[IC] Kingdom Hearts: Fractured

[Noel]

---

Six Months Ago

A strange air hung over the city of Luce, over the entire world. The streets of the upper-city were filled with its usual signs of bustling life. Faint music played by street performers drifting through the air. Workers and businessmen heading from appointment to appointment whether it be by tram, by ship or by personal transport. The lower-city shrouded in its usual thick fog, its reaches covered in unorganized cacophony seemingly entirely at odds with its more refined counterpart. Chatter of common citizens who scraped by however they could manage. Gangs doing business within back alleys or planning their next scheme within old run down mansions. In the center of the huge city the two atmospheres melding together as the upper and lower reaches gradually transited. A day which should have been entirely normal yet the strange feeling of unease all about the world would refuse to let up.

On that day it was only a matter of time until the cause of that unexplainable discomfort would show itself. Just past midday the winds all about the world would begin the howl ferociously with gusts powerful enough to threaten knocking people from their feet. The sudden onset of these winds would cause many of the worlds people to stop in their tracks, eyes scanning about their individual areas as trees creaked and windows rattled in futile resistance. It was not long after the winds began to whip that the ground began to rumble with a low ominous groan. Just as the lower-city was buffeted by the brutal winds which would normally scarcely touch the misty depths of the under-city, the upper-city was shaken by the resounding quakes ordinarily reserved for the under-city.

These same events would begin appearing simultaneously all about the world. As word spread the strange occurrences would have been enough to send the world into a state of caution, were they giving the chance. However hardly an hour would pass before the situation would escalate far out of control. Suddenly the howling of the winds and the groaning of the earth would be replaced by a near deafening screech. In the initial moments glass began to shatter, the frantic cries of the frightened people were all but drowned out as the winds began to swirl with greater ferocity. The pitch began to rise for what would feel like an eternity until finally the havoc would cease. In an instant the heinous sound would cease, the winds would grow utterly still, the quaking of the ground would reside. For an all too brief moment the world would seem entirely still, entirely silent.

The following moment the world would be engulfed in a blinding flash of light. From the ground impossibly bright streams of light shot to the sky. The beams initially scarcely larger than a strand of hair quickly began to widen. The people began to flee only to be swallowed by the pillars of light. People, buildings, entire blocks being swallowed up by the light, the ground flaking away as matter was drawn in by the luminous towers. The initial moments of havoc were the same all around the world, and soon the screaming pillars of light would fade but the danger brought by them would not falter.

Over the following days, weeks, months, the world would be twisted and warped. Forests suddenly sprouting from the center of cities, vast fields being flooded in an instant, buildings being twisted into impossible formations, even entire towns broken from the land, stranded to float above an endless abyss. With each day more and more of the population would be lost while more dangers would surface. Darkness formerly contained surging out into the world, a plethora of creatures never before seen emerging. And all the while, memories being forgotten, drifting into into the void like so many pieces of their shattered world...

---

Present Day

Hard heavy footfalls sounding against cobble streets being lost amidst surrounding discord. A sinking sensation, the feeling of approaching danger nipping at your heels. A single misstep, loss of balance, panic and drastic action. Then falling, sensory overload, and finally silence...

A small room with just enough space to hold a single bed beside the door, a dresser sat next to the bed and a desk opposite the dresser. A young Elle slid off a small bed, bare feet landing with a soft thud upon bare wooden floor. Several light footsteps sounded bringing the girl through the small path between the dresser and desk. Her hands moved pushing a sliding glass door leading to a balcony aside. Outside a sea of stars painting the sky unfolded, below faint lights shone from the field below. The small girl plodded out to the rail, looking to the starry sky for a second before her gaze panned down to the field below. In that moment a rush of searing light filled her vision, reflexively she moved to cover her face even as her vision was blotted out.

The next moment, a dimly lit room only housing a single window placed high out of reach, its glass cloudy and reinforced with metal bars before it. As her arms fell from her face an older Elle stood before a heavy metal door, its center filled with the same reinforced glass further protected by metal bars. Outside distorted silhouettes could be seen frantically moving to and fro. Elle began pulling hard on the bars, her mouth moving as if shouting while a stream of light poured into the room from the single window, seemingly impossible through the dingy glass. Teeth gritted the girl stepped back and kicked against the door with all her strength, then tumbled from her balance. As she fell the ground behind her began to flake away, just slow enough that the foot which remained on the ground could feel the edge as she slipped into an abyss below.

She fell quickly into imposing darkness, light above shrinking into a single needle point before finally vanishing. The girl continued descending into the darkness for what would feel like an eternity until finally a change. Her speed began to slow as a platform appeared within the darkness. A towering pillar of stained glass, symbols lining the edges with a depiction of a two story building beneath a starry sky adorning its center. After several moments of descent she landed upon the, pushing herself to her knees, then to her feet. A hand set to her forehead Elle's cloudy white eyes drifted open as she gazed around the area.

She shook her head as she stepped over to the edge of the platform and gazed over the edge down into the endless expanse of darkness. Then upwards only to meet the same sight, all around an unending sea of black. Then a foreign sensation cause her to turn swiftly, her posture defensive, the silhouette of a weapon forming in her hand. At the center of the pillar a vaguely defined figure stood upright. The girls teeth grit, her hand clutching the hilt of her weapon. The figure merely raised its 'arm' to chest level, slowly waving a 'finger' side to side, each movement seeming to blur too much to be focused on. Then a powerful gust of wind flew from behind the figure causing it to dissipate immediately. The gust caused Elle to stumble backwards over the edge of the platform, plummeting back into the darkness...

With a gasp Elle sprung up into a sitting position, a hand clutching the fabric on her chest. The young woman's wide eyed gaze darted side to side as her sensory network gradually came to life revealing the surrounding area to her. A hulking metal door sealed tightly not only by its own elaborate locking mechanism but by an outside force as well. An intricate mass of pipes joining with a large sloping tunnel, the runoff flowing like a rushing river through the center. As her racing nerves began to settle Elle noticed a slight weight on her lap. A small jittery creature with wriggling antenna and perfectly round yellow eyes staring her in the face, its shadowy little claws kneading together anxiously.

“Every morning with this...” Elle sighed lightly as she plucked the squirming shadow up by its antenna and flicked it into the mass of flowing darkness. She then stood with a stretch followed by a flick of her wrist. A faint burst of black appeared in her hand and a split second later her golden black keyblade was hanging from her loose grip. She raised it towards the door causing a small flash to light the darkened tunnel for just a moment. The door shone for a second itself as the heavy mechanism within it chugged before the door finally swung open. Elle quickly slipped through soon as the gap was large enough, then pushed her weight against the door soon as she was outside. The heavy door met its frame with a thud, followed by a light clink of her key upon the door causing the mechanism to reverse and seal once more.

Elle then made her way out from the long alleyway which held the entrance to The Blind out into the streets of the upper-city proper, tapping her keyblade against the side of her boot. “I swear, not a decent nights sleep since I got this thing...” She sighed lightly muttering to herself as she dismissed her weapon. The girl then began to head down the shop lined street which was occasionally dotted with buildings fused together or a large fault splitting the ground, faint chiming of light or the swirling of darkness rumbling below ground...

[Dblade26]

Luce-Upper City
The world may have ended, but for in many ways life still went on after it relatively unchanged. The ordinary people that remained afterward still got up in the morning, greeted their neighbors and went about the various chores that made life livable. Such children as were still around continued causing trouble and playing, although hopefully only in safe areas where the sorts of nasty things that always appeared when a world ended didn't happen to lurk. At night, people would still go to bed tired but content to have another day behind them, hoping that in some way the next day would be better. Yes, even after the end of the world, people will still do their best to live.

For Morph, that meant waking up on the crumbling rooftop of a building that was once a thriving little shop but had been twisted and fused into the sort of vague abstraction that even the kindest of art critics would probably consider a little bit excessive. In fact the boy had been considering painting the building himself when he'd suddenly realized that the little partially broken section of roof seemed perfect for a nap. 'Perfect' for napping in this case meaning it was remote enough that no one with any sense was likely to wake Morph up in the middle of it, at least without plenty of skittering rock to alert him first. But he'd been woken up anyway by a strange and irritating dream, no doubt caused by choosing the wrong rock for his pillow. Morph wasn't too fond of the little townships that had been built in Upper Luce in the wake of the world's ending, mainly because their inhabitants didn't seem too fond of him since he was a homeless vagrant.

Morph was about to start out on another day exploring what was left of Luce, raid some of the abandoned shops for supplies or maybe paint the poor building after all when he heard the distinct noise of a person walking on the street right below him. As Morph leaned over to check it out, the ledge he was balanced on finally crumbled and fell, taking him with it. Perhaps it was just luck, but Morph didn't fall nearly as hard as he should have and mostly righted himself before he landed, still tumbling in a heap on the ground right in front of the girl who'd been walking the shop-lined streets beneath him.

The wandering boy dusted himself off and grinned at Elle, as if falling from the sky were an everyday occurrence for him.

"Oww!~ hey there, My name's Morph. I hate to bother you, but d'you happen to have any food? I...kind of haven't eaten in days."

[All_The_Science]

Another week gone and I still do not have much to add to my previous reports. Between the volatile and dangerous nature of the Fractured, trying to piece together anything beyond the observable is proving to be difficult. As for the current state of the world, there does not seem to be an end in sight to the development of these rifts that have been opening. They come in what seems like random bursts with little to no warning. The cause behind what is making them form is still unknown.

With a heavy sigh, Adrian closed the journal with a bit more force than was absolutely necessary. Trying to stay alive in this world that was slowly crumbling was hard enough, but trying to figure out why everything was tearing at the seams on top of that was proving to be a frustrating ordeal. Months had passed and every lead that he had pursued had led to disappointing results. The latest one had led him to the Lightworks district, but so far there had been little to show for it.

Storing the journal in his pack, Adrian lifted himself off the floor that had served as his bed the previous night before. The warehouse he had taken refuge had certainly seen better days, but it was one of the most structurally sound building he could find. Nevertheless, the musty smell that permeated through the place certainly wasn’t doing it any favors. Neither was the dust or the general dilapidated look it had, but it served its purpose of providing a roof over his head well enough.

Leaving the dankness of the warehouse behind him, the sunlight and relatively fresh air that came with the outdoors was quite welcome. However, all of the little concerns that came with being out in the open, such as being open to attack from the various creatures that infested the place, were not so welcome. “Let’s see how lady luck is feeling today,” the young mage muttered to no one in particular.

[KiltmanBagz]

It had been trying times recently. Honestly Reva was somewhat glad her emotions were conspicuously absent from her ever since the whole world went to pieces. She had no idea how the 'normal' people were holding together honestly. She was sure if she was still 'normal' she'd be rather crippled by the amount of fear and horror over how the world's state. Honestly, knowing who she was before this whole...whatever it was that happened to her, she was quite sure she'd be a useless emotional wreck. I mean, sure she could handle the pressure of performing on stage but this kind stress would have been enough to break anyone's spirits. In a weird way she supposed she should be thankful that she was all different now. Stronger, faster, with powers like she never had before. But if she was still normal she wouldn't have to be wondering all around the gosh darn world by herself , dealing with monsters and bandits and crazies.

And traveled the world she had, ever since she woke up with new found strength, the ability to manipulate gravity and summon a mace seeming MADE of the stuff, and a startling ( assuming she could still feel startled ) lack of emotions she had made it her goal to figure out what she was and how to turn back. Honestly, how could she call herself a singer once society pulled itself back together without the feelings to put into her performances. She wouldn't settle for anything less than her full performance capabilities, which were deeply lessened by her lack of caring for anything.

She had gone to many towns and places looking for answers. Ruins of cities, make shift shanty towns, she even managed to get up to a floating island thing hearing rumors about some strange...THINGS living up there. She smiled, and empty motion. That had been a long shot, but she would turn up every stone to find answers. Now, that search had brought here...what was it called again? The silver haired woman furrowed her brow a bit in thought. She snapped as it came to her "Ah, Luce...I'm in Luce...Well perhaps someone will know...SOMETHING."

[Imperfectionist]

"Ah, another beautiful morning, eh Karen? ... ...Aw, come on, I apologized, didn't I? I couldn't see that one, it was behind us, and you didn't tell me you were trying to blast it! Besides, a bite in you is the same thing as a bite in me." On a lonely stretch of road in Luce's Upper City, a very strange creature was having an argument with itself. It had the vague proportions of a human, with flowing, indistinct arms and legs, a slender torso and what could be called a head, but instead of walking, it was floating a foot or so above the pavement. In addition, its face didn't seem able to make up its mind. For a split second, it could be the face of a man, but then it had feline features, and then reptilian, and then no features at all, on and on and on.

To survivors, it was a monster, no different from the dozens of other grotesque creatures that were always trying to kill them. To the Heartless, who attacked from the darkness of the Blind, it was unusual, didn't quite have a heart, and they never fought with the same fervor as they did when they could smell humans. It was more exploratory, attempting to figure out whether the being had a heart or not, then retreating if it got ugly. To beings like itself, the creature is an outcast, not accepting the rule of their leader, not willing to become a lackey in her schemes, not willing to give up its freedom. And so, alone, beset by most everything it came across, the being floated. It didn't need sustenance, not really, so the only thing it did most days was run. It tried to go somewhere, anywhere that it could be safe, but never seemed to make it out of the city. It would forget which direction it needed to go, forget where it was in the first place, forget where it had been for the past week.

But that was about to change. This day, some twist of fate would put the creature back into contact with one of the only people that hadn't tried to kill it (though they could barely remember her). And meeting that girl would change its meager existence for good. "I'm not talking to you, Bob. I'm just not. I'm done with you. I hate you more than I've hated anything in our entire life. Well, why don't you just leave, then!? Hmph. I think I will. I'll take half of them, you keep the other half, and we'll never have to talk to each other again. Fine, take them!" A second creature, much more transparent and insubstantial, emerged from its chest, and began to float away. The original seemed to stare after it, the ever-shifting face belying no emotion, as it didn't have time to do anything more than change into something else. After around fifteen minutes, there was a massive sound, as one of the many fissures in the street opened just a bit wider, and weakened an old building's walls enough that they collapsed in a plume of dust and grit.

Immediately following the collapse, there were two nearly-identical and very quiet screams, one from each of the two creatures. If anyone had been there to hear it, the might have picked out the words "Better together" within the screams, and at breakneck speed the strange beings collided back into each other, forming a single body once more. "I'm so sorry, Bob, please forgive me! It's so scary out there when we're alone... So dangerous. It's better together. Better... Together... That's right, don't worry, honey, I'm back. I won't leave you again, I promise." Despite Karen's promise, this was a daily occurrence. They did not remember any of the times it had happened before. They didn't want to. Being alone like that, truly alone, was more than they could handle.

Suddenly, though, the creature heard something it hadn't heard in long time: voices. Other than themselves, friendly voices had been very few and far between, and they weren't about to pass this chance up. "Eyes that aren't," it muttered at last, as two people came into view on the other side of the collapsed building. It seemed only a small section of it had crumbled on this side, but that wasn't where they were looking. A girl, eyes closed, next to a boy, eyes open. "Eyes that aren't," one of them repeated. "What does that mean? Shouldn't we remember? That voice wasn't hers, it was the boy's... But she... Do we know her? We do. She's the girl with eyes that aren't. I... She didn't try to kill us. We didn't have to run. Oh, it was so long ago, though.... What if she forgot us? What if she tries to kill us? We have to take the chance, Bob. We have to know."

Tentatively, the creature floated forward out of the shadows between the partially collapsed building and the shop the two humans were standing in front of. It attempted to solidify its appearance as much as possible, and moved closer to the ground, so that it would hopefully look more like they were walking, rather than floating. Indistinct tendrils became silvery arms and legs, and a harder outline formed around the creature, though its face would never be able to stop shifting. It stopped a safe distance away from the two, and called out, "Eyes that aren't! We... know you. Do you know us? Please.... Say that you do...."

[Noel]

Elle

For a few minuets Elle continued down the road, occasionally hopping over a fallen street light or side stepping away from a chunk of rubble in her path, a hand fiddling idly with a chain strapped to her waist. Before the girl got much farther down the path she would be stopped by the sound of a sudden thud off to her side, accompanied by several more as chunks of the former ledge hit the ground. Elle turned her head towards the general direction of the noise, but not looking directly at the boy who had fallen and since began speaking like such a thing was an every day occurrence. She stood silent for a moment, a low perturbed 'uuhhh' being the only thing to come from her mouth before she finally shrugged her shoulders and began to speak.

”If you're lookin' for food you could try searchin' the shops. Places probably been ransacked months ago though. Heard a lil' town started forming north of here but can't say if thats true or not.” As she spoke Elle pointed northwards with one hand and opening her coat with the other to show she was carrying as little as anyone else you would find wandering the streets. ”Ya know, if you're lookin' to be a bandit you should work on your entrance, and pick yourself some better targets.” She continued non-nonchalantly, slipping her hands into her pockets as she did so. She had no real reason to assume this Morph was a bandit or any sort of criminal, but with how things had gone south within the world she had no reason to assume he wasn’t either.

Before she could say anything else her attention was drawn back to the building which began to collapse further causing a loud racket and an unpleasant cloud of dust to kick up as the near by fault widened its maw. Elle coughed for a while, waving the dust from her face away before she picked up another presence. There had been no sign of footsteps from a third party entering the area which they would have likely noticed even before the collapse of the building. She curiously looked vaguely in the direction of the presence, the closed lids of her eyes scrunching a bit as she heard a voice call out. She once again remained silent for a moment, though this time not out of surprise but from being a bit taken aback by the statement. “Hey just cause I can't see don't mean I don't got eyes! What kinda greeting is that?!” The girl called back, scratching the back of her head before dropping her arm and setting the hand on her hip. ”Yeah I know you. Its only been maybe a little over a month at most ya know. I don't forget that quick.” Elle stated as if such a thing was entirely obvious, then gesturing around the area as she continued. ”What're you doing out here anyway? The both of ya. Not often I see people wandering around, let alone two.” Elle finally concluded, her voice taking on an inquisitive tone as she did so.

---

The world

Else-where in the world, a large plaza with a long block of mid-city apartments at one end and the edge of a long sloping bridge to the upper-city at the other. The bridge was scarred with scorch marks like it had been battered by lightning storms and the buildings opposite it crumbling with glass littering the street. The center plaza was much the same with uprooted or charred foliage circling around. At the center of all this stood a slender figure with pale porcelain like skin and an attire of white nearly covering them from head to toe, save for tall black boots and gloves which reached their thighs and arms respectively. In one of the figures hands hung a horned helmet and in the other a small black object resembling a dark which emitted a soft orange glow.

“This will be good enough for you, huh.” The figure spoke with a light grin, its voice hushed and plain as it knelt down slowly. Their hand holding the dart raised slightly and with a slight flick of the wrist the object was stuck firmly into the ground. The figure then stood and placed its helmet atop its head before swiftly leaping off in the direction of the apartments.

The ground where the dart was placed slowly began to crack around it, the same orange glow emerging from the cracks around it. As the cracks spread further over the place the glow began to grow brighter and brighter until it shined white at the edges. For a few moments the ground continued to crack, then began to flake as if it was nothing but paint chipping from a wall. The glow between the cracks grew brighter and brighter until finally it began to spill fourth, a pillar of harsh white light enveloping the area and firing up towards the sky accompanied by a high pitched chime. Within the pillar of light the world began to shift, the ground liquified becoming a floating mass of water which would rain endlessly onto the areas below it. The ramp to upper reaches would suddenly change into a large arch moving over the newly formed waters and connecting to the block of apartments on the otherside. In the center of the lake formed a large circus tent with many objects resembling ribbon extending down into water farther than could be seen. For several minuets the area was wrapped in the pillar of light as the world reformed allowing the light to quietly dissipate.

In response to this the creatures of light and darkness in the surrounding area began to stir restlessly. The heartless began to emerge from their dens and move to converge on the area as if agitated by the light while fractured began to form spontaneously in greater numbers, the two forces starting off small as they moved towards the area, gradually building into a small swarm...

[All_The_Science]

Lady luck had once more proven to be a cruel mistress. The only thing Adrian had to show for his arduous efforts were a handful of new nicks and bruises to add to his body’s ever growing collection. The mage honestly wasn’t all that surprised that there wasn’t much to find in the Lightworks, it had only been a few weeks since he had last checked it after all, but the lack of progress was really starting to grate on his patience. In fact, he was just about to give up his little expedition entirely, but that was when the pillar of light carved its way through the sky. The luminance all but blinded the young man, and yet he could not do little more than put his hand in between his eyes and the harsh radiance.

It took several moments for the surprise induced by the phenomena’s abrupt appearance to wear off, but once it did Adrian all but broke out in run towards the origin of the light. Whatever it was, the city clearly did not like it as the ground groaned from its landscape drastically shifting. Like hell I’m going to let this get away from me, Adrian silently vowed, although it would not take long for him to begin to question that very thought. Because even though it was not unheard of for the creatures that hid in the shadows to travel in packs, the monstrous swarm that was converging upon the pillar of light left him with an absolutely dumbfounded expression as he stopped dead in his tracks. For almost as far as his eyes could see the creatures were piling one over another, trying desperately to reach the light, almost as if it had personally offended each and every one of them.

A good string of curses followed, as the astonishment gave way to fear. Sure he was no slouch in combat with his magic, but he did not entertain the idea of being able to deal with all of that on his own for a moment. With a deep breath, he did his best to push his apprehension aside and press on. Even though the creatures thankfully seemed to pay him little mind, Adrian did everything he could to not push his luck with them. Thus he followed them with care, hoping to not catch any of their attention. And if they did, he was quite ready to run with his figurative tail between his legs at a second’s notice.

[Dblade26]

Luce-Upper City

Morph shrugged as if the circumstances of him happening to be there were almost as confusing and odd to him as they were to Elle, continuing to dust himself off. For a fraction of a second once the strange, misty creature appeared his hands might have twitched oddly, and the attempts at cleaning rubble out of his clothes might even have been a cover-up for slipping a pair of flip-knives that had sprung into his gloved palms back into hidden sheathes up his sleeves, but if that was the case he was doing his best to disguise it by the time it became clear that the creature wasn't attacking either of them, and in fact they were trying their best to communicate.

Morph smiled at both the blind girl and the mist creature as he finished cleaning rubble and dust off of himself "I guess I'm just kind of a wanderer, moving from place to place wherever the winds and my feet take me. A bandit though? Probably not likely. I don't think I'm the sorta guy who could be one of those 'dashing thieves who get by on their luck and their wits' types. Plus, then I'd have to fight and that's really not my style, y'know? I tried staying in the little towns too but I don't think they liked me hanging around with them very much, something against vagrants and drifters I guess."

He eyed the mist creature that had approached the apparently blind girl, showing curiosity more than any of the expected mixes of suspicion, fear and anger he supposed he should feel at the site of them.

"Who are you anyways? You don't look like anything I've ever seen before, and you can talk instead of just attacking like most of the things around here do, which I guess is nice but confusing."

[Dusk]

It was one of those days. It droned on and on, as The Prism shuffled among the deserted ruins of the Broken Center It wasn't often that they came up here, but it was feeling that a change of pace from the dark dingy atmosphere of the Lower City was a bit overdue. It's white cloak fluttered in the breeze, as the hood covered it's face, save for the strands of silvery blue hair which streamed like wisps in the wind. A sigh drifted lightly from it's lips, and the faint glowing behind the bandages on it's right eye pulsed. "Nothing interesting...no peop-wait," It shot a glance behind itself, around itself, even above and below. "No people...which is a good thing." Priz sighed again, a melodious hum to it's voice, extending it's claws just a bit so it could climb a nearby, distorted building.

After securing a better view, it could now see the groups of people scattered about, plumes of smoke rising from various areas of the city. Priz wished, if only for a moment, it could join them. But how would it act? How would it fit in? Such things were lost in what felt like a shattered mess in it's head. Priz sat down, cross-legged, and stared at the sky. The thin clouds rolled by as usual, and Priz conjured up the cold energy with itself to summon up a snow ball, and roll it around on the roof. Aside from running all of the time, he didn't have much in the way of entertainment. It was usually too frazzled for such a thing. It's orange eyes smiled a bit, before quickly shooting around for another quick inspection. A little relaxing was nice...

Of course, such moment are as brief as they are pleasant. Without warning, the ground shook and the air howled with a fierce chime, as light erupted into the sky, not too far from Priz's location. It covered it's remaining ear, gritting it's teeth at the sound. After it had subsided, Priz looked on in uncertainty. Surely others were investigating...maybe if it hadn't felt a tugging in what remained of it's heart, it would have stayed away. But after removing it's bandages, and revealing the shimmering orifice that replaced it's right eye, Priz couldn't ignore it. Thin wisps of light streamed from it, and revealed masses of darkness moving towards the event. In the streets below, they congregated, racing towards it.

"It'll just bug me if I don't..." It concluded, before it began creating bridges of ice to skate between rooftops, before they quickly melted. The last thing it wanted was for the hordes of dark creatures below to kill it.

[Imperfectionist]

"See? I told you she'd know us. No you didn't, I had to drag us out here to talk to her." The shifting head turned and attempted an apologetic look at the two humans (though the expression was impossible to see). "I'm sorry about him, he gets completely delusional sometimes. Um... Why were we here? Fate, maybe? It's as good a word as any. It's hard for us to keep track of where we've been, and what we've been doing and everything... It always just kind of slips away... Speak for yourself. We've been trying to get out of the city, eyes that aren't. That's why we're here. Have we really? You have to tell me these things, Karen. -sigh- Alright, Bob, I'll try to be better about that."

When Morph asked what they were, and called them nice, but confusing, the creature laughed. It was a very sad sound, echoing more than the voice, soft and without a hint of actual joy. "I guess that pretty much sums us up," it said, attempting to smile at the human boy. "We think we're nice, too, but neither of us have any idea what we are. Just that there are a bunch of us in here, and only me and Karen can talk..." In demonstration, a few small Wisps leaked out of the creature's arm, leaving it indistinct and transparent. They blinked about, laughing with tiny voices, but the arm swept back over them, and in a moment they had been re-absorbed, and the arm returned to its semi-solid state. "Um... There are other things. Things like us, but not. Some of them can talk, too, and they found us one time. They wanted us to join them. They have a... queen. She's the Heart of the World, they said. Well, we thought it was a load of bunk, and ran away... Now they try to kill us. Hopefully, that makes things less confusing for you?"

[KiltmanBagz]

Still on the outskirts of the placed called Luce, where the buildings were either collapsed into rubble or not all that tall, it made it easy for Reva to see the sudden eruption of light. It caused an odd sensation in her, as if some instinct in her body was reacting to the massive swelling of power. As she focused on it she felt a few different sources of power. The empty, hallow power of a gathering of heartless, that felt more like a great absence than a great presences. The chaotic, ever shifting feeling of whatever those new monster were that had sprang up all over the place alter the world went to hell. And then the power of the light itself. It felt....bad, and caused an odd sensation in her. It was a harsh, unpleasant, and numbing sensation that started in her cut and spread all throughout her body. She didn't like it, while investigating this light seemed like something to put on her to-do list, given something probable caused it, hopefully something sentient enough to answer some questions, she decided for the time being to stay in Luce. The sensation was all to unlikable to pursue now; much better pushed from the mind and focus at finding anyone here.

The town seemed much abandoned, if anyone had lived here, they had long since died in the chaos or moved on to a new, run-down, busted-up, rubbish-heap of a town. How unfortunate, looks like she had just wasted her time. though she waged if she was still capable of optimism ( which she wasn't entirly sure she was. She had never been all that optimistic after all, and was unsure if it qualified as some sort of emotion ) she would have said 'well at least I know there is nothing here.' But again, Reva was no optimist, even assuming she could be one in her current state so she was just slightly put off by her wasted time.

Then voices, a few voices, managed to reach her ear. The black-dressed woman picked up her pace, fallowing the sounds of voice until she came around the corner to see two people and a....THING...What on earth was that? IT...didn't seem to be attacking anyone. But it felt...kind of like those other things that had been popping up. They, in her experience had rarely been stable for long, she made a not to have her mace ready to form at a moment's notice if things got ugly.

"Hello People...and Other." she called out approaching them. "I don't suppose I could trouble you with some questions."

[Noel]

Elle

As the conversation moved on Elle took a couple steps back and sat down on a large chunk of rubble, leaning back onto her palms. Bob...Karen, seemed to merely be rambling to eachother which Elle simply passed over, idly responding to Morph ”Those're three things ya wouldn’t describe most thieves as so you might fit in just fine.” She said before Morph began to address the previously bickering BobKaren. As it responded Elle noted the several small wisps which leaked out then were quickly swept back up, accompanied by a faint energy which made her skin quiver slightly. After listening to the little speech Elle interrupted with a light groan, ruffling her own hair before leaning forward and setting her chin into her hand, her elbow now sat on her leg.

”Times like this people spout off about plenty of crap.” The girl waved her hand dismissively as she continued. ”Queen, heart of the world, all sounds absurd to me. People'll say anything to get ya on their side. If ya don't get with 'em then you get the pitchfork.” Elle shook her head a bit before noting yet another approaching presence, this one exhibiting yet another strangely...different feeling. One of her eyes slowly opened half way, turning unfocused in the direction of the woman who had come around the corner before closing again.

”Are all the wanderers hangin' out around here today? If you're lookin' for any sort of food or decent shelter you wont find it here, better off headin' for one of the towns if thats what ya wanna ask.” Elle called out while bringing herself back to her feet. Those sort of questions seemed fairly common when meeting someone simply wandering about. However with the situation at hand she would have been surprised if that was what the person had in mind.

---

The world

The heartless continued to rush towards the former pillar of light with a single minded determination. Fortunately for any near by the mass of darkness was fixated on much larger pray to be bothered with a single person. However anyone foolish enough to be caught in their path would be ran down and swept up without pause. Quickly the heartless reached the bridge connected to the newly formed lake. As they arrived the swarm of heartless began to break off from one another and spread about the area, attacking the creatures of light which continued to form and retaliate just as fiercely as their attackers came at them.

The battle between heartless and fractured continued for several moments before the distinct sound of fingers snapping echoed faintly through the near by area. Moments later a third type of creature emerged between the already battling forces. Strange gray creatures with jerky movements, many of which emerged from paper thin cracks before fully forming and wedging themselves between the clashing light and darkness. Though fewer in numbers the creatures moved with swift and deliberate action to both thin the numbers of the other forces and push them from one another. Soon the swarm of heartless was mostly spread about the areas outskirts while the fractured lingered about the floating lake.

The new gray creatures themselves stayed scattered about the area for several minuets before quietly receding when the numbers of heartless were sufficiently quelled. Though despite this interference, for any normal person the area would still be crawling with enemies.

[KiltmanBagz]

Reva laughed, mostly out of habit and some odd sense that it was the kind of reaction she was supposed to have to the girls somewhat sarcastic reply. The laugh sounded hallow, and forced, though not exactly threatening, she was making the extra effort not to sound threatening. The wheels in her head had been turning, if these people were wondering about like she was, there was a chance they would know more than others who had huddled up in 'safe havens', given they too had seen more of the world as it was now. Scaring them off or startling them into a battle would be unfortunate. Though it was very hard to act natural with the "noise" of whatever was going on at that light she saw eelier going on in the background of her sense. The boiling caldron of power that was the light, the darkness, those others all in one spot was more grating on her senses than she'd like. She took a deep breath and replied "No, I am not looking for those kind of things...I was wonder, does anyone here know anything about surviving a attack from a heartless?"

She paused a second working her words around in her head, explain what had happened to her and what she had become was difficult, especially since she didn't really know what she was herself. "I was attacked by heartless after...well, the world went to hell. I remember my heart being taken from me... And yet...here I am still. But, I...am not quite the same as I was before the attack. I'm different on the inside...as well as the out. I don't seem to have 'emotions' anymore. I've been looking for answers about what happened to me. And how I can become normal again. So do any of y-"

Reva head jerked in the direction of the light. A new sensation came to her. One that was...oddly familre...What was it like. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow in focus. Some new force had joined the conflict by the light. IT wasn't the rolling bulk of the heartless, or the wild fury of the otheres...it was cold, clean, detached. A narrow blade of power, small but potent. And so damned familare. They...felt like she felt to herself. sort of...more like she was looking at pieces of a broken mirror. Little things, smaller, less developed than her, but still cut from the same cloth. She opened her eyes, as the sensation suddenly vanished. "Okay...that was new..." she whisper beneath her breath.

[Dusk]

Quietly observing the massive waves of creatures, Priz sat on the edge of a roof and observed the small war taking place below. Creatures of light and darkness, battling it out. The chaos seemed so fitting for the world at that moment, and it wondered if maybe the world was doomed to be taken completely by one of the groups of...things below. It was a terrifying thought, and Priz pushed it out of it's mind. It was such a worrywart...though, in the next few minutes, that worry would be justified. Just as Priz stood to leave, crystalline limbs clicking against deformed stone, a new party joined the fray. They were so sterile, so bland, and terribly powerful. These new creatures evaded the power of Priz's right eye, quickly stirring paranoia in it's shard of heart. If it couldn't be classified as pure light or darkness....what was it?

Deciding to leave before the creatures took time to realize it's presence, Priz formed it's skates on the soles of it's feet, coating the stone below with a thin sheet of ice, and jumping from rooftop to rooftop with the aid of ice ramps. It felt...well, it didn't feel like much, Where thrill should have been, was just emptiness. It was kind of upsetting, really, to live without getting those butterflies when it did something dangerous. Out of the emotions it had, seemingly very few were pleasant.

As it got a bit further from the massive deathtrap that was the new circus tent area, Priz ran across a group of people. Well, that was a loose statement, because one didn't seem like a person, but more of a...light-thing. Like itself. While the sight of the people put Priz on edge right away, that amorphous figure of light seemed to ease it a bit. If the people weren't attacking the figure, did that mean they were okay? It didn't want to take chances, but today seemed like a day for firsts. Deciding to observe, Priz crouched down and peered over the little bit of cover the roof's edge provided. If it was lucky, he'd unnoticed until it reached a decision. Of course, luck wasn't ever really on it's side.

[Dblade26]

Morph, who had for the most part been very casually behaved with the exception of the first moments of Bobkaren's arrival, suddeny tensed up again at the mention of other things like them and the Heart of the World. Reva arriving shortly afterward had him wound up tighter than a spring, and if anyone was paying enough attention they might suddenly feel an odd, very subtle increase in the wind as it seemed to tug on Morph's clothes and hair. He laughed at Elle's comment that he'd probably fit right in with thieves and bandits after all, but it seemed almost as forced as Reva's laugh.

"Maybe I would make a good thief after all, I spend enough time on the roads, so I guess next time I find someone I could try it out? At least steal some companionship and time for a while maybe, ahaha!"

When Reva herself mentioned anyone knowing anything about Heartless attacks and being attacked and changed so she was different on the inside, the wind flared up even more and he actually slipped a still sheathed balisong into the palm of his hand, just barely concealed. Morph let out a breath he didn't even notice he was holding and the sudden gust of wind died away while the boy pulled his jacket tighter around him, maybe to warm himself up from its' chill.

"I try and stay clear of heartless and other creatures, really. They usually mean big trouble and I'm not really fond of that at all. You and misty over here seem nice enough, though. It's okay that there's no food here, I can probably last a while longer." While he was speaking, Morph had turned to face the direction of the light, suddenly seeming like his mind was on things very far away "You could always try heading towards the big disturbance over there. Big trouble means big answers pretty often too. As for getting out of the city, well...personally, I haven't been able to get very far since I came here, but maybe being a wispy collection of stuff means you'll have better luck?"

[All_The_Science]

Adrian had seen a number of circus tents in his life, but not a single one of them came close to being as ominous as the one that had seemingly devoured the residential district that had been there only a short time ago. But it was the creatures that swarmed all around it that made it truly frightening. Watching from a perch a safe distance away from the conflict, the mage was able to identify both the creatures of shadow that had beat him there and other creatures that seemed to be coming from the light.

The battle between the two forces was vicious, and every now and then he would spot a creature that didn't belong to either faction. Keeping up with the blur of activity was borderline migraine inducing, but Adrian did everything he could to jot down everything he saw in his journal. From sketches to descriptions on how each one attacked, there was little that escaped his eyes. But as closely as he was watching the all out war before him, Adrian had all but forgotten to stay wary of his surroundings. That changed quite quickly when the mage felt something nibbling on his leg.

With an expression that was filled with equal parts surprise and horror, Adrian found a diminutive shadow trying its best to fell him. With one swift kick of his leg, Adrian punted the little guy away from him. Unfortunately, the little ball of darkness hurtled right into one of it's bigger, much more threatening companions. As one of them slowly turned to glare at him, a grimace began to over Adrian's face. "Well then.." he muttered, doing his best to resist the powerful urge to take a good number of names in vain.

[Noel]

Elle

Surprisingly enough it seemed the new girl to enter the scene wasn’t looking to ask any of the all too common questions Elle had ran into over the past few months. The question that did come made the girls brows rise a bit. Surviving an attack from the heartless, in her mind it simply meant you were able to kill it before it could kill you or were able to outrun it. But this girl who to Elle would feel just slightly off came out with a much different view. “Can't say I know much about it. But if one of those snatched your heart ya shouldn’t be walkin' around.” Elle stepped a bit closer to the young woman, hands slipping into her pockets, her closed eyes turned in the direction of her but almost seeming to simply look past. ”Can you be sure thats what happened? Lot of us must feel different since everything went down the drain. When the whole world gets turned inside out it'd be pretty easy not to feel yourself, ya know?” Elle continued, her voice holding a bit more weight than her ordinarily flighty form of speech would usually permit.

She remained silent for a bit after this last line, thoughts churning about in her head which made her foot slowly tap against the ground. Despite her justifications this person, like many things within the world felt different, foreign and unknown. She tried to rationalize each of these oddities as best she could, but in the end logic wavered all too much for her to be certain of everything. After finally snapping out of her own thoughts it seemed both Morph and Reva had turned in a specific direction, both seeming to take note of something specific as well. Her brow furrowed a bit as she tried to extend her focus roughly in the same direction, feeling a stirring of energy but little more. Such a thing was not uncommon for her to notice and something barely of note for her. She gave an irritated 'tsk' in response to this.

”Trouble can just as easy lead ya to more questions then it answers.” Elle stated dryly. Even if she didn't necessarily feel anything from the direction, she could assume something happened simply from the way Morph was speaking. If nothing else something strange happening was something she could count on within the world.

---

The world

On a balcony overlooking Adrian's location the figure in white appeared from a gray mist, leaning against a half broken rail guard. It looked downward to the young man, face obscured by the horned helmet it wore. It arrived just in time to see him punt a tiny harmless shadow into a much bigger, and much angrier heartless. A light sigh came slightly muffled from behind the helmet, followed by a voice also muffled by the metallic echo. ”Don't know what you're doing here but you might wanna scurry on off before you get in over your head! Plenty of those things around looking for a snack!” The figure called down to Adrian as the larger more lithe shadow stirred impatiently.

From near by alleyways more of the ominous yellow eyes would be seen gathering and peering out from their dark little hovels. Mostly shadows and neo-shadows, the purest expressions of the darkness that formed the heartless, relatively harmless on their own but a dangerous wave when gathered together. ”Really, sneaking in here while I'm busy. As if I don't have enough to keep track of.” The figure muttered to itself, now merely watching for the time being.

[All_The_Science]

If it had not been for the ever approaching creauture that was slowly but surely approaching him, Adrian would have been all too happy to face the mysterious voice and reply with a rather snarky comment. But alas, caution dictated that taking your eyes off the bloodthirsty thing was a rather poor idea, so he merely settled for the snarky comment part. "I've kinda been way over my head simpy by trying to live in this mess of a world," he called back, his voice miraculously not betraying his growing panic, "But by all means, do continue to illustrate just how dire my well being is becoming."

Whether through amusement or aggravation, Adrian was hoping to keep the voice's interest. The tone in the figure's voice sounded far too calm given the events unfolding around them, which led him to believe that it knew more than it would probably let on. But in the leantime, he had to deal with the creature approaching him without attracting even more of the unwanted attention he had been generating. Reaching into his pack, Adrian retrieved his spell tome, it's hard leather cover already making him feel a bit more at ease, and got ready to divert the creatures attention.

Even though he had long since stopped needing to read from the tome in order to shape his spells, going through the motions of opening the book cleared his mind and alowed him to focus solely on the task at hand. "Blizzard," he said calmly, as a sphere of pure ice came into being, rotating quickly as it accomulated more masc, several feet behind the creature. In under a second it was already half of a foot in diameter and was launched at the back of its head. It was by no means meant to incapacitate it, much less kill it, but Adrian hoped it would mistake it for an attack from one of the parties behind it.

[KiltmanBagz]

Reva developed a slight scowl at the mundane explanation the girl had offered her. Reva knew her claim was ridiculous, but to be saying she survived having her heart ripped from her body and devoured by a creature mad up of anger and darkness while the entire world had gone mad as it had, she'd either have to be telling the truth or completely mad herself. And she had hoped people wouldn't assume she was mad. It was so hard to get help answers when people were afraid you might snap, kill them, skin them, then hang the skin up to dry out into jerky to feed to the monsters. Though given how quickly She formulated that scenario in her mind, perhaps she really wasn't completely sane either. Though could a person with out their emotions really be sane at all?

"That would be a decent enough explanation, where my memory at fault. But it is not." Reva replied quite plainly. "And as you may have remember me saying, I have done more than just 'changed' on the inside. I'm changed on the outside to. I rather don't like doing demonstrations. Doing this trick can be tiring...and people tend to freak out when I do it. But if it'll help convince my claims to you." She said, stretching out her hand and closing her eyes. Her brow furrowed in concentration and for a second nothing happened.

Then everyone around her felt a slight pull. Nothing serious, almost like their clothing had gotten caught on some invisible corner. Not nearly enough to make them move or even react, the they could recognize that the pull had happened. At the same instant as that the space before her outstretched hand seemed to bend and warp, turning for a second into a black ball. Then an instant later, with a metallic like noise, the ball stretched out and took the shape of a large, pitch black mace. She held it as lightly as a child would hold a stick in her hand despite how the large weapon was nearly her own height in length. Any weapon made of iron or steel of that size would be impossible for a normal human to hold so easily. "This...Is Burdened Shade. My weapon. I don't know where it comes from, how I summon it, or why I know what it's called. And as far as I can tell it is made out of gravity magic. And I can use it to manipulate gravity in very nontraditional ways. This, and the fact that I am a great deal stronger and durable than I was before the heartless attack, is what I mean by being 'changed on the outside'. So...does anyone know anything about any of this? Because I sure as heck don't."

[Dblade26]

"So, I guess the question is whether we avoid trouble or go lookin' for it, really. I mean, I don't think you'll find answers sittin' here, but I'm not really liking the idea of charging over into that...whatever it is, either." Morph shrugged in a non-committed way, although he continued to stare at that spot that seemed to be the source of the trouble in question.