02-03-2018, 03:03 PM
Amaterasu stepped out of the portal, into the white expanse that formed the Nexus’s ground. No sooner had the last strands of her hair passed out of the black into the white than that the portal closed behind her back as if it had never existed. Even when she turned around and waved her hand through the space where it had been, she touched only air.
Bringing her attention back to the place she was in… she could see the figures in the distance, near the fountain, but now that she was not looking through a portal anymore she could see that they were not her friends. Had they already departed for the Frozen Fields? In this case she needed to hurry if she was to catch up to them! The possibility of a much longer time having passed… she refused to consider that one.
Instead of rushing things through however, she focused. Running to the next Gate and from there seeking out the Frozen Fields one would not work out in the long run. She needed something to move along fast, and it had to be bigger than a horse so that Oki and the others could ride with her. But that could not just be a bigger horse, it wouldn’t fit through the gates… she sighed, sat, closed her eyes and focused.
The Omnilium came out of her very easily, almost as if it was pressured – come to think of it, she had used very little of her reserves. Mostly that was about saving them up for the right time… though she had no idea when that would be. And it was hard getting used to this idea of just summoning items out of nowhere, too. Back to the matters at hand, she focused onto the raw Omnilium that had poured out of her and formed it. A Nimbus cloud was what they needed, a big floating surface for them all to sit on. She visualized it before her mental eye, a cloud just small enough to fit through a gate, yet big enough for them all to be able to ride comfortably. She imagined before her eyes its fluffy surface, its speed when moving, its easy control by anyone linked to it…
And she stopped when a thud before her snapped her out of her concentration. That shouldn’t happen… unless someone had landed before her? She opened her eyes. No, there wasn’t anyone before her, only the Nimbus cloud. It was sitting on the ground, not floating. Was that a defect? No, she had visualized it floating all that time. Tentatively she climbed on. It held her just fine, and it was the same proportions that she had imagined. It should fit through the gates without a problem. But why was it not flying? She had no answer for that.
“Let’s see… Nimbus, let’s see. Move forward!” And the cloud reacted. Rather than taking off and flying however, it began to move forward as if on rolls. Slow at first, but picking up speed. Amaterasu leant over the edge and eyed the underside of the cloud, curious to find out how it was moving. It was touching the ground indeed, but for the lack of a better word it was… crawling. A layer of the cloudy material that composed the Nimbus was touching the ground and slid backwards as the rest of the cloud advanced, then on the back it rolled up and was reabsorbed into the cloud, while more of the material was pushed out at the front to form the layer. Someone with modern-day knowledge would have compared it to the caterpillar tracks of Bulldozers or similar vehicles.
It did not take long to get close enough to the nearest Gate to find that it was not the one she was looking for: an archway covered in vines and small plants. And even from this distance she could see the people by that Gate she had passed through long ago, the one that led to Coruscant, so triangulating those two points and thinking back to when she had originally entered the Fields… she was a good ways off. Well then. She sat down cross-legged on the Nimbus cloud and pointed it to their new destination, almost on the other side of this verse, and waited.
Little time was spent idle though: soon a group of people came into view, their backs turned to her as they were advancing towards the same destination as her, and this time there was no doubt: these were her friends. They were outside of hearing range, but one of them – Fiara, as she would later be able to tell – looked around after a while and noticed the incoming cloud. They stopped in their tracks and waited until Amaterasu came into hearing range, and called out to her. All three were there: Urist, Fiara and Oki. Still carrying with them the heavy coats in which they must have been sweating their skin off and the climbing equipment they had used to scale the mountain.
“Guys! Oh, I’m so happy that I didn’t get caught in some time dilation! Oh, come here!” As soon as they were close enough she hopped off the Nimbus and grabbed all three of them for a bear-hug. She got sceptic, however, when they didn’t return it immediately. “Is something the matter?”
“Not at all”, said a startled Oki. “We’re surprised to see you so… well!”
“Yer glowin’, and ah en’t sayin’ it figuratively”, added Urist.
“Like a tiny sun”, confirmed Fiara. “Has something happened while you were gone?”
“Ah, I… yes, actually. A lot has happened”, Amaterasu said. “Oki, first of all… don’t worry about that orb you got from Omni. It ended in my hands somehow, but I only noticed when I was in the Void.”
“Oh, you have it?” the warrior asked, looking relieved. “I was thinking I had dropped it somewhere, or forgotten it in Omni’s throne room.”
“I got it right here”, said Amaterasu and pulled the orb out of her sleeve. “Listen… I need you guys to keep mum about this, okay? Do not tell anyone about it. Promise me.”
“We do”, all three of them said almost simultaneously.
“Good. Now climb on, we have to get back to the Fields… oh god, I have so much to tell you. Fiara, you know how to control a Nimbus, right?”
“What do you take me for? I’ve controlled those before I grew my first plumage”, Fiara said, putting on a pouty face but then grinning. “Oh man, you look so much better, you know that? As opposed to the frustrated, glum Amaterasu that strutted out of Omni’s throne room, I mean.”
“Hah. You guys won’t believe what’s happened.” She put the orb back into its hiding place and sat down as the others climbed onto the Nimbus as well. Fiara took the helm, and they resumed their advance towards the Frozen Fields gate.
“What’s the big hurry, anyway?” asked Oki.
“We have a project to start. One that will be bigger than anything we’ve gone through in Nippon”, she said with a look at Oki. “Back then we helped a country. Here, the entire Omniverse could be at stake.”
“Woah now”, intervened Urist. “Ye sure ye didn’ hit yer head somewhere out there, Ama?”
“I’m completely lucid, trust me. This orb… let me put things short. It holds the memories of someone very knowledgeable of the Omniverse. And it gave me a peek of an evil so great that it overshadows Yami by a… very large margin. It’s an evil that may extend its tendrils out to grasp at the Omniverse at any time, if it isn’t already doing so right now, as we speak. I can’t hope to go up against it myself. So I need to gather help and spread the message.”
“Yer talkin’ about Diablo, aren’t ye? … what are ye all lookin’ at me fer?””
“You KNEW about him?” asked Amaterasu.
“Well o’course! Diablo’s the biggest threat the Omniverse has ever faced, ye know. Ah was there when it happened. Camelot sacrificed one o’ its strongest Primes to seal ‘im away in the Underverse. Bu’ ‘is agents are still runnin’ around, an’ it’s said that some o’ them might try ta break the Seal. We don’ know what’s been goin’ on in the Underverse bu’ ah doubt that Diablo’s been twiddlin’ thumbs all that time.” He sighed. “Ain’t much we can do though. Diablo’s a Prime, jus’ like ye are, Ama. Ye can’t kill ‘im or stick ‘im in a prison even if somehow ye were able ta defeat ‘im. An’ it’s said tha’ he’s the strongest Prime o’ them all. Stronger than King Aragorn an’ Emperor Palpatine.”
“I see… well, the man whose memories are contained in this orb, he was in the Underverse, it appears. He was able to escape... somehow. And if he could, who’s to say that others couldn’t too? Others with less benevolent intentions?”
“So… yer project is ta spread tha warnin’ tha’ Diablo might be comin’ back at some point? An’ why are we goin’ into tha Fields fer this exactly?”
“No. It’s far grander than that. We can’t go into the big cities and start shouting our warning like a Doom prophet. People won’t listen to us. Besides, I cannot warn people without revealing where I know that information from, and this orb… needs to be kept a secret for as long as possible. If it were to fall into the hands of this Diablo, the consequences could be catastrophic.”
“Right”, murmured Urist and stroked his beard. “So. What’s yer plan?”
“It’s a very long story. I will tell it to you while we navigate to… around where the mountains border the sea of the Fields. Fiara, just fly us forward until the evening. You are all well-equipped for the cold, right?”
But before Fiara could give her a snappy reply, they passed through the Gate, and vanished off into the Frozen Fields.
Bringing her attention back to the place she was in… she could see the figures in the distance, near the fountain, but now that she was not looking through a portal anymore she could see that they were not her friends. Had they already departed for the Frozen Fields? In this case she needed to hurry if she was to catch up to them! The possibility of a much longer time having passed… she refused to consider that one.
Instead of rushing things through however, she focused. Running to the next Gate and from there seeking out the Frozen Fields one would not work out in the long run. She needed something to move along fast, and it had to be bigger than a horse so that Oki and the others could ride with her. But that could not just be a bigger horse, it wouldn’t fit through the gates… she sighed, sat, closed her eyes and focused.
The Omnilium came out of her very easily, almost as if it was pressured – come to think of it, she had used very little of her reserves. Mostly that was about saving them up for the right time… though she had no idea when that would be. And it was hard getting used to this idea of just summoning items out of nowhere, too. Back to the matters at hand, she focused onto the raw Omnilium that had poured out of her and formed it. A Nimbus cloud was what they needed, a big floating surface for them all to sit on. She visualized it before her mental eye, a cloud just small enough to fit through a gate, yet big enough for them all to be able to ride comfortably. She imagined before her eyes its fluffy surface, its speed when moving, its easy control by anyone linked to it…
And she stopped when a thud before her snapped her out of her concentration. That shouldn’t happen… unless someone had landed before her? She opened her eyes. No, there wasn’t anyone before her, only the Nimbus cloud. It was sitting on the ground, not floating. Was that a defect? No, she had visualized it floating all that time. Tentatively she climbed on. It held her just fine, and it was the same proportions that she had imagined. It should fit through the gates without a problem. But why was it not flying? She had no answer for that.
“Let’s see… Nimbus, let’s see. Move forward!” And the cloud reacted. Rather than taking off and flying however, it began to move forward as if on rolls. Slow at first, but picking up speed. Amaterasu leant over the edge and eyed the underside of the cloud, curious to find out how it was moving. It was touching the ground indeed, but for the lack of a better word it was… crawling. A layer of the cloudy material that composed the Nimbus was touching the ground and slid backwards as the rest of the cloud advanced, then on the back it rolled up and was reabsorbed into the cloud, while more of the material was pushed out at the front to form the layer. Someone with modern-day knowledge would have compared it to the caterpillar tracks of Bulldozers or similar vehicles.
It did not take long to get close enough to the nearest Gate to find that it was not the one she was looking for: an archway covered in vines and small plants. And even from this distance she could see the people by that Gate she had passed through long ago, the one that led to Coruscant, so triangulating those two points and thinking back to when she had originally entered the Fields… she was a good ways off. Well then. She sat down cross-legged on the Nimbus cloud and pointed it to their new destination, almost on the other side of this verse, and waited.
Little time was spent idle though: soon a group of people came into view, their backs turned to her as they were advancing towards the same destination as her, and this time there was no doubt: these were her friends. They were outside of hearing range, but one of them – Fiara, as she would later be able to tell – looked around after a while and noticed the incoming cloud. They stopped in their tracks and waited until Amaterasu came into hearing range, and called out to her. All three were there: Urist, Fiara and Oki. Still carrying with them the heavy coats in which they must have been sweating their skin off and the climbing equipment they had used to scale the mountain.
“Guys! Oh, I’m so happy that I didn’t get caught in some time dilation! Oh, come here!” As soon as they were close enough she hopped off the Nimbus and grabbed all three of them for a bear-hug. She got sceptic, however, when they didn’t return it immediately. “Is something the matter?”
“Not at all”, said a startled Oki. “We’re surprised to see you so… well!”
“Yer glowin’, and ah en’t sayin’ it figuratively”, added Urist.
“Like a tiny sun”, confirmed Fiara. “Has something happened while you were gone?”
“Ah, I… yes, actually. A lot has happened”, Amaterasu said. “Oki, first of all… don’t worry about that orb you got from Omni. It ended in my hands somehow, but I only noticed when I was in the Void.”
“Oh, you have it?” the warrior asked, looking relieved. “I was thinking I had dropped it somewhere, or forgotten it in Omni’s throne room.”
“I got it right here”, said Amaterasu and pulled the orb out of her sleeve. “Listen… I need you guys to keep mum about this, okay? Do not tell anyone about it. Promise me.”
“We do”, all three of them said almost simultaneously.
“Good. Now climb on, we have to get back to the Fields… oh god, I have so much to tell you. Fiara, you know how to control a Nimbus, right?”
“What do you take me for? I’ve controlled those before I grew my first plumage”, Fiara said, putting on a pouty face but then grinning. “Oh man, you look so much better, you know that? As opposed to the frustrated, glum Amaterasu that strutted out of Omni’s throne room, I mean.”
“Hah. You guys won’t believe what’s happened.” She put the orb back into its hiding place and sat down as the others climbed onto the Nimbus as well. Fiara took the helm, and they resumed their advance towards the Frozen Fields gate.
“What’s the big hurry, anyway?” asked Oki.
“We have a project to start. One that will be bigger than anything we’ve gone through in Nippon”, she said with a look at Oki. “Back then we helped a country. Here, the entire Omniverse could be at stake.”
“Woah now”, intervened Urist. “Ye sure ye didn’ hit yer head somewhere out there, Ama?”
“I’m completely lucid, trust me. This orb… let me put things short. It holds the memories of someone very knowledgeable of the Omniverse. And it gave me a peek of an evil so great that it overshadows Yami by a… very large margin. It’s an evil that may extend its tendrils out to grasp at the Omniverse at any time, if it isn’t already doing so right now, as we speak. I can’t hope to go up against it myself. So I need to gather help and spread the message.”
“Yer talkin’ about Diablo, aren’t ye? … what are ye all lookin’ at me fer?””
“You KNEW about him?” asked Amaterasu.
“Well o’course! Diablo’s the biggest threat the Omniverse has ever faced, ye know. Ah was there when it happened. Camelot sacrificed one o’ its strongest Primes to seal ‘im away in the Underverse. Bu’ ‘is agents are still runnin’ around, an’ it’s said that some o’ them might try ta break the Seal. We don’ know what’s been goin’ on in the Underverse bu’ ah doubt that Diablo’s been twiddlin’ thumbs all that time.” He sighed. “Ain’t much we can do though. Diablo’s a Prime, jus’ like ye are, Ama. Ye can’t kill ‘im or stick ‘im in a prison even if somehow ye were able ta defeat ‘im. An’ it’s said tha’ he’s the strongest Prime o’ them all. Stronger than King Aragorn an’ Emperor Palpatine.”
“I see… well, the man whose memories are contained in this orb, he was in the Underverse, it appears. He was able to escape... somehow. And if he could, who’s to say that others couldn’t too? Others with less benevolent intentions?”
“So… yer project is ta spread tha warnin’ tha’ Diablo might be comin’ back at some point? An’ why are we goin’ into tha Fields fer this exactly?”
“No. It’s far grander than that. We can’t go into the big cities and start shouting our warning like a Doom prophet. People won’t listen to us. Besides, I cannot warn people without revealing where I know that information from, and this orb… needs to be kept a secret for as long as possible. If it were to fall into the hands of this Diablo, the consequences could be catastrophic.”
“Right”, murmured Urist and stroked his beard. “So. What’s yer plan?”
“It’s a very long story. I will tell it to you while we navigate to… around where the mountains border the sea of the Fields. Fiara, just fly us forward until the evening. You are all well-equipped for the cold, right?”
But before Fiara could give her a snappy reply, they passed through the Gate, and vanished off into the Frozen Fields.
![[Image: Rnk00x5.gif]](http://i.imgur.com/Rnk00x5.gif)
undoge: Credit & Hugs to Ruby for the sign, and to Guu for the smileys! undoge:Hide your chicken nuggers, hide your heads, the Sundoge is coming and she'll hat everyone!
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