Winds carried her raft along the docks that sprawled out of Byhimel City, a city with intricate stone buildings that reached dizzying heights. Byhimel City was a place Natazume had traveled to once before and she was hoping this second visit would prove to be more adventurous and less leisurely. In truth, her first visit had been more of her passing through on her wooden raft. Still, she liked to consider that counted as her visiting the stoic prestigious city that was embellished with rigid but detailed architecture. Using one of her wooden paddles, the pink haired woman managed to navigate herself toward one of the many docks outstretched across the coast.

Dim candles dotted the darkness, giving her a better idea of the distance between her and the large city itself. The full moon was providing her with plenty of light as she tied her raft to the unattended dock and leaped onto dry land. While Natazume does not often set foot on land, she has been known to make exceptions for places that entice her. Sometimes she would talk with an old fisherman who was weave tales of a wonderful forest only found inland and she'd set her mind to tracking it down, hoping a shy river might guide her way. Other times she would cross paths with children who had the most fascinating places to leave Natazume in awe. Even if they were mere fanciful stories of no real merit, they still managed to capture Natazume's fluttering curiosity.

Once she tied her raft to the dock itself, Natazume walked carefully down towards the city, where most of its inhabitants were sleeping, minds drifting far into dreamland. Natazume found nightfall the perfect time to sail, as the afternoon was usually hot and made for a miserable time. Her upper arms were bare but a cloth clung to her elbows which provided her lower arms cover. She wore a red tank top dress that ended along her lower thighs. She then had on long red leggings and kept her long flowing hair back with a red ribbon. Red was dye was one of the exports from her home, Shimmer Shores. While they were known for fishing, they also harvested scales from the local fish. Those scales would be ground into fine powder and mixed with some water to create a dye for coloring clothes.

It was one way she wished to remind herself of where she came from, even if she didn't feel quite so welcomed back.

Natazume began to wander Byhimel City, its cobblestones feeling very awkward under her brown leather boots. She could hear the faint sounds of metal hitting steel and had to imagine what sort of things one might be crafting at such an hour. Natazume continued to aimlessly look around, peering through the windows which held the alluring flicker of candlelight. Most were indeed dead to the quiet of the night. The cool breeze was lovely but the stony streets and buildings still radiated a gentle glow captured from the bright sun of the afternoon. Natazume let out a long yawn as she felt both her stomach and mind tug her towards an inn. She swung her leather pouch around from around her back where it had been slung, and fished out a few silver coins, hoping the rate would be fair.

As she began to actively search for an inn, she looked up and saw a flurry of shooting stars. The fleeting twinkle made her heart stop for a moment. She saw one descend not too far and decided to pursue its path. Hurrying along, she felt herself being blessed with renewed energy. Sleep and food could surely wait a bit longer. Natazume reached the outer limits of the city and reached an ocean of green grass swaying in the cool night breeze. She saw something curved, poking above the shoulder high emerald meadow. Without missing a beat, the woman continued further, putting more and more distance between herself and her faithful raft.

When she reached what she thought fell from the sky, she found herself puzzled and a little crestfallen.

It was not a star, at least not one she had ever seen before.

'What is this thing?' An egg shaped rock was hovering six inches off the ground. Natazume bent down and cautiously waved her bare hand between the surface and the object itself. Something was very wrong. She stepped back and rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things. No, she wasn't. She looked around as the moonlight from above made the object almost glow, beckoning the girl to get closer. Natazume shifted her weight from one foot, then the other, not sure what she should do. Her gut was telling her to just leave. But her mind kept nagging at her to investigate.

She stepped in front and placed her hand on the object. It was smooth and cool. It felt like perfection. Natazume knew such a thing hadn't been crafted before, it had to have fallen from the sky. Was this a gift from Aquis? Sure, Natazume liked to think she shared a kinship with their goddess, Aquis but this didn't feel holy. It felt...strange. Suddenly a hatch snapped and slid upwards to reveal a seat made of light blue fabric. She ran her fingertips along and felt that it was porous, spongy and soft. She ducked her head inside the pod and saw a dozen blinking lights, some were blue, some were green and others were golden yellow. Natazume felt her chest tighten, suddenly faced with some kind of invention no one had ever dreamed of.

'What should I do?' She wondered.

Natazume stood there for roughly twenty minutes as she begged the sun to arrive and give her some peace of mind. Eventually the sun began to rise and Natazume felt the chill of isolation, begin to finally thaw. As the sun began to tickle the long blades of grass surrounding Natazume and the pod, she finally knew what to do. Natazume climbed into the pod and tucked her legs to her chest as the hatch zoomed shut. She looked around as the lights all changed colors and began to blink frantically. She saw nothing to really touch or react to and before she could voice her uncertainty, the pod began to fill up with a light blue liquid.

The last thing she thought of before she fell asleep, was how comforting the sunlight had been.

There was a raspy gasp for air as the light blue liquid began to drain downwards out of the bottom of the egg shaped pod. Natazume's eyes fiery eyes snapped open as stale air began to fill her lungs. The pod which she had been entombed in, cracked open and allowed the woman to see her new surroundings. Natazume climbed out and finally felt free, able to stretch her arms and legs. She raised her arms above her head and let out cry of delight. "Gods...what happened?" Her arms twisted slightly as the woman tried to retrace her steps. She remembered wandering around Byhimel City and then seeing a shooting star. Dawn came and she entered some weird thing and now she was...where exactly?

Natazume finally looked around her and saw black objects snaked along the curved low ceiling. She saw other pods beginning to drain their own stasis fluid as well. Natazume turned and grabbed her leather bag from her own pod and slowly made her way down the long metal walkway,her boots tapping timidly against the grate under her feet. She came to a large round window that offered its occupants a view of space. She peered outside and felt the light leave her eyes. All she could see was a world of darkness and a small sphere which looked long forgotten.

Something tugged at her heart.

Nausea hit as she turned and covered her mouth with her hands, swallowing most of the bile that threatened to come up. She coughed and wiped her mouth with the backs of her hands, the taste of bitterness still lingering. She took several deep breaths and quickly made her way back down the narrow walkway, past the others pods and came to a rounded door. She saw no handle and knew not how to get past or open it. She turned around and saw a few others coming around. "Hey..." She didn't know if she should speak up or not but since she was the first to awaken, she decided why not?

'I hope they're friendly.' She thought briefly before continuing. "My name is Natazume. I have no idea where we are or why we are here...the last I remember, I was standing in front of this..." She pointed to her open and now empty pod. "That. Now I'm here." She swallowed, her mind finally drifting back to her family. 'I wonder where my family is...how can I get back to them?' She wondered. Natazume shook her head slightly, hopeful they could figure out this conundrum together. "I guess I should start by saying I'm from Shimmer Shores, but I kind of go wherever the current takes me. What about you guys?" She tilted her head to the side, her heart rate finally beginning to even out.

"You do realize I'm not a kid anymore, right?" a female voice spoke softly as Eli gazed out into the distance. The house his sister and him were living in was situated on top of a hill, overlooking the town. The stunning view from the terrace was Eli's favourite part of their home. It had an incredible feeling to it - homely above all. The two of them were doing all in their power to keep it that way. Yet, nothing can last forever. Years had passed and his sister had grown, much to his dislike. Change was on the horizon. And he was afraid that this terrace wouldn't be as homely after tonight. Plants danced along the breeze as the siblings sat on the edge, talking deep into the night.

She patiently waited for his response, showing much more calmness than her older brother, who wasn't able to remain still. He shuffled, then got up, walked a couple of steps backwards and moved back to the sitting position. A process he repeated a few times. "You'll always be that clumsy little kid to me, Mayo." finally the words left his lips and echoed into the night. The soft breeze caressed his skin as he felt shivers run down his spine. It was a strange sensation, his body telling him that something was amiss. He felt it, but was unable to put a finger on what it exactly was. It was far from cold, the weather was actually soothing. Besides, he was always able to handle cold. He wasn't ready to handle this. Must have been due to that.

"Would you stop calling me Mayo? I hate that nickname."

His sister continued talking, but he zoned out, becoming completely entranced in his own thoughts. His younger sister - the small, naive, innocent little ball of joy was getting married. That wasn't right. His mind outright refused to accept it. She would move out of the house and away from the island, to carve her own path away from the safe harbour. Had every right to do so, but was she ready for it? Was she truly ready for such a big step in her life?

Probably.

Definitely.

Ironically, she was always the more mature one. That meant only one thing. Eli wasn't ready for it. Then again...

"Mayooooooooooooooooo~" he raised his voice before giving her a strong hug. This was not about him. After all, the news were supposed to be happy. And he knew that she was probably worried beyond measure about his reaction. Maybe he wasn't ready, but he would make sure that he appeared as if he did. Besides - he knew the man she was going to marry. He was his age. A good person, trustworthy. Decent.

'As decent as a man that is going to marry my sister can be.'

"We're going to have the biggest festival the island has ever seen! You are going to get a farewell party like no person in the history of this world. Leave it all to me!" he spoke as enthusiastically as humanly possible, while she studied his expressions - a wide grin eventually appearing on her face. A couple of tears welled up in her eyes, he saw it - he probably had the exact same look on his face. But neither one of them mentioned it. They weren't going to cry. Not tonight. At least not in front of each other. Eli turned his head the other way.

"Hey," she tugged at his red sleeveless shirt. She never understood why he wore something like that. Who wore a sleeveless shirt with a hood? "Hey!" she tugged harder, not stopping until she got his attention. Eli looked at her only to see her pointing at the sky; the sky filled with shooting stars, unused wishes. The town was in deep slumber and the sound of crickets accompanied the scene as they looked on. It was a majestic scene, a plethora of fleeting embers burning into the night before disappearing beyond the horizon.

"Guess we get a wish each," Eli said, closing his eyes to think of one. It was easy. He wished for his sister to have a wonderful life with her own family. He truly wished for that. He had also hoped she didn't wish for something ridiculous. Like for him to stop wearing his favourite shirt. Eli knew how much she hated that shirt. Most people did, for some reason.

While Mayo was deep in her thoughts, Eli noticed a star supposedly making its way down to the ground, in vicinity of their house. It was a quiet descent, a couple of miles away. "How about we call it a day, huh? We have a wedding to plan out tomorrow!" Eli hastily proclaimed, almost rushing Mayo into the house. He had just thought of the greatest idea in the history of mankind. If a wishing star truly descended around here and he was fast enough, there was a chance he would be able to find some remnants of it - a fragment of a celestial body. It would be the best gift for his sister. Convincing himself that the logic behind it was impeccable, he quietly took his bag with him, not even caring to check what was in it. He just grabbed the bag, his grey coat and moved towards the crash site.

The roads became more and more barren as he ran towards the source, until the roads were no more and Eli found himself at the entrance to the forest. In hindsight, he didn't know why anyone called it a forest. It was just a patch of trees and a clearing in the middle. A perfect spot for romantic dates. 'Not to brag, but I kinda found it,' he thought to himself as he recalled a couple of blind dates he had, that eventually ended up here. Awkward memories, but fun nevertheless.

He traced the memories as he walked towards the clearing, feeling those same shivers. He had a stinging feeling that something would be waiting for him in the clearing. And was a bit terrified. Alone, in the middle of the night, going to find something that he only saw in his wildest dreams. It could be a heavenly being. A god. A goddess, preferably. Or something dangerous. Vicious. And unknown entity. Or. Or.

An egg?

"An egg?!" the sight in front of him left him flabbergasted. Not only was it something he didn't except, not even in his wildest dreams, but it was an egg. A floating egg. Hovering slightly above the ground. It didn't look anything like a star. But then again, he never saw a star face to face before. Or, well, face to egg. For all he knew, maybe all stars had the shape of an egg. He stopped himself for a moment, wondering why he had such a fascination with it being egg shaped, while it was clearly hovering above the ground in front of him. Something that he thought was impossible.

"Are you alive? Can you hear me?" he cautiously whispered into the air. No answer. He stood there for a couple of seconds before a sigh of relief came out. It didn't appear to be something sentient. Then again, it didn't appear to be a heavenly being either. If it was, his entire vision of what heavenly beings look like would be shattered. Brutally.

Eli took his time, taking in his surrounding. There was no one around. He was able to hear a couple of owls in the distance and the rustling of branches, but the sound of crickets had subsided. It was eerie. And he hadn't noticed it until now. He took a couple of steps towards it and carefully placed his hand onto the cold surface. It was smoother than an egg, for sure. Smoother than anything he ever felt before, a texture completely unknown to him. And just as he removed his hand, the hatch had slid upwards with only a subtle buzzing noise. Eli was sure that he would not even had noticed it had he not focused on the sound of crickets, or its apparent absence, moments before.

The interior was bright, illuminating Eli's face and a small radius of the clearing. Even from his current position, he was able to see some flashing lights coming from the inside. The centre of the interior was occupied by a white seat. It would have probably been a peaceful light, had he not came from the dark night. This way, his eyes hurt momentarily and he had to look away until his sight adjusted to the sudden change of brightness. But, as it did, another idea clicked. What was he waiting for? This was what he wished for, a perfect gift for his sister. The wide array of flashing lights beckoned him inside. "If this goes horribly wrong, how stupid of a death would it be?" he spoke out loud, hoping that a voice from above would stop him if he was about to do something incredibly stupid. He actually hoped that would happen. But nothing signalled him to stop.

He had to position himself to sit in the central seat in order to be able to reach the lights, which he thought, at that moment, was a pretty useful and neat design. "Gods really know how to live in luxury, huh?" he blurted out, but as he did - the hatch had slid back down. It was too fast for him to react, but he noticed the light starting to blink more rapidly and chaotically than before. "Hey, hey, hey now. I was joking. I didn't mean to offend!" Eli spoke in a half-joking, half-panicked tone. It didn't take long for a blue liquid to start filling the pod up. He punched the hatch a couple of times as his brain went into an overload mode. Whatever this was, it wasn't right. His punches did no good, instead only made his fist hurt. Yet, he didn't stop.

Eli continued punching until the liquid engulfed him. He expected pain. Especially with his fear of drowning. His heart was drumming and he was able to feel the blood coursing through his veins. But instead of tremendous pain, he felt at peace. At peace and... drowsy. Whatever this was, it felt much more right than a couple of moments before.

'Just like a massage... I gotta show my friends this...'

What a dream he had, floating around in an endless sea of egg yolk and on his way to meet the goddess of life. The creator of his puny existence. On his command, the yolk spread and he was able to walk without disturbance, able to notice various organisms swimming peacefully with their families. Fishes with scales made of eggs. A whale pushing out a stream of yolk. Yolk. Yolk all around him.
Until he came across a shark, a one eyed shark - with an egg in place of his eye.

He gasped for air as he hastily opened his eyes, only to find himself falling down to the ground moments after. Apparently, the hatch had opened and let him out. Gloriously allowed him to faceplant the ground. No need to worry though. He was going to fall into the grass anyway. As long as he shuffles a bit to the side, so he doesn't hit the ground with his nose, he was going to be fine. After all - it was grass below him.

The moment had passed faster than he had expected and a loud thump echoed through the room. The fall hurt much more than he had expected.
As his hands traced the cold floor around him, Eli had a sudden realization that this was not grass. Not even an inch of grass. "That hurts!" Eli proclaimed as he brought himself up to his feet, scratching the back of his head. "Thanks for nothing, Gods." he said, looking up - full expecting to see a familiar sky.

The curved ceiling was far from familiar. That was the first time he actually thought about double checking his surroundings. There were more pods like his own around him, each opening its hatch. His instincts told him he was not alone here. But where was here, Eli had no idea. As he looked on, unaware of what would come out of the pods, a female voice caught his attention. She seemed fairly normal, which prompted Eli to sigh again; relief clearly escaping his chest. And she didn't feel dangerous at all. If anything, the air around her appeared to be of a confused nature. Which was a good sign.

"Natazume, right? You must have found an egg in the clearing too. Don't remember seeing you around town, but hey, welcome to Acrine." Eli spread his arms as if to showcase something, but he immediately remembered that this was no Acrine. And unless it was a prank made for some upcoming festivity he didn't know about - this was in no way, shape or form Acrine. "Or welcome to wherever we are now. I'm Eli. To be honest, when I heard your voice, I was afraid I'd look in your direction and see a yolk fish sitting there. Glad that didn't happen. Nice to meet you!" Eli rambled on, realizing far too late that yolk fishes were only a thing in his dreams.

On the beach of a small desert island, halfway between the sea and the palm trees that grow in the middle of the island, sits a knapsack next to a dimming fire, some freshly chopped fire wood and a few palm leaves with fruits gathered from inland. The island itself is a little way over the horizon from the closest port, situated in a place called the sapphire lagoon, and well out of anybodys way, yet there are no boats docked anywhere along it’s shore to explain how these things got there. The knapsack is one of a traveler, if you were to extract its contents you would find the hatchet used to chop the wood for the fire and the flint and steel that lit it, a spyglass and compass, several maps of many different regions of the world, some drawn by the owner of the sack, a few books about interesting places along with things like cloths, soap and other mundane necessities. Finally, wrapped carefully in clothing and paper are a few toys and trinkets from the local region, all kept carefully away from anything that might damage them.

It is early in the night, the sun having just set over the horizon moments ago, taking the sweltering heat of the tropics down to a slightly more reasonable temperature. The moon and stars have come out to shine their soft light down on the waters below where a lot of the more dangerous creatures are emerging making the sea a rather less pleasant place to be. Anything that can is finding some safer places to be.

From the ocean emerges one such creature, a sea lion with a large fish that is still madly flopping held in its jaws, lopes up the beach towards the small encampment. The fish is deposited next to the fruits on the leaves and the creature is engulfed a soft gold glow that illogically produces no light. The golden shape shrinks and changes, the universe helpfully hiding what such a transformation would actually look like for the sake of people not losing their lunch every time it happened. After a few brief moments there stands a stout dwarf in place of the sea lion.

He is wearing a scalemail tunic made of the scales of various creatures found in the underdark. It is light and does offer much in the way of protection but is worn because no self respecting dwarf would ever be caught dead wear anything that wasn't armor. Even if this set is specifically designed to be as light and un-armor like like as possible in order to not drown the wearer if they were to fall of a ship. Around his neck is a small amulet in the shape of a stylized sun that is the color of molten glass, the mark of a follower of Sollava, the dwarven god of light and life.

The dwarf stretches,then pulls a knife from his belt, where it sits alongside a few bone charms and a small metal hip flask and proceeds sit down to gut the fish and make himself some dinner.

Andrik the dwarf had arrived in the nearby port town on a trade ship a few weeks ago and after seeing what there was to see and doing a bit of trading had come out here to get to know the local wildlife. Originally hailing from beneath the dwarven cities of the far north it was always a delight to explore the vibrant and sun kissed oceans of the tropics, to swim above the coral reefs as a manta ray and see the thousands of unique creatures that were nurtured beneath Sollava’s light. He did this whenever he visited a place, the achievements of a lands people were often not nearly as interesting as it’s natural beauty.

It was as he was finishing his meal that the he saw the shooting stars, descending from the heavens as they lit up the sky all across the night side of the world. 'quite the light show your putting on there Sollava, what might the occasion be I wonder' He did not have long to find out as to his astonishment one of the light trails seemed to turn towards him, before vanishing as a large white object landed in the forest that occupied most of the uninhabited island, vanishing into the foliage as Andrik watched. 'what the blazes was that… only one way to find out I guess' smiling to himself at the existence of a new phenomenon to encounter he put on his knapsack and transformed, shrinking down to a puffin, before taking off, skimming the trees and looking for the strange object.

The druid found the egg shaped thing on a small rocky outcropping, seemingly inert and non threatening despite its ability to float above the ground. After landing, transforming and throwing a cautionary rock at the floating object to check if it was a mimic or a ropper the dwarf advanced briskly, eager to investigate this thing from the heavens.

"Hello there, what are you? Be you elemental or angel or something else."

Getting no response from the hovering object he decided to knock on it, maybe find out what it was made of. His rapping gained him no knowledge other than that it was hard but in response a hatch opened in the side of the egg, revealing an interior filled with a human sized seat and strange blinking lights.'Enchanted gems perhaps? What under the sun is this strange contraption for?' Two quick shape shifts brought him to be standing on the chair, he was curiously poking at the lights when the door slid shut and the lights all started blinking furiously.

"Did I do that? Open back up. Please? Please! I will not be trapped again!"

The dwarf began to panic as a strange liquid began to squirt up out of the walls, filling up the pod.

Andrik had experienced mainly nightmares in his sleep, the religious based revulsion he had for being trapped away from the light plus two very unpleasant experiences with a cave in and hiding from a Grick in a crevice as a child all came together to form a considerable claustrophobia in the dwarf. In a way he took to druidry partially because of how shapeshifting allowed him to escape from such traps, to dig out of the cave in, to fight the beasties or outrun them. Right now however his powers had failed him, his dreams filled with all the dangers his kind had encountered as they dug towards the surface. He himself had only encountered a fraction of the things he saw in that sleep, but his mind did an excellent job of turning the tales of his elders into seemingly real things that stalked him through dark, tight corridors of cold stone.

When the pod opened, the insides were scratched with the claws of many dangerous beast from below the earth, lights smashed by attempts to break the sides with pure mass, the sedative having not affected the dwarfs many shapes nearly as fast as it had the others due to increased body mass and occasional poison resistance or vastly different physiology from the intended targets. Out of the pod now flopped a fish, Andriks attempt to stop what he perceived to be a risk of drowning. After a few moments the fish changed back into the dwarf who scrambled away from the pod, panting from the remembered fear and the few seconds where he had been drowning in air.

The metal corridors where not much of an improvement in terms of encasement. To Andrik, the lack of sound coming from beyond the walls meant that they must be underground rather than simply a metal house or ship, because there you would be able to hear nature otside if you listened hard enough, and the druid could hear nothing in the moments of silence between talking. If it weren't for the two human youths who were already out and the assorted others biguns emerging from their pods he might have just started running about trying and find an exit. As it was he took a swig from his hip flask to calm down, griped his medallion tightly and went along with the introductions situation while trying to remain calm. Liquid courage and faith helped him keep it together, as did the thought that maybe these corridors leed outside eventually. Those where the things that had let him handle the ascension.

"If we are doing introductions, I am Andrik Nordin, Druid of Sollava. I am a traveler by nature, but Dwarf’s Embankment is the place to which I return at the end of my journeys and I suppose in that sense it’s home. It is nice to meet you all, though I wish it weren't in whatever this metal place is. Let’s work together to find where we are and more importantly, find a way out."
'I’ve heard of some of those places they said they are from before. hmmm'
He thinks for a moment then rummages around in his knapsack and pulls out a large map which he unfurls and examines as the rest of the introductions are made, distracting him from looking at the enclosing walls as the voices drown out the silence.

"So I looked up some the places you're from and it seems they are all quite far from where I was when i was trapped in" he shivers a little in distaste as he indicates to the pod" that egg prison as well as from each other. Which is odd. I wonder how we all got here?”

Inch by Inch...

Sweat soaked hands struggled to claw through loose dirt, cutting themselves on sharp tiny stones all just to reach firm peat beneath before he mustered all of his strength to pull himself just another inch forward. But. Behind the figure, in the bushes somewhere, still came the rasping snarls of some ...thing. Nightmarish silhouette in the pale dim light, thrashing through the foliage, searching with it's one remaining, unblinded eye. But the man paid no heed ...

...for before him shone a light. So pure, born of neither fire nor will. Serene. Quiet. Beckoning.

...Even the full moon in all it's false glory looked utterly hideous compared to this alien glow. Of course, the full moon is the reason he is in this mess. So he felt like he had the right to remain biased.



As he dragged himself across the earth, nothing else he could do to help himself, he could not help but wonder with regret. Why in the world did he step in? Why did he help that camper? ....They always run away, he should have ---no, HE KNEW they always ran away! It's a law of nature, people are simply just like that. ...Nothing could change that. Everyone is that way. ....Even if he hoped they would one day stay, maybe fight alongside him - you know, for THEIR OWN SURVIVAL. They never did. Not once. not ever...And he was always ended up being the scapegoat.

These thoughts welled up into churning anger and with hands aching further, his attention came to the plight he was in and his eyes began to sting at the notion. This was a farmiliar sensation that he detested, it came whenever he was sad too. He felt ...betrayed. Yes, that was it. For his faith in humanity.

This isn't fair. THEY SHOULD BE IN MY SHOES, not me. Now it's all going to go to ...to, my future, my house ...and just as I finally got my permit to the city, now this life, Amy --- just so some filthy! cowering! piece of crap! I don't even know ...can live? WHY!? He doesn't deserve to live! Not after what I've done for him. Not after how he just ran away ...I. saved. his. life!

As the man dragged himself into the light, trying once to stand on his twisted legs to no avail, he simply fell only to feel the roughness like that of fish scales scrape against his raw flesh, leaving a pinkish skidmark on the floor. His mind reeled from the injustice of it all. And then the stars suddenly went dark ...


I hate them. I HATE THEM. I HATE THEM ALL. COWARDS. FOOLS. TRAITORS. Every. Single. One. of them is a joke.

Now he knew that to be true. Too bad this was his last lesson, one he had to pay tuition for with his life.

It was said that the last words spoken in life are the most powerful. Curses. The first spells ever were chanted with the dying breath afterall.

He inhaled deeply, even if it meant gurgling on the warm liquid that welled up from his chest.

"I-I...
....wish...
everyone..
.......w----
....DIES..."

...and as if the world had heard his words, it began to fill with a blue luminesence. A strange dark orb hovering over, watching. His favourite colour, at least. It tried to drown him but too bad, he smirked, his own blood had already done the job. No longer did he feel pain. He wouldn't even give it the satisfaction of hearing him gasp for air.

No.

Not anymore.

Sharp, thick fingernails gouged a farmiliar, cursive 'G' into a small section of the wall. "Gee-o--Gio. ...No, Geo--van--nee." Like a child trying to pronounce their first words. "Giovanni!" He exclaimed momentarily then bushy brows furrowed once more. "No, Gio. Just Gio."

Then he proceeded to etch the next of his initials into the surface, marring it forevermore, ...except he did not know what it was. ...But the ones outside, they had names. -Whole names.- He would rue the day he went out and made a fool of himself in front of total strangers, just because he forgot his name.

...as he stood there, waiting, for the right time to make first contact.
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It had been a awhile since Gio violently woke, gasping deep gulps of air as his lungs stretched for the first time. Thrashing around on the floor as his hands dug many deep lines across it. The feeling of his nasal passages peeling open, half suffocating and excruciating, allowed him to understand why babes cry when they are born to this world. It took him a few minutes to just begin to comprehend breathing, even now hours later, it still stung whenever he took a breath.

He just sat there in silence, cross-legged for what must have been hours. Trying to remember anything. Trying to make his clothes more comfortable. Trying to figure out where he was and how he got here. Groping around in the dark. It was only when there came a girl's voice, 'Natazume' she called herself, that he began doubting any of this was a bad dream. Then came someone called 'Eli', a young man's tone. Shimmer Shores? Acrine? Why did the names of these places invoke precise images of a rural seaside village and an island town? Did he ...?

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With one good push, he flipped the hatch on it's side! Stepping onto one of the leathery platforms to reach out of the ceiling, he pulled himself up and out of the vessel. Looking around. It seemed safe enough, because for the short time he hadeavesdropped on them, none of them had mentioned anything like 'kill any survivors!' or 'loot their bodies!'. To his relief. All they engaged in was some random chitchat about where they were from. Very mundane.

Then as he sat by the open hatch quietly, watching the both of them interact, a third ovoid cracked and out came a ...

"...Grrr-oss." He mumbled to himself in a low growl, unintentionally of course, but the sight of a fish morphing into a short, stubby human. Organs expanding, shape disfiguring. The few brief moments of distorting visceria. ...It was enough to trigger a mental gag reflex.

The moon reached it's highest point just as the song came to an end. Kiana smiled slightly and started swishing her legs back and forth. She always had loved how the night seemed to glow with the moon and the stars. She had been travelling for a whole day since her stop at Lassan, and tomorrow she would be at the gates of te Capital of the Kingdom. The thought alone made her smile and wish for tomorrow to come faster.

This came at the expense of her sleep, as her excitement had deprived her of the calm she needed to get some rest. She could only giggle at that, it had happened so many times already, and in such a short period of time,
that it was not that strange for it to be hapening right now. She would go around it eventually, like she always did.

She was currently sitting on the highest branches of a treetop, looking out into the sky and muttering tunes to herself. She had come to like the songs that people heard in busy streets and in local inns or taverns, and now she had a couple that she couldn't shake out of her head, so she kept singing them and remembering the places she heard them in. The streets, the inns, the taverns, the sqares, she could recall one for every place she had been at.

She remembered the towns she had been at, in such a short period of time. She had transversed All of the riverside and a couple of mountains before coming across this vast forest. She had enjoyed the beautiful sights that the mountains had to offer, and the river was always filled with plenty of fish at any moment, but the forest was something that made Kiana sigh everytime she stopped to rest. She had felt something special when she had first stepped into it, and she had immediately felt drawn to it.

The forest felt like it had been waiting for her since she stepped out of her house, or maybe even from before,
since she had decided to go out into the world, or since she had been born, or since her parents had met,
or maybe since forever, she could never know. The only thing she knew for sure was that the forest seemed to call out to her, and she could not sit by with a whole forest calling out to her, right?

Her song and her thoughts came to a sudden stop as she watched a constelation. She was looking straight into The Archer, when she watched the tip of the Arrow fly away from the Bow. The Arrow grew longer and longer with with an evergrowing tail behind it. She saw the star grow brighter and brighter and become a Shooting Star.

She had heard from a lot of places that Shooting Stars only granted wishes to those that catched them. They were gifts from gods to the mortal world, and those that were able to get a hold of them would be granted enough power to have anything they desired.

"I'm not doing this for the power", she said as she jumped down from her tree. "I don't thirst for power, I'm just doing this to know"

"Right?"

Her doubt didn't leave her mind as she saw the Star. It had fallen breaking some branches and felling some leaves, but other than that it was standing in perfect harmony with everything else. The object had a perfectly... round shape? She frowned in thought "It's more like an egg" She was a little dazzled at the realization, but decided against voicing her thoughts. If it was a gift from the gods, she better not complain.

She decided that whatever it was it needed something from her, and she stepped closer, carefuly, of course,
and placed a gentle hand over the surface. It was perfectly smooth, or, more accurately, impossibly smooth; It was truly the work of a higher being. She had little time to marvel, as the smooth surface recoiled from her touch and retreated upwards, revealing a heavenly sight.

The interior was bathed in colorful lights, the likes of which she had never seen before. It was like the inside was dotted in stars, each shining with its own light Kiana walked straight into the thing, still amazed by the sight, and noticed the panel descending to its place, and trapping Kiana with the lights. She panicked at first, but stopped moving when she saw the lights dancing before her eyes. She sat on a chair in the center and held her breath as she felt a liquid touch her feet.

She remembered how everyone in Lassan always muttered a prayer to Illian, the godess of the moon. She drifted away thinking of one of those prayers

Kiana was floating in an empty space, holding her knees in her arms and with her hair flowing in an unseen current. She could hear something talking in an unknown language, but couldn't bring herself to listen to what it was saying. She looked around and noticed that the place had been bright as the sun at first, but was quickly dimming itself. The light was dying slowly, and the voice was drifting into nothingness. She moved her head from right to left, and hit it with an invisible wall.

She felt the pain in her forehead, and she rubbed it with a hand to get rid of it. She had trouble opening her eyes, and quickly realized that she had them closed. She opened them with some effort and noticed that all of the lights were off. The inside of the thing was as dead as it was alive before. She quickly realized that it was no invention nor gift from any god, but it was something built. It was build with the iron of a sword, but everywhere. She had heard the sound it had made when she collided with it, and it had sounded like an empty helmet, or something like that.

She saw a green light blinking at her side. She felt the same spark of curiosity that had goten her into this trouble, and despite her best efforts, she couldn't resist to push it. The small egg was filled with magic, dancing lights. She saw the starry sky in every direction, and the lights soon grew to show her two dots.

One was black and had a red "X" on top. The other was white and was blinking with a white glow. "Current position..." The word were written besides the blinking point. "Five survivors... Charred planet..." Something sounded odd about that. Planet was a strange word, but charred was something that she knew well enough. Charred sounded bad, and whatever it was a "planet" was bound to be in some trouble.

The blinking point had tendrils extending in a lot of directions, and it puzzled Kiana to no end. She leaned back into one of the walls, and it gave away just like before. She fell backwards and landed in her back, breaking the fall with her left arm.

She was hearing someone talk, but hadn't been paying attention to it. She turned to see four other... "survivors"... She waved those thoughts away and focused on the four individuals before her. She picked herself up and noticed all of them. A red-themed girl, complete with red hair (but the boots weren't red; a shame, it looked good on her); a little man- no, a dwarf, standing right besides her, another red-themed person (this one male, pretty good looking in her books); and a hairy man, with dark brown fur everywhere and ripped clothes all over him. The four of them were standing around, and now she thought that their voices might be what she was hearing in her sleep.

As she stood, she dusted herself off a little and introduced herself with a small smile and a wave. "H-Hello, everyone, I'm Kiana from the Twin Rivers Pass... Who are you all?" She asked a little unsure, thinking that she was more than a little out of the loop. It wasn't until after that that she noticed the alien place they were in, with metal in every direction and no sky above or ground below. She approached the others.

As the others on board began to adjust to the new surroundings, Natazume could still the feel the shock of being someplace new, vibrating throughout her body, like infectious shock waves. Not knowing where she or any of them for that matter, was rather tense. And she she didn't like to be tense, it didn't go with the flow of things. Natazume looked to a young man with short choppy hair, he seemed able to adjust, find his footing well enough. He said he was Eli but failed at really welcoming her to wherever they were. It was indeed a nagging mystery. "Haaa nice to meet ya, Eli. I am a girl who fishes but sadly I am not quite a fish." She shrugged a little, wondering what he had been dreaming of. Her own dreams had been disjointed and so far, nothing was coming to mind.

Next, a large man introduced himself as Andrik and tried to figure out the group's different origins. Natazume gave him a silent smile and looked to the others. Another man rose from the metaphorical ashes and seemed slow in coming around to reality. He called himself Gio and seemed interested in the eggs they had all encountered. "Well I think the eggs are from here..." Natazume gave a shrug, thinking her wager was a safe one. Though their components were still uncertain. It was made of wires and bright blinking lights that no one had ever seen or even dreamed of before. Natazume wasn't sure why but when she gazed into the contents of the advanced eggs, she felt a tightening in her stomach, a sense of apprehension.

Home was somewhere else, far far away.

There seemed to be another egg but so far it wasn't opening like the rest. The salmon haired woman made a mental note to see who was still stuck inside. Finally though, a girl appeared, seeming to be the final person to make up their collection of lost souls. "Hello there...I'm Natazume. That's Eli, Andrik, that egg is still unopened and that's Gio." She explained, pointing to each of the others. She reached back and nervously tugged at her long untamed ponytail, still uncertain as to where they were. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a blinking red light by a flat sheet of black glass. She wandered over and studied it. She sniffed it and nervously bit down on the inside of her mouth.

"Hmm." She ran her fingers along the smooth surface and tapped the red light and it flickered off, only to have images appear on the sheet of black glass. Natazume took a quick step back as a woman's soothing voice began to speak while images flashed up on the screen such as their ship, its facilities, the outside view from space and other informative pictures.

Glancing to the other four, minus the fifth still in stasis, Natazume didn't find herself feeling quite so comforted. The woman's message was confusing. There was so much to take in. She rubbed her temples and looked to the rings on her pinky fingers. She channeled her energy and two thin streams of water came from the magical runes and twisted to form a floating orb of water. It was nice to know she could still use her power, even high up in the dark unwelcoming sky. The water quickly retreated into the rings as she bent down and saw the items that had been mentioned. "So...we get to pick what our responsibility is..." Her voice trailed off as she swallowed hard. It was dawning on her...everyone was dead. They were the only ones left?

'How is that fair...? Why us? How could they know and only save six people?' She wondered bitterly.

Sighing heavily, she glanced to Andrik. "You might be a good tactician." She considered as he had tried to find answers fairly quickly. Though Natazume wasn't sure who she should be, perhaps someone who healed others? She was already amazed by what magical things she had seen like the glass projecting images and sound, so she had to wonder what other advancements awaited each new profession. She considered a pilot but didn't think she would do well there. "I suppose we should think about what we want and where our strengths would be the most useful." Natazume shrugged. "I'm good with water, and catching and containing things." She said though she wasn't sure how useful that would be in the middle of the dark abyss. "I think our most important roles would be the Medical one, and probably the Pilot one."

'Eli from Acrine. Eli from Acrine. I am Eli from Acrine.' he repeated in his mind, time and time again. In case this was just another dream - wouldn't be the first he woke up from a dream, thinking he was fully awake, only to find out it was yet another dream. Like a vicious cycle of poorly written comedy. But this time - this time, he was not waking up. He looked over the rest of the people, as they emerged out of their respective pods. One remained closed, not showing any signs of opening up. "Is it empty?" he muttered out, most to himself than to anyone else.

Other people in the room seemed to be introducing themselves to the best of their abilities - some better, some worse. Gio seemed to have trouble doing so - shock probably. Or an injury to the head. Eli was unable to discern the cause at this point, nor did it particularly catch his attention. No; it did, but something else was amiss.

Disregarding the others speak, he brushed past Natazume and ran down the hallway. 'This is not right. It is a building, it has to be man-made. Just one look out of the window and I'll know where we are. I must've hit my head and someone brought me here to help me out. No other explanation.' Eli's thoughts ran rampant as he reached a round window, providing him with a clear view of what was outside.

The landscape he was so eager to see, something to quench his worries. Hope for a familiar landscape...

Turned into an unfamiliar darkness. Darkness... and almost nothing else.

He felt sick to his stomach, seeing something so vastly different from what he was supposed to see. Then a female voice sounded across the room, calm and omnipotent in its presence. It had seemed to be coming from every direction, but in a friendly demeanour, her tone not forcing itself onto her listeners. Intently listening, Eli tried to pinpoint the source. He managed to work his way towards a wall, the material was not completely known to him - it was cold and had the texture of metal, but nothing he was familiar with. In the upper part of the wall, a shiny black dot was situated - the woman's voice coming from within. An announcement system of sorts.

Thinking about what it was seemed like the better option than actually hearing what it had to say. One sentence was enough for him to fear what was to come. His stomach was turning and twisting, breathing became heavy. "We are sad that our planet can no longer sustain life? What was that supposed to mean?" The voice refused to stop. 'The message doesn't seem to be in real time. Not sure how that works. Maybe there is some delay for them to hear our voices...' Eli thought to himself but even as the announcement progressed, no one referred to his question.

And just like that, the message was over. Life not defined by location, but by perception. From his location, he wasn't able to see the expressions on other people's faces, but Natazume seemed to keep her head cold. 'No, she must be good at controlling her feelings. Having a grip on her emotions like that... admirable,' Eli thought to himself as he made his way towards the mentioned wristbands.

He was going nowhere without one of those. But to simply accept the facts that were given to them. It was certainly a joke. A twisted, sick play. His family was intact and if he played along, everything would be sorted out quickly. On the other hand, he wasn't as good with his emotions as Natazume seemed to be.

"What kind of a joke do you think this is? he spoke up, the entirety of his body facing one of the black dots on the wall. A ship being our home? Our homes are out there, they have to be. And our fami... no, just no." He didn't feel as if the female behind the message was lying. All of this around them seemed far to organized to be a mere hoax. There had to be something else behind this.

"There is no way we've been asleep for 15 years. How ridiculous is that? I fell into this damned egg and got covered with some liquid like yolk surrounding a chick. Next thing I know... wake up here with someone telling me that we've been asleep for 15 years. Kinda hard to buy into that, isn't it? There has to be some information here regarding our true whereabouts."

After him and the two youths emerged, two others joined them.

First was a rather large hairy… person, who did not appear to have taken the tube particularly well, his voice slurred as if he had gotten tipsy from whatever had knocked them all out. They apparently had not seen a dwarf before, not entirely surprising as his kind had only been above ground again in the last 75 odd years and did not travel inland much on the islands they visited so this beast of a man might simply have not heard of his kind. Andrik had never met a man with so much hair, skin like a corpse and pointed ears. The ears would suggest elf, yet his hair and build suggested otherwise. A curiosity to be sure.

“I am dwarf and a druidic shape shifter my large friend, might I ask what you are?”

And speaking of elves, the final member of their awake group was an elf woman. Andrik had met a few members of the fair folk on his travels, apparently in the past there had been something of a rivalry between the races though that had cooled with the dwarfs long absence from the surface. He gave Kiana a polite nod as his name was mentioned during Natazume’s catchup introduction.

Introductions successfully made Andrik decided to take is short legs for a bit of a walk wanting to get an understanding of where they were, but unfortunately most of the doors barred his entry. It was so that he ended up joining Eli as they both gazed off into the endless void of stars that was the window Natazume had found earlier, while listening to the the recording she had found.

'Why is the night sky... forwards? And what is that ball out there.'

On the one hand they weren't as confided as he had feared they were, on the other hand they still had no Idea where they were. The disembodied voice was giving little reassurance, using a lot of unknown terminology but from what he could gather this thing claimed everything on their world was dead, that the life nurtured by Solavas was gone, never to return. He returned to the others as the voice fell quiet and discussion commenced.

'it is all lies, surely. The world had seemed so peaceful, how could could any war break out and even if it did, how could it cause so much devastation that even the dwarfs who remained deep in the earth were not spared'

Natazume seemed to be taking this in her stride, Giovanni, who appeared to have managed to correct his speech or snapped out of drunkenness showed some suspicion and the young lad Eli was freaking out about this. As it was Andrik’s slight intoxication and earlier fear where making him a wee bit paranoid.

"The claims do seem.. Preposterous. I do not trust this voice in the slightest, we should endeavor to verify or disprove what it has claimed on our own rather than taking it all at face value. We should try and find out as much as possible about our situation as quickly as possible, for it is a strange place we have been taken to and it might be dangerous."

He considered the rolls and the others opinions of them for a moment, Medical Officer and the pilot, what he assumed was some kind of combination navigator and Helmsman, where important if you wanted to get anywhere and arrive free of scurvy but when it came down to it a ship's fate is in the hands of it’s captain. At any rate a lot of this was academic at the moment.

"I think perhaps we should take all the bracelets and explore the ship to make sure it is safe and we consider who can or wants to do what while we go. I could be our tactician, I imagine I have more experience dealing with difficult situations than the rest of you, for we darves live much longer than most, though that same quality could serve me well in captaincy."

Andrik picked up a random wristband and approached the nearest door to see what would happen, he was assuming that perhaps touching the bracelet to the door will cause a reaction, much like touching the egg did, and thus open the way.

Questions asked to the voice who once oversaw them went unanswered.

The silence, lack of explanation was maddening.

Gio suggested Natazume should be a medic, was interesting. She had no idea where her craft would be best suited but he did have a point, several actually. "Alright, I'll give it a shot." She took the bracelet and snapped it around her right wrist. Andrik decided to take the tactician role as she suggested. Kiana took the pilot route and the two headed off to check out the rest of The Flock. Natazume looked to Eli and Gio who had hung back, both of them still trying to cope with everything. All of them were in a substation that was unbelievable.

"We should hang out here just in case that egg opens up." She suggested. "I'd hate to wake up here, all alone in a new place...a strange place." She shuddered and looked to the device attached to her wrist. Of course they had all woken up alone but they had each other. For now, she was fine hanging back. In an attempt to take their minds off their loss of home as well as friends and family, she decided to try and alter their focus somehow. "Not many folks get a second chance at starting a new life," She began to say. "I believe there is a reason, a higher power that Aquis allowed us to find safety up here."

"It's scary but also an honor..." Part of her wanted to ask more about where they were from but she thought that might spark more feelings of loss and suffering and she wanted to look on the bright side, even if that seemed impossible at the moment. 'I don't know where we are but the same could be said for everyone else. We must stick together if we're going to find any answers.' She thought to herself. The pink haired woman moved back toward the door where the other two had gone through. She was interested to see more of the ship but still believed waiting for the other was the right thing to do.

She let out a heavy sigh.

No matter how dire things looked, they weren't as alone as they felt. Their loved ones were gone but she knew there was nothing she could do. In the pit of her stomach, even beyond her heart, she knew they were gone. Her only pleading hope was that her family had been together, hadn't suffered. 'To think they died not knowing my whereabouts...' She thought solemnly. Glancing back to the others, she felt she needed a distraction too, knowing the grief would surely comes in waves, much like the ocean she once loved and found so calming. "We are here for a reason, I believe that with all my heart." Natazume said softly but firmly. "We're going to get through this together." She tried to assure them as best she could.

The dwarf stepped out into the corridor alongside the elf ranger.

"I remember from my younger days while my people were ascending from the deep, the first advice to diggers for when they broke into some now cavern or tunnel was to not wonder off on your own because you wanted to look at the neat stuff you unearthed. Sticking together is, as you say, definitely a good Idea. I also appreciating the company."

He turned back to those in the room,

"we won’t go far and’ll make sure to stay insight of this door”

That he walked away from the door, which sealed itself tightly behind them and blocked out the subsequent noise of the smiths emergence and demands.

"now then let’s find out where these go”

The dwarf pulled out a blank piece of parchment, a quill and ink and began to draw a map as they explored.

To the right where a series of 3 doors at a dead end, to their left a long corridor that appeared to have doors some way down it and finally a door ahead of them that when opened lead to another long corridor at the end of which a soft thrumming noise could be heard.

"I hope this place has more to it than hallways”

It did indeed as the trio of doors at the end were inspected. The one at the end led to a cylinder like room which featured nothing but panel with lights on it that Andric intended to never go in again. The other two were more interesting and, more importantly, spacios. To the right was a room which contained an odd building inside sitting on 3 stilts with two massive bulky machines attached on the back. Past that there was another window out into the void. It was likely that if Kiana approached the house thing it would react in some manner.

The other room held on one side a large number of unknown item including but not limited to: what looked like suits of armor made of rubber and glass, shoos that looked like webbed feet, strange T shaped devices alongside tiny pickaxes, paintbrushes and shovels, a metal frame with a shovel on the end of metal poles, a box with a toothed blade attached, lots of small devices a little like the one that had spoken to them with some additions like antenna or dishes, a bunch of things that looked like thick wire nooses on sticks, small crossbows with ammunition that looked like it had liquid inside and an innumerable amount of other strange items.

The other side held various storage containers, cages and tanks made of metal and glass, all looking quite empty, alongside another metal frame, this one with a empty metal door frame with two prongs sticking out of it. There was a large door the lead behind the elevator and presumably into the room with the stilt house. Andric could not see the end of the room for all the shelves of strange things. Whoever ended up their researcher would probably have a wealth of information to gain from their wristband about all these tools of extraterrestrial exploration and sample collection.

"So what do you make of all this? Can't say I know what most of this stuff is” he asked his fellow explorer.

Andric was now regretting telling people they were not wandering off but as Kiana and he had both agreed, there was safety in numbers and it would be unwise to leave the others to worry about where the two of them had gone off to and perhaps going looking for them in completely the wrong direction. He walked back along to the pod room, finishing up his rough sketch and presumably arriving there after the situation with Victor had been somewhat resolved.

"Right," Eli nodded when Kiana approached him, "We will." He watched as she followed Andrik out of the room, to explore rest of the vessel - their so-called new home. He shuddered at the thought, but brushed it away. At least for a little while. Indeed, it was time to calm down, take a couple of deep breaths and see this whole situation in a new light. There ought to be some information around here and, besides, the female voice had mentioned something of a route towards a bigger community - if Eli had remembered it correctly. If not here, they ought to have some answers.

'All in due time, then.' He thought to himself as he clinched his fist. Finally exhaling, he turned to the two that had remained in the room. Gio and Natazume. "My apologies if I acted... rash. It's not an everyday occurrence to be taken away and tossed into an unknown environment. With, no offence, unknown people." As he finished the sentence, his gaze fell once again upon the bracelets. The air around this place felt surreal. Mysterious. The same with the people that were here with him. But on the other hand, Eli didn't feel in immediate danger. Or in any sort of danger. That was a relief.

Natazume took the medic bracelet, a dedicated healer. A shaman. A priest. Her new role had many names, but he was used to people tending to the sick called healers back home. The terminology used to define their offered roles was interesting to Eli, as a very specific wording was used for certain phrases. As if the phrases had been purposely advanced to envelop a broader aspect of the role's nature. Eli took note of it. Kiana mentioned she was a good navigator, prompting her to take the pilot bracelet and with the only other missing bracelet being that of a tactician, Eli presumed Andrik took it. At least for the time being. Ironically, the position seemed to suit him well.

"A captain, first officer and researcher bracelets are left..." He spoke up, noting that each bracelet had a different colour to it. The intensity of the colours seemed to be similar to the lights that they had the opportunity to notice in each of their respective pods. The light seemed artificial, yet warm. Acting as a team seemed to be the right decision at this point. His hand moved towards the bracelets, but before he was able to grab one, his attention moved toward the sliding sound behind him. Didn't take him long to notice the last pod open up and its inhabitant pop out. A muscular man. A hostile muscular man.

No, not hostile... rather disoriented. Confused; like all of them. Eli couldn't blame him, but this was not the time to consider themselves the enemies here.

"Woah there, deep breaths, friend. Deep breaths," Eli brought his hands up to show that they were not a threat. Body language was the key. Having a confused and disoriented man of his size run rampant on them would be everything but good. "We are not here to hurt you, but were brought to this place by the same pods you just fell out of." He noted with his head towards the other five pods. "As far as we know, there are only six of us here. On some sort of a vessel, a ship of some kind. You'll be glad to know that we are not hostile and so far had encountered nothing hostile around. However, I'd suggest you take a couple of minutes before looking out the window. I know this is really weird, but we had to go through the same experience as you, not too long ago." Eli put on a slight smile as he finished the sentence.

Without warning, the final egg seemed to hatch, spawning a large brute man who was clearly panicked. Understandably so but Natazume wanted to avoid violence or any acts of aggression if possible. They couldn't be a threat to one another, even under such stress. "N-no one here is going to kill you." She tried to assure the man. Thankfully Eli stepped in to try and give some reassurance to the very confused man. Natazume watched him closely, 'He would do well as a Captain or first officer.' She considered, for now keeping her thoughts to herself as the four of them tried to sort everything out as best they could.

Next Gio tried to get some answers and Natazume made a note that he too, would fall into either Captain or first officer quite nicely. But for now, it was best to save those choices for later. Gio wanted answers and she agreed, the other four and herself had been able to acclimate together and give a quick summary of where they were from. While Natazume did not hold any suspicions of the last individual to come out of his slumber, she wanted to ensure everyone was safe and on the same page.

"My name is Natazume, that's Gio and that's Eli." She started to tell the other man. Eli did a good job at filling him in about what had happened though in all honesty, it was still a big mystery to everyone else involved as well. "We were picking roles we would like to try and take while on this...ship." It was difficult for her to equate this place with the kinds of ships she knew back home, the ones crafted with love and honesty.

The woman glanced down to where the other two had wandered off toward.

'I wonder what they're up to.' She mused. As...interesting as there current venue was, Natazume was itching to see another part of their new home. She wanted to see if there was anything, anything at all that brought her closer to home. Perhaps some kind of body of water where she could find some moment's peace. She took a step back and looked to the bracelets that were left. They needed to pick something so they could all move on and explore with the others. "Those will give us access to the others areas. I guess we'll find places to sleep and eat."

Of course until she found these so called places, she wouldn't believe anything. The technology that surrounded them was unreal and yet they were awake, very much awake. She had confidence in those around her but they still needed to sit down and gather their wits and try to find out more about one another. If they were to find answers, they had to trust one another. For now it had to be given but she wanted to know more about who she was giving trust to. "I know it's a lot to take in...that our home and loved ones are gone...but we cannot change what has happened...it's a horrible shock and one we will have to live with, but we need to move forward as best we can. Somehow." Natazume said to the stranger.

It was doubtful that her words would offer comfort but she needed to give tough love along with encouragement.