Fantasy The Library

[Hercynia]

There's a prophecy... a prophecy that a great evil will befall every world... And only seven of the most courageous, bravest, pure heroes will be able to defeat this evil. Their travel shall be long and hard, yet they shall be blessed, and a great library shall aid them with all they need to know.


...Unfortunately, these heroes haven't shown up yet. So, until they do, looks like we'll have to keep this library in top condition. And that, is where you come in. Now, there's a reason I'm behind this thick glass- not all of you will like your place here, but trust me- noone is going to miss you in your world. We do have the ability to smooth over any mention of your existence there, you know. So now, your job is this: maintain the library, keep it safe, and be here, just in case those heroes arrive.


(The rest in in Overview)

 

[Hercynia]

The Curator looked out of the window of his tower workshop, past the multiple small pieces of clockwork and machinery parts, and out onto the many, many roofs of the library, stretching as far as the eye could see. You could see so far up here - the occasional trees poking up, the different roofs, the cathedral-type areas, the towers - but there truly was no actual land anywhere, no open space, just the huge, endless Library. It might, The Curator supposed, be depressing to some. Not to him though- to him it was... well... beautiful, he supposed. In it's own way. Still, he supposed, probably a good idea to get some more help- the last people he'd had here - what, a century ago? - had probably all fallen in traps, or been eaten, or something. Tsk. Ah well. The Curator sat there a moment longer, before stretching, and rising, walking slowly through a small wooden door set into the wall.


A few seconds later, he he walked into a large room through a similar door, in a central part of the library, it's vaulted ceiling soaring up, with many doors around it. The Curator looked around in annoyance - all this dust, honestly. Still, it was the best place to do this centennial ritual.


Deep in the depths of The Library, a small crystal began to glow, the colours refracting through several smaller crystals, before striking several spheres hooked into a strange contraption. The spheres swam with the iridescent colours, before the colours shrank into a singular pinprick of light on each sphere.


In countless worlds, iridescent light grew around countless people, people the world wouldn't miss so much. The light, visible only to the person it was surrounding, spread out around the world, touching anything and anyone related to the person it was surrounding, erasing all knowledge of them. The light vanished, taking the person with them, and dropping them into the huge hall in The Library, a short distance away from a small stage that The Curator, an old man, was standing on, the air subtly distorting, although not enough to change his appearance.


He stared out at the crowd forming, the countless people of different species, gender, type, staring in surprise at their suddenly different surroundings. This part was always awkward. Should he say something? ...No. Better to wait. Give them a moment to recover from their journey through time and space. Give the language based enchantments a moment to work.


(@Noivian @DwlfTheDuck @StoneWolf18 @Thief of Cards @zacharychi (Although you need to change some things in your CS - See Character Sign-Up) @ChazGhost @Gaaron01234 @FreeSpirit @Saturnity - Let's do this!)

 

[Quacklustre]

Jared blinked. He blinked again, in surprise. He could have sworn, that a mere moment ago, he was all too nimbly standing atop the branch of a tree. He looked around at the figures around him - mostly looking as surprised as he probably appeared - and opened his mouth to say something. He couldn't think of anything to say, besides "What the heck?", so that's what he exclaimed, as he stared at the many others around him. He realised that he was in a huge hall, and turned around to realise that there was a small stage at one side of the vast room, upon which stood an old man, with the eyes and hair of a tinkerer.

 

[Thief of Cards]

John smirked, an easy heist was to unfold in front of him. With his quick reflexes and trickery, he should be able to snatch away the jewel from right under the noses of the police like he always did. His intelligence incomparable even when through the numerous police intellects have tried to capture him. Indeed, the phantom was on his move once more, rushing through the night of the New York City in a carefree attempt for the great Jewel of Ancient Japan. With his white robe floating behind him through the wind and his blue eyes facing forward with utmost confidence and undeniable ability. There was more than a 97.3% chance that John was going to succeed here and to John, that percentage meant 120%. It was impossible for John to fail here, not under these circumstances even if the security was extremely tight... Indeed, even helicopters had already been set up due to John's typed warning letter to the chief of defense. With yet another smile, John checked to see if his card gun was still conveniently in his pocket and straightened up his hat. . Well, well.... John thought, beginning to move. "Ladies and gentlemen..." John whispered. "It's showtime."


As John knocked out the second patrol police that he had encountered on the outskirts of the building, he could see a crowd gathering up in attention. Indeed, the place was absolutely filled with different police of different sorts. This wasn't John's first important mission and just like the other times, John was definitely going to succeed. It was impossible for him to fail. Of course, that was from calculations of what he thought was humanly possible. However, John had not expected sudden teleportation to be the one thing that could interfere with his highly developed and advanced plans. As he walked, his eyes were blinded by a sudden flash of bright, white eyes and the next thing he knew as his eyes adjusted to the darkness was he was now somewhere else. Somewhere different... A place that he's never been. The place was filled with books and sense of knowledge could be heard sensed clearly through the atmosphere. From one sniff, the place was definitely not somewhere that John was close to... Geez... This might take a while. John thought, observing the place. So bad for those people that wanted to see the heist in action. I guess they're just going to have to wait a while, then. With that, John grinned, fixing his eyes on an experienced, old man who was in the center of the endless corridors of cabinets filled with books. "Interesting..."

 

[Gaaron01234]

Ian pokes the air with his key and wonders where the door to his shop he was about to open went. Or his shop in general for that matter. The people around him seem to be just as confused as he is.


"probably a teleportation spell gone horribly wrong." He thinks to himself and takes a good look at the hall's architecture, trying to figure out what continent he landed on.

 

[Noivian]

Nova hesitated. What was that light? Where was she now? What happened? She looked about, trying to get a grasp on her surroundings. She remains calm and level-headed, not wanting to get upset over something that could probably be nothing. She looks curiously around at the group that was gathered here already. It was an odd collection, to say the least. That's not to say Nova herself wasn't odd, but still. She looked to the old man on the stage. Perhaps he knew something of this?

 

[Saturnity]

Treilin

​

"Trei! Come this way! No, n--!"


A blur followed suit by a blinding array of color and light assaulted the young Tideling's vision as she felt the jarring impact of a headfirst landing on stone. Groaning and massaging the now bruised crest that formed her forehead, Treilin rose to her feet and staggered backward, barely using her tail to balance before she could once more fall to the hard floor. Her sight swam, still adjusting from the sudden change in lighting and location, but she gradually began to adapt, noticing various figures standing around her. Then it happened all at once: She remembered the blinding light of the Surge as it tore across the village, separating herself and Kerbek, and how it swept her away and into the unknown. Suddenly, it was as if hundreds of alarms sounded in her head all at once, with the same warning, danger!


Still slightly delirious, Treilin quickly parted from the surrounding group of strangers with appearances she'd never seen before, stumbling recklessly toward one side of the rather large room. She struggled desperately to refocus while whipping her body around to face the potential adversaries, her retracted claws springing from beneath the skin of her slender blue fingers. Taking a defensive posture, her muscular tail flicked to and fro in an agitated manner, while her pupils constricted to needle-like slits and darted back and forth in fear. If anyone tried to come close, she would tear their flesh to ribbons before they could lay a hand on her. While she prepared to protect herself, Treilin's thoughts raced as she attempted to understand her predicament.


What... what is this that is happening? Have I not passed on?

 

[StoneWolf18]

Feleana had been in her smithy working on a particularly difficult sword design. Cursing under her breath whilst hammering the molten steel, it had taken ages to get this far and one wrong movement would cause her to warp the metal. Setting the hammer down, the tigran reached into the pocket of her thick, leather apron and pulled out what appeared the be a miniature ax. Beginning slowly work her way up the sides of the still forming blade, giving the material a waved look. Yet as she began on the other side, a bright light erupted from what seemed to be everywhere at once. Startled, the cat woman took half a step back. Her tools, her smithy, everything except the items she was wearing began to fade from existence. At first Fel thought it to be the town mage fulling with her as he had done on so many other occasions, though before the vulgar string of words escapes her lips, they died in her throat as she felt as if she was being lifted. The pristine lighting being too much for her sensitive eyes to handle, she shut them.


Next, she fell. (Pun intended)


It was as if she was on a poor excuse for a boat that had just been taken by too big of a wave, now returning to the hungering water as it current drew what had raised the craft away. The motion made her sick as well as a bit confused as to what the hell was happening. The woman, as far as she knew, hadn’t pissed off any mages...well, there was the general elven population yet most of them had lost their magical connection due to bloodlines not being as pure as they could’ve been so…


Unable to have time to answer her own question, the tigran felt herself thrown on the floor of somewhere. A groan escaping her lips, she carefully at up, shaking her head a bit so her braids fixed themselves. Opening her eyes, the first things Fel noticed was the rows upon rows of books. As far as the eye could see, old tomes, scrolls, newer items she couldn’t recognize, it filled this very room. Slowly standing, she moved her foot and looked down at the floor...which was concealed within some sort of woven, dyed cloth. Odd. Yet that wasn’t even the worst of it. Now finally taking time to examine her surroundings, the woman saw that there were other people here. They all appeared foreign to her, the mingling of various scents with old parchment wasn’t very pleasant. And breathing through her mouth just made it worse.


Directing her attention to what was in front of her, Feleana saw an older man...presumably human though he was off in more ways than one. He looked as if he knew what the hell was going on so, she angled her ears toward him and waited for something to begin. Whilst waiting, she removed her apron, seeing as she may or may not be needing it for an unknown length of time.

 

[Dolches]

Zachary rose to his feet and looked around. He had been sleeping when he was teleported,he saw other figures. When he looked closely,HUMANS?! Zachary had only heard of humans in legends,he had never known he would be the first Draconian of his time to meet a human,but multiple humans? Zachary walked over to introduce himself,but he realized some weren't completely human.

 

[ChazGhost]

"Hey stop right there" Drake said chaseing man down the street. The man turned down a hall and drake turned with him when he was suddenly blinded. "What the light powers?" Drake said rubbing eyes before looking and seeing a giant libary around him. "Maybe more then light powers..." He said confused.

 

[Traka]

Cerberus got up, staring at the entryway and growling fiercely, as the heavy doors creaked open and a winged figure walked in with a cheerful swing on each shoulder. "Don't recognize me? What a quarrelsome dog", said Baalsarutep, high demon of Lust, picking up handfuls of slimy mud and tossing them into the beast's maws while approaching. He stood in front of a desk where another demon, this one of Gluttony, was building a tower of cards with his tongue sticking out and his eyes half-closed.


"Give me a moment, Baal, I must concentrate", Duncan said, glancing at the lustful one as the final card came into place. "There. Now, what begets the pleasure of your visit?"


"I've come to invite you to the ball, of course. Here's your mask"


How delightful, the circle of Lust's fabled ball! Ah, but I can't go, masked or otherwise, for she'll be there; thought Duncan. "Forgive me, I won't be able to attend"


"Is there a reason?"


"Yes, uh..."


He'll say that my excuse is no excuse at all, and he'll be completely right. Still, I can't. Simply can't. Just looking at him makes me ashamed of my cowardice and... White light. Eh, my sight must be... I'm not crying, am I?


The space around Duncan twisted, like a cyclone of heat that distorts the view, and a cold whiteness enveloped him, compressing his body until it disappeared. There was no transition. He appeared immediately among strangers, in a large room, with his sense of balance lost for a moment and his eyes out of focus. The demon fell to a kneel and rested, with a hand on the carpeted floor, to regain his physical comfort. After counting to fifteen he stood and looked around. This is no frozen lake, and that old man is not Lucifer. I'm confused as Hell.

 

[Hercynia]

Locke sipped some tea, relaxing in the break room of Elezien Translations, enjoying his break. He would kill for something to eat right now, honestly, but his lunch break was due in an hour or two anyway, and no sense in eating now, and not in the allocated time. Ah well- back to work. Standing up, Locke stretched, palms facing towards the ceiling above him as he let out a yawn. He should probably have gotten to sleep earlier - all night reading left you really tired the next day.


Finishing his stretch, his co-worker, Hilsigrad, laughed from the doorway. "Tired, much? You're up on manuscript collection duty. We have a client who wants an Ancient Kisilgrad scripture translated, and you need to travel to the manuscriptorium and grab the translation scroll."


"Will do." Locke shrugged - he liked the smell of the Manuscriptorium. You could practically taste the knowledge in the air.


"Great!" Hilsigrad vanished back to the front of the Translation office, and Locke started walking towards the back entrance.


Suddenly, blinding, iridescent light grew around him, Locke trying to squint through it- this wasn't his eyesight reverting, maybe a blinding curse set on him yesterday?


He tried to call out, but no sound seemed to escape his lips - he almost activated Forgotten Scripture there, but then everyone would know, and that would be bad.


Suddenly, he appeared in a huge hall, the smell of books and knowledge surrounding him, countless other creatures around him, all facing an old man standing on a dark, wooden stage. Locke stumbled as someone walked into him from behind, but caught himself - that had been close. Where was he?

 

[Dolches]

Zachary walked up to the most human being there,Ian. Looked down at the human,he was one of the tallest beings in there,if not the tallest. "Hello,human!" Zachary said,smiling. The human was less intimidating than he imagined. @Gaaron01234

 

[Gaaron01234]

Ian tucked away his key for now as he probably won't need it for a while when a sudden voice came from behind, or rather ABOVE him. He turned around to face the enormous draconian that just greeted him.


"hello to you as well." He replied, giving a bright smile of his own in return. "Excuse my rudeness but I don't think I recognize your species as well as you do mine. That said though, I must have traveled a long way to have ended up in a climate suitable for scaled beeings."


@zacharychi

 

[Dolches]

Zachary studied the human with every sense he had,except taste. "You look less intimidating than the mental images painted by the tales of humans coming to draconian lands with weapons beyond our understanding." He said,trying to picture the weapon in his head,he was born about 10,000 years after it happened,though he remembered tales that it took all the draconian kingdoms to fight the humans when they turned on them.

 

[ChazGhost]

Drake looked around alittle more at his sroudings and notice several other people here... Strange looking people. He'd seen people with animalistic powers and body parts but not in way to them look like a few of these people. Then he noticed a giant lizard man talking to someone who looked human enough. "Hey do you either of you know were we are?" Drake asked walking up to Zachary and Ian.

 

[Gaaron01234]

"That's what you get with legends I guess. People are prone to exaggerate when talking about their heroic adventures no matter what species they belong to."


Ian steps a bit to the side to let a bystander through without breaking eye contact with the giant lizard.


"But yes. Humans are quite weak when it comes to their natural abilities. That's why you would pack an arsenal of magic weapons and armor when preparing for a fight against anything as large or larger than you. You could for example imagine a flat piece of metal about as long as I am with a wooden stick attached to it to hold it, that could very easily cut through a dozen of my kind with one big swing."


He thinks back at the "Grand edge" in the castle's public museum that allegedly was once used to cleave a mountain in half.


"But I am no warrior and only own this little thing"


He pushes his west to the side to reveal a small dagger hanging on his belt.


That's when drake throws his question at the duos general direction.


"Greetings friend. I sadly have no idea where in the world this place might be. I have never seen it heard of any kind of architecture that even remotely resembles this hall. But whatever brought us here will hopefully explain itself soon. My family is probably worried sick about my sudden disappearance."


@zacharychi @ChazGhost

 

[Hercynia]

Kneeling down, Locke withdrew a small peice of chalk from a small pouch, quickly inscribing a small, uncomplicated sigil on the ground, and watching in confusion as it glowed a bright, strong blue, growing ever brighter- a bit too bright, in fact, Locke thought, as he shielded his eyes from the blinding circle of blue light on the floor. Wherever he was, there was insane amount of magical energy here- the measurement sigil told him that, at least. Reaching blindly forward quiet the chalk, Locke slashed a line through the sigil, and it abruptly stopped glowing, and withdrew into itself, until it was no larger than a single coin, before smudging it thoroughly. His custom sigils remained his custom sigils, nobody else's. Standing, he looked around . A few had noticed his unintentionally bright lightshow, as well as it's disappearance, and were making their way over. Ah- probably a good idea to move, and remain relatively incognito.


He wandered the room, noticing that most were waiting for the old man on the stage to say something, and noticing those that were talking among themselves, or, in a few cases, those who looked prepared to kill anyone that approached them.

 

[Dolches]

Zachary looked at the Ian,then at Drake,who walked over, "Yes,even draconians are prone to exaggeration." Zachary looked over at the Curator,an old human? He walked over to the old man,he was away from the group and most likely here before anybody else. "Excuse me sir,but do you know where we are?" Zachary asked,curiously.

 

[Saturnity]

Treilin stood quietly, observing those in the room, some of whom began to mingle with the others. Strangely, she understood what they were saying, even though she'd never met or heard of their races before. With no apparent hostility in the room, the alarms in her mind gradually dulled, her hands lowering as her guard dropped. While she noticed the old one standing quietly upon the wooden stage, presumably someone of importance, Treilin chose to hang back against the wall, her tail wilting slightly as she slid silently to the floor. Ahead, she observed a towering lizard-like creature in conversation with several "humans" as he seemed to refer to them. Folding her legs against her torso, Treilin hugged them while keeping her eyes trained on the many other humanoids in the room.


Out of the corner of her eye, Treilin caught a glimpse of a young man wandering the room, clad in strange robes and marking upon the ground with a strange white stick. Her tail flicked in curiosity, but she dared not leave her spot, should anyone decide to attack her. The situation proved incredibly disturbing to her, with the bizarre people and the unusual structure built around them all.


Why would the Surge bring me to a place like this? she pondered, thinking back to the moment when she'd been sucked up into the massive stream of energy. The Surge was the soul of her world, and served as the source of destruction and creation, resetting life to it's original state. When pulled into it, anything living is broken down into its fundamental particles, and scattered across the planet to serve as the seed of new life. In Treilin's case, however, it seemed that the Surge transported her instead... it just didn't make any sense.

 

[Quacklustre]

Jared winced at a sudden light, which seemed to have been created by a man with a piece of white stone. Marble, maybe? No, he realised. Chalk. Where the hell was he?


The creatures around him mainly looked fairly humanoid, but for a few... unique differences. For example, one was blue, and one had scaly legs.


The blue one looked as if she was trying not to be noticed, simply observing all huddled up.


A few of the creatures around him had engaged in conversation. It surprised Jared how calm they were being, with the situation in hand.


He was curious about what the light had been, from the chalk man. Slowly, his guard up, he approached him.


"What was that light just there?" He asked, unable to keep the extensive curiosity out of his voice.


@ResonantStorm

 

[ChazGhost]

"My family won't be missing me, mostly because I haven't talked to them in while. And there a theif who will not miss me." Drake said dislike letting the crinmal he was chaseing get away. "Anyway I think your big friend has the right idea who to ask were we are" Drake said pointing at Zachary talking to the curator.

 

[Traka]

The murmur is very distracting. Is that a cat-person? Seems like they're all making themselves comfortable, that potent light must have been the man's way of marking his territory, and a marvelous trick; might he have utilized a special substance, one that glows when used to scribe? He doesn't appear to enjoy the attention that he's gathered, how strange. Why would he make such a display, then? Was he not competing for attention, trying to surpass the man dressed in white? His style is unmatched in the room, what an elegant hat! Ah, wish I could wear hats. Indeed, what am I wearing?





Duncan lowered his gaze and bent slightly forward to have a better look at his clothes, a yellow tunic with dark orange rhombi aligned along the cuffs and neck, a mark of his position as guardian of the gate of Gluttony, with ragged lower edges that came down to the middle of his thighs, black trousers with similar markings in the cuffs, which were inserted in the shaft of his black boots; all of it stained with dark brown mud, most concentrated on the lower portions.


My, how shameful, just look at these! He turned and tilted his head to check his backside, which didn't appear to be dirty. Still, the boots! This must be somebody's domain, how rude of me to besmirch it! Can't walk like this, for the mud will follow. Then?





The demon lifted a foot, looked at the sole, filthy with mud both dried and slimy, and started to take off his boots by pulling them out, not undoing the straps. In the process he glanced in front of him and sight was caught of a blue creature that sat with her knees pressed to her chest. Blue skin, can't quite discern the shade, but seems rather light. A demon of Sloth? Both boots came off. There. Now, what to do with these? What's that smell? It's more like a certain thickness in the air than a clear scent, I think. Yes, it's the smell of dusty books! There may be an interesting novel in those towering shelves. Thus, he began to move, holding the boots in one hand, with the other placed underneath to catch any mud that fell from them. Duncan stepped to the side in order to avoid bumping into a passing stranger, but another one collided with him from behind and pushed him forward, which made him strike the man dressed in white. Uh... Did I speck him with filth?


@Thief of Cards


(Kinda long post, sorry)

 

[Dolches]

Zachary looked up and listened,no response. He figured the old man was hard of hearing and readied himself to jump.


WHAM!!


Zachary hit his head on,nothing? He saw absolutely nothing there as he fell back to the ground onto his back. He got up and looked,making sure hitting something didn't make his eyes think he hit nothing. He saw nothing that would obstruct him. He readied himself and spit out a mud beam in the direction he jumped,what the hell? He saw the mud just stopped at a point and stuck. Some kind of barrier was covering the old man. Zachary looked up in awe,he had never seen an invisible barrier before. He realized he wouldn't get through the barrier and walked back to the others,he saw a demon,a blue thing,a human in white,and a cat. He decided to approach the blue thing he noticed looking at him. @Saturnity

 

[Hercynia]

The Curator spoke, his voice amplified throughout the room, ignoring the creature that had hit his barrier. "Welcome," he said, as every exit from the room silently sealed. "To The Library." He gazed out onto the crowd of people with an almost apathetic expression, as though he'd given this talk many times. In truth, he didn't want to become attached to them- the curse of immortality. "This is your new home. Nobody will miss you in the worlds you came from, I'm afraid, but you are here for a much greater purpose, one that will save all of them. You see, a great evil will befall every world - and seven heroes, of the most pure of heart, will be the only ones able to stop this. However, these heroes shall be aided by The Library, which is where we are. The Library is where everything and anything that was, is, and will be ever written, anywhere, is stored. If you can find it, the knowledge of anything is in these shelves - however, like anything else, The Library needs maintained, charted, kept in working order. That is where you come in. You have all been taken from your worlds to keep the library functional - exactly how you do that, is ultimately up to you." Now, The expression on The Curator's face changed slightly, a slight flicker of interested showing as he spoke. "Some of you will find that you are best suited to repairing shelves, lamps, or maybe mapping out The Library - or perhaps you will fight, keeping others safe from the numerous monsters and traps built here. I have one warning. Do not attempt to escape The Library. There are uncharted sections which are, for lack of a better term, alive. We won't ever find your corpse. Be careful, and welcome to your new life. I am The Curator, and I will gather you from time to time, or communicate with you." And with that, The Curator walked off the stage, through a small wooden door, not sparing a single glance at any of the people left standing in front of the stage. He'd learnt the hard way that to get attached was a bad idea. Hopefully, these people would need little encouragement or assistance from him - and as for escaping - well, there were always a few who tried.


@DwlfTheDuck @Thief of Cards @Gaaron01234 @Noivian @Saturnity @StoneWolf18 @zacharychi @Traka @ChazGhost @FreeSpirit