Mable awoke laying face up, staring at a blue sky. "That's not my ceiling..." She blinked in confusion, before suddenly shooting up to her feet. "Kidnappers!?" She put her fists up as if ready to brawl and looked around frantically, but lowered them and only stood dumbstruck at what she saw. She was standing in an expansive grassy field, just how expansive she couldn't tell due to a strangely thick blue fog. "What planet is this?" She pondered to herself and checked her left wrist. However, instead of an advanced personal computer system she only saw an unfamiliar symbol on the back of her hand. She was starting to get a tad nervous at this point. "T-that's right, I put that away before going to bed, but what is this?" Her mouth was a wavy smile at this point as she examined the symbol closer. It was a handheld microphone, which seemed odd. She didn't use handheld microphones for her concerts as she preferred to have her hands free when dancing. She didn't remember getting a tattoo, in fact she'd never gotten one before.

As she wandered through the fog she heard voices in the distance, a lot of voices. There was a huge crowd of people gathered here at what was a... wall? Mable moved her head up, and up, and up some more. Before her was a stone wall that stretched upwards for what seemed like forever. Looking to the left and right it was the same, going on for as far as she could see. As she got closer to the crowd she noticed that it was filled with all sorts of people. She had just come from a planet filled with diverse aliens, but this was something else entirely.

"Hey, there's another one over here!" A feathered man with a bird like face yelled. A small group of people surrounded her and began pushing her through the sea of people, which was making way for her.

"H-hold on, what's going on? What planet is this?" She asked to a middle aged human man next to her.

"You think I know? No one knows what the hell's going on, all we know is that you got one of those marks on you." He said. Mable looked at the microphone on her hand and looked back at him with a confused stare.

"This tattoo? Ugh, this doesn't make any sense."

"No shit, just keep moving and you'll see." The man said. Mable kept quiet as she went through the crowd until she reached the base of the wall. There was an opening here, a rectangular opening that led to what appeared to be a cave. She watched as a man with marble like skin ran towards the cave entrance, only to be repelled as if he had been hit by a rampaging bull. "No one's been able to get in there, but earlier we saw someone with a mark on their hand like yours go in." He explained.

"Oh..." Mable of course still had no idea why she was here, but what she did know was that there didn't appear to be any way out. There were thousands of people here, soon or later they were bound to die of dehydration or starvation, that is if their body worked like that. "Has the person that went in come back yet?" She asked. The man looked off in the distance, avoiding the question.

"No, he hasn't." The bird like man spoke up, walking from behind her. "That's why we're waiting until we find more of you. That kid, he was warned, but he just ran in on his own. Haven't seen him since. I know this is selfish to ask, bu-"

"Alright, I'll go." Mable said, cutting off the avian man.

"Huh?"

"I said I'll go, not much else to do, is there?" Mable looked down at her clothes, she'd gone to sleep in her pajamas, and she was bare footed at the moment. Not exactly spelunking gear, but what could she do? For now, she just waited for more people with this mark to show up.

"Where am I?"

Those were the words that echoed through Illia's mind as she walked across the fog-covered landscape. She knew the forest was foggy but now it seemed she was no longer in the forest anymore as there were only plains all around her. Before she knew it, the trees disappeared, replaced by an eerily sterile grass that all had the same exact length. She knew that for a fact as she actually stopped and measured them. No plains would ever be like that. Not in a million years. She must have stumbled upon some magically designed place, she thought. A plant mage should be able to do this kind of thing, though she wouldn't know why they would. Perhaps they just desired uniformity that badly?

"Hmm, are those... voices?"

She stopped herself and steeled her ears. Indeed, those were voices. Human voices in fact.

Without wasting any more moment, she walked towards where the voice seemed to be originated, With these robes of hers, she couldn't really run. And she hadn't the stamina to run anyways. Even though she didn't look like it, she was 300 years old. And even though mages lived long lives, their stamina would decrease with age. And she was the oldest of them all.

There, at the source of the voice, she discovered that there was a crowd of people. And not just any ordinary people, as there were demihumans and other odd-looking humanoids as well.

Thanks to her gloves, they didn't see the mark on her left hand so they didn't swarm at her. Instead, she had to be the one who initiated the conversation.

"Excuse me sir," she said to a man closest to her, "What is going on here? Why are you all gathered like this?"

"Hmm, what? You... a newcomer?" he replied, looking surprised at her odd looks. "Do you have the mark on your hand?"

"Mark? What mark? I don't have any mark on my hand," she replied back. She was now even more confused than before.

"Take off your gloves, miss. The left one. Just do it."

Illia did as she was told, seeing no harm in the act. And when she did, she immediately discovered that there was now a tattoo of some sort on the back of her left hand. It looked like to be a magic circle, and one of the more difficult ones too.

"This pattern... I remember this. This is the magic circle they drew at the ritual when I was coronated as the leader of the mages. This is the symbol of the archmage! How did it get here?"

Before she could lift her hand closer however, the man shouted, "Hey, we got another one here!" And before she knew it, she was swarmed by the crowd. And they all pushed her forward.

"W-what are you doing?" she said to them, clearly looking distraught on this sudden treatment. She could feel her robe being stepped upon over and over again. Thankfully, it was not some ordinary robe as it was made by the fiber secreted by the legendary spider queen Shelob. Its toughness and magical properties were unrivaled, so it wouldn't rip by just something like this.

"We'll explain once we get there. Now go on and get to the front," the man explained.

She did as he said. She could just blow away all these people with her magic if she tried to lead her into some kind of trap.

She was soon brought to the entrance to the cave. Behind that was a massive white wall that stretched up to the sky.

"What is this?" Illia said as she stared in awe. In all her life she never saw a wall as tall as the one in front of her.

"Miss Archmage," the man then addressed her by the title she blurted out, "You have the mark on your hand. That means you can enter. We the ones here don't have it so we cannot. Watch."

Illia then saw a man with a marble skin ramming into the entrance with his shoulder, only for him to repelled back by some unknown force.

"A barrier..." Illia mumbled. She was quite familiar with something like this, since she could use it as well.

"He had been doing that for a while. Real stubborn. Refuses to give up even after we tell him to," the man commented. "So yeah, only the marked ones could enter. And we don't have any choice as walking back to the foggy plains behind us just makes us all end up here in the end. We have no idea why we're here right now. We just want to go home. So you have to do something, I beg of you. The other marked ones have already entered as well so you don't have to worry about going in alone."

"Hmm, a warped space? This is some powerful magic at work indeed..." she mumbled to herself. "Very well sir. Stay here while I investigate the heart of the matter. My hypothesis is that we're trapped by some powerful magic and to dispel that spell, we have to go into the cave."

And that magic must have transported me and the others as well... Just what kind of magic is this? There must be a bunch of mages working together to achieve this effect.

Illia walked towards the cave's opening. As the others had said, she wasn't repelled at all when she tried to enter the it.

Carefully, she entered the cave. Dungeon-crawling had never been her specialty. But she knew that the main rule of dungeon crawling was to stay alert at all times. And she would make sure to adhere to that rule.

Evfimiia Serdiatnitskiia

---

Grass.

She was standing on grass with a stunned look on her face, breathing in air free from the smell of musty tomes and dusty shelves. Evfimiia had been investigating that odd aisle, but she had no memory of any sort of transition to this place. Just a blink, and everything changed around her. It was quite beyond her, to be suddenly transitioned into this place during her free time.

Speaking of free time, she was still carrying one of those raunchier books she was planning to read then. Blushing slightly, she quickly bound the book in silk, hiding the covers and thus the title, before stowing it into her skirt.

The open area wasn't at all unpleasant to her. Her lineage was one evolved for hunting after all; large wide open spaces like these weren't foreign to her kind. The crowd of people, however, made her feel very uncomfortable, not just from fear that they might cast her out for being different, but just because she wasn't that great around people in general. At the very least, there seemed to be a diverse set of races in this area, far beyond her own knowledge of races that existed.

Her attention was caught suddenly by a crowd of people gathering in a place, murmuring about 'marks' and 'caves'. Pushing through the crowd, she was just in time to see what seemed to be a marble man furiously charging at the cave, only to be repelled by an invisible barrier.

A mark on the back of our hands?

Evfimiia peeled off her glove just a little, enough to see a fresh mark on the back, before putting it back on again. She had the mark, but was she really going to enter some cave just because she was one of those who could? Wouldn't this be rather dangerous? There seemed to be one already there, seemingly waiting for more of these people with marks to show up, and another clad in a robe, who simply went in on her own.

Content to simply meld into the crowd, her mind turned towards the girl there, eyeing her oddly thick hair and strange colorings.

No sooner than she think about investigating the girl, her mark on her hand shone brightly, its light piercing even the glove on her hand, making the < rune stand out brilliantly with a red glow. A scroll popped out of nowhere, landing neatly in her hand. Utterly confused, she opened the scroll, only to find it contained a lot of information about the girl specifically, though it was mostly entries like morphology, their diet, common features, and even their measurements.

Having revealed she too had a mark, she had no choice but to address those there. "I too, have a mark on my hand." She took off her glove and revealed the rune on her right hand. "Mayhaps I can help, though I am but a simple librarian before, and thus may not be able to help much should unexpected situations arrive."
Right off the get go, she put out that information. Surely no one would expect a mere librarian to face danger in some unknown cave that may or may not contain dangerous beasts and traps. That would be ridiculous and goes against all knowledge she has about adventurers and dark caves.

A few meters away from the cave entrance, a small fox lay in the grass, watching the crowd and listening in.

When she had awoken in the field, it had taken her some time to realize she was no longer in the meadow outside her village. It had been a foggy morning, and she'd been out collecting wild herbs. While it wasn't the first time she'd taken a nap in a field, it most certainly was the first time a crowd had gathered.

When someone had awoken her, and that someone turned out to be an eight-foot-tall werewolf, she'd shifted into her ordinary fox form and bolted into the mist. Since then, she had kept to the edges of the crowd, following the repeated mentions of the cave, and the "marked people" who were meant to go inside. And now, people were going in, with varying levels of enthusiasm. This was something she had to try for herself She ducked behind a golem-like person and turned back into her "human" form, then took a deep breath.

All right... time to make a good impression. Nothing to worry about, just a huge crowd full of people that I've never seen anything like. In a mysterious field that definitely has some kind of magic surrounding it. Definitely got this.

She strode over to a colorful young lady and a well-dressed jorōgumo outside the entrance, nodding her head hello.

"Greetings! Are you two going into the cave? It seems to be a topic of great interest among the people here."

The sky's orange flared and rose as civilian evacuation airship No. 21 was engulfed in flames, and Sieve could only watch as it collided with another of it's kind to spiral into a sunset of cruelty across the mechanical city below it. The plague was unstoppable, the war was in full swing. He was an organic machine made to surpress disease, but had failed so greatly that it left Sieve numb to where even coherent thoughts were locked away.

Quietly he stood up from the rocky floor and gingerly grabbed both sides of his robe with a pair of doll-like bone hands covered in coal colored gloves. The rhythm of his steps rang louder in his skull until it dominated all else. Clank, clank, clank, pause. The sound ended, and the crashing of waves on the shore began to receive his undivided attention. Even from hundreds of meters above the noise managed to strike his frail bones. Sieve turned his head mechanically to stare at the ruined city. Sieve cast his gaze on the shore and gripped his robes tightly. Sieve jumped.

It couldn't have been the afterlife, that was for those gifted with a body and soul. The skeleton his mind occupied belonged to a man who quietly died due to the plague. He's the one in heaven, not me. Sieve made sure his plague doctor uniform was in perfect order, or at least as good as it could be for something so old and worn out. He saw the crowd in the distance, dots of color mingling with the fog made it seem like the dust and air from opening and old book again. Fifteen meters away a flamboyant figure lay in the grass, seemingly unbothered by the change of scenery. It had it's back turned to Sieve.

As the plague doctor cautiously approached the silhouette, it turned in one smooth motion and stared. It was a skeleton.

The most important rule of being a skeletal plague doctor was to never reveal an inch of bone, as it would reveal your unnatural, subhuman status. Doctors of this category were dressed head to toe in the darkest, most form-concealing clothing available and at times it seemed like the only reason they didn't waddle around inside a wooden box with eye holes was the mobility. They were considered civil servants till death, and were employed to scout zones before their human counterparts could help, due to their plague immunity.

The stranger before him was dressed in a tight green dress with cleavage that showed a woman's ribcage. She had an enormous hat adorned with larger than life feathers and flower petals. Her skull was painted intricately and vividly, an exaggeration of what a human woman would touch herself up with. Sieve immediately felt disgust, envy and fear after processing what his sockets were showing him. This woman broke every guideline on blending in, and seemingly introduced a few more just to break them and use them as flower petals for her dress. She was everything he could never be.

Her bones remained motionless, but the rose red around her lips flared as she spoke, every word haughtily soaring over the six months of etiquette that was hammered into his skull after he was reanimated.

"Are you new here, little bird? They say that those blessed with marks on their hands are allowed to enter the caverns behind you. Poor me, for my hands are nothing but bone! Ohohohoho!"

Sieve quietly slid his left glove off, in part to show the woman their similarities and to see if he had been "chosen". The stranger caressed his bare hand in surprise and spoke in a soft tone.

"Una calavera..."

He sharply withdrew it, not being used to such unconservative behavior. At the woman's request, sieve dislodged his avian mask from his uniform, revealing his skull for the first time in what had felt like an eternity. Her anticipation quickly turned to shock, an emotion that was reflected in the reds, blues and oranges that were streaked on her face.

"Interesting, fortune favors our people. On your skull is a simple, round heart. You're not near my level, but it's a start. Enter the caves and return alive for us, ohohoho!!!"

Sieve couldn't remember well what he did before appearing in this strange new place, but he thought about seeking answers on the nature of this new world. He looked at the crowded zone far away from him and felt motivated to take action.

After suiting up again, a pair of doll-like skeleton hands gingerly gripped the sides of a grayed out robe, and a head mechanically turned to his new destination. Sieve ran.

"Hello, I'm Mable. And you... are?" Mable watched with her hand left hanging for a shake as the woman adorned in thick robes passed her and entered the cave. "Hey, it's dangerous to go alone!" She called after her, hoping she would wait for more marked people to show up. Speaking of which, her eyes widened as she saw a girl with the lower body of a spider approach. She knew she was in a dangerous situation, but she couldn't help but feel excited meeting so many interesting people. "S-so cool~" She rushed up to Evfimiia like a giddy fangirl. "My name's Mable, and you don't have to worry. I'll make sure nothing hurts you." She was likely more ecstatic than a person had any right to be, but she didn't seem to notice. It was then that Kadede arrived, and Mable gasped.

"So cute!" She nearly tripped moving over to Kadede. She introduced herself and fought the urge to touch the girl's ears. "Yeah I'm going in, who wouldn't?"

"Hmm?" Illia paused her steps once she heard someone calling to her. She turned around to see a blue-skinned woman calling to her. Her skin color reminded her of a dark elf, but the blue was certainly different. Not to mention her red hair who looked oddly thick.

"Oh, hello there. Apologies. I didn't see you there," she said to her with a smile. "Your name is... Mable, right? I'm Illia. Illia Anastasia," she introduced herself.

They then was joined with a woman with a lower body of a spider. Now this kind of demi-human she recognized. An arachne.

Mable's attention now seemed to have turned 100% to the arachne as she gushed about how she looked so cool.

And then another one arrived, this time a foxgirl. This one Mable dubbed as "cute". Well, she herself knew some people back home with that kind of taste.

"Yes, we're going into the cave. Or at least, I am," she answered her question. "I have to investigate the source of the magic that had trapped us all here."

@Piercing Light@astralGemini@GreenGoat

Rafael had already awoken a long while ago. His black carapace contrasted harshly with the soft green of grass. Few people were around as he sat up much like a machine would. The dull white eye flickered and 'turned on' before he looked around. Grass...how long had it been since he saw such a simple plant? It was well maintained but lacked the jagged edge of something repeatedly mowed along with the tread of wheels. His dark fingers brushed over the soft plant-life slowly, letting the memory of it sink into his mind before he got to his feet. His toes wiggled in the life beneath him before he looked around slowly. More people were appearing and others were trying to enter the cave in the massive wall.

"A single plasma blast would probably take it out..." He muttered to himself as the people were forced back by something invisible. A barrier of some sort? He approached the dark opening, the people near it moved back as he drew near. He walked forward with his hand held up but encountered no resistance like the others had. How odd, maybe it was selective? He hadn't noticed the new markings on his hand since they blended so well with his color scheme. Shrugging he delved a little deeper before halting. The area was unknown, there was no previous intel on the location. Chosen people were allowed in it seemed.

Are we in a video game or something? He asked, was he a 'hero' of some sort? Well if memory served, and it always did, a hero would have a party of allies to help bare the burden of whatever the objective was. He nearly laughed at that thought. He was no hero, they were probably the lackey of one. So instead of delving deeper he turned and waited to see who else would come. And come they did!

A spunky girl, a woman in some heavy looking robes, a lizard-man swooped in and hunkered down, an ancient looking plague doctor, and what seemed to be a fox-girl judging how she transformed. None noticed him since he kept his more luminous parts dark as they started to talk among themselves. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, girl..." He said, his voice was harsh sounding and deep and seemed echo as if numerous people were talking at once. "Over-confidence leads to ones downfall..." He continued, clearly amused as the luminescent bits of his body finally flickered to life.

A human man with his back turned to him was angrily muttering to himself. Wand in hand, Sieve stood on the tips of his toes and poked the man's shoulder. At last, someone who can recognize me.

"Greetings, I am one of Lord Cogshire's plague doctors, tasked with sanitizing our majesty's beloved kingdom."

The formal, pre-scripted greeting was the first thing he was taught shortly after gaining sentience. He was proud at how professional it sounded compared to the first month of his job. The man turned and Sieve immediately stopped stroking his ego.

The man had no skin, and all that lay beneath was completely visible. An intricate system of muscles, fibers and cartilage that pulled and contracted to make him seem like a clockwork contraption. The man's face began secreting small drops of blood as he grumbled on.

"Why don't ya people ever learn ta' jus' BUZZ off! I'm tired of answerin' all your dumb questions! My face is PERFECTLY fine. "

"Sorry sir, but I had no intention of asking something so rude! I was just wondering if anyone knew what kingdom we were in. You've no need to fear, as I'm different too! I've no skin OR muscles on me, I'm just a skeleton!"

Sieve's wand, much like most plague doctor accessories, served no real purpose and only existed to reassure children and mad folk that they were trustworty. He would always half-intentionally incorporate it into his body movements when dealing with fiery people.

"JUST a skeleton? That's DISGUSTING!"

If Sieve had a mouth, it would have formed a small frown.

The man made extended eye contact with the doctor and spoke again, with unwavering disgust for everything around him.

"Listen kid. If you got a mark on ya, you can pass that stupid forcefield they got over there. See that bozo on the floor made outta rock over there? That IDIOT kept slammin' into it, no luck. No one's even sure if ee's dead or not, 'cause he's made of, well, MARBLE or somethin'. How 'bout you try it out, come on, don't be a wimp. That accent o' yours is startin' ta get on my nerves."

The man reared to give Sieve a hard shove, causing the doctor to raise his wand. A hard wall of air made his arms go in different directions upon contact, surprising them both. After the man cursed and left, he lifted the hand-me-down robes and proceeded towards the barrier in a way that could be described as "paranoid princess wearing a large beak on her head".

As Sieve advanced past the barrier the cavity where a his heart should be was figuratively pounding. Wind magicks? With this... painted stick? Me?... Of course, advanced wind magicks was what kept his bones locked into place, but actually using it? It made the skeleton giddy. Far ahead of him the silhouettes of several people could be seen. No one behind me, that's good. Sieve made a quick mental note to use Nothing instead of no one and began to clunkily walk over to the party.

Standing with weapons in hand, Septim surveyed his surroundings slowly. Thick blue fog surrounded him, but he could tell it was definitely heavier directly in front of him. A truly titanic wall stood at his back, marking an end to that side of the field. Tapping a projection on his shoulder, Septim could see the hundreds of figures that milled about at the base. The occasional screaming and yelling could be heard as well, and it seemed like he was not alone in being unceremoniously brought here.

Thinking of the suddenness made Septim wonder how the others would cope with his disappearance. Well, they’d probably think nothing was wrong for the first few days. Trece would probably scour the area for any signs of his passing after that. His grip tightened slowly at the thought of them worrying about him, but movement in the sky snapped Septim out of his uncharacteristic brooding.

A bird-winged reptilian humanoid soared in the sky for a moment, enough for Septim to get a good look, before it dived towards the wall. Septim noted the panic and surprise its passing seemed to cause before the creature disappeared into… an entrance? It was a bit hard to tell at this distance, but there seemed to be a rectangular opening at the bottom where many had gathered around. Considering it for a moment, he eventually turned around and walked into the thicker fog before him. The soft glow his weapons emitted gave the dense fog an ethereal light, but it didn’t change the fact that Septim could barely see his own hands. Looking around carefully as he walked a straight path, he had to consciously step harder to leave an easy to track trail backwards for himself.

Slowing his pace as the fog began to thin out, Septim stopped completely at the unmistakable sight of the massive wall ahead. His eyes narrowed slightly behind the helmet as he glanced behind him, wondering how this had happened. He was confident that he’d been walking straight, but the fog made it hard to see more than the steps he’d immediately taken. Was this area a closed realm of its own that anyone who tried to leave back to the grassy plain? Impossible for him to tell at the moment, so it was time to go and meet the others he was stuck here with.

Whatever shenanigans that had turned Septim back towards the grassy plain had also wound up putting him by the base of the wall, cutting down the distance he had to walk. Thousands, he realized as he got closer to actually see individuals rather than just the throngs they looked like at a distance. There had to be that many people in this area, and many of them were races he did not recognize. Gripping his weapons just a bit tighter, he slowed as someone decided to approach him.

‘Lucky one, arent’ ya? Got pulled in during your duty?’

The voice resonating in Septim’s mind wasn’t a new sensation, but it did catch him by surprise. Telepathy was fairly rare in his world, and he was only friendly with one of the half a dozen individuals capable of the skill. The fact that what looked like a floating man-sized jellyfish used it to communicate was definitely strange, but a quick glance around revealed other beings just as odd in appearance.

“Yes,” Septim eventually muttered as he realized the being seemed to be waiting for a reply. “I guess you don’t know much about this place either?” Relaxing slightly as there seemed to be little immediate danger, he found the pulses of light the being generated as it used its telepathy rather interesting. It was also remarkably difficult to pinpoint whether it was male or female by the sound of its voice.

‘If you know jack, then yup, we’re both on the same page. Check your left hand though, if there’s a mark on ya, you’ll probably want to head for the entrance.’ It raised a tendril to gesture at the rectangular opening a short distance away where another group had gathered at.

Releasing his projections and allowing them to dissipate, Septim tugged his left glove off and blinked in surprise. There was a mark there, and it was one he instantly recognized. Putting his glove back on, he looked up at the floating jellyfish and nodded. “Thanks. Guess I know where to go now. I’m Septim.”

‘No problemo. This one’s called Lastir. Hopefully you find enough inside so we don’t wind up dying out here.’

Leaving the telepath for now, Septim made his way over towards the entrance into the wall. Some moved aside at the sight of his armor, others when he raised his gloved left hand. He noted the distinct separation of those marked and those without as he finally reached the front, glancing at the five and noting the pair of eyes that looked out from within the cave. So they were a group of seven for now then? Seemed like a nice number, though more arriving was certainly a possibility. Hard to be sure when he had no idea what the cause of being marked was, nor the percentage of non-marked to marked.

Well, best to start with introductions Septim supposed. Raising a hand in greeting as he stepped towards them, he looked between each of them and then towards the entrance that loomed behind them. “My name’s Septim, I suppose we’ll be working together?”

Ascension Conflict
May 11lth, 2077
Outside Threshold-19 (AKA Kane’s Tower)

---

All TCN nodes successfully aligned. All Hubs online….. Tower energy levels at 7% and rising.

”Attention all units, an unidentified G.D.I. aircraft has entered the air space. I have no idea what, but do not let it take the TCN nodes from us. Do not let the infidels deny us our right to this tower. For Kane! For the Brotherhood!”

RRAAGH! I will burn them alive! Aleksander responded to the news. Infuriated by their repeated, and annoying, attempts to stop the Brotherhood from finally realizing its goal, Aleksander was pleased to see a few G.D.I infantry and a vehicle make landfall nearby. In a poor location as it would soon become apparent. Aleksander knew the rest of his battle group was fighting the G.D.I. bomber, but did not care. It’s not like he could burn it out of the sky, as much as he wanted to. The only thing to do at this point was to follow his orders as indicated on his HUD, which right now was to defend the southern TCN node from G.D.I. Intrusion. A few Zone Troopers and a Spartan Tank, not the ideal target but he isn’t theirs either. Capitalizing on them grouping together, Aleksander lobbed his last ‘Holy Water’ grenade. While on its own it does little damage, it spreads a particularly flammable substance which enhances the effect of his flames should they make contact. Moving quickly, he ran into range just as a Zone Trooper turned to see him and as the grenade found its mark. Following the plan he envisioned in his head, he set the Troopers on fire and turned to the Tank. Since the Troopers would be too busy dying from their armor and flesh melting, the Tank would have his undivided attention for the immediate future. As the turret turned to face him, Aleksander waited a brief moment before lunging aside from the cannon fire and retaliating with a brief burst of flames. Since the Tank had thicker armor, this took some time and Aleksander took a few hits but eventually emerged as the winner.

Aleksander turned back to the fighting elsewhere on the battlefield before seeing the G.D.I. bomber for the first time. It was a massive craft that must have took a lot of energy to maintain it's altitude, with all sorts of weapon platforms dotting its exterior. He only had a few seconds to be awestruck by the already faltering vessel (it was heavily damaged from the combat he missed) before a lucky strike from an Obelisk of Light hit one of the engines causing it to explode and plummet to the ground.

Tower energy levels at 100%. Activating……. 30 seconds. 29. 28. 27…. LEGION announced in Aleksander’s helmet. He turned to the colossal structure, so large that it could be seen for miles and miles. A violet tower made by the alien Scrin before they were driven off planet by a combined G.D.I./NOD force. It stretched far above the clouds that swirled around it, and he would bet that it would continue for miles above that. He noticed a hole forming in the clouds surrounding the tower and a violet light shining through it. …3. 2. 1. The light instantly disappeared, and for a moment everything was quiet. It was as if the tower sucked all the sound out of the world, before what Aleksander could only describe as ‘thunder striking the same place a hundred times in a second’ could be heard accompanied by a shockwave that swept him off his feet and slammed him against a wall hard. The tower was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.

---

Aleksander awoke some time later, just as his suit was rebooting.

INITIALIZING….CHECKING VITALS….ALIVE. CONNECTING TO LEGION…..CONNECTION FAILED. EVA FUNCTIONS OFFLINE. LOCATION UNDETERMINED. ORDERS: NONE. SUIT AT 74% INTEGRITY… INITIALIZNG REPAIRS...

” Fuck… where am I? Aleksander struggled a little to get up, still winded from the sheer force of being knocked into a wall. It took him a few seconds to realize that part of the trouble was because some….thing was grabbing his arm. He turned to see a figure with two human arms and a human torso/head, but that is where the similarities ended. It seemed to be half some kind of four legged animal. It took him to realize that the creature was half horse, a species that went extinct in 2065 due to the small amount of habitable land on Earth.

”Get off me unless you enjoy your flesh melting from your bones!” Aleksander yelled
The creature yipped at the outburst and stammered out a response. “I…I w..was just checking to see if you had a mark on your hand. I d-did’nt mean to cause offense.”

Aleksander eyed his hand, still covered in his armor, he felt an odd sensation of warmth emerging from the back of it. Removing part of his armor, he saw a familiar shape that shined a dim red the insignia of the Black Hand. He has no memory of ever getting a tattoo or branding, though he is relieved that whenever he must have drunkenly did so, it was the respectable symbol of the elite force.

So I have a tattoo on my hand. What’s that prove to you?

“It means you can enter that strange cave over there…”

” A fucking cave? Who cares? Last time I went a cave I had to kill some murderous robots that somehow remained operational after we shut the power down on CABAL, and while that was not necessarily a bad thing to do, I prefer it when it is flesh that melts rather than steel. “

“Well, the cave is the only thing around, seeing as walking anywhere else brings you back to the cave eventually. I was kinda hoping maybe you and the others could like find some food or something.”

” Fine. Guess there is nothing else to do, there better be something that I can vent my frustration on or I am going to come back and vent it out here on you and maybe a few others till I don’t feel quite so pissed off. Aleksander stated, igniting the pilot light on his flamethrower for emphasis before heading towards the cave.

It was only now that the absurdity of the situation dawned on him. Some sort of creature, not Human, Tiberium Mutant, or even Scrin, actually engaged in a conversation with him. Looking around he saw other strange creatures that appeared to also be sentient in their actions. He thought the Scrin were pretty foreign but at least he knows them. Everything here is completely alien to him, and he does not see any of his brothers with him. Despite being surrounded by sentience, he felt completely alone in this strange land, though that alone was not sufficient to deter him from his course. Perhaps some way back could be found in the cave, some way to ascend as he was denied some unknown amount of time ago.

Nevertheless, he walked in a way that showed conviction. As he neared the cave, he saw several individuals denied entrance from some unseen party or force. Thinking that the mark is apparently the key, he silently approached the crowd who seemingly sensed his mark and opened a path for him. He entered the cave with no resistance, as expected, and noticed several other individuals conversing further in though he could not yet make out individual features until his vision adjusted. He approached silently and waited silently for something to happen.

The boy slept soundly. THe medicine was taking effect...good...
A sigh escaped him as he stood from the bed. Afew steps, and he crouched at his case. Opening one of the many drawers he gavs a sigh. The boy wouldnt last much longer. And Kaiser had to wonder what god would put such a child through this...
None came to mind. Terrific...
He stepped over, and he gave an exaughsted sigh, reaching down. His hands grasped the boy's head tenderly.
"May your body give life, and your soul live o-" why was it suddenly so hot? It was unbearable!burning, burning!
His vision was consumed in flames, before all he saw was white.

Kaiser shot up as if electricity had brought him to life, sweat pouring off him as he took ragged breaths. What was that...a dream? Nightmare? He couldnt quite say. But it had shaken him enough. Pattinh around the grass for a moment, his hand came to the large chest he carried. Opening a side panel, he pulled a small paper packet, a small cup, and alcohol. He made himself a glass, and opened the packet, pouring its contents into the beverage. After shifting it abit to let it stir, he downed the drink. He groaned, putting his thigs away as he let his eyes adjust to the light. Daybreak already...?
...where the hell was he? He had fallen asleep outside a village,under an old oak...and now was in a field, blanketed by fog...had he been drugged? Kidnapped? No...why would they leave him with his chest if that were the case? To much to drink? As possible as that seemed, he doubted it. He would have some kind of memory...atleast of the actual drinking. He gave a sigh, glancing about as he got to his feet.

He could just make out the voices outside his vision. Giving a nod,he hoisted his chest, shouldering it by a strap as he started toward the sound. The voices grew louder as he walked, eventually bringing a sea of people crowded together as they chattered about...could he even call some of these people? Beasts, monsters, things that he would think came from a childs fairy tale littered the crowd. He proceeded to pull the alcohol once more, leaving the cup entirly as he pulled the bottle, taking a quick swig. This was gonna be a long day...

As he walked, he began catching snippets of the scattered conversations. The crowd continued to grow as people kept appearing from the fog. Made it easy to gather information though...
He kept hearing things,and eventually began to peice together the story. They had all woken, or atleast found themselves suddenly, here...and the only thing they found in this field was a cave...strange here where no animals, but as he continued to listen as he worked his way through the crowd, he found that the first people couldnt enter. Some kind of force locked them out... mark...a mark had came into the mix. Someone with a mark on their hand...made it in? Glancing at his own scarred hand, he grumbled. Not likely. Adjusting his chest, he sighed, taking another sip. Bringing his hand up, he wiped his jaw with his free hand...well then.
"...Guess im going in then"
As he walked, he heard of others having been found with a mark, and a party being put together to enter the cave...perfect. amature explorers. Not that he was a professional himself. Far from it...
He soon simply held up his free hand,showing the mark to people infront of him. He was actually surprised at how quickly a path formed, and he soon escaped the crowd, stepping into the small space where the marked where gathering. Upon seeing the group, Kaiser quickly took another drink

The kitsune looked around at the gathered group and the new arrivals, bowing to everyone in turn.

"My name is Kobayashi Kaede... I am, or was, a merchant in a forest village. I will be glad to help explore this place with you all."

Thank goodness... everyone seems friendly, at least so far.

But despite the warm welcome, something seemed off. Kaede couldn't quite place it,, until she noticed several people glancing toward the top of her head. A quick scratch at her head confirmed her fears.

Oh, no... I forgot to hide my ears! And my tail! Everyone can see I'm... Not that out of place, actually. I suppose there's no point in passing for human when they seem to be a minority.

"So, there are a number of us here now. Should we split into groups and begin our exploration?"

"You didn't see me? And here I thought I stood out." Mable said to Illia with a grin. "You sure do, those robes must have cost a ton. And that hat too, you look like a real mage... Wait." Mable held her hands to her mouth in realization. "Hold on hold on, can you do magic? Is that a thing?" She looked as if she were vibrating, ready to literally explode from excitement when Rafael chimed in.

Mable let out a chuckle at the remarks of the chitin plated man. "Don't be such a stick in the mud, we've gotta be positive~" She playfully shoved him, perhaps much harder than was necessary.

More people with a mark soon arrived, though only two of them bothered to introduce themselves. A man Mable noted as being right within her strike zone, and the fox eared girl. There was also what she assumed was a man wearing the garb of a plague doctor, an armored man holding a flamethrower, a reptilian humanoid and... some guy getting drunk. "It's nice to meet you all." Mable said with an idol's practiced smile and wave. "My full name is Marvelous Beloved Love, but uh, you should just call me Mable." She'd always found her full name to be embarrassing even for her, Valiants had very strange naming conventions. She then turned to Kaede. "Haven't you ever seen a horror movie? Splitting up is a surefire way to have someone get picked off." Now that she thought about it movies probably didn't even exist where some of them came from. Those poor souls.

"It looks like there's just one path anyhow." She said, peering further into the cave. "Ahhh let's go, I'm going already alright?" She had gotten tired of waiting, there seemed to be enough people here now to go in safely.

As she walked deeper in she noticed that the walls were unnaturally smooth, as if they had been buffed to perfection. They started out in a hall, which should have gotten darker the further they went in, but didn't. The walls seemed to be giving off just the right amount of light, which she was thankful for because she would have likely tripped over the descending stairs they came across. At the bottom of the stairs she reached what at first seemed like a dead end, however the wall in front of her rumbled and rose into the ceiling once she got closer to it.

"N-no way." The entryway revealed a huge room, with a ceiling the height of a ballroom and the length of a soccer field. In fact it wasn't just as long as a soccer field, it resembled one as well. The ground was composed of AstroTurf and had white lines marking every five meters. However instead of a net goal on either end, there was only what appeared to be a basketball hoop on the opposite side of the entryway. On the sides of the field were empty stands. The room was brightly lit by stage lights hanging from rafters above. Once everyone had stepped inside the entrance slammed closed. Mable knocked on the door, kicked it a few times, but it didn't budge. She turned back around and examined the field. "I've gotta say, I was expecting something weird, but wow... I must be dreaming."

"Well then you better wake up, because you have a game to play!" A loud, oddly androgynous voice boomed from a large speaker in the rafters.

Mable flinched and looked around. "Hey who is that!? Did you trap us here!?" She screamed.

"Don't worry about that, now the rules of this game ar-."

"I'm gonna worry about it though!" Mable interjected.

"Well don't!"

"That seems a bit unfair to be honest!"

"This is a life and death game! Listen you giant blueberry!" The voice from the speaker yelled, their voice cracking slightly. Mable crossed her arms and pouted. "Now then, the objective of this game is to escort the ball into the basket. You may not toss the ball into the basket until you are within five meters of it, but you may pass it by hand to someone else. If you directly place the ball into the basket by hand, you will be rewarded with a bonus." The voice said. Mable raised her hand.

"What happens if we shoot the ball from farther than five meters anyway?" She asked.

"It explodes."

"Oh."

"You will also need to get pass the defenders, try not to let them kill you." As the voice said this, a wall on the other side of the room rose, and out walked a group of creatures. They resembled armadillos, only they were bipedal and the plating on their heads and arms looked more like football equipment. They were at least seven feet tall, and they had razor sharp claws on their hands. Six of them walked out before the wall closed again. At the same time a round hole opened from the ground and a rubber ball the size of a basketball popped out. The hole closed as the ball landed with a light bounce on the AstroTurf.

"Alright, let me handle the ball! I've played quite a few sports myself, in fact-"

"You are sitting out." The voice suddenly said.

"W-what, why!?" Mable stomped her foot and cried out.

"Because you interrupted me, stay there or I'll detonate the ball. Now then." The sound of a horn came from the speaker, blaring throughout the entire room. "Begin!"

The armored monsters immediately began to charge towards the marked, not even waiting for someone to grab the ball.

(OOC note: I'll be controlling the monsters here, so avoid auto-killing them and such.)

Sieve was a little surprised by the fervor coming from his impromptu sanitization squadron. Usually he was told by his superiors where to go and to not die again. A solid bit of advice, I think.

The field's floor was adorned in strange white runes that seemingly lay dormant. Half a dozen creatures that appeared to be a fusion of rabbit, crab and shield began charging around, unaffected by whatever powers lay in the lines.

His inappropriate moment of wonder was interrupted as soon as his instincts kicked in. Sieve ran as fast as his chunky boots could go. While the game-orb seemed seemed like a good zone to reach, violent squealing noises from all directions called for a change of plans. The skeleton was now near the middle of the field, speedily waddling near the edge until a lone opponent locked eyesockets with him.

A quick look at the enormous silver automaton in the runezone inspired Sieve. I'm normal! I'm as normal as butter and toast! In a prim and irritated manner the doctor stepped out of his boots and neatly set them a smidge outside the combat zone, exposing slivers of white through the movements of his robe. Oh, how lewd of me!

The creature began to charge at the indecent sack of bones with the strength of a steam train. A wall of solid air would do nothing to stop this abomination. Unless... Sieve recalled raising a wall of solid air with his wand, but what about his left hand? In a quick hand movement Sieve found himself controlling a sphere of cycling air. He found that manipulating it was like crushing a paper ball. A compact shape was stronger, faster and more precise, but became harder to surpress without the whole mess being undone. The contestant released the tension in his bony fingers and stretched them as far as he could.

Wind magicks, be my aide!

His words had no effect on the outcome, but his subconscious hid the fact so as to not hurt anyone's feelings in the figurative office in his head. The sphere streaked in a crisp, straight line at his opponent. Sieve let out a cowardly yelp and began running away.

Rafael would have grinned if his face was actually capable of it. The girl ignored him when he spoke up, but he did let out a dark chuckle. "Maturity doesn't seem to be your strong suit, kid. Guess we won't be friends." He said, mirth lacing his voice. Coming from an abomination like him that sounded like a serious threat. But he turned and started down the hall. The plating of his body shifting as he seemed to bulk up right before everyone's eyes. More people introduced themselves, but he felt this wasn't the time to deal with introductions. Once they actually succeeded in something is when he'd learn about the others.

His fingers twitched while the group walked through the hall. The digits elongated and narrowed, turning into monstrous claws. He dragged them along the wall to see what kind of material it would be. It felt like stone and the furrows were shallow. But he doubted he would be allowed to tunnel into the walls. Pulling his hand back he clicked the claws together while he thought and moved. This environment was so bland and...safe. He didn't like it. He was made for combat and he didn't remember life without it.

A voice finally spoke up that wasn't any of the others. It didn't have a gender and it was responding to the loud mouthed girl. Shaking his head he just watched silently as they bickered. But rules were finally exchanged and the loud one was forced to sit it out or get exploded. "Explosives always seemed like a cheap thrill..." He muttered as he eyed the creatures on the opposing side. "But this should be fun..." He continued as his hands morphed. They turned into solid, and obviously weighty, lumps. "Whoever is fastest get the ball. We're going to run distraction." He said as he launched himself forward.

The closest armadillo creature was engaged and he was fighting it like a boxer. He was dancing on his toes but planted a foot whenever he sent a punch forward. His body was moving after each punch, bending and twisting this way and that like a reed. He looked to be built like a mountain but was flowing so easily. Probably because he didn't have bones to force him to move in certain ways.

Evfimiia Serdiatnitskiia

---

"That.. I.."

Too late.

She had wanted to introduce herself and perhaps try to convince the others she was more useful left behind, but Evfimiia lost her chance when the group moved along. At least she knew who some of them was. They'd definitely expect her to go along with them now, won't they? Not to mention the horde of unmarked people waiting outside that would make it awkward should she return there so soon.

That being said, the area she was moving through while keeping with the group was quite interesting to say the least. Nothing at all like anything she'd ever read about. There didn't seem to be any visible source of light, yet the light was always enough to keep the path illuminated. With a loud rumble, a wall rose up into the ceiling before them, not unlike what she would have expected in any adventure novel.

But unlike any novel she had read, the entrance revealed a vast field of grass, not unlike the one they had left behind, with lines at regular intervals.

While she stood there trying to wrap her head around all these new information, the rest of the groups suddenly moved, as the game began.

"Eh?"

It was all she could utter. Explode? The ball through the hoop? Angry armadillos? What even are those crea-

Without warning her mark shone again, popping out another scroll from empty air into her hand.

A large omnivorous mammal, the Linebacker highly resembles an armadillo. They can grow to as large as seven feet tall, and weigh around 700 pounds/317 kilograms. With hard plates covering their body made of dermal bone they are incredibly durable, enough to completely negate weaker attacks anywhere but their lower stomach, which is softer than the rest of their body.
They stand on two legs, though if need be they can crawl. Their arms are powerful, easily able to lift a car. On each of their hands are four claws which are capible of slicing through prey like a hot knife through butter. If they feel their life is in danger they can curl up into a ball and roll away.
While this covers their weakpoint, they are unable to see while curled up. The Linebacker isn't a very intelligent animal, and is easily provoked or tricked.

T-this doesn't help at all!

There was barely enough time for her to think more, as the Linebackers charging towards them was coming uncomfortably close to her. Instinctively her back legs flexed, sending her flying through the air up and over those creatures, landing ungracefully some distance ahead. Untangling herself from her limbs, she stood up, staring at the ball in her hands.

"Ah."

“A pleasure,” Septim returned to the both the fox spirit and strange humanoid that introduced themselves. While splitting up could have been a poor idea, adventuring onwards without knowing the names or capabilities of others in the group was admittedly even worse. Rolling his head, he looked towards the spider-breed and shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped before he followed along with the rest of the group.

Falling in behind the others out of habit, Septim ran a finger along the walls before he descended down the stairs. So many questions, and all he could do was go further and hope that there might be answers within. How… annoying. Manifesting his weapons again as the wall rose to reveal the next area within, he wasn’t terribly surprised to see the vast field of grass ahead. He’d seen Marks house strange environments before and this one at least seemed to be relatively safe, unlike that one time they’d been dropped into a magma chamber with floating and sinking platforms…

Shaking his head as he stepped in with the others, he paid more attention to surveying his surroundings than the fact that they were now sealed inside the room. That was pretty standard procedure after all. Eyeing the device that seemed to be projecting the Mark Master’s voice, Septim spared a glance at Mable and couldn’t help but chuckle at the exchange between the two. Well, it seemed the Master had a bit of character this time around at the least. Even if they seemed a bit petty, it was still better than the mechanical indifferent cruelty he had the displeasure of running under.

“Ah, that seems much more like it,” Septim muttered with a grin as the monsters filled out into the room opposite of them. Drumming his fingers as he waited for the signal to begin, he looked at Mable and shrugged. “Shame, huh? Maybe next time.”

Septim really wished he knew what the others could do again as the device sounded a horn and the monsters began to charge. Well, two of them seemed to have attracted the attention of one creature each, so that only left four to deal with. He whistled in appreciation as the spider-breed easily leapt over the charging creatures and swiped the ball as she landed. Placing it in the basket by hand should be trivial with her jumping ability.

“Go!” Septim yelled to be heard as he took aim and fired a shot past the monsters to strike just above the hoop on the opposite side of the field for emphasis. Relying on her to listen, he turned his attention to the armadillos and swept both firearms across their numbers as he fired at all four of their faces in a single motion. It wasn’t meant to be anything more than a distraction to refocus their attention on him, and he twirled his manifestations stylishly before moving one of them towards himself in the universal, “Come at me,” gesture.

“Let’s keep them off her, alright?” Septim directed towards the other armored figure in the group before adding, “Also, nice weapon~ Let me take a look after?” Nodding at the strange firearm he held in his hand, Septim’s attention turned just as quickly towards Kaede. “If you could hide the spider-breed from the monsters’ sights, Kaede?” With all that said, he twirled the handguns once again before darting forward and peppering the Linebacker’s faces with rapid shots.

@Lurking Shadow@astralGemini

"A horror... movie? Is that a sort of a play, or... a pantomime, told through movements?"

Kaede said this mostly to herself, then remained quiet as the group moved into the tunnel, watching the others. Most had been friendly enough so far, but the black-armored man with his strange weapon and the chitin-plated... person? Those two set her tail swishing back and forth nervously. Hopefully working toward the same purpose would prevent infighting among the group, but she shuddered to think what might happen if tempers flared. She'd seen fights between adventurers in the village tavern, and she knew well that some seemingly harmless people held the potential to take on armies by themselves.

She snapped out of her fearful musings as the group entered a field withing the dungeon, one that felt very strange beneath her bare feet. A voice rang out, but she heard little of what it said, distracted as she was by the strange room.

So, this is some form of sport... but the stakes are life and death already. I wonder, is this what adventurers face every day? These monsters seem ordinary enough, but I expected a fight, not a game...

“If you could hide the spider-breed from the monsters’ sights, Kaede?”

She looked upward to discover that the "game" had already begun, with several of her teammates engaging the monster team and the "spider-breed" holding the ball.

"Ah, right! On it, Septim-san!"

She stepped forward in a flash, dodging between the angry armadilloes, and skidded to a stop between them and Evfimiia.

My speed carried me this far, but now... To protect my teammate, I'll need to borrow strength!

She closed her eyes, touched a hand to the ground, and thought back on the many shapes she had memorized in her life, focusing on "strength"... and chose one she felt fit the situation. Her body rippled like water as it grew, her muscles bulging outward and her face warping into a fearsome grimace. Where a petite foxgirl had stood moments ago, there was now an eight-foot-tall oni daring anyone to challenge her.

"GURAAHH! Come on, then! I'll take you all on!" Though I really hope I don't have to... This is all for show!