DIO was reclined on his lavish bed, submerged in inky shadow. Somehow he found the light in the room to read the pages of a dusty tome infront of him. In his hands were the ancient holy words of the Quran, the founding text of the Islamic Religion. One of the many books DIO had acquired in his short time on the surface. He found it interesting and helpful to research how humans found meaning in their short existences. Christianity, Buddhism, the many so-called pagan religions that had existed for millenia. All of them comforting lies, of course, opiates to blind humanity to the utter triviality of their births and deaths. DIO, on the other hand, was eternal. He would live forever, for he had chosen to do so, and he would not waste his time. Once the Joestars were dealt with, DIO would mold the world in his image. With the help of a sole ally, who had a wonderously powerful Stand, he would forge a paradise from the uncaring universe. This paradise, this heaven, would be under his control. These were the things DIO considered as he read another holy text within his mansion in Cairo.
But his thoughts were interrupted. Suddenly, he was alone.
"Just as a peaceful silence can be ended by an invanding noise, so too can an unbroken sound be shattered by silence. Could it even be possible?" DIO set the Quran down on his bed and slowly strode over to the mirror. Then he turned his bare shoulder to the reflective surface, to stare at the star shaped birthmark on his left shoulder.
"Ever since that fateful day so very long ago where Jonathan Joestar joined me at the bottom of the ocean, I have felt the tinnitus-like presence of the Joestar bloodline pressing against my soul." He held his right elbow with his left hand, then moved his right hand next to his face in the shape of a circle. His long blonde hair flowed like a frozen waterfall down his porcelain shoulders.
"Yet today, finally, that incessant ringing has been snuffed out. No longer can I feel Jonathan's descendants growing ever closer. No more can I hear his call. The invisible strings of fate that connected our hearts has been cut. Could it even be possible?" There was disbelief in his voice.
"Could one of the Stand Users I sent to kill the Joestars have truly succeeded? But then, I would still feel the dying throes of Jotaro's mother, who still has weeks too live. No, something else has happened. It is not the Joestars that have been removed from my life, it is I who have been removed from theirs'. But how? Who could have seperated me from the interminable machinations of destiny?" Ethereally, the doors of his dark bedroom opened. The halls always were silent, but D'arby Younger, Petshop, Vanilla Ice, Billie Jean, and the one they called Nimrod could not be found. Calmly he explored the depths of his mansion.
"Indeed, I am alone. Myself, and my mansion, have been transported somewhere. But not just somewhere on Earth- the only possible thing that could seperate Jonathan and his descendant's fate would be the veil of another universe. I have read of such things in my library. There are many mysteries that have confounded human kind for centuries, and few more perplexing than the idea of another realm coinciding with our own. So close, yet so far. Hugging tightly to our realm like a shadow, only to vanish in the coming light." Gliding over to the entry way of a staircase, DIO turned his head around the corner. There were drawn velvet curtains there. The sun, lethal to the vampire lord hidden within the mansion, clawed like a beast around the edges of the curtains.
"Wherever I am now, morning still exists. Unfortunate. It seems I, DIO, will still have to pluck the stars from the sky myself when I create my perfect world. Still, further examination is required. Wherever I am now, the sun must go down eventually. If not, then I suppose I am trapped in here until I figure out a solution. Still, my mansion is much more luxurious and spacious than my coffin, and if I have waited a hundred years to return to the surface than I can wait a hundred more." The heavy wooden doors of DIO's bedroom swung inwards. Though something caught his meticulous eyes.
"What's this?" He asked, approaching the Quran. Inside the pages, like a bookmark, was an envelope. The old kind, made of parchment and course paper, the type from his childhood. Opening it up, his dark eyes glinted with wonder and mischeviousness as he aborbed the contents within. Turning the envelope upside down, the poker chips described in the letter fell out. They would have scattered to the floor, had they not instead been collected in the hands of an unseen, passive, but utterly malevolent force. Engraved on the surface of the poker chips was a simple but unmistakable minimalistic rendition of a grey head wearing a yellow helmet, two pupiless white eyes poking out from within.
"This certainly lends credence to the outlandish claims of this letter. No one has ever seen the face of The World. This could not be the work of an enemy Stand User, no the cosmic forces at work here are plainly obvious to see. Even I, the mighty DIO, are at the whims of this otherworldy Crossroads. Fascinating. The powers these game chips promise are tantalizing to explore. I wonder if time passes linearly here. Were I to collect 100 coins and return to Cairo, would time have passed? If I were to wait here for twenty more days, would Holly's miserable life have ended, and the Joestars fail in their mission?" He smiled cruelly, gathering the poker chips in the air and sliding them into his pocket.
"But then again...the time limit of my curse is an advantage of mine. No doubt the Joestars would seek vengeance. But since they lack the strength to allow Holly to die, they bluster foolishly onward, giving up any advantage they may have had were they to pause and approach me cautiously. It would be within my best interest to return as soon as possible, if time passes at the same rate within the Crossroads as on Earth." DIO slowly opened the doors of his wardrobe, placing the letter and envelope gently on a shelf within. A thought occured to him and he smiled, slipping his skin tight black top over his body, and then reaching for his gaudy yellow jacket that matched his long golden trousers.
"I wonder, if a wish by these chips could affect places outside of the Crossroads. Perhaps it would be somewhat anti-climactic, but to simply wipe the Joestars from existence as if removing a stray mark from a pencil on an otherwise perfect essay would be a delightful joy. One hundred chips more, and I could return to an Earth free of the plague that is the Joestar bloodline. I wonder how many others have been drawn into the Crossroads. Perhaps," he said, the smile fading from his face, replaced with one of genuine intrigue,
"I could use the power of the Crossroads wish to create my perfect afterlife, with I, DIO, as it's ruler." He smirked again, shaking his head and crossing her arms.
"But I should not get too far ahead of myself. With only a pittance of five coins at my disposal, my first priority will be the dominance of those who stand in my way. Perhaps I could summon one of my servants here, to me, though I wouldn't want to take them away from their task of killing the last Joestars. I shall stay put, for now. If night falls, I shall exit my mansion and explore this new world..." His eyes lost their luster and became two endless black pits.
"...And then, I shall take it, for all it has." DIO's mansion was distinct from the monolithic stone structures that surrounded it. On the edge of a vast desert, not unlike the timeless sand dunes of Egypt, a castle-like formation of stones were seen. Within this sea of concrete was DIO's mansion. A sprawling labryninth of a building, made of rock steady yellow stand stone, with swooping arches and pleasant domed ceilings. A palace, fit for a king. Even in the Crossroads, the building carried with it a sense of pure evil. The buildings around it were not free from this influence, they were stretched and warped, made wicked by the presence of the malicious entity that had been placed within their midst. Within this construct stood DIO, waiting for night to fall and for his reign of the Crossroads to begin.
A fleck of snow fell on Eltariel's cheek. She was a slender woman, wearing dark blue scale-mail and form fitting leather leggings that would blend right in with the night sky. Her attire gave away her stealthy, combat-ready inclinations, which is why she looked particularly out of place unconscious in the snow surrounding by tall trees. Consciousness returned to her, and she squinted against the back of her eyelids. After a moment they fluttered open, revealing two large eyes with icy blue iris' with them. Eltariel furrowed her brow and sat up, glancing around. Did she die again? The last thing she remembered was, well, fighting orcs, like usual. She reached for the dual sheathes attatched to her back and drew one of the wide-bladed short swords within. Rising to her feet she glanced around, scanning her environment. A strande of light blonde hair drifted from beneth her dark blue hood. This reminded her of Seregost, but there was much too many trees for such a thing to be true. Where was she? She reached out her mind to find Galadriel, to speak to her. But...after a moment, no response came. There wasn't even a connection. Not in a thousand years had that happened, and all at once Eltariel began to feel fear swell up in her heart. What was going on? Where was she? Where was Galadriel? Death did not make sense. Always, she reawoke at the pinnacle of some ancient stone tower. Not in the middle of a snowy forest.
Spinning around, she caught sight of something sticking out of the snow. A parchment, or scroll of some kind. Reaching down she grabbed the wooden handles and stretched it out, desperate for answers. Several small circles spilled out the scroll and into the snow, gleaming. Not to be distracted, the elf frantically read the scroll. As she did so, her face morphed into one of frustration and disgust. What kind of sick game was this? She had a duty to perform. This infernal Crossroads has trapped her here with no explanation. It was far too outlandish to even be true, but the forces of magic were beyond Eltariel's comprehension. Tossing the scroll onto the dirt she kneeled down and gathered the coins in her hands. Surprisingly enough, they carried with them the intricate symbol of the Blade of Galadriel.
At least they got that right, Eltariel thought sardonically, stuffing them within one of her many hidden pockets and sheathes. After a moment though, she thought otherwise. With a derisive sneer she fetched three of the coins and held them in the palm of her hand. Could these really bring anything into this universe? From her own universe? Universe was a worde she recognized, though to her it more closely resembled something like a realm. There was Middle-Earth, then the eternal isles of the Elves, and many more beside that. Wherever Men went when they tied. It was very possible that she had ended up in one that was unknown to her, with sick game-like rules such as these. With that, she held the three coins high up in the air.
"Tower of Silver," She commanded impatiently. These were the closest thing she had to a home back on Middle-Earth, and where she woke up every new dawn. They stood at around fifty feet high. Climbing one would also give her a good view of the area, and as far she knew they were nearly impossible to destroy as not even the rampaging Uruks had managed to bring them down.
The coins vanished, though she barely noticed until she looked at her now empty palm. Though she picked up on something quite quickly. The looming presence of a Silver Tower. It's brick were a green-ish black. It erupted from the earth quite dramatically, and rose high above the trees. Already she felt the New Ring on her finger drawn to the source of power at the top. Fair enough, she thought. For a moment she pondered if her powers had left her aswell, but those brief fears were allayed as she effortlessly and quickly leaped from handhold to handhold, weightlessly traversing to the Tower of Silver's summit.
All at once she began to glance around, looking for signs of life and what the environment held in store for her.
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