RE: The Daunting Affray! (Round 1: Temple in the Sky!)
02-03-2014, 04:21 AM
Most people, upon being told they were to engage in a fight to the death with five other people (or in this case, three other people, one living volcanic fissure, and one of whatever that Reginald guy was) would begin panicking, or maybe just faint. Sam, however, found herself unable to do anything but look on at the Artisan’s failures with horrified amusement. Perhaps she was simply going into shock, or maybe her experience in battling beings with supernatural powers had jaded her. Either way, it was almost impossible for her to take this guy seriously, but at the same time, he was pretty obviously in possession of power way out of her league. The only analogy she could come up with was watching a little kid using an unexploded mine as home plate in a baseball game, and she would have said something to that effect, had her jaw not been locked in place.
This impression was not in any way dispelled by her transportation to the Temple in the Sky, as immediately upon arrival, the back of her head collided with something hard. Her eyes lost focus briefly, and she crashed to the ground, which was just as solid as whatever she’d hit her head on. The resulting bruises left her somewhat disinclined to do anything but lie on the ground where she’d fallen. Within a few minutes, the splitting headache she had gained faded into a dull, bone-deep ache. Though it showed no signs of disappearing any time soon, which made Sam think that she’d managed to get a concussion, she knew that she would need to move as soon as possible, and gingerly pushed herself up to a sitting position, wary of any spikes of pain that might be caused by sudden movement.
Having accomplished this, she finally took the time to look at her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was a massive marble statue of an angel that dominated the room, which couldn’t be any more than fifteen feet to a side. Aside from the statue, the room contained little but polished stone walls and a wooden altar, adorned with gold leaf and a series of intricate designs lining the upper edge of its outer faces. Turning around to look at the statue again, a smear of red near its base caught Sam’s eye at the same time her wet hair came into contact with her skin. That was strange. There wasn’t any water around, so she couldn’t have… Interrupting her own line of thought, she lightly touched her hair with a finger and brought it in front of her eyes. Yes, she was bleeding, and had been since she’d hit her head on that statue.
Abruptly, a voice intruded upon her thoughts.
[Connection lost. Re-establish connection?]
It spoke directly into her head, and that fact was likely the only thing that kept her from starting at the not-sound. Sam strained her memory, and faintly recalled the Catalyst saying something like this when she had first obtained it; when queried, it had revealed that each person required a unique connection to the maelstrom of Chaos that lurked just beneath the fabric of reality.
“Yes,” she responded. Absentmindedly nodding her head while giving the command, she cringed as the action shoved a needle into her already heavily abused skull.
Almost immediately, the voice confirmed her response. [Establishing connection…]
A few seconds passed, and Sam had to restrain the urge to poke at her head wound.
[Connection established; efficiency at typical levels.]
At this, she hauled herself to her feet facing the angel statue and lifted her right hand palm out. Her eyes looked directly into the violet-hued gem embedded in her glove.
“Engage. Twenty-five percent.”
[Engaging preliminary Channeling procedures.]
The gem began to shine, first seeming to reflect the light being cast on it, but almost immediately proving to be generating its own light. The intensity of the light swiftly grew until it hurt her eyes, and continued growing, only stopping after it had blinded her completely. A familiar weight settled onto her body, and the light faded faster than it had grown to reveal that Sam was now clad in a solid-looking set of leather armor.
[Output at twenty-five percent of maximum safe limit.]
Something let out a gasp behind her.
She turned to find a robed man standing frozen in the entryway, eyes wide with shock. A few seconds passed where neither party moved, but eventually, the man managed to stammer out a question.
“H-how did you g-get in here?”
A few more seconds passed as Sam considered the question. She decided not to answer. After all, she wasn’t entirely sure herself. Instead, she began walking towards the entryway. The man flinched, but did not move. She gently shoved past him to find that the door opened out onto a sort of gathering room, or whatever that type of thing was called in a temple - maybe the word was sanctum?
Five hundred pairs of eyes locked on to her, or more likely, her strange attire. Ignoring the surprised onlookers, she walked around the outside of the room towards a set of double doors on the side opposite her.
No one reacted, except to turn their heads to follow her.
Upon reaching the doors, she was pleasantly surprised to notice that the damage to her head had begun to repair itself; her headache was much less unpleasant than it had been a few minutes ago, and she was pretty sure the bleeding had stopped.
Sam took a few seconds to steel herself for whatever she might see, and opened the doors.
This impression was not in any way dispelled by her transportation to the Temple in the Sky, as immediately upon arrival, the back of her head collided with something hard. Her eyes lost focus briefly, and she crashed to the ground, which was just as solid as whatever she’d hit her head on. The resulting bruises left her somewhat disinclined to do anything but lie on the ground where she’d fallen. Within a few minutes, the splitting headache she had gained faded into a dull, bone-deep ache. Though it showed no signs of disappearing any time soon, which made Sam think that she’d managed to get a concussion, she knew that she would need to move as soon as possible, and gingerly pushed herself up to a sitting position, wary of any spikes of pain that might be caused by sudden movement.
Having accomplished this, she finally took the time to look at her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was a massive marble statue of an angel that dominated the room, which couldn’t be any more than fifteen feet to a side. Aside from the statue, the room contained little but polished stone walls and a wooden altar, adorned with gold leaf and a series of intricate designs lining the upper edge of its outer faces. Turning around to look at the statue again, a smear of red near its base caught Sam’s eye at the same time her wet hair came into contact with her skin. That was strange. There wasn’t any water around, so she couldn’t have… Interrupting her own line of thought, she lightly touched her hair with a finger and brought it in front of her eyes. Yes, she was bleeding, and had been since she’d hit her head on that statue.
Abruptly, a voice intruded upon her thoughts.
[Connection lost. Re-establish connection?]
It spoke directly into her head, and that fact was likely the only thing that kept her from starting at the not-sound. Sam strained her memory, and faintly recalled the Catalyst saying something like this when she had first obtained it; when queried, it had revealed that each person required a unique connection to the maelstrom of Chaos that lurked just beneath the fabric of reality.
“Yes,” she responded. Absentmindedly nodding her head while giving the command, she cringed as the action shoved a needle into her already heavily abused skull.
Almost immediately, the voice confirmed her response. [Establishing connection…]
A few seconds passed, and Sam had to restrain the urge to poke at her head wound.
[Connection established; efficiency at typical levels.]
At this, she hauled herself to her feet facing the angel statue and lifted her right hand palm out. Her eyes looked directly into the violet-hued gem embedded in her glove.
“Engage. Twenty-five percent.”
[Engaging preliminary Channeling procedures.]
The gem began to shine, first seeming to reflect the light being cast on it, but almost immediately proving to be generating its own light. The intensity of the light swiftly grew until it hurt her eyes, and continued growing, only stopping after it had blinded her completely. A familiar weight settled onto her body, and the light faded faster than it had grown to reveal that Sam was now clad in a solid-looking set of leather armor.
[Output at twenty-five percent of maximum safe limit.]
Something let out a gasp behind her.
She turned to find a robed man standing frozen in the entryway, eyes wide with shock. A few seconds passed where neither party moved, but eventually, the man managed to stammer out a question.
“H-how did you g-get in here?”
A few more seconds passed as Sam considered the question. She decided not to answer. After all, she wasn’t entirely sure herself. Instead, she began walking towards the entryway. The man flinched, but did not move. She gently shoved past him to find that the door opened out onto a sort of gathering room, or whatever that type of thing was called in a temple - maybe the word was sanctum?
Five hundred pairs of eyes locked on to her, or more likely, her strange attire. Ignoring the surprised onlookers, she walked around the outside of the room towards a set of double doors on the side opposite her.
No one reacted, except to turn their heads to follow her.
Upon reaching the doors, she was pleasantly surprised to notice that the damage to her head had begun to repair itself; her headache was much less unpleasant than it had been a few minutes ago, and she was pretty sure the bleeding had stopped.
Sam took a few seconds to steel herself for whatever she might see, and opened the doors.