Dissonant Survivors

Within the depths of Titanius, Lucia saw others offering their chance at life to others, NPCs, of many types and with many backgrounds. Lucia could only sigh a little bit at the thought of others making the presumably noble sacrifice. Certainly, Lucia could agree with some people dying for the sake of special NPCs, but the only one she'd been alerted to was the Queen-- Beyond that who else really had value among the faceless mob that had been sent to their deaths with them? With a dry chuckle she could only shake her head. Who here wasn't prepared for death upon joining? How many players had already died? Was more loss for the player base really necessary for those unimportant mob characters?

It made Lucia a little antagonistic, she hated people who were like her, like her reality. Those nameless faces, those few who couldn't make a well known name for themselves in the game. Even so though, she wouldn't ask the NPCs to die needlessly, she simply evaluated her life as higher then theirs in this instance. Had she been asked to die for the queen, Lucia might have considered it, she had nothing against the woman, and she was certainly sweet enough to seem like Lucia's type. Unfortunately that had not been the option proposed. Instead, Lucia glanced over her shoulder to the figure of the dripping Lich with a cracked skull behind her. Once her undead finished their attack, they'd been collecting pieces of Titanus to use as materials as they often did with normal prey. Alice in particular was very zealous about collecting acid and the creature's eyes.

"Everyone return back to the other side, Gastor, I'll need an escape route. Make a back door so we can take the gondola back." Lucia spoke sweeping a hand out for @Madison Freebird trying to grab the woman by the arm. There wasn't much time after all, she needed to get them gone before anything tragic began happening. "Gastor, Hurry." She spoke with a more firm tone. The inky lich signed with his hand trying to reassure her that everything was fine. His sign language rapidly explained the situation while the other formed magical gestures rather than an incantation. After all, if Lucia could claim to have a teacher in dark magic, it would be this lich in front of her. When he completed the gesture, he'd wave a hand slowly, signing his words as he urged them on. "All aboard."

What appeared was a black inky puddle, one that looked indistinct from it's black robe that dripped with the same acidic liquid. From that puddle, a rim slowly began to rise until a gondola revealed itself, the ship small, likely to only contain a few people, but Lucia grabbed onto Madison, trying to help her onto the boat. "It will take a minute to get back from the other side, but you shouldn't mind a little boat ride with me right?" She asked, trying to sit Madison down as the gondola sank. On the other side would be a rushing black river, the Gondola would drop through the black puddle into the river like a brick before being taken off by the current. The helmsman role was played by the inky lich who simply stood at the back, directing the gondola occasionally with gestures, turning it back against the current to make it towards the outside world where things were safe.

 

Location: Brotherhood Camp

Gwyn immediately waved off any help sent in vaguely her own direction. She was beat to hell and back and she felt fine. Physically, at least. There was nothing in her that any of the Ynglar Brotherhood could go curing and if they tried? They'd be eating a charge or two of Silence. Quiet all that mana running wild over all their skins.

She wanted nothing more than to be able to crawl into the skins of her beasts and vanish into the wilds. There were none here. Not for a long while. It was all a gaping chasm and a wasteland that stretched on for ages. She could run until she blacked out though. It was a tempting impulse. The woman felt like her bones were too sharp for all the soft organs within. Her eyes felt blinded, her ears muted, her nose dull, and the only thing she could taste was blood from where she'd gone and bitten through the insides of her cheeks again. And from the burning when she frowned? Her lip as well.

Honestly, she hadn't even noticed doing it. Must have been before that final span though, considering it had already caked over. It felt awful and tasted worse when she tongued the spot, but there wasn't anything for it. Besides the Brotherhood. She hadn't needed them to lick her own damn wounds after Azog, after the prison, after the King. She didn't need any of them still.

Instead, the stubborn huntress lifted her lip at any offering aid and moved away. Animals crawled off to die with their pride intact. She'd do the same for the gaping wound inside that bled out all over down her ribs and between her fingers and in the grooves of her teeth and the cuticles of each nail. Maybe she was just tired, not deadened.

She stared listlessly at a wooden post a bit a ways from the tents and crowd.

She stared down at her bleeding knuckle full of splinters, brow furrowed.

She stared at the fist-sized dent in the side of the post.

Okay. Gwyn nodded to herself. That was okay. She could just be a puppet on strings for a bit while she considered things. Things like Seigi. Like Cain. Like Aalam. Like Roland and Astor and Ivan all warning her and stupid stupid stupid.

She had fucking been there. She had lived it. She had never questioned it, so used to Terrasphere and being real and present and in pain within it. It had been awful, but never once did it feel anything but real. Like a home she'd carved for herself. She didn't belong here. None of them did. None of these people were real or right or here and she didn't want to be anywhere but here or a mile above the send's base and she couldn't have her mountains so she had to take here-

And it wasn't-

Fucking-

Fair!

She snarled down at her own right hand, now clutching at the wood with palm and nail as if her grip there was enough to ground her. The dent was bigger. More blood dripped down across her knuckles and into the spaces between her fingers.

She wanted to keep punching until she found bone in either of them. Maybe then she'd find the root of the problem in all of this.

Gwyn wanted to go back to the Fireplanes and die bloody and charred and a savage snarling force of nature roaring back at anything everything nothing.

She wanted to feel immortal and she wanted to feel alive and there was a conflict there.

Fuck.

 

Location: Chasm

A flash of gold mixed with the blue she knew all too well all but consumed her field of vision before she fell to the ground. The runestone fell useless to its master's side, the familiar glow it once held to it gone along with the last traces of the brawler's magic, never meant for the world to witness such a failure at the proper execution of a spell.

Pain stung through her whole body, ever a reminder of her most recent defeat against powers of her own doing. In entire stillness, she laid there with her thoughts, unable to pry her eyes open and reveal the haunting truth that would welcome her. Violet light made a presence in her eyelids, flickering in the dark as it was soon joined by the other colors of the rainbow, everyone's magic essence making an appearance before fading before her once again.

But it wasn't those lights what brought her back to consciousness. Portia heard the clamor of victorious voices from all around her little spot on the ground, faithfully followed by the frantic footsteps of their owners as each went and busied themselves with the terrible aftermath of the battle. Upon realizing what had become of the fight and what her own current state was, she pushed herself off the floor, kneeling as she clasped both hands in front of herself, making a mental note to inspect whether the blood on her gauntlets' claws belonged to the monster they'd fought, or to the scratches found at each side of her head.

A brush of ice slithered across her nape when the absence of someone dear was noticed. When panic settled across her face, her mind ready to assume the worst of the worst, she found her missing person on the ground... A few meters away from her, even if she couldn't tell when she had moved prior to falling. Portia turned to @Yukisa and for the first time in a long while, she saw him not as she remembered him, but as how he looked like when he died to preserve her life, dragging her out of danger believing she had given it her all. He seemed... So peaceful that it was impossible not to have her heart broken by such a sight.

And as the scenes played before her eyes one after the other, the woman had to set back, sit on her legs and breathe for once in the whole night. With no clues as to what to do or say in a situation she had never faced before. However ironic it may seem at a time like this, a small smile eventually found its way to the stained porcelain that composed her beaten up features, remaining still for a couple of seconds before it was broken as well, converted into a full chuckle that later became soaked with the discernable traces of sorrow.

When matters couldn't possibly get worse, fate had to go ahead and prove her wrong on her beliefs, for another set of steps away, was the one person who always put up with her ''mistreatment'', her first companion and friend, @Iván Carl.

Ever so slowly, she brought them both closer to her chest, each one of her arms wrapped tightly around the unmoving bodies of the two friends she knew from her earliest days on the game. Only then did she allow herself to release a series of muffled sounds, tears rolling down her cheeks, already mixed with the blood from the wounds she had caused herself as they fell on her comrades' pale faces.

''Thank you.''​

Her voice wavered in spite of herself, speaking softly enough that those she held in her embrace might've missed it had they been alive to hear it. The words tasted foreign in her mouth, more like an incantation she had never tried before, yet she somehow managed to pronounce them with certainty. They would return to her when they saw fit, she knew that much and chose to cling to the hope the thought offered. It was a game, after all, they had to come back.

A shudder skittered down her spine at the thought of what could happen if they didn't.

The bodies were left on the ground with utmost care on her end, the bloodied hands of the female seeking only to get rid of the strange coldness that plagued them without disrespecting her friends. Without much ease, she then pushed herself off the ground to find her wounds to be more severe than she'd originally thought of them, the places on her arms and legs where the tentacles had once been now mere open wounds from which pain ensued.

''It's... Well, it's finally over... Are you alright?'' There was an adventurer in particular to whom she spoke (@Raid), slowly making her way towards his side, eliciting few grunts in response to every movement she performed. Every player happily reunited with their little groups of friends, lovers, and siblings. As far as her eyes scouted, there was no one in sight whom she'd recognized, leaving her just a few choices as everyone readied their escape plans. Leaning out to peer at the tall figure, she recognized the same mage from before who had joined her on a combined assault on Titanius.

At least one of them was safe.

 

Location: Chasm

Rias noticed the people around her slowly waking up from the nightmare (not literally) as they were starting to search for people they might know and find a way out of this place while she was still sitting against the tree that was created by the magician. She didn't know many of them, if not any at all! However, some faces looked familiar because most likely they have been participating in the battle just like her and stayed behind to save someone else's life...
Her eyes fell on the white haired girl that looked rather beaten up from the fight, blood running down her smooth skin (@Portia Ahrens) as she cried for her fallen friends, Ivan was one of those she recognized but the other one looked like those she met near Titanius. Gathering the courage to approach the female she put the bow behind her back and took a deep breath pulling out a handkerchief she always carried around in cases like this.
"Hello...do you want to uhm...use this? The blood looks very bad." she asked as she stood behind her and extended her hand out to give it to Portia following with a kind smile.

If anything there was for her to do is offer some help the survivors that stayed behind with her since she wasn't in a really bad state unlike some of them. Offering something helped whether it was a simple smile or an item at this state. A painkiller to the soul and the scared mind after what they experienced.

 

Location: Brotherhood Camp

There was no way Libitina was going to sacrifice herself. She wasn't that selfless. Dying for random strangers who were most likely computer based programs, and end up getting traumatised in the process did not sound like fun. Besides, giving up her life for the sake of others did not benefit her in the slightest.

She entered the portal without hesitation and let out a sigh of relief, happy it was over. She did not know how long they were in the game but to her, it felt like days. After the female got her injuried patched up for the 4th or 5th time (she has lost count how many times people had to heal her), she decided to take a small stroll.

She saw many players around her, some were cheering about finishing their quests, most looked upset (possibly by losing someone they loved), all of them new faces. She felt a little dissapointed when she saw the siblings were no where to be seen. ( @Milah and @Lycia )

' of course. Those two seemed like the type to give their lives up for npcs. I guess when you look at it, for npcs this is their life and they will not get a second chance. Maybe this was why many people decided to stay behind.' She thought as she watched the scene between the queen and the eye patch lady. It was not the first time she encountered an npc in the game, so she wasn't that surprised to see them holding so much emotions.

After D’vangelline and Juliette separated, she walked over to the old woman who was looking at the sky. She observed the woman for a while before finally knowing what to say.

"Its nice to see the sky after staying inside a monster's stomach"

She ruffled her hair after hearing her own words. That wasn't such a nice opening sentence to talk to someone, npc or not.

"Forgive me for eavesdropping but I would like to say you were right. This is the reality of the world. The idea is saving everyone sounds wonderful but in the end, it will always remain just an idea. Even if all your mages were strong, Saving every single one is just wishful thinking and something that is just not practical. Your team mates and you did your best so do not be too hard on yourselves "
the amethyst eyed female, glanced at the old woman before looking back at the sky.

"But I have to wonder..what comes after death. What do you think miss?"

That was it. Those sentences were the real reason she started to talk to Juliette. She wanted to see how npcs viewed death. Did they view it the same way a normal person would in real life? did they not question how dead players seem to come back to life and walk around? Or would their system automatically assume the person never died in the first place?

@Raid Master @Zero

 

Even though she survived, Madison laid there, defeated. A sob caught in the back of her throat. Tears stinging her eyes, but refusing to fall. Visions of all her failures and inadequacies brought on by the Dissonance playing on a loop in her mind.

She survived, but she may as well have died with the rest of them.

And if the Yngar Brotherhood had their way, she was going to.

Immortals, please sacrifice yourselves so our worthless NPCs can survive to continue their pointless, worthless existences. You'll resurrect, it'll be okay! We promise! N-no, don't question why our group of highly-trained and knowledgeable mages with our infinite resources can only keep a portal open for a bunch of people who probably aren't even rendered when you're not looking so we can save on resources! You'll come back to life! Nevermind that a bunch of people who died fighting the tentacles in The Fade can't access their UIs and log out of the game! Hey, you might actually die in real life, but you can save these NPCs lives so they can go back to their fake fucking families and fake fucking adventures and you can be a fake fucking hero to them!!!

Madison clutched at her face, digging her spidery fingers into her scalp, pulling on her hair. She screamed into the void, and collapsed. Consumed by anger and pure, venomous hate, she resisted the urge to throw up.

Someone was tugging at her arm. The witch lashed out, swinging a fist through the empty air. The tugging continued.

A voice. A sweet, familiar tone cut through the crimson fog clouding her mind. Lucia?

The voice called for someone to make an escape route, and to hurry. Madison relented and allowed herself to be dragged to her feet. She tried to open her eyes, to see who her savior was. Everything was still incredibly dark.

The voice spoke again. "It will take a minute to get back from the other side, but you shouldn't mind a little boat ride with me right?"

"I would love nothing more," Madison replied weakly.

Taking the priestess's hand, Madison followed Lucia into the safety of the small boat, which then plunged into darkness. The inky blackness bled away to a bleak scene. The gondola floated along down an expanse of dark water, being pulled somewhere by the current. Along the banks, the riverfront was cloaked with twilight.

It was just the two women and the shadowy, masked lich, who was busy guiding the boat back to the horrors of reality.

A long, chilly silence threatened to suffocate them. "I'm fine," Madison whispered, more to reassure herself that she was than anything.

"I'm fine."

She scooted closer to Lucia and wrapped her arm around the priestess's own, their fingers now woven together. Madison squeezed tightly, needing someone to reassure her that she was.

"I'm fine."

Where the Brotherhood not listening when the other players who said they couldn't log out after falling to Titanius during the scouting missions? How they can't leave the game and take care of their very real and very serious needs? Like food, and drink? You know, the stuff you need to guarantee that you can dive back into the game and solve this fucking world's problems for it?! And they wanted to let everyone else suffer the same fate?

And people actually fucking hung back and did what they were told?!

Madison felt nothing but hatred towards the Brotherhood. They would suffer by her hand. Whatever it took, if these other players were unable to log out--if they were to die in the real world--nothing would stop her until she saw every last bastard mage responsible for this day dying at her feet, begging for mercy that would never come.

She was this close to being one of them. The plagueslinger checked her stats shortly after the battle was over. Had she joined the final assault on Titanius, she would've died as well. And then she wouldn't have been able to escape the game.

Just 11 HP away from suffering the same horrible fate as everyone else.

"I'm fine."

No, I'm not.

Without another word, Madison wrapped @Lucia Mierz's arm around her shoulder, and clutched the veteran's waist. She buried her face in Lucia's shoulder, and let everything go.

 

Location: Brotherhood Camp

Sure, Cherish had gone through the portal. She wasn't going to die passively to the crumbling Titanius. If Cherish was going to die, it would be her going down with a fight. Perhaps that was why she had been taunting the queen; she wanted to die to a worthy foe. But now that the battle had ended, Cherish had come to now regret saying those things to the queen. Staring up the tent roof above her, Cherish sighs, having made a decision.

Sitting up from her cot, Cherish almost immediately regrets the movement. Clutching her abdomen as the pain comes and goes, she winces before swinging her legs to the side of the cot. During the battle against Titanius, she had been heavily wounded and on the brink of death; gashes and welts all across her body, along with purple tentacles that protruded from her skin and kept attempting to restrain her movements. It was a wonder to even Cherish how she had managed to stand and make her way towards the portal.

Cherish pushed off with her arms as she tried to take her own weight and stand. She wasn't up for more than a second or two though, as her legs quickly gave out from beneath her. "No, no, I'm fine, please." Cherish quickly waved the approaching medic away, ensuring him that she was fine. Begrudgingly, she leaves cherish be and moves to instead care for an injured NPC that was also in the tent. Grunting, Cherish pushes her self up off of the floor, actually managing to stand this time. Cherish glances back at the cot, where her axe lay, propped up against it. It'll probably be fine to just leave it there, right? I'll be right back, ok, don't you move an inch!

Moving towards the tent flap, Cherish opens it, shielding her eyes from the looming sun. Looking around quickly, Cherish can see quite a few NPCs milling around and doing their duties, along with a few players that had also made it out through the portal. For right now though, Cherish didn't care about the players, the person she wanted to talk to was- Ahaa!
Cherish spotted D'vangeline approaching one of the horses that were stabled at the camp
I better get over there quickly if I want to catch her.

Still clutching her abdomen as she walked, Cherish approaches the queen. "Um, excuse me. Your Majesty?" Cherish announces her presence as she approached from behind the royal. "I'm not sure how much you remember - if anything - of when you were under the control of Titanius, but I would like to apologize to you for the things that I said to you while you were." Cherish hold her hands behind her back as she waits for a reply from D'vangelline, a worried expression on her face.

@Raid Master and @Zero

 

Location: Chasm

Titania was gone, Titanius had been killed, but now it looked like even that might not be enough to save those who had participated in the fight. Seeing the titanic body collapsing all around them Mizuki was about to head towards the portal that opened to let them escape before the mage from the Ynglar Brotherhood spoke up, asking the immortals to stay behind and sacrifice themselves so those with only one life to give could safely return to their homes and families. It wasn't an unreasonable request, since the NPCs lost everything if they died whereas the adventurers might suffer but they'd be able to keep going afterwards. However it did place Mizuki with a conundrum, namely that she really didn't want to die, not after having come this far.

Looking up Mizuki saw the countless souls escaping from Titanius's grasp, free to travel to the next world or reincarnate or whatever it was that was waiting for them. Whatever fate had in store for them, it was almost certainly better than sustaining Titanius. She wondered if Des Weiss would take care of the freed souls, although she hadn't seen the albino girl after the small party of adventurers had escaped the Core. Looking back down at the portal she saw the NPCs going through, with a couple of players mixed in but with a lot of them staying.

Now, Mizuki was fine with letting the NPCs take the safe way out, but she looked very puzzled when nearly everyone who stayed behind acted like they were already dead, sitting on the ground, crying or staring with a gaze of someone who'd given up. Someone even went so far as to grow themselves a tree filled with poisonous fruit to speed up the process.

Was she the only one who thought the smart option would be to try getting out on her own strength, leaving the NPCs their safe escape while she risked her immortal life to still prolong it if possible? No, she saw a couple of others also prepare their own escape, but many were still awaiting their death.

Opening her mouth Mizuki began to say something, hesitated, then frowned and finished what she began.

Why... why are you all surrendering so easily? There's still other ways out of this, we can choose to save the NPCs without immediately sacrificing ourselves.

Unfortunately it looked like they'd all made up their mind, her words not managing to sway them as the Caenis walked over to the tree and tore off a piece of bark before running towards the wall of the large stomach, which still hadn't finished collapsing. She didn't know why they were so high up in the air, but at least it gave her plenty of time to work.

Climb up? She wouldn't make any progress faster than Titanius made in its final descend. Dig down? That'd just leave her a nice spot to be squashed in between the massive corpse and the ground once it finally hit. From this height and with this large a body it'd probably completely liquify from the force and form its own small tidal wave. Drowning in gore wasn't how she wanted to die.

Only way left was to dig through the wall towards the outside world, and hope she had enough altitude left to think of a way to descend safely.

Grabbing the bark with both hands she ripped it in two, then began to grow both pieces until she had two large lengths of wood, curved, hard and looking like the head of a spoon. Growing some vines and branches she attached them to her forearms, then took a deep breath before she began to furiously dig through the fleshy wall of Titanius' interior, the sharp edges of the large spoonlike wood scooping out large chunks of flesh which she quickly threw behind her before stabbing the wall yet again. She couldn't make portals, teleport or blow up entire structures, but she could combine wits and physical strength and that was good enough.

Once she'd gotten the hang of it she progressed surprisingly quickly, as the walls of corpse were still relatively tough but no longer as tough as they had once been, when Titanius was still alive and its essence was still flowing through the walls, strengthening them and causing them to regenerate any damage taken. Keeping her breathing as regular as she could Mizuki noticed the space in front of her darkening as she was actually tunnelling her way away from the stomach and towards freedom. Letting more energy surge through her arms she sped up even further, gritting her teeth as she knew that if she didn't get out quickly she'd still get flattened together with everyone else. And there was a LOT of flesh to dig through.

She was already fearing that it was a fool's errand when she finally felt the resistance behind her stabs weakening, glancing behind to see that the tunnel behind her was partially filled up with the chunks of flesh that she'd deposited as she removed them from her path. The others wouldn't be able to take this path without some digging themselves, but it would still be easier for them than it had been for her. As she resumed tunnelling suddenly one arm, armed with a giant wooden spoon, broke through and was immediately blown upwards, the shock jarring as the spoon smashed into the ceiling of her tunnel but at least prevented her arm being hurt any further. Removing the spoons from her arms she first united them with nature magic, then enlargened them a bit further and then kicked them forward powerfully, bursting open the small hole that she made and nearly blinding her with the light that came forth, the sky finally visible to her.

Preparing herself for the wind that whistled past Titanius Mizuki grabbed the edges of the tunnel and stuck her head out, looking down to gauge how much altitude and time she had left. It looked like she'd have to hurry if she didn't want to end up part of the world's most disgusting pancake.

Make a parachute out of leafs? That sounded like something she might want to practice, and it wouldn't actually keep her away from Titanius' own collision with the ground. Sure, she wouldn't be part of the collision herself, but she'd land in the remains. Also she might just get blown away or the leaf could get blown out of her hand.

Punch the ground? She was pretty sure @Seigi would have loved that idea, but she was going to prioritize practicality over potential awesomeness. Also even if it worked she'd STILL be in Titanius' impact zone, and even worse she'd probably hit the ground at about the same time.

That left... Well... She wasn't really happy with it, but it looked like her only option was to turn into a bird.

Of course, the idea itself was actually pretty exciting, except for the fact that she hadn't tried it before and she was pretty sure flight didn't come naturally to a Caenis. Or a Human.

On the other hand, baby birds learned to fly by being kicked out of the nest unless they were the type to know how to fly from birth anyway, so apparently doing it... Apparently doing it on the... She sighed mentally as she was forced to finish the thought no matter how lame the pun. Apparently doing it on the fly was normal.

Her first thought was an eagle, but it was quickly replaced by something which she was pretty sure was more fitting in a way, and given how they were supposed to be very good flyers possibly more effective as well.

Overcoming her hesitance (and no small amount of fear at the idea of improvising all of this) Mizuki gathered her strength in her legs, then jumped out of the tunnel and into the open skies, where she was immediately thrown upwards in comparison to Titanius as the large windflow generated by the massive corpse falling down smashed into her body and lifted her up. It slowed her down a bit, and at least gave her more space to work with, but it'd still be a bad end for her if she didn't do something fast.

Concentrating Mizuki let the magic of druids flow through her, the somewhat familiar yet still fresh sensation of her body changing, morphing... she shrunk a good deal, her legs became really small, her vision became somewhat uncomfortable as her eyes were displaced to the sides of her head, she felt her nose and mouth stretch out into a beak and, most importantly, she felt her fur bundle together and flatten into feathers while her arms became proportionally a lot bigger, with some very big and stiff feathers attached.

This certainly wasn't as easy as becoming a wolf.

The swallow formerly (and currently) known as Mizuki flapped her wings with some desparation, wobbling through the air as she nearly crashed into Titanius' corpse before some rapid beating of her left wing turned her around and sent her straight into the open skies. And with the sky above her somehow so she tried to right herself and now everything was spinning and the wind kept pulling on her feathers and she only now remembered to spread her tail to balance out the drag and now she was upright again but she was also going down and she tried to turn back up and there was spinning and desperate flapping of wings and gusts of wind throwing her about and she wasn't going to do this ever again until she had more practice.

When she finally had a semblance of control the swallow was very glad nobody got to see that, because she must have looked like she was drunk, high, and with a severe concussion to boot. Fortunately Titanius was now already below her, so at least it was no longer disorienting her with the massive windflow that her smaller and feathery body was much more susceptible to. Flapping her wings to stay up (and still wobbling, as it took quite a bit to keep her balance) Mizuki looked as Titanius continued its descend, already close to colliding with the ground. She wished she could have helped the people inside, but so far as she knew none of them could turn into a bird and if she'd tried carrying anyone, even a Faerin, she'd just have given them some fresh air and a nice sky to look at before the two of them plummeted to a screaming and abrupt death.

Whatever the Ynglar Brotherhood had been doing, they really should have been more prepared. Also, why were they so high up in the air? What the hell was Titanius doing all the way up there? Or was she just seeing things? With how hectic things had become inside the massive monster she might just be imagining that Titanius was falling, maybe it really was just that big and her mind was trying to make it more believable together with all the acid and toxic fumes that the stomach had been producing or... or something.

Shaking her head she gazed out to the skies, and finally realizing that she was, in fact, flying. Which might make her the first, since she'd yet to see any of the more dedicated magic using adventurers fly (the best they could do was launch themselves, and Seigi did that with raw strength). None of them could use their magic to turn themselves into a bird, a creature made for flying. None of them could have experienced this.

She'd be ore excited about this if she wasn't feeling nauseous. She'd go down to the ground somewhere away from the corpse (or whatever the hell was going on down here, she didn't know and with how messed up her head was she didn't want to hazard a guess) and take a rest, and after that she'd get all excited about the joys of flight. Preferably after some vomiting, sleeping and eating had been done.

Slowly and steadily (but still showing a lot of inexperience) she began her descend. This time instead of flapping wildly she just spread her wings and tail, angling herself towards slightly so she could let the winds flow past her wings to help guide her back to the ground, a safe descend where she didn't have much to do except keep her wings in place until it was time to start... dodging trees or something.

Landing would be fun she could tell.

A good while later (she'd been going VERY gently) Mizuki finally began to reach ground level, where she saw two other people (@Portia Ahrens @Rias) who had also been in the fight. They were a good distance away from the corpse, so she angled herself a bit further until she was swooping down, although to not challenge fate too much she pulled up and flapped her wings to slow herself down while trying to get herself on the ground feet/claws first, which miracle above miracle actually worked.

Once on the ground she gave herself a couple of seconds to feel proud of this accomplishment before turning back into her normal form, feeling herself become exhausted at this point as she'd been using a lot of energy digging her way to freedom, and keeping yourself steady in the air was harder than it sounded when you were new to it, and nervous so a lot tenser than you should be. With the transformation undone the wolfwoman blinked, looked at the two other women, nodded, then tried taking a step forward and promptly fell on her face, where she remained as the only response she gave was a somewhat flat and tired.

...Ow.

 

Lucia couldn't help a soft smile, seeing @Madison Freebird so flustered, rage, hate, a variety of emotions were very clearly displayed and worn on the woman's sleeve. Lucia understood her thoughts, at least vaguely, she assumed the woman was appalled, that people would ask them to die for someone else so flippantly. Lucia let Madison tense, clutch her, stay close, wrapping her up gingerly. Lucia couldn't read minds, no, but she could at least tell that Madison thought the brotherhood asked too much of the players, that, whether they were aware of the risks or not, they'd put all of their lives at risk.

"This game prides itself on it's realism. Naturally these people don't understand that this is a game for us, it's a concept they can't wrap their head around. Instead they view us as immortals-- perhaps they don't understand the importance of our UI and reality, or maybe they just feel it's better for some of us to die off and equalize the power base." Lucia mused, not trying to excuse their actions or condemn them. As far as Lucia was concerned, almost all motives were selfish. What changed wasn't 'good' or 'bad' but just who's interests were affected. In this situation, things happened to be against them, there was no benefit for Lucia to suffer, which was why she pulled Madison out with her.

Though, thinking her words might not have been the support Madison needed, Lucia hesitated for a moment on exactly how to follow up. Lucia herself was never really good at anything, average at best in almost all things, exactly how to help or support someone was a mystery to her. She saw everyone else as so special, with their own unique shine and brightness, she couldn't imagine anything that could be so tough to swallow that it would take away from the joy of being so unique. It made it hard to think of how to approach certain things such as this. "It must have been tough for you, between Titanius's magic and the words from the Brother hood huh?" Lucia spoke sympathetically, but if Madison was keen enough to notice the strange choice of words, Lucia had said 'for you' rather then a more inclusive alternative.

For Lucia funnily enough, Titanius was the perfect opponent. The monster summoned creatures to fight her, the monster used large tentacles to distract them, it had a powerful omnipresence and worse, it used peoples' internal struggles and weakness against them. For Lucia though, such a thing was far from scary; Lucia had her own summons to fight back with, Necromancy to create large structures to distract as well, she had no need for feints or sneak attacks, and despair, hopelessness and weakness were all things she felt overwhelming amounts of persistently-- constantly and all the time. Lucia tried to be a shoulder to lean on, but for her at least, she was the natural enemy of such a predator.

"It's already behind us, there's no need to dwell on it from here right?" She asked with a reassuring tone, giving Madison's back a soft pat to try and reassure the woman that she was okay. However traumatic the experience, she believed Madison would be stronger for it, Lucia was more then willing to help her pick up the pieces of anything that might have scattered or been lost.

 

It was done. Titanius had finally fallen. Around him Raid could see its body slowly collapsing. An NPS called out. He said there was only a limited amount of people that could take the escape portal and asked the players to give up their spots for other NPCs. What a strange request. Perhaps it would grant people reputation with whatever faction those NPCs were with. Raid didn't know and frankly he didn't care right now. He had barely survived to the end of the boss fight and he wasn't going to throw away his life now.

Raid had seen @Portia Ahrens, the fighter he had teamed up with for a time with durring the battle, meet up with a person that must have been a friend of hers. Briefly he had seen them fighting together but he had lost track of them in the chaos. He Looked around now to see if he saw her or any of his other friends. His eyes quickly found her, she sat over two dead players apparently one being her friend. She seemed to be... Crying. Raid stood near by not knowing what to do, they clearly were distraught at their friends deaths.

And they are asking us to willingly die...

He stood, pretending not to be waiting for Portia as she said her good byes to her friends. Finally she slowly made her way up and looked around spotting Raid. At that moment he acted like he had just noticed her as well giving a short wave as the approached each other.

''It's... Well, it's finally over... Are you alright?''

She spoke softly, wearily. The exertion of continued movement was cleary expressed throughout her body. Raid moved to assist her, he said nothing as he allowed her to lean on him heavily while they started to make their way to the exit portal.

"Yes, it's over... I'm fine. Let's get out of here and somewhere safe now. C'mon."

Raid took her slowly to the exit, slightly worried they would not make it in time. People were rushing to exit in a panic, seemingly also not fond of the idea of dying after getting this far. Raid considered lifting her up and carrying them to the portal, but they seemed like they could be the prideful type, he didn't want to harm their self image or make them feel weak. No need to add to the damage Titanius had done to them. Luckly the two of them were not far from the portal itself and they were able to make it through before it was closed.

Once they were through Raid looked up. He could see the sky, looked like the sun was just rising. He wondered if it was day or night in the real world. He wondered how long he had been plugged in for. He didn't not think it had actually been too long in Titanius, but for some reason it felt like a lot of time had passed. Raid looked to his companion, this girl he had just met and had already witnessed twice go through traumatic experiences.

"Hey, Portia right? You okay? I know we went through a lot just now..."

Now that they were safe from the collapsing Titanius, Raid helped her sit. As she struggled to gracefully poise herself, Raid heard a crack of energy as the portal finally collapsed. The last of the survivors from the battle were here now.

But it was okay, the players would come back, sure there were rumors that death in Terrasphere could have traumatic effects on you, but the more he played this game the more that seemed to be the point of it. As for the Npcs, for the players that stayed behind for them they would probably be rewarded by this faction.

"It's strangely nice to see the sky right now... "

Raid sat down then next to Portia and looked up at the sky. For some reason he felt really happy. The fight against Titanius had been dangerous and traumatic, yet he felt accomplished. They had killed Titanius and won! He had survived! This excitement was dampened slightly by the voice in the back of his head that whispered:

You didn't accomplish anything, you just rode off the success and death of other people. To be expected from someone as useless as you.

Raid tried his best to ignore it, looking back to Portia instead. He gave her a warm smile and held out his hand.

"I can't recall if I ever introduced myself back there, I'm Raid."

 

The plagueslinger clung tightly to @Lucia Mierz as she explained her thoughts on the Ynglar Brotherhood and why they did what they did. She was neither supporting nor condemning them; and despite the veteran's calm, measured, rational opinion on the matter, Madison still considered it a betrayal of the trust of the immortals, as the players were referred to.

Madison opened her mouth to speak, but found that she was having trouble putting her thoughts to words. It just seemed pointless to try and talk about the who's and why's any further. Lucia had almost an infinite amount more experience with the game world than she had. The priestess knew how this world worked, and why some things happened the way they did.

Instead, she kept her mouth shut and released her hold on Lucia. Sitting back up but not entirely separating herself from the necromancer, Madison dried her eyes on her sleeve. To her surprise, her friend mused on the difficulty of the battle for her.

"Yeah," she weakly offered after a tense moment, unsure of exactly where to begin. "It was... It was something, that's for sure."

Madison ran her fingers through her hair, swiping errant locks out of her eyes. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, and exhaled. "As... As the Dissonance took hold of me, Titanius showed me things. The fucker dug through my subconscious. Unearthed memories that I thought I had buried long ago."

The witch sunk in her seat, her shoulders slumping against the wooden seat of the gondola. Normally, she'd wear a mask of stoicism and never reveal her feelings to anyone, but there was something about Lucia's demeanor that made her feel like opening up.

She spent the following minutes unloading years of pent-up frustration and despair. Madison told the priestess about her insecurities, her many failures in life, and how the only healthy way she could cope was through being an absolute monster to random people on the Internet in VRMMOs--healthy being a relative term, of course. Madison talked about how her actions in these games only made her feel even more worthless in the real world. No matter what she had accomplished in these virtual worlds, she would always be absolutely nothing the moment she took off her headset. An insignificant speck, all alone in the world. And how the battle with Titanius only served to reinforce these feelings.

Madison talked about her attempts at running support--about those she helped in the battle, and how they would bail on her without so much as a "hey, thanks" or even a nod of acknowledgment. The joy she got being valuable to the team was quickly overwhelmed with the bitterness of not being appreciated, or for having her kindness returned in any way.

And the Brotherhood? How they were quick to take advantage of all the help the players gave them and try and use their status as "immortals" to sucker them into one final act of alleged heroism? It made her absolutely sick to be taken advantage of like that, to show her that she was only a tool to them. Nothing more than a resource to be expended and then discarded.

All the while, Lucia wore the same smile she always did. Kind, warm, understanding. Her hand resting in a comforting manner on her back, rubbing around in circles, trying in vain to calm the cursemage and ease her worries.

A long silence filled the air before Lucia spoke. "It's already behind us, there's no need to dwell on it from here right?"

No, Madison wanted to say. This isn't right. We can't forget about this.

But, she didn't.

"I suppose," she said instead with a weak shrug of her shoulders.

Something was nagging at the back of Madison's mind. Lucia was always so incredibly nice to her. Always willing to listen, always ready with a line of sage advice. No matter what Madison said to her, the priestess wore the same exact smile. Kind, warm, understanding. It... confused her, to say the least.

"Can I ask you something?" The witch tried to bury her nervousness. For some reason, it seemed incredibly rude to ask the question that danced on her lips.

Madison looked up at Lucia. "You're always so... nice. No matter what; you're calm, you have your shit together, and you're always smiling. You're always encouraging everyone, always bringing out the best in us. But I never hear you really talk about yourself in the same light, as if we have more to offer than you do."

There was a couple times in previous conversations that the witch felt like Lucia's demeanor was nothing more than a facade, a mask covering up something deeper, something darker.

"Why?"

 

Titanius was destroyed, but so was the Witch Ops.

Janet fell to her knees. She still held the broken five-foot stump of living wood she’d grown from her little branch, cradled the tree trunk to her breast like a baby despite the fact that it dwarfed her small frame.

One by one, she’d seen them fall.

@Corvella, leading the charge against the grotesque eye and rallying their group despite the darkness and the terror hunting them. @Haru, crumpling to the ground as a new rider drove a blazing Headwind into battle amidst snow flurries and ice. @Bradwynne, shadowed by seraphim, pierced by tendril after tendril. @Iván Carl, a song of the like she’d never heard dying on his lips alongside his small familiar.

And of course @Grand Witch Majolica, with the combined powers of them all—Janet had felt the sticker on her arm respond to the Grand Witch’s call just as she’d felt it when each member’s HP dropped to zero. She’d seen the pink-haired elf girl’s final strike before the melting-pot of magics undid her and the Commander’s signal went silent. Static, like an analog TV where no matter how many times Janet adjusted the antenna, the picture never cleared.

Why am I the only one?

More tears dribbled down old tear-tracks on her cheeks, red and puffy from effort and exertion and now nothing more than grief and rage. Distantly, she could hear the people shouting that some of them had to stay behind, could feel the ground beneath her quaking as the monster broke apart. Despair shook Janet as the brunette kneeled among the bodies of her group, a terrible guilt that she had survived when the rest of them had given their lives. Is there a point to leaving now? Wouldn’t it be better if she just lay down her life here and died like the rest of them, a fitting ending for the Witch Ops with a Rated R suicide?

“E-even knowing… they might b-be trapped… they still…” Her voice came out in a mumble, hitching with an ugly sob. Titanius is dead. They died for their purpose. The Witch Ops had succeeded, had aided Astorea to destroy the Dissonance. It was the purpose Majolica had explained to her all those months ago when the teenage witch had first theatrically appeared, riding her broomstick like a Halloween cutout and telling Janet (for the first time—as nobody had ever done) that she had potential.

Potential…

Sniffing, dabbing her running nose with her sleeves, Janet drew herself up. She clutched her tree in one arm as she picked her way through the bodies, so many of which she recognized—@Ash Vargold, whose multiple servings of broccoli still hadn’t been enough to keep him alive, @Rellan Shard , whose hairstyle hadn’t stopped her from kicking a hole through the eye itself, King @Astor Balthas himself side-by-side with a lovely cat-eared maiden. Janet picked her way to the portal itself, wiped her nose, sniffed once.

She looked Ivan right in the eye and lifted her head. “I will not give up.” It was short, clipped, assured. “I will be going through that portal. I’m sorry.”

She was not a martyr. Janet stepped through the portal with her long hair flowing behind her, exiting the shaking belly of Titanius. She couldn’t afford to be a martyr. If God—the gods of Terrasphere, the “manager” she sought—had chosen for her to survive, it had to be for a reason. The players would revive, true—but if the others were stuck in the game after their noble sacrifice, joining them in solidarity would accomplish nothing. Majolica had believed in her. She had to be the one to carry on. She had to be the one to live to see the ending, she had to be the one to report back when the dust settled.

She wasn’t afraid to call the police in a different city to get them help, either—same with the rest of the players, Janet thought grimly as she marched through to the other side with the first rays of dawn there to herald her entrance. If this was a victory, it felt hollow. Anxiety still weighed on her about the possible consequences of the other players’ deaths here, surrounded by the mysterious Dissonance. How many of them knew? She’d come here to fight for them, not N-P-C’s, not even the King and Queen (the latter of which Janet could see arguing with a different woman, alive and well, to her relief.)

As D’vangeline headed off towards her horse, Janet looked around at the last few survivors who had emerged from the collapsing portal. A stab of regret struck her before she tightened her grip around the log she’d brought, lips thinning, expression hardening. I will not yield. I will go on. In the darkness, Titanius had shown her something. The source was poisoned, yes, but what better way to control someone than to offer them a twisted version of the truth?

I’m tired of being the one who needs to be protected.

I’m tired of staying at home and letting everyone else do the hard work.

I’m tired of thinking I don’t have the power to do what needs to be done.

On this ground, in this unknown place beyond the portal, Janet broke an acorn off her tree. The seed was stained dark red with blood from where she’d struck the Gaze, from where the black flesh had ruptured messily beneath the blow. She buried the acorn in the sand. Maybe it would grow here, far away from everything it knew, despite the horrors it had gone through. Maybe it would never sprout, lacking water, lacking nutrients. But it had a chance. They would never know until it was planted in the ground. It just needed time. Twenty years later...

Janet put two fingers on her sticker—as if checking for a pulse—and signed out.

EXIT THREAD.

 

''Yes... Thank you kindly,'' she replied to the unknown person (@Rias) who showed some act of kindness towards her, taking the handkerchief in between her hands and lifting it up to her face. She brushed the left side of her face first, recognizing this as the one that'd suffered most of the damage from her self-inflicted wounds due to the sensitive spot in which she had been wounded before, causing her left ear to go missing from its rightful place.

The woman inhaled sharply in response to the pressure she applied to her own skin to wipe some of the blood, revealing the gruesome scratches her gauntlets had left behind all the contamination, sweat and blood. As she busied both her hands into the cleaning of her own wounds, she took a closer look at the female who talked to her and stood patiently awaiting a response. She'd been one of the groups which fought with Iván. ''Could you do me a favor?'' Surely it was a long stretch to assume this adventurer knew of the friend she was talking about, but her memory told her of the interactions she'd seen between the two and the rest of a whole party of players. She had to know him, no? ''I will have this washed and sent to you with Iván as the mediator. We wouldn't want it to stay in this filthy condition for long, and I should be able to repay you with one small gesture at a time.''

''In the likely chance that you meet him before I do, could you...?'' Another sudden gasp escaped her semi-parted lips as the position of the handkerchief shifted from the left to the right. No sooner had the noise stopped, she paused for a brief moment and put their thoughts back into proper order, determined to at least finish her sentence as to not trouble the archer any longer than necessary. ''Nevermind. Do tell him he is in big trouble and that I'm expecting an explanation on what happened and why did it happen in the first place. My name is Portia, he will know who you're talking about.'' A slight bow of her head was given to the stranger, returning the entirety of her attention to the mage who patiently waited for her arrival.

It was a quick act of self-preservation, a matter she truly had no say in unless she wished to stay trapped within the nightmare that had taken most of their companions and resources with it. Settled against his side, she reached out and wrapped one of her arms around his, allowing the weight of her body to lean into that of the male. After she spat out a couple of curses underneath her breath in heavy resistance against any sudden motions, she cast the person she held onto so tightly a subtle glance. She was grateful for this other stranger.

Portia interrupted herself with the realization of their new surroundings, for they were safe and thrown into an unfamiliar environment all the same. Safe and far away from the nightmarish monstrosity that was Titanius, the rustle of the morning wind caressing her features in a relaxing manner she knew all too well from her first days of adventuring. Her face, however, held no signs of the relief she partly felt, reflecting instead the sorrow caused by the scene she had just witnessed. Eyes downcast in shame, shaking hands and a trembling body as a whole... Only the soft words of @Raid's concern pulled her from such pitiful state.

What kind of welcoming situation was this?

''I am... Fine. They'll be back, it's nothing to worry about.'' The words tasted somewhat sour in her mouth, but she was absolutely sure not to let it show. If anything, she should be grateful the two of them got out before any more obstacles appeared, not consumed in anguish for what she has just been a witness to. But this was a new player whom she was talking to, and a good one, on top of that. There was no chance she could afford to disappoint him nor ruin any kind of impression he'd got of the game. ''You're right. But... Such a sunny day makes me wish it would rain. It'd be kind of refreshing, don't you agree?'' She joked once and allowed herself to chuckle, sincerely this time around.

As the pair sat down in blissful quiet for more than mere seconds, she eased back into a comfortable position against the tree and inclined her chin towards the clear skies greeting them from above, not a single cloud to be seen. Distracted as she was, his introduction could've been easily missed had her attention not been pulled by the name he spoke of. Portia spoke his name again in a light murmur, turning to face him with rose-colored lips curled into a faint smile. What was it with the wordplay? Did he know about this particular, uhm, raid? ''Well... I hope you can excuse such pathetic behavior on my end. I am not usually like this and I can only hope I haven't burdened you for longer than intended.''

''But one thing remains true and it's that we make one hell of a great team together, so tell me... What comes next for you, giant?''

 

Rain... Hmm... Yes that sounds...nice...

Raid felt drawn back to an old memory he had long ago let go of then. Some times as a child his father would lock him out of the house for an entire day or more. During that time Zin would sit somewhere outside and just stare into the sky. A few times he was sent out in the rain by his father, but sometimes he chose to go out in it on his own. He would lay there getting soaked to his core. But Zin would only smiled. A pained smiled as the rain covered him and masked the tears rolling down his face. For some reason the cold water soaking into every inch of his body felt comforting. The unending sky pouring millions of gallons of water over him and everything else made his life seem so small and insignificant... So much so that living no longer hurt... in that moment... It was soothing to the ever growing chaos that had been his mind at that time...

Raid mentally shook away the memory. He hadn't thought of that in years... He always just smiled and said he like the rain because it meant the sun wouldn't burn him outside.

"Yes, Rain would be... great right about now... "

Raid smiled as he looked helplessly down at the mess he currently was. His clothes were ripped and his white hair was matted with blood. He pushed his hair back behind his ears to ignore the stains for now. He half jokingly wondered how people generally cleaned themselves in this game and if he would need to by new clothes. The thought of personal hygiene in this game had not yet crossed his mind till now. He had no idea how it would work.

As Raid told @Portia Ahrens his name, he was momentarily unsure if she had heard him until she quietly repeated his name with a small smile. Raid's face reddened slightly as she did so, hopping that they did not find his name to be too unnecessarily edgy.

What are you talking about idiot, we made it purposely edgy for a reason. Grow up.

''Well... I hope you can excuse such pathetic behavior on my end. I am not usually like this and I can only hope I haven't burdened you for longer than intended.''

Raid shook his head,

"You've been no bother at all, don't worry about it. That monster was honestly taking things way too far. The people that made this really don't know limits... "

This fight against Titanius was the exact reason the game was illegal. Things in the game were taken to the extremes and sometime even too far. It wasn't afraid to play with your head or torment people. It made for a unique experience, but perhaps there should be some limits to how far you push into people.

''But one thing remains true and it's that we make one hell of a great team together, so tell me... What comes next for you, giant?''

Raid was flattered by her saying they had made a good team, though he wasn't sure he had done too much. Still if they were interested in being friends he wasn't going to say no. So he smiled back to her and laughed,

"Giant? haha, don't know about having that as a sticking nickname... But yeah, I had fun working with you in there... I'd be happy to work with you again if you are ever interested... But as you noticed before, I'm still pretty new. I need find some quests or something to do to try and catch up with more experienced players like you. I'll probably log out for today before starting anything new. This was all quite exhausting truth be told."