Everything felt different. It was not just the new environment or the fact he was physically better than he has been for years, but he could not put his finger on it. Some serious introspection might turn out to be beneficial, but, before that, he wanted to know more about this world. Trying to remember the strange dream he had he could clearly remember the phrase 'Cradle of Divinity' in relation to this, along with some sort of discussion on 'power'. It was during this train of thought that he heard someone stuttering to introduce themselves nearby him which brought himself back to the current situation.

They also asked the question 'where are we headed?'. It takes him a moment to think of a response to the question he did not even know how to answer. Slowly turning towards person who introduced themselves as Azorel, he leans his shoulders against the wall to continue supporting himself while standing straight up. Their appearance was somewhat unusual, and definitely not as clear-cut as he expected, but the thing behind them was something that drew his attention. A slime? This is getting really interesting. Placing one arm under his own chin, and his other hand supporting his opposite elbow, he lets out a 'Hmmm.'

"Where are we headed?" Repeating the question, he brings his eyes to look just above Azorel's, he lets himself smirk. "It seems we are headed to an adventure. I don't know much more than that, but I am guessing time will tell what happens." He lets his hands drop to his side with a shrug and removes his shoulders from the wall. A proper smile crosses his face while he holds his right hand in front of himself and his left hand against his back. "Forgive me, I don't seem to have introduced myself. My name is Nathaniel. Nice to meet you, Azorel."

((Excuse this post I will post once all of you have exited your pods))

The girl woke up.

At a time which to her seemed like just a number of moments ago, she was in a room of a house, applying pigments to a surface. She couldn't call it her house, as she didn't own it, and she couldn't call it painting, because it'd imply she had any amount of talent or skill in it. It was a diligent attempt, though. It also was however much time ago and likely incredibly far away. Then her life as she knew it broke entirely, like it has at least once in the past.

"Get a move on, missy. There's people here." This voice came from behind her, startling her. Angela jolted into a sitting position, pushing the lid of the pod she was in away, and looked around. She heard a click of something pointy moving to her right, so she turned that way.

The sight that greeted her was that of a tall woman with a stern look on her face and a green dress on her body. Her brown hair didn't exactly frame her hair as much as backgrounded it, a rose-adorned headband keeping it away from engulfing her head. A symmetrical, if somewhat longer arc of roses framed her neckline.

And, well, there still was the large amount of other pods in the background.

The woman shifted her weight to another leg. The clicking sound of her shoes was somewhat weird - instead of a single click of a heel, it made multiple, overlaid clicks. Catching Angela's gaze, the woman smiled, her face an image of haughty confidence. "I understand you'd like to keep looking, but you've got getting up to do." she said.

Angela turned aside to let her legs hang off the edge of the pod, then jumped down onto the ground. Her hands reached to her side, briefly seeking a nonexistent bag, then gave up. Then she considered the further course of action. The world was completely unknown save for the fact she was still a person and the objects around her were objects that could be seen and touched. There was a mention of other people - maybe they'd know something.

Angela walked over to the pair of what turned out to be young men rather than a mixed pair, completely ignoring the green-dressed woman or anyone else. "Hello. Who are you?" she addressed them with all the grace and proficiency of a person playing chess after only having been explained the rules.

"What the hell!?" Darius shielded his eyes from the sudden flash of blinding light as he watched Grant slam into the wall brutally. When the brunet could open his eyes again, they were met with a frost-covered, skillfully-constructed longsword steaming in the blond man's hands. Grant had just conjured a blade out of thin air. Holy shit... Darius lacked the words to succinctly describe what he had just seen; the event was indescribable, inconceivable within reality. But that was exactly what they needed. He stared at his hands deep in thought, and then he brought his eyes forward to the abomination that accosted the group. Lab coat guy was either dead or unconscious, leaving fish girl, Grant, and Darius to fend for themselves against the plant bear. What do I have that's useful?

Darius planted his foot ahead of him as he lowered his body defensively, and the vines lurched for the group. Feeling the weight of time upon his back, he knew he needed to act quickly or else he'd be bear feed. All but mere seconds before the vines could constrict him. He clenched his teeth, and his body tensed more like he was trying to force something out. Finally, just finally, the young man screamed at the top of his lungs. "Get back!" In that instant, a jet of water launched from his left palm, straight for the bear. As it traveled through the air, it crystallized into a sharp spear of ice, ready to pierce the bear if the creature didn't have the skill to deflect it or defend itself from the ice.

With the new arrival - a woman who did not seem well-prepared either - the awkwardness of holding his hand out as such got to him, so he raised it to his face, pushing up his imaginary glasses before placing it behind his back like his other hand without hesitating. "Ahh, please excuse me. I am Nathaniel."

Since he was still not feeling sure on his legs he decided to lean his shoulders to the wall yet again before stating a query of his own. "Is it correct to assume you are just as surprised by these recent developments?" Adding a slight tilt to his head, he still maintained a straight face.

Libé woke up and jolted up.
Hard, cold and smooth. White metal and glass.
Libé pushed aside the glass and stepped out of the pod. He was exited.
While the week before seemed hazy, he remembered last night vividly.
The beautiful goddess was burned into his mind and he knew for sure, this wasn't a dream.
He knew dreams, he knew VR, he knew illusions and trickery. None of those could deliver something like this.
And he could still feel that same glow inside. Something that needed to be unleashed. It felt like creativity.

"You are now gifted with the power to manipulate the elements with your mind,"

"In your human society, power like this is beyond your current understanding of science, and would be assumedly called 'magic'. In time, with practice and experience, these powers will only grow stronger. However..."

Magic.

This was going to be great.
Libé looked around. He saw other medical pods, just like the one he just climbed out of. The pods had other people in them. He assumed they were in the same situation as he was. Interesting. Then he noticed the purple symbol that is on the walls and every healing pod, identical to the symbol found on the goddess's clothing. The symbol proved to Libé that this was real. Or at least, that whatever the vision of the goddess was, he was still there. "Those pods should have been wardrobes." he mumbled to himself.

The pod next to his had a little girl in it. And when I say 'little girl' I don't just mean 'female child' but I mean everything you'd associate with the words 'little girl'. Including even the unicorn on her t-shirt. Libé wondered if it was strange to find a child here.
This mostly raised the question. If the goddess selects humans for this world. What criteria does she base her selection on?

"Nathaniel, huh." the girl repeated, testing if she could say the name again. "My name's Angela." she said, deeming that her name might be a sufficient way of describing who she is. Before she could continue, the green-dressed woman bustled her way over to the group.

"Oh my, how formal." she said. "I'm honored that you'd choose such words in my presence, Nathaniel" she said the name with a smirk "but it makes you sound like a dolt that can't speak normally, just like my originator here. Relax, I'm not going to bite for this yet."

Angela just stood there, failing to break through the woman's initiative. "She is suprised, but she's in my hands now, and that's the best thing that could've happened to her here." she continued. "Although I see girlyboy here has a friend too!" the words just kept coming out, assuming a mocking tone. "Little bantam fighters like this are the scariest, it'd be a tough victory if we happened to fight." Some degree of appreciation entered her voice, partially supplanting the mocking. Partially.

Angela finally gathered up some form of courage to say anything. "Are you going to introduce yourself?"

The woman paused for a moment. "I was just getting to that, missy. My name's Elizabeth. It's one word so if you need me to repeat it, ask away."

Vestus

As Vestus paced for at least for awhile he started to hear the voice again.

"You have no use for pacing around you should embrace your new destiny Vestus..."

And the voice left him again he felt different inside almost stronger or just different and another feeling was of warmth and heat , he felt like a furnace except he wasn't fazed by the heat at all he embraced it.

He decided that he should find if anyone else had yet left their pods because it had been a while since his last check and he now heard a couple or at least a few voices around the area so he approached towards the direction where he heard two people conversing with each other he approached and waved at the two of them walking with a bit more purpose and resolve he definitely felt more important.

@Minnakht,@Flora

"Hello there,"

Vestus said with eagerness and a bit of relief in his voice.

"You two heard the voice as well right?"

He asked getting a few nods and he obviously knew they had heard the voice as well because why would they be here if he was the only one who heard the voice which he now thought was probably some divine being by the sound of the voice.

"Anyways my name is Vestus or you can call me "Guts" for short but enough about me,"

Vestus said in a bored tone.

"What are your names?"

Vestus tackled the topic quickly and was curious about these peoples pasts.

_This is getting even more interesting._ The two women, Angela and Elizabeth, seem to know each other. Pondering on this for a moment, he does not know if this might mean that there is some sort of connection between the kidnappees. He raises his palm to rest his chin in it before closing his eyes. There will be time enough to get that information, so he might as well focus on the conversation.

Opening his eyelids to form a small slit, he looks towards Elizabeth. He did not let her comment before get to him, but he was itching to respond. "Besides, I may indeed be a dolt, since all I know may now be worthless," a simple smile crossed his face and he opened his eye wide, "but I don't see the problem with trying to be formal." With a slight shrug, he was about to continue his conversation but the new arrival stopped any thought of that in his tracks. His imposing form took Nathaniel a moment to take in, but as the man was introducing himself Nathaniel pushed his shoulders off the wall to stand straight up once again.

Dodging the posed question about the voices, since he wanted to hear if the others compare their own first, Nathaniel skipped straight to an introduction. "Hello, Vestus. My name is Nathaniel, and it is a pleasure to meet you." Bowing his upper body slightly, Nathaniel then leans for a third time in a short while against the wall behind him. His new plan was to hopefully observing the conversations between the others while piecing together the information he already knows. He now knew at least one other person had heard voices, but if it was the same voice, that is something that he did not know yet.

Grant's sudden, but timely, teleportation saves him from being grappled and violently disemboweled by the bear, like what had happened to John. Darius, on the other hand, instinctively launches a spear of ice from his left hand. The bear is clearly not expecting the attack.

A sound, only slightly less disturbing than that of the disembowelment earlier. And a bestial scream of pain.

The razor-sharp icicle is now buried halfway inside the bear's right shoulder blade. Blood is oozing out of the wound, some of it freezing just as it leaves the bear's body. All of the bear's vines have retracted, upon their host's injury. With a low growl, the bear wills a few of its vines to wrap around the spike of ice, and pull it out with force. A jet of blood gushes forth, before the wound is once again covered by the healing balm.

The bear looks over the humans once again. In its eyes, where there were once only hunger and rage, there is now uncertainty and fear. Though its intellect is far inferior to that of a human, the beast is not suicidal. The first time it had attacked one of these prey in front of it, its paw was badly maimed by acid and infectious blood. Then the second prey struck it with a spear of ice. The third one had teleported, and now has a menacing bladed weapon in his hand. And who knows what the fourth one is capable of... The bear is no longer sure if it can win, especially on an empty stomach. There are probably other, far easier prey in these woods.

After a moment, the bear begins to back away, slowly. But its eyes remain vigilant, unsure if the humans will give chase.

---

The third group is smaller than the others, consisting of only three people. Libé has already awoken, while Emeka and Alison are just beginning to stir.

The shrine is the same as any other. The scenery seen through the window is still that of a forest, but different from the other two; there is neither mountain nor beach beyond this forest. Instead, a grassland of sorts can be seen through the trees, from which a gentle breeze blows, rustling the leaves of trees on the edge of this forest.

I paused for a moment awkwardly. It was nice to meet me? That was something I didn't really hear very often at all. The only time I could really ever remember anyone saying that was when I was younger, or if my parents brought over some coworkers for a party or something like that. "Th...thanks. It's nice to meet you as well." I replied, with a nervous smile on my face. This Nathaniel person seemed pretty friendly, and well, that was kind of nice. But regardless, an adventure huh? This would definitely be new. I mean, this feels all so surreal. Maybe I'm in some type of coma or something? No, nonsense that can't possibly be right. I shouldn't think like that. I was brought here for a reason, but what exactly was it?

Just then the girl I noticed from before with paint on her clothes approached us. "Hello. Who are you?" She asked.

How do I respond to that? I mean, well, I guess I'm just an average-, "Ahh, please excuse me. I am Nathaniel." Before I could say anything Nathaniel answered her question, while I just stood still. I felt out of place in social situations, and this was no different. I backed up a little and instead just watched them talk to each other, keeping to myself. There wasn't much use in trying to insert myself into their conversation, and besides that might come off as a little rude or something.

However as the conversation between them progressed, a beautiful looking woman appeared. How did I not notice her from before? Surely she wasn't here a moment ago, and yet here she now stood before me and Nathaniel. Listening to the woman though, she sounded quite full of herself, which really wasn't all that attractive. However what really struck a nerve was when I heard her mutter the phrase "girly boy". My head sunk at her comment as I slowly backed away towards my slime friend. This woman whoever she was, reminded me so much of my life, the life I used to have. All those days in school where I was teased, and considered a joke. I didn't want to hear anymore of this. So why, even after reaching this new world. Why do others still make fun of me? Whatever, I don't need them, or at least that Elizabeth girl anyways.

Seeing me approach my slime oozed forward towards me, and paused for a moment, as if hesitating about something. "Is something wrong? You seem to have become saddened by something."

"It's nothing." I replied. "Nothing at all."

"If you say so..."

You're so pretty... please don't gol

Something white and sharp, blurring through Alison's mind. She desperately reached out, trying to hold the hand of the beautiful woman that had offered her magic powers. But her fingers trembled, and nothing felt solid underneath them.

She woke up somewhere. Not her room. Tickles wasn't there, and neither were her Rainbow Dash stuffed dolls. It was soft, and smelled like a hospital that time when Grandma was sick and she had to visit her with the tubes in her arms. There was a window in front of her, but no blinds.

Oh. Right. The woman said she must get better at magic powers to escape and go home.

Alison yawned, then smiled widely. This was sooo amazing. Just like an adventure in one of Ms Carter's bedtime stories! In the stories the little girl was always a secret princess (Alison knew she would become one of those one day), and the character was always brave and strong, and fought monsters with her special powers. Maybe the pretty woman would give her special powers too.

She jumped to her feet immediately, in the excited flip that only a very young girl on her birthday could do. The glass gave way before a quick push, and she stepped out of the pod, running her fingers through frizzy brown hair as she looked in awe at the room around. There were pods everywhere, like desks at school, and there was a weird purple sign on all of them, even the walls.

Then she noticed the strange man near her. Instinctively, she stepped away, chewing her lip as she looked up at him. He was pale and thin, with long, messy hair, with a pointed beard like the evil clones in cartoons. And Mummy always said not to talk to strangers. His clothes were dirty and torn, just like the old men she saw lying on street corners that Mummy had said to stay away from. That was three reasons why she should stay away from him. One, he was a stranger, and stranger danger was bad. Two, he looked like the homeless people that Mummy said were just as bad as strangers. Three, he looked like a supervillain.

He looked over at hair, and Alison froze up. "A-are you here to kidnap me?" Oh no! He really was going to kidnap her! With a shriek, Alison tore away from him, not daring to look back in case he was chasing her. He must want to collect a ransom from her real father, the King of... of... whatever Kingdom she was a Princess of!

She quickly dived behind one of the pods, shivering. Didn't the woman say that she had magic powers? Maybe she'd use them, and blast him with a fireball. That'll teach him to come near her again!

Quickly, she crouched down and focused on her left hand.

I want... a princess fireball!

For a moment, nothing happened. The promised fireball did not materialize in her hand, and Alison felt a wave of crushing disappointment.

Then something swelled up in her wrist, and surged through. A black tentacle, twitching back and forth like a snake. It was segmented into sharp pieces, and at its head three jointed needles clacked together in a mocking parody of a clap. It protruded from her left palm, and snaked out with a frightening speed.

"AHHH! HELP ME!" Alison fell backwards, not caring if the bad man saw her now. A sob escaped her lips as she ineffectually shook her hand, hoping to dislodge it. The snake curled towards her now, and she screamed as she felt it touch her. Cold, almost metallic. She fell backwards on her floor, tears streaming down her face. Was this how she would die? To some black centipede hiding in her hand, without even getting a chance to be a princess or ride a unicorn or use her magic?

Libé had stared out the window for a little while, then calmly regarded the little girl as she got out of the pod and let the envirenment sink in as he had. She reminded him of his little cousins. Although, as they where as he remembered them. They should be in varying stages of high school at this point, but he hadn't seen them in a while. He grimaced at the thought of them being smack in the middle of the #yolo generation, he dreaded the thought of phrases like 'swag' and 'yolo' coming from their cute little faces.
"A-are you here to kidnap me?"
Oh no! Was he scaring her? This was why he had wondered how the goddess chose her 'players'.
His face of disgust swiftly replaced with a warm smile Libé tried to calm the girl.
"Don't worry. I didn't bring you here. And I'm not here to-"
But as he spoke the girl suddenly ran off crying and hid behind a medical pod. Libé followed, he caught a glimpse of some black snake shooting out of the girls sleeve and attacking her. Libé had no idea where the creature came from, of course it was stupid to assume there would be no animals in this room. Just because the room looked like a futuristic medical dock didn't mean it was sealed and sterile.
"AHHH! HELP ME!"
Libé rushed over and knelled in front of her, swift but carefully grabbing her left hand by the tip of her fingers and turned her wrist up. The snake thing was embedded into her palm. He wanted to try and remove the thing, but he hesitated on the sight of sharp edges and lightning fast, unpredictable movement. It wasn't a snake. Maybe it wasn't a creature. It was clearly magical in any case. Not that he technically had seen 'real' magic ever before. But if magic here was anything like the worlds of fantasy he was so familiar with, this was it. On some level he could even feel a cold energy slightly tingle on his skin like warmth from a nearby campfire would slightly burn.
"Shh.. Calm down." Libé said as reassuringly as possible. "This world is magic. This thing is magic. But we have magic too. So we can figure this out. Stay calm and move slowly."
Since this looked like a medical lab, there might be equipment that could help. Libé quickly scanned the room for anything he might use to dig the leech looking thing out of her before it could do more harm.

Get away from me!

Alison felt a... ripple in her hand, like her arm was a pond and her skin was the pond after she threw a big pebble in it and Daddy scolded her for disturbing the ducks. Immediately, the centipede curled away from her and lashed out at the pod she was hiding behind, sliding its needles off the side with a skritch. Then it fell to the floor, limp and curled up like a sleeping snake.

She could feel the tension in the centipede, the energy coiled up inside, that sensation of utter strength. Then a voice filtered in from the outside world, calm and soothing. "...but we have magic too. So we can figure this out. Stay calm and move slowly." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, staying as still as possible in case the centipede woke up again. The bad man's face appeared in front of her, but he didn't seem to be grinning evilly, like a real villain would do. He wasn't laughing maniacally either. He seemed to be smiling at her.

Maybe he's like the ugly duckling? He seems bad, but he's really good.

Slowly, Alison pushed herself to her feet. She reached out for the tentacle again in her mind, felt it hanging down as though it was a third arm. Cautiously, she tried to lift it up, and the tentacle roiled up with such force that the tentacles passed perilously near to the skinny man's eyes.

"I... I... can c-control it now, I think. I-it must be my p-princess powers. That m-makes it so I can control the c-centipede." She flinched as she said the word, trying to move it slowly away from the man. "T-thank you, mister. I shouldn't have shouted at you." If Mummy were here, she'd agree that the place was magic, all right. Alison never said sorry, or thank you. Even when Mummy scolded her, and made her put a penny in the Manners Jar every time she forgot. She just didn't see the need to.

So the tentacle was her magic. Odd. But then, odd was what one should expect from magic.
"No problem." Libé answered, still reeling from the razor sharp whip had nearly taken his eyes from their sockets had it whipped by just a little closer. But he took one important rule from seeing the little girl and her suspected magic. Calm was control. Thus it was vital for her immediate surroundings (i.e. him) that she doesn't panic.
"Looks like your princess powers work best when you're happy."
He stuck his hand out. "My name is Libé."

Vestus

It seemed odd that Nathaniel bowed slightly and Vestus kind of raised an eye brow to that but initially this probably meant that he must be polite, but that aside Vestus was happy to meet some people he wondered what they were to do.

@Flora

"So do you or anyone else have any idea why we're here?"

Vestus asked Nathaniel as he motioned around to the others making the discussion more open to everyone else so he could hear their input on the situation that they now faced because if they were to survive out here they would have to gather food and find materials to make certain things and it would be very tiring for everyone especially the fact that the trees didn't look like they bared any fruits or any edible parts of the plants, which made Vestus think twice about trying to gather any food but they could probably gather sticks and try to make a fire.

Vestus was going through his choices of survival and calculations of what they would probably do if they were to survive here but the choices were very limited to wood, branches, leaves and roots and maybe mushrooms if they were lucky he could probably fashion himself a spear if he got a rock and sharpened the tip it would take a long long time but it would work but he stopped thinking about that and listened to what the group had to say about his question.

When he was asked again why they were all there he couldn't help but smirk and reply as he did before. "It seems we are all going on an adventure. But honestly speaking, I am about as confused as you probably are." Quickly dropping the façade, he looked at the area around him at the distractedly, first at the pods, then at each of the four people nearby.

"There might purpose to all of this, but piecing it together might be beyond our capabilities at this time..." A low sigh escaped his throat as he shook his head. "But we should not let that discourage us. You wouldn't expect to know everything when thrown into an unusual situation, so we should all do the best that we can in this situation."

Moving his gaze the environment outside the window for a moment, he fixates on how unusual it is compared to what he was used to seeing. His previous life was lost, but this new one has the promise of potential. "But this place does seem like it will be quite enjoyable," with a solemn tone and bittersweet smile, he turns to look at Vestus yet again. "Don't you think so?"

Vestus nodded slightly at what Nathaniel said and he agreed it was a nice place but he didn't understand why they were here other than to adventure.

@Flora

"I agree it is a nice place and I can vouch that we are nowhere close to our homes as well"

Vestus added.

"But the problem is that we have no clue what's out there and we have no food or supplies!"

He sighed and looked at everyone with a tired look on his face but he couldn't make the feel like this was the end so he spoke again.

"We do know a few things and tricks of our own correct?"

Vestus asked everyone because if they could use those skills that they knew to survive out here they could probably survive a lot longer than Vestus had initially thought but that depends on the group and how they use their skills and what their skills are in question and what are they capable of other than normal menial tasks.

He for one was a Hunter and loved catching game and cooking deer and fishing but hated country music.

But knowing what their capabilities are is much more important on what their likes and dislikes are so Vestus thought about what he had done in his life and all he knew was a he was Athletic and a Hunter and Fisher.

[@helltank: You need power rivaling the gods before you can damage anything in the shrine, so Alison's tentacle can't have made a scratch on the medical pod.]

---

There doesn't seem to be anything resembling medical equipment anywhere in the shrine, at least not in the current room. However, there is still the big door leading outside, and the smaller door leading somewhere else.

---

[OOC: I'm going to quote something I said in the OOC tab.]

<Snipped quote by ravenDivinity>

Well, I think we can say that we've given @Magnato long enough to make a post, or at least tell us if s/he's busy. So now I'm going to have the plant bear knock Meredith out and take her away with it. If Magnato does come back, I'll make it so that Meredith's body is killed and eaten by the bear, and she reawakens at the shrine in a reconstructed copy of her body. If s/he doesn't come back, then I'll make it so that Meredith is never seen again; she presumably survives the bear encounter somehow, but never returns to any shrines and continues to live out the rest of her life in the Cradle like one of its native inhabitants.

[So yeah, I'm going to have to have the bear take Meredith for now. One of the two scenarios in the quote above will end up happening, depending on whether @Magnato comes back or not.]



Ultimately, the vined bear's hunger wins the mental battle against its caution and fear. With as much strength and speed as it can muster, the bear snaps out with its vines toward Meredith, the only one among the humans who hasn't displayed any kind of dangerous magical ability; the vines' movements are too fast for the eyes to see. One vine strikes Meredith on the forehead with great force, knocking her unconscious in one blow. The rest of the vines wrap around her body and pull her toward the bear with almost equal speed. With Meredith in tow, the bear turns around, and begins sprinting away as quickly as its legs can carry it.

However, Meredith can't be in any real danger, right...? After all, the goddess had said that dying will simply result in one reawakening back at the shrine...

[Sorry for the double post. I'm doing this so that the necessary notifications will be sent... Or will editing a post suffice? I'm pretty new to the forum, so I don't know the details.]



Just as Alison is beginning to calm down, thanks to Libé, one of the pods near them suddenly lights up with a purple glow. When the glow fades, after a second or two, there is now a new person inside the pod: Rina Larock. Another few seconds later, she begins to stir to wakefulness.