The redhead wove her way through Nacre’s Bazaar. The dim lighting around her barely shown in enough to illuminate the sullen faces around her. No one asked questions, and no one had answers. The pack slung over her shoulder was one of worn leather that had seen better days. Getting to Nacre hadn’t been cheap, and the supplies she had sought after here hadn’t been cheap either. The redhead’s destination terminated at an inn that was far from ideal. Its rickety form was barely perched in a crevice between two bounders. Its only means of support were the wooden beams under it that linked to the rocks on either side. It appeared that they were already beginning to give way, the inn sagged just enough in the middle to crack the walls and slant the roof in. The sign over the door read The Fighting Crabs with the jagged crimson crustacean emblazoned under it. The redhead made her way up into one of the rooms, a single candle caste meager light into the dirty room. The room was small, barely large enough to fit the cot, sea chest, and stand the candle sat upon. Eryl pulled her hood back and crouched on the floor, bringing the candle near. As the flickering flame drew closer, she could see the engravings on the tattered floor boards that had taken her all night long. They were etched in scarlet and black against the splintered brown. Eyrl rubbed her bandaged wrist absentmindedly, remembering the pains she had gone to in marking this elaborate design. There were circles on the floor, concentric ones that seemed interlocked in a massive display. Across the butchered floor there were crimson spots, each placed to mark where the major stars were, linked in forming their constellations with black ink. Ancient runes of the names of each star and constellation marked them. Only the long dead races knew what these runes truly meant. In the center, Eryl placed the candle, right where it belonged at the heart of Terrasphere. Out of the sack she pulled first a small, strange rock. It was black and riddled with holes, the light reflected off its surface. Where the light could reach inside, it refracted. No one knew what it was exactly, as Eryl paced it in her proper spot on the concentric lines, she believed it had fallen from the stars. Out of the bag she retrieved a second stone. This one was white, and almost as light as a feather. The light went in, the stone was almost crystal clear. Eyrl was half inclined to believe it was Quartz, but it had the strange propensity to mirror what she saw on the other side. She placed it opposite the black stone before rummaging in the bag once more. This time her hands withdrew a strange leaf. Its reddish hue was laced over with purple veins, giving it a completely other-worldly look. The herb she bought would help boost her concentration, and Eryl knew she would need all the help she could get. She wanted to boost her skills, to become better at her gift. But to do that she needed knowledge. The greatest store house of knowledge was the Akashic Records. It was a long shot, but if Eryl could transport herself onto the astral plane, then she could in the least, have a go at it. Her hand extended, placing the leaf over the candle. The flame caught it with a flicker as Eryl began to chant the sacred words. The reddish hue of its pigment quickly became nothing more than living flame in her hands. Eryl released it, the flame remained suspended in mid air. Flickering and shimmering, its shape became that of a humming bird. Sparks emitted from its tiny wings as the bird raced along the small room. Around it raced, the trail of sparks became more intense, wrapping the redhead in a curtain of living light. Eryl could feel the world shifting around her as her mind pressed against the weighted chains of her physical form. It was like logging in, but so much harder. Her body clung to her mind, protesting the release. The redhead’s eyes flashed with determination as she clenched her fists. She was a master of discipline, one unwilling to be stopped by something so foolish as her own body. “Raaaaah!” jutting her arms out to either side, the redhead willed herself to freedom. Weightlessness took over, Eryl could feel herself floating, leaving the room far behind her. Drifting upward, Eryl could see the star map she had created. Instead of blood drops, the stars were glittering white light. She was free. @Lucia Mierz
Lucia had spent her time asleep as usual deep into the night. Curled up in her bed as usual, hugging whoever she happened to be beside at the time to keep her sane. Typically her dreams were pretty dark, pretty desolate and depressing. There was usually always darkness, loneliness, images of people she cared about leaving her, disappearing, for some reason or another she would end up alone, as if watching her own life on TV. It was unsettling, depressing and at the same time typical for Lucia. It was dreams like these that kept her very aware of how bland she was. For others looking in though, Lucia's dream was foreign, bizarre, there was something lurking around the edges of that dimness, something black and vile that seemed to loom over her. All the time, that thing she tried to restrain manifested itself in her dreams, in silence it lurked at her back, a swath of black flailing limbs, bright glowing orange eyes. It was an inhuman shape, it was how she saw herself in reality, grotesque, disgusting, dirty, disturbed. Her reality was truly toxic to her, it's manifestation was equally toxic, and unfortunately equally strong as she envisioned it in her head. She couldn't help a burdened sigh from time to time as she suffered through those flickering images and lights once more, watching with a bland and bothered expression.
