Out of the Void, Into the Nexus

[Black Mage]

Just as soon as he came the entity calling himself "Omni" was gone. His explanation was short, to the point. Wherever he was now it was his domain, or at the very least that was what Omni wished him to believe. The Black Mage was skeptical of the being but he had as just as much evidence saying he was lying as he did that he was telling the truth. None. Then again, there was a distinct possibility this was all a trick. While the Lich, Marilith and Kraken were powerful beasts they didn't seem to be plotting to destroy the earth. Could this "Omni" be behind them? No. This is something altogether different. Omniverse, the realm of all things. Omnilium, the fuel of all things. Seemed this Omni was an awfully self centered fellow. Not that he didn't have a right to be, at least theoretically. Still, if he was the lord of this place why did he keep it so white? Perhaps the emptiness reminded him of himself.

But then why was the fountain here? What purpose did it serve? A reference point? To keep the less void-inclined beings sane as they entered this "Omniverse"? Power began to course through the Black Mage's fingers as cackling could be heard around the Warrior of Light.

"Air that strikes quick as a blade. Bolt!" The Black Mage spoke, channeling magic into a bolt of lightning that beamed the fountain. The magic felt strange, different, but it functioned the same. Except for the distinct lack of damage on the fountain. Water spread but reformed with unnatural quickness. It seemed this fountain was to be kept preserved.

"Heat of the light, show your flame. Fire!" Black Mage screamed before lobbing a fireball at the fountain. Steam rose but thinned with speed, letting an untouched fountain come to view. The Black Mage grunted, before clenching a fist and propelling it at the fountain, with decidedly less grace than Warrior could have achieved, let alone that Warrior of Light-wannabe Black Belt. A sting across the wizards knuckles resulted, causing Black Mage to grimace in pain before letting out a heavy sigh.

This is real after all.

[Eleanor Lamb]

He stared at her with an ugly grin.

“I am Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, first of her name, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, called the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains, and the Mother of Dragons. Release me.”

That was what she wanted to say, but something stopped her words in her throat.

Nothing looked the same as she remembered it. Endless black replaced the arid desert landscape of Essos; the unflinching heat wavered in favor of a slight chill. Unfamiliar as Daenerys Targaryen was with Westeros, the thought crossed her mind that perhaps—in some strange way—she had ended up in Castle Black. But that raised the question of how she would have crossed the Narrow Sea, and so she buried that theory in favor of a much more practical one.

She was dreaming. The last thing she remembered was slipping off into sleep, curled up next to her most beloved pet: Drogon, at this moment notably missing. The next thing she knew, she woke up here, in this void of sorts, with this strange little man ogling her eerily. His rather nonexistent lips had curled up into the biggest smile Dany had ever seen on a man.

Fear crept up her spine. For the longest time, she had lived without fear. Surrounded by her armies and her dragons, no one in all of the Seven Kingdoms could touch her. In recent days, however, her courage had been challenged by assassins and conspirators. Her claim to the throne had begun to seem tenuous. Most recently, she had been driven out of her safety by danger; she rode into the unknown on the back of her most beloved pet and now suddenly she sat here in endless darkness, faced by a mysterious man she had never before seen. From where she sat, it almost seemed as if he glowed.

He spoke with a voice that felt simultaneously like music to her ears and like the worst sound she had ever heard. But the words he spoke made no sense—he talked of a new place, a world unlike the one she knew. He called it the Omniverse.

Dany could not suppress her confusion. She slowly stood, refusing to be seen on her knees any longer in front of this man who pretended to command her, and tried to speak once more. “If I have truly been abducted from my home,” she tried to say, “then I command you return me immediately.” The words stuck once more, and she placed a hand on her chest, reaching for the obstruction; she knew, however, he practiced some sorcery which bewitched her tongue and placed her at his mercy.

Or so he thought; she would be at no man’s mercy.

He continued to prattle on, about more unfamiliar words, like omnilium. He explained that she would not be alone in this Omniverse. At this point, Daenerys felt her fury flaring up inside her heart, and she took a step toward him, content to shut his huge gob with her own bare hands.

“You are unworthy to speak to the likes of me.” She bit her lip as she failed once more to expel the words. She moved toward him again, but his figure seemed to get further and further away no matter how many steps she took. Omni’s magic was strong, whoever he was; the khaleesi would not reach him, no matter how hard she tried.

“…as long as you interest me, you will be reborn,” the boy’s explanation began to dwindle down to its final section. On these words, Dany stopped. She did not try to move toward him once again, but rather placed her feet firmly on the ground, her pearly white dress billowing in a breeze that came from nowhere. Her eyes narrowed at the glowing silhouette as she considered what he had just said. He offered her immortality. The idea intrigued her. She had always been a queen, but here—if here was real at all—she would be a queen that would never die.

Fire had never been able to kill a dragon. According to Omni, here, nothing could.

I will play your game.

The resolution must have been heard by her captor, for his grin grew ever so slightly once again as he began to disintegrate before her very eyes. The darkness slunk away from Daenerys, slowly being replaced by an endless plain of white. Eventually, Omni disappeared completely, and the khaleesi stood staring at another, brighter field of nothingness. Slowly, she knelt down, placing her delicate fingers on the bleached ground. It could be a dream—but it felt real enough.

Just ahead, a fountain rose from the otherwise featureless ground. Standing next to it, a figure called upon the power of fire and tried to scorch the structure to no avail. Dany felt her muscles tense up once again. Do not fear, she reminded herself, you are not to be trifled with. She stood, straightening her back and carrying herself once more like the princess she was.

“You,” she spoke.

The figure turned to face her, his glowing eyes zeroing in on her. She brushed some of her silver hair out of her eyes, and then placed her hands in front of her, lacing her fingers together, holding her chin up, trying to look regal.

“You control the power of fire,” she noted, nodding to the smoke that still rose from where his flames had hit the fountain, “…who are you?”

[Black Mage]

For a while the Black Mage just sat there by the fountain. If the meeting with the Faceless One was no dream, then neither was Black Mage's meeting with the construct. Beyond any mere golem the Warmech was an entity created with techniques the Warrior of Light didn't pretend to understand. Created for battle and given spells of the highest power. The heroes had expected a fiend, but faced far worse. After killing so many monsters, ending so many lives and restoring Light to three of the crystals the process of battle had become a routine. A means to an end. The thought of losing one hadn't crossed Black Mage's mind since the fight against the undead Lich. Not until he saw the ashes of what remained of his companion Warrior. Then Thief, then White Mage, then almost him. They were all gone. Unless . . . Unless perhaps this "Omni" had taken them before their deaths as well. A little hope grew in his heart as he looked around for evidence of the other Warrior of Light, seeing again the empty nothingness, broken only by the compass-like gates in the distance.

Until the Black Mage was greeted by a voice. It had the softer tone of a lady, yet held a firm tone. Too firm to be White Mages. A quick turn revealed a woman of fair skin and fairer dress, complimented with stark white hair. She definitely wasn't White Mage, but she definitely was white. Despite her commanding tone and posture she didn't pretend to know everything, asking who and perhaps what he was. It was clear however that she expected answers. Black Mage was cautious of the new arrival, but he was short on knowledge of this place, and shorter still on allies within it. An introduction wouldn't kill him. Or at least, it shouldn't.

"I'm the Black Mage." He said, tempted to add 'of the Warriors of Light', but he could not claim that title anymore. Yellow luminescent eyes drifted to his hand, which pulled out a dull and lightless crystal. "Nothing more, nothing less." He added solemnly, before pocketing the crystal once more, letting his eyes rise to match the gaze of Ms. Whiter-than-White-Mage.

"And who are you? Were you sent here by Omni?"

[Eleanor Lamb]

“The Black Mage, hmph,” she repeated, a bit cross at the fact that he had chosen to throw around simple designations instead of sharing his name with her. She had not asked him what he was—she had asked him who he was, and the ruffian had done his best to avoid answering. She supposed that she could understand the desire for anonymity; after all, if he had just been dropped into this strange world like she had been, then perhaps he feared her.

Of course, under normal circumstances, he should fear her regardless; but as it stood, her army of Dothraki and Unsullied warriors were no longer at her disposal, and so she stood a queen in nothing but name. Here in this large, empty white void, she had no force to back up her claims to regality.

So, the khaleesi decided, if the Black Mage had chosen to fear her under some false assumption of power or connection to the great white god that had placed them here, she would not argue. She had learned how to use others’ fear and respect for her to survive, and this instance would be no different. Of course, she knew that she could not lie to him about her origins—whatever her answer to his next questions would be, it would be the truth. But that did not mean that she couldn’t mask herself behind a shield of confidence. This Mage would not see her diminish in the slightest.

Although, she had to admit: she feared him just a little, too.

“Who am I,” she nodded, taking a few steps past the Mage and crossing to the fountain. She gazed down into the waters, seeing herself for the first time since entering the Omniverse. Her reflection betrayed the simplicity of this place—she looked exactly the same as she did when she’d been taken; better, even, since the dirt and grim she had collected in she and Drogon’s escape had been magically washed away. She seated herself on the fountain’s edge, turning her body to face the Black Mage once again.

“I am Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, first of my name,” she introduced herself. She contemplated going into the rest of the titles, but thought better of it; she feared if he knew of her status as queen that he would be decidedly less friendly. For now, anyway, she would keep that much to herself.

Dany met the man’s glowing yellow eyes. “And no,” she admitted, “I am not a pawn of Omni sent here to torment you for eternity.” She couldn’t quite tell through all his layers, but she thought the Black Mage might have relaxed at the admission. “I suppose I’m here just like you,” she postulated, “abducted from my homeworld, subjected to an overly condescending monologue, and then dropped into this barren wasteland with no sense of which direction to begin walking in?”

She chuckled a little, leaning back and relaxing on the fountain’s lip. If Omni thought that aimless wandering through a vast emptiness was something that scared her, he did not know that much about the khaleesi. But that didn’t mean she was looking forward to it.

[Black Mage]

The Whiter-than-White Mage seemed annoyed at his answer, and Black Mage had a feeling he knew why. He'd ran into the issue before, people surprised at his lack of a real name. Perhaps he had a name once, but as far as he could remember he was an instrument of destiny, a Warrior of Light . . . except that he wasn't anymore. Where once the Black Mage had purpose he now felt as empty as the realm he stood in.

Who am I if not a Warrior of Light? He asked himself, causing several words to pop into his head. Nothing. Failure. Pointless. Alone. Black Mage hadn't always found introspection pleasant but right now it seemed almost scarring. What was he supposed to do now? What Omni wanted from him? Did he even want to fulfill that being's desires? Part of him said no but other knew he'd surely have been felled by the warmech had Omni not intervened. With this revelation he found himself simultaneously drawn to and detaching from Whiter-than-White Mage. On one hand he was debating his existence and what to do with it, and on the other she might have a way to give him some semblance of purpose.

She walked to the fountain as she spoke, repeating his question as if he should have known the answer all along. She was Daenaerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, first of her time. While her speech was typically strong, firm, proud, the end of her statement seemed soft, fleeting, as if she had more that she wanted to say. In retrospect her nobility was expected, even obvious, though Black Mage had no inkling of whether she was the bastard child of a baron or the highest of queens. Her demeanor and speech implied pride in her lineage, possibly hinting at higher than 'just' noble birth. However high or low she was on the chain of nobility it was increasingly obvious that she wasn't a spy. Her spite for Omni was as palpable as her noble-born confidence. Black Mage wasn't sure which attribute was more dangerous.

"I see." The Black Mage replied, turning his head from one side to the other as he examined his surroundings.

"I'd wager that most all of us are placed here. Those taken from their lands that is." Black Mage mused. If she was sharp as he thought she was she'd probably already guessed that, but conversation was conversation. "I can't say where but it'd probably be best we head somewhere, lest we find ourselves meeting those less friendly." He continued as he examined the various gates surrounding them. They were a bit far out of his vision to determine the particulars, but they each seemed to carry a different theme.

"Do you wish for an escort Lady Stormborn?"

[Tearen Wover]

Hooh boy...

Drake shot out of the gate to the Vasty Deeps, the whining motors of the UNIbike only a faint murmur within the atmospherically sealed cockpit. He'd been trying to take stock of his situation, think about the ramifications of starting a new life from scratch, but all he could think about was finding somewhere to get a drink. Still...Bartleby Jeltz never had a hard time keeping tabs on him before. There was no telling whether or not he had been summoned with some sort of tracking device in his head.

Even though Drake had knowledge of the Nexus hardwired into his brain, it was still a little stunning to see it with his own eyes. It was a good thing that the gaunt man was immune to vertigo, or he might have accidentally crashed his vechile right into the ground. As it was, however, Drake blasted towards the so called 'Fountain of Infinity' to fufill his current directive.

As he pulled along side the somehow non-descript water feature, Drake noticed two figures milling around on the far side. Both of their eyes were locked on him, wide and startled. Oh god...these people weren't gonna be ren-fair types were they? He'd never enjoyed dealing with them back in the Mulitverse, and he could only assume things were going to be worse here. He had to go schmooze however...

Drake throttled the UNIbike down and left it in an idle hover before letting the canopy slowly slide open. Both primes, who were chicks as far as he could tell, had that en garde look on their faces, and the lady in the blue robe rose her hands up like she was expecting something to come out of them...oh god, she wasn't a wizard was she? Fucking magic...ruined everything. Whatever. If these primettes wanted to play hardball, he'd totally meet them half way.

Drake hopped off of the UNIbike and idly slipped a hand into the orange and grey satchel slung around his torso, gripping the small plasma derringer concealed within. He didn't exactly have another hand to wave with, so he just nodded his chin upwards.

"...sup?"

[Eleanor Lamb]

Daenerys considered the Black Mage for a moment. Thus far, he seemed disinclined to offer up any sort of danger to the princess. Notably, he had yet to try and cast his magnificent-looking fire spells at her. He seemed to have avoided the subject when she had brought it up, though, so perhaps if she didn’t then he wouldn’t even think about trying. Of course, they wouldn’t have worked—she was the dragon, and fire would not harm her—but still, the possibility hung in the air. She would avoid mentioning it for now, then.

“Taken from our lands?” she raised a dark eyebrow, assuming once more the posture of regality, “so… you’re not from Westeros, then? Or Essos?” Thinking about it, the question seemed like an obvious one to ask, and Dany wondered why she hadn’t thought to ponder it earlier. So this place wasn’t just another realm mirroring her own, under the control of Omni as opposed to the Seven or the Red God.

The idea that Black Mage, perhaps, could come from a completely different universe had not even occurred to her, but now that she thought about it, he bore a certain dissimilarity to anyone she had met back home. Certainly, he didn’t seem to share any of the personality traits of any of the men she’d met—not the gruff demeanor of a warrior like Jorah, nor the petulant frivolity of a supposed prince, like Viserys. All in all, he seemed closer in attitude to someone like Grey Worm, though perhaps that could be owed to the mystery surrounding him. It astounded her that Grey Worm had been serving her so long and she still knew next to nothing of him.

She supposed being an Unsullied could do that to a person.

The Black Mage was not wrong to second-guess their stillness. Surely, this place did not remain stagnant—if they had appeared here, so could anyone else, and judging from the gate-like structures dotting the horizon, sooner or later they would be joined by more folk. Whether they were friendly or hostile was yet to be determined; but Daenerys did not plan to find out.

“I suppose I could use a bodyguard,” she raised her chin in the air, standing and quickly surveying the robed man. “Perhaps a wizard of your ilk will do for the moment.” She thought about correcting him on his address of her—Dany, perhaps, as she had not revealed her queenliness; but Lady Stormborn actually rolled off the tongue rather well, so perhaps she would let him keep calling her that for the moment.

Then she heard it.

She spun around, looking for the whirring sound that broke through the silence of this great white void. Suddenly, a man on a strange-looking vehicle rode up on the opposite side of the fountain. “Alright, Mage,” she retreated behind him, letting him stand between her and the new visitor, “it’s time for a field test.”

The intruder approached casually, with his singular hand stuck into some sort of bag. Dany did not feel like finding out what it hid in there, so she decided to try and make for a quick escape. But first, she would get a reading on exactly how much of a threat this man would be.

His greeting certainly was not appropriate of anyone of her stature.

“Who are you?” she asked simply, standing straight and tall like the queen she was. Silence lingered in the air for a few seconds before she scowled, clearly dissatisfied.

“I said, who are you?” she repeated, “I demand you answer me at once.”

[Black Mage]

"I hail from a small kingdom called Cornelia." The Black Mage replied, thinking of 'home' for once. A simple place that once had a princess kidnapped by a traitorous knight, foreshadowed by a broken bridge in the north. Perhaps Omni's second chance at life was all some strange cosmic cycle that began as it had started. Rescuing a princess and returning her home. But where were these "Essos" and "Westeros" kingdoms? And could Black Mage return her to it?

"You may call me Black Mage, or Black, or Mage, or any variation thereof, but I'd prefer we take 'ilk' off the table Lady Stormborn." Black Mage said in the most professional way he could. Those who offended nobility tended to have a shorter life expectancy, and Black Mage wasn't planning on testing Omni's offer of immortality. Though by the sounds emanating from the new traveler perhaps it'd be tested sooner rather than later.

Before he heard the noble woman speak he stepped forward and to the side, putting a layer distance between the new creature and the Lady Stormborn. He may have been frailer than Warrior or even Thief but he was still a Warrior of Light. It was a strong instinct to try and protect her, bested only by his instinct to blast monstrosities with magic of unregulated power. That said he felt weaker here. Omni had likely stripped him of his higher magics. Fire and Bolt had worked, Ice likely would too, but beyond that was anybody's guess. As a precautionary measure he began to raise his hand to focus his magic.

"Sup?" The man said as he rifled through a bag and brought his chin upwards. The Black Mage began to speak but found the noble was quicker to the tongue. Unsurprising, Black Mage normally solved problems through incantations rather than diplomacy or wit.

"Water chilled, sharpened, strong. Ice." Black Mage tried to keep a whisper, allowing him freedom to cast his Ice spells. If the rider made a sudden motion he'd find a icy dagger flying at his foot. If he came closer after that he'd find one coming at his heart. What worried Black Mage the most however was the contraption he rode on. The only technology Black Mage knew of was the Warmech. The vehicle wasn't the same obviously but it still gave him pause. With luck his incantation would be wasted, the battle being unnecessary. The man would answer the noble's questions and be on his way. But it always paid to be prepared.

[Tearen Wover]

Immediately the albino chick started shouting at Drake to tell them who he was. Honestly, the screaming wasn't necessary; he would have done it even if she hadn't asked.

"I'm Drake Oneir..." the scarred man said, turning his head and giving the two of them an askance look. His eyebrows were raised, revealing this his eyes had a slightly yellow tinge to them. That, combined with the horrible scarring on the right side of his body, lack of an arm, and utterly thin figure did not belie any signifiers of good health. His tone carried a weary, annoyed timbre, as if he didn't really want to be dealing with this right now and yet...he had gone out of his way to stop and talk with them. What was at play here?

Drake's mouth drew into a thin line as the pale lady crossed her arms. Apparently that wasn't good enough.

"Drake Oneir of what?" she asked, her gaze remaining level and vicious. "Common vagrant? A knave? I asked you to identify yourself, not for your name only." Daenerys snapped, remaining conspicuously behind the woman in the blue robe. Drake could hear the wizard chick whispering something...which was never a good sign. Oneir was savvy enough about magic to know that outstretched hands and muttered ramblings meant something skeevy was about to happen. Still...it didn't seem like they wanted to fight...they were just totally ready to. Of course, now that his hand was in the bag, he couldn't take it out without them, potentially, setting him on fire or something equally disproportionate. Drake let out a long sigh.

"I...uh...guess I qualify as a merchant, though currently I have nothing to sell on me." Drake said, offering a shrug.

"And yet you carry a blade..." the magic lady said, keeping her hands trained on him.

"oh my god...look, ladies. I'm a trader. I always stop by The Fountain when I'm passing through The Nexus to see if I can meet new customers." Drake said, pulling his empty hand out of his satchel and waving it around in a gesture of exacerbation. He could see both of their eyes widen as he did so, but no one blasted him, so hopefully that was a good sign. Luckily, Drake had a knack for spinning convincing lies on the spot, so it seemed as though he had been convincing enough for now.

"A merchant and a trader with nothing to sell. How...pitiful." The woman in white mused, her tone not entirely condescending. Drake rolled his eyes.

"I trade in weapons and armor, of course I'm not gonna carry it all with me all the time. Shit's heavy." Drake said, shrugging with his singular arm once more. The two primes looked at each other for a moment, and tension filled the air. Uy...maybe he should have kept his hand on his gun...

[Eleanor Lamb]

Daenerys Targaryen would not be trifled with.

She supposed it only natural that this man had no idea who she was. She couldn’t tell you where this Omniverse was found on a map; certainly it wasn’t anywhere in her realm, though. It looked like no place in Essos or in Westeros, so Dany supposed the likelihood of anyone here knowing exactly who they were dealing with was slim. Certainly, then, this man’s impudence had to be expected. That did not make her any less furious about it.

Still, he seemed to have information that she and her new companion desperately needed. In his shoddily put-together explanation—alright, he might be a merchant, but his lack of goods still made Dany suspicious—he had mentioned the Fountain, presumably the structure they stood very close to at this very moment. Also in that same statement, he’d named something called ‘the Nexus.’ Was that the name that this place went by? ‘The Nexus’? Certainly that word was not familiar at all to the Targaryen princess, but she supposed that, in a way, it fit this stark white, empty void.

“Firstly, I would advise you to not use such harsh language around a lady of my standing,” she scolded the ‘merchant,’ adopting a pose which suggested her noblesse. Drake Oneir straightened up as well, his single arm positioning itself on his hip. Attitude.

“And what exactly is your standing, lady?” the armless man asked. A good question, albeit one he would not get a straight answer to. Two can play this game, she smirked, deciding quickly to dodge the question just as she had when the Black Mage had presented it to. She stepped in front of her bodyguard, lifting up a hand to signal that he could lower his defenses… for the moment, anyway.

“Higher than yours,” she replied simply, lifting her chin.

Drake scoffed. “Alright, lady, I don’t have to take this,” he shrugged back, “so if you don’t mind, I’m gonna get out of here.”

Good riddance, Daenerys thought, but suddenly the need for information struck her once again. Against her better judgment, she took a few steps forward.

“Wait.”

Drake Oneir stopped in his tracks, glancing over his shoulder.

“Perhaps you can do me—us, rather—the favor of answering some questions,” the princess surrendered. The ‘merchant’ turned fully toward Dany once more, taking a few steps forward until his face was much closer to the princess’s than was appropriate. “You’re much too close,” she muttered in a low voice, but Drake did not move.

“New primes, eh?” the man nodded, looking Dany up and down before moving his gaze to the Black Mage. The silver-haired princess spun around and retreated back behind her bodyguard, trying her best to get away from the armless man’s mangled form.

“What can I help you with, ladies?” He grinned, the power in this encounter now on his side.

“Well…” Dany started, glancing at her companion. They made nervous eye contact. The princess would ensure this encounter did not last long. “…where exactly are we?”

[Black Mage]

Drake Oneir. Mutilated, emaciated, yet still a rider of machines. His injuries were grave, but something about him did not speak that he was as helpless as he appeared. Perhaps it was the machine that he rode on that implied this, his fearlessness in the face of Black Mage's conjurations. No, it was more simple than that. It was that Drake Oneir was the first thing that Black Mage and Daenerys Targeryen had seen in this "Omniverse" aside from each other. Ripped from their homes and thrown into an empty abyss they had both reacted as any normal human would. Skeptical and cautious about every new occurrence in this land. Hopefully such skepticism would keep them both alive, and not at each other's throats.

Before Black Mage could speak, or even think to speak, the Lady Stormborn had spoken. Demanding stature, position, occupation, overall any real information about Oneir, or the world he came form. He found himself relieved that throughout the conversation Daenerys was doing most of the talking. Black Mage was never much of a talker, letting more savvy Warriors of Light like Thief or Fighter handle the conversations. It paid off now as Oneir showed hesitancy to answer her question. Black Mage didn't know what kind of a man didn't know his occupation offhand, but he did know what kind of a man would take a while to answer. The kind who building his occupation as he thought, to hide what he did or didn't do. Oneir might have been a merchant in the loosest sense of the word, but there was something else he was hiding. Daenerys was suspicious as well, asking why he carried a blade.

"Look, ladies-"

"Sir." Black Mage corrected in a firm voice. The one-armed man paused for a second before shaking his head and giving a rotten smile and continuing.

"I'm a trader. I always stop by The Fountain " He put an odd emphasis on the word. It seemed 'The Fountain' was a notable landmark. "when I'm passing through The Nexus to see if I can meet new customers." The man said, before pulling a hand out of his satchel and waving it around. A dagger of ice formed and was launched, Black Mage only narrowly altering it's course as he saw the man didn't bring any tricks. The flew maybe half a foot to his right, but he was only annoyed. A good step up from harmed in his opinion. Before the rider could manage a curse the noble pressed her verbal offense, insulting his lack of wares, and presumably implying his lack of complete communication. His defense were heavy wares, armor and weapons. Wares that would be difficult for a one-armed man to create or transport. True, he could have had employees to help create his wares or load and unload them from distributors but if he had such wealth to possess such employees why didn't he have a scout to do this sort of work for him? The dots did not connect. Something was wrong here, and the Black Mage didn't like it.

A smuggler? This "Fountain" may be in the middle of nowhere, but it doesn't seem to be regulated. Maybe it serves as a dropoff point? Were we simply the wrong people to show up? Black Mage pondered as Oneir and Stormborn continued to quarrel with one another. The noble took a step forward and Black Mage did the same, till the alabaster haired woman rose a hand. She wanted him to stay back, to be cautious. Though Black Mage did not like it he ceded the space, keeping yellow eyes focused on the one armed vagrant. Something still smelled here, and as they say where this smoke there is fire.

A fire that would not burn today, or so Black Mage thought for a moment as the man left, only to be stopped by his companion. Daenerys was curious, as was Black Mage, but this was not a move he'd have made. He didn't trust the man's tongue, though he wasn't sure if he trusted the Stormborn's either. It didn't take long for the two silvertongues to be but a short kiss away as the merchant closed the gap between them, and it didn't take any magic to realize that wouldn't be appreciated by the Lady Stormborn, putting himself between the two as Daenerys stepped back he mused this was the sort of thing Fighter did, not him. He supposed he'd have to due with his absence, though he was thankful there were certainly more armed opponents he could have had to broken in on.

"And while we have you here" Black Mage added after Daenerys question. "I'd like to buy what's in the bag."

[Tearen Wover]

Drake heaved a deep sigh. He hated this assignment already. Oneir had hoped that he wouldn't have had to keep dealing with freaks like these in the Omniverse, but it appeared as though, everywhere he went, he ran into hoity-toity assholes who just couldn't make nice. Honestly, was it really that hard to just...like...chill? God.

"That's sort of a vague question, but to save us all some time, I'll just give you every possible answer. You are in the Omniverse, a nice little alternate world run by a mysterious kid named Omni. He controls everything. Eh-vur-ree-thing. It's split up into a bunch of different sections, and the one you're in now can get you to most of them. It's called the Nexus and has all kinds of freaks like me running around it."

"So you mean to say-" Daenarys was cut off by Drake as she started to speak. Drake held up his pointer finger with a sharp gesture.

"Sh! This is the Fountain of Infinity, which is important because...well because Primes like you show up here. Good? Yes?"

Daenerys was still too shocked from being shushed by a vagrant such as Drake to speak, so Mister Black Mage spoke up, asking Oneir if he could buy what was in Drake's bag. Drake scoffed.

"Uhhhuh. Buy with what, exactly?" Drake asked, placing his hand on his hip. Aside from the small gun that was tucked inside the courier bag, the only other stuff Drake had in there was a small first aid kit, some cigarettes, lighter, multitool, and other small traveling knick-knacks. This was clearly a ploy to try and get Drake to show what he had been reaching for when he had first gotten out of the UNIbike. As far as Drake was concerned, he still had the upper hand on these two dark-age rejects. Even if they were both Primes, they were still complete nobodies. Well...so was Drake. But they didn't know that and he had Jeltz backing him up, so yeah.

[Cyburn]

Cyburn stepped through a portal, going back towards the Fountain. He had a scowl on his face, anyone who saw him could immediately tell that he was not in the best of moods. He walked with heavy footsteps, going at a brisk pace heading back towards the accursed place.

"You know, I think we would have actually managed to get the first steps to acquiring what we need to satiate you if it wasn't for you telling them that we were going to kill all of them once they no longer served a purpose!" He shouted angrily, seemingly at no one. He stopped in his tracks, as though someone was replying, "No, no. Shut up. You ruined this chance for us."

He continued walking shaking his head, "Oh, sure! Play that card, you're a sword! Stop that!" Getting closer to the Fountain, he suddenly shouted, "Oh, sure! Play the quiet game!" Looking at the three people that were up there, "Anyone want to purchase a sword? Bidding starts at 10,000 omnillium." He stopped, as if listening, "Okay, fine. No bidding, the sword doesn't want to be sold, apparently."

[Xehanort]

This fool had spent what seemed to be hours just wandering around the wonderful place we came to know as "The Nexus" Great. Fun. There seemed to be no flavor to this place at all. It wouldn't be wrong to say this place was all "Black and White", but yeah.. it would since it was only the white half. Not even shadows fell over the man and Zangetsu as he walked around aimlessly toting the dead weight that was Zangetsu. Being stuck like this without Ichi-loser's inner world to run around in or that old man to keep him company was getting veery boring. Too boring.

Zangetsu thought things were going to get better when they stumbled upon a group of... refugees by the looks of it. The sword spirit thought it fun to tease them about how they were going to die no matter what they did. From the looks of things, it would seem he was getting on Cyburn's nerves. hehe he even got his name out of him.... Cyburn... sounds like "Sideburn". pfft loser.

Cyburn was so pathetic with his sense of direction that they had led them all the way back to the fountain from which they came. This time three others were there... and all sparked more interest within the sword than this terrorist wannabe. He was, in fact, tired of speaking with him.

The first was a shorter, robe clad man in a wizard-esque hat. His face was concealed in shadows and his eyes radiated a bright yellow color enough to send shivers down the dull edge of his blade. This guy had power.. but judging from his physical stature, it probably wasn't in hand to hand combat. Probably ranged based, whatever this man was.

The woman herself didn't seem better when it came to physical prowess. She seemed.. frail and something about her just screamed the word, "Cold". Whether it was from her narrowed eyes and pale skin to the way her lips curled at the other in a snarl. Ugh... vicious. Both the dark clad man and the pale woman didn't seem to be in the physical condition to wield Zangetsu.... pity. They sure seemed to have enough.. spirit. The other was ruled out simply for the lack of arm, which was a pity as well. The man hosted a number of scars up and down the right side of his body. This man must have been either lucky or skilled enough to survive whatever fights were enough to injure him so.

He sat down in his "Inner world" (the name in which he gave the void, black space within his sword in which his spiritual body was contained) and said, "Don't listen to this idiot... by all means, save me from this dumb-ass".
He said it loud enough for the three to hear him, but even if they did respond Zangetsu was busy inside the sword doing.. sword things. He fetched out his orb of rainbow colored light and rolled it between the palms of his hands. This world didn't operate the way his world did, and Zangetsu knew that. It was shown he could speak aloud to those around him, an impossibility that could not be dreamed of back home. Perhaps.. he could summon something to help him communicate with the outside world.

Did phones work in this dimension? Zangetsu knew humans had them and with a press of a button or two they could talk or send written messages through some telepathic link to another device.. or something like that.

A few moments of concentration and a white, slim device appeared in the zanpakuto's spiritual hand. No buttons on this thing and only had three icons showing on the screen: Email, Dataverse Message Board, and Communicator (Not available atm). The sword spirit turned the device around looking around its structure. It was sleek, yet fragile. He would have to be careful.

For the next moments he spent searching the dataverse, ignoring the outside world. Perhaps he could send a proper invitation. He could use this as a medium to guide proper candidates to his position. He was sure Cyburn wouldn't give whoever showed up much trouble.. that is if they were worthy of laying their hands on Zangetsu's hilt

[Gamzee Makara]

"Hnnnng..."
Damn. Damn. Everything hurts like a motherfucker. Last thing I remember is taking a nap on my glorious, comfy, pile of horns. Bicycle horns to be in fact. Honestly man, you ever slept on a pile of bicycle horns? The good rubber ones? Damn. S'like sleeping on a cloud of pure mirth. Yeah this one time, I wa-

OW.

Ow. Okay. Ow. I don't even know who I'm talking to at this point. I can't think straight... That cue ball looking boss man ain't here anymore. At least, I don't THINK he is. Man all I can see is black black black. A lot of that gloom and doom yeah? Am... Am I dead? Like, bit the big pie? Drank my last wicked elixir? Aw, Shit man. I really hope I ain't dead. Me and my motherfucking best friend, K-...

What was his name? I can't... We were supposed to go chill on the rooftop and junk, kick back some Faygo. Watch the Miracles in the sky paint their stories or something. Why can't I remember? Damn dude I'm dead ain't I?! Motherfu-

Oh. Heh...Heh Heh. My uh. My eyes were all up and closed and stuff. Lemme just open them big purple beauties up and Gah it's motherfucking bright out here! Man dude I can't even all up and gather the words in my head. It's all so...White! And then there's this giant ass Rock behind me. Like literally, a motherfucking giant ROCK. Man dude, what's it doing out here? It's just here! Man. Miracles, everywhere you look. Well, not everywhere, I guess. That Rock is about all there is to see out here. Or well, maybe not. I think I see some more rocks out that general di-rection.

I shake them nasty cobwebs outta my head, and then sit down cross legged, facing away from the miracle Rock. Gotta get my head on straight like. So, that cue ball brother is in charge. He didn't look like no Mirthful Messiah to me.

"Mmm. This ain't heaven. I gotta do something. I gotta get back. Back to...Wherever I was holed up at. That cue-ball looking guy is all up and giving me some nasty vibes. Or I dunno. He seemed chillaxeded up."

I probably shouldn't sit here and argue with myself. That bro, that boss man. He was talking about the miracles inside me and how they just all up and materialize. Anything I desire? I giggle a little bit at that. Honestly all I'm desiring right now is to go back to my bros. Mmm. All this thinking is gluing my thoughts back to my think pan. That's a lot of thinking. Awright well. I'm certainly feeling a little different. That nasty, dastardly hole in my stomach is gone. That hole. The one that I save for the Slime. It's just GONE. I don't feel the ache to be slurping that slop down anymore. Hm. Weirdoish. Maybe it's been filled up with them Miracles that Cue-Ball dude was talking about. Yeah. Yeah that's gotta be it.

Maaaaaan. I'm just realizing how thirsty I am. I would KILL for a friggen Faygo man. Redpop, Blueberry, Rock n' Rye... All that fruity wicked goodness...Mmm. I sit here for a little over a few minutes, just fantasizing about having me some wicked elixir. And then: poof! I see the Miraculous Rainbows and a motherfucking bottle of Redpop Faygo just pops into existence! Bless the Miracles man! I crack that baby open and hear that glorious, wonderful hissing sound it makes and get to chugging. Man, I drain half that bottle in less than 10 seconds. Then, I gotta stop myself. Gotta ration this wicked elixir sent by the Gods of Mirth. I mean yeah, I can just miraclize up some more, but damn. This is the first one! Ever! In this entire Universe! Gotta give mad respect for that. I raise my wicked elixir to the sky, and lean back and-

The rock ain't there. Gone. Disappeared. That giant, Miraculous Rock. I stand up and turn around, clutching my drink to my chest. I walk towards where the rock used to be, and see just a nondescript black and gray tower of stone, with rings circumventing it at regular intervals. It goes up, and up, and up until I get tired of looking up. Damn. More Miracles. I groan. Well now I'm friggin lost. Just that entire change just wow. Flipped me three ways from upside and down. I look around, notice something I didn't notice before.

People. There's bros and sisters and everything in between. Man. Maybe while I'm here I can make some buddies and best friends. Ain't nothing wrong with that! With another determined swig of my miracle elixir, one thought flashes through my now clear mind. All who wander, ain't motherfucking lost.

[Eleanor Lamb]

He shushed her.

Daenerys tried her best not to explode. Remember, she scolded herself, you don’t have your dragons, or your army. All you have is this wizard, and you have no idea what he can do. So she took a deep breath, regained her composure, and did her best not to betray the fact that she was absolutely fucking furious.

How dare he? She was Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, rightful heir to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms! Of course, she supposed he had no way of knowing that, but still, she figured that she had managed to keep up the appearance of royalty even if she had not even revealed her true nature to either of these men. Surely she’d at least made it clear that she was not the type of woman that he could just go around shushing, for Winter’s sake. She bit her tongue, though, because for the moment, she had no way of exacting her vengeance on him. Perhaps, if she ever ran into him after she had regained her former station, she would certainly take action for his insolence.

As it were, though, she simply continued to listen to him drone on about the Fountain and primes, and then vaguely imply that she didn’t have the materials necessary to purchase her wares. Once again, she struggled to fix her face. She was growing tired of this.

Then, suddenly, the situation only grew worse. Out of the corner of her eye, Dany spied another man approaching. She had formerly assumed that they couldn’t find worse company than Drake Oneir with his seeming ignorance of proper manners, but this man… this man quite clearly seemed to be talking to himself. No, not talking… yelling. Arguing. What have you. Daenerys resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

He started to scream at them, and Daenerys edged closer to the Black Mage, now relying completely on him to protect her from this madness. First the one-armed man and now this insane fool, babbling about wanting to sell his measly-looking sword for ten thousand omnilium. Daenerys balked. She didn’t know much about how this world work, but something inherently told her that ten thousand omnilium was way more than she could spare. But she supposed she had to expect such ridiculous requests from a man who so clearly had lost his mind.

Not that she could’ve used a sword anyway. Certainly it would have come in handy, but she had no clue how to wield one, so it would have been a waste.

She almost responded to him, expecting to call him out on his stupidity, when suddenly, something else spoke. She could not exactly tell at first what it was, but then it hit her—the sword. Her eyes grew wide—so in this realm, swords could speak? And as if that wasn’t enough, another man appeared—much in the same way she and the Black Mage had just minutes before—seemingly out of nowhere.

She’d had about enough of this.

“It’s been a pleasure, Mr. Oneir,” she scowled at the one-armed man, “But my companion and I really must be off. So sorry to cut this short so quickly, you understand.” She tugged on Black Mage’s robes and immediately headed off in a random direction. Behind her, she could hear the insane fool babbling on about his sword, and perhaps she also heard some other business, but she and the Mage broke into a sprint after a few steps to make sure that they got out of there before anyone tried to stop them.

When they arrived at the first gate they could see, Dany doubled over in pain, clutching her abdomen as exhaustion from all that physical exertion overwhelmed her. She collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. The Black Mage leaned over her, blocking her view of the sandy-stone gate as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Dany and Black Mage have left the building. I left it open so BM can post once more if he likes, but we’re movin’ on out! Thanks for a fun intro thread, guys!

[Tearen Wover]

Alright, so things were starting to get pretty insane out here already. First this dude with the sword and then some...clown demon? The latter just kinda stumbled off with a glassy look in his eyes, but the guy in white with the sword...talking sword, whatever, was hanging around. The queen and her wizard friend were not, however, and Drake simply watched as they scampered off towards the Dunes. Well.

That made three problems come and gone, but now there was the matter of trench-coat and Soul Edge over here. Drake decided to report in to Jeltz to see if he could leave yet. With a casual motion, carefully avoiding eye contact with the other denizens present, Drake pulled out his UNI device and quickly typed a message to his overseer.

3 primes come and gone. Bitch queen, wizard kid and clown monster. Standing here with an idiot and his talking sword. Can I take lunch?

Drake was about to tuck the little phone away when it almost immediately buzzed. Jeltz had a tendency to reply uncannily fast to digital messages. I guess being a cyborg had its perks. The VARIAtech exec's message read thusly:

New mission: track sword movements. Follow if possible.

Well, so much for a 'thank you', but at least Drake didn't have to specifically talk to anyone now. As such, Drake simply wandered back to his UNIbike and leaned against the gleaming black fuselage. He decided to help himself to a cig, while watching Cyburn and Zangetsu from the corner of his weary eyes.

[Cyburn]

Cyburn saw the queen and the wizard leave, and he immediately looked behind him at the sword. "Great! Now you scared off someone else that we could have been allies with!" He stood there, fuming over this situation. Shaking his head, he looked at the guy in armor, it looked strange to him. He had seen very heavy armor before that was made to protect oneself, but that looked different. Nothing like the big, heavy suits that he had seen in Europe.

Looking at it, he started to calm down, he was studying it, scrutinizing that thing. "So, what's up with the armor? It's nothing like the stuff I've seen." He looked at it a bit more, "It's very slim, nothing like what the Europeans use. Their armor is like, six feet thick, and designed to make the wearer a strong as a thousand men, and more well protected than a god." Looking up at his head, "Yeah, yeah. That's some strange armor."

He let out a loud sigh, "You know, I'm going to find a way to get back home. Or at least get a message, I need to tell some people some things. I know what the Omni dude said, but do you know of any way to do that? Has it ever happened to where people are taken from the same world?"

[Tearen Wover]

Drake had been watching the escapades of Zangetsu and his erstwhile wielder for some time now, and was munching on a candy bar absent mindedly when a pair of geometric shapes came zooming up to him from the direction he had initially come from. Drake blinked at the slowly rotating cube and tetrahedron as they orbited him, each glowing soft colors.

"We've come to relieve you of your observations." one of them said in a quiet, buzzing sort of voice.

"Yeah! Nea-er...Jeltz needs you in the Ashen Steppes to take care of some bandits. You can handle that, right?" the tetrahedron asked, its tone of voice almost insufferably enthusiastic. Drake continued chewing slowly. He didn't exactly have a reason to believe these LEGO-ass aliens at face value, so the smuggler wordlessly pulled out his UNI device with the intent to type a message to Jeltz himself. Of course, being the prescient prick that he was, Jeltz had already sent Drake a message saying that the two geometric envoys were indeed there to take over the job observation. Drake glanced over at Zangetsu and the two other primes once more before shrugging and hopping on to the UNIbike.

With a sharp kick, he engaged the thrusters on the vehicle and kicked it into a sharp turn on its nose, eliciting and ear-splitting whine from the powerful thrusters. Not a moment later, Drake had the gate to the Ashen Steppes vectored in and hit the main power switch, rocketing off with startling acceleration...

That just left Klee and Shen hovering near the Fountain of Infinity, innocuously keeping their multifaceted attentions on the sword that Nealaphh was so interested in...