Fantasy ATLAS: What Remains

[AEONmeteorite]

Beginning of roleplay is soon to come.
----------
Idea Mayali Worthlessplebian .titania Mirai-chan
Calibutcher

 

[AEONmeteorite]

“They should be able to know sanctuary,” she said.
“And they should know no hunger,” he said.
“They should never have a need to fear,” he said.
“And they shouldn’t ever forget,” he said.
“They should need guidance then,” she said.
“And we shall raise them into the skies,” they said.​

The five deities that took it upon themselves to save the mortals of the Earth, never understood what reasons all other deities decided to be at war with one another. They saw no end to the earth-splitting brawls and the countless mortals who would needlessly die. With their combined power and blessings, they saw that society may grow once more with just five caring for them all. The only form of god they were missing was one of death, but they deemed it unneeded, for death will ever be present.

Many people were saved, but not without a fight. War aimed at the five who wished to take mortals into their care. The mortals fought to keep their new home in the sky after their gods had sacrificed their form to give them the power to do so. They essentially became power-gifted Demihumans. When the Demihumans forces proved too strong, the fighting ceased. The Regents guided people and Hands until the deities inevitable return.

And they did return. They returned to peace and the Demihumans prospering. It was their duty to maintain it now. No more would these people be with those on Earth, though, many could wonder if an Earth even still exists after all that happened. But surely, no Demihuman would fall to find out.

Demihuman

would​

fall
​

​

 

[AEONmeteorite]

A breath in. Wisps of air wrapped him. His scarves fluttered about. Rolls of paper flung from his satchel. His body felt weightless for the merest of moments, until a figure whistled past him, falling faster than he. Kensiv let out his breath while he belted, “Najma!”

He reached and he too plummeted faster. His body straightened. Darting down to reach her. They should stop soon. The boundary should keep them safe. How far? When will they stop? Before reaching her, he craned his head back and twisted his body in the air. Too far. They’d gone too far. The barrier should have been right there to prevent injuries.

A spec. Two. Three. Even more. He could count at least twenty figures falling in the distance. Most he could barely make out with them being on different plates. His stomach flipped and heart sank. He couldn’t help them all. He doubted he could even help himself, so back toward his sister he went.

Kensiv flailed his arms, made his body rigid once more and zoomed. His satchel eventually emptied from all his maps and documents. With his hands extended in front of him, he finally made that distance and essentially tackled Najma. She squeaked and they spun about, clinging onto each other, under and over, again and again, until they used each other to stabilize.

He had half a mind to believe that she had passed out, yet seeing her now, it was clear she was awake. Wide-eyed, teeth clamped down, and her hand trembled in his. “You have wings!” he shouted through the blustering winds. “Najma, fly!” Kensiv tightened his grip on her and wiggled her arms. She stared down. Not at him.

Everytime they broke through a cloud, a wash of chill overcame them, and dots of water flung off their skin. “Fly. Please fly. Najma! You have wings! You have–”

​

The throb in Kensiv’s leg woke him. He stirred and tried to turn over onto his back, but made it to his side before he groaned. Eyelids fluttery, he could barely keep awake. Soreness radiated all over, but he was alive. Breathing. Feeling pain.

His lips pursed, moved side-to-side and he blew out, something had been tickling them. With a sniff, he drew his eyes open more, seeing spears of green grass swaying slightly. There was a deep, slick color along the grass. He traced its path. Searching where it may have come from and then his breath hitched.

A trail of blood came from his sister. He opened his mouth to say her name, but couldn’t manage it, so instead he attempted to hoist himself up to crawl to her. Regret came the moment he rose from the ground. Pain erupted up his leg and spine. He reached, then soon fell down into her blood before seeing darkness once more.

 

[.titania]

wa.....p

~

Wak.....

~

WAKE UP

What started as broken whispers slowly rose into a crescendo of multiple voices intermingled with each other, piercing through the mind and causing Mimhíogi to gasp awake. His silver eyes flashed brightly as the voices of the stars echoed through his mind, frantic with worry. There was no earth beneath his bare feet. The scent of salty ocean air was replaced with sharp, cold air like that of the sky. Mimi reached his hands forward, attempting to understand what was happening but his mind was blank with only the voices to keep him company. Aquila gave a screech for him to borrow his wings, Pegasus and Cygnus chiming in as well but for some reason, he couldn't. His frail butterfly wings clung to his back tightly with the harsh air ripping at them. He could see that he wasn't alone; others were falling from there plates. A few from Thoth, another couple from Dagda, even the powerful demi humans of Huitzilopochtli were hurtling through the air. Mimi twisted in the air to see if other Skarf-born people were falling. True to the eye, he could see one some ways over.

He had little time to process what was going on, no moment to question why the barrier wasn't working, no time to ask the stars for aid. The last thing he heard was Scutum, "This will still hurt, friend."

~

Incredible pain was what woke Mimi this time, crying out pitifully and attempting to sit up. His hands dug into the soft ground, fingernails picking up dirt. The trembling that wracked his body only amplified the pain his felt. A wave of vertigo overtook him. His vision grew blurry and the familiar feeling of nausea rolled through his stomach; leaning to the side quickly, Mimi emptied the contents of his stomach, feeling the burn of bile in his throat. The ordeal was painful and disgusting but unpreventable. Once he finished with a couple shaking coughs, his gaze looked around best he could. Body shaped mounds. The sight of others, some unmoving entirely, around him was truly horrific and made his heart sink into his stomach. They had really fallen from the plates. It shouldn't even be possible. Mimi then noticed the small crater he had formed, grass torn up leaving bare topsoil and burnt marks. Despite the state of his body, his eyes could still make out the slight astral outline of a shield -Scutum- fading away beneath his frame. The constellations were never supposed to help him unless he asked; many were self-centered in a way similar to gods. In this case, Mimi could only guess was an emergency and while they could not directly interfere, Scutum had still braced his fall the best it could.

For that, he was grateful. A bout of coughing wracked through him, laced with pain coming from the left side of his body. The man hadn't noticed how he was wheezing for air, too hype focused on what was happening. His wings were not in the best shape but better than if he had landed on his back. Small pieces were missing from each wing, one of them having a long cut through it and preventing him from flying. Bruises littering his body and most likely some internal damage as well. This. This was a living nightmare.

 

[Worthlessplebian]

He is falling.

The realisation, despite his warrior reflexes, hasn't settled in his mind. The wind's cold embrace as it slides over his body with the rage of a rushing river feels as foreign to him as a jaguar eating vegetables. The pressure knifes into his back awakening him from the dumbstruck state he found himself in, mind racing quicker than the whizzing, rushing air to recall how he fell. Blank. That is all that he can recall. Clenching his jaw, his training took pilot of his body. His breathing is hampered, but he can make do for now. The feathers on his back whistled intensely. And intuitively as the muscles in his shoulders and chest and waist screamed as he fought to right himself. His sight became engorged by haze, he scarcely knows what awaits on the surface — if there even is a surface. He turns his head, sees demihumans ahead and behind him falling as well. Find them, his inner voice commands. Then the clattering of metal against metal alarmed him, his blades! The blades modeled from his God, his Primogen are hurtling along with him. His hands worked the buckle free, releasing the belt and the swords along with it. With one hand, he threw it behind him. He'll find everything later.

His hands wipe the smooth, wooden mask on his face fastened by rope and cloth. The warrior's eyes glow. First smoldering red, then the yellow of a sunflower's petals. The energy seeps. Sparks and beads the eyes cry out, yet he remains steeled. He needs more power, he needs. It wells within, now focus. A thin beam of yellow light bursts from his eyes at the ground below, he expands the rays. They turn from yellow to turquoise. The landing will be... Survivable.

~

A shooting pain from head to ankles spurred him. His eyes flare open, but he does not move. Albeit suffering from debilitation, his senses picked up no commotion near him. He is fortunate to have survived. His cheek feels a metal edge pressing against it. Out of the mask's eyeslits, he recognises his weapon next to him. Or at least one of the duo swords, this Hummingbird Razorwing. His arms, battered and splattered with bruises like a child's drawing, lift him up. He grabs the sword's hilt, holding himself against the wedged weapon's form. His lungs labour to fill him with air. His eyes smoked from use, vision murkier than the depths of a deep lake. He stands up to see the silhouette of a small crater in front of him. A sharp, jagged agony overwhelms him. His foot bends at an odd angle, he couldn't have noticed because of his deadened nerves. He limps over to the corpse of a fallen tree. Its husk is dried, brittle to touch, but under the necrotic layer, the tree was sturdy enough. He takes the singular long blade then saws off a chunk of the tree. Just enough to splint his foot with a sleeve from his cloth shirt, decorated with jaguar motif. He can step on it again, but knows it will be useless and hinderance in a fight.

But armed with his weapon, this warrior's heart burned with a perverse joy. This is no nightmare or dream for him, but he secretly adores the prospect. He sets down and recites the hymn to his God. "Huitzilopochtli is first in rank, no one, no one is like unto him: not vainly do I sing his praises coming forth in the garb of our ancestors; I shine; I burn. The Dart-Hurler is an example to the city, as he sets to work. He who commands in battle is a representative to my God. When he shouts aloud he inspires great terror, the divine hurler, the god turning himself in the combat." Once his sunken, hoarse voice completes the hymn, he caps it off with an addition of his own.

"From your grace, I shall know no fear."

He now travels to find the ones of the plates.

 

[Idea]

• Coded
• Phone Version
• Semi-Coded

• 

  
  
  

  Uuun
  Uuuuuunnnnn
  Uuuuuuuuunnnnnn
  Uuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
  
  My hand hung onto the nearest tree, claws pressing into the bark in place of my other hand that wanted to carve into my skull. What was up with these headaches? They'd haunted me since that chill rolling down my spine woke me up.
  
  "A bad premonition, I say, for sure." Perhaps not the best way to think of it, but it was to think at all. It was hard to focus on the path, on the details of the leaves and flowers, to find the fruit's trail. As a matter of fact, had I not already gone through this part? Even if I squinted and rubbed my temples with the hand that wasn't helping to support my weight, trying to recall felt like pushing a big dumb boulder, oh what was the word, futile? No, I believe that word was definitely lacking a certain stiffness to it to properly describe this. I know, maybe I could sit down here for a bit, since this was the only thing I was being able to think about in my current state anyways. Maybe everything would be better after a quick break.
  
  And yet, my stomach cried out for something as well. Those redpupils were looking real familiar too....
  
  "RRRAAAAAH!" I growled. DONE! DONE WITH THIS SENSATION! WHAT BLASTED, DAMNED, INSUFFERABLE -
  
  I covered my face with both hands, before swinging them wildly in random directions.
  
  eeeeek! My eyes widened, slowly lowering towards the tiny creatures hiding behind the tree trunk.
  
  "Ah! I didn't mean to, well... No-no need to be frightened, come on now... " I tried putting on a smile and moving my hands in a way that might come off as a bit more reassuring.
  
  Too late. They were now that they noticed I looked at them, those little ones hid even further behind the tree, though curiously the tip of their heads remained sticking out. The two little black peas on top of the veil-like skin that covered the rest of their body were their eyes, and they were all firmly stuck on me. Slowly, very slowly, I lowered my knees a bit, and gently laid my hands closer to them. There was no way they would have stuck around unless they had come here for a reason.
  
  Some kind of branch stuck or small stick stuck out from behind the ones observing me. It was moving very slowly, and I could hear the tiny whimpering chirps of other naplings. I tilted my head, antenna twitching a bit before I begun to approach them again, still on all fours. I was trying to go cautiously as before, but I suppose my curiosity may have rushed me a bit, since they all ran away like they were going to be eaten. In their place was some fruit, a little deformed, but nonetheless relatively-fresh looking.
  
  "My word. Did they truly carry these all the way here from the ground in the trail?" I couldn't help myself from grinning and letting out a little chuckle. "Heh. Thanks guys."
  
  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
  
  I practically fell face-first with the sudden intrusion and the urge to grab my forehead that accompanied it.
  
  "I won't let me forget about it for so much as a moment, will it? Rotten thing."
  
  Ignoring it as much as possible, I grabbed one of the fruits and bit down. The juices slid a bit down my chin, though not as much as I was used to. They probably lost quite a bit with the impact from the fall, and maybe a little more being carried around. One of them was in particularly bad condition, looking more like a rag used to mop up half-chewed pieces that fell from a child's mouth than a normal piece of fruit. Nonetheless, I ought to be grateful. With these headaches, just trying to fetch my own meal was proving a monumental hassle.
  
  "Now then, what was the work for today? There was no telling when this sensation might worsen still, and not even a full breakfast could serve as shield at such a point. Ah! I suppose the faébar were looking like they needed some pruning the other day. I shall go check on that then."
  
  Hands and feet both on the ground, I took off running to where they usually resided.
  
  ............................................................................................
  
  "Hey, off, off! I can't take these off you if you don't stay still!" the faébar clicked it's bifurcated beak as though complaining, but trying to remove the spikes that grew twisted in the plumage was like trying to dive into a bush to remove its thorns. Even so the creature flapped its wings and the rest of the flock seemed to as well. "Hey, don't run off! I don't have time to chase you this time!"
  
  ...........................................................................................
  
  "Hmmm. This one is in good condition. Almost ripe. Should I send it as a gift?" The fruit was seemingly wrapped in a flower that grew from the base of the stem, each of the five large pink petals bending over and covering almost everything besides the bottom of the fruit. I carried near my antenna. The aroma pulled by the gentle wind wasn't all that strong, but it was sweet. I nodded to myself. "She'll be overjoyed if I manage to do that. It should do wonders for the skin... for a normal demihuman anyway. Now if I could just figure a way to send her something..."
  
  ..................................................................................
  
  Huh? Oh. Oops. With the headaches and a now not-empty stomach, it was almost hard not to fall asleep on the morglum, that enormous, round, brown, fluffy thing. The ears were bigger than it's round one-eyed head, flopping over it like bangs. Ah, whatever. I kept brushing. Yaaaaaaaawn ugh... I guess five more minutes can't hurt. Without really thinking, I gradually embraced the creature's back again, and I could've sworn I heard a sigh. The warmth of the morglum's fur contrasted well with the breeze that was picking up.
  
  ................................................................................
  
  "Come on now, I'm right here." The critter hung on to the tree branch like it was strung to his heart though. Even so, I reach out my arms to the shiv'duine. Its fellows bellow, with all eight arms raised up in the air, yelped out for it with their faces halfway between a monkey and a horse. The creature finally leaned in, and just as it did, it slipped. I leaped from the trunk, pushing my feelers against it (they were previously hanging onto it), and I grabbed the thing from the rail, both plummeting to the ground and rolling on the grass. Leaves and dirt were all over the both of us. The creature yelped out to the rest of its kind, and I breathed a sigh of relief, laying back. Now EVERYTHING hurt, not just my head. But even so... I couldn't help but laugh from the relief. The wind seemed to whistle in agreement.
  
  ...............................................................................
  
  "Aah, I'm all dirty now...." I plucked a fork that had become stuck to me. The worm-like thing with four tendrils at the head squirmed, and I placed it on the ground, careful not to squeeze it. Something was blown into my eye. "...But in the name of Dagda, is a storm coming or something? It's like-"
  
  The rumble grew all of the sudden. I grabbed my forehead, as the headaches were in full force. I couldn't stand. I could barely hear my own thoughts.
  
  I felt light despite the pain. Fleeting. Like my feet were no longer touching the ground.
  
  Likely because they weren't.
  
  ...............................................................................
  
  Aaaah.... Was that...? The ground? It was so far away. A fresh brand of green. A space much wider that I could've thought about or known. It wasn't The Garden. It wasn't the place I was meant to protect. My body felt loose and refreshed, as the wind grazed it. Feelings of wonder at a sight so strangely beautiful mixed with those of relief as my headache seemed to subsume after that spike. And... terror. It was numbing, but like awakening from a cocoon, my fingers first began to twitch, before a rush of energy seemed to become unplugged and finally flow, my focus returning to me enough for me to fully become aware of the situation: I was no longer in the garden. I wasn't even in Dagda anymore. I was plummeting, to my death, and there was no sign of it stopping.
  
  Eyelids fighting against the wind, I managed to turn my head to my surroundings. Besides me, a few other creatures and plants, even some rocks from The Garden were falling. And besides things from The Garden, there was plenty more, albeit not nearly as close. One thing in particular called my attention: Trees! Twisted ones! Were they of the right shape for treerings? Would my connection return me to The Garden even if they had been uprooted? I had no way of answering these questions, but I also saw little choice but to try. I inched closer to the nearest object I could, using my monstrous body to try to adjust my fall at least. It sure would have been nice if that sail or those feelers really were wings, but alas I doubted they could even break my fall.
  
  Getting to the tree wouldn't be easy, but with the right timing... I leaped. I leaped. I leaped again. Once more. Just a few more times! The tree was in sight, but my heart ached, as I got closer to the creatures crying out for their lives as they plumetted as well.
  
  The shock.
  
  The confusion.
  
  The panic.
  
  I couldn't feel it for them. I wish I could. As it was I only suffered from being able to tell, and from the guilt of not trying to save them.
  
  "Forgive me, all of you. Sámae told me. My first duty... is to survive."
  
  With one last leap, I tried to pass by the tree, only to miss it entirely as the wind suddenly blew a different way. I tried to grab on to something. To anything. Anything at all. But there was nothing. Even though I tried to ignore their cries for this little off chance, in the end it turned out to be for nothing. There was no way to survive this. I wondered if I would reappear in the Garden this time. How I would look like this time. The image returned to me of that broken apart fruit from this morning. I chuckled. My limbs felt numb.
  
  I felt something slightly prickly on my back. More of it on my arms, and neck, and when it reached my head, I realized there were several fáebar, all over my body. They nuzzled a little, seemingly having used their wings to drift closer to me. I could see other creatures fruitlessly attempting to "swim" or "run" towards me, not that they could get an inch closer without any water around them or soil underfoot. But still, it stung the heartstrings, for a different reason from before, or was it?
  
  A few happened to be close enough to collide with this snowball of life. We were getting faster at the same time... but when we bumped into the morglum, I couldn't hold back the urge to try to embrace as many of them as possible, for the last time.
  
  FWOOM. SPLASH.
  
  .........
  
  I felt cuts. I felt an impact. I felt water, but I also felt something simply .... dirty. Disgusting. I couldn't tell what it was that made me feel that way, but first and foremost, I had somehow lived. Somehow. Somehow! I lived! I was alive! HahHAHAHAA!
  
  "han ~ han~ han~ " I panted as I somehow managed to finally swim out. Every part of me hurt. A lot of it was bleeding. But... there was more blood than my actual wounds suggestions. And there were also these other thin-
  
  "GRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I couldn't help shouting as my knees gave out at the scene before me.
  
  (minor gore warning)
  I saw a trail of red and pieces. I saw the red slowly spreading across the lake. I saw their limbs and innards floating up to the surface, and those bodies that were more sturdy floating up more whole, but all the same those littles ones, those caring ones, those playful ones, all turned into carcasses floating along once tranquil waters. It wasn't as though there were no survivors, but they cried out in pain as I did.
  
  "Still... I live. Thanks to them, I live." I needed to make sure I kept it that way. There would be time for honoring their loss and sacrifice later.
  
  The scent was terrible of course. But the nearest water source wasn't really fit for cleaning anymore.
  
  
• 

  
  
  

  
  
  Uuun
  Uuuuuunnnnn
  Uuuuuuuuunnnnnn
  Uuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
  
  My hand hung onto the nearest tree, claws pressing into the bark in place of my other hand that wanted to carve into my skull. What was up with these headaches? They'd haunted me since that chill rolling down my spine woke me up.
  
  "A bad premonition, I say, for sure." Perhaps not the best way to think of it, but it was to think at all. It was hard to focus on the path, on the details of the leaves and flowers, to find the fruit's trail. As a matter of fact, had I not already gone through this part? Even if I squinted and rubbed my temples with the hand that wasn't helping to support my weight, trying to recall felt like pushing a big dumb boulder, oh what was the word, futile? No, I believe that word was definitely lacking a certain stiffness to it to properly describe this. I know, maybe I could sit down here for a bit, since this was the only thing I was being able to think about in my current state anyways. Maybe everything would be better after a quick break.
  
  And yet, my stomach cried out for something as well. Those redpupils were looking real familiar too....
  
  "RRRAAAAAH!" I growled. DONE! DONE WITH THIS SENSATION! WHAT BLASTED, DAMNED, INSUFFERABLE -
  
  I covered my face with both hands, before swinging them wildly in random directions.
  
  eeeeek! My eyes widened, slowly lowering towards the tiny creatures hiding behind the tree trunk.
  
  "Ah! I didn't mean to, well... No-no need to be frightened, come on now... " I tried putting on a smile and moving my hands in a way that might come off as a bit more reassuring.
  
  Too late. They were now that they noticed I looked at them, those little ones hid even further behind the tree, though curiously the tip of their heads remained sticking out. The two little black peas on top of the veil-like skin that covered the rest of their body were their eyes, and they were all firmly stuck on me. Slowly, very slowly, I lowered my knees a bit, and gently laid my hands closer to them. There was no way they would have stuck around unless they had come here for a reason.
  
  Some kind of branch stuck or small stick stuck out from behind the ones observing me. It was moving very slowly, and I could hear the tiny whimpering chirps of other naplings. I tilted my head, antenna twitching a bit before I begun to approach them again, still on all fours. I was trying to go cautiously as before, but I suppose my curiosity may have rushed me a bit, since they all ran away like they were going to be eaten. In their place was some fruit, a little deformed, but nonetheless relatively-fresh looking.
  
  "My word. Did they truly carry these all the way here from the ground in the trail?" I couldn't help myself from grinning and letting out a little chuckle. "Heh. Thanks guys."
  
  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
  
  I practically fell face-first with the sudden intrusion and the urge to grab my forehead that accompanied it.
  
  "I won't let me forget about it for so much as a moment, will it? Rotten thing."
  
  Ignoring it as much as possible, I grabbed one of the fruits and bit down. The juices slid a bit down my chin, though not as much as I was used to. They probably lost quite a bit with the impact from the fall, and maybe a little more being carried around. One of them was in particularly bad condition, looking more like a rag used to mop up half-chewed pieces that fell from a child's mouth than a normal piece of fruit. Nonetheless, I ought to be grateful. With these headaches, just trying to fetch my own meal was proving a monumental hassle.
  
  "Now then, what was the work for today? There was no telling when this sensation might worsen still, and not even a full breakfast could serve as shield at such a point. Ah! I suppose the faébar were looking like they needed some pruning the other day. I shall go check on that then."
  
  Hands and feet both on the ground, I took off running to where they usually resided.
  
  ............................................................................................
  
  "Hey, off, off! I can't take these off you if you don't stay still!" the faébar clicked it's bifurcated beak as though complaining, but trying to remove the spikes that grew twisted in the plumage was like trying to dive into a bush to remove its thorns. Even so the creature flapped its wings and the rest of the flock seemed to as well. "Hey, don't run off! I don't have time to chase you this time!"
  
  ...........................................................................................
  
  "Hmmm. This one is in good condition. Almost ripe. Should I send it as a gift?" The fruit was seemingly wrapped in a flower that grew from the base of the stem, each of the five large pink petals bending over and covering almost everything besides the bottom of the fruit. I carried near my antenna. The aroma pulled by the gentle wind wasn't all that strong, but it was sweet. I nodded to myself. "She'll be overjoyed if I manage to do that. It should do wonders for the skin... for a normal demihuman anyway. Now if I could just figure a way to send her something..."
  
  ..................................................................................
  
  Huh? Oh. Oops. With the headaches and a now not-empty stomach, it was almost hard not to fall asleep on the morglum, that enormous, round, brown, fluffy thing. The ears were bigger than it's round one-eyed head, flopping over it like bangs. Ah, whatever. I kept brushing. Yaaaaaaaawn ugh... I guess five more minutes can't hurt. Without really thinking, I gradually embraced the creature's back again, and I could've sworn I heard a sigh. The warmth of the morglum's fur contrasted well with the breeze that was picking up.
  
  ................................................................................
  
  "Come on now, I'm right here." The critter hung on to the tree branch like it was strung to his heart though. Even so, I reach out my arms to the shiv'duine. Its fellows bellow, with all eight arms raised up in the air, yelped out for it with their faces halfway between a monkey and a horse. The creature finally leaned in, and just as it did, it slipped. I leaped from the trunk, pushing my feelers against it (they were previously hanging onto it), and I grabbed the thing from the rail, both plummeting to the ground and rolling on the grass. Leaves and dirt were all over the both of us. The creature yelped out to the rest of its kind, and I breathed a sigh of relief, laying back. Now EVERYTHING hurt, not just my head. But even so... I couldn't help but laugh from the relief. The wind seemed to whistle in agreement.
  
  ...............................................................................
  
  "Aah, I'm all dirty now...." I plucked a fork that had become stuck to me. The worm-like thing with four tendrils at the head squirmed, and I placed it on the ground, careful not to squeeze it. Something was blown into my eye. "...But in the name of Dagda, is a storm coming or something? It's like-"
  
  The rumble grew all of the sudden. I grabbed my forehead, as the headaches were in full force. I couldn't stand. I could barely hear my own thoughts.
  
  I felt light despite the pain. Fleeting. Like my feet were no longer touching the ground.
  
  Likely because they weren't.
  
  ...............................................................................
  
  Aaaah.... Was that...? The ground? It was so far away. A fresh brand of green. A space much wider that I could've thought about or known. It wasn't The Garden. It wasn't the place I was meant to protect. My body felt loose and refreshed, as the wind grazed it. Feelings of wonder at a sight so strangely beautiful mixed with those of relief as my headache seemed to subsume after that spike. And... terror. It was numbing, but like awakening from a cocoon, my fingers first began to twitch, before a rush of energy seemed to become unplugged and finally flow, my focus returning to me enough for me to fully become aware of the situation: I was no longer in the garden. I wasn't even in Dagda anymore. I was plummeting, to my death, and there was no sign of it stopping.
  
  Eyelids fighting against the wind, I managed to turn my head to my surroundings. Besides me, a few other creatures and plants, even some rocks from The Garden were falling. And besides things from The Garden, there was plenty more, albeit not nearly as close. One thing in particular called my attention: Trees! Twisted ones! Were they of the right shape for treerings? Would my connection return me to The Garden even if they had been uprooted? I had no way of answering these questions, but I also saw little choice but to try. I inched closer to the nearest object I could, using my monstrous body to try to adjust my fall at least. It sure would have been nice if that sail or those feelers really were wings, but alas I doubted they could even break my fall.
  
  Getting to the tree wouldn't be easy, but with the right timing... I leaped. I leaped. I leaped again. Once more. Just a few more times! The tree was in sight, but my heart ached, as I got closer to the creatures crying out for their lives as they plumetted as well.
  
  The shock.
  
  The confusion.
  
  The panic.
  
  I couldn't feel it for them. I wish I could. As it was I only suffered from being able to tell, and from the guilt of not trying to save them.
  
  "Forgive me, all of you. Sámae told me. My first duty... is to survive."
  
  With one last leap, I tried to pass by the tree, only to miss it entirely as the wind suddenly blew a different way. I tried to grab on to something. To anything. Anything at all. But there was nothing. Even though I tried to ignore their cries for this little off chance, in the end it turned out to be for nothing. There was no way to survive this. I wondered if I would reappear in the Garden this time. How I would look like this time. The image returned to me of that broken apart fruit from this morning. I chuckled. My limbs felt numb.
  
  I felt something slightly prickly on my back. More of it on my arms, and neck, and when it reached my head, I realized there were several fáebar, all over my body. They nuzzled a little, seemingly having used their wings to drift closer to me. I could see other creatures fruitlessly attempting to "swim" or "run" towards me, not that they could get an inch closer without any water around them or soil underfoot. But still, it stung the heartstrings, for a different reason from before, or was it?
  
  A few happened to be close enough to collide with this snowball of life. We were getting faster at the same time... but when we bumped into the morglum, I couldn't hold back the urge to try to embrace as many of them as possible, for the last time.
  
  FWOOM. SPLASH.
  
  .........
  
  I felt cuts. I felt an impact. I felt water, but I also felt something simply .... dirty. Disgusting. I couldn't tell what it was that made me feel that way, but first and foremost, I had somehow lived. Somehow. Somehow! I lived! I was alive! HahHAHAHAA!
  
  "han ~ han~ han~ " I panted as I somehow managed to finally swim out. Every part of me hurt. A lot of it was bleeding. But... there was more blood than my actual wounds suggestions. And there were also these other thin-
  
  "GRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I couldn't help shouting as my knees gave out at the scene before me.
  
  (minor gore warning)
  I saw a trail of red and pieces. I saw the red slowly spreading across the lake. I saw their limbs and innards floating up to the surface, and those bodies that were more sturdy floating up more whole, but all the same those littles ones, those caring ones, those playful ones, all turned into carcasses floating along once tranquil waters. It wasn't as though there were no survivors, but they cried out in pain as I did.
  
  "Still... I live. Thanks to them, I live." I needed to make sure I kept it that way. There would be time for honoring their loss and sacrifice later.
  
  The scent was terrible of course. But the nearest water source wasn't really fit for cleaning anymore.
  
  
• 
  
  
  Uuun
  Uuuuuunnnnn
  Uuuuuuuuunnnnnn
  Uuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
  
  My hand hung onto the nearest tree, claws pressing into the bark in place of my other hand that wanted to carve into my skull. What was up with these headaches? They'd haunted me since that chill rolling down my spine woke me up.
  
  "A bad premonition, I say, for sure." Perhaps not the best way to think of it, but it was to think at all. It was hard to focus on the path, on the details of the leaves and flowers, to find the fruit's trail. As a matter of fact, had I not already gone through this part? Even if I squinted and rubbed my temples with the hand that wasn't helping to support my weight, trying to recall felt like pushing a big dumb boulder, oh what was the word, futile? No, I believe that word was definitely lacking a certain stiffness to it to properly describe this. I know, maybe I could sit down here for a bit, since this was the only thing I was being able to think about in my current state anyways. Maybe everything would be better after a quick break.
  
  And yet, my stomach cried out for something as well. Those redpupils were looking real familiar too....
  
  "RRRAAAAAH!" I growled. DONE! DONE WITH THIS SENSATION! WHAT BLASTED, DAMNED, INSUFFERABLE -
  
  I covered my face with both hands, before swinging them wildly in random directions.
  
  eeeeek! My eyes widened, slowly lowering towards the tiny creatures hiding behind the tree trunk.
  
  "Ah! I didn't mean to, well... No-no need to be frightened, come on now... " I tried putting on a smile and moving my hands in a way that might come off as a bit more reassuring.
  
  Too late. They were now that they noticed I looked at them, those little ones hid even further behind the tree, though curiously the tip of their heads remained sticking out. The two little black peas on top of the veil-like skin that covered the rest of their body were their eyes, and they were all firmly stuck on me. Slowly, very slowly, I lowered my knees a bit, and gently laid my hands closer to them. There was no way they would have stuck around unless they had come here for a reason.
  
  Some kind of branch stuck or small stick stuck out from behind the ones observing me. It was moving very slowly, and I could hear the tiny whimpering chirps of other naplings. I tilted my head, antenna twitching a bit before I begun to approach them again, still on all fours. I was trying to go cautiously as before, but I suppose my curiosity may have rushed me a bit, since they all ran away like they were going to be eaten. In their place was some fruit, a little deformed, but nonetheless relatively-fresh looking.
  
  "My word. Did they truly carry these all the way here from the ground in the trail?" I couldn't help myself from grinning and letting out a little chuckle. "Heh. Thanks guys."
  
  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
  
  I practically fell face-first with the sudden intrusion and the urge to grab my forehead that accompanied it.
  
  "I won't let me forget about it for so much as a moment, will it? Rotten thing."
  
  Ignoring it as much as possible, I grabbed one of the fruits and bit down. The juices slid a bit down my chin, though not as much as I was used to. They probably lost quite a bit with the impact from the fall, and maybe a little more being carried around. One of them was in particularly bad condition, looking more like a rag used to mop up half-chewed pieces that fell from a child's mouth than a normal piece of fruit. Nonetheless, I ought to be grateful. With these headaches, just trying to fetch my own meal was proving a monumental hassle.
  
  "Now then, what was the work for today? There was no telling when this sensation might worsen still, and not even a full breakfast could serve as shield at such a point. Ah! I suppose the faébar were looking like they needed some pruning the other day. I shall go check on that then."
  
  Hands and feet both on the ground, I took off running to where they usually resided.
  
  ............................................................................................
  
  "Hey, off, off! I can't take these off you if you don't stay still!" the faébar clicked it's bifurcated beak as though complaining, but trying to remove the spikes that grew twisted in the plumage was like trying to dive into a bush to remove its thorns. Even so the creature flapped its wings and the rest of the flock seemed to as well. "Hey, don't run off! I don't have time to chase you this time!"
  
  ...........................................................................................
  
  "Hmmm. This one is in good condition. Almost ripe. Should I send it as a gift?" The fruit was seemingly wrapped in a flower that grew from the base of the stem, each of the five large pink petals bending over and covering almost everything besides the bottom of the fruit. I carried near my antenna. The aroma pulled by the gentle wind wasn't all that strong, but it was sweet. I nodded to myself. "She'll be overjoyed if I manage to do that. It should do wonders for the skin... for a normal demihuman anyway. Now if I could just figure a way to send her something..."
  
  ..................................................................................
  
  Huh? Oh. Oops. With the headaches and a now not-empty stomach, it was almost hard not to fall asleep on the morglum, that enormous, round, brown, fluffy thing. The ears were bigger than it's round one-eyed head, flopping over it like bangs. Ah, whatever. I kept brushing. Yaaaaaaaawn ugh... I guess five more minutes can't hurt. Without really thinking, I gradually embraced the creature's back again, and I could've sworn I heard a sigh. The warmth of the morglum's fur contrasted well with the breeze that was picking up.
  
  ................................................................................
  
  "Come on now, I'm right here." The critter hung on to the tree branch like it was strung to his heart though. Even so, I reach out my arms to the shiv'duine. Its fellows bellow, with all eight arms raised up in the air, yelped out for it with their faces halfway between a monkey and a horse. The creature finally leaned in, and just as it did, it slipped. I leaped from the trunk, pushing my feelers against it (they were previously hanging onto it), and I grabbed the thing from the rail, both plummeting to the ground and rolling on the grass. Leaves and dirt were all over the both of us. The creature yelped out to the rest of its kind, and I breathed a sigh of relief, laying back. Now EVERYTHING hurt, not just my head. But even so... I couldn't help but laugh from the relief. The wind seemed to whistle in agreement.
  
  ...............................................................................
  
  "Aah, I'm all dirty now...." I plucked a fork that had become stuck to me. The worm-like thing with four tendrils at the head squirmed, and I placed it on the ground, careful not to squeeze it. Something was blown into my eye. "...But in the name of Dagda, is a storm coming or something? It's like-"
  
  The rumble grew all of the sudden. I grabbed my forehead, as the headaches were in full force. I couldn't stand. I could barely hear my own thoughts.
  
  I felt light despite the pain. Fleeting. Like my feet were no longer touching the ground.
  
  Likely because they weren't.
  
  ...............................................................................
  
  Aaaah.... Was that...? The ground? It was so far away. A fresh brand of green. A space much wider that I could've thought about or known. It wasn't The Garden. It wasn't the place I was meant to protect. My body felt loose and refreshed, as the wind grazed it. Feelings of wonder at a sight so strangely beautiful mixed with those of relief as my headache seemed to subsume after that spike. And... terror. It was numbing, but like awakening from a cocoon, my fingers first began to twitch, before a rush of energy seemed to become unplugged and finally flow, my focus returning to me enough for me to fully become aware of the situation: I was no longer in the garden. I wasn't even in Dagda anymore. I was plummeting, to my death, and there was no sign of it stopping.
  
  Eyelids fighting against the wind, I managed to turn my head to my surroundings. Besides me, a few other creatures and plants, even some rocks from The Garden were falling. And besides things from The Garden, there was plenty more, albeit not nearly as close. One thing in particular called my attention: Trees! Twisted ones! Were they of the right shape for treerings? Would my connection return me to The Garden even if they had been uprooted? I had no way of answering these questions, but I also saw little choice but to try. I inched closer to the nearest object I could, using my monstrous body to try to adjust my fall at least. It sure would have been nice if that sail or those feelers really were wings, but alas I doubted they could even break my fall.
  
  Getting to the tree wouldn't be easy, but with the right timing... I leaped. I leaped. I leaped again. Once more. Just a few more times! The tree was in sight, but my heart ached, as I got closer to the creatures crying out for their lives as they plumetted as well.
  
  The shock.
  
  The confusion.
  
  The panic.
  
  I couldn't feel it for them. I wish I could. As it was I only suffered from being able to tell, and from the guilt of not trying to save them.
  
  "Forgive me, all of you. Sámae told me. My first duty... is to survive."
  
  With one last leap, I tried to pass by the tree, only to miss it entirely as the wind suddenly blew a different way. I tried to grab on to something. To anything. Anything at all. But there was nothing. Even though I tried to ignore their cries for this little off chance, in the end it turned out to be for nothing. There was no way to survive this. I wondered if I would reappear in the Garden this time. How I would look like this time. The image returned to me of that broken apart fruit from this morning. I chuckled. My limbs felt numb.
  
  I felt something slightly prickly on my back. More of it on my arms, and neck, and when it reached my head, I realized there were several fáebar, all over my body. They nuzzled a little, seemingly having used their wings to drift closer to me. I could see other creatures fruitlessly attempting to "swim" or "run" towards me, not that they could get an inch closer without any water around them or soil underfoot. But still, it stung the heartstrings, for a different reason from before, or was it?
  
  A few happened to be close enough to collide with this snowball of life. We were getting faster at the same time... but when we bumped into the morglum, I couldn't hold back the urge to try to embrace as many of them as possible, for the last time.
  
  FWOOM. SPLASH.
  
  .........
  
  I felt cuts. I felt an impact. I felt water, but I also felt something simply .... dirty. Disgusting. I couldn't tell what it was that made me feel that way, but first and foremost, I had somehow lived. Somehow. Somehow! I lived! I was alive! HahHAHAHAA!
  
  "han ~ han~ han~ " I panted as I somehow managed to finally swim out. Every part of me hurt. A lot of it was bleeding. But... there was more blood than my actual wounds suggestions. And there were also these other thin-
  
  "GRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I couldn't help shouting as my knees gave out at the scene before me.
  
  (minor gore warning)
  I saw a trail of red and pieces. I saw the red slowly spreading across the lake. I saw their limbs and innards floating up to the surface, and those bodies that were more sturdy floating up more whole, but all the same those littles ones, those caring ones, those playful ones, all turned into carcasses floating along once tranquil waters. It wasn't as though there were no survivors, but they cried out in pain as I did.
  
  "Still... I live. Thanks to them, I live." I needed to make sure I kept it that way. There would be time for honoring their loss and sacrifice later.
  
  The scent was terrible of course. But the nearest water source wasn't really fit for cleaning anymore.
  
  

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[BFabulous]

The view of the plates slowly left Iside as tears steadily flowed from her face, and subsequently were lifted by the velocity of her fall. As she fell a single question repeatedly dashed through her mind,. It constantly overtook her senses, drowning out the voices of her fellow demihumans also falling.

Why her? Why this? Why did that happen? Why is this happening? Why does she have to feel this way? Why keep going?

"Why would he.....What should I have done? Why didn't I see the signs? Why....WHY....WHY!" The pain of what just happened was bubbling over as she watched the blood mix with the white of her feathers. The physical pain was something she could handle, but the emotional damage she felt like she would never recover until the situation began to piss her off,"Why...Why would he do THAT!? WHY WOULD HE DO THIS TO ME!? DID SHE KNOW!?" Iside expanded her body in frustration and began to punch and kick the air. Taking a quick breath, she calmed herself slightly.

"This child of Thoth shall not lose to emotions this day," iside's eyes narrowed,"But! I will get my revenge on that sneaky sniveling bastard!" With newfound vigor, Iside turned her body towards the earth, expanding her wings. Her velocity was already too high for her to go into a glide. She needs to regain control of her momentum but the ferocious winds would make it hard. Closing her eyes she began to meditate to collect as much lunar energy as possible. Iside figured she could formulate a plan to either cushion or completely negate her fall, so at the moment she was just biding her time and rated that she would live....so she could get her revenge.

-

Breaching the clouds, the expanse of the earth came into Iside's field of view. The young woman figured that this landing would more than likely sap the majority of her stockpiled energy, at least she would still be alive, although she didn't know for how long,"I don't know what awaits me below, but they won't stop from getting back!"

As Iside neared the ground, she expanded her wings fully to level herself out, turning parallel to the ground. Iside looked for a big enough clearing so she could make an even safer landing. Circling a fairly decent opening, Iside began to create a pile of snow, hopefully enough to where she could crash without too much damage. Iside's makeshift landing strip was made with three small piles of snow and a larger pile slightly further back. Tucking her wings around her body she then quickly encased herself in a block of ice, just as she crashed into the first pile, although the ice didn't last long as she crashed into the third pile, knocking the young woman into the air, and crashing into the large pile. Peaking her head out the side of the pile,"Not the crash course I would've liked, but I wonder what I'll find down here........or if I'll be able to get bac- Ahh!" Stumbling out of the snot pile, the injury on her wing had actually gotten worse. Plucking feather from her wing, Iside began to write on the pile.

"Iside of the Thoth plate was here. I don't where we are or what happened, but....if you are another of the plates, I'll be going deeper into the woods, to find a water source. I hope this message finds you well." Leaving her message with a small snowflake next to the message. Planting the feather pin next to her message, Iside made her way into the forest.

 

[Mayali]

The house walls were wood, shaped into what were small confines to anyone other than regular demihuman people. And the green-skinned young woman walking outside from it wasn't the owner, who was still very much inside with his leg splinted and propped. Definitely not about to be going anywhere or doing work like washing baskets of dirty, stinking clothes. Like what was in the basket Phyllis carried outside with herself.

Getting outside didn't help, though, as she couldn't keep her nose from wrinkling up in disgust. The smell rising from that basket was unforgiving even out here amid all the fresh, wide-open air around that area.

Even while realizing she hadn't gotten away from the scent, Phyllis heard those two voices still going at it inside the house. Alketas' male voice drifted out wistfully, while Irka's female voice drifted out sharp with apparent frustration. The green-skinned woman didn't catch what they said as, in another several steps, she was out of hearing range. "Yeah, they ain't stopping anytime soon." Phyllis said, due to the fact that her friend Irka wasn't the most patient woman. And what patience she had was on a far shorter fuse when it came to experiencing sharp smells and tastes.

So the interior of Alketas' house would have been grating angrily against her temper right now. Despite knowing that, Phyllis didn't look back once. Wasn't like she'd have felt guilty about calling dibs on the task that got her outside. Or guilty about how she was doing this favor without Alketas' permission.

The injured young man had broken his leg about a week ago in an undeniably, idiotic way while trying to impress another young woman. Had done so the day before his weekly house cleaning too, and his stubborn hopefulness had made him insist no one clean up for him. Because maybe, just maybe, the young woman he tried impressing would stop by and end up staying longer to do it for him.

After the woman hadn't shown up during that week, Phyllis and Irka were putting their foot down. More Irka put her foot down while Phyllis grabbed the laundry and scrammed to get some clean soap not contaminated by weeks-old dirt.

------

One moment she felt the ground beneath her, present and solid. The next, wind came bursting straight into her face, strong enough that she had to clench her eyes shut against the utter force driving into them. Immediately an urgent need to open them again rose. Having felt that laundry basket rip from her grasp and fly off somewhere, she couldn't tell where without looking. It wasn't worry about the homes, shops or people. After all, she knew Lady Eleos would've kept away anything potentially too damaging or harmful.

Yet the wind gave no leeway and kept whistling furiously across the area despite her confidence in the Goddess' protection. "Great Goddess, this wind must want to be the definition of vicious." Like with her eyes, those words stood no chance, sounding even to her own ears like they were getting drowned out. She brought her right arm protectively up but had already missed several seconds of everything going on. During which, Phyllis could feel that wind erupting past, could feel her ponytail yanking in about every direction imaginable.

It was all so much happening that she didn't notice exactly when the Eleos Plate stopped being under her. But her stomach did an abrupt lurch when gravity took over. All five Plates were well above her rapidly falling green, brown, and grey form before her eyes flew open in surprise. Surprise, not panic, although her stomach felt like it was flopping unsettledly around in a frantic manner. Her eyes did at least widen, darting around without fear as she took in various sights scattered throughout the air around her. And above her too. From the Plates above to other specks falling from the airborne landmasses, and most of all...

The lack of Alketas' laundry anywhere in sight. Where is it? Phyllis would swing her gaze around, barely paying much attention to anything that wasn't fluttering clothing. Or loose tumbling basket. Except there wasn't any of either one entering into view of her darting green eyes. Just more demihuman specks tumbling down for her to notice, though by the time she'd accepted that, her much less than panicked glance around had seen that sight below looming larger. Its green features were looming closer than even the Plates were at this point.

"Huuuuuuuuuuuh?" I probably should do something about that. She thought as she brought her hands together, brow furrowing in concentration until she pulled her hands apart again. The right hand was open without anything in it. The left hand had its fingers curled around the seed she'd just made and pulled back, ready to throw what it held.

------

She knew she threw the seed. She also knew she had seen the place below become closer and closer, all while awaiting the seed's effects to take hold. The entire time felt longer than it had actually been, and she'd scrunched her eyes shut sometime in there, bracing for any impact. That expanse of ground had been so huge in front of her eyes. However, nothing came, just the sudden ground beneath her as the seed brought her to that location.

Even though she could feel something solid beneath her, she crouched down and extended one green hand, pressing its fingers against whatever was there. A smooth, silk petal brushed against most of her fingertips, but the thumb met something else. Other plants clumped together with straight stalks reaching up that were in no way part of the seed she'd thrown down here. "Oooookay then? I guess the seed made it." Phyllis slid both eyes open, gaze trained down onto where large white petals lay spread over some green ground cover.

All plants and dirt with nothing springing out at her from it, so Phyllis brought her gaze even further up to take in things a bit further away. Still nothing springing at her, but thick, brown trunks stood, rising out of the ground not that far away. Typical trees and, recognizing that fact, she stood back up to finally cut out the suspenseful timing she'd been going for while doing so. As if falling down off the Plate hadn't given her enough reason to be in a hurry. "Hello? Did anyone else land around here?" Phyllis raised her voice a bit as she spoke.

 

[Calibutcher]

“No, just because I am better at fishing than you does not mean I will go catch your food every day,” Drekni muttered. “Besides I have other things-” He was interrupted by a scream, he turned and looked past his friend to see who was causing such an uproar. One of the farmers pointed to the sky. Drekni craned his neck back and looked to the sky. His brain struggled to comprehend what he saw. For some reason, what he saw plummeting from the sky reminded him of a falling star. It looked unusual but he still couldn’t understand why the farmer was screaming about it.

As the object tumbled his mind finally began to grasp what he saw, this was no wayward comet of a shooting star. It was a person. No, two people tangled in a fall. He croaked in disbelief. “What?” He wanted to ask questions, press in on why or how this could happen, but his legs began to move on their own, propelling him forward. Seeing if he could get to the figures as they fell. His rhythmic footsteps came to a staggering halt. This was not a lone shooting star. This was a meteor shower of people. Bodies dotted the sky as they fell, this was no longer something he could do alone. He clenched his jaw and a growl followed by whists of black smoke that strained past his sharp teeth.

He waved away the smoke and began running back to the city of Malta. How he wished he could have been faster. By the time he arrived in Malta, he had already heard a few of the bodies impact the ground. He winced at the sounds but carried on with his task. People were already exclaiming in panic. Other Hands were working to gather the people and calm them. Even the Regent Concordia was present gathering the people as a shepherd in a storm.

Drekni called out to the crowds looking for his trusted friends. Before long Ciaphas, Aximan and Lunill stood before him Each Hands in their own right but they turned to Drekni now as a senior hand. His orders to them were succinct, “Ciaphas, gather any who can fly. Have them relay the locations of those who have landed.” With a wave, Ciaphas ran off to fulfill his duty not wasting any time. “Lunill, gather your team and start gathering those who have landed closest.” Lunill nodded but did not leave right away. “What do we do with those who are already corpses?” She whispered. “Leave them for now, help the living first.” Satisfied she turned away and began gathering people to help.

“Aximan, see to it the healers have whatever they need. Requisition whatever you must. Then join the search.” A curt nod and Aximan turned with his cape billowing behind him. Drekni looked to Concordia again. She stood atop the steps to the temple speaking to the people already and doing much the same as he. Sending out those who could search and bring back injured all while speaking peace to those who were too frail or tenderhearted to be of any assistance. She would not need his help here. He turned to the woods where the vast majority of bodies seemed to have landed and began his trek to find survivors.

To the credit of the Demigods here, the majority of bodies he passed were already being tended to by others who were close by or the first teams who went out. Even so, his heart sagged to see some left alone because they clearly did not survive. These would receive proper rights and burial later but for now, they remained a gruesome display. He planned to travel further out hoping to find some survivors who were simply lost now. He could direct those people back to civilization where others would see to their care. He called out to any who could hear him. “If you have survived and can move head west, there is a city where people will care for you.” He continued jogging for a while longer looking for obvious signs of any other survivors. He paused as he caught the scent of blood. He veered towards the scent and stumbled onto what looked like siblings. The smaller of the two had a severe leg wound. He quickly tore cloth from his jacket and tied the wound off working to stem the flow of blood.

After doing what he could to stop the wound he checked the girl's pulse, thready but still readable. She required far more care than he could render. He shook the larger man to see if he would wake. He could easily carry the girl but taking both would be awkward.
Kensiv had laid long enough in the blood that it had begun to dry into his scarf and shirt. He could have kept sleeping like that, unaware of his sister’s condition until his eyes opened once more. The pulses of pain strummed throughout his body and quaked against his unconscious mind. He emerged once again out of the darkness until finally he took a sharp breath and let out a, “Gah!” He flung up his arm, whipping red from the ground, and promptly pushed the stranger’s arm away. “Stop! That hurts!” he wheezed out and then felt twinges of dizziness beckon him to vomit, but he managed to stifle that feeling. “We just fell onto Earth and survived, we need to…” Kensiv’s eyes veered upward. There was more blood than from what he remembered. How much time had passed by? His sister looked so pale. He saw that her wound had been tied, but it didn’t reassure him. “Take her! Take her somewhere to get help!”

“I will!” Drekni barked in reply. It was understandable the man would be hysterical, even so, it grated on his nerves. He reached down and picked up the girl carrying her over his shoulders. He reached down to hoist the man up. “Can you walk at all? It would be easier if I do not have to carry you.”

Strained relief overcame Kensiv as he saw the stranger pick up his sister with ease. At least she was taken care of, at least she’d likely be safe. He rocked onto one elbow and reached with his other arm, yet stopped short as he studied this person’s hand. Scales. Claws. There were some peculiar individuals on the plates, but none such as this man with a dragon-likeness.

He hesitated for far too many heartbeats. Not out of fear or repulsion, but rather at that realization that they’d fallen. Kensiv girded himself, pushed up from his elbow and latched onto the stranger. With a heave and leaps of torment swirling all about his leg and lower back, he managed to stand. Almost immediately as he did though, he tumbled forward against the side of the dragonman, then straightened himself back up again. Drekni shuffled as the weight of the man pushed into him but he managed to grab him and help steady him. After some shuffling, he was supporting the man and they began their awkward shuffle back to Malta.


^^^
Mayali
Citizens around the land had witnessed the fall of many individuals from the grand plates above. Though not asked, those who could fly or aid in other similar ways went to work. They took to the skies and scoured the ground. Many that were winged and unable to carry others glided near the tops of trees and one of which passed by Phyllis. He went on for a while before his brows scrunched and he spun around. Had he seen someone? It looked like vegetation had been moving.

With a flap of his wings, he trailed back the way they came, hovering closer to the ground, narrowly dodging branches as he went. His head glided back and forth until he spotted a moving figure. “Oi!” he belted and pulled his wings in and downward to the ground to land. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He moved forward and extended a hand towards her, but reeled it back in. “We are heading west for all those who fell. Would you follow me there while I keep scouting for survivors?”

^^^
.titania

“Ciaphas a large group of wounded have been spotted at the edge of the Hunsaker's farm.” panted a man with large silver-grey wings. He pointed toward the direction he spotted the survivors. “I did not stop to help them, but there looked to be at least twenty, many seem to be alive.” Ciaphas patted the man on the shoulder. “Good Sletan, lead us to them.”

Ciaphas called to the group he had gathered scouts and warriors alike as well as a few farmers and able-bodied men who could carry wounded and supplies with them. They set a hard pace running to keep up with Sletan who flew ahead of the group. They found one staggering survivor on their way and Ciaphas sent a man to take the survivor back to Malta. The rest of them pressed on. What met their gaze at the edge of the Hunsaker's land was hard to stomach, many blanched at the view of bodies before them. Some mangled beyond repair but others still strive to cling to life. Ciaphas barked orders and the initial hesitation was overcome by the will to obey orders and help those in need.

Sletan landed near the most colorful person he saw in the field, Mimihiogi’s butterfly-like wings had caught his eye and perhaps it was favoritism but he wanted to help someone like him who had wings. “Hello there friend,” he began as he knelt down next to the man. “Relax we are going to get you to safety.” He examined the wings as best he could and checked his wounds with ginger hands. Before long a stretcher was brought and Mimihiogi was loaded with the utmost care and two men began the trek back to Malta.





^^^
Worthlessplebian

Aximan and his small group had already led several people back into the care of those more capable in Malta. Word had passed to him to go investigate a man wandering around the woods near a home. No one had approached him yet as he was armed and was moving erratically. Aximan was not a fighter, but a deft negotiator. However, others in his group could be relied on if it should come to blows. With the quarry in mind, his group made haste to the ashen woods the man was last seen in.

It was not hard to find the man. The woods he wandered did not grow thick brush or luscious trees, this section of trees had been afflicted with fire and the man stalking in these woods was quickly spotted. “Hail!” cried Aximan once they had observed the man for a moment. They kept their distance and while his men stood ready none drew weapons yet. “We come to help. We can lead you to healers, just please put away your swords. I’m certain you are confused, you fell with many others and we will figure out what is going on but first, we need to make everyone we can safe.” While Aximan spoke peace he motioned for his guards to fan out slightly so they could watch the man from different angles. No need to be surprised after all if this Demihuman decided to attack.



^^^

Idea

He had been aloft when the bodies began to fall from the sky, what had been a pleasant day where his only worry was delivering letters became a fight for his life as he dodged beings falling from the sky. One such creature zoomed by him and landed in a small lake below. The blood that filled the clear water was not the thing to marr the former pristine landscape, but this was the closest to Fuego. He dove down and landed at the edge of the lake. “Over here!” he called and whether or not he was heard did not matter, the creature pulled itself from the lake. He tilted his head slightly as he tried to understand what he saw. This being seemed mostly unscathed. He wondered where all the blood came from. But his focus shifted. “Here come along!” He gestured with open arms and the best smile he could muster.

“You look well for having fallen so far,” he chuckled. “I can help you walk. We are going west Malta.” He offered an arm to her.



^^^
BFabulous

Anya had been in the city when the calamity struck. She had been making a run for supplies, until, like everyone else, her day was turned on its head by the falling people. She hid in town at first but after hearing Concordia call for all able bodies to search, young Anya found the courage to strike out on her own. Besides, she reasoned that with her horse she could reach people much faster. She struck out and galloped across the countryside rushing past the large groups of people who were nearest to the town.

She sought out the less known parts of the land that she reasoned would not be reached till much later. As she rode along at a gallop she unknowingly passed several others who had crashed, but what caught her eye and caused her to slow were piles of snow near a lake. She veered her course and went to investigate. Even more peculiar was that she found writing on the pile of snow. "Iside of the Thoth plate was here. I don't where we are or what happened, but....if you are another of the plates, I'll be going deeper into the woods, to find a water source. I hope this message finds you well."

“Your message does find me well Is-side?” she fumbled over the difficult spelling of the name, but Anya understood the instructions well enough. She rode into the woods calling out the name. “Iside, come out! Iside, I hope I’m saying your name right!?” She trotted along on her horse, ducking under branches in the woods. “If you can hear me come out and I can take you to Malta, Concordia will have help and likely food if you need it!” Anya continued her course calling out, pausing, and listening for a response.



^^^

After the initial shock of what had happened past and those who could not render aid were safe in their homes, Concordia began doing all she could. Returning order to chaos. Organizing shelters for the healers and the growing piles of bodies that had to be dealt with as hordes of survivors were brought in. Many in very rough shape. Arranging food and lodging for those who clearly had no home now that they had fallen and survived. Sending out recurring search parties to make sure all were found.

She did all this while sewing what clarity she could for both survivors and rescuers alike, above all she never raised her voice or spoke unclearly, everything Concordia did was in such a fashion to inspire calm and order.

Her efforts did soothe some of the sorrow and confusion that took place from the fall. With all that the sheer number of injured and confused people was a lot to take on in such a short time. Healers scrambled to treat wounds and worked well into the first night. Scouting parties continued through the night continuing to gather any survivors left. Those who did not survive were collected to be dealt with later.

Two days later the search parties were finished and the healers finally had some time to rest. Concordia had brought a sort of calm to the people and those who could be reunited with their loved ones or families. An announcement was made for all the survivors to gather and hear Concordia. The crowd was brought to the temple, and many of the scouts and healers as well as various Hands that had been involved in the ongoing rescue operations were present.

Concordia raised her hands and issued a silence that caused those in the crowd to look and listen. She was patient. She did not rush the people to quiet. Once she had the floor to speak she began. “These past two days have been unprecedented. I am pleased to say I feel our people have responded well, but it cannot be forgotten the sorrow that brought this upon us. I apologize for the secrecy we have kept so far. These are troubling times and we wanted to be certain we knew what was truly happening before revealing who we truly are. I gathered you here so we could dispel the rumors.” She took a breath and eyed the crowd who stared back at her fervently. “You are not on Earth, while we do not know why you fell from your home plates, you have in fact landed on another plate. You are now on the Atlas plate.”

She paused to let the murmurs and objections pass. “I assure you, you will be safe here and we will see if we can return you to your homes. But for now, please prepare to work with us and help us keep the peace here. Lastly, Atlas has been appraised of the situation. He wishes to speak with all of you. However, speaking with him can be a bit straining. As such we will bring you in small groups, no larger than twenty at a time. The Hands will let you know what group you are in and when you can speak with Atlas. He will start taking audiences tomorrow.”

 

[Idea]

• Coded
• Phone Version
• Semi-Coded

• 

  
  
  

  I knew, with what composure I had, that the search for any survivors ashore was the most paramount of things at this moment, aside from not permitting that I myself perished. While pain throbbed through my entire body, there was little beyond a few minor wounds that should be able to take care of themselves in due time.
  
  I squinted and blinked a few times as I strained my sight toward the horizon. Grass, trees, and barely noticeable something of a glass-like shape mixed with white to the side, though it was little more than a smudge. Perhaps at some point I would go investigate.
  
  I then turned my hea-
  
  I took a deep breath.
  
  I then turned my head to look toward the remaining shore, one hand partially covering my eyes, though it couldn’t simultaneously let me see and cover what I wished it to. I squinted again, beginning to lean forward with focus…
  
  “GAH!” I nearly jumped back into the lake as someone spoke to me. This person looked like a demihuman, a winged one. Was he from the Thoth plate? Huitzilopochtli? Did he fall as well? Yet he claimed to want to bring me somewhere. I lowered my body, hands on the ground and tail rising behind me as I released a low growl.
  
  I wasn’t about to throw my hand away. Not without knowing his true intentions.
  
  “Winged man, who? What place is?” Clenched teeth, bared fangs. That should make it clear what distance to keep.
  
  
  His intention to help was not met with the same graces. He thought he had been clear. He flinched away and his mouth sat agape for a moment.
  
  “How rude of me.” He said abashedly while rubbing the back of his head. “I am Fuego, I am here to help I promise.”[/color]
  
  He took a breath and mustered some courage to approach again. He only took one step forward and still offer his arms out to show he was not armed.
  
  A question burned in his mind that could not be ignored.
  
  “I see blood but you do not look injured. What happened?” He queried while trying to keep a calm expression. The sight of so much blood was troublesome to him and his stomach churned to see such gore.
  
  
  His declaration was only met with another growl, however. And I knew well that not every weapon was carved out of wood and stone or forged in steel, nor were they always conspicuous enough to be evident at a glance.
  
  “Help? Why? What winged man want?” Since he still approached, I walked back. There was a limit to how much I could do that though. Should I run? Attack? Speak as he wished? He seemed to be perplexed by my survival. Was he involved in the fall in some way? Or was he perhaps motivated by curiosity? I hesitated to tell him much. But if an answer could be enough… the sun was cycling… “Iadaid, protected. Even though Iadaid… should protect.”
  
  I couldn’t help looking down. I was struggling just to keep the facade of my speech with pain welling up within my chest. I looked back up to the man’s eyes with a fierce stare.
  
  “Winged man know now. How Iadaid live. Winged man, leave!”
  
  
  Seeing her back away Fuego stayed his ground. He did not want to scare her. Even if her speech was a bit slow he looked between her and the other creatures that bloodied the lake.
  
  “You were supposed to protect them?” he questioned pointing to what bodies he could see.
  
  “I’m sorry,” His apology was interrupted by her demand for him to leave. He shook his head. “I cannot just leave you here.”
  
  But he paused as he wondered how true that was. Others would come and help eventually. He tossed that thought aside, no he was here and he could do this much at least. It would be disgraceful to leave with such a thought.
  
  He sucked air through his teeth. He gestured to the bodies floating in the lake.
  
  “Where they friends? Loved ones?” He hoped to make some connection. Find some way that she could establish trust with him.
  
  Argh! This winged man, this Fuego, he was so persistent! Then again, my fingers were twitching, my limbs ready to move away and my gaze not as fixed. Perhaps the culprit was my own impatience.
  
  
  “Criiii!”
  
  My antenna raised, and my heartbeat beat even faster, and before I knew I’d disregarded the winged man entirely and was rushing in the direction of the sound. That loud, yet fading, pained yet… relieved… Sound. I could only pray it was not the truly the case.
  
  It was a small critter, just the right size to be scooped up in my hands. A tube-shaped head with enlarged veins near the snout, a fish-like body but with a round caudal fin and the pectoral ones resembled the wings of a butterfly due to size and how colorful they were. They could fly… but they were too small to resist those strong winds that brought us down, or to pull against such a rapid fall. The light on the snout’s glowing tip was slowly fading, and the veins seemed to deflate, releasing smoke from the creature’s mouth. Green lights seemed to gather at my fingertips.
  
  “No.. no, no, no!” Green runes formed around my arms, pumping flashes of green energy into the creature, but it was not being encased, the magic simply dissipated. “No, no, no!”
  
  No rebirth was occurring, despite my desperation. As I pumped the magic again and again, my arms gradually lowered, and eventually the energy faded just as I dropped the caindell. It wasn’t the only one that had perished either. Several of them were laying there, bodies split or twisted by the impact. And I couldn’t save even a single one.
  
  
  His head twisted to a new sound even as she did. He stayed back initially but his curiosity could not be ignored. He moved slowly to follow just for a glimpse at what the noise came from. He looked on over her shoulder staying a respectful distance away. It was clear she sought to save its life, but it was already too far gone. She channeled magic into the creature but to no avail. He sighed heavily.
  
  “I am sorry, truly.” He looked down at the water where another creature tore nearly in two lay on the bank of the shore.
  
  Whatever her disposition of him he understood at least that these beings were important to her. He knelt down and gently scooped up the dead creature. Its blood stained his hands but he held it with quiet reverence all the same.
  
  “Is it your custom to bury your dead or burn them?” He would do neither action without express permission but saw the wisdom in putting the dead to rest.
  
  
  A memory came to me, of the burials in Dadga. A somber procession, followed by a party which celebrated the burial, as new life would sprout and that was a joyous thing, despite the loss. Yet, I could no longer accept it. To simply be put underground, forever lost, and wasted.
  
  “Save it, first, save it always… but when can’t… Take skin, take eyes, take heart, store. Take flesh, eat. Take bones, build. Life too important to waste.”
  
  I wasn’t so foolish as to think this was simply some kind-hearted gesture. The man wanted my trust. For what I didn’t know. I just knew he wanted it, and he thought he could get it this way. Well, I was in a hurry anyway. There were few survivors, but it wasn’t like there were none. If I wanted to get to them as fast as possible…
  
  “Winged man. Fuego. Fly. Get bodies. Iadaid, finding living. Save living. While still can.”
  
  
  Fuego looked upon the lake. It was difficult for him as well, to even look at the scene it had become. For a brief moment, he hesitated, then turned back and nodded, sighing.
  
  “You need not be concerned. I shall bring them, as you asked. However, I am sad to say, but I cannot retrieve any from within the lake. Perhaps back in Malta, I can see if anyone would be willing to assist you with that. Besides, your customs… Well, we can speak of that later. You appear to be in a hurry, so I won’t hold you here any longer.”
  
  He waited for the fallen being to leave, before raising his wings. With a couple of flaps, his feet were off the ground, and he was off to fish Iadaid’s dead friends. Or he presumed they were friends either way. Or pets perhaps? She said she was meant to protect them, but Fuego wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that just yet.
  
  
  Since I needed my hands this time, I normally wouldn’t be going on all fours, but it was simply more convenient for getting past the debris of what had fallen with me.
  
  “He appears to actually be bringing those ones back. He is going down to lay them, not simply throwing them as though they were nothing but sacks of meat. Hmmm… Malta, he spoke of? I never heard of such a place in any of the plates. Well, it would simply be false if I were to suggest that I know of every place in the plates, but nonetheless, considering how I arrived here… “ I told myself, after making sure I was at such a distance that he wouldn’t be able to hear me.
  
  Perhaps it would be wise to consider going with him after all. It wasn’t as though I knew where to head. My whole plan after my task was done consisted of nothing but assembling a temporary shelter out of the debris and attempting to find treerings to return to the Garden. As long as he could assure me I would be able to take care of those who came me - both the living and those who no longer were- then there was little reason left to refuse. I would have to calm the fear pumping into my heart.
  
  We continued our work until sunset, and well past it. Fuego’s flames proved useful once lights were lost and he had finished bringing the corpses earlier than I could search the area around the lake for survivors. There were more deaths I had to witness, but still, we at least managed to find some. Among those, most had their bodies mangled by the fall, perhaps even on the edge of death. Yet, there was still time. Green runic light filled my hands, and like a mist the green energy floated onto and coated the dying creatures. They would glance at me, just as a cocoon seemingly spawned out of their own bodies and surrounded them. It pulsated for a few minutes, before releasing the creatures, changed, but alive.
  
  Even I couldn’t know exactly how the way their bodies worked changed, though as a rule, it appeared they had mostly become softer and more malleable.
  
  “Winged man help. Iadaid wishes care, protect. Protect little ones. Protect playful ones. Protecting living ones. Not waste dead ones. Winged man… can promise Iadaid can?”
  
  
  Fuego thought about it for a moment, and returned a somewhat somber look, paired with an apologetic smile.
  
  “I can attempt to speak to some people, perhaps the guards will allow it… but forgive me, I can’t promise you that. I’m not some kind of important person. I just deliver letters.” He showed her the letters he was supposed to deliver today. An ever so slight tinge of guilt prickled him as he recalled that he had not. He would have to settle that with an apology letter, and hopefully there wasn’t anything urgent in those letters. Even if there was, there was little he could do about it other than abandon the one he spent the entire afternoon and a good part of the evening helping. “I think it would be hard to carry all of the ‘dead ones’ all the way to Malta, even they allowed it.”[/color]
  
  Perhaps they could argue this was something like bringing a hunt back home. After all none of those dead creatures looked humanoid, so perhaps they could be considered some kind of animal? Iadaid wanted the dead not to be “wasted” so perhaps she was willing to have other people eat the meat. That might help with supply problems. But then, they didn’t look like anything Fuego had ever seen either, so he wondered if anyone would be willing to eat them besides Iadaid…
  
  
  “Winged man go ask then. Iadaid… await answer. Iadaid’s answer, depend on that one.”
  
  ……………………………………………………………………
  
  It was rather upsetting when, a few days later, I was called out of the warehouse I was staying at. It’s not that the warehouse itself was anything that great. It was a decaying old place in need of maintenance, in a part of town few people frequented, other than those who came to clean it up somewhat since it had effectively become a dumpster in places. However, this made it the perfect place to keep corpses, specifically the corpses of the dead ones from the Garden which I had been in the process of splitting to make use of.
  
  Thus, naturally, I was a bit hesitant when I asked to leave behind the living ones and the dead ones, even if I was reassured that it shouldn’t take long. The people who came to get me to gather to hear this “Concordia” person also beat around the bush as they fumbled towards their request for me to make myself a little more ‘presentable’. It was annoying and time-wasting, but when I thought about meeting Sámae, let alone the regent, with blood all over me as I was, I did understand.
  
  A quick, grateful-seeming cleaning later, and I was gathered at the place alongside all those other folks who had fallen as well. I could spot a few from the Dadga plate like myself, though I doubted they would recognize me in turn. I had changed a lot since becoming the guardian of the Garden after all, and I didn’t exactly come out of it a lot. Also, even though I couldn’t tell what plates the others were from, I could at least tell there was quite a variety of them.
  
  In other words, whatever brought us all down here, was a calamity of such magnitude that it affected ALL plates. Or, all the plates I knew of, as Concordia would soon reveal.
  
  “Atlas plate?” To think there were even more of them. But I’d never so much as heard of such a possibility. Had another god imitated the deeds of those who made the plates? Or were there more to begin with? And if we had fallen into such a place… Was Earth even below it?
  
  In the first place, was there an Earth left at all? Or just more plates?
  
  Then again, I suppose it mattered little. My shock was brief, and the acknowledgement of how little it changed what I had to do came quick. Perhaps we’d be informed of more about this when Atlas spoke with us, but truth be told, I wouldn’t be pursuing it. Instead, there was a more important matter: treerings. If I could ask Atlas for them, I might be able to return to the Garden. Unfortunately I couldn’t bring anyone else this way… But I had my duties to attend to. I was still the guardian of the Garden. I would forever me, unless Dadga or the regent decided to appoint another to my station.
  
  
  
  
• 

  
  
  

  
  
  I knew, with what composure I had, that the search for any survivors ashore was the most paramount of things at this moment, aside from not permitting that I myself perished. While pain throbbed through my entire body, there was little beyond a few minor wounds that should be able to take care of themselves in due time.
  
  I squinted and blinked a few times as I strained my sight toward the horizon. Grass, trees, and barely noticeable something of a glass-like shape mixed with white to the side, though it was little more than a smudge. Perhaps at some point I would go investigate.
  
  I then turned my hea-
  
  I took a deep breath.
  
  I then turned my head to look toward the remaining shore, one hand partially covering my eyes, though it couldn’t simultaneously let me see and cover what I wished it to. I squinted again, beginning to lean forward with focus…
  
  “GAH!” I nearly jumped back into the lake as someone spoke to me. This person looked like a demihuman, a winged one. Was he from the Thoth plate? Huitzilopochtli? Did he fall as well? Yet he claimed to want to bring me somewhere. I lowered my body, hands on the ground and tail rising behind me as I released a low growl.
  
  I wasn’t about to throw my hand away. Not without knowing his true intentions.
  
  “Winged man, who? What place is?” Clenched teeth, bared fangs. That should make it clear what distance to keep.
  
  
  His intention to help was not met with the same graces. He thought he had been clear. He flinched away and his mouth sat agape for a moment.
  
  “How rude of me.” He said abashedly while rubbing the back of his head. “I am Fuego, I am here to help I promise.”[/color]
  
  He took a breath and mustered some courage to approach again. He only took one step forward and still offer his arms out to show he was not armed.
  
  A question burned in his mind that could not be ignored.
  
  “I see blood but you do not look injured. What happened?” He queried while trying to keep a calm expression. The sight of so much blood was troublesome to him and his stomach churned to see such gore.
  
  
  His declaration was only met with another growl, however. And I knew well that not every weapon was carved out of wood and stone or forged in steel, nor were they always conspicuous enough to be evident at a glance.
  
  “Help? Why? What winged man want?” Since he still approached, I walked back. There was a limit to how much I could do that though. Should I run? Attack? Speak as he wished? He seemed to be perplexed by my survival. Was he involved in the fall in some way? Or was he perhaps motivated by curiosity? I hesitated to tell him much. But if an answer could be enough… the sun was cycling… “Iadaid, protected. Even though Iadaid… should protect.”
  
  I couldn’t help looking down. I was struggling just to keep the facade of my speech with pain welling up within my chest. I looked back up to the man’s eyes with a fierce stare.
  
  “Winged man know now. How Iadaid live. Winged man, leave!”
  
  
  Seeing her back away Fuego stayed his ground. He did not want to scare her. Even if her speech was a bit slow he looked between her and the other creatures that bloodied the lake.
  
  “You were supposed to protect them?” he questioned pointing to what bodies he could see.
  
  “I’m sorry,” His apology was interrupted by her demand for him to leave. He shook his head. “I cannot just leave you here.”
  
  But he paused as he wondered how true that was. Others would come and help eventually. He tossed that thought aside, no he was here and he could do this much at least. It would be disgraceful to leave with such a thought.
  
  He sucked air through his teeth. He gestured to the bodies floating in the lake.
  
  “Where they friends? Loved ones?” He hoped to make some connection. Find some way that she could establish trust with him.
  
  Argh! This winged man, this Fuego, he was so persistent! Then again, my fingers were twitching, my limbs ready to move away and my gaze not as fixed. Perhaps the culprit was my own impatience.
  
  
  “Criiii!”
  
  My antenna raised, and my heartbeat beat even faster, and before I knew I’d disregarded the winged man entirely and was rushing in the direction of the sound. That loud, yet fading, pained yet… relieved… Sound. I could only pray it was not the truly the case.
  
  It was a small critter, just the right size to be scooped up in my hands. A tube-shaped head with enlarged veins near the snout, a fish-like body but with a round caudal fin and the pectoral ones resembled the wings of a butterfly due to size and how colorful they were. They could fly… but they were too small to resist those strong winds that brought us down, or to pull against such a rapid fall. The light on the snout’s glowing tip was slowly fading, and the veins seemed to deflate, releasing smoke from the creature’s mouth. Green lights seemed to gather at my fingertips.
  
  “No.. no, no, no!” Green runes formed around my arms, pumping flashes of green energy into the creature, but it was not being encased, the magic simply dissipated. “No, no, no!”
  
  No rebirth was occurring, despite my desperation. As I pumped the magic again and again, my arms gradually lowered, and eventually the energy faded just as I dropped the caindell. It wasn’t the only one that had perished either. Several of them were laying there, bodies split or twisted by the impact. And I couldn’t save even a single one.
  
  
  His head twisted to a new sound even as she did. He stayed back initially but his curiosity could not be ignored. He moved slowly to follow just for a glimpse at what the noise came from. He looked on over her shoulder staying a respectful distance away. It was clear she sought to save its life, but it was already too far gone. She channeled magic into the creature but to no avail. He sighed heavily.
  
  “I am sorry, truly.” He looked down at the water where another creature tore nearly in two lay on the bank of the shore.
  
  Whatever her disposition of him he understood at least that these beings were important to her. He knelt down and gently scooped up the dead creature. Its blood stained his hands but he held it with quiet reverence all the same.
  
  “Is it your custom to bury your dead or burn them?” He would do neither action without express permission but saw the wisdom in putting the dead to rest.
  
  
  A memory came to me, of the burials in Dadga. A somber procession, followed by a party which celebrated the burial, as new life would sprout and that was a joyous thing, despite the loss. Yet, I could no longer accept it. To simply be put underground, forever lost, and wasted.
  
  “Save it, first, save it always… but when can’t… Take skin, take eyes, take heart, store. Take flesh, eat. Take bones, build. Life too important to waste.”
  
  I wasn’t so foolish as to think this was simply some kind-hearted gesture. The man wanted my trust. For what I didn’t know. I just knew he wanted it, and he thought he could get it this way. Well, I was in a hurry anyway. There were few survivors, but it wasn’t like there were none. If I wanted to get to them as fast as possible…
  
  “Winged man. Fuego. Fly. Get bodies. Iadaid, finding living. Save living. While still can.”
  
  
  Fuego looked upon the lake. It was difficult for him as well, to even look at the scene it had become. For a brief moment, he hesitated, then turned back and nodded, sighing.
  
  “You need not be concerned. I shall bring them, as you asked. However, I am sad to say, but I cannot retrieve any from within the lake. Perhaps back in Malta, I can see if anyone would be willing to assist you with that. Besides, your customs… Well, we can speak of that later. You appear to be in a hurry, so I won’t hold you here any longer.”
  
  He waited for the fallen being to leave, before raising his wings. With a couple of flaps, his feet were off the ground, and he was off to fish Iadaid’s dead friends. Or he presumed they were friends either way. Or pets perhaps? She said she was meant to protect them, but Fuego wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that just yet.
  
  
  Since I needed my hands this time, I normally wouldn’t be going on all fours, but it was simply more convenient for getting past the debris of what had fallen with me.
  
  “He appears to actually be bringing those ones back. He is going down to lay them, not simply throwing them as though they were nothing but sacks of meat. Hmmm… Malta, he spoke of? I never heard of such a place in any of the plates. Well, it would simply be false if I were to suggest that I know of every place in the plates, but nonetheless, considering how I arrived here… “ I told myself, after making sure I was at such a distance that he wouldn’t be able to hear me.
  
  Perhaps it would be wise to consider going with him after all. It wasn’t as though I knew where to head. My whole plan after my task was done consisted of nothing but assembling a temporary shelter out of the debris and attempting to find treerings to return to the Garden. As long as he could assure me I would be able to take care of those who came me - both the living and those who no longer were- then there was little reason left to refuse. I would have to calm the fear pumping into my heart.
  
  We continued our work until sunset, and well past it. Fuego’s flames proved useful once lights were lost and he had finished bringing the corpses earlier than I could search the area around the lake for survivors. There were more deaths I had to witness, but still, we at least managed to find some. Among those, most had their bodies mangled by the fall, perhaps even on the edge of death. Yet, there was still time. Green runic light filled my hands, and like a mist the green energy floated onto and coated the dying creatures. They would glance at me, just as a cocoon seemingly spawned out of their own bodies and surrounded them. It pulsated for a few minutes, before releasing the creatures, changed, but alive.
  
  Even I couldn’t know exactly how the way their bodies worked changed, though as a rule, it appeared they had mostly become softer and more malleable.
  
  “Winged man help. Iadaid wishes care, protect. Protect little ones. Protect playful ones. Protecting living ones. Not waste dead ones. Winged man… can promise Iadaid can?”
  
  
  Fuego thought about it for a moment, and returned a somewhat somber look, paired with an apologetic smile.
  
  “I can attempt to speak to some people, perhaps the guards will allow it… but forgive me, I can’t promise you that. I’m not some kind of important person. I just deliver letters.” He showed her the letters he was supposed to deliver today. An ever so slight tinge of guilt prickled him as he recalled that he had not. He would have to settle that with an apology letter, and hopefully there wasn’t anything urgent in those letters. Even if there was, there was little he could do about it other than abandon the one he spent the entire afternoon and a good part of the evening helping. “I think it would be hard to carry all of the ‘dead ones’ all the way to Malta, even they allowed it.”[/color]
  
  Perhaps they could argue this was something like bringing a hunt back home. After all none of those dead creatures looked humanoid, so perhaps they could be considered some kind of animal? Iadaid wanted the dead not to be “wasted” so perhaps she was willing to have other people eat the meat. That might help with supply problems. But then, they didn’t look like anything Fuego had ever seen either, so he wondered if anyone would be willing to eat them besides Iadaid…
  
  
  “Winged man go ask then. Iadaid… await answer. Iadaid’s answer, depend on that one.”
  
  ……………………………………………………………………
  
  It was rather upsetting when, a few days later, I was called out of the warehouse I was staying at. It’s not that the warehouse itself was anything that great. It was a decaying old place in need of maintenance, in a part of town few people frequented, other than those who came to clean it up somewhat since it had effectively become a dumpster in places. However, this made it the perfect place to keep corpses, specifically the corpses of the dead ones from the Garden which I had been in the process of splitting to make use of.
  
  Thus, naturally, I was a bit hesitant when I asked to leave behind the living ones and the dead ones, even if I was reassured that it shouldn’t take long. The people who came to get me to gather to hear this “Concordia” person also beat around the bush as they fumbled towards their request for me to make myself a little more ‘presentable’. It was annoying and time-wasting, but when I thought about meeting Sámae, let alone the regent, with blood all over me as I was, I did understand.
  
  A quick, grateful-seeming cleaning later, and I was gathered at the place alongside all those other folks who had fallen as well. I could spot a few from the Dadga plate like myself, though I doubted they would recognize me in turn. I had changed a lot since becoming the guardian of the Garden after all, and I didn’t exactly come out of it a lot. Also, even though I couldn’t tell what plates the others were from, I could at least tell there was quite a variety of them.
  
  In other words, whatever brought us all down here, was a calamity of such magnitude that it affected ALL plates. Or, all the plates I knew of, as Concordia would soon reveal.
  
  “Atlas plate?” To think there were even more of them. But I’d never so much as heard of such a possibility. Had another god imitated the deeds of those who made the plates? Or were there more to begin with? And if we had fallen into such a place… Was Earth even below it?
  
  In the first place, was there an Earth left at all? Or just more plates?
  
  Then again, I suppose it mattered little. My shock was brief, and the acknowledgement of how little it changed what I had to do came quick. Perhaps we’d be informed of more about this when Atlas spoke with us, but truth be told, I wouldn’t be pursuing it. Instead, there was a more important matter: treerings. If I could ask Atlas for them, I might be able to return to the Garden. Unfortunately I couldn’t bring anyone else this way… But I had my duties to attend to. I was still the guardian of the Garden. I would forever me, unless Dadga or the regent decided to appoint another to my station.
  
  
• 
  
  
  I knew, with what composure I had, that the search for any survivors ashore was the most paramount of things at this moment, aside from not permitting that I myself perished. While pain throbbed through my entire body, there was little beyond a few minor wounds that should be able to take care of themselves in due time.
  
  I squinted and blinked a few times as I strained my sight toward the horizon. Grass, trees, and barely noticeable something of a glass-like shape mixed with white to the side, though it was little more than a smudge. Perhaps at some point I would go investigate.
  
  I then turned my hea-
  
  I took a deep breath.
  
  I then turned my head to look toward the remaining shore, one hand partially covering my eyes, though it couldn’t simultaneously let me see and cover what I wished it to. I squinted again, beginning to lean forward with focus…
  
  “GAH!” I nearly jumped back into the lake as someone spoke to me. This person looked like a demihuman, a winged one. Was he from the Thoth plate? Huitzilopochtli? Did he fall as well? Yet he claimed to want to bring me somewhere. I lowered my body, hands on the ground and tail rising behind me as I released a low growl.
  
  I wasn’t about to throw my hand away. Not without knowing his true intentions.
  
  “Winged man, who? What place is?” Clenched teeth, bared fangs. That should make it clear what distance to keep.
  
  
  His intention to help was not met with the same graces. He thought he had been clear. He flinched away and his mouth sat agape for a moment.
  
  “How rude of me.” He said abashedly while rubbing the back of his head. “I am Fuego, I am here to help I promise.”[/color]
  
  He took a breath and mustered some courage to approach again. He only took one step forward and still offer his arms out to show he was not armed.
  
  A question burned in his mind that could not be ignored.
  
  “I see blood but you do not look injured. What happened?” He queried while trying to keep a calm expression. The sight of so much blood was troublesome to him and his stomach churned to see such gore.
  
  
  His declaration was only met with another growl, however. And I knew well that not every weapon was carved out of wood and stone or forged in steel, nor were they always conspicuous enough to be evident at a glance.
  
  “Help? Why? What winged man want?” Since he still approached, I walked back. There was a limit to how much I could do that though. Should I run? Attack? Speak as he wished? He seemed to be perplexed by my survival. Was he involved in the fall in some way? Or was he perhaps motivated by curiosity? I hesitated to tell him much. But if an answer could be enough… the sun was cycling… “Iadaid, protected. Even though Iadaid… should protect.”
  
  I couldn’t help looking down. I was struggling just to keep the facade of my speech with pain welling up within my chest. I looked back up to the man’s eyes with a fierce stare.
  
  “Winged man know now. How Iadaid live. Winged man, leave!”
  
  
  Seeing her back away Fuego stayed his ground. He did not want to scare her. Even if her speech was a bit slow he looked between her and the other creatures that bloodied the lake.
  
  “You were supposed to protect them?” he questioned pointing to what bodies he could see.
  
  “I’m sorry,” His apology was interrupted by her demand for him to leave. He shook his head. “I cannot just leave you here.”
  
  But he paused as he wondered how true that was. Others would come and help eventually. He tossed that thought aside, no he was here and he could do this much at least. It would be disgraceful to leave with such a thought.
  
  He sucked air through his teeth. He gestured to the bodies floating in the lake.
  
  “Where they friends? Loved ones?” He hoped to make some connection. Find some way that she could establish trust with him.
  
  Argh! This winged man, this Fuego, he was so persistent! Then again, my fingers were twitching, my limbs ready to move away and my gaze not as fixed. Perhaps the culprit was my own impatience.
  
  
  “Criiii!”
  
  My antenna raised, and my heartbeat beat even faster, and before I knew I’d disregarded the winged man entirely and was rushing in the direction of the sound. That loud, yet fading, pained yet… relieved… Sound. I could only pray it was not the truly the case.
  
  It was a small critter, just the right size to be scooped up in my hands. A tube-shaped head with enlarged veins near the snout, a fish-like body but with a round caudal fin and the pectoral ones resembled the wings of a butterfly due to size and how colorful they were. They could fly… but they were too small to resist those strong winds that brought us down, or to pull against such a rapid fall. The light on the snout’s glowing tip was slowly fading, and the veins seemed to deflate, releasing smoke from the creature’s mouth. Green lights seemed to gather at my fingertips.
  
  “No.. no, no, no!” Green runes formed around my arms, pumping flashes of green energy into the creature, but it was not being encased, the magic simply dissipated. “No, no, no!”
  
  No rebirth was occurring, despite my desperation. As I pumped the magic again and again, my arms gradually lowered, and eventually the energy faded just as I dropped the caindell. It wasn’t the only one that had perished either. Several of them were laying there, bodies split or twisted by the impact. And I couldn’t save even a single one.
  
  
  His head twisted to a new sound even as she did. He stayed back initially but his curiosity could not be ignored. He moved slowly to follow just for a glimpse at what the noise came from. He looked on over her shoulder staying a respectful distance away. It was clear she sought to save its life, but it was already too far gone. She channeled magic into the creature but to no avail. He sighed heavily.
  
  “I am sorry, truly.” He looked down at the water where another creature tore nearly in two lay on the bank of the shore.
  
  Whatever her disposition of him he understood at least that these beings were important to her. He knelt down and gently scooped up the dead creature. Its blood stained his hands but he held it with quiet reverence all the same.
  
  “Is it your custom to bury your dead or burn them?” He would do neither action without express permission but saw the wisdom in putting the dead to rest.
  
  
  A memory came to me, of the burials in Dadga. A somber procession, followed by a party which celebrated the burial, as new life would sprout and that was a joyous thing, despite the loss. Yet, I could no longer accept it. To simply be put underground, forever lost, and wasted.
  
  “Save it, first, save it always… but when can’t… Take skin, take eyes, take heart, store. Take flesh, eat. Take bones, build. Life too important to waste.”
  
  I wasn’t so foolish as to think this was simply some kind-hearted gesture. The man wanted my trust. For what I didn’t know. I just knew he wanted it, and he thought he could get it this way. Well, I was in a hurry anyway. There were few survivors, but it wasn’t like there were none. If I wanted to get to them as fast as possible…
  
  “Winged man. Fuego. Fly. Get bodies. Iadaid, finding living. Save living. While still can.”
  
  
  Fuego looked upon the lake. It was difficult for him as well, to even look at the scene it had become. For a brief moment, he hesitated, then turned back and nodded, sighing.
  
  “You need not be concerned. I shall bring them, as you asked. However, I am sad to say, but I cannot retrieve any from within the lake. Perhaps back in Malta, I can see if anyone would be willing to assist you with that. Besides, your customs… Well, we can speak of that later. You appear to be in a hurry, so I won’t hold you here any longer.”
  
  He waited for the fallen being to leave, before raising his wings. With a couple of flaps, his feet were off the ground, and he was off to fish Iadaid’s dead friends. Or he presumed they were friends either way. Or pets perhaps? She said she was meant to protect them, but Fuego wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that just yet.
  
  
  Since I needed my hands this time, I normally wouldn’t be going on all fours, but it was simply more convenient for getting past the debris of what had fallen with me.
  
  “He appears to actually be bringing those ones back. He is going down to lay them, not simply throwing them as though they were nothing but sacks of meat. Hmmm… Malta, he spoke of? I never heard of such a place in any of the plates. Well, it would simply be false if I were to suggest that I know of every place in the plates, but nonetheless, considering how I arrived here… “ I told myself, after making sure I was at such a distance that he wouldn’t be able to hear me.
  
  Perhaps it would be wise to consider going with him after all. It wasn’t as though I knew where to head. My whole plan after my task was done consisted of nothing but assembling a temporary shelter out of the debris and attempting to find treerings to return to the Garden. As long as he could assure me I would be able to take care of those who came me - both the living and those who no longer were- then there was little reason left to refuse. I would have to calm the fear pumping into my heart.
  
  We continued our work until sunset, and well past it. Fuego’s flames proved useful once lights were lost and he had finished bringing the corpses earlier than I could search the area around the lake for survivors. There were more deaths I had to witness, but still, we at least managed to find some. Among those, most had their bodies mangled by the fall, perhaps even on the edge of death. Yet, there was still time. Green runic light filled my hands, and like a mist the green energy floated onto and coated the dying creatures. They would glance at me, just as a cocoon seemingly spawned out of their own bodies and surrounded them. It pulsated for a few minutes, before releasing the creatures, changed, but alive.
  
  Even I couldn’t know exactly how the way their bodies worked changed, though as a rule, it appeared they had mostly become softer and more malleable.
  
  “Winged man help. Iadaid wishes care, protect. Protect little ones. Protect playful ones. Protecting living ones. Not waste dead ones. Winged man… can promise Iadaid can?”
  
  
  Fuego thought about it for a moment, and returned a somewhat somber look, paired with an apologetic smile.
  
  “I can attempt to speak to some people, perhaps the guards will allow it… but forgive me, I can’t promise you that. I’m not some kind of important person. I just deliver letters.” He showed her the letters he was supposed to deliver today. An ever so slight tinge of guilt prickled him as he recalled that he had not. He would have to settle that with an apology letter, and hopefully there wasn’t anything urgent in those letters. Even if there was, there was little he could do about it other than abandon the one he spent the entire afternoon and a good part of the evening helping. “I think it would be hard to carry all of the ‘dead ones’ all the way to Malta, even they allowed it.”[/color]
  
  Perhaps they could argue this was something like bringing a hunt back home. After all none of those dead creatures looked humanoid, so perhaps they could be considered some kind of animal? Iadaid wanted the dead not to be “wasted” so perhaps she was willing to have other people eat the meat. That might help with supply problems. But then, they didn’t look like anything Fuego had ever seen either, so he wondered if anyone would be willing to eat them besides Iadaid…
  
  
  “Winged man go ask then. Iadaid… await answer. Iadaid’s answer, depend on that one.”
  
  ……………………………………………………………………
  
  It was rather upsetting when, a few days later, I was called out of the warehouse I was staying at. It’s not that the warehouse itself was anything that great. It was a decaying old place in need of maintenance, in a part of town few people frequented, other than those who came to clean it up somewhat since it had effectively become a dumpster in places. However, this made it the perfect place to keep corpses, specifically the corpses of the dead ones from the Garden which I had been in the process of splitting to make use of.
  
  Thus, naturally, I was a bit hesitant when I asked to leave behind the living ones and the dead ones, even if I was reassured that it shouldn’t take long. The people who came to get me to gather to hear this “Concordia” person also beat around the bush as they fumbled towards their request for me to make myself a little more ‘presentable’. It was annoying and time-wasting, but when I thought about meeting Sámae, let alone the regent, with blood all over me as I was, I did understand.
  
  A quick, grateful-seeming cleaning later, and I was gathered at the place alongside all those other folks who had fallen as well. I could spot a few from the Dadga plate like myself, though I doubted they would recognize me in turn. I had changed a lot since becoming the guardian of the Garden after all, and I didn’t exactly come out of it a lot. Also, even though I couldn’t tell what plates the others were from, I could at least tell there was quite a variety of them.
  
  In other words, whatever brought us all down here, was a calamity of such magnitude that it affected ALL plates. Or, all the plates I knew of, as Concordia would soon reveal.
  
  “Atlas plate?” To think there were even more of them. But I’d never so much as heard of such a possibility. Had another god imitated the deeds of those who made the plates? Or were there more to begin with? And if we had fallen into such a place… Was Earth even below it?
  
  In the first place, was there an Earth left at all? Or just more plates?
  
  Then again, I suppose it mattered little. My shock was brief, and the acknowledgement of how little it changed what I had to do came quick. Perhaps we’d be informed of more about this when Atlas spoke with us, but truth be told, I wouldn’t be pursuing it. Instead, there was a more important matter: treerings. If I could ask Atlas for them, I might be able to return to the Garden. Unfortunately I couldn’t bring anyone else this way… But I had my duties to attend to. I was still the guardian of the Garden. I would forever me, unless Dadga or the regent decided to appoint another to my station.
  
  

Interacting With: Calibutcher (Fuego)
Mentions: N/A
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Post Made in Collaboration with Calibutcher

 

[Worthlessplebian]

He has wandered for minutes now, catching faint glimpses of this abandoned world. The jaguar warrior having found his auxiliary blade felt confidence for his defense, should the need arise. This place is not ideal. It is open, exposed. Little greenery from bushes or trees. As a warrior, experience and combat acumen told him that this is a terrible position to recuperate. So the masked demihuman marched with a limp, proud and incorrigible in his pace.

His sword hand rested limber around the curved blade's grip, primed at any moment to strike. Except the wandering left him with the assumption that this place is truly forsaken. Forsaken, forgotten, and discarded. An air grew from him, it festered malcontent as his search revealed nothing. He could not find a shred of bestiary, let alone civilisation. The scenery bored the roused bloodthirst from him as well. Resorting to orbiting pebbles and stones to pass the time. The sheer monotony of it all threatened him until he found a sight unlike anything from the subdued forestry. A house! His eyes shot up in joy, perhaps they have an ointment to reduce the swelling or to dull the pain.

But from his observations, afar as they are, he saw that the frailty of family in it. It reminded him of his sister and her children, if he were to pop into their lives. Then he assumed it might upset them, it is not everyday that an outsider falls from the heavens. He instead made himself visible while seemingly appearing distracted and unfocused. Word, as limited on foot as is, still travels far.

He continued to stammer in the forest, but not for long as the search party appeared. A man, no fighter by the looks of it, accompanied by men armed with weapons approached but kept their distance. He calculated how quickly he could dispatch them, but stayed his hand. He twirled his swords then slipped them underneath his arm. He hasn't found his belt.

"Lead the way." Mecatzi motioned with the unoccupied arm, let them lead him. He won't be caught dead with his back to them though.

Calibutcher (Aximan)

 

[.titania]

In the midst of his pain and confusion, a voice caught his attention. It was not one he had heard before which meant it wasn't any of the constellations. Silver eyes looked to the side, his legs now drawn up onto his knees and torso hunched forward. His hands still gripped the dirt in front of him partially from pain and the other to keep himself grounded. That what was happening was real. The only response he could muster was a soft wheeze and continued to stare at the ground, vision swimming. One of his wings twitched at the examination and he had to resist the urge to shy away from the stranger. Mimi had only gotten a brief look at the fellow but he didn't seem entirely human. Others approached and a stretcher was brought along; with some effort, they decided to place him on his stomach to avoid further injuring his large appendages. Wherever they were going, it seemed that all these people wanted to do was help. The thought allowed the man to relax and succumb to the soft realm if unconsciousness.

~

Mimhiogi awoke again but this time, he didn't feel nearly as pained and the vertigo had blessedly gone away. However, there were some changes he noticed. He was on a bed it seemed, a plush pillow to support his head and soft blankets keeping him warm. His clothing had been changed as well. Instead of his normal two sizes too large sweater and raggedy jeans, Mimi was clothed in soft cotton pants paired with a cotton shirt- both very boring shades of grey. He gave an uncomfortable groan at the stiffness of his body and made to roll on his side. A twinge of pain shot through him so apparently laying on his side was a no-no. It took a few minutes to blink himself fully awake and get a better understanding of what was going on. An infirmary. The distinctive smell of antiseptic was a dead giveaway since his vision was obstructed by white screens on all four sides. He could feel something coiled under his shirt, one of his hands sliding down to feel a tube punctured through the side of his chest and sliding further down he was mortified to also feel a catheter down the side of his leg. His free hand ran down his face to make some attempt at hiding the flush across his face that nobody could see.

As if on cue, a dragon-like woman pushed open the screen and was only mildly surprised at his wakefulness. It took nearly an hour or two of speaking with her while she physically examined him. He had been brought in along with dozens of other "plate fallers" to be treated for there injuries. It had been two days since the original incident so a lot of the anxiety and chaos had settled down. Mimhiogi was saddened to hear that many people had died on landing and many more had succumbed to there injuries over the last forty-eight hours. A dragonoid named Sletan had brought him in, unconscious, with grievous internal injuries. The tube in his chest was helping him breathe and recover from a punctured lung that a broken rib had punctured. Mid-story she removed the catheter, thankfully making the interaction clinical and comfortable for him. Among the injuries, his lung had been the worst. A torn wing, three cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, contusions to his scapula, twisted ankle and a plethora of bruising; it was quite a list and he sent a small prayer of thankfulness to Scutum for protecting him from anything worse. The shield constellation still remained quiet while the others were dulled significantly. That would change once he went outside.

The healer whom he still did not know explained that they were to gather and she would help him to walk. Insult to injury, Mimi could barely stand on his own and stumbled at his first attempt. Not using his legs for two days had left him weak and shaky. He was shorter and smaller than the healer who boasted a robust frame capable of helping patients like Mimi. It was a slow trek and at the offer of shoes, he stubbornly refused; the thought of wearing the confiding and insufferable piece of clothing made him grimace. He had to pause several times to catch his breath, feeling bad for asking to stop so many times, but she only smiled warmly and made small talk to help calm his anxiety. Once outside, there was a lot to unpack and he nearly doubled over from too many things going on at once. The bright sunlight blinded his non-pigmented eyes, a headache beginning to form as the voices of the dulled constellations becoming clear. There was little cloud coverage to filter them out as well, questions bombarding him about his well-being. He made little effort to answer and continued being helped along by the healer among the others. Mimi could hardly focus on the announcement being made by who he assumed was the leader.

Even with Draco listing every known fact about dragons in his head. Mimi managed to understand that they had crash landed on the Atlas plate and would be meeting him in small groups. His breathing began to grow short and the pain in his side was steadily increasing. Apparently pain killing herbs only lasted so long as he requested to take a seat to the side on a bench. The healer obliged, letting him slowly take a seat so she could rush off to get more for him. Mimi closed his eyes, leaning forward to block out the sun, the noise and everything else causing his mood to sour.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

“Her body has decided to simply sleep, she will wake up with time,” a healer said as she walked into the same room as Najma and Kensiv to drop off clean towels. “You holding her hand and not resting your leg won’t make her stir awake sooner.”

The bags beneath Kensiv’s eyes spoke volumes on his state of mind. Hurt. Broken Scared. Filled with unwarranted blame. He didn’t sleep the first night in Malta. His mind and body desperately pleaded for him to finally lay down to rest. He was lucky to come out of the fall with only a broken leg, but his body had been bruised all over. Compared to many others, many who had lost their lives, out of respect, he should be resting. He couldn’t manage it though. “Why couldn’t she fly?” he finally muttered as he saw that the healer had been waiting at the foot of the bed for a response.

The healer sighed and dropped her hands from her hips. “You have asked that more than once, and my response is the same. Even a winged demihuman can fear heights and falling. You needn’t worry about such matters.”

Kensiv shook his head, lifted his sister’s hand, and pressed it against his forehead. The healer moved forward and put her hand on his shoulder. “She is quite alive.” With a single pat on his shoulder, she turned and left the room.

It didn’t take long for silence to overtake him. He’d been trudging through that quiet for far too many hours. He could hear the drip now, or at least, he believed he could. That fluid that helped keep his sister alive. She had a single bad wound, just as he did. Cut on a rock. An artery. They said if she’d been a human, she would have died there, but as a demihuman, it wouldn’t be all too big a deal. The lack of severity of their wounds, well, felt like a blessing that was bestowed upon them.

“Skarf, what happened?” He turned his gaze to the ground and his eyes lustered. A glowing ebb of blues, yellows and the occasional desaturated red moved along his irises. In his vision came an illuminating line that declared where his sister had been. She came from down the hall, out the entrance, through the town of Malta, out further, more than he could see, where he assumed it showed her line going high into the clouds. For some reason, he thought it would deviate. As though if the line were to simply go to one side of the room and back, that perhaps it was a cruel joke.

They had fallen.

The line began to fade as he heard a hushed conversation from outside the room. He should have been eavesdropping, but they’re the ones who had begun to speak about those who fell, so how could he not?

“So many injured and dead,” one of them said.
“But how? I thought the barrier was supposed to prevent deaths. Sure, someone could have fallen wrong, but these are… it felt numerous yesterday,” the other responded.

Kensiv’s eyes narrowed and he began to stand. He winced once his weight hit his leg, to which he reached to grab a wooden crutch. The two continued:

“You are asking the wrong question. His barrier did not work properly, yes, but the boundary around the five plates failed first.”

With a hobble, Kensiv gimped over to the open door and exited. His shoulder leaned against the doorframe for a short bit of support until he saw which way the two were walking. He followed. They kept going. Kept speaking:

“He must be saddened though. He put up the barrier to prevent death if they ever were to fall. They did and it didn’t pan out.”

He? Thoth, Dagda, Huitzilopochtli? Had one of them created a safety net that failed? If they knew that people may fall, why did they not make it better? They were gods afterall. Kensiv hobbled on faster. The tap of the crutch seemingly unnoticed as sounds were now all about them with the moving healers all about the halls.

“We’ve such a diverse amount of powers for healing, but even they’ve run thin. It would have made more sense if one or two fell. All of Apollo’s and Asclepius’, even a they couple of Brighid’s children are here to–”

Finally, Kensiv caught up, but not after leaving his crutch far behind him. He latched onto one of their shoulders. Panting from mostly the pain rather than the exertion. “Barrier? Him? Who? Why are there so many non-mortals in one place on Earth?”

In those moments of explanation, Kensiv became one of the first to learn that they were on Atlas’ plate. They didn’t confide in him as much as he had hoped. They weren’t allowed, and despite him already prying, he wouldn’t push too far. So, as he stood alone with the many others at the gathering, he waited for the same information to be revealed to everyone else. His sister, not yet awake, and still unknowing of their situation.

Now that he was with others, two things became abundantly clear. A great many had fallen with how many were alive and there, but far more were still on the plates. The span of people there didn’t compare to the expanse above. That sank some relief into his thoughts. The plates weren’t collapsing. They were well and likely trying to figure out what had happened to their people. Whatever storm came had been unique, they were just the unfortunate that came through the crosswinds and fell.

The second thing that stood out were the diversities of people standing about the citizens of the five plates, likely hands of some kind. Many had the appearance of a human, yet the stature of a god. Yet, they were not deities and they were not demihumans. That led him to believe that they must be demigods. Parented by a god or goddess, but paired with a mortal. Not gifted their powers as Kensiv and the flve plates had been, rather born with it. To be frank, in superiority, the majority ranked above the demihumans in such circumstances. Every now and then though, Kensiv sensed a mortal, but they somehow felt up to par with others living on the Atlas plate. None of these people screamed to be born of Atlas, and yet, here they were.

They were to have an audience with their god, no, not a god. Kensiv’s heart bubbled up into his throat as he took in a shaky breath. Atlas was a titan. The titan who fought alongside Cronus during the Titanmachy. He was a tyrant who’d been forced to hold up the skies by the olympian gods. The very skies they were in and now stood upon his supposed land.

“Surely, we are to die, ha,” he muttered to himself and half chuckled, but his hope waned for only a moment as he looked to his crutch. They would be fine, wouldn’t they? For what people of a titan would tend to the wounded only to see their end?