Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

Crystal looks to Linoa, then back forward.
"...Okay."
He keeps going.

 

Strangely, it feels oddly real. It's oddly dense for it's size, but as Ihra holds it, the whole colosseum seems to break apart, before everything goes black.

Ihra wakes up in the patch of mushrooms on the mountain. The forest guardian seems to have been watching over her as she was unconscious, though Ihra feels something very real and very familiar in her hand. The star-shaped crystal is held in it, somehow.

 

Ihra seems unsure what to do, hesitating before trying to offer it to the guardian statues.

Crystal winds up stumbling over a turtle shell.

 

The forest guardian statue doesn't respond, but Ihra isn't blasted back when she goes up to the earth guardian statue. Ihra notices a star-shaped slot in the earth guardian statue's chest she didn't before; the crystal looking like a perfect fit.

 

Ihra tries putting the crystal in the slot, curious.

 

The crystal slides in perfectly, and the earth guardian statue unroots itself from it's position. It moves out of Ihra's way, sliding across the ground. Up ahead, Ihra can see an archway similar to the one at the base of the mountain. It seems her pilgrimage is over.

 

Ihra walks forward, winded and a bit confused.

 

She finds a large temple ahead of her, a few Shadows and even fewer guardians undergoing some extreme and deadly-looking training in it's open courtyard. Ihra is quick to notice me training too, a volley of tiny arrows seeming to be fired toward me in huge walls at speeds close to that of light. I appear to be dodging them all at their same speed, while deflecting a few too. One Shadow stands out from the rest, sitting at the back of the courtyard on a large, thin pole drinking a cup of tea. A long black beard barely touches the ground below him, giving him the appearance of someone very wise.

 

Ihra looks around a bit before slowly (and uneasily) looking for a clear path up to the bearded shadow.

 

"WOuh!"
Crystal almost falls, but catches himself by shifting his legs.

 

"M'okay."

I'll look at the paper.
"Think this is enough?"

 

There's a direct path through the middle of the courtyard luckily, but - so focused on training - nobody has noticed Artemis.

 

Ihra approaches the bearded shadow slowly, curious but nervous.

Anne glances it over.
"Sure, it seems fine."

The shell opens up into a many-fanged maw that slowly closes back up into a shell.
"...Yeah, I knew this stuff was coming, but apparently I wasn't ready for it."

 

The Shadow glances down at Ihra, smiling kindly. Strangely, he's the only Shadow that doesn't look threatening.

"Greetings, young one." The Shadow says.

 

"What is this place...?" Ihra asks, extremely pale from blood loss.

 

"Okay, I'll leave it behind when we can."

 

"I'll find something to attach it to so they pick it up and don't just think it's a piece of litter. Well, later."

 

"This is a sacred temple for those who have proven themselves worthy to receive training like no other. Come, you look exhausted from the trials that brought you here." The Shadow says, nimbly jumping down from his pole; while leaving the tea balanced on it perfectly.

The Shadow looks surprisingly shorter than Ihra would've expected, hunched over at half of her height as he leads her into the temple.

 

“Well, I... uh... okay...” She says, somewhat hesitantly following him.
“Am I the only being of light here?”

 

"Maybe stick it to a tree?"