Multiple Settings Frayed Realities

[YsFanatic]

It didn’t matter what you were doing. Taking a nap, enjoying a good meal, fighting for your life… whatever it was there was a sudden shift and you find yourself standing upon a disc of stars with any equipment of yours with you and ready to go. And you were not alone, other various other beings stood around you in this otherwise dark space. However, should anyone speak, most of you would not be able to understand them, a potential problem in figuring out what is going on here. Thankfully it wouldn’t remain a problem for long as a wave of supernatural energy emitted from the blue, translucent figure standing at the edge of the circle washed over them.

It was like a switch flipped in your mind and you could suddenly understand anything and everything being said, and that included the translucent figure. And as it speaks it slowly took a more distinct masculine shape, but any details such as facial features and clothing remain indistinct and vague. It… he stood tall with his hands clasped behind him. Those with the appropriate senses could detect that this being is that of someone’s soul, and possibly even figure out that it had been worn away enough where it was only a shadow of its former self. Even its voice was faded, as if it wasn't entirely there.

“I apologize for the abrupt transition, but I’m rather desperate for assistance. Short version, a battle centuries ago wrecked the fabric of a trio of universes and I’ve been trying to hold them together since then.” The figure pauses as if he was taking a deep breath. “And I was succeeding until recently. Something started to drain the dimensional energy from those universes and they are once again starting to fall apart, and I can’t stop it. While I’ve been able to trace the paths the energy is traveling along, I need the help of others to actually do something about it, and that is where all of you come in.” A moment of hesitation. “I… understand if you have questions and concerns for me. If so, ask them now.” A start of a small grin appears on his face. "I've always believed a Q&A session is better than monologuing information at people."

Juju seasonedcat November Witch Yakov011001 Solirus BananaMuffin Bingotron 9000000

 

[Bingotron 9000000]

It didn’t matter what you were doing. Taking a nap, enjoying a good meal, fighting for your life… whatever it was there was a sudden shift and you find yourself standing upon a disc of stars with any equipment of yours with you and ready to go. And you were not alone, other various other beings stood around you in this otherwise dark space. However, should anyone speak, most of you would not be able to understand them, a potential problem in figuring out what is going on here. Thankfully it wouldn’t remain a problem for long as a wave of supernatural energy emitted from the blue, translucent figure standing at the edge of the circle washed over them.

It was like a switch flipped in your mind and you could suddenly understand anything and everything being said, and that included the translucent figure. And as it speaks it slowly took a more distinct masculine shape, but any details such as facial features and clothing remain indistinct and vague. It… he stood tall with his hands clasped behind him. Those with the appropriate senses could detect that this being is that of someone’s soul, and possibly even figure out that it had been worn away enough where it was only a shadow of its former self. Even its voice was faded, as if it wasn't entirely there.

“I apologize for the abrupt transition, but I’m rather desperate for assistance. Short version, a battle centuries ago wrecked the fabric of a trio of universes and I’ve been trying to hold them together since then.” The figure pauses as if he was taking a deep breath. “And I was succeeding until recently. Something started to drain the dimensional energy from those universes and they are once again starting to fall apart, and I can’t stop it. While I’ve been able to trace the paths the energy is traveling along, I need the help of others to actually do something about it, and that is where all of you come in.” A moment of hesitation. “I… understand if you have questions and concerns for me. If so, ask them now.” A start of a small grin appears on his face. "I've always believed a Q&A session is better than monologuing information at people."

Juju seasonedcat November Witch Yakov011001 Solirus BananaMuffin Bingotron 9000000

[Tom's Prologue]​

Tuesday, November 13th, 2069. It was a calm day on Earth-3 (the designation for this reality, according to its own inhabitants, and similar variants of it).

In orbit, inside an oversized, fancy looking vehicle, sat a man that seemed to be in his 50's. He had light brown hair, a slightly darker brown beard, as well as a few gray streaks to accompany both sources of hair. He was dressed in a labcoat Thomas Darter, better known by the denizens of his planet as the ever mysterious 'Titanium Man', sat in his ship, The Empire Platinum. Originally a junky, worn-down gunship, Tom had modified it heavily to become one of the most cutting-edge starships in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. And one of its most impressive features was its on-board laboratory, which Tom was dutifully running experiments on.

He seemed to be humming a tune, while sipping from a coffee mug that read "best dad ever" crudely written in sharpie on it. All the while, he was busy soldering some kind of electronics together, making a small, copper robo-dog, with designs and engravings on it that seemed to be reminiscent of ancient Greek alphabet signs. He sighed with satisfaction, before admiring his work.

"Boy, I hope Sol likes it..." he said, before turning around and reaching for a picture he had framed on a nearby wall.

The picture showed himself, standing alongside a peculiar cast of characters. There seemed to be another man taller than Tom, dressed sharply in a red business suit, and with a strange auburn colored hairstyle resembling devil horns. Next to him, was another woman, with dark ebony skin, and a vibrant afro that seemed to be made of... Leaves and flowers?... She was smiling and hugging Tom himself in the picture. In front of them were a peculiar gaggle of younger-looking ones. An alien-looking girl, with purple skin, tentacled hair, and a lab coat very similar to Tom's. A red-skinned cyclops with horns and a long, flowing mane of black, shiny hair. And the shortest one of the bunch, a small girl with large gauntlets that covered her arms, wispy smoke-like hair, and an oversized witch hat that completely covered her eyes. Then in the background were a few more figures. A thin, pale ginger with a green crop-top and booty shorts, a golden-looking woman with white eyes, another lab coat and similar hair to the darker skinned one, and a darker-skinned man with cybernetic looking lines running along his skin, and bright blue hair. He seemed quite pissed.

Tom looked wistfully at the image, with a soft happiness that threatened to break into tears of joy.

However, before he could say or do anything else, he suddenly turned around, with the impending sense that something was wrong.

Tom's cybernetic implant went into overdrive, as it connected to the ships scientific apparatuses and its own scanners, to interpret quantum fluctuations and subatomic readings into instincts that directly linked into Tom's mind...

"Tachyons..." he whispered to himself, with worry. And oh how right he was to be worried. He had experienced a sudden surge of tachyons before, and it could only mean one thing... A rift in reality was about to open...

[The Present]​

Before he could react in any way however, he suddenly found himself unceremoniously yanked from his own reality, into a strange new one. He opened his eyes in a panic, finding himself in an inky black void dotted with stars, surrounded by various different beings. His cybernetic scanners immediately go on overdrive and begin to pick up on minutiae. Probing into the fabric of reality, and peering into the subatomic realm, his scanners quickly recognized tiny discrepancies between the quantum fluctuations and values of every other person here, as well as the place itself. The fundamental forces of the universe acted on their atoms in tiny, imperceptibly distinct ways to his own and to each other's. The differences were small enough that all their physics basically acted the same, but they meant something very important: none of them were from the same reality.

This fact already seemed to put him quite on-edge, before turning to look at the shadowy entity before him, and suddenly being struck with a wave of 'supernatural energy', and his hair stood on end. Oh great... Magic users... It was just his luck that some high-level reality warper decided to mess with him today of all days. He already had a relatively basic but accurate grasp on what was going on, but the why still evaded him.

"Shit... What the fuck man?!" He yells out at the broken soul floating in front of him in his gruff, New York accent. "You can't just fucking kidnap me from my world, damn it! What's your fuckin' dea-..."

The mention of universes being at risk seems to put a stop to his anger, albeit momentarily, replacing it with fear and empathy.

"Hey hey, whoa, wait a minute... There was a fight? And it broke the fabric of three universes?... That sounds... Man, I'm sorry. But listen, you can't just pull me away from my world. I need to protect it! I can't spend eternity trying to fix every other universe that's under threat... I'm sorry your three worlds got all fucked up and everything, but I'm a single universe protector... Besides, tomorrow is my son's birthday."

He seemed to be greatly troubled at the prospect of being stuck in some timeless void fighting an impossible threat while his family worried for his safety back home. Worse yet, while there were other competent heroes on his Earth, some even far more powerful than himself, few had even an iota of the experience and technical knowledge he held. In the time he was gone, any number of things could happen: alien invasions, Satanic rituals to bring about eternal night, rogue governments getting into a game of nuclear chicken, another war between the pantheons of Olympus and Valhalla with Earth caught in the crossfire... The possibilities seriously bothered him.

 

[November Witch]

Symphony

~{New Beginnings}~​

Status: Apathetic
Location: ???
Interaction(s): YsFanatic Yakov011001

Symphony was doing her normal task she’d done for centuries. Everyday being the same and built for a single purpose she would carry out with robotic precision and not a second thought. There was no freedom here. Her brothers and sisters all toiling away and doing this one task until they couldn’t be fixed anymore. Though, they were the only ones that could do this. They were tailor made by the goddess to do this. There was comfort in knowing they were needed. It was something only they could do. Comfort that they were all doing this together to please their creator. That they need not think for themselves or worry about anything. Just do this one thing and all would be alright.

That was until suddenly she was no longer where she should be. Her siblings were no longer around her. She no longer felt the presence of her creator. Now, in a strange place with strange individuals around her. She was told something by a figure before the group, and it seemed largely powerful, though not as much as her goddess. Speaking of, her goddess was here with her as well. The only visage she’d ever seen of her. A black silhouette. 6ft tall, completely black with no features visible. All that could be gleaned, feature wise, was through the silhouette itself. Clothes similar to what Symphony herself wore. What all her sisters wore. But for some reason, she couldn’t sense her goddess’ power radiating from the silhouette. What did that mean? What was going on? Why did she need to help this person? Couldn’t this person ask her goddess? She wasn’t sure why she was here, or what she was expected to do.

The living doll just stood, motionless. She didn’t need to breathe, itch or move her weight from one foot to the other. The only thing to happen was her head to swivel between her “goddess” on her left and the person before her. Surely her goddess would make the best decision for the both of them.

 

[YsFanatic]

Before

It had been a long first day on this world. Dana had come to this place for a training journey, fell into a pitfall trap, met an energetic young woman, agreed to team up with her as an adventurer, and then finally got taken to the local village where she had been put up for the night. In the room given to her, the swordswoman had put the bulk of her gear right by her bed, but the belt had been set on the table with its assorted items next to it. She wanted to re-organize how the items were stored in it, but if she did it before bed the royal knew she'd forgot half of the new places for the stuff in the morning and have to redo it then anyway. So the purple-haired half-Palman figured she may as well just leave them on the table next to the belt as a reminder to take care of it when she got up. However, she could not have predicted what would happen while she slept....


Now

It was disorienting to say the least to go from being sound asleep to suddenly standing upright, wide awake, and decked out in her equipment. As such it took Dana a few moments to get her bearings. One of the first things she noticed was that one of the others was speaking English, but it sounded a bit different like an accent or dialect she hadn't heard before. But when the wave of energy swept over them and he spoke again, it was crystal clear, which clued the half-Palman in that it was some kind of translation spell. That action also drew her attention back to the larger situation, and the figure's initial explanation caused the blood to drain from her face.

"Light help us," she quietly murmured, the scale of damage reminding her of Infinity Crisis that some of her grandparents had ben part of, before reaching for a pouch on her belt. Her eyes widened a bit when she couldn't find what she was looking for, and a frantic check revealed that all of the pouches were empty. "Did you not get the items that were next to my belt?" the swordswoman asks as she fixes her gaze on the translucent figure. "I had a communication unit I could use to call in additional support.

Even with his facial details being vague, it would be easy for everyone to see his expression change into a 'I fucked up' one. "No... I missed those," he regretfully admits. "If, IF, I sent you back, I would not have the energy to call you back here again. Would your allies be able to trace there way here?

Dana's eyes close as she as she takes a moment to think before she tilts her head back and uttering a quiet curse. "Unfortunately it would be unlikely." It was sadly not one of Neilgo's strengths.

An audible sigh comes from the figure at this. "Then unfortunately we will have to make do without, I apologize."

With that he turns his attention over to Tom. "You also have my apologies. I didn't have the luxury of time to try to find the people who's lives I would not disrupt that would also be perfect for the task. I had no choice but to choose people that had some combination of abilities, temperament, or motivation to help with this crisis. If you succeed, I should be able to send you back to your world without jeopardizing these ones."

Bingotron 9000000

 

[Juju]

SeirInteraction: seasonedcat
Mention: YsFanatic Bingotron 9000000 November Witch

(Please Note: Seir is currently unable to be heard or seen unless a character is capable of seeing ghosts/demons or is omnipresent in some manner)
​

After a few odd centuries of it, Seir had gotten quite used to the act of being summoned. It was just as much a part of the job as fraud and tax evasion, but what she wasn’t used to was having a complete lack of warning or information. Talk about rude!

One moment she was talking with Arley, the next she was somewhere elsewhere. Somewhere very elsewhere. Not a good sign, and certainly not a part of her contract. Just what was going on?

The serpentine demon coiled around Arley’s neck, and under the safety of her near perfectly undetectable state, took stock of those around them. She was, after all, the brains of this operation! With a motherlode of souls on the line, she wouldn’t just stand by and let her valued contract get snapped up by another hungry buyer. Not a chance!

Slitted eyes first settled on the speaker. When Seir got a good look at them, she couldn’t help but scoff at the miserable state of their soul. It was wasn't worth collecting, even if she had wanted to make a contract. Instead of listening intently to their sob story, she decided to whisper-gossip with Arley.

“Hells, what happened to them?” she chuckled, bapping her wing against Arley’s head to get his attention, “Hey pal, get a load of that guy! He looks–WAIT WAIT, HOLD UP!”

Seeing a snake jump up like a startled cat was a peculiar thing. Like a spring, she shot high above Arley’s head, catching herself into a hover by rapidly flapping her wings. Of course, what had spooked the suave serpent was none other than the visage of Ichor.

“How are they…”

The fright lasted for only a moment before Seir noticed the significant lack of slurs and demonic influence in the area. That, and logic starting to kick in. A SIN was never far away from their throne. If they were, they risked losing it in one way or another.

Seir managed to calm herself after such a revelation and settled back down on Arley’s fluffy hair, all coiled up into a ball of scales and glares. Her forked tongue flicked out from between her fangs as she regarded the imposter closely.

Like flowing silk, the snake draped her head down until it was beside Arley’s ear, “Hey, welcome to your first summoning, champ! No time for onboarding, let’s get right down to business. You see that thing?”

She pointed a wing at Ichor, “It’s got to be some hellian or cultist, even though it doesn’t smell infernal. The only other option is an angel, but they’d be suicidal or depressed to willingly imitate that ugly mug.”

The snake then moved her gaze to one of the more talkative guests. “On the topic of looks, what in all hells is that guy wearing? I wouldn’t be caught dead in that long-coat! What’s his inspiration, a handkerchief? Hah!”

She snickered harshly, which for a demonic reptile was something between a hiss and a chortle. “The doll at least has got some style. Oh, that reminds me. Did I ever tell you about the time I took over an entire royal family while possessing a doll? It was absolutely delicious! I got away with it for a few generations! Ah, so many souls…wait, where were we again?”

The snake snapped back to attention, bonking Arley’s head again with one of her wings. “Right, right. Ask the summoner about what’s in it for us. Sorry, sweetheart, but Seir doesn’t work for free! I’m on the clock, and I don’t do charities! If this reality needs saving I want 75% up front and travel and food expenses better be covered. You've got to haggle. It's way easier on desperate people!”

She bonked him again, this time with the other wing, “Oh, oh, you should ask his name! No, wait, ask for three wishes!”

 

[Solirus]

• The Before
• The Now

• 
  
  Vincent​
  
  The door groaned open, scraping against the ground from days of constant misuse and improper maintenance, revealing a dark room, only partially illuminated by the faint lights of streets. With a simple flick of the wrist, Vincent flooded his room with a faint light, followed by the ceiling fan, slowly gaining speed like an Olympic sprinter. Yet unlike an Olympic sprinter, the fan only reached a moderate speed, far less impressive than one would expect.
  
  
  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  
  Empathy - The fan is past its prime, you can't help but feel bad for it, even if it has no soul.
  
  At least it does a well enough job.
  
  
  Inland Empire - If the fan had a soul, would it wish to cease, or would it continue fruitlessly?
  
  I'm not sure, would it?
  
  Inland Empire - That is for you to figure out, Mr. Paradetective.
  
  Quite... that is my job

  ​
  
  Vincent stepped further into his small but cozy apartment, the wooden floor creaked with each step, a more nostalgic and reassuring sound than outright annoying. Today had certainly been a long and tiring day, even for his peculiar circumstances, he felt ready to drop dead at any minute. For occasions like these, Vincent always had a collection of books neatly stored on a shelf. His fingers ran across each title, something his younger self would've only found a waste of time.
  
  
  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  
  Physical Instrument - That is because you should be doing more productive things, like throwing and breaking shit instead of paper flicking.

  ​
  
  Though perhaps some parts of him still thought they were a waste of time. Dropping the thought, Vincent turned to pick up the small radio he had next to the small kitchen placed adjacent to the living room. He'd remembered being gifted this one after a few successful cases.
  
  
  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  
  Interfacing - You feel the familiar weight of the machine you hold. You've carefully dismantled the thing piece by piece to understand it in the past. The small intricacies, the delicate and precise motions needed to turn metal into a device that captures and sends sounds across. In only a few hundred years, technology has evolved greatly. Your hands tingle in excitement. What does the future hold, what will you be breaking open next?
  
  
  Inland Empire - Perhaps you won't be waiting too long for that.

  ​
  
  With the press of a button, the device sprung to life, playing a tune familiar to Vincent. The echoing and pleasing sounds of an acoustic guitar and the unmistakable passion of a singer. It was a song he enjoyed, reminding him of simpler times, of times when his thoughts didn't almost feel sentient or when he was actually alive and not in the limbo of uncertainty. Vincent took an exasperated seat on his couch, the song continued to fill the room. He felt a certain nostalgia from the guitar itself, as if he knew where it came from.
  
  
  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  
  Encyclopedia - It's not purely nostalgia, you know this particular guitar. During the early stages of unification, a company was founded by twin brothers, Eric Shevalon and John Shevalon. Unearthing the old craft of guitar making, they made a profit selling their instruments, most notorious being their acoustic guitars which captured the vibrations of the strings far better than any other.
  
  But those twins weren't even born when I was alive.
  
  
  Logic - Correct, the uncovered old craft was likely from around your time. That is why you can recognize the quality.
  
  Encyclopedia - Shevalon incorporated also almost fell into bankruptcy when it was discovered John Shevalon was actually a shape-shifter, causing an uproar, particularly with the human purists.
  
  Oh... thanks I guess for remembering.
  
  Encyclopedia - You're welcome
  
  
  Inland Empire - Here it comes.
  
  Huh, what? What's coming?
  
  Inland Empire - The future.

  
  ​
  Vincent felt an unfamiliar presence, and before he had the chance to react, reality shifted.
  
• 
  
  Vincent
  Interactions: YsFanatic
  Mentions: Juju
  
  

  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  
  Reaction Speed - Wait, this isn't your home, and who are these people.
  
  
  Perception (Sight) - Several odd individuals, including yourself, stand atop a disk of what appear to be sparkles and lights. Beyond that, there is only darkness.
  
  
  Conceptualization - Not sparkles, but stars. Countless burning and brilliant explosions. The sources of stardust, the primordial origins of life.

  ​
  Vincent collected himself, checking if this odd shift had left anything behind. Weirdly enough, nothing seemed to have been left behind from his person, how considerate. The inconsiderate part, was plucking old Vincent while he was still technically on duty.
  
  
  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  I'm getting fire for this, aren't I?
  
  
  Rhetoric - Most likely, you've already been warned once. Your prolonged absence will be a perfect excuse for immediate removal.
  
  
  Esprit de corps - On August fifth, Detective Vincent was found dumpster diving, searching for evidence on a case. A few hours later, the detective would begin a confrontation against a garbage man for attempting to rid the evidence. The culprit would later be identified as that very garbage man. While your methods get results, they make the department seem like a cohort of lunatics. They deeply care about their image.

  ​
  With an exasperated sigh, Vincent quickly accepted his inevitable loss of work, and turned to the main individual and catalyst to it all. Even with the wave of supernatural energies seemingly granting him the ability to understand those around him. The words the individual uttered seemed like they were meant to make sense, to people in the know. However, piecing together information through vague and unhelpful hints was always part of his specialty.
  
  
  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  
  Composure - Judging by the individuals posture, you can tell they are powerful enough for their statements to concur, but they also seem to be fleeting.
  
  
  Drama - 'Tis possible. I do not detect any lies from them, sire.
  
  
  Logic - So the individual is likely telling the truth. But it doesn't explain why we were brought along. You're a detective, not a mender of universes. Another thing, we're not even sure what this thing is.
  
  
  Authority - It's obvious, this is a dying god. The way it holds itself is evident, and who else would be responsible for several universes.
  
  
  Inland Empire - A god needs to be far more alien than this. With tentacles and impossibly dense and sharp shapes. We are, however, seeing the fleeting past of someone's glory.
  
  Logic - Then it's more likely you were just unlucky enough to be pulled here.
  
  
  Suggestion - You should ask, just in case. Maybe you really are some special hot stuff.

  ​
  With his mind made up, Vincent approached the Soul, examining those around him as he walked. All unique and different, but Vincent would have time later to handle that.
  
  
  Spoiler: Theater of the Mind

  
  Reaction Speed - Wait, something moved there.
  
  Hm, what is it?
  
  
  Inland Empire - At first you do not see it, but as the darkness of the endless expanse yawns, you catch a glimpse of something near a husk. A snake-like beast imperceptible to most. In your wildest imaginations, you would have never constructed this thing, until now.
  
  What is that thing?
  
  Inland Empire - Damned.
  
  
  Half-Light - It hasn't spotted you, but it's probably insulting others and yourself. That smile is for cocky bastards.
  
  
  Volition - You've faced greater dangers. The possibility of insults is wind.

  ​
  Vincent finally arrived rather close to the Soul, waiting for others to ask their questions and taking mental notes while keeping track of their reactions. Then, once they had spoken their piece, Vincent asked his question. "Excuse me, Soul thing. You just mentioned we are needed to solve the problem of several universes, and that we have the skill sets for it. But how exactly are we supposed to do so? We can't just possible explode things or detain people and expect it to stabilize it all."
  
  ​
  
  

 

[Bingotron 9000000]

Thomas 'Tom' Darter | The Titanium Man​

Interaction: YsFanatic ​

Mentions: Solirus Juju November Witch ​

───── ⋆⋅⌬⋅⋆ ─────​

Tom frowned at the explanation that the mysterious, shadowy entity gave him. Clearly being abducted and leaving his universe unprotected was something that he didn't take kindly to. And he was planning on giving this being a piece of his mind.

"Okay, let's say I agree to all this. Leaving my world unprotected to save 3 random worlds from the infinite multiverse of worlds, many others of which are for sure being destroyed as well... How the Hell is this random grab bag of assholes supposed to do that?!" He protests, looking around at the increasing number of party members summoned around him.

Gesturing towards the group, he continues: "We have no synergy. No trust. No cohesion! Really, how do you expect a bunch of individuals who have never met one another and who come from completely different realities to be able to work together to solve a problem as daunting as the total space-time collapse of 3 universes!"

He then points at himself, rather than his teammates: "And another thing! If you've really studied each and every single one of us so damned much, you'd know I'm at my strongest in a lab, researching and engineering. But you're facing something that can destroy 3 whole universes and you summon me with my God damn coat and my gun. No facilities for me to work from? Not even my ship? I mean, the bare minimum. Seriously..."

These words, despite being biting, were said with a hint of disingenuousness. Leaving these 3 worlds to die did not actually sit right with Tom, and he was perfectly willing to face whatever challenge lay ahead even with lack of preparation and the odds stacked against them. But the thought leaving his version of humanity in his own universe unprotected was nagging at him, and the idea of having to work with this group of possibly unreliable strangers clearly bothered him as well. It's like there was some kind of internal struggle, between the part of himself that was cold, logical, and calculating, and the part of himself that had an unselfish urge to be a hero and help others.

 

[YsFanatic]

The figure gazes at Tom with what looks to be regret. "I understand your feelings about not wanting to leave your home more than you know. My wife and I..." he pauses for a moment before shaking his head. "That's a story for later."

"If I had the energy to spare, I would have grabbed at least some of your lab equipment. But as it is everything I have left is needed to slow down the unraveling of those universes and to create the portals you'll be using to travel to the shards that had been ripped from their planets. It is also this lack of spare energy that forced to me to pick people a scant few weeks after the crisis started. That's... not much time to figure out a team for something like this and I essentially had to just select promising individuals as I found them." The figure's body moved as if he was taking a deep breath before clasping his hands together. "Nothing about this is ideal. And speaking of which..."

The figure's gaze turns to Seir and its tone becomes a bit more harsh. "The world I pulled you and your partner from lies within one of the damaged universes, I'm sure you've heard or encountered the eruptions of energy that started to affect it. If this situation is not resolved, that world and everyone on it will cease to exist. Thus, seeing that your very survival relies on cooperating with the others here, I suggest that you reveal yourself to them instead of talking behind their backs."

He then looks over at Vincent, his body language and tone softening a bit. "I don't know exactly what skills will be needed, but I'd be foolish to think that force of arms alone would solve everything. Thus why I also sought out people like yourself that have other talents. But as far as your actual objectives, I can at least point you towards where you can hopefully find out what is going on."

By raising his hand and pointing at the center of the disc, the soul causes an image to start to form. "From each universe a single world had a large chunk of it, a shard if you will, ripped from it and displaced elsewhere. As far as I can tell, each shard is now adjacent to each other and one other place I can't peer into. The shards are being used as conduits of sorts to pull the dimensional energy from those universes and shunting it towards the fourth location. I suspect there is some kind of 'anchor' on each shard facilitating this process, but I can't confirm this."

The image finishes taking form, showing a forest of blue-colored trees and a small village made out wood and thatch roofs was located on the border of part of the forest that turned into a swamp. Orange skilled people looked to live and work in the village.

"Those of you from worlds with fiction divided into genres might class this Shard as being from a Fantasy world. In other words, plenty of magic, but little to no technology and this Shard in particular has very few people in it. While I have studied the language native to this place and enabled you to speak and understand it, I can't tell you much about the people of this particular village other than they are amphibious and appear to be peaceful."

The image flickers before changing form. It now shows what appeared to be an almost rectangular structure made out of white metal floating in the sky. A town of rectangular buildings, some of them rather tall, sits on top of the structure near the middle. Humans can be seen walking on the streets. Elsewhere on the surface there appear to be 'gardens' of sorts with trees and other foliage that would look at home on Earth. There are also various other buildings and entrances into the structure scattered around on the surface. Going by the scale of the town compared to the rest of the floating structure, it had to be quite large.

"You could consider this to from a world of Science-Fiction if you wish. Supernatural energy is virtually non-existent here, to the point where the natives never figured out how to use magic or any other powers. Instead they use technology to accomplish everything, including this floating... habitation block I think it was called." The figure glances over at Tom. "You could see if you can take advantage of any labs to run any tests you have in mind, but I can't guarantee that it will be useful."

Another flicker, another image. This one shows shows a desolate landscape dotted with craters and ruined buildings. Destroyed vehicles presumably of military origin and the various bodies made it clear that some kind of battle happened here. There is scant little vegetation and wildlife doesn't seem to be any better.

"To saw what happened here is depressing would be an understatement. When the energy eruptions from the universal decay started, several nations thought it was an act of war done by others and started military actions. Between the combination of advanced technology and powerful magics the nations have much of the world was reduced to ruin in just the last few weeks. This area in particular was hit by something I think they called an Erosion Bomb, which artificially aged the buildings here and killed off much of the plant and animal life. Yet they kept fighting over it, so there might be something important here."

When the figure lets his hand fall back to his side, the image vanishes. "I will leave it up to you in which order you tackle the Shards. Be aware however, I suspect that there might be some bleed through between them, so don't be surprised if something from one Shard ends up in another."

Juju Solirus Bingotron 9000000 BananaMuffin seasonedcat November Witch Yakov011001