MASKTOURN

Oblivion does not meet you. Beyond, as far as the eye can possibly see, is desert. Red, coarse sand swirls at your feet and batters at your body. A red sun beats down upon you, as harsh, hot and drying as a bath of flame. Though the air is hot and heavy, it is also impossibly quick- a strong desert wind beats and batters at you, aided in force by sand particles it lifts from the ground. One cannot see beyond an outstretched hand- one can barely pry open their eyes long enough to see anything. Sand invades all- it digs under clothes, gets tangled in hair, invades any exposed bodily orifices and tries to embed itself into the skin. The wind howls, the sun ravages, and the desert eats all unfortunate enough to wander its plains. One thing is certain- this place has never been a home to the living.

anathemal plane arrivals

Continued from: arena stands

Everybody, living or dead, body or corpse, WAKES in the Anathemal Field. @everyone

Sand. Sand. Sand. Nuwa above. Holy shit. Ace spits out a sudden mouthful of sand, and is immediately met with another mouthful of sand. It's everywhere. It feels awful. Oh hells, it's in his clothes. "Shit!" he shouts, trying to shield his face. He was just wandering the streets seconds ago- nice, quiet, normal streets that didn't have fucking sand in them. He preferred the Fold over this place, actually. Damn!

Carrion appears- and immediately feels the sand slicing into the black ink of their wings. Choking down a scream, their wings retreat into their back, sand sinking into their open wounds. It’s agonizing, the burning light of the sun only worsening the pain.

Thread: memento mori

Darcy woke, not having realized he'd ever fallen asleep- but where was he? All he could comprehend was heat and dry and the horrible wind- the horrible sand digging at his skin and seeping under his clothes. He hunkered down onto the ground, trying to shield his face from the sandstorm. If it hadn't been so dry, he might've sobbed.

Seki let out a startled howl, regretting it immediately when sand crunched between their teeth. It took a moment to comprehend it, what was happening, and they still didn't fully understand it, but they knew they needed shelter. In a flash of light a shell of purple and pink crystal appeared around the Eeveon to shield them from the merciless sand.

It was with sudden panic that Kyrie suddenly realized she'd been moved. Where was Gale? Was Ellie anywhere near? But she couldn't find either of them- she could barely see beyond her own face. The sand was grating- it got into her clothes, her hair, her feathers. She shut her eyes tight and tried not to move, hoping desparately she wasn't stuck here completely alone.

Armand wakes with a start, unsure of what had happened for him to end up wherever this was. Is this... A second afterlife? He ran his hands around his face and head to be sure. The fins were still present. He looked down. Hands still blue. Still a fish. Zhi-Yin on the other hand felt like he had been hit by a truck. One second he was witnessing yet another brutal fight, and next thing he knows he falls into oblivion. Is this oblivion? He couldn't be sure of anything anymore.

A desert storm... It had been a while. Roman tumbled backward and fell on to the sand, instantly lifting his wings up to cover his face and most of his exposed skin. All he could do was wait it out- surely- surely Naitya would fix this and he would be safe- But not everyone was so well prepared. Maddy, who had already been curled in to the fetal position, seemed to instantly melt in to a pile of mush.. A pile of armor was left above the surface, and a certain worm waited out the storm safely inside the armor. But Asha.. The sand whipped against her violently, and she was entirely unprepared. Days and days of feeling nothing, and then getting blasted in to here. She tried to react as quickly as possible, even in her daze, and turned away from where the majority of the sand was being blown from. She fell down to her knees and curled in on herself, showing as little skin as possible to the elements. But that wasn't enough- usually she knew a storm was happening ahead of time- or could get to a safe place in minutes... She shouted out in pain and begged for help- hoping in vain that anyone would be there to help her. Someone always had, someone had to be here.. But no one could see, no one- how.. Slowly, a feathered wing shielded her back. She didn't know anyone who- "We just gotta wait this out for just a little longer- Naiyta's got this." Roman said, keeping his wings up tight around them. How weird. How weird. Weird weird weird. But she knew better than to push him away at this instant. Even weirdo Roman was helping. She reached out and took his hand, leaning in close to the smll amount of safety he was providing.

Twig | Seki / Aarni

Even as the shelter stood against the wind, Seki would notice accutely how it began to crack and break against the force of the storm.

"Ow- ow, ow, ow, ow-" From the cold, snowy forests of the arena, to the hot...sandy hell of Hell, Ellie was doing sooo good. "Faen, Faen, Faen," she curses as she tries to shake the sand out of her hair. What happened? She couldn't remember; not with all the sand particles rattling her skull around. It fell in...somewhere? Something? Ugh. She wasn't used to this heat. Where was she? Where was everyone? Ky, Gale, Kenji- was she all alone here? She saw Kenji fall in first. Was she dead?

Gale could barely feel relieved at Ellie’s victory, the entire scene was an absolute mess, and whatever that weird pale bastard was doing- what was it- What the fuck was it doing- The first thing Gale realized was Ellie and Kyrie were gone, then there was the awful fucking sand. The wind so fierce she couldn’t get a grip on it, forcing her to cover her face with Roy’s jacket. “ELLIE?! KYRIE!!” Her voice was scattered into the wind.

Thread: sky girlfriends in hell

Isi woke with a start, hit with too many sensation at once to process.

What? Is this a dream? Why is it a nightmare? Aarni's heart races as he covers his face in his arms and curls up. "A-Alb-... anes-!" A shriek, somehow familiar, rang nearby, and Aarni could feel the presence of his powers again. The spirit fox was spinning around in the wind helplessly and aimlessly.

"Darcy?!" Isi called out, knowing she'd last been with him. She was trying to see anyone through all the sand and- there were people. she could hear people all around.

Thread: a couple sillies in hell

A mortal dies, and Death wakes again. Sand whips around him, still kneeling and frozen, like tiny needles against his greyed-out skin. Settling in the cavity of his ribs, where his heart had once been. Deep violet eyes open, glowing softly through the storm. Everything is new again. He remembers everything. The pain, the fear, the love, the guilt. The deep, sinking knowledge of what was to come. Of what was here now. Kenji stands, stone and sand spilling from his chest, as he and the smoke at his feet move as one.

Thread: stuck the landing

innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Even as the shelter stood against the wind, Seki would notice accutely how it began to crack and break against the force of the storm.

Seki spat sand out of their mouth and coughed violently. The sound was still deafening, as wind howled and sand battered against crystal. The little sounds of cracking and shattering highened the sense of panic that was pulsing in their chest, but they tried to hold the shelter together with their powers as best as they could, at least so long they could figure out what the fuck was happening. "ROMAN!" he roared into the storm. "SEE NOW HOW RELIABLE THAT PIECE OF SHIT IS?!"

yeonaixho and albanes

Yeonaixho woke, and suddenly, gravely, understanding came to him. He knew everything. He knew who he was- what he was, truly- and he knew it had been taken from him. He knew how intimately and carefully his being had been removed from his mind. He knew who had taken it from him- Albanes working like a grown child caring for their ailing parent. He knew, even, why she had done it. But did he understand? Yeonaixho woke. He woke to sand battering at his body and wind howling in his ear, but it did not phase him. He had endured far worse. The Lifebringer was made to endure. He always knew that. Hadn’t he known it going in? Or had that come later? He had no issue easing back into himself. Self had been taken, so fundamentally, from him, but even after it having been removed, he knew who he was. His heart rung in his chest. It was louder to him than the howl of the wind. And yet, he persisted. Persistence is what made him who he was. Persistence was what made him the Lifebringer. They always called him stubborn, didn’t they? It took a stubborn soul to be the Lifebringer. That’s why he’d chosen Albanes. He saw all of himself reflected in her. All of himself, save for all his faults. She would make a good Lifebringer, he knew it. Yeonaixho woke, and he knew he was not alone. He drew himself up to a sitting position, and leveled his head to where he estimated her gaze might be. “Albanes.” Her voice was weak. Stuttering. Older than when he had last heard it, weathered by time. “... Yeonaixho.” “You locked me away.” He said, out of surprise, “Albanes you knew what you had to-” “I couldn’t!” A pause as she caught her breath. The wind seemed to still only around them. “You know, I couldn’t. I couldn’t bare- Yeonaixho, please-” “I wanted you to be the Lifebringer.” “Enough so that you forced it on me, didn’t you. I know you did. I can’t escape it.” “You’re better than me. Please, Albanes. I know you can do this.” “Oh, I think you’re right about that one, actually. I am better than you, Juno. I would never force godhood upon someone! I will never become you!” And now she was angry. Of course. Hadn’t he been angry like that, once? Hadn’t he strived not to fill the role his predecessor had? Oh, what would Ttakeqeri think of him now. What, he wondered, would his mother think of him now? “Albanes, it’s too late for that.” He stood, and did not bother attempting to match his gaze to one he could not see. “All you’re doing now is hurting everyone you love. Am I worth that much to you? Truly?” “I can hate you and hold onto you at the same time.” Albanes said. “I will find a way to. Because I cannot let you go.” The wind howled, and they stood there for a long time. Albanes said, “Come along. The others are waiting for us, and we shouldn’t keep them long.”

Oh also somewhere Radoul is getting absolutely blasted by sand in every direction. Probably laying on the ground, abandoned, like a lollipop a child dropped on the beach.

sadihak beckons

The following message is placed into the minds of every soul present: COME TO THE SHELTER. COME TO ME Your character is suddenly compelled to begin traveling towards #windswept-shelter @everyone

Continued in: windswept shelter

empyrean plane arrivals

Continued from: forum of the sacrosanct

ALL WAKE in a vast, grassy field. Wind flitters through the plain. A blue sky hangs above. At the very center of the field is what seems to be a star fallen to earth. It hurts to look at it for more than a moment. A crater had formed around ETERNITY. Three figures sat around it, hiding from its LIGHT. Two are huddled in each others arms- Sadihak and Petrai, tending to each other as best they can. The other is Albanes- Albanes not as she appeared as a god but how she did before she ever received the Lifebringer Powers- a wiry-haired, sickly-faced teenager in too many layers and with too dark of circles beneath her eyes. She cannot look away from it.

11:24 AM

Seki, Kenji, Ace and Roman wake in the fields along with a lanky, dark-skinned man in his mid-thirties. He pulls himself up from the ground, but once he catches sight of ETERNITY, he can’t look away. @Twig | Seki / Aarni @em || enya 💥 + kenji 🌫 @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷 @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

11:25 AM

Carrion, Zhi-Yin, Leo and Levi wake in the fields alongside a short, muscular woman in a green tunic and a white headscarf. She slowly comes too, but ignores them in favor of ETERNITY. @Saj | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄 @Gab || Armand 🐠|Zhi-Yin 🌬@Morgan | Clove 🦇 + Leo 🩸 | @Barry|Lacey🔦+ Levi🫠

11:25 AM

Kyrie, Gale, Ellie and Enya wake in the fields alongside an auburn-haired young woman in a white gown. She can’t be older than 20. Though she wakes quickly, she doesn’t pay any attention to them, instead looking to ETERNITY. @Saj | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄 @Kip | Ace 🏹 / Ellie 📷 @em || enya 💥 + kenji 🌫

11:26 AM

Asha, Armand, Lacey and Clove wake in the fields alongside a dark-haired person, who looks to be in their mid-20s. They wake quickly, but just as quickly begin making their way towards ETERNITY. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱 @Gab || Armand 🐠|Zhi-Yin 🌬 @Barry|Lacey🔦+ Levi🫠 @Morgan | Clove 🦇 + Leo 🩸 |

11:26 AM

Aarni, Maddy. Darcy and Isi wake in the fields alongside the figure of a tall, blonde teenage boy. He takes a minute to come to, and never truly meets their gazes, but begins walking blindly towards ETERNITY. @Twig | Seki / Aarni @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱 @sketti | Isi 🦌

Roman was laid out flat on his back, stunned yet again. So much was happening and so fast-.... But this was a different place, wasn't it? For now, all he wanted to do was lay on the ground.. But the light was too bright to rest. He spared a glance at ETERNITY, just to satiate his curiosity. . Meanwhile, Asha was exhausted from her battle, and multiple stabbings, to do much of anything. She laid flat on her side, keeping her eyes squeezed shut and hands over her wounds. She had come much too far to die again. . Maddy was on her feet, Melinoe wouldn't let her rest. Not right now. She was staring daggers over at Albanes, but made no move to her. That back stabbing, no good Lifebringer, disguised as the Albanes she knew in that first tournament. She scoffed, and kept her arms crossed over her chest, not moving an inch closer to the woman.

Seki was so ready to throw hands, but that never got to happen. When they woke up, for a brief moment they thought, hoped, that it had all been a dream, and they would wake up at their house... Well, they quickly noticed that wasn't the case. As they sat up, quietly, and looked around, a feeling so familiar filled their insides that it took their breath away. These fields, this feeling... it wasn't exactly the same, but it brought tears in his eyes. It reminded Seki of home. The peace, the light, something in the air. This was as close to the World of Departed as they had been in decades, and it meant after all their struggle, they had died in the end. They took a deep breath, and tilted their head back, to look up to the sky and to keep the tears contained, as a tempest of emotions tore at their chest.

12:00 PM

. Everything was flipped upside down again. Aarni hadn't known what was real for what felt like ages. He felt weak and disoriented, but at least he was still here. Still here. He clung to that existence frantically, gripping the grass beneath him and breathing deep its scent. When he finally sat up, and looked around, he could recognize several people. He couldn't see Persis, which was upsetting, but... what was that bright light further over there? There was people as well, one of them looked-. Aarni gasped. He was up on his feet before he knew it, and ran as fast as he could towards the person he could recognize anywhere. "Albanes!" (edited)

Thread: you are back! you are you again!

Enya jolts awake, yet another rapid shift in existence disorienting her as she gasps in a breath. Her heartbeat thuds in her chest, echoing in her ears, and she struggles to sit up. The star that burns ahead of her, she pays no mind. Everyone is here, and yet the two people she wants most to see are still nowhere to be found. Are they dead? Is she? Where could they be possibly going after this? She hugs her knees to her chest as she squeezes her eyes shut, and hopes. It's all that's really left.

Thread: what the hell man

His eyes open, and everything has changed. His wings droop, sharp, bone-like cracks echoing as they fold in on themselves and into his back. Decay and rot writhes and tears at the grass below him but there is no change it can make in the face of Eternity. Eternity burns. He can barely look at it for the quickest of glances, and so he misses the figure that sits by it. Maybe it's for the best, right now. The gold flashes that had laced through his power are gone. He won't let that happen again. Can't. Blackened eyes observe the bodies still waking, the last bits of crumbled stone spilling from the cavity in his stilled chest. For now, Kenji waits. (edited)

Thread: in eternity's shadow

Darcy woke, though he had not been expecting to. He did not look at the star on earth, but laid down on his back and looked up to the sky. It was almost peaceful. He didn't know what to do, but there was a peace in that. It was... strange.

Kyrie woke, and did not look to Eternity. She clung onto her girlfriends- helping ground them as they grounded her. She would get through this- because she had them.

Isi woke with a jolt, breath already too fast and shallow. She snuck a glance at eternity and her breath reset itself. She only looked up at the sky, listening for those around her. She waits.

innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie woke, and did not look to Eternity. She clung onto her girlfriends- helping ground them as they grounded her. She would get through this- because she had them.

Gale woke to Kyrie’s arms, and that was all she needed to see. A laugh of relief escaped them, her hand moving to rest on Kyrie’s cheek. “We- we’re okay. We’re okay.”

Carrion wakes, lingering stress from the battle sending them upright, and looking to Eternity. Eternity burns at them, uncomprehendingly bright and vast. A complete antonym to everything that they are. The Crawling Rot writhes, shrinking beneath the light of Eternity, and forces its host to look away. Rot can feel Eternity within every blade of grass, the sky itself, the very earth here burning with Its presence. Decay curls into itself and hides within its host, falling silent. Carrion lies back into the grass and forces himself to breathe. (edited)

innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie woke, and did not look to Eternity. She clung onto her girlfriends- helping ground them as they grounded her. She would get through this- because she had them.

Ellie woke to warmth- a kind warmth, a familiar warmth, and lifted her hand to settle on their arms. She would give them the same safety and warmth they would give her.

6:43 PM

Ace wakes to a pure blue sky and a field of grass, and it hurts to look at it. The sky is far too bright. He inhales, and the cool air fills his chest. There is a star shining far ahead, and he tilts his head away from it. For now, he shall enjoy the blue sky and the life he breathes into his lungs.

ellie and ace

The wind rustles through Ellie's hair as she lays there in her girlfriends’ arms, and she exhales, eventually lifting her gaze from their faces to their surroundings. The star hurts to look at, and she focuses her attention on the people around them. Some look familiar, some do not, and she feels…indifferent for a moment. All of their faces look like the living. But then- (There is a figure in red not too far away; he’s standing, rubbing at his head, bow in hand as if preparing for a fight. His glasses glisten in the light of the star, iridescent, opulent.) She’s rising to her feet before she knows it, and he’s seemed to notice her too. The grass brushes past her calves, prickles into her feet as she crosses the distance. The memory stands there, brows furrowed in thought as she stops before him, a trembling hand lifted as if wanting to touch him. (You can't be real.) [You can't be real.] Ellie punches Ace in the shoulder- not harshly, but enough for him to wince and stagger backwards. “Wh- what was that for-?” (He’s real; he’s real. He feels warm, warm with life, not fire and ash and smoke anymore.) [She’s real; she’s real. She feels warm, warm with life, and it’s just as wonderful as he’s remembered her.) He doesn’t have time to finish his sentence before Ellie is pulling roughly at the collar of his shirt. The bow falls to the grass with a muffled noise, and disappears into light. “Stupid- stupid, stupid fucking asshole,” it sobs, and returns to hitting him in the arm again. Angry tears, hot and scalding, have already started to drip down her cheeks. Her hand stings. Jason shouts, not wounded but startled, and attempts to shield himself from her blows. “Yyou- ugh, you’re so corny, you suck! Y-you- what the hell!” “Ellie,” Jason quietly says, unable to hold back the smile that breaks out on their face. She can’t hear him. Their voice is trembling. Their cheeks feel damp. “Ellie- Ells.” Twin pairs of mismatched earrings glisten in the light of the meteor.

Thread: floor time

Thread: decay twinsies (pt 2)

Thread: sky gfs + ace

Thread: so. you dang did it, didn't you?

anore's announcement

After a long time spent speaking to ETERNITY, Anore finally stepped back from it. The crater filled with cloudly, pale water, that laped gently at the sides of the basin. ETERNITY itself lifted higher into the sky, over the field. ITS RADIANCE still shown over the crowd. Anore faced the crowd. "May I have everyone's attention?" He called out, and gave everyone a moment to wrap up their conversation. "Many of you do not know me, but I am Anore Xa Ilftaidos, the Lifebringer that directly succeeded Naiyta. I have negotiated with Eternity, and it has graciously allowed you all to go home, under the condition the Lifebringer, as it existed before, is no more. Myself, and all the other incarnations, will give up what vestiges of godhood we still have, and yet again enter mortality. Of course, this shouldn't greatly affect you lot." He gestured to the pool. "Whenever you are ready to leave this place, submerge yourself in these waters. It is my understanding that you will be taken back to whichever world you desire, whether that be your home, the Fold, or someplace else."

i'm opening the aftertourn channel for posts and threads of your characters going home. you can choose one of three options:

1. your character goes home to the same place and time they were abducted from, 1 hour later 

2. your character can go to the immaterial fold and be dead forever 

3. your character can go to a different universe (NOT a different point in their own timeline) and replace the alternate version of themself that exists in that timeline

@everyone

Thread: that's my boy!

goodbye roque

After Roman's many back to back tense conversations, he watched Raikal and Anore's reunion from afar, along the edge of the water. He found himself mimicking their movements and trying to embrace himself, but it did nothing to make himself feel better. He eventually gave up on that and looked away from the happy family with slight scorn. He couldn't hear them, but no doubt they were talking about how much they loved each other, how much they missed each other.. If his parents didn't die, did they even think about what they would be missing? What they would be sentencing him to? If they got away, did they ever look back? Wonder what happened to their boy? Did they ever even love him in the first place? He gripped on to the crystalline jar tied around his hip. Did anyone ever love him? Not Naiyta. Probably not his parents. Not Roque.. He took in a sharp breath before snapping the jar off of his belt. The eyes rolled around to look at him. "You- y-you weren't good to us." Roman said with a shaky voice, face still red from crying. "You weren't kind, or caring, o-or fair... and you never loved anyone." He held his hand out over the water, and the eyes shifted to look down. "I-I don't care if this throws me in t-to some never ending agony loop, then Remoul o-or Radysh would probably let me die. So do your worst." He dropped the jar in the water, and it was enveloped in light before disappearing... ... And Roman felt absolutely nothing at all.

Thread: it will be okay, but it will be different

Thread: beginning and end again

Thread: to die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die

Thread: a temporary farewell