Through the sea of sand (Open)

[The Kid]

The Kid exited the portal that lead to the Nexus. It looks like he had chosen poorly, nothing but sand for miles around. It was all the eyes could see. Already he could feel his hammer and bow weighing down on him. Which is nothing when compared to his (albeit incomplete) armor. What he would give for a barge, he thought to himself.

The boy looked at his hands. Could it be done? He had drawn these two weapons from his back like he they had always been there. Could something larger be created. Omnilium, whenever he grabbed it all he could see where the blue and white shards of his old world. He gripped it and started to think. He envisioned it.

It would be twenty minutes later when the young man realized that he simply could not do it. Air travel was the primo way to get around in Calandia, if he could not summon a flying boat here then what hope was there that he could summon something else? "Nothing for it then." He said as he braced himself with his armored left arm and ventured forth. Another Kid would have turned back, perhaps to try and see what the other gate way's lead too. Not this Kid however. He had not seen a single sign of human life anywhere here. Despite being told there were others like him. When you knew only so few people, the prospect of finding others would be enough to drive anyone on. Besides, if he needed water he could always call it from the shards.

He was on his way, going no particular direction, into the Endless Dunes.

[Roger Smith]

It was always the same, out here in the Dunes.... Their "Endless" descriptor was certainly accurate. As far as the eye could see, nothing but sand, sand, and more...well, sand. There were the occasional trees sparsely dotted around the areas nearest the Nexus gate...it rained there, every now and then at the least. But generally speaking, outside of the few settlements, the Endless Dunes were not a pleasant place to be. And travel in them was not easy.

Both hands firmly locked around the steering levers of his personal mode of transport, seated as comfortably as he could in be in the shade of the sail propelling the sand yacht, courtesy of the specific time of day, Erik Whitman, ever-present smile locked onto his features, made his way across the sands. His intention was to head for the gate back to the Nexus, as he had a lovely engagement to check in on in Camelot.

He rained back on the speed of his craft as he neared the gate, having spotted someone emerging from it. "Oh ho ho, oh my, oh look, a new arrival, could it be?" His smile grew more pronounced and genuine as he swung his course back around, standing up from his seated posture. "Ahaha, ahoy there, my sand-bound friend!" he called out as he grew near, pulling back on the sail to turn it parallel to the wind and bring his yacht to a halt.

"I dearly hope I'm not interrupting you in any way!" he added, flexing his fingers after so long at the controls. "But if I might ask, might you be a new arrival to this wonderful Omniverse of ours? And where might you be going, in this most inhospitable of verses?" He brought one hand over his mouth, and stifled a chuckle. "Ah, forgive me...that might be rude to ask after just meeting someone, hmm?"

[The Kid]

Somone, a person. He could see a person in some sort of sand craft come sailing on over. Could it be? Like Omni told him, another one who sought Omnilium? "My god." He spoke to himself, his lips hidden under his red bandana. "Hey!" He yelled out as the man came in closer, it only just now occurred to him that the man might want to take his Omnilium. But he was just so glad to see another man who spoke in his native tongue. Who was not brandishing a spear, repeater crossbow, or gun.

When he came up it seemed like the man was a plenty talkative sort. He had not seen much of this sort of kind and helpful talk in over a month. When something needed to be done he stepped off to do it, hardly ever spoke to the others when they were off locating the next core for him to pick up. "No, Piff no your not interrupting me! I have hardly seen a new man who has not tried to kill me in over a months time...l what's a verse? Is it what's beyond the portals? Seemed as good of an option as anyone. At least here I am not liable to run into windbags, Rattle-tail, and lunkheads. Not a lot of creatures can survive out here and I was actually thinking it would take me much longer than a day to find anyone like me."

"So, lot of questions. Who are you? Been here long? How many others are there? How do I get back?"

[Roger Smith]

Ah, most delightful! A friendly enough, talkative sort!

"Ah, most fortuitous!" he tittered, inclining his head in a nod. "I find interrupting business of any urgency to be altogether reprehensible, to put it mildly." He tilted his head to one side slightly as the Kid went on about not having met anyone without violence on their minds. "My, but that is dreadful...over a month without meeting a single civil soul? My, my. And here I thought my own world was a lovely place." He waved a hand dismissively, moving on to another topic entirely. "As for what a Verse is..." He turned his gaze aside, toward the Gate clearly visible in the near distance.

"Every individual location in this lovely collection known as the Omniverse, separated by the Gates, is colloquially known as a 'Verse', on its own. Or perhaps that is their true name, and not really a colloquialism at all? I cannot say, for I do not know! But that is what they are called commonly, true name or not!" He shrugged with an expression of amusement and overall disinterest. "But I don't really suppose names mean all that much, do they?"

"My, my, but you are full of questions! How refreshing!" He lowered himself back down to sit in the relative shade afforded by the sail of his craft, one hand coming to rest on his chin, fingertips barely brushing his skin. "I must admit as to being unfamiliar with anything you have just mentioned. But I gather they were," he leaned his head back, gesticulating vaguely with one hand, "unpleasant?" he finished lamely. "And you are rather fortunate, in some ways. Had you been a few moments ahead of your present pace, or just a few moments behind, you might very well have indeed gone for at least a while longer without any reasonably company! And in a place such as this," he swung one arm out wide, at the general expanse of sand, "that would be frightfully unpleasant, indeed, no?"

"But, on to your questions, as I've rambled on quite enough, I should think." He cleared his throat, and held up one hand, four fingers extended. "My name is Erik Whitman. If you should ever acquire a Dataverse-capable device, you should find me easily enough there by the name of egregiousInquisitor. I would always be inclined to share a word, if you are in need or simply in a conversational mood." He folded down one finger.

"I have been here for what seems like a great while, to be certain. But, there is a..." He frowned slightly, the expression looking altogether unnatural on his face, like paint spilled across a finished painting, shattering the captured scene. "...complication with measuring time here. I cannot state exactly how, but at times I have left on minor trips, taking only days from my own perceptions, and returned to find over a week had passed, and sometimes more than that!" His mouth twisted into an unpleasant grimace, as if he had just smelled or tasted something exceedingly sour, but then he sighed, his usual laugh bubbling up out of the gloom. "But I suppose I could estimate a year or two, if I must place a number to my time here." A second finger folded down.

"There are a great many others, both in this Verse and the others. Many Primes, those summoned by our dear lord, Omni, himself, but many -- countlessly many -- more Secondaries, those who have been summoned by Primes." He held up his free hand in a listless shrug, shaking his head. "I would suspect an exact count could be made, perhaps...but it wouldn't be feasible." He folded down a third finger, leaving only his index finger raised.

"And lastly...how to get back..." He sighed, looking suddenly glum and tired, though his expression remained smiling and positive. "Assuming you mean getting back to your home, where you came from before being pulled here...I know of no way. I have my suspicions -- and others do, as well, if my observation of theories and hypotheses are any indication -- that there very well may not be a way to return home. Only Omni himself would know, for certain, but he isn't very easy to speak to." He folded down his index finger, and laughed in clear amusement.

"But this place is so very interesting, I can't imagine wanting to leave!"

[Alex Silver]

As he made his way through the gate – realizing with some degree of relief that it was as simple as going through it and there was not some silly complex procedure he’d overlooked which would have led him to total his bike against said gate at eighty miles an hour – Alex looked around the general vicinity with an air of relative surprise about him. In contrast with the gate of the Pale Moors which was not only – let’s just go ahead and say it, creepy enough to be unofficially dubbed the gate to “Screw that land” – but had this nasty tendency to make monster noises at you when you stood by it for too long, like some twisted monster inviting you facetiously to enter the premises of its gaping maw so that you could be ingested into the horrifying depths of an oesophagus Alex refused to imagine, this place actually appeared – despite his original beliefs that it would be too arid to be anywhere near comfortable – pleasant. Okay, granted, he’d just popped into what seemed to be a small patch of what could only be generously described as some kind of a savanna, with sparse trees and grasslands, but the relatively warm weather which bordered on the bearable and the surrounding dunes were somewhat reminiscent of Ichor’s beaches… only with less shades of red and gray… and they weren’t strategically surrounded by military outposts in the event of a naval attack… and there were no proverbial oceans of blood tinted so far red that you had to take a sip to realize it was indeed salt water… in fact, there wasn’t any actual water at all as far as he could tell and… okay so it was nothing like the beaches of Ichor, but he did have to look for some kind of nostalgia somewhere. Anything to avoid missing home and the people he had left behind, right?

If he could have bothered to speak to any of the locals before entering, he would have learned – perhaps, Alex had this horrible thing with information retention – that beyond the valleys, the land becomes more arid and so does the danger of death by dehydration or starvation. The further you go, the less there is, until there is only sand in every direction. This would have led him to be actually thankful for the bearable heat of his current location and would have been a bliss. For now, with his lack of perspective, he was just mildly pissed that he hadn’t had the foresight – granted, there wasn’t much foresight to be had when you get unwillfully teleported to an alternate dimension – to wear something more comfortable than his leather coat. In frustration, he decided to strip it off and lay it between himself and the handle of his bike. In his white sleeveless shirt and black trousers, he would likely be much more comfortable. He could only hope at this point that the skin condition that prevented him from burning under the heat of the sun on his home world would also serve the same function on this planet but… hey, it’s not like he could just turn back and go fetch some sun screen, right?

But enough theoretical thinking. What mattered right now was that he was here… wherever here happened to actually be. It definitely beat the hell out of “THERE IS NOTHING FOR MILES ON END NO MATTER WHAT DIRECTION YOU LOOK” land, also known as the Nexus. God he hoped he would never have to return to that place… for an Ichorian, being surrounded by that much pure white blandness was off-putting to say the least and maddening to the point where it could be compared without too much hyperbole to having each and every single one of your hairs plucked off the top of your head in order starting at the nape of your skull and ending at the bangs. But that was the kind of freakish torture warranting its own tale in its own right and – to be honest – Alex wasn’t too much into the kind of fetishism that would warrant that, so he let his mind focus on this place rather than trying to think of good ways to describe how he felt about the Nexus. That was much safer – not to mention saner – than the alternative.

It was just as he was contemplating this idea of focusing upon his location that he became aware of two individuals talking to each other not too far nearby, just out of the – he refused to call it a savannah – brush and just on the edge of the massive desert. His brain had a light… well, ‘brain fart’ at that moment and pondered how many sand castles the kids would’ve made if they’d been brought here with a jug of water. The time those little idiots could waste on enjoying themselves… it was almost fascinating. God he needed something to get his mind off of that whole nostalgic feeling he’d been plagued with since his arrival here! Screw the rules of protection he and Raven had themselves established, he needed to get his mind off of all that and the best way to do that was some kind of social activity. Driving at a reasonable speed so as not to startle the two beings, he would slowly approach them and pause besides them, slowly getting off his bike.

As luck would have it – at this point, he truly couldn’t tell if Lady Luck was actively helping him, fervently against him or just playfully messing with him – it was just as he arrived that the youngest of the two finished talking and the other started giving off exposition. A convenience if he had ever encountered one. He thus politely stood there and waited for him to finish speaking before joining in on the conversation.

From what the – rather verbose – man said, he gathered that this place, along with the place he had been in beforehand, were called verses. Gates led to Verses. This was basic and common sense enough, but it was a good thing that he knew what to call them, if only so that he could participate in conversations on the topics and so that he could understand what others meant by them when trying to gather information like he was passively doing right now. He then heard that this place was fairly desolate. “Good, that’s exactly what I need after the freaking Nexus…” he ironically thought to himself, though he chose not to share this much as – again – he’d decided against interrupting the conversation for now. The mention of the dataverse and devices capable of accessing it could have off-put some, but context allowed him to gather that this was likely their equivalent of the cybernetic highway from his world and a HUD bracelet. That’d be enough to prevent him from having to ask questions related to that topic for the time being. “Note to self; acquire a dataverse capable device.” He thought. If this place had a bad habit of being peppered with boring dimensions like the Nexus and this one, there was a good chance he would need that kind of distraction to stay sane.

The next topics of monologue – since, at this point, Erik was very much in the middle of a monologue – were also interesting. The distinction between Primes which were summoned by their lord – most likely that ‘Omni’ fellow – and secondaries which were summoned by Primes were particularly interesting. This meant that, just maybe, he would be allowed to bring his allies from Ichor here. He somehow doubted the fact that he would be able to bring all fifty of them along however, so for now he opted not to address that topic either. Instead, he listened on as the NPC discussed the fact that there was no way to go back… as far as he knew. It was slim, but there just might be hope.

Oh, but he had just finished talking. That meant that their attentions would likely turn to the new arrival – himself – shortly. Quick, think of a good introduction. Don’t fail now brain. “Umm… Hey.” He uttered, trying to go for an unassuming tone. At his height of nine feet three and rocking the 'horns, claws and tails' look, the last thing he needed to make this conversation friendly was to come off as intimidating. "Sorry for jumping into your conversation and... eavesdropping... I'm Alex Silver. I apologize if this comes off as an abuse of your generosity but would you mind if I inquired about a few things as well?" He asked the man, making an effort to be polite. He had been nobility after all, so the concept of polite conversation was not foreign to him but, well, he'd grown somewhat rusty. "...nothing worth racking your head over. Just basic stuff like... what's this verse called? Anything worth doing around here? Any differences between primes and secondaries besides this whole 'who summoned who' business? Hope I'm not asking too much..." With that inquiry, his large clawed hand slowly rose the the back of his skull and gave the rear of his right ear a scratch before lowering itself to his pocket and pulling out another of his cigar-sized cigarettes, burying it between his lips. He'd already pulled out his lighter and brought it to his face when he paused in motion to inquire one last thing; "You two... don't mind if I smoke in your vicinity, right?" He asked, still frozen in motion until that topic was addressed.

[The Kid]

"Well there have been a couple exceptions to that statement." Said the Kid. "I was able to find a couple people to stick with me. It was only the last couple weeks that every other soul I could find was as hostile as a hungry Scumbag." He responded once Erik tossed him a little pitty for being in his situation. "Oh right, I'm a long way from home now.... Err, think birds with sharp spines in their wings, mining ghosts? Yeah ghosts is a good thing to call a windbag by. And frogs that just get mad when you shoot em. Size of a burly man atleast."

"I probably aint sounding that smart with all these basic questions, but what's a dataverse? Would it be, some way to communicate?"

"Yeesh, that's a nasty thought.To have time go this way and that without a good pattern has got to be bad for buisness with whoever sticks around here. Speaking of, would that be around.... Pfff. Twenty people? Or...." He said with a bit of hope in his voice. "Twenty thousand?"

Then came the news, damn. It was like getting hit by the ambulance who came to pick you up after getting nailed by a semi truck. He had been here for two years, even though he had not been looking he still new of no way to leave. That's.... unsettleing. For a moment his face just looked uncertain, like he was lost for a spell. Then he came back down and said. "Well, interesting is one word for it but I don't think I can enjoy. You see, things went bad at my home. Real south, real fast. As in, well everyone I knew and just nearly everyone else went out in a real nasty event called the calamity. I got scraped up with enough survivors to be counted on one hand, and we set out to find a way to fix everything. The thing to do it was easy enough, but to power it I had to fight some of the nastiest, meanest creatures that side of the globe to set things right. But I did it, litterally I was reaching for the switch to fire it up this...." He looks at the sky. "Well I suppose it would be evening for me and morning for you. Before everything went white and I ended up by a fountain."

"If I don't go back, my friends are either going to pull the lever behind me and set everything back. Or they will look for me. If they set everything back.... There is going to be another version of me walking through life that I'll have to deal with. I suppose I'll just have to look harder than anyone else ever has then huh? Oh, since you introduced yourself to me mighty kind. The names Sebastian. Nice to make your acquaintance."

[Roger Smith]

Erik leaned forward slightly, nodding his head at the Kid's words. "Ah, excellent; then it was not entirely inhospitable! That is always preferable to the alternative, I find." His lips curled up in a mischievous expression, as if he knew or wanted to say more than he was letting on. "But, oh, hohoho, my, what an interesting world you must come from, to have such colorful-sounding beasts!" At the mention of what a dataverse was, Erik tilted his head to one side, lifting one hand to idly scratch at his cheek in confusion. "Ah...forgive me. I forget how often things I take for granted can be so foreign to new arrivals." He tapped at his chin for a few short moments. "Consider it another verse, much like any other, but composed entirely of information given a tangible, visible form. That is as close as I can put into easy words. It can be accessed from most locations, with a compatible device, and is useful for a great many functions."

"Time moving at its own whim most certainly is a rather distressing thought. I have always concerned myself more with the particulars of Space, personally; but Time is equally as important. One cannot very well tell someone to meet them tomorrow and not arrive until three days later, thanks to differing time rates." He laughed at this point, as if he had personal experience with that. "I suspect there is some rhyme and reason to time's strangeness here in this Omniverse...but I have not found reason to look into them. And as for people..." He shrugged with both hands, an open gesture of complete cluelessness. "I'm afraid i haven't the foggiest. You could guess right, or you could be grossly over or under estimate."

He left it at that, listening to the Kid's dilemma with an intent look on his face. "Well... I can certainly understand your plight, my young friend," he said after a moment. "But I imagine you needn't worry too much... While the particulars and specifics are no doubt different enough to put me at a disadvantage, I have some experience jumping across universes and timestreams." He paused for a moment, looking as if fond memories were playing about in his head. "...let us assume you were to find a way to return home. There is, of course, the possibility that every moment here is just as much time passed there. But imagine if you will, you were to return, and find that only the space of an eyeblink had passed in your home. You hadn't really ever been gone at all!" He steepled his fingers together before his face, a chuckle of amusement that bordered on outright sinister bubbling up from his chest. "It is fascinating to consider, when your mind turns to that possibility, is it not? I have no proof one way or the other...but I advise you to not stress over the possibility of the former, and hope for the latter. It is, after all, precisely what I do, myself. And I am thus quite content with my lot here."

"But I do encourage you to look as hard a you can. Omni is not quite impossible to reach, though it most certainly will not be easy. With your determination, I've no doubt you could manage it!"

He turned his head to take in the sight of Alex, and merely inclined his head slightly in a half-nod. "Ah, and please excuse me for the delay...I merely grow so caught up in my musings sometimes, it is hard to keep track of my surroundings." He gestured lightly in the affirmative at Alex's question of smoking, and produced what looked to be an old-fashioned desk alarm clock out of the folds of his long coat, and seemingly checked the time. "Ah...I suppose I have time, yet... I will gladly answer what I can!" He stowed the clock away again. "This Verse we stand in, fittingly enough, is known as the Endless Dunes. I would wager they are not, in fact. entirely endless, of course. But hyperbole does often make for much more fluid and easily-envisioned descriptors."

"There are a number of settlements within the area. The Town With no Name lies but a few miles away, and much closer by you might find the town of Carrefore. I personally dislike all this sand and spend little time here, so I cannot say much more than that...but I can also advise caution when roaming the dunes, as you are likely to come across rather unsavory sorts of characters. Bandits and psychopaths, not to mention all manner of wild beasts that would love to kill you." He paused, before his lips spread wide in a deranged grin and he had to cover it with one hand, barely suppressing the giggle of dark amusement that came with it. "....or worse..."

"As for differences between Primes and Secondaries, well..." He paused again, tapping his chin with one finger in thought. "My, oh, my....I suppose I could tell you that...it isn't exactly a secret." He lowered his gaze back down and held up one hand, palm upward. In short order, a small bubble of raw Omnilium started to coalesce. "This is the primary difference...Primes, summoned by Omni himself, can use omnilium. They can summon things with it, improve their own abilities, and many other tasks. Secondaries, however..." He closed his hand into a fist, and the liquid-looking bubble of omnilium shattered like glass, flowing back up his sleeve rather than just dropping to the sand below. "...cannot." He shrugged with his opposite arm. "It's really just that simple."

"Of course....there is one more thing..." He steepled his fingers again, looking intensely thoughtful. "Primes may be resurrected, should they be killed...and simply awaken several days later back at the Fountain, in the Nexus...so long as they continue to 'interest' Omni." The uncharacteristic frown flitted across his features again. "Secondaries will not. They remain dead if they die."

[The Kid]

The kid had been so wrapped up in this conversation he had not even noticed the nine foot tall man come up, the problem with living away from people for such a long time is that when you rarely meet one who is willing to talk you do not even slightly expect for another to come while you are talking. "Holy hell..." The kid mumbled to himself as he saw the man inquire. He knew they had come from different worlds, but it was never as apparent that with this guy. "It's- It's nothing really. Your as tall as a bootlicker you know that?" The Kid said before he realized that if Erik did not know and he had been here for years then the odds of Ale knowing were.... What was that phrase that Rucks tossed around. Infinitely improbable? That's the one.

"No really, go ahead. Hmm..." He said thinking too himself. "Could I snag one from you? It's been a while...." He had some limited experience with smoking before. He knew not to take a wiff out of a pot, and that an old mans cigar storage is in all likely hood as old or older than him. It was shortly after this when something that Eric had said hit him. "Who summoned who?.... You mean then..... I can call other people over here?"

The Kid looked young, younger then most 17 year olds should. But he had notches and bumps all over himself that shows he's been through many, many a beating. The look on his eyes would make a senior veteran thank their lucky stars they had not been put through as much as to earn that certain gleam from them. In a way, he looked more like a man then 90% of them that would walk down the street.

[Alex Silver]

The Kid appeared to – seemingly – ignore Alex at first. No matter, it just meant he could concentrate on his own situation and Alex, on his end, could gather the information he would be getting from Erik for himself. It worked, in this ‘conveniently impolite’ or, paradoxically, ‘inconveniently polite’ kind of way. Besides, from what he’d already managed to gather, the kid was just as new to this place as he happened to be, maybe he – like himself – was just playing the careful card until he managed to get a more complete grasp on the situation around him. Whatever the case and long story short; Alex did not blame him for not taking the time to at least greet him. Frankly, had their situations been reversed and Erik seemed the only one to have actual information at his disposal, he would’ve done exactly the same thing if only for the sake of reaching his goal. Besides, as far as he was concerned, the kid did deliver some moniker of interesting information and asked questions which – had he not – Alex would have ended up asking himself. Yes, Alex nodded slightly to himself as he concluded this; this was working out for the possible best.

The first question the kid, or – as he would come to know before he partook once again in the conversation – Sebastian, would ask is what exactly is the dataverse. Though originally he had figured this particular question would be wasting his time as he’d assumed it would be a direct equivalent from something of his own world – namely, the cybernetic highway – it turned out to be fairly more informative than that. From what he gathered, it was a whole virtual reality as opposed to simply a multi-access, inter dimensional data center. This might prove to be useful knowledge for later so he made sure to take a personal note of remembering that particular little hint of intellectual knowledge. Heh, intellectual knowledge… that had a sort of oxymoronic feel to it. As far as he was concerned, intellect, knowledge and wisdom were three completely different things; knowledge was knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom was knowing not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad and intellect was finding a way to sell someone a tomato based fruit salad. But that was enough about tomatoes, he couldn’t afford to get distracted when information was given to him freely, not to mention easily.

The next topic that was addressed was the time rates which differed depending on the verse and the location. In a way, this was something Alex actually considered to be a positive. He himself – later, of course – would come to realize it would make explaining his own age a lot simpler. But for the meantime, it seemed the obvious convenience of it was that he would have an excuse were he ever to suffer any form of delay or if he were to, for whatever reason, arrive somewhere much too early. The next thing to be addressed was then the fact that it was very difficult to calculate how many people were actually a part of the omniverse. The fact that this seemed left undefined meant that censuses were rather off in this world. Perhaps this could be abused. Although he had no love for unnecessary violence, if it did come to a point where he would have to murder someone, it would be easier to hide the fact when the people of this world are kept track of so poorly. This combined with the idea that he could very well be – due to time fluctuations – in two very different places within what could be perceived as a very short or very long time at once meant that with the exception of witnesses, it was rather difficult to tie anyone to any given crime. He contemplated this carefully for a moment; if he did not like the way this world was ruled he might just have the chance to overthrow it through whatever forms of criminal activity he deemed best, assuming all the Verses had similar laws. Perhaps one of them had no laws against murder at all… that was a question he would not ask Erik however; both he and the boy seemed like the more kind hearted types and he felt it would likely perturb the atmosphere.

The other topic at hand was also interesting; the possibility that just like time fluctuated differently here, it was possible that time spent here did not necessarily equate to the same amount of time passing in their own worlds. In a way, this was a great relief and an extremely bad omen. If luck would have it and he were ever to return home, the adventures he would no doubt need to go through here to find a way back first might take as little as an instant. On the other hand, generations upon generations may very well pass while he is stuck here. He would have no way of aiding the rebellion and the entire planet of Ichor – now that he had killed its king – would be thrown into chaos. This was an idea he chose willfully not to dwell upon for too long as the prospect very much terrified him.

It was then that the conversation turned to him. Perhaps this was time dilation working in its own way, but the first thing that came to him was the observation of Sebastian in regards to him being as tall as a ‘bootlicker’… whatever those were. “Well… your height surprises me as much as mine does yours if I am to be honest.” He let out in response. Even by his world’s standards, Alex was a bit on the tall side, but the average height of an Ichorian was of eight feet (seven and nine inches for women) so in contrast the height of the kid who was small for his age and from a race of more… reasonably sized people… befuddled him somewhat. But then, he’d had the chance to see a few other people in the Nexus so his reaction was understandably less astonished in nature.

“Thank you.” He uttered in regards to the fact that both appeared to have no problem with him smoking here, and lit the large cigarette. The flame that erupted from the lighter – as a result of proportions – would likely appear a tad excessive to them, but then again the fact that said lighter was the size of the average cellphone may have been too. The boy than asked if he could have a cigarette as well. “…I imagine there’s no harm in it.” He replied, and plucked a second death stick from the pack to offer it to him, extending the lighter towards him simultaneously. Though if the boy turned out to have fire of his own, he would simply return the lighter to his own pocket after five seconds.

It was then that Erik did something he found to be somewhat… obtuse. He pulled out what appeared to be a clock to see if he had time. Considering what he had just said about time fluctuation, this meant that there was indeed a way to calculate what time it is somewhere else in the Verses. There had to be, otherwise the device was completely useless and he very much doubted the man was the type to carry such a large object for its own sake.

He then learned about the verse in particular from Erik and – as he suspected – it was not a particularly hospitable place without being completely hostile. It had settlements, which was well and good, and bandits, which could make for a good method of measuring himself in comparison with other people around here. What interested him most however was the fact that Erik appeared to have Omnilium as Omni had bestowed upon him… and what he spoke of as he revealed it.

The capacity to summon someone here was – obviously – extremely interesting. The fact that in doing so he would be ripping them from their world potentially never to return however; less tempting. For all he knew, it could very well be that his underlings had done their duties following the death of the king, some sort of arrangement had been figured out and they now actually lived in relative peace. The prospect of taking that away from them when they had been striving for it for the past ten cycles was too morbid to contemplate any longer than was necessary. “That was all very instructive Erik, thank you very much.” He simply noted. At this point, asking any more questions from a man whom had indicated his intent to leave mere moments ago would be impolite on his part. He had more questions, but there were others whom would likely as Erik had just done be willing to give away some information. Besides – perhaps with some luck – he would be able to tag along with Sebastian for a while and see a bit of this world with a companion in tow. The prospect was somewhat reassuring in light of the fact that the alternative was discovering this new plane of existence on his lonesome. He blew upwards a faint trail of thick blue hued smoke before offering a light smile. Still, he did not bid Erik good bye quiet yet, nor did he start another dialogue with Sebastian for now. The younger man had just asked another question of Erik and – while he had tried not to contemplate the idea too much – information on the matter would definitely be most helpful in potential futures where he decided summoning a secondary would turn out to be a necessity.

[Roger Smith]

As Alex spoke up with his thanks, Erik merely waved it off with an inclination of his head. "Think nothing of it. I recall very much wishing for even a small piece of such information having been so readily available to me when I was still fresh to this world and confused...I spent so much time stumbling about and confused, and did some dreadfully stupid things..." He sighed, holding both hands up in a clear 'I don't know' gesture of defeat. "But luckily all of that is a thing of the past, and I am much the wiser for it, all things considered. But that does bring to mind one other important bit of information I would be rather rude to withhold." He stood up once again and stepped lightly off the edge of his sand yacht, touching down almost weightlessly on the dry earth.

"Should you come across any individuals in armor that is entirely white from head to toe, it would be unwise to antagonize them." He seemed more amused as he spoke than anything else. "They have a habit of taking any affronts to their number personally, and you might just end up with a bounty on your head. I most certainly wound up with one on my head at one point. Please pardon me for a moment, this may take a moment..."

He turned his attention back to his means of transportation and held one hand out toward it, palm up, as he had done with his demonstration of Omnilium just moments ago. Nothing happened for several seconds, but then the land boat started to....sag, by all appearances, as if it were a balloon the air was rapidly being let out of, or perhaps it was melting. It fell to pieces, in the most literal sense, folding in on itself until it was more a shapeless blob than anything recognizable. And then it started to melt even further, giving off faint glimmers and sparks of the myriad colors of omnilium, flowing up and out of the muck and into Erik's outheld hand, forming into a single, perfect sphere. That too soon broke apart and flowed toward his torso, seemingly to be absorbed into his body.

"Now that that's done..." His outstretched hand closed into a fist, only his index finger still pointing outward, and hovered over to point at the Kid. "As for your question, dear lad: that is correct! You can summon people and creatures just as easily as any other object." He brought his arm up and tapped at his forehead with his index finger. "Merely put your mind to it and focus, and you will find it comes naturally to you, very much as if you'd known it all along! It is quite remarkable, indeed."

"And with that, I believe it might be time for us all to be on our separate ways, hmm? I cannot speak for you two gentlemen, but I do have an engagement to keep and I would not wish to be unduly late for it." He bowed low at the waist, offering a final, "And so, farewell, for now." And then he was up, and off, bounding away over the sparsely tree-dotted ground toward the gate to the Nexus.

[The Kid]

Kid lights up the cigar, having to hold the beast in his entire hand. Took one puff from it and realised how much he missed the air from the cauldron. Well, atleast this was not so hot it stuck to the lungs. He coughed a bit into his arm, then took another puff. It was a bit smoother, head was still spinning a bit. So he decided to take it nice and slow, it was hot as all hell out here anyway.

The kid looks over to Erik. "That's erm... Yeah that's fine if you need to go." Gods, to think he'd have a normal life just being here.... Well, no actually. He realized. A normal life does not constitute living in one of eight places where time bends and shudders randomly, where he would have to put his only skills to work defending or quite probably hurting people for those he had never met or cared about. He needed to get out, but at the moment.

"Alex?" He say's, looking over to the much taller man who towers over him. "It's gunna be rough trying to find my way to a town here.... I don;t exactly have anyone to help me get there or guide the way.... Could you stick with me until then?" Kid felt vulnerable, alone. Even the last two people he had left in his world were gone. Sure he could bring them back, but that could be a terrible idea. He tried to keep his desperation out of his voice. But the Kid could only keep up that front so much.

[Alex Silver]

Alex contemplated the words that came from Erik. Indeed, he would have himself been a rather unfortunate person to have been stumbling through this wasteland of realms blindly as he found – as they were spoken – that the man’s mistakes were failures of judgment he could have very possibly made along the way. The wisdom of others is intended to be passed along, as they say. Thankfully, he would not have to learn those lessons the hard way. Obviously, he was very grateful for the man’s gesture of kindness and generosity as far as information was concerned. In thanks, he offered a polite bow of the head which truly came off simply as nothing more than a rather long nod, albeit appearing somewhat more sincere and grateful. “Nonetheless; Thank you.” He merely replied.

It was then that the man spoke of those people in white armor and the prospect of having a bounty upon oneself were you ever to offend them. This was information he undeniably would come to find handy in his future travels; while he was not the type to antagonize people without motive, he was very much against letting people walk all over him and had a tendency to not let the law come between him and one of his goals. He could have very likely disregarded these individuals if it were not for the possibility that they were a real threat and – once again – he was glad this was not something he would have to find out the hard way. Once again, he gave a heavy nod and noted; “Thank you again Erik, all you’ve thought me will no doubt prove ever helpful.” And once that was spoken, he watched as the man seemed to melt his vehicle.

Having almost on instinct made his own motorcycle (thanks to the magic from his world being relatively similar to the way omnilium appeared to function) Alex found some degree of familiarity in watching the object melt. It was not exactly the way it worked in his world; over there you would integrate one object into a smaller device such as the pendant around his neck so that it could be summoned again at a faster rate during some later point in your adventures, but it was nonetheless a good thing to see that omnilium could be retrieved from objects in this manner. He would make note of that. It might come in handy later after all.

This is when Erik discussed his own departure. As he had expected the man would be leaving, so he simply rose the hand that was not holding his own cigarette and gave him a polite wave. “I hope your travels will be swift yet uneventful.” He spoke in a tone that was a little off tune considering the tough air he was trying to put on, and took a long drag of his cigarette before blowing a cloud up into the dry air of the desert. Erik had things to do and he himself needed to get better acquainted with the realm, so perhaps it was for the best that the two would go their own separate ways here.

After that, he turned his attention to the kid, Sebastian, whom seemed to be struggling with his first few drags of the cigarette which appeared as comically large in his hand as it was incredulously small in his own. This brought a faint smile to the lips of the horned man. A bittersweet smile. In a way, he was glad to have been the provider of the tobacco the boy had asked for; there was nothing better than aiding a fellow smoker in their need for a good cigarette. On the other hand however, it reminded him both of the fact that this habit would very likely eventually kill him once his lungs would no longer be able to handle it and of the younger members of his group back on his home planet who choked on their first few puffs of tobacco as they took example from their elders. Perhaps he should stop smoking in front of people of smaller size… No. He was not a role model and never set out specifically to become one. Besides, as an advocate of freedom, it was only right that he would let others make their own mistakes if they were not immediately lethal.

The boy addressed the taller man with a request which somewhat surprised him, but relieved him to a certain extent; while Sebastian was relatively small and some may be misled by this in believing that he was not a fearsome warrior, Alex could tell by the look in the shorter and younger man’s eyes that he had gone through many adventures and had lived through very tough times in the part. Truly, he was potentially a very capable companion. Then again, even had he not appeared all that reliable, the prospect of having a partner in his discovery of this place was much more pleasant than that of venturing the realm – or verse, considering the nomenclature – all alone. “Well Sebastian…” He began to respond, looking over to his motorcycle which was standing neatly behind him as he leaned against it. “I myself have no idea where I am or how to get to any of those towns so I can’t very well serve as much of a guide but…” Turning back to the kid, he offered a light smile and a gentle nod. “If you would have me as your travel companion, I would be happy to come along for the ride.” That said, he would step a few steps away from his motorcycle and looked between Erik – who was likely now departing – and Sebastian. “What he said about secondaries is also true about vehicles, so I’d recommend you try making one so we can go a bit faster. If you don’t think you have it in you though, I guess you can ride behind me on this thing.” That said, he extended his rather large arm and patted the leather seat of the vehicle, then turned to the white-haired young man and awaited his response.

[The Kid]

The kid took a few more drags off the big old thing. He was starting to get used to it, hell. It's not like the air from it could be any worse then from the couldron. Just thinking about the hot soot and volcanic gas clinging to his lungs made the smoke he was going through now seem like a spring breeze. He could tell that if he got into these things regularly they would need to be a special treat so to say. At the rate he was going he needed to slow down a bit to not get dizzy. Still though, he could die tomorrow. Atleast he would go out knowing what a cigar was like. Not that death was much of a consequence here.

Kid watched as Erik said his goodbyes and headed off for the portal. "See you around." Said kid as he waved back to him with his free hand. The man had been more than helpful and plenty hospitable. He hoped they would meet again as a friend could go a long way in a place so strange and twisted it challenges your old sense of reality. Kid knew that by experience. Speaking of good friends in dark times. Here was another one standing right infront of him. Plenty willing to stick with him until they made it into a town. He brought up the prospect of a vehicle. Whatever contraption he had behind him must serve as one by the way he spoke and gestured towards it. "No that's alright, I'm sure I can rustle up something if I can get a few minutes. Oh and uhh, thanks Alex. It's hard to go anywhere alone. Two lost people is better than one. Hell, for all I know the sun might set in the west in this place. Or not set at all if these hot sands are anything to go by."

The kid sat down and brought his hands together. He envisioned a small ferry barge, with a high powered motor to push through sand, rocks, and possibly any trouble they come across. Slowly, over about five minutes a wooden boat would rise up out of the earth beneath him. Inscribed on the side was "Weeping Nellie" With a big ol Cael blue tear under the name. He couldn't quite get the flamethrowers to stick up right. So instead they hanged at the side. Rocket propulsion in addition to it's normal engine. "Feel free to hop on Nellie if it pleases you. She's a tough contraption, fast as greased lightning and smooth on the roughest terrain."

[Alex Silver]

Sorry it took me so long to reply, real life hit me like a semi-truck but I'm back now.

Alex gave a polite wave good bye to Erik as the man seemed to be leaving for good now and turned his attention to the kid who was profusely thanking him for being willing to stick around. He very much appreciated the sentiment of course, after all; he too agreed that two heads would be better than one in this situation and frankly he would have hated to stick around for too long only to realize that he had no idea what he was doing. He would wait until Sebastian was done conjuring himself a vehicle before getting to retort however, as he was unwilling to break the young man’s focus. Besides, it was not like he had anything better to do than to wait on him for now. Except, perhaps, indulge in his cigar. He took a long drag of the thing which allowed a blue cloud of thing, transparent smoke to exude from it before blowing it away with a stream of white smoke which was pushed out from his lips. The faint smell of nicotine was now starting to take the air, but in this heat it would not be tainting their surroundings for long. After all, hot hair had a way of going up and out of reach. In a way, this was perhaps the best place to smoke while ensuring you don’t bother anyone. It was refreshing, if nothing else.

As he watched the boy’s vehicle slowly come to physical form he could not help but remind himself of the days he spent with the younger members of his group teaching them how to use the arcane forces. Between him and his friend Raven, he was very obviously the more talented of the two at that much. Raven did outclass him when it came to skill with a weapon however and – at this moment, within a world where the arcane seemed to have no grasp – he kind of wished things had been the other way around. It would have certainly felt more confident about the whole endeavor. That said, using the young ones of the group as a margin, Sebastian appeared to be quite talented himself. In fact, the vehicle he had created appeared larger and more complex than his own and the time they’d taken to create them was not much different. Then again, he had no idea if this was a good measure of actual magical skill… perhaps everyone was equally talented when omnilium was the topic of conversation. What would matter, then, would be just how much omnilium you happen to have in your possession… he speculated about this when the boy appeared done and turned to him.

“It’s no problem at all Sebastian. If anything, I am just as thankful to you as you are to me. I don’t know what it is about this world but I am a lot weaker than I was back where I came from.” He admitted, a bit discouraged by the fact of the matter. “I guess it’s to normalize people, perhaps? I’m not sure how this world has affected others… do you feel any different, personally?” He inquired.

He then turned his attention to the vehicle the young man had constructed and offered him to join along on, then to his motorcycle. The Weeping Nellie seemed like a tough little beast that would be more than capable of navigating the terrain here and it did have more than enough room for the both of them, but he would have to decline. “Thanks for the offer, but no. I have to decline; if we both ride on your vehicle I’ll have to dismiss my own and – if I do that – I’ll have to spend another five minutes recollecting my omnilium like Erik did earlier. It would be a bit of a waste of our time…” He uttered, nodding to himself as he hopped onto the motorcycle, straddling it and crossing one leg over the other so that his foot was directly above his opposite knee. “Besides, Erik mentioned that there are bandits around here and… I think we might be less likely to attack if they think there’s more of us than there actually are. Wouldn’t you agree?” Alex was not about to lie, he had just thought of this strategically aspect a mere moment ago, but there was some truth to it. “Well, I may be overthinking it, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?” With that, he revved the motor and approached the young man’s vehicle with his own, inspecting it. It was an interesting device and – while structurally sound – he had not seen any like it in his world. "Interesting..."

[The Kid]

As the Kid sat down and made the barge, he listened to Alex talk. The much larger man would bring up the fact that people who come here were either weakened or strengthened on their arrival. Omni may have said something on the subject but the boy could hardly remember. He was then asked how he had been feeling since he had touched down. "Hmm..." He said thinking to himself. "Yeah actually I have been feeling different. In two ways, one being that I'm just not as strong here. I gave my hammer a few practice swings, I figured I would be in for a lot of fighting once I fell down to the fountain and an honest to Pif dragon was waiting for me there. Given the thing flew off once I made myself known. But what's important is that when I swung it around, it was just a lot heavier then it was back home. I don't think I could do near as much damage with it. Hell, back in Calandia when I was done forging and reforging this friend of mine, I could punch a whole in hard alloy with just a single swing. Now, I don't know."

"The other way being that my bodies actually gotten much tougher. When I arrived I realized I was not getting fatigued as easily." He tapped the solid steel that was his armored left shoulder. "Eventually I found out that this was feeling a lot lighter. I could move like I was hardly wearing a shirt. I took it off to check that it was not switched out for a copy made of tin plate dirt. Before I then tried something else. Took one of these long arrows here...." He reached into a quiver on his back. "And tried to cut my hand with the tip... It was like cutting though iron. These arrows were made by me back home too, I know how good they are. Hell, one shot could take a bolt like this clean through.... Ugg I don't like saying this actually, but it was five people before it stopped. Now I can hardly cut myself with it. How tough did your body end up after you were "normalised" ?"

He asked climbing up on weeping Nellie. He heard him say that he would prefer staying on his.... Thing. He was right though, it would probably keep the a bit safer from the bandits. If it could keep up. "Well let me know when we're heading off. Nellie only has one setting for speed you see, and that's full throttle."

[Alex Silver]

Alex listened intently to the ways in which the normalisation of the omniverse affected the Kid. He noticed two things which stood out particularly from what Sebastian said, and could not help but feel a little bit irked to know that some people actually got benefits from this whole ordeal. What’s worse; why was it that the Kid still had his weapons? This struck him as a bit unfair but, then, balancing was balancing. Surely there must have been some logical reason for it all. “I did not get any benefits from coming here, unfortunately. I’m a lot weaker, slower, less enduring and – I checked by throwing a pebble earlier back at the fountain – I’m ninety percent convinced that my aim got worst. Not too significantly, but I’m pretty certain nonetheless. Back in my world, I could run faster than this thing can go.” At that, he took a pause and gave a light kick on the side of his motorcycle. “Now? It goes almost six times as fast as I do at full speed.”

At this point in his description, Alex hesitated for a second. He wondered if it was worth trying to make comparisons the boy would likely not understand from his world, but then Sebastian had mentioned a few things that he was unfamiliar with in their conversation thus far so at worst, he imagined he could always explain. “In my world, I could run five hours around the Nexus without breaking a sweat, here I broke a sweat by running halfway from the fountain to one gate. In my world, I could tear through plasma-fiber like paper. In this realm? I’m not entirely convinced I could punch through a sheet of iron. Heck, I’m not certain I could reliably hit a target at two hundred feet, which is less than a fifth of my usual reliable shooting range… but that’s not even the worst part.”

With that said, Alex pointed to the necklace around his neck. “See this? It used to contain an arsenal vast enough to arm an entire country’s military force. Twice. But I tried pulling out a weapon from it and I got nothing. I think something about the omniverse impeaches my connection with the Arcane forces which govern it. That would also explain why I can’t fly or call upon my abilities here… all in all, by the standards of my world of origin; I am horrifyingly weak right now. Hence why I’ve opted to be as careful as humanly possible in everything I do until I can find a work around of some sort… if ever.” With that, Alex brought the talisman up to eye level and observed it for a moment as he pondered what the boy had said about his arrows. Perhaps it was simply that the talisman itself had been nerfed down and that was why he had no access to his weaponry? No, that made no sense; if it had been the case, he would have appeared in the omniverse with the Demigra – his trusty revolver – still in hand. There had to be another reason and not understanding how this universe worked frustrated him to no end. Though in his face, this barely showed with a light furrowing of the brow and pursing of the lips.

“Oh, one last thing before we go; in my universe, this motorcycle could easily hit speeds of three hundred miles per hour with no issue. Here, the speed caps at eighty miles per hour. How is your… Nelly… fairing in that regard?” He inquired, taking a drag of his cigar before beginning to drive forward slowly at a pace of roughly ten miles per hour, figuring Sebastian’s vehicle he had put so much praise into would no doubt be able to catch up. It may have seemed a bit impolite, but Alex didn’t like ordering people to “Go” or “Stop”; instead he headed forward and let people decide whether they would follow him or not. When the Nelly would catch up, he would match its speed. Well, Alex simply hoped he would be able to, but as he would soon learn; no vehicle could exceed 80mph in the omniverse, so he would be able to without problem.

[The Kid]

The Kid pondered what Alex was telling him. For a while he was pondering the idea that the man ahead of him was lieing to make him sound tough. But he sure didn't sound like he was, the man seemed to be almost filled with fear of the fact that he was so much weaker here. Kid could hardly imagine if he had that kind of handicap on him here. It would basically feel like he was crawling everywhere even during a sprint. He would hit like tissue paper instead of a proper fighter. He would have to fight with his hands.... And god the equivalent of loosing the ability to fly for him would be.... terrible.

"I had an armory back in my home. It was far from enough to arm two armies, but for just one of me. I did alright. Even if I only made it out with these two. So, you want to tell me about this Plasma fiber?" Kid had to wrack his brain for a spell, but he was able to drum up that it was the fourth and most ignored state of matter. Pretty much the gas equivalent of gas. Not terribly exiting was the fact that the most interesting thing he learned in his few years in school about it was that in theory the sun was made out of it. "Well don't worry about your strength right now. We'll get a hold of some arms for you sure enough. Till then you'll have me at your back. I should be able to hit most targets at that distance with this." He tapped the large bow and arrow he had on his back.

Once the man started up his machine the kid wrapped both his hands around the sole alloy lever that controlled this ship. (Alright, how much of a kickoff did this have again? If I remember right it was smooth sailing until those flame turrents popped out to give me some help. But since they are out now.... Nellie will be kicking off strong and ferocious.) He took up a solid stance, gripped the handle and pulled her back. The tip of the barge shot up and he barely held on. His feet thrown from their position. But commanding the rudder and the rockets he shifted it to where the main force was pushing him forward. He was glad he had his bandana over his mouth, but wished he had goggles to protect him from the rest of the hot sand. He steered it as best as he could. The lever acting as a rudder control. He grit his teeth and rubbed some of the sand out of his eye as he reached fifty miles an hour in a matter of seconds. When he removed his hand he gasped, because he had lead Nellie directly into a steep dune. He smashed through it, but Nellie was still pushing and the small dune shot into the air. Causing the sand to blanket the nearby area like dry rain. He would speed off into the distance. Hoping to the god of order that his friend would have a fast enough ride to catch up before he got lost out there.