[IC] Welcome Back to the Guild

[Kaga]

Muse sighed, running his fingers through his black hair as he trudged through the post-apocalyptic landscape of what was likely some sort of zombie roleplay – a fitting place to walk around and contemplate what to do next in a situation like this. He’d promised to take down the Godmodder, but what was he supposed to do? Run around and find as many roleplayers as possible, trying not to get them all killed. Worked out brilliantly last time…

He turned his head to the sound of distant moaning as a horde of slow-moving zombies approached him. Given everything that had happened lately, it was almost bitterly sweet to see a team of NPC’s still alive – or, well, you know. Still, danger of that kind meant he should probably quit sulking and begin his search; finding the next batch of ‘players’ would be the best place to start. A huge pair of black, feathered wings sprouted from his back as he prepared to take to the skies. Damn, I never even got the chance to teach the first batch how to do this. Muse thought as he ascended upward. His own shapeshifting powers had kept him alive in this crazy world for who-knows how long, but before he could teach the roleplayers he’d previously met how to imitate his abilities, that godmodding bastard in a wolf skin showed up and tore the whole realm into pieces. Guess I goofed off for too long… he told himself. Things were so simple the first time around…

From his spot in the sky, Muse could see the landscape of the RP world below him. The old Guild, he remembered, was a conglomerate masterpiece of different worlds all lined up next to each other, with no clear boundaries separating one world from the next. The new Guild remained somewhat the same – except with huge tracts of dark nothingness marking the landscape like giant scars. Probably best to avoid those… Muse told himself, before his ears perked as he sensed roleplayers nearby. Heart racing, he nervously prepared to gather them all again. He couldn’t afford to make the same mistakes. Focus this time, Muse. Focus…

---

Meanwhile, a self-proclaimed admin spun happily on his swivel-chair as the glow from his giant, holographic monitor lit-up the almost demonic grin on his face. “Let the games begin!!”

[Neobullseye]

"Ow..." Leon slowly opened his eyes... at least, he slowly opened them until they were about halfway open, at which point his brain registered the fact that he was no longer in his room, causing aforementioned eyes to jump wide open. What in the world... He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. Some kind of... city? No obvious landmarks, from what he could see. Maybe he should try to walk around for a bit, to see if he could find anyone to tell him where he was. And, while he was at it, some aspirin. A nasty headache was building up behind his eyes...
Well, wherever it was, it wasn't in any place he had ever seen before, that much was certain -- though he did get a knawing feeling of familiarity. What was more important was another question; namely, how did he get here? And, even more importantly, how was he going to get back? "Hello? Is anyon- ow... Is anyone there?" Seriously, what was up with the stupid headache? It, combined with the fact that he had no idea where he was, nor how he got here, gave birth to a very scary idea; did someone kidnap or drug him? But if that was the case, then why just dump him at the roadside? It didn't make any sense at all... At the same time, he didn't really have any other explanations either.

[HylianRose]

Everything went... dark. That was the last thing she remembered. Darkness. But now... She opened her eyes and found herself sitting in a neatly organized desk, in a room she was vaguely familiar with. "What?" She said, looking around the room, her eyes darting around quickly. This didn't look like anything she'd ever been before so... Why did it look so familiar? She got up and explored the room a bit, starting to get a bit scared. But... at the same time she was rather intrigued. Where was she? As she was looking around the room, she noticed a small painting hanging on the north wall. she walked over to it and... something called her to take it down.

She took the painting from the wall, and there sat a safe. Wait... That... How did I know that was there? She blinked, hardly able to believe it. And then, deciding to at least try, she moved the dial. She moved it with expert ease she didn't know she had. The small metal door sung open slowly, revealing a small wooden box. She blinked again. L-Lily? She pulled out the box quickly, setting it down on the table in the center of the living area. She opened it slowly. Inside was a single metal ring, as well as a few dollar bills. She picked up the ring and inspected it. Sure enough, 'L & X' was written on the inside. Lily and Xanthus? Her eyes grew large and she dashed towards where she knew the bathroom would be. No, she still looked like herself... She looked down at the ring in her hand. What's going on? I wasn't... drugged was I? If not, this is a weird ass dream... She took another look at herself in the mirror. Her brown hair was tied up haphazardly in a ponytail, her brown eyes staring back at her, filled with bewilderment. She was still wearing her baggy sweater, skirt and black leggings, shoes also missing. It's like, she was just... abducted just as she was sitting there on her computer. "No! I had a Math assignment due tomorrow!" She cried out, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It has to be a dream." She mumbled.

Just as she did, she heard her door open. Shit... Who is it? It's not like anyone would come into Lily's room anyway. She tip-toed around the corner, looking towards the door. Standing just in the doorway, was Matt. She blinked, starring at him. It'd be bad if he saw me, right? She looked around the room slowly. It wasn't like there was anywhere else she could go to escape. Maybe.. he would leave soon?

"Lily? Where are you? Come on! It can't be that hard. Just, give it a chance. You'll get used to it!" She heard him say. She could tell he was still standing in the entryway. Give what a chance? Last she remembered, Matt was in the nurse's office. He could be talking about something to do with Lily's condition but... She sighed, it was best she didn't think about it. She waited for awhile until she heard the door finally click close.

Now, if this were a dream... how could she get out of it? Hurt herself? She looked around the room again, feeling uneasy. But... what if it actually hurt? She cringed at the thought. Her pain threshold wasn't very high... Even most of her tabletop characters had toughness below 6. She wasn't even agile like her characters to make up for it. She walked around the room, trying to figure it all out. It didn't feel like a dream. Usually, in her dreams she could tell it felt like a dream but she felt like she was watching a movie rather than living it. This felt too real, much too real. She sighed, figuring she'd have to find someway to get out here and she might as well explore the school and see what she can figure out. But first... she needed shoes. She searched around Lily's room for a bit before finding an old pair of tennis shoes. They weren't exactly her size, but they would do.

She exited the room, and began to explore the area, walking down the steps, into the lawn area. From there, she saw several things in the distance. There was a blackened sky off in one direction. She ran over best she could and looked down from the academy, it was floating fortress after all. What she saw kind of amazed her. She knew she was in the world of Kalmaysia, but why was there such a sectioned off area down there. She saw the normal, nice world of Kalmayisa Human World down below her but all around it, different worlds sat. To the north, was a blacken, dead area. A-Apocalypse? What was going on?!

[Ebil Bunny]

*Click* Darkness.
Ebil Bunny opened his eyes and looked around. Then his mouth dropped.
"What on earth?!" he shouted, jumping to his feet, eyes wide, then he sat back down. He wasn't used to stuff like this happening. He lead a boring life in a tiny cabin in the woods with his unnaturally large family.
I know I can't be dreaming, because I know when I'm doing so. he thought. He stood back up, shaking a little from the shock, then looked around a bit more. He had no clue where he was, but it was a lot better than what was right next to him. Within ten feet away was a mass of pure blackness. He walked slowly away from it, facing it to make sure it didn't do anything that one would think a big mass of pure blackness would do. Then he tripped over something.
"Hey, watch it!" said a strange voice angrily. When Ebil looked to see who it was, he pinched himself, hoping it was actually just a dream. Standing before him was an orange unicorn with a picture of a hammer on it's side.
"You're... You're... YOU'RE A PONY!?!?" exclaimed the boy.
"Yes, what of it? And what are you?" it replied tartly, but Ebil Bunny ignored it. He was too busy hyperventilating.

[John Walrus III]

To say that it was raining would be an insult. John woke with aches and chills in every part of him, rain drilling into him as he lie face-down on ice-cold stone. He lifted his face from a puddle, trying to focus on something, though the pounding of the rain did little to help what was almost certainly a migraine. He slowly managed to support himself on one arm and open his eyes. The water cascaded down his face, making it ridiculous to see, but he spotted his hazel-green die lying just out of arm's reach. Lacking another option, he dragged himself the short distance to the die, his body screaming in pain. He nearly collapsed by his die as he reached it, blinking the water from his eyes. The die sat on 1. "How fucking fitting," John muttered through gritted teeth. With effort, he grasped the die and made an attempt to stand. Within seconds, his worn shoes lost grip on the slick surface, shoving him straight back onto the stone. He gasped, clutching his elbow, feeling a new liquid run down his arm. He disbanded that attempt and began focusing on his surroundings. Buildings stood, broken and desolate, inhuman in design... yet, despite that, somehow oddly familiar. John stared at the buildings in utter confusion and slight dismay, and found himself staring at a collapsed figure of a body nearby. The longer he stared at it, though, the less human it appeared, yet the more familiar it seemed. Finally, John had a though he should have had some minutes ago. Where the hell am I?

[Evilorber]

Evil awoke in a field to the sound of birds singing. He slowly stood up, taking in the area around him. His mind went blank, as he couldn't think. He was in shock and awe. To his left, he saw a lake. He ran over to it, and looked in. In the clear water he saw his reflection, nothing different about him. He cupped his hands and took large gulps of water, then he began splashing it on his face. It was all so confusing to him... One second he had just came home from school, grabbed a drink and checked his computer then... he was here.

He thought he had passed out or something, and he ran back over to the spot he had awoken. It was clear he had awoken there, as the grass was pushed down. He saw something glinting in the sunlight, and he picked it up. A metal can of a caffeinated drink he had been drinking while checking some forums on the computer. Oddly enough, it was empty, and it's contents spilled on the ground. This raised the question to Evil, how did he get here?

"I wasn't drugged... Because I got this outta my fridge" He thought

"Or was I?"

His mind raced at every possibility. The fact that the can was still here was strange. He suddenly became aware of the weight on his shoulder, and he unslinged his schoolbag from his back. Opening it up, to his surprise he found all his school books. He took a good luck around him, sprawling green hills to his front, a small forest behind him, and to his left a lake... Wait, no, it was a half lake? He ran quickly over to the lake, and gazing carefully over it's surface he noticed it just sort of... ended... All of this confused Evil even more. He had no idea how he'd gotten here, or why... Something strange was afoot. He sat down on his bag, still shocked at the discovery. He still had the can in his hand, and he tossed it into the lake, sending small ripples out from where the can landed.

[Kaga]

Muse kept his eyes on the ground as he soared over the landscape. He could sense where the roleplayers resided, but only vaguely. Once he figured out which roleplays contained any, he’d still have to jump in and search for them. He banked a right as he sensed one in a nearby setting, keeping his eyes open for anything out of the ordinary, but it didn’t take him long to realize what sort of roleplay lay below him. Wait… is this a… His flight slowed as he spotted a human standing out amongst the quadrupeds in the Equestrian fields. Yeaaah… welp, better start with the easy ones. he told himself.

He began to descend, and as he did, Muse assumed another form more fitting for the setting, letting his human-like body quickly transform into that of an off-black pegasus pony. Been a while since I had to use a body like this. he thought, stretching out his limbs somewhat as he stepped onto the ground only a few paces behind Ebil. “S’cuse me, but uh… he’s with me.” Muse spoke up as he approached the orange unicorn, putting himself between the two. “It’s my job to search for things like him,” he began, technically not lying. “Because I’m a… a searcher!” he exclaimed, turning to the side to reveal the magnifying glass cutie mark on his flank that he’d truthfully only just added to his pony self. “Yup! I search for things. Like him.” He grinned, before turning back to Ebil and whispering, “I’ll get ya out of here, man. Don’t you worry.”

[Ebil Bunny]

"I don't know who or what ya are, but this land belongs to the Unicorns With Horns clan!" said the orange unicorn, pointing its horn directly at the boy. "So if you don't leave this instant, I'll make you with my own four hooves!" Just then, a dark colored pegasus flew down from the sky and began talking to the unicorn.
"You get him out of here, feather brains, but ya better not try anything tricky, or I'll blast ya out of the skies!" with that, the unicorn turned and left.

"Thanks back there, but who are you?" Ebil Bunny asked. Why on earth would a pegasus try to help him? He hadn't done anything special. Unless it was some sort of human hunter that removed the My Little Pony land of worthless humans.

[Neobullseye]

After exploring the city for a short while -- and finding absolutely nobody --, Leon started to feel even more scared than he already was. Seriously, where was everyone? The streets were emptier than a church during the soccer finals. In addition, the majority of the roads were blocked off, as if someone was forcing him to go down a certain path, said path eventually leading to a large tunnel. All of this made Leon feel very nervous. Was someone expecting him to go down that tunnel? Maybe the same person that brought him to this place? But if that was the case, then why not just start out with the tunnel instead of dumping him quite a bit away from it? After a short mental self-convincing -- which mostly consisted of Leon calling himself stupid for being afraid to go into a tunnel and making up crazy thoughts --, the young man shrugged and entered it.

Halfway through the tunnel, Leon started to feel a bit... strange. There wasn't really any better way for him to desribe the sensation other than that. Strange. What was even stranger was that the texture on the wall seemed to slowly change. What was once solid concrete now had the vague contours of some kind of bricks. Stranger still, some kind of rectangular shapes started to form at regular intervals. A part of Leon shouted at him to turn back and get the hell away from this place; another part, however, wanted to find out what the heck was going on here.
As it turned out, the latter part was stronger than the former one. As such, Leon kept walking, trying not to pay too much attention to the wall, which at this point had become extremely disorienting. It was almost as if someone had interwoven a standard tunnel with some kind of long hallway, with neither of the two actually being fully visible.
A short while later, the tunnel... just ended. Or rather, it ceased to be a tunnel, instead being fully overtaken by the hallway. What were once rectangular shapes had now changed into...
"Windows? What the hell...," Leon mumbled as he looked around, too confused to keep his thoughts to himself. Slowly, he edged towards the closest window, peered though it, then leapt back in shock. No way. Waking up in an unknown city is one thing, but this... This was beyond impossible. He was supposed to be in a tunnel! So how could there possibly be windows that looked out over a clouded sky, as if he was several miles above ground?! Either one of the two, he could accept, but not both, not without some reasonable explanation. Someone around here had to know something, right? Right?! Yes, somebody should. And all he needed to do was find that somebody. Well then, better get going. And with that, Leon continued his walk through the tunnel/hallway, constantly convincing himself mentally that he was not insane.

Soon after, the hallway ended at some kind of double door. Leon slowly opened said door, revealing some kind of grassy field -- and, more importantly, a girl standing in said field. "Hey!," Leon called out to the girl. "Excuse me for asking, but could you tell me where we are?

((OOC: That would be you, Rose)

[Euclid]

Euclid stared at the fire pit that rested on the concrete floor. Having been awake for a few minutes now, he was trying to get a grasp of his surroundings. Moonlight was shining through a small window down on to the fire pit, which lay dormant. On the outside, a raging snowstorm blanketed the land in a sheet of white. A lighter of some sort was near him, just out of reach. He rose to his feet and moved over to the window, fingers trying to find a surface to grasp on to so he could pry the damned thing open, but there no luck. Bending his arm, he then tried the more dangerous option of breaking the window, but he first had to psych himself up.

"Okay," he started, shaking out the soreness of his muscles and readying himself. "Just one motion. All you have to do is break the window and try not to get yourself cut."

Once he was ready, he swung his elbow at the window with all the force he could muster, but ended up hurting himself instead. The window remained intact. Cursing himself for being stupid, he looked around the room for an exit. He found nothing and, feeling defeated, he slid down the wall and sat on the ground, sighing as he held his head in his hands. After a few seconds, a low melodic hum started to resonate several feet away from him. Raising his head, he saw a small, two-dimensional rectangle with a transparent white border, hovering a couple feet above the fire pit. Inside the rectangle were the words "light the fire". Above the rectangle, a couple sentences formed some kind of message, stacked atop one another.

The room is cold.
The fire is dead.

Euclid stared at the rectangle for what seemed like forever, watching it bob up and down slowly. Resolving himself to get up, he grabbed the lighter and walked over to the fire pit. His thumb found the wheel and he flicked it, producing a small flame. He moved the lighter over to the pit, and fire blossomed from its foundation instantly, causing him to jump back. Over the fire, the rectangle filled with white and the words inside it switched to a black color. Over a few seconds, he started to notice that the white inside the rectangle was starting to deplete, as if the rectangle itself was a timer. Soon, it was empty, the words reverted back to white, and the fire died. Above the rectangle, a new message appeared.

The room is warm.

He lit the fire again, and the rectangle filled with white once more, starting to deplete almost immediately. When it emptied, he lit it again, and again, and again. At that point, he didn't care about leaving just yet. He only wondered to what end lighting the fire was going to go.

The room is hot.
The fire is roaring.

Hours passed and Euclid stared at a fire that kept dying, that he kept lighting. He started thinking about what happened, why he made the choice to click the link that popped up in his inbox on the Guild's new site. He was forced to do it, he saw no other way - but there was. He could have gotten up and unplugged the computer. Why he didn't think to do this before, he didn't know; not that it mattered now. He was in a room with no door, with an unbreakable window, relinquished to the task of repeatedly lighting a dying fire. Before he gave in entirely, a new message popped up, one different from the others.

A weary traveler stumbled through the door.

An "@" symbol appeared on the wall to his right, glowing faintly in the darkness. Euclid rose to his feet and walked over to it, examining the surface of the wall. He looked back over at the fire. Another new message appeared.

It's time.

Turning back around, Euclid raised a hand to the symbol, lightly touching it. The symbol's glow pulsed, leaving its source and forming a large vertical rectangle around it. With a gentle push, Euclid opened the newly formed door outwards, being greeted with a blinding flash of light. He met with the sight of a large landscape that was rife with vegetation. The sky was painted in a dazzling sea of blue and white, and the sun hung high in the sky. He was almost overwhelmed by the expanse, turning around in time to see the rectangle above the fire pit disappear, the door of the room closing and sealing itself shut forever.

It took a few moments before he realized the area that he was in. It was one of his own RPs, albeit a failed one that never saw any true existence. Feeling saddened, he immediately sat down and took in the beauty of the world he created - Atlas Novus.

But, something was off.

Euclid started to notice several patches of strange activity across the land, patches where areas existed - areas he didn't create - that were interlaced with his own. He took a mental note of it, scanning his environment for anything else out of place.

Something's wrong, he noted. But, what was it?

[HylianRose]

She turned to look, hearing a voice. Another character? She saw a rather frail looking boy. His hair was dark brown and blue eyes were hidden behind black frames. Her brow furrowed, looking at him, her lips pursed just slightly. She didn't remember him ever being a character... Then again, weren't there supposed to be more NPCs running around? There should be a few people in the garden...

He called out to her, asking where they were. She turned and looked around. Maybe he was a 'new student'? She thought for a moment. Maybe it would be better if she played along. After all, this should just be some weird dream. She should enjoy it, right? "This is Kalmaysia Academy. A place for the people who don't fit in anywhere else. Are you a new student or something?" She asked, wondering. It wasn't like she was aware there would be other roleplayers here, she'd just as much assume he was a new student, or a random NPC. She walked closer to him, trying to get a good look at him. Her curiosity got the better of her, she began to wonder what sort of powers he had. After all, everyone in the school had something that made them special. Then, if this were a dream, why didn't she have special powers? She should be Lily in that case, right? But... She didn't look like Lily and she didn't feel like Lily either. She felt like herself. She shook her head. Well, soon the dream would end and she'd be thrust-ed back to reality. Though, it was snowing, so she probably didn't have school. That lifted her spirits a bit. She'd be able to enjoy this dream.

[Kaga]

“Name’s Muse.” The darkly-colored pony answered. “And I get that you’re probably pretty confused right now. But that’s ok – so are the others, I’m sure. But unfortunately, I don’t have much time to explain the situation. I gotta get as many of you together before anything bad happens.” He explained (sort of), before realizing that his pony get-up might’ve been preventing the roleplayer from fully placing his trust in him. “Oh yeah! I should mention, I’m not really a pegasus,” he spoke up again before quickly scanning his surroundings for any of those unicorn onlookers, of which he found none, and transforming himself into his usual, humanoid form in less than a second. “I’m a human, like you!” he exclaimed. “Or, rather, I am right now. Really I’m kind of just whatever I want to be. But I spend a lot more time as a human than I do as a pony.” He rambled. Though given the fact that he claimed he could turn into anything, it would seem strange that his somewhat gothic appearance certainly clashed with his quirky personality. “Anywho, let’s walk and talk.” Muse told Ebil. “Those rainclouds cut off pretty sharply, which makes me think we’re near a border.” He pointed into the distance, to the edge of the field they stood in, where dark storm clouds poured down the land, despite the fact that above the two of them, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Well, their sky. “And if that’s true, then we better head over, cuz I’m pretty sure I sense another one.” He spoke quickly. “If it’s still raining when we get there, maybe we can use my jacket as an umbrella…”

[nautilusmp]

Nautilus slowly opened his eyes and he was a little bit surprised to see that he was now in the middle of a flat surface in the middle of a cold winter. He remembered that the last time around, he was at an opening in a forest, facing a wolf that claimed to be in control of the Guild. Could that thing have tried to show his powers to us? If that is correct, then we can conclude two things he thought. He called himself 'we' instead of 'I' this time, because he believed that other roleplayers who were with him should arrive at the same conclusion. First, that this is likely to be still inside the Guild, because that thing wants us to submit to him, and it cannot be done outside the Guild. And second, if the first is correct, is that we might still find that thing walking around here, he concluded.

However, with him not wearing a full winter kit, the cold settled in. With him being a man who had always lived in a tropical country and the only trip abroad being to Europe at summer, his first experience with temperature below zero degrees Celcius was not pleasant at all. He knew he had to find a way out or a shelter quickly, or else the cold would kill him. As he recalled his memory, he remembered one important aspect of how the Guild works: walk straight in any direction and soon you would find yourself in another setting. So he closed his eyes and spun himself, trying to pick a random direction, then opened his eyes and walked in the direction he was looking at when he opened his eyes. "Let's see whether I was inside the Guild or not. If I suddenly find an area where the winter stops, then this is the Guild," he said to himself, who had been struggling even harder every minute against the winter.

Just about a mile later, he could confirm that he was inside the Guild. The winter abruptly ended after a noticeable line. Beyond that line, he saw a lake at some distance away, with grass fields nearby. He took a few initial steps toward the lake and looked back at the winter setting. Not even the slightest cold of that winter propagated to the spot where he stood; if he had two thermometers and placed one in that winter setting and one in the new setting, he was sure that the two thermometers would show completely different temperatures. This further confirmed that he was inside the Guild. Once he completed his curiousity over where he currently was, he walked towards the lake. He saw a young man, probably have not even reached puberty, wearing a light blue shirt. He approached the man, the only other person he could find right now.

"Excuse me, but what time is it?" he asked the man. As a Muslim, he has to do prayers five times a day, but he still had some problems understanding the way time flows inside the Guild, which was required to know the prayer times. As for the direction he had to face when doing prayers here, since he was not on Earth, the place he was standing on constantly moves relative to the Earth. Therefore, any direction would suffice, since it could be assumed that he was constantly on the move relative to Mecca, which means he was traveling. Or so he was told by a few of his friends a couple of years ago when he asked about how to do prayers in outer space, out of sheer curiousity. He didn't even think at that time that he would come here and had to practice that scenario that shouldn't have arisen had he unplugged the computer in his house instead of clicking the link.

[John Walrus III]

The body was unmistakable up close. It was a piece of his own, Puppets he had called them. John stared into the glistening, crushed eyes of his limp creation. He would have felt sad had it not been impossible for it to exist. He squinted at the pouring sky, trying think past his pounding head. He remembered this place now, despite its shattered appearance. A small story, though one was proud of. But this couldn't exist, it was fantasy, pen on paper. He wiped the water from his eyes and looked at the broken buildings around him. There was only one thing he could think of to figure out if this really existed.

With painful steps,John made his way to what was conveniently the closest house. The walls were battered, the door caved, but the roof was still fairly stable. He shuddered, though not from the cold. This was exactly how he had designed the houses; fit for living, but capable of taking anything directly to the roof. He stepped through the entryway into the dark house, listening to the roaring sound dampen as he entered. He could hear the several leaks dripping, echoing through the house. Perhaps the roof wasn't as sturdy as first thought. He stepped into the main room; perfectly round, bookcases on the walls. Our there were, it seemed. John stared at the walls, beginning to feel sick. This was a home, a place of knowledge and life for his Puppets. He was almost certain this wasn't a dream; he could tell when he was dreaming. Couldn't he? Join sighed, exhausted by the pounding rain and mental stress. He saw something glistening down the hall on his left. He felt something die inside him. Lying in a pool of trickling water and fluid was a Puppet.

It was his Puppet.

John White had died here.

[Ebil Bunny]

"So let me get this straight. You are a human that turned into a pony?" asked Ebil, "Who in their right mind would do that!?"
Hey, you, focus. He was probably doing it so he wouldn't get murdered by that unicorn as well. said a voice inside him.
Good point. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on him. He saved my life, after all. Aloud, Ebil said, "Er... Sorry about the outburst. So what do you think is over there? On the other side of the... Thingy?"

[Evilorber]

Evilorber turned around, surprised to see another person.

""Excuse me, but what time is it?""

Evilorber started silently for a full second before reaching into his backpack. He searched it for about a moment before pulling out a small phone. He looked at it, and his eyes widened. He held it up. "I don't think it's supposed to do that...". The clock was flipping times. It would flip from 3:52 to 4:52 then to 5:52. The time would change every second. Evil had held his phone up for about 10 seconds before returning it to his bag.

Evilorber got up off his knees and slowly approached the man. He poked him lightly a few times, before jumping backwards, "I really don't know what's going on here..". Evilorber looked the man up and down, he usually wouldn't trust strangers. He suddenly became aware of growing hunger in his belly. "Y-you wouldn't happen to have any food, would you? And uhh... do you know what that is?" He pointed towards the darkness visible over the small lake, that appeared to cut halfway through.

[nautilusmp]

Nautilus looked at the youngster, who was apparently confused with the thing happening to his phone. When the stranger said that his phone was not supposed to behave like what he currently saw, Nautilus knew that he wouldn't get the answer to the time problem from this guy. But somehow, he was also starting to think whether he was seeing a fellow roleplayer. The first time he arrived in the Guild, his cell phone signal was completely flat despite being in a location not too far from civilization. The youngster then poked him, which at first made him a little bit annoyed, but he tried not to show his emotions.

"I really don't know what's going on here..", said the youngster.

For a while, Nautilus thought he was lucky. The youngster answered his question before he even asked it. The youngster's remark that he did not know what was going on unmistakably confirmed Nautilus's suspicion: this guy must have been a roleplayer. But he was not among the one who saw the wolf along with him, while at that time the-man-who-claimed-he-could-fly claimed that he had found all the roleplayers. What happened during the moments when he was unconscious? Were there other roleplayers taken into the Guild during that time? If so, what was wrong with roleplayerguild.com so that some of its members were sucked in? Has Mahz known of this? If so, has he done any measures against it? Those questions rolled in his head and he was thinking of possible answers to those questions when the youngster talked to him again.

"Y-you wouldn't happen to have any food, would you? And uhh... do you know what that is?" said the youngster.

Nautilus focused himself back towards the youngster, and then looked at the direction pointed by the youngster. "I don't have any food with me either," he said, without looking at the stranger. There was darkness beyond the lake. The lake itself was cut by a neat line before the area shrouded by darkness. For him, it was a familiar phenomenon here, that it marked the setting change. But how to explain that to someone who was apparently just recently stuck inside the Guild? Nautilus took a deep breath before he started speaking. "I don't know much about what is going on either, although I do know a bit about it," he said, before pausing for one full second. "But before I explain that to you, I'll ask you a question that might help me in explaining it: What problems did you have the last time you surfed the Internet?" He was confident that the question would work, since it was along these lines that he finally accepted the fact that he was inside the Guild.

[Neobullseye]

Wait a minute... an academy? Who builds an academy on what seems to be the edge of a cliff at the top of a mountain? No, that wasn't the right description either. Feeling seriously uncomfortable, Leon slowly walked away from the safety of the wall and looked around, seeing yet another impossiblity; a blue, cloudy sky in most directions, empty for as far as he could see. But for that to be true, they had to be on the highest thing in the wide vicinity. In another direction, he could see an unnatural blackness. Finally, in the direction he was supposed to came from... Nothing. Well, at least not the city that was supposed to be there.

Overwhelmed by everything around him, it took a short while for his brain to register the fact that the girl asked him a question. "A new student? No, I'm not. I don't even know how I got her in the first place. ...My name's Leon, by the way," he answered. "So uhm... why is this place floating?," he said with as calm a voice as he could muster. Which, given the circumstances, was not very calm at all. "And, on that topic, why is it connected to a tunnel in a ghost city, breaking all laws of reality in the process?" Of course, there was a good chance that the girl knew absolutely nothing about this, but hey, it wasn't like Leon had anyone else to ask these questions to.

[Evilorber]

"Problems I had last time I surfed the internet?" Evil began. He strolled around the edge of the lake for a bit scratching his chin in deep thought. "My internet was working fine and has been for a while now." He continued strolling, a low hum could be heard from somewhere in the distance. "Although the last site I was on was roleplayersguild.com before I woke up here. Strange, isn't it?" He stopped strolling now and stared at the man. "roleplayersguild.com is the site I used to go on, then it went down for a bit and it was suddenly up again one day... I just clicked a link from the admins to something when I, well I fainted and woke up here."

Why am I telling him this? Evil questioned himself. How is this going to help me at all? Can I even trust this guy?. He pulled out his phone once more. "I'll check the site agai-" he stopped mid sentence. "That's weird. I have no signal. I always have had signal. And the clock is still doing that weird time thingy like it's changing time zones or something". He suddenly became aware of something. Something very strange. There was a single tree in the large forest. A very large tree in the middle of it and a low hum in the distance. Very similar to... yes, it all came to him now. The lake, the trees, the hills. "No time to explain!" He looked at the man. "We have to go! Into the forest!" He pointed a small finger at a barely visible pathway covered by bushes and leaves. It was clearly an old path not used by anyone. Evil dropped his phone and broke into a run, as the sound of humming got louder.

[HylianRose]

She stared at him, watching his reactions. He seemed very uncomfortable. Well, most would and did when first coming to the academy anyway. But his next statement threw her for a loop. He hasn't a new student and he didn't know where he was? Certainly, he'd know about the academy. What sort of character had Kate allowed to come in? Most characters had to have a reason to join the academy. Then, he asked her about a tunnel?

"Wait, what? A tunnel? I've never seen any tunnels in the academy. Not unless they've changed it. I mean, we're thousands of miles in the air. The school's floating up here in the clouds. I mean, I noticed the patches down on the ground. It's like looking at puzzle pieces. Everything looks so different. I mean, there's a body of water down there that just... stops." She said, already starting to ramble. She'd often say her thoughts as she thought of them. A rather annoying habit to have. She thought for a moment. She might as well introduce herself, but as what? She wasn't adverse to people calling her Emily but something about this scared her. Maybe she should just go with Rose for now. "I'm... Rose. It's nice to meet you Leon. So, can you... show me where this 'tunnel' is?" She asked, walking over to him.