Oh my, oh my, this is new

[Albert Wesker]

This was quite a wake-up call.

Really, he'd been looking forward to a good nap after dealing with things on Punk Hazard. What exactly had he dealt with there, anyway? He'd gone there to do...something. And he had done it...he supposed. But what it was was staunchly evading his recall. As was how exactly he had left. He recalled climbing aboard Ao Chari, and heading toward the sea's edge, and then...

Then there had been Omni.

His eyes had been full of a lingering haze of light, his head full of a daze, his ears ringing, and unsteady on his feet, but he seemed otherwise fine. Half of what the strange being had said to him went right over his head as he tried to get his bearings, but he had grasped the basics of it well enough. Something about an Omniverse, and Omnilium...or something like that. And there were others around. Somewhere. It never dawned on him to do too much wondering what there were "others" of, and after a few seconds of searching his thoughts, let it drop as just "others".

He had more pressing things to worry about than things like that, anyway. Like finding out where exactly he was. Which, normally, would be a simple enough task to go about. Take a look around, check any landmarks...or just head out to sea and wander until he found something he DID recognize. But this...wasn't exactly the Grand Line. This was just...white. Stretching nearly as far as he could see, only broken up by a few objects here and there. Either very small or quite far away, they made the place feel even more stark. The only other thing he could see was the strange-looking....fountain behind him.

It was a mostly simple affair of weathered stone. The only thing remarkable about it was an ornate bird situated in its center, carved from what almost looked like crystal...but which he had a sinking suspicion was actually ice. It brought a faint smile to his face, but it faced as he turned back to surveying the distant objects.

His first instinct was to go and have a look at one of them, and maybe later all of them in turn. But it seemed like...kind of a long walk.

He brought one hand up to his head, resting his head against his forehead, head slowly tilting back until he was staring at where the sky would have normally been. What he'd heard about Omnilium came back to him. "What I desire most...huh?" While he stared blankly at the empty whiteness, he let his mind wander. Something....something to get around with quicker than walking...

That would sure be nice right about now...

Just maybe, he could...

[Albert Wesker]

His wandering mind soon settled on something familiar that would probably be of at least passing usefulness to him. Maybe even of great use. And he focused on it as much as he was able. It felt strange, honestly, just...trying to go about whatever he was supposed to be doing. He didn't really have the drive for something that seemed so silly, but it wasn't as if he had anything better to do. And, as plain as it was, trying to figure out this mess was slightly better than doing nothing.

...or walking. A faint ache from his leg where it met its icy prosthesis reminded him that long distance walking wasn't his favorite thing anymore. At least on his bicycle he could pretty much just use his good leg and not have to really worry about his bad one. It was convenient, and sure made travelling the seas a lot easier. Slower, perhaps, but also much more quiet. Sometimes just being alone was better, even if it was out in the middle of the ocean.

Almost without realizing it, he started to....to sense that something was going on nearby. It was an odd feeling, made all the more odd by not being able to utilize any sort of Haki. He knew he still knew how to use it, but on a whim, trying to use it just caused nothing to happen. Like he just forgot just as he tried to use it, or as if something was stopping him. It was puzzling, and mildly concerning, there was no lie about that. But he could deal with that for now, at least until he got to somewhere a little less...empty.

He didn't really have the space of mind to give it as much thought as he probably should have, anyway. His abilities were something he'd trained for for a long time once, and now he knew what he was doing to train for them again, if that was what it was going to take. ....if that was what it was, anyway.

"Weeeeeell....probably no reason to worry about it now, anyway..." he murmured. With an effort, he turned his wandering mind back to what he guessed his current task was: getting something to go right. He had been working at what had amounted to nothing for a few minutes so far with no result, but he could tell that he wasn't entirely failing at it. It had something to do with that...what was it? "Omni....Omnilium?" Puzzling over the word, he scratched at the side of his head with the hand resting against it.

"Something to do with that, huh." The more he thought about it, the more he started to realize he knew about what exactly it was. How to use it, when it was working. He even had a vague idea that if he tried to use it for something he didn't quite have enough Omnilium to do, the result would be not altogether pleasant, though harmless. All in all, it was a strange, bizarre experience to consider, this being able to "summon" things...

As if on cue with his thoughts about how bizarre the business of sommoning things was, there was a faint stirring that brought his eyes back down toward ground level, just in time to catch something suitably strange, given everything else going on. And when he caught sight of it, he again found he suddenly knew what it was. His constant focus on something to help him get around, even when muddled among all his other wandering thoughts, was finally taking form. Or so it seemed, anyway.

"Hooo....that's new." Slowly, what looked to be a bubble of indistinct color, seeming to shine and glitter with every color imaginable, and slowly grew more solid, seeming to turn into a solid mass, losing its incorporeal nature and looking less and less like a bubble and more like a solid, glimmering mass. And within another minute, it was done, the strange mass of color faded, leaving in its pace something very familiar: his personal bicycle, the Ao Chari.

"Well, well...that should come in handy later on, I guess." He only wished this "summoning" thing didn't take so long. If it had taken several minutes for something relatively simple, and a thing he was so familiar with... He nearly hung his head in exhaustion just thinking about how long it might take for more complex items later down the road. But he pushed that aside for now. For now, it was time to take a look around.

Shaking his head, he swung one leg over the seat of his trusty bicycle, turning his eyes back to the horizon. "Now, then...which one do I go to...?" From this distance, they all seemed nearly the same, so he doubted it would really matter much. Looking about for a few moments, he finally gave a shrug, and simply pushed off toward the one he was already mostly facing. He set a lazy pace, in no particular hurry, and figured he would get to whatever it was when he got there.

[Albert Wesker]

While the trip was faster than it would have been on foot, it was still not exactly a short distance. After nearly half an hour had passed, he could only tell he had made any progress at all by the strange object, that he could now see was some kind of archway, growing slowly, but steadily larger. The curiosity of an archway being out here in this strange place was not lost on him, but he had no clues as to why it might be here. Or why they were here, perhaps would be more accurate. He could now taje a guess that all of the things he could see on the horizons were also archways of a similar kind to the one he rode toward. They all looked slightly different, even from this distance, but he could at least tell their basic shape now that he had a clearer look of one to judge from.

He thought about a great deal of nothing, and the chief thought in his mind was just what this entire situation was all about, and maybe finding someone he could ask a few questions. Assuming there was anyone to ask at all, of course.

Soon enough, the archway began to grow larger still and clearer, until he could make out details of it. It looked to be carved from stone, of a nice clean cut. He guessed it to be slightly weathered, but as far as he was such fine details still escaped him. He was more focused on what he could see through the archway. Instead of just more blank whiteness, as he had fully expected, he could see...something entirely different. Large stones, it looked like. And despite at least one that he could see from his angle and distance rising above the top of the arch, he could not see it rise above the arch itself.

He put more energy into pedalling his bike, now more curious and eager to get a closer look at what exactly he was heading toward.

Shortly enough he arrived, and slowed to a halt. He could only stare at the archway, and what he could see through it. "Oh, my...look at that." He was not quite completely dumbfounded, but he couldn't think of any logical or rational explanation for what he was seeing. In the end, after nearly a full minute of pondering, he dismissed it as just another peculiarity of this place.

He waited another handful of minutes, sinking into deep thought, before he shrugged and pushed off again, slowly making his way through the archway. Or, as he almost immediately came to find out, through the portal.