Fantasy Ascend the Infinite Tower - IC

[Probably George]

Pelisht​

Blood, wood, ashes. Spread the ashes in a circle around you, carve a mask from the wood, and cover the inside with your blood. 'Sounds easy enough.' Now, sit in the circle and look up, mask on your face. And wait...

Nothing but darkness with the occasional spark. The monotony broken with a massive bolt striking the ground. From the blinding light emerged a man, kneeling to the ground. After stumbling to get himself up, he removed the mask and saw his surroundings. Endless fields only interrupted by a seemingly infinitely rising tower. Without a second thought, he went for the tower. There was a bit of an ancient city, but it was completely barren. In the midst of it all stood the spire, taking up more space than anything else. The base itself looked like it could hold a small village.

Approaching the entrance of the tower, the man was interrupted by three stone tablets rising in front of him. "Dena... Etalan... Fadim?" After thinking for a moment, he slowly reached for the tablet labeled 'Dena'. Knowledge flowed into the man's head, teaching him all to know about the fighting style. Along with the newly acquired knowledge, his primal urge to fight was suddenly arisen. With the tablets receding back to the ground, the door opened up for him. As he went in, he heard another door open a bit away from him. When he looked over, he saw another person. A woman with her mask still on. As the two stared each other down, there was only one, primal thought in their mind: kill.

It didn't take more than a second before the two ran towards each other. The man jumped and attempted to launch himself into her chest, feet first. Just before he could hit her, the woman slid underneath him and jabbed her fingers into the side of his abdomen. While she managed to get back up just fine, the man hit the ground with inelegance. As he stood up, he saw the girl standing still, awaiting his next move. He went back in, charging head first. As he ran, he watched the woman's body. Her leg tensed, ready to fire. He feinted a punch to the face, instead pushing himself around her. He grabbed her leg, drove his elbow into her face, and then yanked at her leg to pull her to the ground. Before she could even hit the ground, the man put all of his energy into his free hand, lighting pulsating from his entire arm. Almost instantly, he struck at her face, sending her to the ground even faster.

After the thunder struck from the man's hand being followed by the woman hitting the ground, the floor of the tower went quiet. There he stood, over the limp body of the half-masked woman.

 

[KingofAesir]

Brey

A fiery haired woman stared down at the mask in her hands with subtle distaste marking her face. Crimson red dribbled down the inside of the mask and slowly leaked its way onto the robe covering her chest plate and staining it red. She shook her head and held the thing farther away from her as she inspected her surroundings. Ashes spread around her in a circle, acquired from the cemetery's keeper rather begrudgingly. She'd promised the old man she'd spread them and that she did, just not the way he might have fancied. Aside from the circle of ashes, everything else around her seemed relatively normal. The spot she'd chosen was, of course, rather secluded. The last thing she needed was her brother running after her and messing everything up. This was a necessity, she needed whatever was up there. Her brother needed whatever was up there. She'd worry about how she was going to find Alvald again another day. He'd be fine on his own, Iris would take well enough care of him. With all of her thoughts gathered and having reassured herself that her younger brother would be safe without her, Brey put the mask on.

For a moment there was nothing but darkness and she feeling of the grass beneath her. Then she couldn't even feel the grass and Brey found herself wondering if it was even working. And then she felt her body lurch forward, Brey stumbled onto her hands and was quick to rip the mask off her face. She was greeted by fields of a like she had never seen stretching far beyond where her eye could see. A small gasp left her lips as she turned on the tower. The thing was as tall as the fields surrounding it were far. It was a truly astonishing sight to behold and as she took a few small steps forward she was greeted by tablets of a sort rising from the ground. Brey had no idea what any of them meant but yet she found herself drawn to the one with the word 'Dena' inscribed on it. She was hit with a wave of knowledge that flashed before her eyes quickly and when she pulled away she did not feel like herself. It was as if an animal was coursing through her veins with its teeth barred and thirsting for blood. The stone tablets sunk back into the ground and a door opened in front of her. Brey blinked away the odd feeling within her and made way for the door.

She could feel her heart beating against her rib cage like a caged animal and as she stepped through the threshold of the door she it accelerated even further as she watched a streak of lighting fly past her vision. Damn. Brey's fists tightened at her sides, what had she gotten herself into?​

 

[MiraAutumn]

Elea Kataris
Tears ran down her face unrelentingly, but if one looked at her viridian irises, they would find no emotion whatsoever. They were devoid of life and hope, as if she had already experienced all the despair she could ever feel. Almost mechanically, she spread the ashes of her stillborn child around her in a circle, her work lit up by a sole lantern in the dimness of the basement. The sound of dripping blood down the passageway was all that could be heard, even as she used a golden dagger to pierce her skin. Silently, she mixed a few drops of her crimson lifeforce with the ashes, before painting the inner surface of a crudely crafted oak mask. Without any hesitation, she kneeled and carefully blended her skin with the mask, before gazing up into the darkness above. An indefinite amount of time passed, as Elea was willing to wait forever if it meant she could leave this place. She wondered if she would pass before ascending, when the sudden sound of thunder broke her concentration.

Removing the crude mask, she opened her eyes to a field of neverending green. It was almost surreal, how long had it been since she had seen flora not stained by blood or despair? Walking slowly through the reeds in awe, she approached the barren village of stone, lured by the sight of an incredibly tall tower. Crude tablets emerged from the ground as she approached, each named something foreign. Elea found herself reaching for the Etalan sign before she knew it, causing a rapid, almost overwhelming influx of information. "Precision, Minimalism, Conservation, Waste not, One hit." She chanted to herself almost eerily, a bloodlust rising within her. Sparks of lightning trickled at her fingertips, as she stepped through the menacing double doors of the tower. She now knew what she must do to truly ascend; battle and force her way to the top, no matter who she has to destroy in her way. It was not too different from her old lifestyle, murdering all those that stood in her way against her fragile peace. Hopefully this time, she wouldn't fail.

 

[Nine of Swords]

[Ren]
(Etalan + Water)​

Ren danced among the dead bodies, with his newly-carved wooden mask in hand, twirling as if the mask was worn by an invisible partner. He stepped on a few of them as he did so, sometimes carelessly, but sometimes quite intentionally, giving them an extra pressure under his feet. He reveled in the heat of the dance; for a moment it was as if he was in a world of his making, where he had finally conquered everything, and there was nothing left but him and his things. The concentration camp behind him continued to burn away to cinders, where he had reigned for... well, it was certainly a long time, that's for sure. He looked back and smiled. When the army arrives they will find nothing here but blood and ashes. He made sure of that.

He scattered the ashes of his journals on the blood-stained dirt. Next he slashed his abdomen carefully, thinking, there's abundance of blood here, shame it has to be my own. He quickly bandaged his wound, smeared the blood under the mask, and put on the crudely carved mask, which depicted a horned demon. He knelt down as if praying to the gods long gone, and waited, smiling.

He knew it worked because the sound of inferno behind him suddenly faded away. When he heard sounds of wind rustling the grass replaced by it, he took of the mask, his face still bloodied by his own blood. He fell down on the grass and laughed, rolling, staining the grass with blood. It worked. It worked! He was finally in his heaven!

But soon, the sound of stones rising interrupted him. Three stones were in front of him now, each inscribed with a symbol. He saw the one on his left, which was apparently called "Etalan". He read, 'Precision. Minimalism. Conservation. Waste not, one hit.' As soon as he saw that, he extended his hands toward it, not even bothering to see the rest. It fit him perfectly, after all; why bother with the rest?

The moment he touched it, he was suddenly overwhelmed with all the knowledge about the fight; how to wait for opportunity, and how to make every hit count. A sudden burst of hail covered his body and disappeared just as suddenly. His heart was thumping against his ribcage as if it wanted to be set free. He could hear blood rushing in his ears, and realized that he was thirsting for bloodshed more than ever. He had been chasing battle after battle, war after war, but now it was as if he had been transformed into a primal beast. His smile widened. He was about to touch it again, in hopes it would do something more, but the tablet has already sunk into the ground, gone forever. He began to dig desperately into the ground, but there was nothing but dirt. Cursing, he stomped where the tablet was. Nothing happened.

His frustration was broken by a sudden flash of light; he heard a sound of thunder rumbling across the plain. He looked around, confused, but he quickly grasped the meaning of this; there were some other intruders here, barging into his realm. He quickly rushed across the plain with nothing but his bare hands and his new knowledge, ready for a fight.

This world wasn't his own.

Not yet.

 

[Probably George]

Pelisht​

For what felt like centuries, Pelisht stared down at the dead woman beneath him. The regret had settled in place of the blood thirsty rage. There was still a bit of it left behind though. He knew he wouldn't hesitate if he had to fight. Right now wasn't going to work though, her jab at his side had caused some internal bleeding. If anything, he'd had to rest until it healed up enough for him to go back into the fray if it so required.

As his gaze went off the woman, he saw someone else in the distance. A good 300-400 feet away. He wasn't completely sure if they were going to go for him, but he took no risk and ran away as fast as he could. Quickly, Pelisht came upon one of the many sets of spiral stairs ascending the tower. Up he went. At the time, it seemed much safer than staying down there. Luckily, there was a room for Pelisht to hide in. He took residence in the dark hole and waited out to see if the other person was pursuing him. It also gave him space to rest for a bit. What worried him the most was the light wheezing escaping his mouth with each breath.

Int: open

 

[Nine of Swords]

[Ren]
(Etalan + Water)​

As Ren got nearer, he could see the others in the distance. He quickly realized that they were all drawn to the same sound, and that at that distance they had already seen each other. He saw one of them coming nearer to him, fire flaring at his sides. His bestial longing wanted to kill him, to strip life out of his body, but he swallowed it with reluctance. He wasn't about to land a first hit, with someone he didn't even know about, and leave himself exposed for future attack.

Instead of attacking him, he waved at him from a distance. Then, he froze the ice on the ground with each step and slid on it, gracefully skating along toward the base of the tower. He was leaving his tracks, but that was fine. He would get to the destination first with enough time to hide, and besides, it was what he intended.

When he got there, he discovered stairs that led him to the next floor. He shook the ice from his feet and walked upstairs. He could see a room, with doors that seemingly led to other rooms. He walked inside one of them, making sure it was empty. It seemed to be a storage room of some kind, though why they would store anything here he didn't know. He searched thoroughly for something useful but there was nothing here, only old paper boxes, something that can't even be fabricated into a makeshift weapon.

Sighing, he salvaged one, poked a hole thorough it, set it where the door was visible, and climbed inside. There he relaxed his guard a bit, and listened for any sound coming though the half-open door.