Re: The Battle Majestic (Round 1 - Bubble Universe)
02-03-2010, 08:27 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.
Vexmagog listened to each contestant's description of themselves and mentally filed away the details he was unaware of.
John swift's entire race is composed of beings with supernatural powers under specific domains? That's very interesting. Perhaps the gods of his world bred with the mortals so much there were no pure mortal beings left. Kind of him to provide a demonstration of his abilities, strange though the particular application may be. So, creates and manipulates ice, and can move things without touching them. Enjoys icy snacks. Distrustful and impulsive. Not human.
"I am sorrowful that you do not trust me yet. I assure you, John Swift, your tale will be carried on, one way or another."
Steven spoke up next, and Vexmagog listened aptly to learn about his unknown new companion. He refers to himself as plain and old. He does not look particularly aged, but I am not sure what qualifies as old among humans. Surely not more than 300.
Steven began to speak about the "tears in the fabric of the universe," and Vexmagog's ears perked up. His description of the "crossroads" did not match the view he had of the separations between universes when he had been forced into Magog's realm all those years ago, but it was too vague to know for sure.
The gloves flew back to him and he began to describe them. More than I want to know where the gloves were before he had them, I want to know where they were just now. They seem to be interacting with one another, relaying information. They seem to have character of their own. I could almost say that one of them is upset with the other. Strange. But yes, Steven. On a journey to find his home. Quiet, possibly secretive. Gloves are separate entities, one creates, the other destroys. Odd how he didn't say much about that.
"Anyway with all that said and done I've got some information to report. It seems the Wolf and the other beast, Sen have both gathered together in the park."
"I know," Vexmagog replied. "I saw it." He looked up at the clearing he had seen before. The cause of the disruptions in the ground was becoming increasingly apparent. A large tree was growing out of the park, and many others were sprouting. They were beginning to infringe on the concrete and asphalt around them, tearing their way through them. Vexmagog watched this unfold with concern.
"Still, the two of them seem to be guarding the tree they planted. Sen in particular seemed very protective of it. Since we're not going that way they shouldn't be too much of a problem for us this round."
So Wolf is assisting Sen? That could mean so many things, I don't even know where to begin.
"Well, Steven Taylor, our task has taken more of a sense of urgency, but continues with heightened hope. You have made me even more assured that we will find a means of escape. You say these crossroads connect to many universes. I feel certain that this must be one of them. Perhaps the humans I encountered had used technology to ensure they always found the right path, and the ones from your world had not yet learned to. If the humans who made this place are more advanced than the ones from your world, they likely had this technology as well."
Blitz, who had been walking in a sort of daze throughout all this, spoke up suddenly, as if waking from a reverie.
"You want...my story? I...well, at least I can explain what that man said about me. My father...he's dead. He's with me all the time, in my h...my heart." Vexmagog was thrown by the way he said this. Something had changed in Blitz, he was sure of it. "About me being asleep...I don't know what he meant by that. Sometimes...sometimes I have nightmares. Bad ones...there's screaming, and blood, and the smell of burning...He could have been talking about that." Not good. It's possible he's under the control of something else when he's asleep. If humans having abilities is an anomaly, he must be well-known for his ability in some regard if he was found to be in this contest. He must have some combat experience. His eyes widened as a thought struck him. What if was not under his own control earlier? His behavior has changed, radically. He doesn't seem to be aware of it. "And my eye? It just does that sometimes. It's been like that ever since I was struck by lightning. That accident also caused this." He raised his arm and repeated the action he had performed before, shooting meager sparks into the air. "I don't know how or why, but when it ruined my body, it left me a gift."
Secretive. Possibly more than one personality. Electrical powers. If his dreams are indicative of his other personality's demeanor, then I must be extremely wary. He instinctively scratched at his right arm, around his shoulder where the scars started. And so, I suppose, should he.
Blitz began to have a coughing fit and spouted an apology and an urging to proceed. Vexmagog was inclined to agree, but before he could, Jacob stopped the group outright. I suppose it is his turn.
He threw his cup over his shoulder, and indicated that he was prepared for a demonstration. He moved with purpose in a manner indicating he was going to demonstrate along their current heading. Vexmagog moved himself from his position at the front of the group quietly.
"Quantum Magic. 'Quantum' is the modern term for it, and probably something of a misnomer. Regardless, it's the magic of messing with time and space. And no, before you ask, I can't stop time outright. But I can slow it down, speed it up, and so forth. As to the matter of space... I can alter gravity, change inertia... And, perhaps most importantly... I can do this."
Vexmagog took note of the excessive theatricality with which the man performed his actions with amusement. He seems very willing to demonstrate his abilities, but has yet to mention how he came to possess them. He saw, then, the hole that had been ripped in the very air itself, which Jacob proceeded to step through. He noted that the hue of the sand in the hole matched that of the sand surrounding the pylon above them, and looked up to see another Jacob, far away, just a tiny speck, in the sand in the distance.
John Swift was the first to stride through the hole as if it weren't anything unexpected. "Awesome. Fantastic. I won't have to listen to you guys talking for nearly as long."
Vexmagog followed them through and looked up. The pylon stretched up to the artificial sun and made it seem more distant and oppressive through perspective. The base appeared to be in the basin of what used to be an artificial body of water, with four long, columned bridges stretching from where the shoreline must have been to four entrances equidistant along the pylon's perimeter, high up from what was now the ground. The bridge had collapsed on the side with the hole, leaving a pile of rubble leading up a shallow mound to that side's entryway. As he was closer to it than the ends of any of the other bridges, he began walking towards it.
Blitz followed behind him, but the others made a beeline for the nearest bridge. As they approached the pile, Blitz spoke up. "Uh wh.. how are you going to get up there?"
Vexmagog looked back at him quizzically. "I'm going to climb this pile of stones," he replied simply.
Blitz looked at the pile, and then back at Vexmagog. "Pile of...? Oh. Um. That's really steep. I don't think I can climb that. I'm going to go with the others." He ran off after them and Vexmagog had a sinking feeling in his gut at being separated. These humans can run pretty fast for having such short legs. Apparently they can't climb very well, though. I'm sure all the entrances meet up at the same place in the center. I'll just meet them there, I guess.
He grasped a protruding piece of stone with one foot-hand and deftly pushed himself off the sandy ground to grab a piece of bent rebar above. With nimble swiftness gained from his physiology and navigation of a mountainous world, he ascended the pile, hand over foot, until it reached what any human climber would have considered the top. Vexmagog, however, leapt from his perch, snagged the jagged edge of a broken remnant of the bridge in midair, and used the momentum to swing forward and grab the top of a column with his feet. He hung there, green cape dangling below, and pulled himself up to the last piece of stubborn concrete clinging to the side of the pylon right by the door.
Looking to his right, he saw that the other four had only barely begun to cross the other bridge. Looking behind him, he experienced momentary vertigo.
The ground gave way to an endless, glittering expanse of blackness, a hundred yards across. Far, far, far below, inexorably swirling bands of green and white gas proceeded at steady tempo around the surface of an immense and foreign world. Their gaps revealed a marred, red surface, dotted by right-angled patches of green and blue and silver, and divided by deep scars of luminous crimson. The whole thing was encircled by an immense and shimmering ring of bluish dust, which Vexmagog realized must extend behind this station's position in space. Vexmagog was entranced by the enormity and beauty of it and stood nearly breathless, an infinitesimally tiny ex-god on his infinitesimally tiny sliver of jagged rock, attached to an infinitesimally tiny towering pylon attached to an infinitesimally tiny space colony. Vexmagog's entire universe was smaller than the distances he realized he must be perceiving at this moment, and he then knew that his home was lacking for it. He had seen this sky before. He knew what those stars twinkling above represented, but it had not hit home until this moment exactly how they compared to him. Each of those sand-grains of shimmering light scattered across the all-encompassing cosmic blackness was vaster than a thousand times the grandest distance Vexmagog had ever conceived of.
In short, he felt very, very small, and he stood there feeling very, very small for quite some time.
He turned back to check on his companions' progress. They are almost across the bridge. At their current rate of travel, it must have taken them quite a while. I must have been standing here for... oh no. He turned to face his prior intended heading. The door, once a utilitarian steel rectangle inset into the building, had shattered into uncountable steel shards radiating from a central point, and circling, writhing, grinding in a circle. The concrete composing this section of the wall was continually shifting. Faces of Vexmagog and all of the other contestants formed from concrete nothingness and were dragged into the door frame to be shredded by the points of steel. He watched as revulsion as a copy of his own face hit the grindstone and contorted into an expression of pure pain as its flesh and bone were rent from one another. As he watched, the blood began to pour down from them, instantly forming a warm, stinking crimson river that trickled down the side of the pylon.
He thought he heard one of the others say something, but he could not make it out. He felt their stares on him without looking. But also, he knew that it wouldn't hurt him. Not physically, at least. And he knew, somehow, that he had to stay calm through this.
He knew that, vast as these uncountable worlds are, Magog had been a threat to all of them.
He balled up his hands into fists and stepped through the door. Its steel teeth opened wide for him, and slammed shut behind. He knew without looking that it was smiling.
Vexmagog listened to each contestant's description of themselves and mentally filed away the details he was unaware of.
John swift's entire race is composed of beings with supernatural powers under specific domains? That's very interesting. Perhaps the gods of his world bred with the mortals so much there were no pure mortal beings left. Kind of him to provide a demonstration of his abilities, strange though the particular application may be. So, creates and manipulates ice, and can move things without touching them. Enjoys icy snacks. Distrustful and impulsive. Not human.
"I am sorrowful that you do not trust me yet. I assure you, John Swift, your tale will be carried on, one way or another."
Steven spoke up next, and Vexmagog listened aptly to learn about his unknown new companion. He refers to himself as plain and old. He does not look particularly aged, but I am not sure what qualifies as old among humans. Surely not more than 300.
Steven began to speak about the "tears in the fabric of the universe," and Vexmagog's ears perked up. His description of the "crossroads" did not match the view he had of the separations between universes when he had been forced into Magog's realm all those years ago, but it was too vague to know for sure.
The gloves flew back to him and he began to describe them. More than I want to know where the gloves were before he had them, I want to know where they were just now. They seem to be interacting with one another, relaying information. They seem to have character of their own. I could almost say that one of them is upset with the other. Strange. But yes, Steven. On a journey to find his home. Quiet, possibly secretive. Gloves are separate entities, one creates, the other destroys. Odd how he didn't say much about that.
"Anyway with all that said and done I've got some information to report. It seems the Wolf and the other beast, Sen have both gathered together in the park."
"I know," Vexmagog replied. "I saw it." He looked up at the clearing he had seen before. The cause of the disruptions in the ground was becoming increasingly apparent. A large tree was growing out of the park, and many others were sprouting. They were beginning to infringe on the concrete and asphalt around them, tearing their way through them. Vexmagog watched this unfold with concern.
"Still, the two of them seem to be guarding the tree they planted. Sen in particular seemed very protective of it. Since we're not going that way they shouldn't be too much of a problem for us this round."
So Wolf is assisting Sen? That could mean so many things, I don't even know where to begin.
"Well, Steven Taylor, our task has taken more of a sense of urgency, but continues with heightened hope. You have made me even more assured that we will find a means of escape. You say these crossroads connect to many universes. I feel certain that this must be one of them. Perhaps the humans I encountered had used technology to ensure they always found the right path, and the ones from your world had not yet learned to. If the humans who made this place are more advanced than the ones from your world, they likely had this technology as well."
Blitz, who had been walking in a sort of daze throughout all this, spoke up suddenly, as if waking from a reverie.
"You want...my story? I...well, at least I can explain what that man said about me. My father...he's dead. He's with me all the time, in my h...my heart." Vexmagog was thrown by the way he said this. Something had changed in Blitz, he was sure of it. "About me being asleep...I don't know what he meant by that. Sometimes...sometimes I have nightmares. Bad ones...there's screaming, and blood, and the smell of burning...He could have been talking about that." Not good. It's possible he's under the control of something else when he's asleep. If humans having abilities is an anomaly, he must be well-known for his ability in some regard if he was found to be in this contest. He must have some combat experience. His eyes widened as a thought struck him. What if was not under his own control earlier? His behavior has changed, radically. He doesn't seem to be aware of it. "And my eye? It just does that sometimes. It's been like that ever since I was struck by lightning. That accident also caused this." He raised his arm and repeated the action he had performed before, shooting meager sparks into the air. "I don't know how or why, but when it ruined my body, it left me a gift."
Secretive. Possibly more than one personality. Electrical powers. If his dreams are indicative of his other personality's demeanor, then I must be extremely wary. He instinctively scratched at his right arm, around his shoulder where the scars started. And so, I suppose, should he.
Blitz began to have a coughing fit and spouted an apology and an urging to proceed. Vexmagog was inclined to agree, but before he could, Jacob stopped the group outright. I suppose it is his turn.
He threw his cup over his shoulder, and indicated that he was prepared for a demonstration. He moved with purpose in a manner indicating he was going to demonstrate along their current heading. Vexmagog moved himself from his position at the front of the group quietly.
"Quantum Magic. 'Quantum' is the modern term for it, and probably something of a misnomer. Regardless, it's the magic of messing with time and space. And no, before you ask, I can't stop time outright. But I can slow it down, speed it up, and so forth. As to the matter of space... I can alter gravity, change inertia... And, perhaps most importantly... I can do this."
Vexmagog took note of the excessive theatricality with which the man performed his actions with amusement. He seems very willing to demonstrate his abilities, but has yet to mention how he came to possess them. He saw, then, the hole that had been ripped in the very air itself, which Jacob proceeded to step through. He noted that the hue of the sand in the hole matched that of the sand surrounding the pylon above them, and looked up to see another Jacob, far away, just a tiny speck, in the sand in the distance.
John Swift was the first to stride through the hole as if it weren't anything unexpected. "Awesome. Fantastic. I won't have to listen to you guys talking for nearly as long."
Vexmagog followed them through and looked up. The pylon stretched up to the artificial sun and made it seem more distant and oppressive through perspective. The base appeared to be in the basin of what used to be an artificial body of water, with four long, columned bridges stretching from where the shoreline must have been to four entrances equidistant along the pylon's perimeter, high up from what was now the ground. The bridge had collapsed on the side with the hole, leaving a pile of rubble leading up a shallow mound to that side's entryway. As he was closer to it than the ends of any of the other bridges, he began walking towards it.
Blitz followed behind him, but the others made a beeline for the nearest bridge. As they approached the pile, Blitz spoke up. "Uh wh.. how are you going to get up there?"
Vexmagog looked back at him quizzically. "I'm going to climb this pile of stones," he replied simply.
Blitz looked at the pile, and then back at Vexmagog. "Pile of...? Oh. Um. That's really steep. I don't think I can climb that. I'm going to go with the others." He ran off after them and Vexmagog had a sinking feeling in his gut at being separated. These humans can run pretty fast for having such short legs. Apparently they can't climb very well, though. I'm sure all the entrances meet up at the same place in the center. I'll just meet them there, I guess.
He grasped a protruding piece of stone with one foot-hand and deftly pushed himself off the sandy ground to grab a piece of bent rebar above. With nimble swiftness gained from his physiology and navigation of a mountainous world, he ascended the pile, hand over foot, until it reached what any human climber would have considered the top. Vexmagog, however, leapt from his perch, snagged the jagged edge of a broken remnant of the bridge in midair, and used the momentum to swing forward and grab the top of a column with his feet. He hung there, green cape dangling below, and pulled himself up to the last piece of stubborn concrete clinging to the side of the pylon right by the door.
Looking to his right, he saw that the other four had only barely begun to cross the other bridge. Looking behind him, he experienced momentary vertigo.
The ground gave way to an endless, glittering expanse of blackness, a hundred yards across. Far, far, far below, inexorably swirling bands of green and white gas proceeded at steady tempo around the surface of an immense and foreign world. Their gaps revealed a marred, red surface, dotted by right-angled patches of green and blue and silver, and divided by deep scars of luminous crimson. The whole thing was encircled by an immense and shimmering ring of bluish dust, which Vexmagog realized must extend behind this station's position in space. Vexmagog was entranced by the enormity and beauty of it and stood nearly breathless, an infinitesimally tiny ex-god on his infinitesimally tiny sliver of jagged rock, attached to an infinitesimally tiny towering pylon attached to an infinitesimally tiny space colony. Vexmagog's entire universe was smaller than the distances he realized he must be perceiving at this moment, and he then knew that his home was lacking for it. He had seen this sky before. He knew what those stars twinkling above represented, but it had not hit home until this moment exactly how they compared to him. Each of those sand-grains of shimmering light scattered across the all-encompassing cosmic blackness was vaster than a thousand times the grandest distance Vexmagog had ever conceived of.
In short, he felt very, very small, and he stood there feeling very, very small for quite some time.
He turned back to check on his companions' progress. They are almost across the bridge. At their current rate of travel, it must have taken them quite a while. I must have been standing here for... oh no. He turned to face his prior intended heading. The door, once a utilitarian steel rectangle inset into the building, had shattered into uncountable steel shards radiating from a central point, and circling, writhing, grinding in a circle. The concrete composing this section of the wall was continually shifting. Faces of Vexmagog and all of the other contestants formed from concrete nothingness and were dragged into the door frame to be shredded by the points of steel. He watched as revulsion as a copy of his own face hit the grindstone and contorted into an expression of pure pain as its flesh and bone were rent from one another. As he watched, the blood began to pour down from them, instantly forming a warm, stinking crimson river that trickled down the side of the pylon.
He thought he heard one of the others say something, but he could not make it out. He felt their stares on him without looking. But also, he knew that it wouldn't hurt him. Not physically, at least. And he knew, somehow, that he had to stay calm through this.
He knew that, vast as these uncountable worlds are, Magog had been a threat to all of them.
He balled up his hands into fists and stepped through the door. Its steel teeth opened wide for him, and slammed shut behind. He knew without looking that it was smiling.
Spoiler