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Crack!
Jul 30, 2013 23:18:35 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 30, 2013 23:18:35 GMT -5
Robet was only vaguely aware of what the not-dragon and Roger were saying. Lost in his own private world of misery as he looked over his destroyed home. "I would be grateful..." he said in response to Rogers offer of help concerning his wife and without another word he made to follow Ash.
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Crack!
Jul 30, 2013 23:26:11 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 30, 2013 23:26:11 GMT -5
Ash nodded to Robert as he approached, then leaned to the side to look over at Roger. "And you?" she said with a questioning tilt of her head, "Or do you have some kind of dimension skipping government jumpjet you can take? How about a space helicoptor?"
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Crack!
Jul 30, 2013 23:44:38 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 30, 2013 23:44:38 GMT -5
As Robert walked away from him and over to the glitter-ball Roger's face twisted with confusion. At first he thought the man was going to leave but instead it looked like he seemed completely willing to follow some... thing, on a wild and crazy adventure. You might be thinking "Yes! Adventures are great fun! You should jump in too!" But this wasn't the case for Roger Stanson, no he had an "Adventure" every work day from 9 to 5, sometimes on Saturdays and Sundays if a fellow agent got deathly ill.... or died. Yes! Adventures to other states, countries and even (le gasp) planets. Fuck Adventures. All they ever do is get him stung, half eaten, poisoned, or an unwanted haircut. Then when his wife yells at him, and locks herself in the bathroom... and stops talking to him for a week. And-... alright I'll stop.
"And you?" the glitter-ball said, sparkles flying out of the scaly mouth. "Or do you have some kind of dimension skipping government jumpjet you can take? How about a space helicoptor?"
"Demential hoppers are Illegal. So no..." He responded. Roger stared at the two of them and sighed somberly before picking up his tone into his professional one. "But since its Illegal I might as well make sure you're not going to take Mr. Shields on a wild chase throughout some... dimension." He lied, he had to go either, but he had to give himself a reason to chase after a demon. "So yes... I'm coming with you."
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Crack!
Jul 30, 2013 23:56:06 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 30, 2013 23:56:06 GMT -5
Robert had no clue what either of them were talking about but he got the gist of it. They were going after the demon. They were going to get his daughter back. Patiently he waited for them to resolve exactly how they were going to go about it.
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 0:08:44 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 31, 2013 0:08:44 GMT -5
"Not if you have the proper licenses or enough fancy titles!" Ash announced to Roger triumphantly, before whirling back around to face Robert, "All right, before we begin this wild and crazy adventure, ground rules: you two need to hold onto each other and the Anchor as tightly as you can while we're passing through the tesseract. If you want to see the infinite wonder of the Universe laid bare before you, keep your eyes open. If you want to keep the contents of your stomach inside your stomach, keep them closed. The trip may seem to take anywhere between less than a second and seventy-eight hundred years despite, in theory, not displacing any of us along the Universal timeline. Finally, if you see a massive, dark, looming, temple-of-doom-like structure, don't enter it, don't touch it, don't lick it, don't even look a it. If you follow these instructions, that shouldn't be a problem because you will a) not have your eyes open, and b) not see it in the first place because you won't be looking at it. Kosher? All right, let's go!"
There was a blinding flash of light as the ground vanished beneath their feet.
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 0:14:51 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 31, 2013 0:14:51 GMT -5
Roger squinted his eyes again trying to take in the glitter-ball. "what Anchor? How tightly? And I need to be home by dinner so a less then a second trip would best. And alright, temples are bad." He places his hands on his hips. "I knew that from watching Taffy and my kids play Fable 3."
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 1:31:47 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 31, 2013 1:31:47 GMT -5
Again, standing there confused Robert looked at the little dragon-like creature in sheer befuddlement. What Anchor? What are they talkin- and with what was easily the strangest sensation he'd ever felt in his entire life the world vanished. His body froze in terror, unable to cope with existing in a state that it had never encountered a single time in all of it's evolutionary history.
Oh my God... where are- and the thought was swept away. It loomed out of the light like a Nightmare rising to the surface of a sleeping mans dreams. Robert couldn't even begin how to perceive properly. A structure vast beyond his comprehension. Things the glitterball had said, warnings of some kind. Trickled through his mind, something about a temple but they were swept away in the inferno of raging lights and the oncoming monstrosity.
Despite the mind shattering fear he felt, inspired simply by the things presence he couldn't help but feel a great urgency in rising from the place. There was something there, something important, something he needed to do. With a thoughtless gesture Robert reached out toward the temple. whether this action derailed them or if the temple had always been their destination it was now inevitable.
Darkness descended on Robert from all sides, crushing him with it's undefinable weight. After a few moments of deafening silence the darkness drew away and he found himself standing in a room with a marble floor, arching ceilings and four hallways stretching away into infinity. He had just enough time to contemplate how very permanent the place felt before he vomited.
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 1:57:50 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 31, 2013 1:57:50 GMT -5
Ash dissolved immediately into an incoherent sphere of shimmering golden light as the trio passed through the veil into the boundless straights of the metaverse. Countless, warmly glowing tendrils surrounded them in an infinite starscape of raw, primal energy that existed far beyond the sphere of human comprehension. One could tell, however, that they seemed to be traveling impossibly fast along one of these threads in particular, which weaved and twisted around countless others of all various sizes and destinations.
If Ash still had corporeal form, she would grin at the freedom and limitless wonder she felt while within her home plane. However, something began to tug at the back of her mind and she felt the tendril lurch beneath her. Something was drawing them off course and nothing she could do seemed to be able to correct it. It was then that she became aware of Robert's gaze, locked on precisely the thing she warned him not to gaze upon.
"Look away!" she cried out to his spirit, but she knew it would be to no avail. The terrible, ancient power of that cursed place had ensnared him, and they through him. There was a rushing sound as it suddenly drew rapidly nearer, engulfing their world in blackness...
Ash yelped as she collapsed to the marble floor. Sitting up hurriedly, she scampered up against the nearest wall and got her bearings. She shook her head in despair: she was alone. This place had separated them within an infinite labyrinth of twisted intention and limitless mystery. "This is very inconvenient, you know!" she shouted at nobody.
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 2:21:58 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 31, 2013 2:21:58 GMT -5
Roger Stanson was familier with having dimensions being warped and torn around him, though he shut his eyes anyways to not risk loosing any of his breakfast. He felt gravity shift and reform around him and at one point it felt like it was trying to rearrange parts of him till the feelings finally stopped. He lost his footing and fell to one knee and finally opened his eyes. He searched around the room but he could see nothing but marble walls, celling and floor. Everything was plain no decorations on the walls or floor and- oh... he was actually sad to say it, the glitter-ball was gone, and so was Robert.
Stanson felt and enormous amount of panic slowly building up in the back of his chest. He kept his face straight though there was no one to see the charade he was putting on, he reached slowly into his suit to pull out a hand sized yellow communicator. He felt his hands start to sweat as he flipped the top up and turned it on.
Nothing but static. He poked the screen and tried different frequencies till his hands started to shake and he pressed the big red button which pretty much meant "For the love of god, I need help." The Agent tried his best to ignore what seemed to be endless hallways and colorless walls as he waited and tried toning out the world, watching and listening for the static on the communicator to stop. "This... isn't... good."
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 3:06:09 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 31, 2013 3:06:09 GMT -5
Robert finished purging his system and pushed himself to feet. A quick glance around told him nothing had changed, at least not in any meaningful way. As he spun in a slow circle and looked down endless hallways he let loose what could only be described as manic laugh. Even the looming insanity that threatened to overtake him was stilled by the sound of his laughter woofing back towards him off the walls and ceiling.
The place was clutched in the firm grip of a permanent twilight. No windows, though the work in the marble was rather ornate, all of it cast in a purplish light. Was this were not-a-dragon had intended them to be? No, the warnings came back to Robert in a rush and he smacked himself reflexivley. "Okay" he wondered aloud to himself. "Lets pretend for a moment you're not insane and all of this actually happening. What do you do next?" I find a way out of here, I get back and prescribe myself drugs, lots of drugs. So many drugs people will mistake them for skittles!
Finally reaching the conclusion that one way was as good as another Robert started off down one of the infinite hallways. Massive doors, that must have lead to rooms were set into either side of the hallway every ten meters or so. Some were wrought of what appeared to be pure gold while others showed the appearance of old oak practically rotting of it's hinges.
Robert had never really been into video games in his youth but if real life were a video game he imagined this is exactly what it would be like. No, that's unfair to video games. They at least make some sense. This... This... sprawling monstrosity had very little rhyme or reason to it. Just in the few hundred meters he'd traveled the architecture of the place seemed to have shifted at least three times, maybe four. Looping pillars and Gothic arches. One of the doors had even had a rice paper screen with a Tien-Lung emblazoned on it.
With a huff he stopped before one of the more ordinary doors he'd come across. Considerably smaller than the others though still wide enough for four men to pass through abreast. A dark varnished wood with a curious swirling grain. Silently he pondered entering it. Certainly no one else was in this hallway. He could see in both directions for miles... but these doors, where did they lead?
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 3:23:34 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 31, 2013 3:23:34 GMT -5
"I can't believe I've lost another one in this forsaken place..." Ash muttered to herself as she turned right down another identically endless passageway of doors. The Temple of Shrines would take one an eternity to learn their way around inside, but luckily for Ash, she had been able to spare one or two of those at one time or another.
With a sigh, she pushed open a large, oaken double door with some difficulty and proceeded down yet another slightly narrower (but just as infinite) marble hallway. "I'm just going to omit the part about opening their eyes to see the endless wonder of the Universe. Maybe I'll replace it with, 'if you open your eyes, they will instantly liquify into a substance resembling runny pudding and the your loins will burst into flame.' That oughta cut back on incidents like this..."
She walked for several more minutes before pausing to spread her wings and take flight. She hovered several dozen yards upward to reach yet another door set into the wall that most people probably wouldn't have even considered the existence of thanks to its unorthodox placement. This door appeared to be made entirely out of obsidian, but thankfully had been left partially ajar--leaving a wide enough gap that Ash was able to squeeze through.
"Helloooo?" she shouted into the darkened room, "Hey! I've got a bone to pick with you about some mortal vessels that didn't heed the safety pamphlet!"
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 3:44:34 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 31, 2013 3:44:34 GMT -5
Shhhhiiiiictk-
Stanson's heart sped as a voice started to come through on his communicator. With his palms still sweaty from the anxiety he touched the screen trying to make it work again. "Heeeey? An-y-one?"
Shhhhhhhhiiiier-
"Um..."
"Ro-..ger!" A shrilly voice crackled over the communicator and the flames of anxiety and panic behind his chest where dowsed a little. "w-a... you? Wh-re.. ar-e-e you?" There was no static now, but the voice seemed to be going though several different voice enhancers. Was that THIS place's kind of bad reception?
"Hello Taffy...." He said a bit bitterly and finally looked up and around where he was suddenly realizing that one of the hallways he was next to twisted around, the carpet on the floor completely ignoring gravity and clinging to the floor even if it was now on the celling. "I.... Don't mention this to shelly... But I followed this... glitter.. thing with scales and dragonfly wings into a portal... and now..." he paused thinking. "I have no idea where I am."
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Crack!
Jul 31, 2013 4:20:17 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 31, 2013 4:20:17 GMT -5
Robert tentatively reached out to push on the door before him and received the shock of a lifetime when a tall dark robed figure stepped out of door. Quite literally out of, as if parting a curtain. Just viewing the strange phenomenon was enough to make his head ache but even as his brain tried to absorb a visual it couldn't his head tilted upward. Where the things face should have been there was a bone white skull, locked in a permanent grin. With a most effeminate shriek Robert bolted down the hallway back the way he had come. The large robed monster didn't give chase, or even deign to notice him, but instead stepped through another head ache inducing curtain that seemed to be made from the "fabric" of reality. Without so much as a word the creature was quite gone.
This did not however serve to slow Roberts mad rush back down the hallway. In no time at all he found the intersection at which he'd started and without any thought to what he was doing he charged right. Only to be once more confronted by the creature stepping once more out of it's mind bending doorway. Perhaps the worst part was that Robert caught a glimpse of himself fleeing down the hall through the gap. This thing had ignored space AND TIME and headed him of here the moment he'd arrived.
Frozen in terror and the utter uselessness of running from such a creature, Roert simply looked on in abject terror as the tall willowy beast observed him. Slowly it bent down, bring it's grinning skull face to his eye level, and then it spoke, but it did so with a voice so wispy and hollow sounding that Robert wasn't sure what he'd heard at first.
After a moment of staring in utter confusion he realized... not a skull, it was a mask. The things voice was coming from behind it. Again it spoke and this time Robert was able to get a hold of himself and listen. "You come, the temple needs you" and with a movement so fast Robert never even saw it the thing grabbed a hold of his arm and with an unresistable strength pulled him along as it stopped once more through the... reality.
A moment of terrible pressure and than Robert found himself in another part of the... what had the thing called it? A temple? THE Temple? and on that thought Roberts eyes landed on Roger. "Both of you, come. Where is your Keeper?" said the hollow voiced monster.
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Crack!
Aug 1, 2013 5:46:22 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Aug 1, 2013 5:46:22 GMT -5
Ash was having a difficult time remembering if the pattern was West, West, North, Northwest, Up, South, Southeast, West, or if it was West, West, North, NorthEAST, Up, South, Southeast, West. There might also be another Up or two in there, she couldn't be certain. With a huff, she passed through yet another doorway and found herself in a smaller chamber completely adorned with shattered mirrors. In the center of the room was a twisted, stone shrine that looked as if it had been formed from flowing lava. Closer examination revealed countless visages formed into the stone--howling faces twisted grotesquely together, some of them human, some of them animalistic, some entirely unrecognizable--along with a single, ornate rune.
Ash shuddered and ducked quickly back out of the room. It was definitely Northeast. She silently prayed that her two mortal wards hadn't stumbled across one of those rooms yet. "The last thing I need is a vengeful, emotionally unstable man, or the Men In Black becoming God."
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Crack!
Aug 1, 2013 6:07:43 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Aug 1, 2013 6:07:43 GMT -5
"Ro-ger! R-og-g-ger!"
"What?" Roger questioned. Suddenly Taffy's tone changed and became shrilled with worry. "Can you hear me? I need you to figure out where I am and- I don't know send a rescu-"
"what do you mean 'huh?'"
Stanson stared at the communicator dumbfounded. "Huh??" What the hell is she high on? What sounded like a voice auto toner seemed to end but Taffy's words and voice didn't make any sense as responses. Roger's world slowly seemed to be enclosing on him, it was as if Taffy was talking from a different time or-
"How could you have followed a fairy? I didn't think you where so adventurous." Tone changed again! OH Shit! Is this place fucking with me? the encroaching dark shadow that seemed to loom over Roger no longer seemed so.. metaphorical. In fact it soon became an actual thing as the world around him was warped into darkness. He let out a yell that diminished into a small whine as the communicator in his hand twisted and fell into scraps. He felt his feet be lifted over his head yet when he looked down they still seemed to be under him, his arms felt detached and then-
Bang. Somewhere new, limbs still seemed to be attached to him and in all the right places as he checked his body for missing limbs or missed placed joints. The communicator was still in his hand, completely intact, just.... turned off. He looked around and his eyes landed on Robert whom was staring back at him when a voice called out to them. "Both of you, come. Where is your Keeper?"
Only output Roger Stanson's brain could muster was: "What the fucking fuck shit is all this fucking bullshit?"
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