"Looking at the lush wildlife, I don't expect civilisation. Why would the goddess invite us here if she has mortals of her own? Then again... None of us came here at the exact same moment. We don't have to be the first."
Libé pondered out loud.
"Why don't we take a look at our surroundings then?"
He spread his arms dramatically and the earth around them trembled.
Careful and controlled a large cylinder of stone rose from the dirt beneath them at Libé's direction.
The pillar elevated himself, Runa, Aron and Emeka high above the trees. Giving a birds eye view of the fields and forest. The spider and Allison became small specks on the ground bellow them.
"Hope you aren't afraid of heights.."

@Blackmist16

Stopping the fireball production, he cautiously feels his palm with his other hand. It was not hot. If anything, it felt colder than usual. "No. I do not feel unusually warm."

At that moment, he was absorbed into the fact and just started rambling to himself. The way he stated that quandary... does that mean that he feels excessively warm? Reigniting a tiny fireball and snuffing it a few times in a matter of seconds, he was felt around the back of his hand, palm and even poked the surface of fireball itself. The heat seems to be coming off of my palm, instead of inside my body, which is indeed odd. If it was indeed coming from my body, it is really good at regulating the heat produced. The cold seems to be caused after the fire. Pausing for a moment, he stared at his palm before looking at Vestus.

"Ah, my apologies." He felt awkward having been distracted, pushing up his non-existent glasses with the cool palm before shrugging dismissively. "As I said, I do not feel warm, since it does not seem to come from my body directly. That does seem to be quite a fundamental difference. Does your skin feel usually cold afterwards?"

Interested in how Vestus's magic differed from his own, he started with the simple question.

Despite its magical nature, the white spider is still a delicate creature. It is quickly frozen solid, then shattered to hundreds of pieces by shards of solid darkness. The spider's innards are similar shades of white and pale blue, and there is still some energy left even as the body splits apart. But the energy is weak. Too weak. Now that the creature is dead, the power of its remains feel barely there at all, compared to the powers of those who have slain it with ease.

As Libé raises a large earthen pillar from the ground, carrying the other humans with it, he begins to get a much better look at his surroundings. The forest that they've just left is surprisingly small, less than a hundred square kilometers in size. It appears as a bluish smudge in the green grass, and its canopy ripples gently in sync with the wind, forming some intriguing patterns. The whole forest is roughly an ellipse in shape, and near one of its foci, the trees are inexplicably covered in snow; one can be reasonably certain that a faint cold draft originates from that spot. Aside from that, there are no other notable features in the forest, at least none that can be easily seen from above.

Further out into the grasslands, however, are clearly collections of houses, farms, and other signs of civilization. A small river runs through the village, turning parts of the area into a water-meadow. At some distances beyond the village, the grass starts becoming sparser, and fade to a dull frosty white, while partially giving way to shrubbery and mosses. Snow can be clearly seen by that point, and that seems to be where most of the cool wind is coming from. Curiously, there's no visible connection between the snow-covered tundra and the more localized snowy patch inside the small forest nearby. Past a section of the tundra are the peaks of several glaciers, apparently where the aforementioned river originates; beyond that things become increasingly difficult to make out.

At a direction opposite to the village, more grass-covered expanses can be seen, though they too slowly become sparser, this time giving way to sand. Not much can be seen beyond that. There is even a place where the desert and the tundra meet, resulting in some kind of gray slush. Lastly, looking around from the raised pillar, there's even a part of the land that appears to be covered in metal, as well as hints of swamps, volcanoes, and more forests. But these places are all a bit too far away for now, unless faster means of transportation are obtained.

If the humans squint, when looking at the village somewhat close to them, they may be able to see the glimmer of webs just like the ones the white spider had lain earlier. Large patches of them can be found next to the village, and some of them even encroach into the village itself. But before the humans can see anything else, the tall earthen pillar begins to shake. It seems that Libé's power, stretched so thin, may not be able to withstand the wind that constantly blows through the area after all.

[I'm not too good at geography, especially when elements of speculative fiction are involved, so I apologize in advance if there are any glaring errors. If you see any, and know of ways to fix them, please tell me by PM or in the OOC thread.]

((Music))

Libé's spirit brightened at the sight. Never before could he call forth the means to such splendours from above so casually. He would almost feel guilty over the lack of effort had he not simply been thrown away buy the sublime landscape.
He was so absorbed taking it all in he carelessly overreached his abilities. The tower shaking felt like a punch in the gut. Knocking all the wind out of him. And suddenly it hit him how high up they were, how hard the winds were hitting them from all sides. The comfortable ground so far away. His voice shook when he spoke again.
"U-uhm... Don't suppose any of one you guys can fly?"
The tower groaned as it started to crumle at the base and the tower veered omniously.
"I-I have a way down. But.. It's a long shot.. And we have to chose a direction."

Woohoo! Yes!

The little girl jumps up and down, doing a half-skip half-dance around the remains of the spider, its blood soaking into the grass around her. The delight on her face is palpable as she cheers. "Eat that, Mr. Nasty Spider! Hahaha!" The shadow armor peels away in strips around her, dissolving into inky smoke, and her wings shimmer and disappear, even as she laughs and claps her hands.

Last to go is her Predator, whirling away as she lands on the ground from a pirouette. Alison doesn't seem to notice; she's too busy kicking the dead spider's corpse. Then, looking up, she sees Libé swaying in the mighty gust on top of his tower. "Heyy Libé! What's the view like up there? Can I come up and see?"

Without waiting for an answer, Alison summons her wings again, and soars upwards, flying effortlessly and with a frightening speed up to the top of the little pillar of earth that Libé has constructed. "Ooh. Isn't it a little shaky up here?"

Too bad they can't fly like me... everything's so... just so wonderful up here! The air's so clear, and everything's so pretty. Even if I am scared of heights.

Alison frowns and pushes that thought out of her mind. A real princess was fearless!

Rina enjoyed the scenery until the tower started shaking. "Um no I don't think any of us can fly except for Alison. But if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then we should go towards the village." She said as she grabbed onto Aron. It looked like Liba's plan was to fall in a direction, which sounded absolutely terrifying. Aron spoke up, "Liba if you need my help ask, and I shall assist you."

@whist
The walk thus far had been pleasant, really. At least, it was as pleasant as it could've been. The flora in the forest was completely alien to Darius, and he'd seen nothing like it anywhere on Earth. These plants in the Cradle came with much more diversity and variety than those on Earth, and for a human who'd never seen such a thing, Darius was quite enchanted with them. He found himself in the fantastical worlds of his dreams, the likes of which human hands could never create, yet the danger and fray blew the brunet asunder. The pair pressed forward into the treacherous wood until they reached its far edge before a village.

Three figures blocked the way.

Ducking behind a tree, Darius hissed at Grant, "Hide!" He clung low to the ground on his knees as he listened and watched the exchange between the three. The encounter, to Darius, laid out two factions. The wood elf stood in defense of his village from the approach of the two sinister beings, a dark elf and what seemed to be his summon, a disgusting, insectoid abomination. I hate flies. The wood elf was outnumbered... Darius surmised that he and Grant were in the position to assist. If they involved themselves, there would also be potential consequences, but a fight between two and three obviously favored the three. The boy posed ready to jump and strike. I hate flies, I hate bugs, I hate spiders, I hate snakes, I hate every creepy and crawly thing on the goddamn Earth. He charged from behind the tree and came to the side of the defending elf. "Get back!" The adrenaline pumped through his veins, and he could feel his knees trembling as he shouted at the two offenders.

It was time to squish a bug.

Rina frowned, Alison was... kinda scary. And maybe a little not entirely sane. She turned at the sound of the newcomer asking for a name, "My name in Rina and this- well he," she said gesturing at her companion, "is Aron." Aron also turned away from the now impaled spider, "We also do not know were we are going. The initial plan was to head through the forest in an attempt to find civilization. I take it your intent is to join us?" Aron inquired of Emeka. He was disappointing that the spider had been killed, he had merely attempted to immobilize it and the darkness girl had finished it off. Though supposedly they did have to kill things to gain more power, curious how that whole process was supposed to work.

"Hello Rina and... Aron, it is good to know you" said Emeka, tipping his hat towards the two in a small nod. "Yes it seems that I will be coming with you for now." he said in reply to Aron, "The forest is the same to me as any direction, But maybe there will be an abundance of food in that their. It would be bad for my first meal to be spider in this new place"

It was then the earth beneath him began to buckle. Startled Emeka dropped to a crouch for better balance. Luckily Libe had been kind enough to warn the lot of them beforehand, so he wasn’t too alarmed.The earth began to rise slowly at first and then faster as it slowly formed into a pillar. This one likes to flaunt his magic it seems.

Soon the pillar cleared the forest roof and land spread itself out in front of them. What Emeka saw he could not quite comprehend. It was alien, truly different from the Earth he had come from. The lands seemed to be separated into elements, clearly demarcated and distinct. Interestingly, a little farther off he saw what seemed to be a village. A village, interesting, it seems my first destination is clear.

However Emeka’s building excitement, was quickly doused. The pillar of earth began to sway, as winds began to pelt its length. As the tower staggered, surely beginning to crumble under the stress.

"U-uhm... Don't suppose any of one you guys can fly?"

“It would have been better to ask that before hand” he said, his voice slightly heated. At the moment he did not want to put any faith in the man’s abilities. He would have to think of something on his own. He began to listen to the song of the power that lied behind him, it was building once again, filling him with strength. The song told him what he needed to do. He looked to edge of the platform, and then looked back at the rest of them. “It would seem I am crazier than you lot” he said. Then with a smooth motion, the Emeka leapt of the pillar.

As he leapt, his power took over, guiding him in what needed to be done. As he crosed the apex of his jump, he kicked his leg down, with he forced his power through his feet. A small explosion erupted from his heel.The explosion effectively reduced the speed of his descent, however he still had a distance to travel.

Emeka took a deep breath and dove into his instinct, trusting its guidance completely. It took several steps to reach the ground, but he did so quickly and having covered a large amount of ground. He looked back and smiled, waving to fellows up on the tower. They would have to find their own way off.

Vestus

@Flora

Vestus shook his head and explained.

"Even when my body is not producing flame it feels as though that I produce heat!"

He felt his arm and to him it would have felt only like a slight tingle but to others it might feel like a furnace or maybe a weak ray of sun light,

"Let me show you!"

Vestus extended his arm towards Nathaneil and gestured for him to touch his arm.

"It might sting a little but I have so to speak turned down the heat!"

He said jokingly to Nathaneil.

Emeka jumped down. The other two didn't have anything.
Libe let the tower veer forward. But when he looked over the edge his face turned white and the look of determination made way for terror.
"Nope!" He veered back. Tower swung dangerously. "Bad idea."
Libe could feel the tower crumble with every movement. He softened the soil a little so it would crack less. This gave him an idea. He took a deep breath to calm down and sat down with his legs crossed. He softened the tower, the further down the faster. Soon the tower started to slowly collapse in on itself. All of it's mass flowing outwards. After a gentle descent they stood atop a muddy hill.

[Since @whist hadn't logged in for 11 days, he's going to be considered inactive, and his character will be removed from the current group. If he comes back, Grant will die and be resurrected in a shrine; otherwise he'll never be seen again. Basically, the same treatment @Magnato's character Meredith received.]

"Hmm?" The dark elf raises an eyebrow as he sees Darius charging out from behind the trees. "Who-"

But he never gets to finish his sentence, as an object crashes down from the sky without warning, flattening the dark elf and his insectoid companion in the process. It appears to be a one-meter-wide sphere of steely gray metal, engraved with glowing purple circuit lines and attached with various mechanical tools; the goddess's symbol can be seen on its front. However, a large chunk of the sphere is very clearly missing, exposing a significant deal of its inner machineries. The sphere twitches, sending purple sparks flying out everywhere from its mechanical wound.

"ERROR CODE 125," the metallic sphere screeches, in a similar kind of comprehensible not-quite-English the dark elf spoke earlier, except more mechanical and... garbled. "C-CURRENT TASK ABORTED. RETURNING T-T-T-T-TO BA-"

The sphere doesn't get to finish its sentence either, before exploding into a huge wave of purple energy. As the energy washes over Darius, for a split second he feels extrene pain, as though deadly electric currents are coursing through his whole body. Then everything goes black for him. But the energy isn't all. As it dissipates, a portal can be seen where the mechanical sphere once was, a section of distorted space surrounded by a translucent purple. An incredibly powerful gravitational pull can then immediately be felt, originating from the portal. Trees are uprooted, and Grant, having been far enough away to avoid being electrocuted by the energy wave, is now being pulled into the portal like a tiny leaf in the wind. As he's transported to who knows where, the portal rapidly shrinks shut, leaving behind a crater of devastation. But there is now no living being around to bear witness.

...

With a gasp, Darius jolts awake. He's now back in his medical pod again, and gripped by a terrible exhaustion, as though he had been sprinting nonstop for days. His clothes are blackened and singed, but he is alive. Or had he actually died just now, and been resurrected?

[So yeah, @ravenDivinity and @Laue, you two can timeskip ahead by an hour or something, so that both of your characters have recovered enough to leave their pods, and maybe interact with each other.]

After roughly an hour, the pod opened. Or rather, three pods. A familiar fellow got out of it, another was an older guy, not part of the original group. The other three were not here, so it means they are alive and well. Probably. Now the question that was pounding John's head was whether they were originals or clones.

"Aside from the new guy here, I feel an important question needs to be asked. Were we actually resurrected, or are we just clones of the now dead original selves?" he asked the two. Does it even matter though? Even if they are clones, they still have all the ambitions and desires of the original, as well as their knowledge, so nothing is really lost. Or is it? John remembers his death, or rather the cause of it before losing his conscience. He does remember being restored during that hour, but still... In the long run, whether John is now just a clone of John or still the original mattered little. Being a clone wasn't even the big problem. It's the fact that John did not know the answer to this question. It is HIS field. He cloned several lesser organisms. Why can't he find an answer about himself? Maybe the process is imperfect and some minor details are lost in the process? "Do you have any gaps in your memory? Anything minor missing in your head that you KNEW it was there before?" John asked the other guy nervously. He needed confirmation... Of some sort.

But it was rather easy to check. Quickly darting outside and simply checking the wall nearby John sees his lifeless corpse, with a gnarly wound. Heading back in, now as calm as ever. "So, there's my corpse there outside. We're clones. Let's hope the cloning process has no imperfections." In no hurry, John now waited for the response of other guys. Strength in numbers and all that. "Oh and I'm John, Meditech's Head Bio-engineer. Looks like I wasn't been able to properly introduce myself while dying." Being professional is important, he thought to himself as he reached for a handshake with the other two guys. Besides, while they may not know his last name, strangely enough, they WILL know Meditech. After all, it's one of the largest Pharma corporations in the world. Err, on Earth.

The little girl watched as her friends were deposited, one by one, on the very tip-top of a muddy little hill. She swoops over to them, riding the currents of the win as though she's been born to it, her wings flexing and folding.

"Hooray!" said Alison. "We did it together. Me, you, everyone, we all beat the bad spider. That means we must be a PARTY."

She holds up a finger, like Ms Crocker does when she's explaining something really difficult. Long Division is really difficult. Just the thought of it makes Alison annoyed, so she puts her finger down again. Anyway, she's sure that a real princess wouldn't do that. Otherwise Ms Crocker would be a princess and that would just be...

...wrong.

"Um... never mind. Anyway, since you helped me beat the spider, that means you're my brave and loyal companions and when I become princess of this kingdom I'll have to award you high titles and stuff, like... the chief knight. Who wants to be the chief knight? Libé, do you want to be the chief knight? Or you, Rina. Don't worry, Daddy says girls can be knights too!"

"It would be an honor."
Libe stood up and bowed jokingly.
Then suddenly he noticed they were slowly sinking into the mud. Libe exerted himself to harden the ground again. He felt tired, but forced trough it. He couldn't let them drown now after all that. The earth solidified and the mud on everyone broke off. On Libe however it hardened. As did his legs. He barely had the time to realise he had pushed his magic too far, that it could lash back, before he was completely petrified. A face of surprise and terror frozen on his face.

@Blackmist16

The straightforward and guileless nature of this man was surprising. It made Nathaniel feel slightly uncomfortable, but only because he was not used to meeting people like this. His unabashed request was also entirely unexpected and added to the uncomfortable feeling.

Holding out his hand for a handshake, he let a small but genuine smile cross his lips. "Sorry, I am not really used to being so personal. How about we just shake hands? I believe mine is still rather cold, so you can feel that too as a result."

Vestus

He nodded at the mans request and instead of goading him to grab his arm he reached his hand out as if he was about to shake Nathaneil's hand.

Vestus wondered what the man found so odd about grabbing his arm and feeling if it was warm it didn't seem very odd at all to Vestus but he simply just nodded and complied with the his new friends request.

Alison rushes to the quickly-petrifying man, embraces him in a hard hug. "Libé, hold on to me! I'll get you out of trouble, don't worry. I'm the princess and I can do anything!" A glimmering shard of darkness wedges itself in the pillar of earth between his feet and the dirt, and Predator saws away at it, allowing Alison to push upwards and rip him out of the earth in a spray of soil and pebbles. There were still clods of earth sticking to him, but there was nothing she could do about that.

The... pod thingies. Those looked like they belonged in a hospital.

Butterfly-like wings extend to their full length as the girl soars into the sky, heading straight for the shrine of metal at a startling speed, her arms encircled around a skinny man petrified in earth. She bursts through the doors, shadows coiling around her, and pushes Libé into a healing pod before looking around desperately. Then Alison takes a deep breath and tilts her face upward, as though gazing at the ceiling.

"Um... pretty lady who brought me here... I know you said this is your shrine. Please, please, heal my friend! He's my Knight, so if you want me to be a proper magical princess you HAVE to keep him alive! Thank you so much!"

As Allison places Libé into the futuristic pod, the pod's magic immediately begins working on the petrified man. Greenish white energy sweeps over him, slowly causing the stone that coats his skin to dissipate. Very, very slowly. He is going to be stuck here for a while.

[Guys, I can't make you start walking toward the village unless you decide to do that IC. Or do something else. No more plot developments are going to occur if you just stay near the shrine.]

Rina tapped Alison on the shoulder, "I don't think he's going to be up and going for a while, we should probably start moving on. I think going towards that village we saw from up there would be a good start, we might be able to find some people to explain things to us." She had followed Alison back to the shrine, albeit at a slower pace. It seemed the healing capsule thing was working but certainly not with any degree of rapidity.

@Blackmist16

Tightly gripping the mans hand, it did not feel too warm. That is, until a few moments had passed and the heat started to increase sharply. Pulling back his own hand and shaking it, afterwards he just looked upon his palm which was covered in perspiration. He really turned up the heat, there. Shaking off the droplets, he glared at his own hand yet again to find that they have already frozen solid. Or, maybe he just overheated my cold-skin. Pausing for a moment, he couldn't help but ask himself if this cold skin due to subconscious magic. If it was, he had to further test it.

This experience haven given him some ideas, but in the meantime he looked straight at Vestus and smiled again. "It was warm. A little too warm at that, so I had to cease the handshake."