Out of the Gate and into the Renaissance Fair

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Ururu felt like words were failing her, but then again the girl was younger than who Ururu appeared to be. She may not simply know. Ururu however was running on more than instinct and could at least in this regard equate it to how physics worked in her universe and how she often manipulated it.

It was hard for her not to notice the bandwidth-

The mental communication from Hikaru nearly made her jump out of her seat.

Ururu, there are people here. Less time dissecting the nature of the cosmos and more time being a person. There was a warm tone in her words but also a very veiled threat that made Ururu reactively swallow. It was usually that same tone that she used to get Ururu to stop research and come upstairs to eat.

“Right. Never mind. We can prank the President of the Galactic Star Empire some other time.” Ururu said with a slight grin, her eyes though felt blank as she tried to push implications of earth shattering proportions out of her head. She offered Desco’s communicator back and only just realizing that it wasn’t flesh. For that matter if that’s the case..

Did that mean Desco was wearing a one piece dress? Did that mean matching-

A mental slap to the back of the head told her she was crossing a line.

Focusing back on reality for a second time in five minutes Ururu realized food had been brought out… or conjured.

“What is that?” Ururu said dumbly. She recognized the chocolate and the pokers but that was about it.

[Okor]

Okor observed the scene as best he could, a heavy lid closing over his ragged, red orb of an eye, its marred surface slowly recovering from the damage inflicted upon it. The children below him gibbered about tales of terror, unneeded molten delicacies, all utterly inconsequential. He largely tuned it out. A fire burned in the center of the grouping, flickering flames illuminating the vague, blurry shapes surrounding it. The purple mass was 'Desco', assuming that the -Chan was some form of honourific, rather than a surname. What could a child have done to earn such an honour anyways? They were not from the world of mist and mire, of death and darkness. When these whelps had been laughing, he had clutched his spear until splinters had burrowed their way into his hands so deep that it took the village healers a week to heal his wounds.

They were weak, almost painfully so. Perhaps not when the conclusion was based off of sheer power, but when applied to their wills... How long would they last against reality? With all of its pain, its ability to hurt, how would they continue without the shielding influence of Nurgle?

He gurgled a breath, as he came to his conclusion. He would make them strong. He would shield them from the cruelties of life, and show them the path to power. The path to protection. His companions squeezed his innards, writhing coils of insectile flesh slowly tunneling through his dead meat. With a minor concession to what little comfort he could feel, he lowered himself onto a fallen tree trunk, its mossy mass groaning beneath his massive weight. He snapped off a leafless branch from its dark trunk, and drew his utilitarian blade, slowly and calmly etching a fly into its surface, occasionally pausing to sweep detritus from the area of his attention, and from his devotional tabard, the sigil of Nurgle still proudly displayed.

[Schwi Dola]

As the night grew, Desco enjoyed the various things, games, and foods that they provided themselves. It would seem that Rebbecca was not a Prime but Ururu and Desco were, not that it mattered in the least to Desco.The night grew and they stayed up late into the night while the hulking zombie space marine just observed. But soon it was morning and it was time to head out. Rebbecca and Okor had a tournament they were going to.

The Prinnies were gone by the time Desco opened her eyes in the morning. She sat up, and yawned stretching out her arms. Desco used her tail to push her body up, supporting it for a moment in the air and then letting her legs touch the ground. She looked around, and the quiet morning said very little. Desco rolled up her bedroll, and gathered up the materials that were trash. She was already starting to get used to normal Prime conventions, and took the gathered material and focused on dematerializing it. She didn't know how she knew how to do it, but she turned it back into Omnilium and let that fade back into her chest. Desco saw that the others started to stir."Should we get going now? We don't want to be late!"

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Ururu was already awake, as she had been mulling over her plans for the morning, granted she was still in bed snuggling into Hikaru. But that was beside the point. Over the course of last night’s festivities and the various conversations she had been running, Ururu had managed to tease out some things that had been obvious to the primes and their secrets of moving around for the most part. And if what she gathered was true…

One of her strongest techniques and greatest transports was perfect for this situation.

And then Desco gave took away all her reason to stay in bed with her hands in some particularly comfortable positions. She just had to do that. Then again it was a good reason. Mostly.

Somewhat.

Alright it’s just a tournament, soft cuddly HIkaru was more important.

You know better than that, we need the rewards for that.

Ururu groaned, Fine be that way

Getting up and leaving Hikaru to pack up. Ururu moved check the ground. Had this been her world she could compressed the soil into stone easily enough. Here? It was hard to predict.

“Well folks I suppose we should get going, Desco-chan if you don’t mind I’ll get us there in if jiffy.” Ururu said breathily. She stomped her foot several times on the ground chakra flooding the ground in pulses, feeling out its constituent components. It’d do if combined with a little of Omnilium.

Stepping away a bit, this would disrupt the entire campsite if she was to close after all; Ururu formed a sphere of omnilium and began to mold her chakra into. Building it up the raw chakra first it was then that Ururu noted that Omnilium was an ideal storage medium. The chakra charge though was important; it would provide everything needed for Ururu to get to their destination.

There. That was it.

Right at the point of critical mass before it started bleeding into the visible spectrum.

Her fingers started to flash together locking into combination after combination of hand seals that molded for the next portion she channeled. Faster and faster Ururu found herself feeling relieved that the universe for once wasn’t fighting her in the least.

And then it was complete. She could feel the technique snap into place as the all her research over the years at least for once was remaining consistent.

Dropping to her knees, her chakra bloomed into focus as it blew into the ground with explosive force.

Dirt, rock and boulders all around began to tremble as cracks rippled away from Ururu as she road the wave of energy that was filling her. Sure the technique took nearly fifty times it normally did but she wasn’t trying to speed it along. But the thrill was almost rapture… no that was to come any second now.

A thunderous drum rumbled through the ground.

And then another.

A heart beat like a steam train gaining moment.

The shaking of earth around Ururu increased with it until something gave way. Or rather everything did.

Wings of stone were the first thing to erupt from the ground, followed by a tail and a head and four legs. The beast was climbing from the earth with each trumpeting heartbeat, scales gleaming with polished black granite. Streaks of gold and silver and some oxidized copper.

Ururu felt herself moving with it as its back formed from the soil which at least confirmed some of her suspicions of her capabilities. And knowing what came next she grabbed hold of its main spin on its back as it began to shake dust and debris much like a wet dog. Torrents of stuff trailing and flowing from its every move before it released a loud triumphant roar like a chorus bending iron vocal chords.

It turned its long neck towards Ururu revealing obsidian eyes and ram like horns that curled around to is snout. They blinked once and its nose flaired in a snort that practically said, ‘About Time.’

An old friend had returned to her and it awaited her command, impatiently.

And who was Ururu to make it wait any longer? With a heavy stomp she had it lower its morning star tail to the ground with hit with almost as much noise as the staccato its heart produced in regular intervals.

“All aboard the Ururu Express.” Hikaru said as she pulled Ururu’s backpack on and gave a slow wave towards the dragon’s tail as if it were a stair case.

[Okor]

Okor gazed upon the Obsidian flank of the dragon, its black, stone-hewn hide etched with metallic patterns, iridescent elements swirling and cavorting along the darkness of its stone skin. Great dark wings, carved from solid rock sought to darken the sky, outstretching from its massive body. It was a thing of terrible beauty, power evident in the carved muscles etched across its mass. But of course, how much of that was true? Power in this realm was such a mercurial, deceptive thing. As has been proven time and time again, a small child could summon forth the same power that the Plague Marine had spent his many millennia accumulating and honing. The strength and durability promised in this creature may be but a lie, a thin veneer of reliability over a patchwork mess of Omnillium and hope. What could truly be trusted? He opened his mouth to speak, counsel against this action, when Rebbecca scrabbled up the beast's tail, laughing and shouting as she bounded up its spine, pale feet slapping against its bulk. Sighing in resignation, the rotting giant began to climb the beast's tail, smudging the delicate patterns of raw metal beneath his corrupted tread, as he settled on to the beast's back, offering his bulk to support the delicate figure of Rebbecca, who watched the proceedings with wide, alien eyes.

[Schwi Dola]

Desco nodded to Ururu, I was indeed time to move on and see this thing happening at the coliseum. What would Desco see there? A tournament sounded exciting. It would probably be different than that Dante's Abyss Survival game. That was some crazy stuff from some Hunger Games like show and it didn't go well for Desco. A tournament at least sounded more structured. A lot of the Anime Desco watched had those tournament arcs. The demonic ones were usually deadly and fought to the death where the good guy tourneys death disqualified except the Final Boss type guy that ignores the rules when he fights the protagonist. Should Desco do that?

Desco watched as Ururu materialized a great back dragon. She took in the details of how he looked but all Desco concluded was that he was cool, and very handsome. She was a little embarrassed as she climbed up onto the thing's back. Desco could see farther from up here than she could on the ground. "Let's Gooo!" Desco's voice was full of excitement and she put one fist up in the air.

[Corporal Light]

Swirling around in a purple dimension... swirling around in a purple dimension. Ballad felt like if he kept spinning around in this place he was going to dry heave, and that's the worst kind of throwing up. Throwing up normally just leaves you drained of all your energy, by dry heaving is relentless because you never have any food to heave up. It makes it fucking impossible to stand still and concentrate because you're too busy dry-heaving.

Ballad let out a small sigh, shaking his head as he continued swirling through the portal. He made an idiot mistake. This wasn't anything more than a fucking torture chamber designed by the smiling guy to make him wish he was never born by vomiting from dizziness every hour. I should probably start noticing how things that can help me are really ways to exploit the fact that I'm immortal, and can subsequently cause me eternal pain no matter what I do. I gotta get out of here...

Suddenly, as the spinning finally started to take hold of Ballad, the scenery started to change. His field of vision suddenly started to be enveloped by a bright light, leading him to let out a cry of pain as it attacked his vision. He was about to yell at whoever, or whatever, was doing it to fucking stop right when he finds himself within an entirely new world. He tumbles out of the purple portal, falling into a patch of grass. He moves his left hand up to his head, letting out a loud groan as he says "Fuck, man... what kind of fucking torture dimension was that anywa-.." before stopping mid-sentence as he looks down at the ground. What the hell was this stuff? Eyes widened, he suddenly jumps backwards, dragging himself to the edge of the portal as he stares at the grass around him. He had no idea what the hell this stuff was. He had never seen grass or anything like that in his entire life.

Breathing deeply in an attempt to calm down, Ballad says "What the hell is this place?" in utter disbelief as he stands back up, taking a look around him. His eyes squint as he looks up into the sky, now a bright blue with a sun shining down onto him. He found it was fairly hotter than in the white realm, making him wonder whether or not it was a good idea to be wearing his clothes out in this weather. No, wait, it's possible that he might need them, he'll keep them on. Besides, heat stroke might not be the worst of his problems.

Surrounding the gate were several, large pieces of stone, standing up in a straight line from the gate. Around the land were trees that reaches up above the stone, all with green leaves on their branches. This new sight stunned Ballad completely. He had never, ever, ever in his life witnessed something like this before. It was... beautiful. "I have to admit, this place is fucking gorgeous. Like... really good-looking, hot damn.." he says in an awe-inspired tone of voice.

However, it didn't take too much longer for reality to snap back into him, starting with a sharp pain in his right side. Oh, yeah. Wounds... need to treat them. But where the hell would be a good place to treat wounds? Looking up into the sky, he notices a nearby tree with a few green leaves falling down. Serves protection from the sun, and it might give me plenty of time to rest or use this omnillium crap to help treat my wounds. Deciding his course of action, he slowly trudges along towards the tree, his boots leaving sizable footprints and making crunching noises as he stepped piles of dry leaves. Sitting down behind the tree, so his back was to the purple portal, he held his left hand outwards. He slowly closed his eyes, beginning to concentrate on his wounds.

Hour and a Half later

Ballad opened his eyes once more, slowly twisting his shoulder around. Feeling no pain anywhere in his body, he begins to talk some more. "Man, this omnillium whatever-the-hell is... pretty damn impressive. Wonder if I can't bring some home once I get out of here. I'll be considered one of the greatest inventors of all time once I show them an element that can do anything." He obviously seems highly pleased with himself, even if his voice was muffled slightly from the red scarf around his mouth. His tone said it all. Once he left, he was sharing this crap. Won't even care if it sparked another revolution. Who cares where it came from? It was capable of turning into ANYTHING. That alone was worthy of usage, not the philosophical or scientific reasons for its existence.

Ballad moves his left hand behind him, dragging himself back up to his feet. He continues to talk as he walks forward through the woods, not exactly paying attention to the path just a short stroll away to his left. He seems to be ignoring it intentionally. Him killing those five guys at the fountain would probably not suit well with whoever would find out, assuming anyone did. He had huge doubts any of those guys were still alive.

"Actually, that's a damn good point. There WAS no one else around, at least anyone I could see. I shot all five of those guys, and I didn't hear them report anything. So, if anything, they are missing to whoever they are working for. Don't know how long it took for them to get to my location, but if it was long, then I should be rather safe here." He continues debating the finer points of what went down even as a bird flew down from the trees, flying across his face multiple times. He tries his best to keep his attention off of the bird, though to anyone around it was clear it was pissing him off more and more.

"At least, I'm fairly certain that- damn bird... that those guys didn't come from here. Didn't look lik- dammit, go away bird... like they did come from here. If they did though.. gonna have to- FOR FUCK'S SAKE," Ballad finally shouts outwards as the bird nearly hits him across the head with its own body. Pulling out his revolver from behind his coat, he shouts "That's it! I've had enough of your shit, bird!" He aims it up into the trees, standing still, waiting... waiting for the bird to come out one more time.

And it did. He saw the bird fly out of one of the branches, heading straight at him, intending to harass him some more, no doubt. "Sucker.." was the only thing Ballad had to say before adjusting his aim, pulling back the hammer of the revolver, and firing. The gunshot rang across the woods for a long while, so anyone close by would easily hear it.

The bullet smacks against the bird, letting out a death cry before toppling to the ground next to him. It was a black bird, barely bigger than the size of a grown man's hand. He had got him through the chest. He followed the body down to the ground, keeping his gun aimed at it just in case. Seeing it not moving, he annoyingly says "Stupid bird. No survival instinct whatsoever. You know what? I'm taking this bird." as he leans forward, grabbing the bird with his gloved hand. He continues on, saying "I'm going to find a safe place where there aren't any more suicide birds, and I'm going to cook your ass, shitbird. Then eat you. I'm hungry.." as he walks towards the path to his left, intent on finding a safer place where he can build that fire, and finally get some food in his stomach.

[Ururu Kyuuei]

Feel free to use the thread if you want, but we've pretty much moved on Minas Tirith/The Colosseum. If you catch up we can probably work something out interaction wise.

[Corporal Light]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll probably have him stop in various places before Minas Tirith, which will take maybe around 2-3 posts.

Roughly twenty minutes later

Ballad had finally found a spot where he could be at peace for at least an hour or so. It was alongside the path, about fifteen feet or so to its left. The spot in question was a relatively open field, with long patches of grass surrounding it and a large tree in the center. Compared to all the others, it was a lot smaller, and was probably climbable. It had green leaves, just like the rest, with plenty of small piles of them littering the forest floor.

Ballad moves his right hand through one of the patches of grass, coming across the field. Looking around, he could see how open it was. Perfect to spot incoming visitors. Plus, the tree could give him some branches for the fire he wanted to make, and he could use the leaves as kindling to be lit by his special wick. Thank goodness he still had plenty of those on his person. He couldn't quite remember how he managed to have so many on his person at the time, but it hardly mattered. It wold be really useful in a lit of things here, just like back home.

Walking towards the tree, he looks down towards the bird corpse in his left hand. The corpse thankfully hadn't rotted in the time it took for him to walk into this field, so that's a plus. He gently set it down next to the tree, hoping nothing proceeds to try to eat it as he gazes up into the tree.

About a few feet above the ground, some small branches were sticking out from the tree. Moving his left hand up to his eyes to block the sun, he managed to get a glimpse of them. Kind of high up, and I don't think I could climb this. Maybe I can knock them down with the pickaxe?

Deciding to risk it, Ballad removes the two straps connecting the Pickaxe to his shoulder, taking around five seconds to do this. Gripping the wooden handle of the Pickaxe in his hands, he raises it over his head. After getting into position, he hops upwards, swinging the Pickaxe at the tree branches.

The force of the swing manages to shake the tree a bit, causing some more leaves to gently float downwards onto the ground. The swing also managed to split off a few branches, tumbling them down and scattering them in various locations around the field. Repeating the process, it takes about a minute for him to knock enough branches off the tree.

Setting the metal end of the Pickaxe down on the ground, Ballad proceeds to breathe deeply in an attempt to catch his breath. He didn't remember his Pickaxe being THIS heavy, especially he's used it for years without trouble. Something is wrong here. First my revolver goes single action, now my pickaxe is heavy as hell. What's next? Will my revolver's bomb setting not work?

Grumbling to himself, he straps the Pickaxe back onto his shoulder, walking around the open field to pick up the fallen branches as well as piles of leaves. After about three minutes, he has a pile of leaves and a few sticks piled up on top of each other. The one thing he was missing now was something to ensure the fire didn't burn down the fucking forest.

Sitting down next to the tree, he leans his back against the bark of the tree, deciding to tap into his omnillium reserves again. Closing his eyes, he holds his hands out, thinking of a bunch of stones that could fit in the palms of his hands. After about six minutes, he opens his eyes, revealing about six stones, all big enough to fit the palms.

Taking his time, mostly because he wasn't too terribly hungry, Ballad begins to work on his campfire. To pass the time, he begins to talk to himself, this time to discuss the nature of the realm he was in.

"This place still blows my mind on how amazing looking it is. I mean, what IS half of this stuff? I've never seen this... green.. parchment-like stuff before. Hope it's good kindling," Ballad says, grabbing some leaves and tossing them into the now finished campfire. It had taken a little under four minutes to set up the campfire. The campfire was surrounded by the stones in a circle formation, with some stick in between the wedges where the stones connected with each other. Around the sticks were the leaves, scattered all over it.

Sitting down next to the campfire, Ballad moves his left hand into his coat, opening up a bag attached to his belt. Pulling out the wick, he takes a moment to gaze at it before striking it against one of the stones, setting it ablaze. Once he did that, he tossed it into the campfire.

The result stunned Ballad completely. The leaves started to slowly burn up, enveloping the sticks as a loud crackling sound formed from the fire. This didn't really happen this way back home. Pretty much every fire made was silent, so one could better appreciate the warmth that came from the fire. This one was just LOUD, and he wasn't sure if that was good.

Whatever. Let's just cook this bird and get to breakfast, or lunch, or whatever. Leaning back up against the wall, it took roughly six minutes for Ballad to obtain a sharpened stick small enough to stab the bird without destroying it entirely. Slowly appearing the bird through its chest, he proceeds to hang it over the fire, and waits.

[Corporal Light]

Fifteen minutes later

Ballad removes the cooked bird corpse from the top of the fire, seeing it roasted almost to perfection. Only problem was the fact it was still covered in feathers. Damn. Ballad brings the stick closer to him, slowly moving his left hand towards a random part of the bird. He proceeds to gently pluck feathers around a large spot of the bird, taking fifteen more minutes to clean an area big enough for a chomp. Satisfied, Ballad moves his left hand up to his red scarf, shaking it a few times and rubbing it against the ground to rid it of feathers and grime before doing so. He then tugs off his red scarf before moving the corpse up to his mouth, taking a huge chunk of the bird. He chews up the chunk, grimacing a bit as he swallows it. Damn bird isn't even that tasty. Least it'll keep me going for an hour or two.

Setting the sharpened stick with what remained of the bird still attached on the ground, He moves his hands back down to the scarf, wrapping it around his head. Pushing himself off of the ground, He proceeds to move his hands to his sides, taking a look around his surroundings.

"So... I'm in a forest world... annoying birds... where to go next.." Ballad says to himself, moving his right hand into his coat, removing his canteen. He uncaps the canteen, removing his scarf once more before taking a few more gulps of water. Thank goodness I have plenty of water on hand. If worse comes to worst, I can use omnillium to just make more food and water.

Capping the canteen back up, He stuffs it back into his belt, turning around to fave the campfire. Might as well douse the flames, seeing as I'm not gonna stay here long. Walking up to the flames, Ballad quickly stamps his left foot down on the sticks and burning leaves, extinguishing the flames.

Moving his hands into his coat pockets, he process to walk away from his camp, moving back towards the patch of grass he has entered previously. Brushing the grass aside, he comes back across the road he had seen beforehand. Considering he hadn't been attacked by anyone in the thirty minutes he's been around, it's at least partially safe to say the road isn't a bad place to be. Sighing to himself, he walks down onto the dirt road, proceeding to follow it. In the mean time, he begins to talk to himself, just like always.

"If this road leads me to a village of religious zealots who are miners, than this is nothing but a dream."

[Corporal Light]

Two hours later

"For god's sake, this road goes on for an ETERNITY," Ballad whines, trudging along the dirt road. He had traversed his way out of the forest a long time ago, and had been walking along the road for what felt like ages. He hadn't found anything for literally two hours. It was just him, the road, and the open, barren fields to his left and right. It was almost like the white realm, only here the color spectrum was at least a bit more forgiving with what colors he was seeing. And he wasn't getting shot at, which was another positive.

Ballad raises his left hand up to his head, holding it out in front of him as the suns rays glared into his eyeballs. Annoyed, he begins to start complaining about the sun "Seriously?! This is the fifth time I've had to deal with the sun flashing in my eyes! Can't it just go down already? Back at home, we didn't have to deal with the sun constantly breathing down our necks. Or the sun making me hotter than fire." Ballad lets out a groan of disapproval as he slides his right hand to the neck of his coat, looking downwards into his coat. His white sweater underneath the coat appeared to be getting caked with sweat. How long had he been walking out here in the sun? An hour or so?

Sighing, he slides his right hand back into his pocket. He decided to just keep walking and hope to find a tree or something to sit under until the sun stopped being an asshole. Which wouldn't be for at least a few more hours, but Ballad didn't have the experience to figure that out for himself. He continues walking, taking out his canteen to get a gulp of water so he didn't dehydrate.

----------------------------------------------------

Ten minutes later

"For fuck's sake... why is.. there nothing out here..?" At this point, Ballad was getting to his limit of how much he was willing to deal with. This sun was just not coming down, and his canteen was already half full. "If this keeps up, I'm going to have to make a goddamn hut out of this omnillium stuff that is covered in ice that blows wind everywhere. Just so I can cool down out here in this barren wasteland.." Capping his canteen back up, he parts his coat, attaching the canteen to the inside of his belt as he continues walking along.

A few more minutes pass, and just when Ballad is starting to think it would be a good time to just rest up alongside the road, he notices something along the horizon as he walks up a small hill. He couldn't quite make it out, but it appeared to be a mountain, judging from the black shape his eyes were picking up. However, a lot closer to him, and thus easier to see, was what appeared to be a small village. It had several buildings, most with brown, wooden roof-tops, though other specifics couldn't really be identified at his distance. What he could say for certain, though, is that the village, from his perspective, wasn't that far ahead. Couldn't take any more than three minutes to get there, even if he did walk. Smiling to himself, he says "Well.. this day is looking up, isn't it?" before walking down the hill and towards the village.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This place is jam-packed!" said Ballad, having just walked through the gate leading into the village. The two guards posted there gave him a good stare as he walked through, and he couldn't recall if their reactions to letting him in were delayed intentionally, but at this point he didn't care. He was just glad there was some change of scenery.

Looking around the village, he could finally get some specifics out of the place. It appeared to have a huge population, or as huge as a village could get, considering everywhere he turned there was a huge crowd of people swarming out of buildings. The buildings themselves were mostly made of wood for the walls, which appeared to be painted white in some cases. Some had windows, others had signs detailing them as stores of some kind (Ballad once passed a building with a hanging sign out in the middle of the street. It had a variety of what could be best described as strange shapes, with the words "Food" underneath them. Ballad simply shook his head, clearly doubting that particular label.) All of them had a cobblestone finish on the bottom of the foundation of the buildings. Ballad couldn't tell if this village was brand new, or if it had been renovated at least a few times. Back at the world of eternal winter, one could tell pretty easily, because most towns that were new often didn't have rusted metal in the walls of their buildings. That, and the fact that some older towns were simply abandoned as time went on. Even we, one of the most adaptable and lucky species on that world, couldn't withstand constant blizzards forever.

"I have to say, though... this is rather impressive.." Ballad says to himself, obviously in awe of the sight. Most of the villages and shantytowns in the world of eternal winter were rarely bustling with activity such as this. This new sight was obviously astounding to someone like Ballad, who had lived all his life in the relative comfort of loneliness. As he keeps walking, his thoughts keep getting relayed through his mouth, drawing attention from some. People around him frowned, whispered to their friends, among other things that, to normal people, who make them feel unwelcome. However, Ballad hardly seemed to notice, apparently wanting to take in the sight of the place.

Eventually, after about a two minute walk, he found himself back to where he started. It was here that the situation dawned on him and brought him back to reality. Him walking around like a loon was certainly drawing attention, especially since he didn't seem to have a clear path until right now. Sighing, he looked back up into the sky, seeing the sun still beating down from up above.

"Well.. might as well rest at some place here..." Ballad says before walking forward, hardly caring that he was walking into a crowd of people. Pushing and shoving along with the rest of the crowd, his eyes become drawn to a nearby sign. It had a mug full of what looked to be a golden beverage within it, and even if that didn't clue him in, the drunken people walking out of the establishment did. "That looks like a good place," Ballad says as he pushes himself through to the bar. As he walks up to the door, he makes a double-take as a drunken man stumbles out of the door, saying "Holy shi- watch it!" to him in an annoyed tone of voice. Ballad didn't get to see or hear anyone else's reaction to this as he walks inside.

---------------------------------------------

The bar itself, just like the village, appeared to be packed. What appeared to be dozens of men were sitting around on bar stools, on chairs next to bar tables, and some were just leaning against the walls of the establishment. Some were talking, others were drinking to their hearts content, while others were so piss drunk it's a wonder how they hadn't passed out yet. Ballad stands in the entrance for a few moments, seemingly stunned by just how many people could be in one place. Fucking terrifying how many people can be in one place.

Looking towards the front of the bar, he could see a bar counter with several men sitting on bar stools, one of them was getting the bartender to get him some additional drinks. Doesn't legend hold that bartenders also have information one would need? If so, now would be a good time to prove that theory.

Walking up to the bar counter, he holds his right hand in an apologetic manner as he passes by a man. That man stares at him for a few seconds before shaking his head, moving up towards a table. Not paying attention to him, he slides himself onto a nearby bar stool next to the bar counter. This bar stool was about the third of a line of ten. Six of these were occupied, two of which right next to Ballad. The two men next to Ballad stare at him for a few moments, and appear to slide their stools away from him. Ballad turns his head to them as they do this, though he doesn't object. He honestly didn't care if they didn't want to talk to him. He was pretty used to not talking to people. Most seemed to be assholes, anyway.

The bartender didn't seem to mind him so much, a trait that Ballad was thankful for. It at least ensured that he could get the info he needed.

"A new face! What can I do for'ya?" the bartender exclaims enthusiastically. He seemed to speak in a weird accent, similar to that of an old country farmer. The man was stocky, and he had a bushy mustache along his nose. The sleeves of his shirt were tucked inwards, and they were up to his elbows. His arms were pretty hairy themselves, giving Ballad the impression he was a part-time miner and certainly not a bartender. Damn, should've figured I'd find a fellow miner here.

Removing the scarf around his face, he says "Hi. Just wanted to ask, is this place normally this packed?" He remains seated, sliding his left hand slightly towards an unoccupied mug full of beer. Before he could touch it, however, the bartender placed his hand on his own. As Ballad looks up, the man frowns at him, quietly stating "Hope you plan on paying for that."

Ballad looks to his right, seeing some of the other men shooting glances at him. Honestly, he wasn't in any mood to be fighting at the moment. For starters, he still didn't know if those white soldiers were even from here, so the last thing he wanted was to be drawing attention to himself. Secondly, if he did start a fight, he had huge doubts the bartender will tell him shit.

Looking back towards the bartender, he quietly says "How much?" He hoped the bartender didn't toss him out of the bar when he needed his help.

"Five omnillium. Omni-pence, to be more specific," the bartender replied, his hand still grasping Ballad's.

Nodding, he raises his right hand, slowly releasing the amount of omnillium required. Handing it to the bartender, he stares at the rainbow colored orb, nodding before releasing his hold of Ballad. The men to Ballad's right slowly turn their glances away from him, though they had a look of worry on their faces, and for good reason. They had no idea how powerful this one was, so they wanted to exercise caution.

Sighing, Ballad grabs hold of the mug, saying "Anyways.. is this place normally packed?" as he brings the mug to his lips, taking a swig from the beer.

Gripping the omnillium orb in his hand, the bartender replies "Not normally. However, a special event is happening at The Colosseum. A tournament." Seeing Ballad stare at him, the bartender explains "Basically, it is an event where we witness grand battles there. Great entertainment value."

Ballad sets the mug down on the bar counter, some of the beer splashing out of the cup and onto the counter. He replies "And where is this.. Colosseum?"

"South of Minas Tirith. That's the mountain you probably saw on your way over here. Heading over there, on foot, will probably take you another two hours. Then from there, it would take another thirty minutes to reach the Colosseum. Damn good place, especially if you are watching the esteemed... Prime tournaments."

"Prime Tournaments?" Ballad said, slightly intrigued. He remembered that one of the soldiers called him a "Prime," so does that mean he was eligible? If so, he'll have to know what exactly he would be up against. Unless the bartender didn't know, in which case he'd feel disappointed. But hey, might as well try right?

"The grand events. The ones everyone all over the Omniverse wish to see. The sheer spectacle of two immortals fighting to see who was better," said the bartender, bringing his left hand to his lips before letting out a kiss, "is a sight to behold indeed."

"Interesting... thank you, sir. I'll... try to take note of that.." Ballad replies, taking one last gulp from his beer before sliding off of the bar stool. He looked to his right, seeing the other men were no longer giving him odd looks. Sighing, he wraps the red scarf around his mouth once more, exiting the bar.

After exiting the bar, Ballad walks towards a nearby building, leaning against it whilst the crowd walks past and enters shops. During this time, he proceeds to talk to himself, debating whether or not he should attend this... tournament.

"I don't see why not. A chance to show off, maybe. But I don't think that's a worthy cause to fight others for. Glory? I already have plenty of that. Than again, though, didn't the smiling guy say that if I looked for omnillium, I would find it? Is a reward for winning the tournament a lot of omnillium? If so, good god, that's not easy to pass up. Then again, though, if that was the case, how would Primes lose fights? They can't die, so how does one determine the winner? Through who falls on their knees first?!"

Ballad continues discussing with himself, like he was debating with a Church of Candlelight member about the existence of the wick. Eventually, he reached a conclusion.

"Alright.. there's only one real way to find out if fighting in the Colosseum is worth it. I'll go up, see who's participating, and go from there. If it looks too much to handle, I'll just watch from the stands."

Having made his decision, he leans off the building, and proceeds to head down the road, towards the mountain of Minas Tirith.

[Corporal Light]

Alright, my work here is now done. You can now abandon this thread :)