moon. She gaped at the sight, and shivered slightly when she realized the temperature was... dropping?! Impossible... she thought to herself as she wrapped her arms close to her body. This was not something she was used to at all.

What was even more astonishing is that some of the white of the fluff seemed to break off into flakes and started floating to the ground. One of the particles fell onto her face, melting from the warmth of her body heat. It felt pleasant against her skin, as she experienced the feeling of cold for the first time.

“... Snow?” she questioned aloud in her velvety rich voice. She had heard of this phenomenon in the legends of the old days, when everything was living and green. She desperately tried to catch some of the flakes on her tongue, and realized more humans were flocking to do the same. Killing each other was forgotten for the beautiful sight in front of their eyes.

But that wasn't all that seemed to be coming down from the sky. Large, dark shadows started moving in their direction behind the clouds, and one descended in her general direction. What came out of the clouds was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.

The emerald-green scales of the colossal beast glimmered in the moonlight, making the silvery edges pop and dazzle against the white and black of the night sky. Four legs with menacing claws were pulled next to the body of the creature, its tail waving like a directional rudder as it flew down towards the earth.

The horned head of the majestic beast rose up with its body as it suddenly swerved up away from the ground, causing a few gasps in awe from the dramatic flair of it all. Rows of sharp teeth peeked out of the mouth of the beast, and it finally opened its eyes, revealing them to also be a sparkling silver.

On the chest of the large beast there appeared to be a mechanism of some sort that held a large red gem. It glittered and shone along with the rest of the dragon, and it suddenly seemed to glow a little bit. That's when Nerezza felt a sort of a pushing sensation in her mind, before a deep voice resounded.

<Hello, humans.>, said the voice, and Nerezza assumed that the creature was not only speaking to her this way, but to the entire crowd. <I am a beast known as a Dragon, and I have come to take some of you with me, to live your lives peacefully in a new home, away from this wasteland. Those who think this is a trick, you may stay here. But to those of you who believe in me, I will bring you in for a test of character before I let you come to our peaceful home.>

Some of the group backed off right away, frightened by the dangerous looks of this legendary creature. Braver ones stepped forward, and Nerezza found herself contemplating the different scenarios. On one hand, the dragon looked like he could devour her without a second thought. On the other hand, there was a possibility of finally leaving this place; surviving without having to hunt and kill her own kind.

She stepped forward. Her hope for survival won out over her fear of the beast that towered over them all. She tilted her head upwards to find herself staring into the sparkling, silver eyes of the male dragon. A shiver went down her spine then, but it wasn't fear this time. This time, it was more of admiration for the beautiful creature that had descended from the sky to save her. She felt the tingling in her mind again, again in awe of the sheer power of this creature.

<Those of you who have stepped forward, I give you this warning: If you enter this place with me, you may never come back to your home here on Earth. This is your last chance to leave.> The dragon was very stern and blunt about this, and more people stepped away from the beast, leaving only a small portion.

Nerezza stayed as well, because her mind was already set on leaving this place. Her eyes never left the dragons face, and it seemed that way for the dragon too. Then again, with the size that it was, it would look like he was staring everyone in the eyes.

Her mind didn't dwell on this subject for too long, because the creature stepped closer to the small group flocking in front of him, making him tower over them even more. Nerezza wondered about the power of this creature. Supposedly, he could control the way he talked, and to how many people he talked to at one time. Not to mention he was positively glistening with raw power.

<Since you are all brave enough to still stand in my presence, I hope none of you have a fear of heights. You'll all be filing onto my back, because we're not going to walk to the gate.> With that statement, the dragon unfurled his tail and laid it on the ground next to his body.

The people beneath the dragon started climbing upwards onto the dragons back via the tail. When it was Nerezza's turn, she noticed that she didn't seem to be slipping at all, and neither did anyone else. Either everyone including herself had good balance, or the dragon's magic was somehow keeping them steady as they climbed upwards. When everyone was loaded onto the tail, the dragon lifted it upwards, startling Nerezza considerably, but even still she was kept in place by this invisible force.

As they all started to clamber off of the tail and onto the dragons back, Nerezza grasped her hands tightly around one of the scales at the dragon's neck. Even with the magic holding them in place, she felt safer holding onto the dragon, just in case. After everyone was settled, the dragon lifted his powerful wings, and lifted off after a few moments. Then the dragon flew back up into snow filled sky, the wind blowing through the hair of his passengers.

This was the most surreal experience of Nerezza's life. Hell, anyone in her position would be having the time of their lives right now. One last time, she looked behind her, at the earth fading away as the dragon ascended back into the sky, taking them to the gate to his world, towards their test of character. Nerezza hoped that for everything she had just done, that she would not regret it.

She hoped that she would pass.

 

[Dark Soul]

(OOC: That’s right, Drake is back! Also, I’ve decided to ditch our little albino NPC Iris.)

BIC:

On top of an old, bricked building, deserted except for the insects between the walls and the stray dogs desperately looking for shadow, a young boy, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun, was looking at the neighborhood at his feet, listening to the sounds of the city. He was clad in dirty clothes- dusty and torn baggy jeans, a cotton T-shirt that had once been white and a leather belt with a Colt strapped to it, a worn backpack.

The young boy was called Drake Morrison. That was not what most townspeople called him, though; He was known as The Hunter and the Thieves’ Prince, because of his evasive maneuvers when robbing people of their money. He didn’t like doing it- He never had- but in a struggle for survival, he had to do anything he could.

The sun had broken free from the horizon and it’s smoldering rays lit up the sky. It was time for another day of survival.

As he went down the stairs, he loaded his revolver. He had only a few bullets left. He hoped he didn't have to use them, mostly because he would avoid killing anyone as much as possible, but also because bullets were expensive- Nobody fabricated them anymore, and they were scarce.
He desperately needed some cash- he hadn't eaten anything yet since he had woken up this morning, let alone something to drink. His mouth was as dry as the desert surrounding the city.
Before stepping out of the doorway, he glanced at the street around the pillars at the entrance. Nobody was around. The way was clear.

Quick as a lightning flash, he ran through the street, grabbing a rusty iron ladder and climbing on the roof. He lay down at the other end of the roof. This was his standard spot- the street he was looking down used to be a main street, going around the center of the city, but except for an occasional mugger or homeless, nobody lived here anymore.

A lot of people used it as shortcut for going around town, though, which was the only reason Drake was still alive.

~~~~~~~~~~
After two long hours of laying in the baking heat, a chance arrived. A white-haired girl, around his age, appeared. She tried to hide in the shadows as much as possible. She was holding a small pocket of coins and a flask- She was probably an alcohol smuggler. Alcohol was one of the few things more expensive then water; Like bullets, it was impossible to make more of it now. Whenever an old bottle of wine was found in a dusty basement, people in the criminal circuits- Which was pretty much the only form of economy nowadays- would pay loads of coins for it. He decided not to steal the bottle to sell it, so the girl would still have a chance of survival.

When the girl was directly under him, his muscled tensed for the jump. He took his revolver from his pocket, and he jumped.

He landed only a meter in front of her, and as he landed he did a side roll to avoid injury, standing up and pointing his gun at the girl. She backed away, finding herself stuck against a wall with nowhere to run. He grabbed the bag of coins from her hand, threw her to the ground and started running away. Unlike most people, she didn’t get up to chase him. Instead, she just started crying.
Drake stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn’t stand that sound- It made him remember all the things he hated about his life. He always tried to be intimidating- but actually, he was a softie. He was very good at hiding this normally, but not in front of something like this.

He turned around and faced the girl. ‘You still have the bottle, right? Can’t you sell it?’ He said. The girl shook her head. ‘The person who I’m supposed to bring it won’t pay me, and my boss would be so angry if I’d sell it, he’d knock me unconscious.’ For a moment, Drake didn’t know what to do. If he gave the money back, he probably wouldn’t be able to buy enough water for the coming days- but was it worth having a girl abused by her father?

Suddenly, he came up with something. He reached towards the chain around his neck and opened the lock. He gave the chain to the surprised girl.
He tapped the medallion connected to the chain. It was shaped like a crescent moon. ‘Pure silver. Probably not worth as much as you got paid, but the best I can give you.’ He turned around again and ran towards the center.

Once he had arrived there, he slipped into the pub- the city’s main water source. The entire city was build on an underground lake, but the pub owner was the only one with access to the hole that reached it. The pub owner, a big, burly man with a wooden club grunted when he saw him. ‘Comin’ for some water again, are ya?’ He said. Drake and the man weren’t friends, but not enemies either. ‘Hope you got enough coins.’ Drake nodded and emptied the bag of coins on the counter. The owner grinned. ‘Just enough, like always.’ He took the coins from the counter and disappeared into a doorway. Moments later, he came back with a jug of water enclosed by a cork. Drake took two chugs and put the rest inside his backpack. ‘See ya later, Hunter.’ The owner said. Drake nodded and left.

Once outside, he planned on scouring the streets for some more victims. He looked at the square with the dried-out fountain, where several people were standing. Suddenly, he noticed a slight drop in temperature. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the change. But the air became colder and colder. An odd, instinctive body movement He was shivering. He hadn't done that in years. But the air had become really cold now.

Coldness was something almost non-existent now. How could this be? He looked up. Grey clouds were cloaking the sky, and something was falling from them. Small pieces of white. Drake, utterly mesmerized by the whole event, tried to catch one. It melted in his hand. Water. Frozen water. His brain brought up a word for it, that he had heard somewhere in his youth; Snow.

Suddenly, a black silhouette flashed across the sky. Drake didn’t have the slightest idea what it was; birds were very rare, and no bird was this large anyway. Airplanes hadn’t been used for decades- not enough fuel.

The silhouette grew bigger and bigger, seemingly lowering from the sky. It started taking form, too.

A giant creature, with brilliant green scales, was floating high up in the sky. An enormous red diamond surrounded by what seemed to some sort of machine lined his chest. Something pushed his mind, making his own thoughts disappear and filling it with new ones. A strong, deep voice sounded in his head, promising him liberation from this rotten world, if they believed he was of good nature.

The lion's share of the crowd, intimidated by the dragon, stepped away. Drake stayed in place. He would do anything to be freed from his misery. The dragon repeated his warning, saying that they would never be able to turn back to this world.

For some reason, more people stepped back. Amongst them, Drake saw the white-haired girl.

The dragon landed at the square, laying his tail before them. Drake suddenly thought of something. He opened his backpack and took out the bottle of water and some coins he had left. He went over to the girl, and looked her in the eyes. He handed her the bottle of water and the coins. ‘I’m sorry for what I did to you.’ He said, and meant it. ‘Can I have my chain back? It’s actually a gift from my brother, but I gave it to you because I thought I wouldn’t use it anymore.’ The girl nodded and gave him the chain. ‘It’s alright. Good luck, wherever you’re going.’

Confused but excited, Drake did as the dragon told them and climbed on the dragon's tail. As the dragon jumped up in the sky, Drake held on to the green scales as thight as he could, but he didn't even have to, because some sort of force was holding him in place. An invisible, but inpenetratable force. He looked around. He was sitting behind a man in heavy black clothes. Somehow, Drake knew better times would come.

 

[Rex]

(OoC: *Dusts off archive post* Time to try again, if you'll still have me.)

BiC: The world was ending, slowly, painfully, but still ending.

Rex had read, back when there were still books to be read, that it would happen, though mostly the theories presented were a bit outlandish. Out of all those hundreds of theories it was the most simple of them all that happened to be correct. The deserts that had once provided Sanctuary to him now threatened to kill him; and more and more Rex found himself exploring the remains of coastal cities, instead of hiding under the cloak of a sandstorm.

It was the heat that got to him the most. The heat that on some days threatened to boil him alive unless he found some shade. The fact that he had to wear heavy clothes that concealed his less-then-normal appearance made the problem all the worse. But, he was created with an excellent adaptability; it was one of the last things going for him in this dying world. He had found that he was very good at breaking-and-entering, and was able to spend most days hidden away in an air conditioned building. Air conditioning! One of the best things Man ever learned to do!

Today was one of the cooler days, cooler as in below two hundred degrees. "A good day to collect supplies," Rex thought to himself, setting off for the oversized, understaffed, building containing the basic needs of anyone, human or otherwise. It wasn't very hard to go unnoticed, the Sun wasn't very high up yet, so there were many dark alleys to hide in. Once or twice he had encountered a mugger while exploring the hundreds of shadowed passages the city had to offer. A quick show with the dagger hidden in his trench coat was enough to guarantee passage, although it always took days to get the blood off.

Rex arrived at the back entrance to the building, it was easy enough to slip in; the security system was fried from long days in the heat anyway. "This is what I have been reduced to in order to survive," Rex though as he went though the medicine, something always in short supply, "To steal from civil services, it's unforgivable, but necessary."

After he was sure he had enough Aspirin to keep him from dying of disease any time soon, he went on to the next big thing on his list, liquids. Next to nothing existed in liquid form anymore, only poisonous metals like Mercury and others will a low melting point. So it was no surprise to him that there was almost nothing in the room that was for drinkable items. Luckily water vapor proved to be a lot more resilient then its liquid counterpart, on cooler days water was stored in air-tight containers, so that on hotter days when it evaporated it stayed put. There were several of these air-tight containers lying around the room. Rex shook one and was rewarded with the sound of churning. He took three of these, enough water for a month or more if he rationed himself. There was no chance to get water from the pub owner, he was on bad terms with him anyway.

The final thing he needed was food, which meant a small room filled with boxes. The most common type of food was the kind given to Astronauts; back when Outer Space still interested Man. Irradiated meat was one of the most common packages, though no one really knew what animal the meat came from, there were always rumors that it was human. Rex grabbed a bunch of these. Several rehydratable foods were also there, Rex grabbed a few of these as well. Then it was time to leave, the staff, what little of it there was, was starting to arrive.

Rex slipped out of the back door, making sure to leave it just as he had found it walking in. Back in the safety of the alleyways Rex pulled the scarf away from his muzzle and took off his ski cap. The sun was farther up now, and when the sun went up, the temperature did too. "Looks like I was wrong, it'll be another hot day," he thought, he'd better get back inside before it gets any hotter. He pulled the scarf back into place, and returned the cap to his head.

Rex looked around trying to find a door, or a window, he could slip into. After going several blocks he was able to find one, and started picking the lock. While he was working, he noticed the temperature was dropping. Rex enjoyed the slight change, but soon realized that it was still getting colder. The thermometer next to the door was steadily dropping. Rex watched in amazement as the thermometer dropped below one hundred fifty, then down to one hundred, then fifty, it was never fifty degrees anymore! Still it dropped, forty, thirty, twenty, ten! Rex stared dumbstruck as the thermometer stopped hovered at nine degrees. He didn't look away until a large white snowflake fell onto the scarf hiding his muzzle. Rex's gazed snapped up, the sun was gone, hidden behind a layer of clouds, more large snowflakes fell. Rex saw something descend from the clouds, locked door forgotten; he dashed to the place he saw the large thing going.

He made it to the area to see something he never expected to see outside of a book. A Dragon, its scales were a beautiful emerald-green, standing in clear contrast to the gray world around them. On the dragon's chest was a machine with a red jewel in the center. A large group of people stood watching the creature, some, like him, were awe-struck from the sheer beauty of it all. He found himself joining them, standing a few feet apart, but still close enough so that he could get the same look at the dragon the rest of them did.

The red jewel glowed, and Rex felt a slight pushing in his mind. "Hello humans," a voice resonated inside his head. "I am a beast known as a Dragon, and I have come to take some of you with me, to live your lives peacefully in a new home, away from this wasteland. Those who think this is a trick, you may stay here. But to those of you who believe in me, I will bring you in for a test of character before I let you come to our peaceful home."

Some people backed away from the Dragon, fear in there eyes, some braver ones stepped forward. Rex's survival instinct kicked in, and he stepped forward as well. He liked the idea of being able to leave this dying world behind, of never having to suffer in the heat, or kill, or steal.

"Those of you who have stepped forward, I give you this warning: If you enter this place with me, you may never come back to your home here on Earth. This is your last chance to leave," said the voice in his head.

More people stepped back, leaving only a small part of the group still standing before the dragon. Rex was among them, his survival instinct refusing to let him step away. The dragon came closer to them. It towered over the rest of them, glistening with raw power. Rex's heart skipped a few beats, primordial fear awakening in him. But his mind was resolute, he would not step back!

"Since you are all brave enough to still stand in my presence, I hope none of you have a fear of heights. You'll all be filing onto my back, because we're not going to walk to the gate," with that, the dragon unfurled its tail, laying it down near itself.

Rex's stomach did a flip-flop; he was Acrophobic, AND Aerophobic. But he climbed onto the creatures back along with the rest of them. An invisible force kept him from falling off, though, even when the dragon lifted the tail again. As soon as he was settled he clutched one of the large scales and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping his hat or scarf didn't fall off mid-flight. After a few moments the Dragon took off again, flying back into the snow filled sky. Rex's free hand went periodically from another scale, to his hat, to his scarf, three fears fighting for supremacy.

Deep down, Rex was glad to leave that dying world behind. But his mind was to busy stopping the stream of curses that normally accompanied him when ever he was scared, to express this feeling.

 

[Aura]

A girl woke up with a yawn at the first rays of light coming through a window that had long since been boarded up. Her bed was nothing more than a hard mat on the ground but hey, in this day and age having a roof over your head and a mat to sleep on was something that belonged to the very fortunate. She glanced over to the mat beside hers – it was empty. Her father was already up and moving. He had to be.

The girl in question’s name was Iboni, meaning Ebony. The name was Egyptian just like she was. Her skin was dark and naturally a tan colour, her eyes a dark brown, almost black colour. Her hair however, was a brilliant fiery red colour which told her that she wasn’t fully Egyptian, perhaps half European? Her father never mentioned it. It was held up in a high ponytail with a simple rubber band. Iboni was rather small and slight, completely different from her father. While he was big and burly and carried a wooden club, Iboni was slim, bony from the lack of food and carried a small dagger on her person. She didn’t have the physical strength needed to bring a club down on someone’s head. She only had one outfit to wear really, a torn, ripped red and white singlet shirt, a pair of short blue denim shorts and a pair of black thongs. For those rare cold days was a black jacket with one of the sleeves missing. For work, she had an old stained apron.

Iboni pulled herself off the ground with a sigh, rubbing her shoulders. Even though she’d slept on that mat for as long as she could remember, it had always hurt to sleep on. But there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing mattered to the human race anymore except survival. And her part in humanity’s survival was helping her father. Why? Because he was the only one in this city who had access to water.

***

“Iboni!” Her father shouted. “Hurry up with that water!”

“Coming!” She yelled a reply, gathering up the final water bottle and running out of the back room where all the water was stalled. Felix trotted out of the room too. Felix was a black cat with emerald green eyes and a very crafty look to him, with part of one ear missing from a fight. He wasn’t Iboni’s cat as such, but he hung around the pub because Iboni’s father was a sucker for cats and always gave him something to eat and drink, while Iboni spent her spare time petting him. There was always a cat or two around the pub. You just had to know where to look.

When she came out, her father was talking to a man in dark heavy clothes. Iboni blinked in shock. How on earth could he wear that in this heat? It just wasn’t normal. She put the water on the bench where her father could reach it and then rushed over to a man who was banging a mug on the bench, demanding more alcohol. He had to be a rich man to be able to afford it. Frankly, she couldn’t understand why it was worth so much – the stuff smelled horrible. Either way, Iboni took his money and went to give him a refill. As she was doing this, the temperature started to drop, little by little. At first Iboni didn’t notice it, but when her body… what to call it? Shook? Quivered? … Shivered was it? Anyway, when it did whatever it was called, she knew that something was wrong. Wrapping her jacket around her, Iboni put the mug near the man who’d ordered it and stepped outside.

It was even colder out than it was in. Her body did that strange thing again and Iboni shook her head at the strangeness of it all. Clouds, so many that they blocked out the sky and the sun had gathered, dark grey and threatening. Her jaw dropped, then nearly hit the ground when strange white shapes began falling from the sky. Curiously, Iboni reached out with one hand and caught one of the strange things in her hand. It was small and white and looked like a star. Then it melted into water. She stared at her hand. Frozen water. She’d heard of this form of water in myths and legends. It was called snow.

Her father walked outside, his expression pure awe. The sweat oh his face had already began to freeze there.

“Beautiful…” he breathed. “If this is how the world’s going to end, I don’t think I’d mind.”

Both of them stared up into the clouds for a moment, just watching and revelling in the feeling of the cold. A dark shadow moved in the clouds. It was huge, with wings and a long thin body. Both daughter and father froze when they saw it.

“What was that?” Iboni breathed.

Before her father could answer, a huge, majestic creature soared out of the clouds. There was no doubt in Iboni’s mind that the shadow that they’d just seen belonged to this creature.

There really wasn’t a word to describe the creature. It was graceful and beautiful yet powerful and terrifying at the same time. It was emerald green with a sheen of silver to it’s scales. It’s wingspan must have been larger than that of a house. It’s eyes were silver like it’s claws and seemed to hold you in it’s gaze. Conbine that with teh fact that it was so huge, it gave the impression that it was staring down at you. There was a strange device built onto it’s chest, purpose unknown.

“That’s...” Iboni’s father whispered. “That’s a ruddy dragon!”

Iboni had heard of dragons. Apparently they had been hunted in the medieval ages by knights, could breathe fire, liked eating princesses and causing chaos. But they were just myths and legends. But then again so was snow. And one was right in front of her eyes.

The dragon landed and a voice rang out in Iboni’s head, asking if she wanted to leave earth and start anew. But the catch was there was a test to see who was worthy to go to this new world and you could never come back to earth again. Those who wanted to go were to step forwards.

Iboni hesitated. She’d love to go dearly, to end this hell and actually have something to look forwards to but... She looked at her father. He looked back at her with the same dark eyes that she had.

“Go.” He said simply.

Iboni blinked in shock. “But I’d leave you...”

“Iboni, look. This world is dying and you have no future here. If there’s a chance to get out of this hell, then you should take it. No matter if help comes in the shape a dragon and snow.”

“You’ll come too right?”

He smiled gently. “No my girl. Somebody has to give the people here water. And nobody else knows how to get down to the well. Besides,” He said, his tone changing to one of despair. “I’m HIV positive. I’ll be dead very soon. I’ve already go mouth ulcers.”

Iboni flung herself at her father, giving him the biggest hug ever. It was filled with both happiness and depression. Joy that she would leave this hellhole. Sadness because she’d never see him again. Felix rubbed himself around their legs and they both looked down.

“Take ‘im with you.” He said. “The cat deserves better. And they bring good luck. Also...” He said, reaching into his pocket as Iboni picked Felix up. He drew out a small white box and opened it, revealing a ring inside. It was made of silver and was set with a few small diamonds on the side and a black opal in the middle. “The wedding ring I gave to your mother. I found it with her corpse. You see, when you were just a baby, one day she swore she saw something, something like an angel. She set out to follow it, but she never returned. I went out later and found her body. I buried her out in the desert and took the ring.” He trailed off. “Go! I think it’s about to leave! Goodbye...”

“Bye Dad...” Iboni choked as she ran out into the square where the people were getting on the dragon. She arrived just in time, carrying Felix in her arms and having pocketed the ring. The dragon let the few people whom it was taking climb up it’s tail and take a seat on it’s back. Iboni chose one behind a spike on it’s back, so she could cling on (although it would be near impossible holding Felix).

Once everyone was safely on it’s back, the dragon flapped it’s huge emerald wings and soared into the freezing air. Iboni clung onto the dragons spike with one hand and Felix with the other. She waved to her father, not bothering to wipe the tears that had frozen there from her face. He waved back until the dragon was too high up in the air for her to make him out anymore. It then soared through the sky, making the falling snow dance with every flap of its wings. Felix hissed as they landed on him, making him get wet. Despite the fact that she’d never go home again, Iboni was rather happy. Joy started to fill her whole body, because she’d been given a second chance.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Dragons of all sorts of colors were zooming in the sky all around the green dragon's group as their dragon flew towards their destination. Red, black, blue, white, silver, gold... multicolored dragons, all sparkling with the raw magic that was inside all of them.

Soon, in the distance, the group could see more shadows heading in their direction. More dragons heading the opposite way to get more people meant that they were close to their destination. Suddenly, their dragon swooped to the right to follow another dragon, causing a surprised reaction to come out of some of the riders.

They descended back to Earth, the dragons gracefully flying around each other, a beautiful sight to behold. When they touched down again, their dragon lifted his tail again, allowing everyone to clamber back down. Once everyone found their place on the tail, and held on tight as the group was lowered once again to the ground.

They all clambered off of the tail and watched as the gem at the dragons throat started to glow. The other dragon's machinery took on the same quality, and soon the dragons began to shrink, giving the impression that the gems themselves had magical qualities. For now they merely noticed that it seemed to change his size.

The dragons all stepped forward, creating a circle in the center of the field. The people here felt a bristle of energy rising as they noticed some of the dragons eyes seemed to flash. A bright light suddenly came from the center of the circle, shining up into the overcast sky and causing many of the nearby people to look away. When it finally dimmed down, they looked back and there was a large, circular metal thing standing in the center.

<Open.> They felt the many whispers of the dragons in their heads, and watched as the center of the metallic thing start to slide open. Many gasped as beautiful scenery met their eyes - the portal revealed lush, green vegetation, something that was completely unheard of on this world.

<Follow me.> The green dragon spoke into his groups mind again, before he turned to go through the gate. Many noticed that he seemed to be the first to go through, but others simply kept their eyes on the beautiful scenery around them, enjoying the brush of the warm air around them in contrast to the cold Wintry skies that had now overcast Earth.

Reds, purples, yellows and several other colors popped out at them as they walked on. Creatures that they had long thought extinct on Earth thrived around them, as if welcoming them to this place. It was so much more alive than any of them had ever known the Earth to be, and small wonder why the dragons wanted to protect such beauty.

Soon the group came up to a large mountain that seemed to go for miles in every direction. A singular cave was in front of them, and the dragon continued on into it with everyone in tow. The darkness that surrounded the group was held at bay by torches and strange lights lining the walls. It wasn't long before the dragon stopped, in front of a similar gate to the one that the group had followed him through, speaking into their minds yet again.

<This is the gate to the rest of the world. As I explained before, I will only allow you to go through this gate if you pass a test of character. However, if you do not pass, then there will be... dire consequences.> The silvery eyes of the beast gazed around at the group one by one, sending shivers down their spines as they felt something tug at their minds a little bit. What was the dragon doing...?

They didn't have long to wonder, as the dragon started wandering off to their right, at which the group simply followed again. The dragon brought them into another cave, where there were separate paths stringing off in the large room, and a wooden table in the center of the room. On the table was a hat, some strips of paper, and some pencils.

<Please write your names on the pieces of paper and place them inside the hat. Afterwords, by decision of the hat, you will be put into groups of three.> At this point, the dragon walked up to the table - gem brightening again - and this time his shape changed.

His bone structure seemed to realign itself as he transformed, his back straightening so he could walk on two feet instead of four, making it seem like he was human. The group watched watched as he picked up a pencil and wrote down whatever his name was, and placed it in the hat, to the understanding that he had done this to even out the numbers, the sound of excited murmurs passing through the group.

<Do try not to fight each other to get to the front. Get in line and take your turn.>

 

[Dark Soul]

(OOC: You're welcome, Aura xD)

BIC:

Drake had never seen a more beautifull sight then what he saw now. Magnificent, gargantuan dragons, all carrying other people on their back, were flying through the sky around them. Each one of them had a different colour, sparkling and in every colour of the rainbow.

Drake was constantly in fear of falling off. Even with the odd force holding them in place, the speed and height frightened him, but also made adrenaline surge trough his blood.

Suddenly, all of the dragons swooped to the right, and Drake yelled. He really didn’t like this; He would be happy if he was standing with two feet on the sturdy ground.

The dragons descended to the ground. Drake clambered down the dragons hind leg instead of using the tail to get down. He felt a bit dizzy and still having the sensation of flying, but quickly recovered.

When all of the people were once again standing on the ground, the gems on the dragons torso’s started glowing and beaming light like a laser, while the dragons themselves started shrinking. Drake though the gems were some kind of device to control or focus the dragon’s energy.

All the light emitted by the gems collided in the middle of the plain. The sheer energy of it pushed Drake back, because he was still a little wobbly. A flash blinded him; when his eyes had regained sight, he saw a huge circle of metal standing where the energy had collided. Telepathically, all of the dragons said ‘Open.’ The metal circle split open, revealing another dimension- A dimension of lush, green nature, something non-existent on this planet.

The green dragon, the one Drake had been on, was the first to go through. The other dragons and the humans followed. The other dimension was amazing; there were green plants, beautiful flowers in all colours and animals everywhere. Apart from an occasional cat, dog or bird, most of the fauna on Earth was extinct.

Ahead of them, Drake saw, was an enormous mountain that covered the entire horizon. They went inside a large cave.

The dragon explained that there would be a test before they could go to their new homes. They were told to write down their name on a piece of paper. Drake followed the dragon’s orders and joined the queue.


(OOC: Since we don’t have Iris, are we going to add another NPC to my and Rex’s group?)

 

[Aura]

While at first Iboni clung onto the dragon’s spike with all her might, she slowly began to release her grip and enjoy the experience. There was some kind of force holding her and Felix in place, which seemed to be coming from the dragon. While Iboni was pretty good balance wise, she knew she wasn’t good enough to stay balanced on the back of a dragon.

As they flew on, more dragons began to gather. They were every colour and hue that Iboni knew existed, some combinations of two or more colours. They weaved and ducked about each other with easy grace, almost in a dance like fashion. They way the moved was almost hypnotic. Iboni felt that she could watch them for ages. The dragon that they were on turned in the air suddenly, causing the confidence that Iboni had gained on the dragon to disappear as she cried out and made a grab for it’s spike. She didn’t release her grip until the dragon landed and then was very cautious in getting off and didn’t bother hiding her relief on being back on the ground. Dragons and birds were made for the sky. She wasn’t.

As soon as everyone was safely on the ground, the gemstones that were on the dragons began to glow their respective colours. Then the machinery around them took on the same kind of glow before the dragons begun to shrink. Iboni gasped quietly and hugged Felix closer. What kind of technology did the dragons have?

All of the dragons then stepped forwards, some of their eyes flashing as some sort of energy rose up in the area. The centre of their circle became a brilliant light, so bright that Iboni had to shield her eyes while Felix looked away. When the light faded, in the middle of the circle was a large metal object that was roughly circular.

<Open.> The dragons whispered as one.

The metal object obeyed and slid sideways to reveal another world, lush and green. Iboni stifled a gasp at the sight of it. Felix purred.

<Follow me.> That was the green dragon. It had to be, as it was the one that stepped forwards first and made it’s way through the gateway. Iboni followed the crowd through the gateway, her eyes on the vegetation and enjoying the feeling of the warmth on her skin. It was different to that of earths – this warmth wasn’t over the top cook-you-in-an-oven type of heat, it was warm and healthy. Welcoming somehow. Watching the vegetation made Iboni blink after a moment.

“What on earth?!” She breathed. “I swear I just saw a Tasmanian Tiger!”

As the time spend walking went by, she’d seen more than twenty creatures which she was saw was extinct, fifteen which she’d only heard about in stories and five which she’d never heard of before. It was truly amazing. Iboni didn’t take her eyes off the scenery until she nearly crashed into the person in front of her.

“Sorry…” She mumbled.

The woman whom she’d crashed into just sniffed and looked away.

They’d stopped in front of a mountain, bigger than any Iboni had ever seen before. A feeling of smallness washed over her as the dragon lead them into a cave right in front of them. They walked through the darkness of the cave (broken by the torches of course) for a little while before they stopped again. In front of them was another gateway, except this one was closed.

<This is the gate to the rest of the world. As I explained before, I will only allow you to go through this gate if you pass a test of character. However, if you do not pass, then there will be... dire consequences.> The dragon explained.

A shiver went down Iboni’s spine as the dragon looked at her. It looked away again and she relaxed her entire body before freezing again as something tugged at her mind. What in the world?

They then went right, lead by the dragon again. A little walk later and they were in a cave which contained a table. On the table was a hat, some paper and some pencils.

<Please write your names on the pieces of paper and place them inside the hat. Afterwords, by decision of the hat, you will be put into groups of three.> The dragon said as he walked up to the table.

“Um… the hat will decide?” Iboni said to herself.

The dragon’s gem then shone again and his body structure seemed to change, making him more humanoid and less dragon. He picked up a pencil and wrote something on the paper before putting it in a hat.

<Do try not to fight each other to get to the front. Get in line and take your turn.>

Iboni took her place in the line and impatiently waited for the people in front of her to put their names in. Luckily, she wasn’t too far from the front. When she got there, Iboni put Felix on the ground and picked up a pencil, writing Iboni Bligh on the piece of paper in front of her before dropping it into the hat. She picked up Felix again and moved away, her eyes never leaving the dragons.

 

[Rex]

Dragons were everywhere; dragons of all colors of the rainbow. They sparked with something that Rex could only call magic. Their where lots of dragons still heading for Earth, picking up people themselves. The dragon he was riding swooped to the right. Rex smashed his face into the scales, they would hold his hat, goggles, and scarf for him, his other hand now permanently clenched a scale.

Eventually the dragon returned to the ground, and they all climbed off of its tail. Rex practically fell off, lying on the ground like he hadn't seen it in years. Falling had hurt his own tail, but he didn't care, it was nice to be on something solid again. The gem on the dragons around them started glowing, and they all shrank. It seemed that the gems controlled the dragon's appearance to some extent.

Rex closed his eyes and missed the summoning of the portal.

"Open," Rex opened his eyes to see the metallic portal slowly obey the dragon's command. The color of the land on the other side of the portal was green, a color Rex hadn't seen in years.

"Follow me," Rex got to his feet, and did as the dragon commanded. One the other side of the portal was more colors then just green, all the colors of the rainbow assaulted his eyes. He shoved his hands into his trench coat pockets, feeling extremely out of place in the colorful world. Ahead of them was a huge mountain, something that would rival even Olympus Mons, the largest mountain in the solar system. The dragon led them into a cave in the face of the mountain. The inside was lit by torches and another odd lighting system.

The Dragon stopped before another large gate, "This is the gate to the rest of the world. As I explained before, I will only allow you to go through this gate if you pass a test of character. However, if you do not pass, then there will be... dire consequences."

He felt the dragon tug at his mind some more, as if diving into his memories. It wandered off again, and everyone followed. In another part of the cave there was a table, looking extremely out of place. On the table were a hat, some paper, and a few pencils. Rex recognized it as a raffle.

"Please write your names on the pieces of paper and place them inside the hat. Afterwards, by decision of the hat, you will be put into groups of three," the dragon walked up to the table itself, the gem glowed, and the dragon's bone structure changed, it became bipedal. It wrote its name, and placed it in the hat.

Afterwards it stepped back, allowing the group to walk up to the table. Everyone got into line, Rex made sure to be at the end. It had been so long since he had used his last name, he couldn't remember it anymore. He dug a piece of paper out of his pocket; it was his own subject report, from when he was still in White Plateau. The name read Rex Thompson. He shoved the paper back into his pocket; unfortunately it also showed a picture of him without anything covering his face or fur. Finally he reached the table, he wrote the name on the paper down.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

After everyone was finished, they all watched the hat in interest, wondering just exactly what it would do. The dragon stood at the ready, as if something was about to burst forth. Suddenly, a sparkling silver flame came up out of the hat, and with it, a piece of paper. The dragon caught it tentatively, and cleared his throat to speak through his mouth for the first time.

"Nerezza Dellanotte." She was astonished to be picked first, but she stepped forwards anyway. She felt all eyes on her, studying her as she stood at attention towards the hat. It sparked its silver flame again, and she held her breath as the next name was called.

“Sheila Salem.” Another dark haired woman stepped forward. She looked very weak and timid, something that was generally scrutinized in society today. As such, Nerezza looked at her with pity, turning back towards the dragon as he caught the last name for their group. He smiled then, rows of his sharp teeth becoming apparent.

"Looks like you two are with me." A few disappointed noises came from the other people present, and Nerezza looked to be filled with glee at the thought that she was going to be grouped with the dragon.
"You can call me Orn." he said to the two of them more than the crowd. He turned back towards the hat as it spewed out more papers.

"Rex Thompson. Drake Morrison. Ashley Holmes." he called in succession, waiting for the group to get together. He quirked his eye ridge slightly at the fuzzy otter-like man, shrugging his shoulders as if this was a normal occurrence for him to see. Ashley appeared to be a larger woman with long blonde hair, perhaps once in the old days considered quite beautiful, but in their post-apocalyptic world she would be considered as a good meal.

"Iboni Bligh," he said, before continuing. "Ester Fanol. Don Nettle." Ester was the woman Iboni bumped into earlier, her demeanour generally unpleasant as green eyes peered out from red locks of hair. Don was an older man, with a gruff look about him like nothing could penetrate his barriers. From his attitude, one would suspect that he wasn't even afraid of the dragon at all.

The rest of the groups were sorted, leaving them with ten groups of people. Light suddenly shone above the cave entrances, drawing numbers over top of them. Orn gave out some sheets of paper, keeping one for himself. Then he spoke up again.

"On these pieces of paper is your objective for the test. You will all be finding something of interest, and there are plenty of things keeping you from your goal. Whoever completes their objective and survives will pass the test, regardless of how many group members you have left over."

He turned back to his group, and the others read their papers to figure out where they were going. On Rex and Drake's team, they had to go to the left in Cave #3 to find a sapphire medallion. Iboni and her group had to go through Cave #5 to the right to find an onyx medallion. No matter where anyone would be going, there was always the small little footnote.

Optional: Find weapons.

 

[Dark Soul]

(OOC: Our NPC's gonna die anyway, so we have to make her look mean and selfish, right?)

BIC:

Drake was sorted with Rex Thompson, a tall man who was wearing a trench-coat, a hat, a scarf and goggles. Drake wasn't sure why anyone would want to wear hot clothes like that in an already hot environment, but the man obviously had reason to; Nobody weared this for fun or to be intimidating.

The other teammate was Ashley Holmes. She was tall, even a tad higher than the man named Rex, and her hair was a shiny blonde, although it was dusty. She had a snobbish air around her, and she didn’t look very nice.

Their objective was to go left in cave three and find the sapphire medallion. It also said; ‘’optional: Find weapons.’’ Drake wasn’t sure what that meant at first, but figured out that there would be a weapon hidden somewhere. Well, he already had his revolver.

The groups departed, and the three of them went left in the third cave, as they had been ordered to. The air was damp here and it smelled like plant material. Drake had no idea what they were up to.

As they continued, Drake’s ears spotted something odd. A sound he had never heard before, as far as he knew, but it sounded vaguely like…The rushing of water.

The sound grew closer and closer, and eventually Drake understood that they were standing on a riverbank. Ever so carefully, he put his hand in the water. It was quite warm, but didn’t seem to rush very quickly. There was still one problem, though.

Drake turned to his fellow teammates. ‘Can you guys swim? I know I can, but…’


(OOC: You can auto Ashley about this, Rex.)

 

[Aura]

Iboni studied the hat curiously, wondering exactly what it would do. The dragon had said that the hat would choose the groups… but seriously, how did that work? Did it have a mouth or something? Like in a book her father had once told her about… Henry Potter? It didn’t matter.

Out of nowhere, a silver flame leapt forth from within the hat, taking a piece of paper with it. Why the paper hadn’t been charcoaled, Iboni didn’t know. The dragon humanoid elegantly caught it, then read out the name on it. A dark haired woman stepped forwards, seeming slightly shocked at being first. Another burst of silver flame and the next person was called, a more timid and shy woman stepping forwards. Silver fire again and the dragon studied the paper for a moment before smiling, revealing his sharp teeth.

“It looks like the two of you are with me.” He said kindly as a few groans came from the group, while the first woman to be called forwards looked delighted.

He then came up with another group off three, one of them being a man that Iboni recognised. He’d bought water off her father earlier today. The one in the heavy clothing she recognised too. He and her father had had quite a row against each other one day… She didn’t have a clue what they’d been arguing over though.

Then her name was called. Iboni blinked in shock as the dragon paused before reading out the rest of the names. She was with the woman whom she’d bumped into earlier – her name was Ester – an a sturdy looking older man named Don. Ester glanced at Iboni and sniffed again, as if she was something mildly disgusting that she’d trodden on. Don seemed to notice this look and glared at her, but she ignored him.

Lights glowed over the entrances to the tunnels, making numbers over the top. A piece of paper was passed from the dragon to Ester and she read it, her green eyes becoming hungry as she scanned the ink.

"On these pieces of paper is your objective for the test.” The dragon said to the group. “You will all be finding something of interest, and there are plenty of things keeping you from your goal. Whoever completes their objective and survives will pass the test, regardless of how many group members you have left over." He turned away to his group.

Don and Iboni went up to Ester and looked at the paper she was holding in her hands. It said that they were going though cave 5 and find an Onyx medallion. Finding Weapons were optional. All three of them looked at each other for a second before finding cave 5. They walked up to it and looked into the eerie gloom of the cave.

“Follow me.” Don said gruffly as he stepped forwards, into the darkness of the cave. Ester glanced at the dragons, before heading in too. Iboni brought up the rear, holding Felix in her arms. He hissed slightly at Ester. As the progressed though the dark, it slowly started to become hotter, pleasantly warm at first, but the temperature rose with every couple of steps they took until it felt like they were in a furnace.

“This is ridiculous!” Ester exclaimed at she wiped some sweat of her forehead. “What are they trying to do, roast us alive?”

As she said that, glowing red light appeared at the end of the tunnel. A few paces later, they found themselves in a large cavern, but having said that there was hardly any room to move at all, because they had to stand on this thin, narrow ledge that was surrounded on each side by magma. It was incredibly hot in the cave and rather scary because sometimes the magma would spurt upwards in beautiful but deadly displays of fire. The little ledge ran forwards into the centre of the room, where there appeared to be a wall of fire preventing them from seeing further.

“They are trying to kill us!” Ester exclaimed, her eyes angry.

“Well if that’s so,” Don said calmly. “Then we should go meet the being that should kill us. I’m sure that this is merely something to scare us.”

Ester retorted angrily and the two started arguing with each other. As they did, Iboni slinked around them until she furthest from the cave which they’d come through.

“They’re not going to help us one bit if they’re going to argue the whole time.” She said quietly to Felix. “We might as well see what’s ahead.”

She started moving along the path, eyes warily darting to the magma on either side of her. Then out of nowhere, the path underneath her crumbled away into nothing. Iboni screamed as she fell, fearing that this was it. The end. As soon as her body came in contact with the magma however, it glowed white allowing Iboni to fall thorough the magma unharmed. She landed on the ground underneath and looked up, the magma suspended high above her. Faint cries came from above, shouting her name.

“I’m okay!” She yelled back. “It seems that you can fall right through the magma without getting hurt!”

The voices went quiet for a moment, before someone yelled angrily. A hand then appeared in the magma above, glowing white before disappearing. A few murmurs, then Don fell through the magma, body glowing. Ester was a couple of seconds later. She pointed on finger accusingly at Iboni.

“The Medallion better not have been on the other side of the wall of fire.” She threatened. “If it was, then I’ll wring your neck you little-“ Whatever Ester was going to say was cut off as Don put a finger to his lips.

“Quiet.” He breathed. “I hear something.”

 

[Rex]

OoC: You auto her, I can't right now...

BiC: He was paired with a man named Drake, and a woman named Ashley. Ashley was a tall and slightly overweight person, he envied her. Where in god's name did she find the food necessary for that weight, and why didn't she share it!? It didn't matter now, though, if was time for them to get moving. He followed the two through the cave, eventually coming across a river of sorts. He hadn't seen one of those in years! Apparently they had to cross it, oh joy.

"I can swim fine," he answered.

 

[Dark Soul]

'I can swim just fine.' The heavily clad man named Rex said. That only left Ashley.

The tall woman shrugged. 'I'm not a great swimmer, no.' Drake couldn't blame her. The city the three of them had been living in was a coastal city. Although the seawater was absolutely not drinkable, a lot of townspeople would try to cool off in the slightly colder ocean. Drake used it primarely for washing himself and his clothes without spilling drinking water. Not all people were good swimmers, though.

'Well, we'll need to get across somehow.' Drake said. He scratched his chin, then picked up a small rock from the cave floor and threw it accros the river while counting. He heard it scrape on rock at the other side. He picked up another rock and threw it slightly softer; he heard it hit the water.

With this data, he calculated the distance, aka the width of the river. 'The river's about ten metres wide- thirty feet, if you want.' Having European ancestors, Drake prefered the metric system. 'I have a rope of about twelve metres. If I go first and throw the rope back, Rex, you can hold the other end and Ashley can swim to the other side while holding the rope. How's that?' He asked his teammates.

Ashley bit her lip. 'Well, I'm going to get wet anyway if I want to cross this river, so why not.' Drake nodded and turned to Rex. 'And you?'

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

What Don heard was the sounds of a beautiful song ringing through the air, the melody beautiful enough to touch even the heart of this big, burly man as a tear or two flowed down his face. Streaks of fire came into sight and started circling around, coming lower as they spiraled to reveal that it wasn't just fire. The forms of of multicolored birds seemingly made of fire were circling lower to a spot in front of them, at which a figure was laying.

It seems to be a man of sorts, except instead of skin it looked like he was made of stone, the only indication of him being sentient being glowing red lines that pulsed when he breathed. It was reminiscent of a volcano, except this one seemed to be dying out as the pulses happened at longer intervals. The phoenixes seemed to stay circling above the man, as if waiting for something to happen.

"I think that he's hurt," said Don. "The fire-bird-things must be waiting for him to die or something, but I think we should try to help."

"What's the point in that?" said Ester vehemently. "That thing on the ground is dying, and the fire-birds are just here to feed."

"He still needs help," replied Don gruffly. "Did you think that perhaps this is our test? He seems to be made of fire, so perhaps there's a way we can re-spark his flame."

"Well, the fire-birds certainly aren't going to help us," said Ester. "What's a good way to help a fire grow?"

---

The ripples on the surface of the water after Drake threw a rock into it never seemed to stop. In fact, if one were paying close enough attention, one would say the ripples were getting bigger. Suddenly, the river looked to be growing waves and bubbles started coming to the surface as a figure began to rise from the depths. First, it seemed to be a large boulder, but when it emerged more it appeared to be a long dark body. Down the line a little bit a large head rose up from the surface and lifted itself to look over the water, it's large yellow eyes coming to look at the group below the creature.

A slight quirk of its head showed that it was curious about the humans, as if it was wondering what to do with them. It wasn't long before the sea serpent lifted its tail from the water and curled it around in such a way that it served as a sort of a bridge over the waters. However the head was still looking at each human curiously, as if trying to decide something for itself.

The head of the serpent nodded at Drake and pointed to the tail afterwards, as if telling him to move across. The same went for Rex, a general look of acceptance passing through the serpent's expression. When it came to Ashley, it seemed to take longer for it to decide something, a studious look coming over it's face. Then it lunged forth, knocking the girl to the ground and pinning her there. A shriek came from her as the giant maw of the beast opened to reveal several rows of sharp teeth, a sound like from a whale coming from it. In this sound, words seemed to whisper through the air, fluid and loud like the rushing of the river before them.

You were planning to kill again, said the voice, Even though you are meant to be at peace. These men have tried to help you, and in return you seek to betray them. Killers deserve only the fate they bring upon others so that none other can perish by their hands. With that said, the beast brought down it's maw and devoured Ashley whole before another word was said. Afterwards the voice came again, this time more calm, like the gentle whisper of the tide.

Although she would be considered as a good meal on your world, it said, you harbored no thoughts of killing again. This is why I will let you cross the river on my tail, and why she had to perish. She was planning to betray you with the knife she carried as you crossed the river, hoping to pass the test by doing so. One will find that in these tests, it is not only reaching your goal, but how you go about it that causes you to succeed.

With all of that out of the way, the beast fell silent and watched the two men carefully, as if waiting for their reaction.

 

[Dark Soul]

Before Rex could answer, Drake heard a splashing sound behind him and turned around swiftly. The water seemed to boil and waves appeared in the formerly calm stream, as a silhouette came out of the water. It looked like a large round rock at first, but as it kept rising, it appeared to be a head. As the body of the creature also rose from the river, only one word struck Drake's mind; Golem. This creature was a serpent golem of sorts, like a snake made out of rock. Drake suddenly remembered a name for it; Onix, a giant snake consisting only out of boulders from an old adventure story... PomeKon?

The serpent's eyes were large and yellow of colour. It's tail rose from the water and formed a stone bridge accros the water. Maybe this was a test- Trust the serpent and cross the bridge, or fight the serpent and swim? But how did you defeat a stone-clad snake? Hit the eyes, maybe?

The serpent turned his head to face Drake. Drake was truly terrified now; If the snake would decide that he was a good meal right now, he wouldn't stand a chance. But after what seemed like ages, the snake withdrew and nudged towards the rest of his body that formed the bridge. He then turned to Rex and did the same thing. Finally, the serpent turned to face Ashley. It took longer for the serpent to react, and when it did, it wasn't just a nudge, but the serpent lunged forward and knocked her to the ground. Drake yelled and in a reflex, he pulled his Colt and fired it at the snake's head. Immediately, he knew this had been a grave mistake, but the bullet scraped off the rock hull without leaving any damage and the snake didn't even notice it.

The serpent opened his maw, showing several rows of sharp teeth, and Ashley screamed. Drake was about to fire again, aiming at the serpent's eye, but then the snake started speaking.

'You were planning to kill again.' The serpent said. 'Even though you are meant to be at peace. These men have tried to help you, and in return you seek to betray them. Killers deserve only the fate they bring upon others so that none other can perish by their hands.' And in a flash, the serpent brought his mouth down to the woman and gulped her in a single piece. She didn't even have time to scream.

Drake felt sick and confused. Ashley wanted to kill them? But what if that was just a trick to devour them too?

The serpent spoke again, calmer this time.
'Although she would be considered as a good meal on your world, it said, you harbored no thoughts of killing again. This is why I will let you cross the river on my tail, and why she had to perish. She was planning to betray you with the knife she carried as you crossed the river, hoping to pass the test by doing so. One will find that in these tests, it is not only reaching your goal, but how you go about it that causes you to succeed.'

Drake turned to Rex. 'I'm not sure, Rex. Trusting him might be our only chance of crossing the river safely, but what if it's just another trick? What if the serpent needs to be killed in order to continue our challenge?'

 

[Rex]

The woman couldn't swim, but Drake had an idea. He had a rope, he and Rex would hold either end while Ashley swam across hold onto it. It sounded like a good idea, but before he could answer, there was a splash from the river. The whole thing seemed to start to boil, while a figure rose, taking the shape of a giant sea serpent, with a rock-like hide. Rex's hand immediately dove into his jacket pocket, clenching the Browning Hi-Power inside. If the monster attacked, he would have no choice but to shoot at it, though only it's yellow eyes, tiny in comparison to the rest of the body, would be any logical weak point, if the hide was as tough as it looked.

However, the creature didn't seem to have any intention of attacking them. It looked at them for a few moments, before curling its tail around, forming a bridge of sorts across the water. But still it stared at them, with a quizzical look on its face. It nodded at Drake, then motioned to its tail, as if giving permission for the boy to cross. Then it looked at Rex, after a moment, it again nodded and motioned to its tail, which hopefully meant it was safe for him to cross as well. Then it looked towards Ashley, taking longer then it had for either of the males. Then it lunched, knocking the woman to the ground. Rex finally drew his Browning and pointed it at the creature, leaping back to keep out of reach if it decided to attack.

There was the sound of gunfire, making the Otter Halfer jump a bit. He hadn't fired a shot, he wasn't even sure if he had turned off the safety in his haste to draw the handgun. However, the creature didn't seem to acknowledge the sound, instead opening its jaws as the woman shrieked. The monster started speaking, which didn't surprise Rex as much as it would have if he had seen it on Earth. The voice accused Ashley of planning to betray and kill them, then ate her. Judge, Jury, and Executioner, all in one. It then explained its actions, still saying that they could cross. Drake wasn't sure though, not knowing if it was a trick or not, and wondering if they had to kill it to pass.

"Kill it how? It's a living boulder, for Christ's sake!" Rex frowned, "If it hasn't killed us already then I doubt it will, I say we keep going. Still, I'll go first, just in case. I guess you know to run if it does eat me."

The Otter Halfer walked around the creature's head, and carefully climbed onto its tail. He was scared that the monster would indeed eat him, but it was either trust it and cross, or attack it. Either way, the creature could and probably would kill them if it wanted. Somehow, he made it across without any trouble. Rex leaned against the wall of the cave, and sighed. That was a bit more scary then he thought it would have been! Still he had made it, and now it was Drake's turn. And at least he didn't have to swim across, then he most likely would have ended up revealing his true form, and he didn't want to risk Drake flipping out. Still, he had the sinking feeling that he would indeed be forced to show himself before this was over.

 

[Aura]

A beautiful song filled the air, filling Iboni with awe and joy from head to toe. She just stood there, listening it the song of these creatures which appeared to be circling around in the air. The were like birds, but unlike any she’d ever seen before. They appeared to be made out of fire, and were majestic and graceful enough to rival the dragons. Don shed a tear at their song. Ester’s jaw just dropped and she stared at the birds as if she could listen to them forever. To be honest, so could Iboni.

The firebirds – Pheonix’s, Iboni thought they were called – were circling above a figure who was laying on the ground, appearing to be dead or unconscious at best. It appeared to be man, but one who was made of stone, fiery red lines appearing on his body when he inhaled softly. It reminded Iboni of a volcano. The Pheonix’s didn’t dive down to attack him or anything, they just remained circling him in the sky, as if waiting for something to happen.

Don and Ester discussed what they should do. Don was for helping him, Ester was for just leaving him. Don then convinced her to stay and help him and she figured that they would have to respark his flame.

Iboni paused, thinking back to when she’d made fire before. First, you gathered tinder, then small sticks and larger ones, then logs. You made a kind of tee pee with them using the sticks and tinder, then set it alight. You added the logs when the fire was definitely going. You couldn’t use wet tinder or wood, and it wasn’t best to use green wood either. To keep the fire going, you had to make sure it’s source of fuel and oxygen wasn’t smothered or taken away. So you kept on adding wood for the fuel, and made sure there was enough air. You only get that sort of problem in an enclosed space. If the fire looked like it was going out, then you could blow on it gently. If you did it right, then it could respond to the oxygen your body hadn’t used and was left in your breath. If you didn’t do it right, then the fire could go out. Another way to get them going was by putting a flammable substance on the fire, like gasoline. But that was dangerous. The fire responds to the vapours, not the liquid and the vapours can float all around you and when they come in contact with the fire, it would explode. So not a good idea.

“If you wish to fuel a fire…” Iboni said slowly. “You need the fuel for the fire and oxygen to keep it going right? So if this man behaves like a fire, then he must be missing one of those two things.”

Don nodded thoughfully. “Fuel or oxygen… but if your theory is correct, then which one would be missing? I don’t think it would be oxygen, because we can breathe perfectly down here. So that means there’s a lack of fuel.”

“Well in that case we should find a flammable material.” Ester declared. “Back on earth, I’d always get something flammable to use to keep a fire going.”

Iboni shook her head. “That would be dangerous – it normally explodes. And besides, this is a living creature too. If the fire exploded because of the flammable substance, then it could hurt him.” Iboni said, gesturing to the man.

Don looked around, then frowned. “There’s nothing around here that I can see that you could use for a fuel source.”

Both Ester and Iboni looked around, seeing that he was right. “Well now what do we do to get his fire going?!” Ester exclaimed.

Iboni studied the man for a moment, then the birds. “Perhaps we should see if the problem is oxygen or fuel first before we panic.” With that, she slowly and cautiously walked forwards towards the man, watching the phoenix’s should they decide to attack.

 

[Dark Soul]

(OOC: I'll take the last sentence of your post as a hint, Rex)

BIC:

Drake knew Rex was right. It would be almost impossible to hit the monster's eyes, which were probably it's weak point. And if they did hit an eye, the creature would probably go on a rampage like a wounded animal would.

Rex decided to go first, just in case. Drake watched nervously as the heavily clad man climbed onto the serpent's head, and continued over it's body towards the river bank. Slowly but balanced, Rex continued and eventually reached the other side of the river safely. It was Drake's turn.

Drake climbed onto the serpent's head, ever so alert. He tried keeping his balance as good as possible, inching his way accros the rock hull of the serpent. This had to be one of the scariest things he had ever done in his life, but it went rather well; he had almost reached the other side.

Suddenly, the serpent dived underwater, clearly thinking that by the time his entire body was submerged, Drake would've made it to the river bank. Actually, he would've normally, but the gurging sound made Drake freeze on the spot. He was standing frozen for a good second, when he suddenly remembered the danger of the river and jumped to the other side of the river, Rex's way.

He made it. Or at least he thought he did; His feet were both planted firmly on the ground, but he lost balance and fell back, into the water.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

The sea serpent simply laid down and accepted what they were saying without much distress. He understood why the humans would be suspicious of him, but he did what he did because the girl had wanted to kill them for selfish reasons. One should only kill to defend or protect, he thought to himself, as he silently waited for the humans to cross. He jumped a bit early for the other boy, but paid no mind to the splash that came after him as the boy fell into the river by accident, the depths of the water beneath seemingly endless as the large beast made his way down.

However from the depths of the water, a singing voice was heard, and a girl with green hair and a fish tail was swimming along, twirling in the water and stopping her song as she noticed the human boy sinking. The mermaid turned back to a straight position so she could swim over to the boy, concerned for his well being. She took him into her arms, being sure to mind the seashell necklace she wore so he wouldn't get hurt by it's jagged edges as she swam to the surface with him.

She plopped him onto the side of the river that Rex was on, looking to the other boy suspiciously as she plopped Drake onto the grass below. She didn't seem to want to speak in their presence just yet, her watery-blue eyes peering at Drake with concern.

---

The phoenixes continued circling the body, dissuading the theories that they were here to feed. As Iboni got closer to the body of the fire-man, the song of the fire-birds seemed to be turning to one of sorrow as the man's life signs appeared to be fading further by the moments he was laying there. When Iboni got close to him, what appeared to be his eyes opened, the fire red orbs peering out at her, the sparkling like gems seeming to fade out from the as well.

The fire elemental looked to be healthy for someone of his stature,so fuel was not the issue. He appeared to be struggling to get enough oxygen, even if the humans could breathe fine and the phoenixes were flying above without trouble. Then he lifted his hand from his chest, revealing small rivers of magma colored blood flowing from a large wound in his chest. He seemed to look at the phoenixes longingly, but also shifted his eyes to his side. there appeared to be pieces of rock laying around him from when he had taken the blow, so it could be possible to repair him a little bit.

The most important thing right now that he seemed to need was air. He reached out and gently touched Iboni's face, showing that he was merely warm to the touch right now and it wouldn't hurt her if she tried to help him in some way.

 

[Rex]

When Drake was half way across, the serpent dived, and while he was able to make it to the bank, he immediately fell back into the water. Rex ran to the bank, ready to jump in after him, when he surfaced again, being carried by what appeared to be a woman. She had green hair, and when he got a closer look, a fish tail. She was a Mermaid. The Otter Halfer rushed over to the boy when the Mermaid laid him on the shore, and knelled over him.

"What the hell happened?" he asked no one in particular, "You alright kid?"

 

[Dark Soul]

The last thing Drake saw before he was completely submerged, was Rex running to the water. But the arms that grabbed him seconds after he had fell down didn't belong to the man- the arms were naked and slender, as if from a female. He was dragged to the surface and laid down on the river shore. He heard Rex saying, 'You alright, kid?'

Drake spit out some water and coughed. 'Yeah, I'm fine. But what the hell...' He looked around and saw the girl that had saved him. But, as Drake realized in shock, it wasn't just a girl. She didn't have any legs, just a large scaled tail. A mermaid! This place was just getting weirder and weirder!

'Ehm, thanks for saving me.' Drake said, getting the hair out of his eyes.

 

[Aura]

(Sorry everyone. I've had a very limited computer time lately.)

Up in the air, the phoenixes continued to circle, doing nothing at all. Their song seemed to be changing to one of sorrow Iboni walked closer to the creature. As she did, his life force seemed to fade even more, making Iboni panic slightly as she stopped beside him. What would happen if he did die? While Iboni had seen many a person die before, somehow if this creature died… it just wouldn’t sit right with her. As she stopped, his ‘eyes’ opened, revealing them to be burning red orbs, like fire. But they too seemed to flicker in and out of life.

Despite the fact that he seemed to be dying, he appeared to be healthy save for his breath, with was while quiet, gasping. So he must be needing air. As Iboni came to that conclusion, he lifted one hand from his chest, showing Iboni what ailed him. It was a large wound, with lava of a dark crimson colour flowing out of it. His eyes flicked around the chamber for a moment, first to the phoenixes, then to a bunch of pieces of rock that appeared to belong to him. He reached out as if to touch Iboni and she automatically flinched, expecting it to burn her. But to her surprise, it was only warn. This pleased her but also saddened her: she was happy because he wouldn’t burn her, sad because this had to be a sign of him dying.

Behind her, Iboni heard footsteps. She turned her head, seeing that it was Don, his face sympathetic. Ester was hanging back a little, seeming worried about the phoenixes high up.

“Those pieces of him…” Don said slowly. “Should we put them back in him first, then see if we can put him in the magma? That should probably help him the most.”

“Yes it might, but how are we going to get him there?” Ester demanded, finally getting curious enough to come close.

Don opened his mouth to say something when Iboni interrupted. “I think he needs oxygen.”

Both adults stared at her. In the silence, they heard his laboured breathing, his gasping for air.

“I think she’s right you know.” Don said quietly to Ester who sighed and sat down next to the creature. “If we blow on him very gently, then we should be able to produce a bit more of a spark.” Don continued, sitting down himself.

Iboni crouched down and all three of the humans gently blew on the creature, silently praying that it would help it, at least for long enough for them to come up with another way to try and help him out.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

The mermaid saw that Rex was concerned for Drake's well being as well, so she warmed up to him slightly with a smile. When Drake turned to her and thanked her she became bashful, reaching up to twirl her fingers through her green locks of hair as she blushed. She seemed to come up with an idea as she reached into the water for something. Up came her hands again, this time closed as if each one held something and she wanted it to be somewhat of a surprise.

One hand opened to reveal two sea shells, looking like a bivalve that had been separated in two so each of them could have one. The shells floated up from her hand and with a glittery magic show settled themselves into the boys pockets, as a memento to remember her by. Then she looked somewhat sad as she hesitantly opened her other hand. Inside that one was the sapphire amulet they had been searching for all this time, which promptly floated out of her hand and glowed.

The amulet shattered and three blue lights shot forward, one dissipating straight away as if signifying the loss of Ashley's life. The other two crashed into each boy's chest, and they were promptly teleported back to the room with the portal in it. They had passed the test.

((OOC: How Orn greets you will happen at the end of this post.))

---

The oxygen from each of the human's breaths seemed to give a bright pulse through the fire-man's veins, causing him to gasp less. When he reached for the rubble, Don got up and brought it over to him, carefully placing the rocks in the chest wound and breathing around the edges. His plan seemed to work, as the wound solidified and the veins started brightening and his eyes were literally set ablaze. The fire elemental got up and stood some distance from the group before his whole body shot up in flames.

A spark seemed to shoot out from his body, out of which came a necklace with a black center. The onyx amulet that they had been searching for flew into the center of the group and stopped in midair, glowing so brightly it broke into pieces. Three black lights shot into each of the group members chests and they came back into the room with supposedly no losses.

Ester collapses suddenly, her breaths labored and quick as if she was being suffocated. A deathly shriek came from her as black light seemed to fill her veins and overtake her body, surrounding and encompassing her until she began to melt into nothingness. The black light flew up from her body again and crashed into a nearby stone that had been erected in their absence, writing Ester's name on it to commemorate her death.

"It's a shame when some of our group members die," came the voice of Orn, "But the planet has chosen which of you are fit to survive the test. The true meaning of it is to be good of heart and willing to help others by any means. The ones who have died were much too selfish, and cared for no one but themselves in the end." He looked somewhat grim, as did Nerezza who seemed to float beside him with an ethereal, white glow. It didn't take long for them to guess what had happened, seeing as 'Sheila Salem' was written on the tombstone as well.

"Now, I believe you are all wondering what sort of effect the energy of the planet took on you, so I urge you to look within yourself and focus on your new power. The reason we give you this power beforehand is because if we do not, the moment you step foot inside the air of the planet you will undergo a similar change, except far more grueling and painful than this one. The test was made so none had to go through a test of character on the actual planet, thus no pain should come to you as long as you use your new power for good."

With that said, he turned his head to watch Nerezza as she floated throughout the room aimlessly, a sort of a longing look in his eyes as they shimmered with their inner silvery fire.

 

[Dark Soul]

(OOC: Yay, no scar on my cheek!)

The mermaid girl didn't answer, but smiled and her cheeks turned red as she nervously twirled her hair around her fingers. Her facial expression turned a little doubtful, but then she put her hands back in the water.

When they came up again, both were closed. The first hand opened, revealing a two shells joined together. They parted, and one flew into Drake’s pocket while the other one flew into Rex’s, purely on their own. Drake knew immediately they had to be magic. Her other hand revealed a sapphire amulet, quite beautiful, but suddenly it broke into three pieces.

One of the pieces vanished, while the others flew towards Rex and Drake like the shells. But instead of flying into his pocket, the sapphire piece was aimed at his chest. Before he could do anything, it disappeared into his torso, but it didn’t harm him. In a flash, they were suddenly standing in the starting room, the one with the portal.

The green dragon spoke.

‘Now, I believe you are all wondering what sort of effect the energy of the planet took on you, so I urge you to look within yourself and focus on your new power.’ He said. ‘The reason we give you this power beforehand is because if we do not, the moment you step foot inside the air of the planet you will undergo a similar change, except far more grueling and painful than this one. The test was made so none had to go through a test of character on the actual planet, thus no pain should come to you as long as you use your new power for good.’

Drake wasn’t very good at self-analysis, but he decided to give it a try. He closed his eyes and focused on himself, his pains, his personality. Suddenly, he felt something stir in his chest. A voice appeared in his mind.

You, no matter how mature you are for your age, are a child. For fourteen years, you have struggled to survive, constantly searching for more power. Because even though you have used violence towards others, your soul and heart have remained pure, this power has been granted to you; The most violent side of nature.

Drake felt dazed. What the hell had that been? The violent side of nature… Nature was violent! Tsunami’s, heatwaves, earthquakes, storms- Storms! Drake suddenly knew the answer.

He turned towards one of the walls in the cave and raised his palms. He felt energy build up in his chest, and he let it go. Bright streaks of energy, lightning more specifically, shot from his hands, scorching the cave walls.

 

[Aura]

What they were doing seemed to be working, every long breath that they took gave the creature a bright pulse through his veins, making his breathing ease. Eventually, he reached towards the rocks and Don got up to get them while Ester and Iboni continued to blow. While this was going on, Ester’s eyes kept on flicking around, as if she was looking for something. Don returned the rubble to the creature, which had the greatest effect on the creature, making the wound become solid, his veins and his eyes brightening until they became miniature fires in their own right. The creature slowly rose and look a few steps back before his entire body became consumed in flames.

Out of those flames, a spark shot out into the cavern they were within. The spark seemed to be coming from a medallion that was centred with a huge black Onyx. This, Iboni was sure, was what they were looking for. It hovered in front of all three of them for a second, before shattering into dust. Iboni gasped in shock and picked Felix up from off the ground, her body filling with despair as she did so. Without the Medallion, how could they pass the test?

It seems that Iboni shouldn’t have bothered worrying, because the light that the medallion had been giving off spit into three, one flying into the chest of each person in the group. Then, like magic they appeared in the room that they had started in.

Out of the corner of her eye, Iboni saw Ester collapse.

“Ester!” She shouted, making a mad dash to try and catch her before she fell. Iboni didn’t make it, and couldn’t have caught Ester anyway, seeing as she was holding Felix. Instead, Don caught her before she hit the ground. She was panting, as if unable to get enough air into her body. Then all of a sudden, she let out a scream that chilled Iboni to the bone, her veins glowing black, just like the medallion had. The light surrounded her, and she started to melt away into nothingness. Iboni’s heart thumped in her chest, and she begun to feel slightly sick. Sure, she’d seen people die before but never anything like this. She’d preferred to sniper her prey – that way, they didn’t have to know their breaths were numbered.

The black light then shot out of what had once been a living, breathing creature, into a stone that had been erected. It was a tombstone. The black light wrote her name on it, before disappearing completely as Ester’s body did as well.

"It's a shame when some of our group members die.” A voice said. Iboni looked up, seeing the Green dragon addressing them. "But the planet has chosen which of you are fit to survive the test. The true meaning of it is to be good of heart and willing to help others by any means. The ones who have died were much too selfish, and cared for no one but themselves in the end." He seemed sort of grim somehow. Iboni’s eyes wandered around the room and found another tombstone, this one with the words 'Sheila Salem’ engraved on it.

Don simply put his hand on Iboni’s shoulder, seeing that she was distressed.

"Now, I believe you are all wondering what sort of effect the energy of the planet took on you,” The dragon began again. “So I urge you to look within yourself and focus on your new power. The reason we give you this power beforehand is because if we do not, the moment you step foot inside the air of the planet you will undergo a similar change, except far more gruelling and painful than this one. The test was made so none had to go through a test of character on the actual planet, thus no pain should come to you as long as you use your new power for good."

“Powers?” Iboni muttered to herself. “The medallion gave us powers?” The dragon didn’t appear to take any notice of her, just watching Nerezza flying around the room in a silver glow.

Don took a couple of steps away, then sat down and shut his eyes, clearly focusing. Iboni followed suit, trying to clear her mind as if she were meditating.

It was dark… very dark… Dark enough to make the night seem bright in comparison. Then out of nowhere was a mirror. Iboni saw herself in it’s reflection. Dark eyes, tanned skin, flaming red hair, but so thin she looked to be starving and her body seemed to be permanently tensed. Then, her reflection changed, wavering in the darkness. She became Ester, who looked back in terror. Ester screamed, then her body started to melt, black light coursing through her veins…

Iboni opened her eyes with a jolt of shock. Felix looked up at her with his huge green eyes, then curled up in her lap, purring. Felix’s calm calmed Iboni.

“I can do this…” she whispered to herself before shutting her eyes again.

Darkness. Infinite darkness. And the mirror again. Before Iboni could stop herself, she looked into it, seeing herself again. Then, her image began to waver, but instead of turning into Ester, it changed into another girl, who was tall, elegant and slim, with pale, almost pure white skin and blue eyes. Her hair was light brown and wavy, making it’s way almost to her feet. She had wings too, wings that seemed to be made out of light itself. The lights rippled and changed colour, reminding Iboni of the Northern Lights. Or what she’d heard of them in stories anyway. She was clothed in the same angelic material. The angel studied her for a moment, before reaching out, as if to touch Iboni. Her hand came out through the mirror and touched her forehead. Both Iboni and the Angel started to glow as the Angel spoke.

“Your life so far has nearly crushed you. You’ve always been pressured to kill others of your kind to survive, while you believed it wrong, remembering the old saying ‘Wolves don’t kill other Wolves’. Now, let other feel what had crushed you throughout your life. Let them feel the pressure you have. For this is our gift. Let it free you.

Iboni’s eyes snapped open in shock. An angel? What in the world…?

“Iboni.” Don said from beside her. “You should try out what your power is. What I did was well… I just did it instictivly.”

Don held out his arm to show Iboni. He focused for a moment, then his arm shone, becoming a kind of metal. It then rearranged itself to become a blade, then a spear, then a shovel. It then turned back to normal.

“You try.” He said.

Iboni just let her body do the thinking, keeping the angel and her words in her mind. She picked up a small stone on the ground and held it up in front of her eyes. Her eyes turned into a bottle green, then slowly changed a dark blue, then finally dark purple. As this happened, the gravity on the stone seemed to lessen, until it defied gravity altogether, floating above her hand. Iboni’s eye colour started changing again, going to dark green, to dark yellow, to dark orange and finally a blood red. While this happened, gravity took a hold on the rock again bringing it down into Iboni’s hand. But the gravity kept on increasing until it was too much for Iboni to hold onto the stone. It dropped to the ground, and no matter how much Iboni tried, she couldn’t lift it up again. Neither could Don. Her eyes then went normal again and the change in gravity on the rock disappeared.

As if to finish it off though, her eyes turned green again, but this time a light, grassy green. Once again, they went through the colder colours of the spectrum, only this time being light colours instead of dark. The pressure on the rock diminished considerably. Eye colour changed again, this time going through the hot colours. This time, the rock seemed to shudder for a moment, before being crushed into nothingness. The light faded from Iboni’s eyes, and she looked at Don in shock.

“Gravity and pressure?”

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

((OOC: After a long haitus and permission from baratron, I have decided to revive this RP.))

BIC:

Rex soon found his body overtaken by energy as well, but it was a different sort of energy than before. The seashell that he had acquired from the mermaid glowed in a shimmering light, which seemed to eventually encompass him. With that energy he transformed to his true self, and in that moment vanished. The mermaid back in that area looked up to see something appearing before her eyes, and in that moment smiled her beautiful smile for the new friend she had acquired.

"The tests are finished," said Orn to the rest of the group. "I call attention to the rightful survivors." Out of all the people who had returned, there was one group who hadn't, some who had returned alone, and other groups who were only missing one member. From what it looked like, no group had returned in full, so at least ten people were dead. He stepped towards the portal and turned back to them, a meaningful look in his eyes.

"Now, this world isn't all perfect," he said to them, "There is still crime, forms of currency, ways to earn your keep. However you'll find we tend to keep our focus away from weaponry and instead tend to the needs of others, a better way to keep the peace among my people and yours. You will find other humans there, different from you. You may even find parts of yourself you didn't know were there before."

He turned towards the silver door and touched it, his silvery scales glowing white again. The white energy seemed to be leaving his person and siphoning itself into the portal, white lines etching their way around the edge. Finally, when all of the white had left Orn's body, the light etched itself into strange looking symbols. The door slid open, seemingly revealing nothing but rock wall behind it. However, inside it looked to be wavering, distorting the air inside of it, shifting space like a pliable toy. Orn stepped towards it, and as he stepped through, he disappeared through the transparent veil.

"Are you going to come in or not?" he asked, as he peeked his head back out afterwards, looking like a weird, disembodied head. Some of the others looked at each other questioningly, but after a few moments they all followed Orn into the veil. They felt like it was a smooth caress, a sort of a tingling sensation as they stepped through.

They came out in the midst of other portals much like these, and a lot of them too. Further up towards what looked to be an elevator, more of the portals seemed to be being used, by strange creatures of all sorts. Human-looking people with pointed ears, more dragon-people like Orn, people with strange hair colors that looked all too natural on them.

"These portals were made by a race of super-intelligent machines that we call the Androids," Orn explained. "We've been exploring them for a long time now, gathering data on each as we go. When we found the state of your world was abysmal, well, we sent out a rescue party." He smiled his fanged smile again, and seemed to be waiting for something.

As the portal closed behind the last of the humans stepping through, another dragon-person like Orn stepped towards them. This one was red in color, looking to be of the female variant judging by her figure. She bowed to Orn, which was showing him a great respect, before looking towards all of them with her glowing red eyes.

"Thessse are the humansss?" she hissed slightly, as if unfamiliar with the English language. "Welcome to our home, little onesss. I trussst our king hasss treated you well?" She raised her eye ridge much like one would raise an eyebrow, questioning towards them. The statement seemed strange, as they had no inclination of a king in their midst.

Then a mutual understanding seemed to pass over them, along with realization. Orn was these people's king, which ultimately meant he was the one to approve their rescue. Some of the group looked to their feet in shame for doubting the dragon, others whispered about having to follow him now that they were on his world.

"Forgive me, little onesss," she amended. "You may call me Ssscarlet, if you wisssh."

 

[Aura]

Once her eyes had turned back to their normal dark green, another light filled the room. Iboni and Don spun on the spot to find themselves looking at a young man, whom was glowing. At first, Iboni thought he too must be somebody selfish, but after a moment, she noticed that it wasn’t the same as when Ester had died. It was more beautiful and calm, not deadly like the other light had felt. Then, he turned into this otter like humanoid, before disappearing. Iboni blinked in alarm, and Felix hissed. She wondered where he’d disappeared to.

"The tests are finished," The green dragon called to them. "I call attention to the rightful survivors."

Iboni picked up Felix once again, and held him close to her. It seemed to her that they were going to go soon. Of their original number, around a third of them appeared to have died. It is disheartening to see so many dead.

Orn looked at them, huge meaning filling his eyes. "Now, this world isn't all perfect," he told them. "There is still crime, forms of currency, ways to earn your keep. However you'll find we tend to keep our focus away from weaponry and instead tend to the needs of others, a better way to keep the peace among my people and yours. You will find other humans there, different from you. You may even find parts of yourself you didn't know were there before."

He turned to face the silver door behind him, and touched it. As he did, his scales took a silverly sheen again. Magic seemed to hum in the air. The light Orn gave off seemed to be going into the door itself. They seemed to be making strange symbols on the door. Once Orn was no longer glowing, and the door was brighter than ever, it slid open, revealing a rock wall… That was very, very odd. That and the fact that it seemed… to be wavering. Orn confirmed Iboni’s suspicion by walking into the wall and disappearing. It rippled around the dragon as he moved in.

While she had guessed that was what it was, she was still a bit shocked that she’d actually been right about it. Everyone else seemed to be just as shocked as she was, because they all just stood there like idiots until Orn’s head appeared again.

"Are you going to come in or not?" It asked.

There was a moments silence between the humans, then they started heading towards the door and stepped through the veil or whatever it was. It tingled slightly and Iboni went through.

On the other side, there were more silver doorways to other places. Hundreds of them. She blinked in shock. Up further, there was an elevator of sorts. Strange people moved around them. Half animal people, people who moved so gracefully that every movement was like dancing, people with hair so vibrantly coloured blue, green and pink, that it seemed natural to them. Iboni shifted uneasily.

"These portals were made by a race of super-intelligent machines that we call the Androids," Orn said, smiling a fanged smile. "We've been exploring them for a long time now, gathering data on each as we go. When we found the state of your world was abysmal, well, we sent out a rescue party."

Iboni glanced at the portals. So, they must lead to other worlds… she had a sudden desire to run up to the closest one and look within it, to see what kind of world it contained.

Another dragon had come up to their small group while Iboni had been studying the portals. It was a deep ruby red in colour, and more slender looking than Orn, with lead Iboni to believe that it was actually a she. She bowed low to Orn, her bright red eyes glowing.

"Thessse are the humansss?" She hissed (Orn seemed to have a better knack at speaking English). "Welcome to our home, little onesss. I trussst our king hasss treated you well?"

King? You could practically hear the question click through every persons brain gathered. Then, a wave of understanding passed through them. Orn must be the king. Iboni shifted slightly. If that was true, then she owed the dragon a lot more that she’d first thought.

“King?” Don breathed behind her. “Didn’t see that one coming.”

The red dragon seemed to have realised that they had made them restless, for she said: "Forgive me, little onesss. You may call me Ssscarlet, if you wisssh."

Iboni looked up at Scarlet, feeling very humbled by the huge, magnificent creatures standing above her. She simply nodded to Scarlet and waited. She didn’t really feel like singling herself out of the crowd to these creatures just yet.