Arrival

[letsplayamod]

The moment is a bit different for everyone. Perhaps you were just minding your own business somewhere, others may have been in more... dire circumstances. Regardless, you were approached by a figure you can't quite picture, and they offered you an accord; in exchange for aiding them in the healing of a world lost to chaos, you would be granted something almost unheard of. Godhood.

And each of you said yes, more or less.

A blurry hand, shifting and rippling, reaches out to you. You feel a glow of warmth, unlike anything you've known before. As soon as you think you can describe it, you wake up.

The room you're in is plainly furnished, but it's about the size of a small flat. Plenty of room to stretch your legs. Don't get too comfortable, however. On the bedside table each room has is a letter; handwritten, it's wrapped around a bronze key. The lettering could only be described as the platonic ideal of 'neat and precise'.

If you are reading this, than our deal has been made. You've awoken in a place that will surely feel strange, so I want you to take some time to acclimate. Meet with the others. Breathe. I shall be along shortly.

-A

Whatever that means becomes more apparent as you step out of your housing and behold the world around you. The building you were in, and every piece of architecture you happen across, is blatantly pre-modern. Yet, something about it is otherworldly. Stone and iron and glass as far as the eye can see.

But above you was where the real questions were. It wouldn't be right to say the sun was shining on you now, nor would it be right to say it's the dead of night. Instead, the sky is a hazy mixture of both, wrapped in suffocating storm clouds that are threatening rain. Everywhere you look, into the horizon, it's the same.

Welcome home. Take your time and explore. Nobody ever said godhood was easy.

Comments

[tailoredfate]

[It's been a long time since Aglaea dreamed. Her dreams for the past few centuries now have been simply echoes of her memories; Cifera's eyes, wide and filled with a yearning for acceptance, for acknowledgement. Phainon, the blank hollowness of his face being overtaken with wonder and hope as he stepped into Okhema for the first time. The smiles of her teacher. Hysilens' music. All of this is what flits through her mind as she sleeps, and it's what filled her mind in that gap between fading into nothingness and hearing that voice reaching out to her.

This, too, also feels like a memory. It's not the same, of course, but it feels so much like the whispers of Mnestia's voice as Aglaea took her Coreflame a millenia ago, that she can't help but reach out.

... And then she wakes up. Curious.]

The Era Nova certainly does look different from all we've imagined.

[A mumbled joke to herself. Aglaea's smart enough to know that something is wrong, even before she left this strange room. Even before she found the key. It's time to investigate just how wrong things are.

As she leaves her room, anyone passing her wouldn't be foolish in thinking that Aglaea... dresses like she certainly could belong here. Dressed in elegant white and gold robes and laurels in her hair, she's the very image of a Greek goddess, striding forward with purpose as she makes her way to the pavilion. She stops for only a few moments, head tilting ever so slightly this way and that as she scans the rooms with eyes that seem far too blank... before making her way over to the scroll storage.]

Unsurprising. Burning information that might leave us in the dark. But the work seems sloppy... let's see if there's anything that can still be found.

scroll storage

[murchada]

[Cerejeira might blink a little more at how, well... godly this girl looks, but she's been around a surprising number of gods even before all of this madness. as it is, she just blinks a little bit.

the scrolls are a little more interesting for now, actually.]

...Man. Seeing so many records destroyed almost makes me want to cry.

[tailoredfate]

[If Aglaea notices the brief stares from Cerejeira, she certainly doesn't say anything about it.

... Really, it might be a little unclear if she can notice anything at all, given that her eyes have no pupils. But she stares at the charred scroll in her hands with intent, like she's trying to find some text or images in the ruined paper.]

It's tragic, isn't it? The fingerprints of an entire world, being wiped away in an instant.

[murchada]

Poetic. Now I'm even sadder.

[so she says. she sounds the same about it, which is morose yet neutral, but she's taking a look at one of the scrolls herself.]

I wonder if they could be restored...

[tailoredfate]

[Aglaea lets out a soft chuckle.]

What can I say? I'm not one for the theater, but I do have a bit of fondness for it.

[At least this isn't someone attempting to insult her for sounding like a heartless machine.]

... It's hard to say. Some of these scrolls look like they might fall apart at the slightest touch. But it looks like some might still be saved, if we're careful.

[murchada]

I'll be sure to handle them with care, then. Someone should look after these, anyway...

[she's not sure about this whole thing, but. this seems like something she could do and not fuck up.]

Scroll Storage

[cannotunravel]

It's strange the scrolls are burned but the room itself isn't burned at all. The fire can't have happened here, so these scrolls were moved here from somewhere else...

[Misane isn't searching in the scrolls yet, instead looking around with interest, like she's trying to figure out anything hidden. At least her comments seem to be directed at Phainon]

[tailoredfate]

Or whoever did this has some manner of careful control over fire.

[If they've been brought into this world to become its new gods, it makes sense that magic is plentiful here.]

What would the point be, to move them from another room, and to mix the damaged with the undamaged?

[cannotunravel]

Erm...I...guess so?

['Careful control over fire' makes her think whoever burned this carefully st everything in a firepit and then set it on fire making sure embers won't get out to make an accidental wildfire. It's probably not the point you were trying to make, eh?]

Preservation. It's here instead of in the trash. That's my guess, at least.

[sweetsynergy]

Hm, I don't know about that.

[She's gingerly examining one of the scrolls herself.]

If keeping this from us were the goal, the arsonist wasn't nearly thorough enough.

[tailoredfate]

It can be surprising, how people who believe they're so thorough in their methods can fail so obviously.

[Her voice is light. Even. No hints of bitterness or annoyance, but there's certainly something there that seems to speak from experience.]

If I had to guess, they didn't have the time to burn everything, so they had to prioritize the most valuable information.

[sweetsynergy]

Maybe. Though I would also question why these were deemed worth keeping even in this state.

[But she's careful as she rolls the scroll back up and returns it to its place.]

Paper is valuable but once it's been used it's usually the information that's important.

[tailoredfate]

Valuable? [Interesting.] Are trees rare in your world?

[A question that could come off obscenely condescending, but... she seems pretty honest in her questioning.]

[sweetsynergy]

The closest thing I had to a planet was pretty heavily industrialized. But in general it was easier and cheaper to use digital storage for everything, yes. Is that not the case where you're from?

scroll storage

[literarybehemoth]

[Ah, someone who Understands...]

It seems as though there is some attempt to do a restoration, so I am unsure who is responsible. That, and the job is not complete.

...Regardless of who did it or whether there was pertinent information, it is a tragedy... perhaps it has been replicated somewhere, but if it hasn't...

[mmm. it's sad.]

[tailoredfate]

[And someone who doesn't seem all that surprised when a cat starts talking a few feet away from here. There's a somewhat curious glance towards him, but that's all.]

The least we can do is sort through everything. Set aside what's most damaged and what escaped the fire, and see what we can salvage. At the very least, it should provide a little guidance to this new goal of ours.

[literarybehemoth]

Sometimes you would be surprised at what can be restored, but I do not know if we would have the materials for that.

[hmmm...]

It may be worth saving the ones that look unsalvageable just in case.

[tailoredfate]

Oh, I'm quite familiar with it. An apprentice of mine enjoys collecting and appraising antiques, and he's often excited to show me the work he's done to restore some of his finds.

[Ah, Phainon...]

But you're correct. Even if we can't do anything to restore them now, pherhaps an opportunity will come later.

hallway

[threeapplestall]

[what is this tiny child in a weird outfit doing here]

Like a supernova? I think I learned about those in science class...

[tailoredfate]

[... Oh.

Hm. Something stirs in Aglaea's chest, seeing a child here. Sure, the Flame-Chase Journey is no stranger to children, or those who appear so - she would never doubt the ability of her teacher or Hyacine - but the suspicious nature of this situation is an entirely different story.]

Not exactly.

[It doesn't really take much to tone her voice down, into something a little gentler.]

The Era Nova is, in essence, the new world. Like what we've been called here to help with.

[threeapplestall]

So you know what's going on? [A slight trace of hope enters Mutsumi's voice. Are you really gonna let her down, Aglaea?]

[tailoredfate]

I can't say for certain. But... it does bear a striking familiarity to some of my own experiences.

[But it doesn't make quite enough sense. The path to a new world should be open, if it worked like the Flame-Chase Journey.]

There might be... trials, we must go through, before fully attaining the powers that mysterious force is offering us.

Scroll storage

[stringup]

It also looks like there's been some attempt at preserving them...or what's left of them, anyway.

[ Velvet, for her part, is gingerly touching one of the burnt scrolls, trying to examine exactly how bad the damage is. ]

[tailoredfate]

By who, I wonder.

[It's not an easy task. She may not have much of a skill for it, but she's listened to Phainon's rambling about antique restoration enough to understand just how much effort can go into restoring the simplest pieces.]

All of this seems far too much for this "A" that brought us here.

[stringup]

Could be whoever else was living here before. Kinda doubt everything here was prepared just for us.

[ It seems more likely that they've been repurposed after whatever happened to the previous occupants.

...Which does beg the question of if there's anyone else besides them and "A", now that she thinks about it. ]