Valiance

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

What’re the specs on this guy? Strengths, weaknesses, motives?

@Meta

He’s eth-

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

Is that not this guy? I totally misguessed here if not. I was thinking it was one of those “I was disguised the whole time” moments.

@Meta

It’s not. But make no mistake, he is not our friend.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

Oy, you think you can give me a rundown of the story so far? And whether this road ends in a fight?

@Meta

*Maintains a locked and focused glare up in the sky toward ES*
Maelstrom’s the one who destroyed this world. A split personality Ridge holds and keeps suppressed as best he can. But I have no clue what he’s talking about, as though we’ve done this before.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Meta>

I’m not hiding anything from anyone. That act ended not terribly long ago.
*Crosses my arms*
Though I do refuse to call myself what seems to have caught on this time around, I’m sure everyone knows who I am. It’s genuinely a terrible name.

@Galaxy Raider

You? You can’t have anything to do with this.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Picks myself up and gazes at the sky*
So which of the two traps do you think this one is?

@Meta

The one that's far too familiar for comfort.
*The pillar narrows further as the geyser loses intensity, and the long streams of dark flow dissipate entirely while the silhouette of a person takes shape behind the dying flame*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Lurches back and lands on my butt, looking up at the intense wall of blackened flame in front of me*
Woah! I’ve seen a lot of fires, and they’re not supposed to do that.

@Meta

*Narrows my eyes and speaks calmly as I slowly turn around and take in the now-changing environment*
No... No they are not.
*The flame wall in front of us calmly narrows in front of us from either side until it forms more of a focused pillar of flame jetting into the sky from beneath the earth, while the wisps from the cracks in the ground elsewhere begin to bend and coalesce to the pillar as well*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

Do you want me to try opening one of these up?
*Gets on my knees and sticks my face close to one of the larger chasms, and light floods the fissure*

@Meta

*The casting of intense light down into the crevices partially reveals more earth, but it also meets resistance in the form of the darkness itself being the actual color of a steadily burning black flame beneath in the ground, emitting no light and previously camouflaged by the darkness above it*
While I really don't like the idea of disturbing the grounds of a graveyard...
*The flames suddenly surge in opposition to the light touching it, flaring up and quickly exploding up out of the ground into a massive wall of dark fire as a reaction*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

Well that’s just absolutely pleasant. Hope our collective luck is up there.
*Walks to the edge of one of the larger crevices and peers inside*

@Meta

That would be very appreciated, if the world could do us that favor.
*Even the larger ones are pretty tight with barely enough space to fit an arm into, and they get too dark to see at a point very near the surface*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

Any chance they left gifts of their own, unrelated to your friend?

@Meta

Always is, I'd say.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

The mystery smoke was also something that caught my eye. But you never really know, especially with cases like this.

@Meta

Maelstrom- and Ridge of course- are both the sort that could conjure up just about anything they'd want on a whim. A true reality manipulator. So it is quite literally impossible to rule anything out.