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| Via Grapevine(Hidden By Grape Leaves) | |
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| Topic Started: 14 May 2017, 21:41 (13742 Views) | |
| Zira Shadow | 14 May 2017, 21:41 Post #21 |
Skrill
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Chapter 7 H2O Scarlett was in her element. This might sound strange, seeing as how they were in a life-or-death situation. Many things could go wrong. They might all die in agony. (Or in peace. Depending on the customer’s preferred style of death, if you get to choose. Which you probably won’t. Ahem.) But Scarlett was comfortable with chaos, and found she preferred having a deadline for her work. What stressed out most people usually helped her along. And so, while the mysterious Island of the Broken Tides, Sparki’s amnesia, and Heather’s possession loomed over her head like a menacing shadow, Scarlett Hartzell, Official Main Researcher, kept a cool head and kept searching. Tides. The alternate rising and falling of the sea, usually twice in each lunar day at a particular place, due to the attraction of the moon and sun. Broken. Having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order. Tides that were no longer in working order? What about that island could cause that? Maybe jagged rocks? Scarlett let her mind wander around the possibilities. The Lost Track Library For Serious Fangirls (as was the new name of the Time Arena Library), otherwise known as the Book Hole (black hole...a little strange humour) was full to the brim with Grapeviners preparing for the quest; even though there were only five people going, the rest still had an important job to do. They were Mission Control, and the questers were the astronauts. However, since this library was in the Time Arena, it was slightly...different…than most libraries. Case in point: while Scarlett was flipping through piles and piles of books, she was also sitting on a comfortable dragon-shaped couch (hers just happened to be a Stormcutter, although there were various species scattered throughout the perimeter of the room) in front of a floor - to - ceiling window that let in a warm stream of sunshine. According to the Riders, each wall of the Book Hole could be retracted to full glass, which looked out on a grassy meadow. The glass was incredibly strong, and could withstand up to 56 dragons of any species (the numbers varied, but were mostly around that) going up against it(a proven fact). There was a fireplace in one wall that disappeared when the glass was out, and in the very center was a huge tree that resembled a giant sequoia in size, with elliptic leaves and huge branches sticking out at different intervals for when you wanted to relax on the branches of an enormous tree with a book. The ‘carpet’ was grass around the tree(which, they were informed, was called Verdensbilde - Verden for short) that reverted to stone and a few occasional crystals around the west side of the gigantic room - the only side that was walled off, because that was the unofficially declared site where fangirls went to take out their anger on dummies that resembled authors or antagonists(sometimes punching bags resembling protagonists) but also a center for experiments that was currently being used to find out more about their various technologies. And that was just the setting. The actual books were in tall shelves, arranged in a huge maze that sprawled across the entire remainder of the room, with Verdensbilde in the center(Fun Fact: if you climbed high enough, you could see the whole maze and memorize the layout to navigate it). The bright spines of the books made a sort of pattern with the wooden shelves and the starbursts of colour of the walls that peeked through the gaps in the maze and...well, long story short, it was a black hole of awesomeness. They had grouped themselves into three stations, between which they alternated (with the exception of the station leaders): research, technology, and geography (which was a sort of branch off of research, but still). Scarlett led the Research group, Sylvi led Geography, and Chicken led Technology. The preparation stage seemed to be going well, although nothing yet had been discovered about the technology. On the Changewing-shaped couch next to her, Nan was tampering with her Analyzation Camera, examining the buttons and knobs. She flicked a switch to on and examined the icy blue-purple glow emanating from the button that, before, had taken the pictures. “Hey, what does this thing-?” She was interrupted by Zira. “GUYS I MIGHT HAVE FOUND SOMETHING ON HEATHER’S PROBLEM!” Scarlett leaned forwards eagerly. “What?” Unfortunately, Nan’s finger had been resting on the button at that moment, and she was so startled that she pressed down on it. At that exact moment, Zira skidded into the direct angle of the camera that had been thrown partially into the air. It was undoubtedly one of the strangest things Scarlett had ever seen. A bright flash of blue filled the room and solidified into a solid block of ice encasing Zira. The book hung in midair, where it had been tossed when Zira had jumped. Zira herself was awkwardly standing there in a frozen position, the book over her head. Nan gingerly put down the camera like it might be poisonous. The ice block was not melting. That was very clear. Even when Gronckle lava (the most effective attack, it turned out, of all the fire dragons) was splashed all over it, all it did was sizzle a tiny bit. Despite the obvious pressure from the inside and the flames licking the outside, the ice held firm. A growl from behind them alerted them to the approaching presence of Canada. Seeing as there was really no way the ice could get icier, they let her come. As soon as the camera ice touched the dragon ice, it visibly shuddered and resettled. Then, slowly, it started dripping little silvery streaks of water. Experimentally, Luna held the tip of a lit match to the ice, but it didn’t do anything. The match went out. On a hunch, Scarlett pressed the unlit match to the ice. Instantly, ghostly white flames flickered against the ice, which melted to fast it literally liquefied right on top of Zira and the book, which spun out of the air and landed on her head. There was an awkward silence. “Well...we learned something new, right?” Nan offered. Yes, that would be one of the upgrades of the camera Paradox. I didn’t think it would show up this early, but… “But...it did, and you don’t know why,” Scarlett guessed. “The camera’s name is Paradox? That’s a cool name.” Nan had picked up the Coca-Cola wrapper red camera and was examining it carefully. “Also very fitting,” remarked Luna, holding up the unlit match. “Seeing as how it’s a red camera that freezes people in ice that can only be melted by an unlit match.” “But when ice melts…” Zira’s voice rose in panic. “It turns into water.” She picked up the soaked, bedraggled book that had once held the answer to their problems and opened it up. The pages were soaked, some tattered, and covered in black smudges. Most of the ink had been washed away, except for the remains of one sentence. Any potential information that once might have been on the pages was gone. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tauriel’s finger followed the swoops and curves of the metallic threads that collected around the corners of the Map( )Room (Yes, in every record there was of the room, even the newest ones, it was written like that). The knots in the threads, at different intervals, had always led her to something important, something relevant. She hoped it would do that for her now - she needed it. Every Grapeviner needed it. Gold, silver, blazing copper…a braided twist of thread...a knot. The book had been dried off to the best of their ability, but the restoration process would take a long time that they didn’t have - eleven days at least. They would have to work without it for now. Space-age indigo, chasm-deep, glistening black, pure mint-forest green...a spiraling ascent of colour…a knot. The problem was, while one line remained, that was the only line that Zira had read - the first line. Admittedly, knowing what it said made it much easier to decipher, but it didn’t make the sentence any more cheerful. Crystalline turquoise, gleaming star-like white, a deep velvety purple, a loop and a curve...then finally, a knot. Even now, just thinking about it sent a chill up her spine and made her feel uneasy, as if she was being watched… Glowing amber, electric blue, sunset red...a trio of individual threads...a knot...and then a wooden shelf. The shelf was a polished dark brown, with a small dark teal thread wrapped around the edges, the same colour of the cover of the destroyed book. The shelf was empty. Not a single book was displayed, but Tauriel knew that there were sometimes secret compartments in the backs of the shelves. She ran a hand along the back of the empty shelf, ignoring the possibility of splinters. Finally, she found a latch. With a push of a button, the back of the shelf fell off, revealing a small, translucent teal rectangle of glass. For some reason, looking at it instantly flooded Tauriel’s mind with memories, some hers, most not, with the most recent coming first - the thing she was trying to forget. She squeezed her eyes shut, futilely trying to block the river of information. Colours burst through her mind as the thoughts came. A polluted storm-cloud grey. The smudged, torn pages of the book that could have helped them. “The Nightmare This odd entity is neither a monster or a mortal, rather, it is more like a thought, or a shadow, who has the ability to possess beings at its will...at a time, it can possess up to 25...it is thought that there is only one in _________ and that_________________________.” A crystal-clear blue, followed by a buttery yellow. A five-year-old Tauriel grinning, amongst the branches of a thorny pine tree - but she herself wasn’t Tauriel. She was the one watching her, watching her laugh, watching her smile, watching her enjoy her small, momentary childhood… Later, while flashes of stark, blank white flashed through her mind, she was the one with the iron grip on the child’s arm, the one whose open palm went across her cheek, the one who watched her with a hard stare while she, with her innocent eyes, looked back as she was dragged away. She was the one who regretted it all. There was something in her eyes, something...not a tear. Tauriel didn’t cry. She never cried...did she? A deep, rich, slightly brownish red. The sun was setting fiery, phoenix red over a deep, dark sinkhole in the ground, and even the moon was shedding a sort of reddish glow instead of its usual silver. A small girl with short, wispy brown hair was standing defensively over a small leather-bound book. She did not know what was in the pages, but she knew that she must protect it. There was a long, thin cut across her cheek, but she had barely noticed it...until now. A black cloud rose out of the abyss and faded the scene out of view… Although she didn’t realize it at the time, Tauriel’s grip tightened on the teal rectangle, the edges digging into her palm. A poisonous green. A woman who looked as if she were made of ice, with white-blond hair and deathly pale skin with the smallest tinge of crystal blue in her white-gray eyes, was standing at a podium talking to a crowd of people dressed in black. They were hovering above here, so that he might hear every poisonous, false word his sister spoke. “In this, the saddest of sad times, I ensure that there will be justice brought to whoever dares to have done this.” The meeting was adjourned, and the ice woman smirked to herself. “Justice, indeed.” A cloud of black hung around her as she strolled out of view. And then, suddenly, a scream. A violent purple. A house on fire, a chaotic mess of people running, terrified of something. Worse, some were dead, and even more fell every second - cut down by some unseen force. “GO!” she begged the people in front of her, trying to help her, but she knew they couldn’t. “It’s too late for that now…” A tornado of black smoke was speeding towards her. “IT’S COMING THIS WAY!” Even though she knew it was in her mind, was just a memory, not even hers, she still felt fear shoot through her like a sharp knife...or a shard of destruction, a remnant of peace, now shattered. A sharp orange. A once-beautiful oceanside garden, hacked to shreds and torn apart by some sort of very sharp weapon in the sickly light of the dying sun. The ocean was black and poisoned, tendrils of dead seaweed on the coast, strangling the last fish. “What have you done?!” they were yelling. At her. At her. She, the rightful ruler of all of the ungrateful people. They didn’t know what they had, what she had done for them, what she had given them! Her mind fogged up with black, and only a raspy, inhuman voice guided her forwards, and she ignored the people in front of her, and she stalked into the tide to get away from them... And then they were gone...and something else was coming. An unforgiving, deep indigo. A huge ship was being tossed about on the open ocean while the stone-gray sky flashed with lightning and poured down buckets of rain. The waves swelled higher than the ship at some points, and, hovering just in front of the ship in a bubble of dryness… The Nightmare. “Still you refuse me, captain?” asked the cloud of smoke mockingly. He would have responded, but just then, the waves curled above the ship. It spun, and the hull finally cracked, plunging the entire vessel underwater, faster than should be possible, but helped along by the black fog. The smoke almost solidified - almost. Just below he sank beneath the water, he saw two demonic red eyes laughing out of the deep black smoke… Tauriel’s eyes flew open and she dropped the teal rectangle. The threads were gone. The shelf was gone. The entire Map( )Room was gone. She was in the dark. Alone. But this dark was familiar. It had a wooden pine scent and a familiar sharp breeze that would have comforted her, but if she was here...then that meant… Tauriel ran through the forest, following a trail that she had memorized, that only she could see. As she ran, the darkness fell away and the light grew brighter until it was bright sunlight streaming through the branches. She moved fast and before she knew it, she was there. The place where she had spent her first five years - five years too many. Then when it reached an unbearable limit, it had been the foster homes, all too stuffy and too much to bear. She had run away from everything, stayed in the woods until she finally found her safe haven, but now she was here, where it had all started - where her formerly torturous life had started off. She would have to confront the ghosts, the fires, the demons. She was stronger now. She could handle it. She stepped up to the door and rung the bell, steeling herself for what might await her. For better or for worse, Tauriel was ‘home’. |
| Sister in arms of the forgotten disaster branch, Saturn Starlings | |
| Zira Shadow | 15 May 2017, 22:15 Post #22 |
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Skrill
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Chapter 8 pt 1 of 3? Chapter 7.5? Bridge? I think I'm gonna call these bridges. Bridge 7-8: Pulse Inside the tunnels, it was dark. Perhaps that was an obvious thought, but it was dark. REALLY dark. Fishlegs shuddered and pulled his cloak tighter around himself as he walked on, Meatlug by his side. Hiccup had asked him, earlier that day, to ensure that the building of the ship was going as planned. While he hated walking through cyberspace, the fact that Hiccup had personally asked him to check up on the bytes building the ship made him feel more than a little bit honored. Before this, only Hiccup and Astrid and their respective dragons had actually been to the building site. Fishlegs would check on the bytes, make sure the ship was built properly. Their spy team needed it, after all. He would not fail them - any of them. Through the dark, spiraling tunnels of this unrealistic cyber-world, Fishlegs and Meatlug walked on. |
| Sister in arms of the forgotten disaster branch, Saturn Starlings | |
| Team Astrid | 19 May 2017, 17:31 Post #23 |
Deadly Nadder
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Nice I hadn't caught that part earlier... Rofl now I'm imagining Fishlegs walking up to Fishy and going, "Fishy....I am your father." |
| Zira Shadow | 20 May 2017, 17:22 Post #24 |
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Skrill
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Hadn't caught which part? |
| Sister in arms of the forgotten disaster branch, Saturn Starlings | |
| Team Astrid | 28 May 2017, 22:34 Post #25 |
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Deadly Nadder
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Bridge 7.5, I hadn't read it yet. |
| Zira Shadow | 18 Jun 2017, 21:38 Post #26 |
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Skrill
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Oh, okay. Well as apology you can have the first 25 characters of Chapter 8.5: Creak... Creak... Creak... L |
| Sister in arms of the forgotten disaster branch, Saturn Starlings | |
| Sparrowhawk | 19 Jun 2017, 21:57 Post #27 |
average space enthusiast
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Wow! Zira that looks good! It reads like a charm, and is very entertaining! |
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Engineer and Pyromaniac. What's not to love? I plan to send a rocket to the edge of space before I turn 25 GO TEAM P A T H E T I C ! ! ! Yahoo!!  
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| Team Astrid | 23 Jun 2017, 18:17 Post #28 |
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Deadly Nadder
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Thanks, those creaks really made my day. I was so mopey before I read that! And now I feel completely FULL OF ENERGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Zira Shadow | 24 Jun 2017, 18:02 Post #29 |
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Skrill
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Thanks! I'm not entirely sure what that means, but thanks! XD ...I feel like that was sarcasm but your capital letters and exclamation marks threw me off. Why isn't there a sarcasm button? It would make life so much easier... |
| Sister in arms of the forgotten disaster branch, Saturn Starlings | |
| Zira Shadow | 24 Jun 2017, 18:10 Post #30 |
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Skrill
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GASP! I FORGOT CHAPTER 8.1! Chapter 8 Canonball (Pt. 1) The ship wasn’t massive, but it was large enough. It wasn’t the most elaborate and beautiful, but it was very precisely and carefully made. It wasn’t particularly special in any way. It was just a ship, made to serve its purpose. Or at least, that’s what most people thought. But, Chicken thought, the ship was always there when it was needed, and there was much more to it than met the eye. So of course, it had been named the F.S.S. Canon. It was an old, old joke,(okay not really that old…) that fangirls were pirates because they had both ships and cannons. But now, it was the truth. Ridiculous, yes, but false? No. “Did you seriously name your SHIP,” Eira paused to gasp/laugh some more, “CANON?” Chicken shrugged her feathery shoulders. “It was a hilarious idea when it was presented, too. You can thank Ruffnut for it.” “I’ll be sure to, once I’m sure that it’s safe to spend an entire MONTH on,” said Rhiannon. “And once someone finds out where Tauriel is now.” “Don’t get your feathers in a twist,” Chicken told her. “The ship is far, far ahead of its time. It’s ahead of our time, as well. And as for Tauriel...she’ll be here any minute. You should all have been sent back to your electronic devices as soon as...unless she was in...no, I’m sure she’ll come back to the Time Arena any minute.” Still, there was that old legend about the Map( )Room...and hadn’t she seen Tauriel heading in that direction? Chicken shook off her fears and started towards the ship. “Since you will be spending a second here-” “Wait, what? Now I’m confused again. Is it a month or a second?” asked Eira. Chicken flapped her feathery wings. “It is but a second, dear HTTYDLover, in the world you left, and a month aboard the ship. Remember the briefing?” “Well, yeah, but...how can it possibly take a month?” asked Rhiannon again. “It was pretty far away on the map,” Zira pointed out. The five - now four, since Tauriel was nowhere to be found - Grapeviners going on the quest had gathered at the Underground Docks, where they were to take a tour of the good ship Canon(she had to), where they would spend two weeks total sailing on. The entire trip was going to take a month in total. Once they had taken a week to sail there, they would spend two weeks (hopefully there would be no need for more) exploring the island and then another week sailing back. It was confusing, but not impossibly so. To make the layout of the ship simpler, Chicken would alway start with a basic blueprint. The main deck was where you could train or chill, depending on the time. Then there was a elevated part that served as the rooms and, on the floor below it, the stables. Then there was the storage, belowdecks, and another training room under the stables. There was also a watchtower, large enough for three dragon-and-rider duos to keep watch and literally just hang out. The base of the ship could be opened up to make a small balcony-like platform just above the water’s surface, for when a dive was needed. The starboard side rail, however, had a small latch on it that, when opened, revealed a little blue button. Chicken led the three others to the blue button and, with a dramatic flourish, pecked the button. Nothing happened. Chicken pecked at it furiously before Rhiannon, careful of her sharp beak, pushed her head away and pressed it herself. Instantly, the ship’s railings flattened and began to expand into full-size sheets of Gronckle Iron. When they met at the top, they formed a cylinder around the watchtower, which became a periscope. “Is this a submarine?” asked Eira. Chicken clucked. “Yes, as a matter of fact. The Canon is designed as both a ship and a submarine, depending on what is needed.” She strutted over to the port side rail and unlocked a similar latch, this one with a red button inside. With considerably less pecking this time, she pushed the button and the sheets of metal receded into the railing. “Now, the ship has a wall belowdecks that can be used to communicate with the Time Arena directly. It also has excellent internet connection. However, the portal from the Berk’s Grapevine database doesn’t connect there, as to avoid...others...sneaking onboard without permission.” “Others?” Zira asked, but Chicken pretended not to hear the question and moved on. As she was leading them back onto the deck, the Communications Computer(or just the Comm. Computer) that Rhiannon was carrying around buzzed. It’s beginning to get much too late. You should start sailing now, without Tauriel. We’ll look for her. But you need to go now, before you lose your month of time. We’ll tell the other Grapeviners that you had to leave and now - He’s gonna keep talking forever. Just GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!!! Chicken nodded, then saluted with her wing just for the fun of it. “We got this.” I hope you do. Fishlegs, you’re freaking them out! Leave the computer at the Arena, by the way. Just put it in USB mode and put it in the storage alcove near the Underground Docks. Chicken will show you where it is. Bon appetit! It’s ‘Bon Voyage’, Snotlout. Eira hurriedly typed in a “No offense but bye now” message(since when was there a typing option?)before slamming the computer shut and flicking the USB switch. Wordlessly, Chicken wing-pointed to the alcove, and while she went to put it away, they boarded the ship. Somehow, it had modified itself in the last few minutes of chatting with the Riders, it had molded itself to a ship with four rooms, each specially designed for Rhiannon, Eira, Zira and Chicken. Chicken knew it was all part of this world, but it was still unnerving. Rhiannon’s jaw dropped open as Chicken led her to her room, after having done the same for the others. “I’m not entirely convinced you aren’t spying on us from above,” she said, looking around at the specially designed room, meant to resemble her room at her home(never mind how the Canon had found that out). Chicken’s little coop in the Time Arena was perfectly portrayed as well, in her own room. She walked to the ship’s steering panel and started the engines(The Canon was a very...unique...ship.) on a course to Sandspider Island to negotiate with their allies before embarking to the Island of the Broken Tides. They were on their way. They had everything planned. And they were going to find the answers and the cures they were looking for, even if they had to lengthen their trip to an year(which, to be fair, would be less than a quarter of a minute in the real world). The door to the Underground Docks opened up to the open ocean(somehow) and the Canon smoothly sailed out into the vast, endless expanse of clear blue. Okay sooo here we go to 8.5 Chapter 8 Canonball! (Pt. 2) Creak… Creak… Creak… Luna’s eyes flickered open. She strained her ears, listening for the creaks again. She was in her official Berk’s Grapevine room, trying to go to sleep. The Riders had said that since the crew of the Canon were staying in this world for a month, it would be best for the other Grapeviners to stay and monitor the Arena, especially since the Keeper, Chicken, was with the questers. They had all agreed - after all, it was just a second in their world - and spent the rest of the day scattered throughout the Time Arena. Luna had mostly stayed in the library and read. She had been looking for something, although she didn’t know what. All she knew was that the others could never know. There they were again. Creak… Creak… Creak… She pushed her blanket off and sat up. Her room at the Time Arena was an exact replica of her room at home, so she knew exactly where to step to make the least noise. She carefully padded up to the closed door of her room and reached for the door handle… Creak… Creak… THUD. She froze and put her ear up to the door. Rattle, rattle...THUD, creak...creak...creak, rattle… Creak…creak… Silence? Heart pounding and terrified of what she might see, Luna opened the door a crack and peeked out. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the faint glow. There was a candle, she decided, or some sort of fire, judging from the flickering orange-yellow light. Strangely, there was no shadow cast, but she couldn’t see the candle, either. She risked opening the door wider and sticking her head out. She had been right. There was no candle. On the front of each of the doors to the Grapeviners’ rooms, there was a rectangle of polished, firescaled silver that glowed with shifting colours of light. Engraved on it were the names of the inhabitants (Rider and dragon - or dragons - with the species and classification) and a seemingly random word. For example, Luna’s own door read: “Luna Ferreira Snowdrop, Wooly Howl, Strike Class Moonbeam”. There were six doors that didn’t have their name plaques glowing: Heather’s, Tauriel’s, Eira’s, Chicken’s, and Zira’s. Luna guessed that it was a sort of ‘attendance’ thing, so whenever someone was in their room, the plaque would glow. If they weren’t, it would just be a rectangle of metal...if you could describe anything at the Time Arena as ‘just’ anything. Luna opened the door wider and stuck her head through. When nothing tried to take it off, she tentatively stepped out into the hallway. It had changed since she had last seen it. Where the stairs had once been was a solid wall. The other end of the hall, past all their rooms, was also a wall. Luna took a few steps sideways, noticing that, somehow without her noticing, the redwood floorboards had turned into a plush shag carpet that seemed to be a pale mint green(but then it was hard to tell because of the relative lack of light). As she passed her hallmates’ plaques, she couldn’t help but stop and read them. “Sylvi Lynshield Stormshade, Deadly Nadder, Tracker/Sharp Class Streak” “Scarlett Hartzell Frostbite, Deadly Nadder, Tracker/Sharp Class Slash, Speed Stinger, Sharp Class Arrow” “Eira Black Stormspike, Stormcutter, Sharp Class Cloud” “Chicken/Runia Thoren Jetpack (No dragon) Cloak and Dagger” (Okay, that was more than one word. What was that all about?) “Heather Evergreen Windshear, Razorwhip, Sharp Class Windgust” Thump. Creak...creak… Luna looked around, but there was nothing to have made the noises. Again, the light flickered, but no shadows were cast. “Windwalker/Ragna Strings Self (No dragon) Mirage” “Fishy/Pickle/Felicia Izquierdo (Pickle? FELICIA??? Luna made a mental note to ask Fishy about this) Pudding Cup, Gronckle, Boulder Class Wordplay” “Geode White Sardine, Skrill, Strike Class Radiance” “Acia Granger Aquaspike, Deadly Nadder, Tracker/Sharp Class Palette” Luna walked gingerly towards the noises, trying not to make any sounds of her own. She crept along, parallel to the patterned purple walls. Shades of lilac and lavender and once a small shock of cobalt and rose quartz faded in and out as she slipped past, following the noise. Creak...creak...creeak… Creak… Creak… Luna watched as the carpet, which she hadn’t noticed she’d reached the end of, stretched out again, this time fading into a soft aquamarine blue and rolling out through the redwood flooring, like her own personal path made of the sea. The Time Arena was helping her again, she realized. By giving her this carpet, it made sure all her footsteps were muffled, so she could sneak up on whatever made the creaks and thumps. Did she really deserve its help, though? After all...her orders from the mysterious person had made it clear that she would leave and not be returning, possibly even destroying the place. On one hand, Luna didn’t want to. She wanted to stay with all her friends in this mysterious, possibly magical place and find out more about it. But on the other hand, the Person had her brother. Creak… Creaak… Creeeak… Luna stopped. Without realizing it, she had reached the end of the rectangular prism/hall, but she still couldn’t see whatever was making the noises. Without stopping to think about what it could mean, she walked into the middle of the hall. The carpet stopped, confused, and in that moment, Luna’s foot came down on the redwood floorboards. Hard. Thump. As a response came another round of slow creak...s, louder and louder, as if whatever it was in the hallway was trying to sneak up on her. Luna smiled, although she felt like a crazy person. She drummed her fingers against the wall and waited, stepping back onto the carpet. She didn’t know why she suddenly felt so insanely brave, but the Time Arena, the mysterious person, and her intuition all seemed to agree: whatever was going to happen, after tonight, everything would change. There would be no going back. Just as the thought came, the world went dark. Luna couldn’t see. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even scream or shout as she felt herself being tugged through the darkness, almost ‘gliding’ in a way since she was still frozen. A voice - more specifically, the voice, the voice of the mysterious person - rose out of the darkness. They keep you in the dark, the voice whispered. They refuse to show you what is there. Luna strained against her invisible bonds, but she couldn’t seem to move. Instead, she sent out her thoughts into the darkness: Hypocrite. You’re no better than they are. You literally accused them of keeping me in the dark WHILE keeping me in the dark! Now, now, Luna, reprimanded the voice. There’s no need to be mean about it. Besides, I was just about to get to that. So anyway, back to the dramatic spiel… Hooray, thought Luna as sarcastically as it was possible for someone to think. The voice ignored her. You can know what happens, and when it will happen. You can know where you are. The voice paused for dramatic effect. You can know anything. You could rule the world, and bow only to me...but only if you agree to join me, and march under my flag. Those are some strange offers, Luna thought back. It sounds like you think I would make a good ruler. True, she herself thought she ‘ruled’ her fictional kingdoms well enough, but that didn’t mean she actually wanted to rule. What struck her just then was that some of it really stuck. She did want to know what was happening, where she was, WHO she was. At this point, she wasn’t even sure. The gliding feeling sped up. Suddenly, she was no longer in the dark...and no longer in the Time Arena either. Luna found herself floating above a huge island. And when she said huge, she meant HUGE. She was hovering at one end, near the coast, and she couldn’t see the other end. 660,000 square kilometres, said the voice helpfully. Otherwise known as 250,000 square miles. Luna didn’t fully process that until a few seconds had passed. Big place, she managed to say. And it was true. The edge she was on was a massive coniferous forest, stopping near the shore, where it turned to crystalline sand that gleamed in the moonlight. In the midst of all the trees, a sleek, modern-looking building twisted and rose and fell throughout the landscape: the Time Arena, itself as large(if not larger) as the island it was on. Is it, though? The voice didn’t wait for an answer. Size can be deceptive. The tugging feeling pulled her backwards. The landscape - all 660,000 square kilometres of it - blurred as it sped by, and Luna caught a glimpse of a massive mountain range, a sandy almost-desert, a crystal-blue lake...and then it sped up and all she could see was random colours: blue, green, yellow, red, silver, purple, black, gray, white, and, finally, a deep emerald green, shot through with streaks of silver and patches of blue. Luna stared down at the circuit board, not even sure what she thought. It was a circuit board, that was for sure, but it looked like a map. There were greens in different shapes, right where the islands would be, all in different shades of green. There were different hues of blue, too, where the oceans and the lakes and the rivers would be. It’s not real. None of it is real. It’s all programming. What are you, then, Luna, you idiot? You just blindly went along with it. How is this happening? Am I going crazy? All these thoughts and more filled her head, crammed into her brain, pushing and shoving for space. You’re right, of course, said the voice. The Time Arena and its surroundings are both real and computer circuitry. Haven’t you ever wondered why the Dragon Riders were so reluctant to show you what was outside the Time Arena, or even tell you where you were? So they ARE the real Dragon Riders? Luna asked. Of course. But you’re off-topic, added the voice hurriedly. The point is, when you enter the Time Arena, you’re turned into a miniature spark of energy, and everything you experience is within this circuit board-world. The view zoomed out even more, until she was hovering in pure black, looking at a rotating sphere(oblate spheroid, corrected the voice) of blue and green and yellow and white. If not for the fact that it was clearly made out of circuitry and that the continents had been possibly ground up and rearranged, it would look exactly like planet Earth. Mulighet, said the voice, Also sometimes known as the Other Earth. Luna couldn’t even come up with a response. The most she could say was, Oh. Exactly, the voice agreed. And now, I’ll let you get back to the Time Arena just in time for the grand opening! Of what? Luna asked, but the only response she got was the pulling feeling again, and the landscape blurring. Remember, Luna, you still have a job to do for me… Oh, and do you like surprises? ‘Cause if so, you’re gonna LOVE what happens next. Before Luna could ask any questions, the blurring stopped. She found herself back in the hallway, standing, looking at an empty corridor. No more creaks. The staircases on the ends of the hallway were back. Before she could fully sort out what had just happened, a loud crash came from somewhere in the Time Arena, shaking the floor. Another followed, this time shaking the hall so violently that she fell. She could hear the other Grapeviners waking up in their rooms. As she got up again, the floor shook and, to steady herself, she leaned on the wall that she then noticed was rapidly turning into a transparent sheet of glass. Luna looked through the ‘window’ just in time to see a pirate-style yet modernized ship armed with cannons (ironically) firing randomly at the largest dome of the Time Arena. As if it had noticed her, the ship turned its aim to the window. But there was no way it could hit a target like - The ‘window’ slammed shut just as the cannonball hit it with enough force to dent the wall(but somehow not break it). Luna backed away from the wall. If there had been any doubt before, it was gone now. The Arena was under attack. (Aaaaand...CUT! Next chapterhalf, we'll be revisiting a Grapeviney friend of ours whom I left in an awkward situation that will be either very easy or very hard to write out. Until then, see ya!) |
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