Into the Black (FQ Event Thread)

The air was thick, dense with smoke and ash. The eruption, the shaking - it had finished, for the most part now. Everything was colored a gritty grey/black, from the walls to the smallest plant. Men were shepherding women and children towards the docks - there were a few boats still sailing, taking people away even now, through obsidian black over the waves.

The initial panic still gripped many, as I watched people fight against each other for spots on those boats. There were though, a few spots where people rose against the panic and tried to help others, but they were few and far between at the moment - almost everyone was focused on themselves, or on their children. I sighed, and headed back inside of the tavern I had been within. I had no need to flee the ash, the soot in the air, so fighting for a spot on the boats held no interest to me.

Inside the tavern, the air was decently cleaner. Still ash-laden, but now the ash could settle, could fall to the ground without more coming. It only stirred when people moved across the floor. I stirred a fair amount myself as I moved through. A few despondent people glared at me for kicking up the ash into the air again, but no one could really blame me for it. Instead they just turned back to their drinks, staring into the depths of the alcohol that they were drinking.

I took a seat near the bar and settled down, waving off the offer of booze. While I could drink it, it didn't do much for me - instead I stuck with water, which, admittedly was in short supply at the moment.

“Didja hear? Oswald swears he saw something moving out in the fields - tried calling, thinking it was someone stuck out there, but they didn't come any closer.”

“Old Oswald can't be trusted to know which way is up now - after the fire claimed his family, he been stuck so far in that bottle I'm surprised he isn't breathing booze.” I blinked once at the overheard conversation. Something moving in the ash? That wasn't likely - it took a lot of endurance for most humans to move outside of the cities right now. Frantic mages had worked hard, battling wild magic to get some kind of protection in the air. Outside of the protection, the ash was even thicker than it was here.

I looked around, wondering if the Oswald they had mentioned was in this bar. In one corner, tucked into the shadows and away, was an old man, with shaggy, unkempt hair that was Grey - either from the ash, or age, I couldn't tell which. Hmm.

“I changed my mind. I'll take a tankard of mead.” I spoke softly to the bartender, who grunted and sloshed alcohol into a mug and shoved it towards me. I took the mug, and the mug holding my water, and strode over to the man. One yellowed, bloodshot eye twisted up towards me, and I suppressed a grimace. The man was heavily jaundiced.

“Oswald?” One slow, ponderous nod answered me. I set the tankard of mead down in front of him and sat beside him. “What can you tell me about the ‘figure’ out in the ash?”

“The fuck for? So you can laugh like the rest? Pah.” He snorted and turned his head back down towards the empty tankard he was cradling in his hands. “Whatever. The fuck do I care. It was in the ash. Just after the fall. I thought it was someone from Kivach - it was coming from the right direction. And we hadn't seen anyone from the village. Feh. Still haven't.” I frowned. A village completely silent even now after the eruptions? He reached out and snatched the mug I had set down and drained half of the alcohol in one gulp.

“But it weren't. Not human, that's for damn sure. Even in the ash, it was black, blacker than black, and had these little red lines running across it from what I saw. I tried calling to them - but the thing ran, ran far. I tried to follow, could see where it's feet had left burning footprints in the ash. But it was gone. No idea who, or what the damn thing was.”

“You...are nowhere near as drunk as people think you are.” I spoke softly, and Oswald let out a bitter laugh.

“Course not. I drink, but it's slow, and I don't care about the ash in the water. Besides, ‘cept for your booze here, the bartender hasn't given me much in the last day or two. But… You aren't laughing.” I shook my head. “It's weird, not to be laughed at. So.. You believe me, then?”

“I do.” I was curious. Enough to drive me out. “A town gone completely silent, and strange figures moving in the ashes? It's weird - but then again, there are people who can throw lightning from their hands, or turn into animals.” I stood up, and pushed the mug of water to him. “I'll take a look and see what I can find.”

“Wh-no! I - no, ye daft fool! The ash outside is still falling, you'll choke to death!” He reached out, grabbing my arm - and he paused as his hand curled around my wrist. I gave him a twisted half-smile.

“The ash isn't going to be much of a problem for me, Oswald. If you stay in town, I'll let you know what I find out.” He stayed in his seat, staring at me with wide eyes as I pulled my arm from his grasp and departed. Thankfully, I didn't need supplies - I had enough metal to last me a while. I slipped from the tavern, then down through the ash-clogged streets. I knew roughly where Kivach was, and I could start my search there.

What in the name of the Judges was moving in the choking ash, though?

John moved through the ash. The smell of warm, sweaty water filtered through the cloth he had wrapped around the lower part of his face. Ashes lay thick on the ground as Daniel picked up a small boy, his mother watching nervously. He did not envy the woman's position. Leave the island early and make it to one of the dwindling number of available escape ships, or find her boy, and perhaps die with him. She looked up at John. Ashes stained her brow above her own breathing cloth, and her hair was caked with a layer of the ash.

"What will we do?"

John knew the desperation in her voice, and knew that he would not be able to fully convince her that everything would be alright. His comforts he could offer were small compared to her child. He knew what that was like all too well.

"Do what you can. For now, get back to the city. Find somewhere to breathe, away from so much smoke. Daniel, go with her. Lead her back and see if you can get her on a ship. I'll go on to the farm."

Daniel nodded quickly, his eyes narrowing as he turned. The woman turned as he walked off into the falling ash.

As soon as their figures faded behind the ever-thickening grey, John turned, scanning the trees around him. His hair stood on end, his ears strained to hear something beyond the constantly starting and smothered fires brought about by raining embers and choking ash.

Nothing.

And yet, he HAD seen something out there in the trees. he couldn't see twenty feet, but the shadows had shifted earlier, when Daniel was moving the boy. A faint noise, no louder than the closing of a book, rang in his strained ears like a gong. He whipped his head around, instinctively bringing a hand up, covered in arcane metal.

Nothing, again.

The ash at his feet was disturbed, and held a twitching sparrow, spasming as it tried in vain to fly on ash-laden wings. He brought his gaze up to the path, now just a depression in the earth leading away to the east. Something was out there, that he knew, but he needed that book from the farm. He started to walk out, keeping his eyes and ears open.

Heavily, the sound of the motors thrummed above me.

I was a new kind of man, with power beyond anything that I had held since the beginning of time. My body was alive with a thousand emotions - some of loss and agony, others of agitation, excitement, intrigue. Both was I fearful and anticipatory for what I was experiencing: I had been expecting it for two months now, but also had I survived the first. Two apolocalypses, both within my lifetime, both prophecied, both meaningful and at significant moments of my life.

Carefully I clutched the dangling handle that was the strap holding me to the massive balloon above, filled with powerful, explosive air. But it was the type of gas that gave boyancy, and it had been made with the genius of Alerar in hand. By night I had stolen it when the ash had begun to fall, and alone I had managed to manipulate it. After an hour I had tamed the vehicle to my hand, as we floated daringly over the ocean, my ears filled with the clunking of the engines.

Now I was in a world filled with smoke and ash. The air hung thinly with the grey stuff, slowly falling like snow or hovering in the air like small insects. I could taste the foul burnt stench upon the wind itself, and there were moments where I felt as though I was choking because of the ash.

It was getting thicker, the closer I got to the volcano. So far I had managed to get to the islands that surrounded Lornius, where I had known to go because of my research into the nuermous prophecies. I steered mostly with instinct than anything else, even though I had never driven one before. Something inbuilt within me that made me understand their mechanics, although it had taken me some time to come to terms with the complexities here.

I breathed in sharply as I suddenly saw an expanded beneath me. The earth had become flat and smooth, stretching for miles until trees began again. I was still some distance from the volcano, and that had not truly burst into flames yet. Instead only ash had been spurted into the sky. It seemed though that some liquid had erupted, rushing down like a river. Something like lava and magma, yet not, for it was rock like, hard and shimming. Dark and iridescent, an ocean that had condemned possibly thousands of people as it had taken away villages. Hauntingly, I could see the roofs of houses peeking through the odd volcanic rock, that was as beautiful as it was deadly. My heart hammered heavily as I took in the amount of deaths that I had not been able to save.

The air began to grow thick as the tall, pointing mountain appeared before me. One that was severely chucking dark grey into the sky. As I watched it grow bigger I found the ash fog begin to grow thicker, and the feeling of choking became something of a reality. Indeed, I could die and come back but that would not be useful with the six hour difference between the two states. Therefore -

I grabbed what I had been keeping on the surface beside me, nearby the spinwheel that manourvered this hunk of a vehicle. Still holding onto the strap I slipped the leather and fabric over my face, becoming a masked mystery as I began the descent to the foot of the supervolcano. Gas masked and a lone ranger I aimed to do the impossible - stunt this eruption before it got even worse. But first I had to do some investigation.

At least I had managed to potentially save almost ten thousand people, of a variety of races. Finding the sanctuary of the Svek-kal had been a heaven-send. The ancient people who had survived the Great Calamity, only to either die out or become interwoven into the bloodlines of Raiaera. Now my brother was using it to keep his many people alive, those who worshipped him and those who worked for him. That at least I had achieved.

Now I just needed to rescue the rest of the world.

I focused on what I could see. A man moving through the landscape, heading somewhat towards the rocky not-volcanic-rock and me. On the horizon I could see the pokes of house roofs, suggesting a very lucky village. Turning my vehicle with a spin off the wheel I started directly for him. At least it would be something. A place to start than just stumbling up the soon to be exploding mountain.

The collective chaos of mother's calling out to their lost babes, sons pleading to their elder father to try and make it to the docks before the last boat left them behind, it all played like a chorus of mayhem.

I watched as a sea of bodies pushing against me. They tried to consume me, drowning in the waves of pandemonium. I drew the scarf that I had wrapped around my neck and drawn over my mouth and nose in attempt to shield me from the ash that rained down, closer to me. The air thick with smoke, causing it hard to breathe. I fought, my calves quivering against the gravity that tried to push me back. I kept my head down pressing forward as best as I could. I was small in stature and width but I was mighty in more ways then one. I closed my eyes for a moment, the only stilled being in the crowd, I felt the familiar strings of the shadows wrap around me. The cold darkness consuming my form as I melted into the shadows. Though I was in a semi inter dimensional realm I was still technically Corone. With ease I brushed past the people, the chaos. Though my insides twisted with guilt, ignoring the pleas of many I had to press on.

I made it to the outskirts of the center market of the city. Carts that people had sold their goods to make a living over turned, missing wheels. Windows to shops broken in, horror filled me as I tried to shake the somber-some feeling. I, McKinley Parish had never seen a ghost town but I assumed that this is what it must look like. Finally I released the sticky magic of the shadows away from my form. To any one that peered at me through the ash stricken skies I would look like I had popped out from no where. I sighed rolling my shoulders out, I watched as the dark magic retreated into the depths of where it came from.

I tossed the hood of my cloak back revealing my fiery, orange mane was the only colorful thing with in miles. I took a deep breath, wincing at how acidic and smoke filled the air had become just down here. Gritting my teeth I pushed on, forcing myself to travel to the volcano that had created all this chaos, this disarray. The sounds of me footsteps absorbed by the ash beneath my feet. "May the Gods and Goddess smile down on me while I enter the belly of the beast." I mumbled too myself as I drew closer to the base of the mountain that had covered this land with ash.

The satchel on my shoulder was loaded with things that could get me through the trip if need be. Hopefully I would find the answers that I was searching for but oddly enough I didn't even know what exactly that was. I had just felt the ground quake and came out to nothing but pure madness. My only thought was to aide anyone that lived on the mountain. I was surprised when I saw that I was not the only one with the idea of heading up the mountain instead of away from it.

"Hello?" I called out slightly unsure of who in their right mind would choose this path only to shake my head realizing how hypocritical I was being.

I shook my head and the feeling of uneasiness in me. The screams of innocents haunting me. I cleared my throat, puffed out my chest. "Hello? Is someone there?" I called once more, squinting as the ashes made it hard for me to see anything that wasn't two feet from my face. I drew closer and could make out the silhouettes of a few figures but couldn't exactly see what exactly they where doing or even if they were close enough to one another to be made aware of one another.

Mikhail

Walking in the thick ash was almost like walking on freshly fallen snow. There was a light crunching beneath my feet as I strode down... well, where the path had been. At this point, telling where road ended was impossible - you could tell where the vegetation began, because some of the ash was higher up from the ground, weighing the plants down. But the actual trail? Hah. I knew I was on it only because I weighed enough, and ignored the ash well enough, that I could still feel the impact of my feet on the stone road beneath the ashen blanket. Outside of the city's barrier, the ash was piled high.

Little moved out here at this point. I was lucky, in that right now the winds seemed to have died down enough that I wasn't having to walk through actively falling ash. I didn't know how long that respite would last, but for now it let me walk less impeded. I knew Kivach hadn't been too far away from Radasanth, a few hours travel at most. But that was in far better conditions than I was dealing with now. Even if I sank through the ash and didn't have to worry about breathing in the stuff, the weight and the cling of the stuff was slowing me down. I growled under my breath as I shook my head, whipping black hair back and forth -

And froze. For just a moment, in the distance, I thought I had seen... I narrowed my eyes and peered. Yes. Almost impossible to see from the ground, but there in the distance was the top of small roofs, poking up through the ash and over a hill. Kivach. It had taken me nearly twice as long as I had thought it would, but it was close. I picked up my pace, ash swirling around me as I pushed onwards, bulldozing my way across the ash-choked hillock. I crested the small hill and paused, tilting my head to one side. There was an odd sound in the air, a 'fwoosh' that repeated every so often. It was unlike nearly anything I'd ever heard, but, if I had to liken it to anything, it was like the sound of a bellows being pumped into a forge. But I was too far from Kivach to possibly be able to hear if their blacksmith was working, especially with the way that the ash seemed to deaden the air around me. Right, no, I wasn't going crazy or anything, I refused to think that. I shook the sound off, pushing it out of my head, and pressed on.

I paused on top of the hill, frowning, For a moment, there, in this still, ash-dead world, I thought I had heard someone calling out? I held, immobile, my head tilted to one side so I could listen, but the sound did not come again, and I shook it off and continued on, down the hill towards the village of Kivach.

John

Ash clung to John as shadows seemed to dance in the darkness of the greyed air. The world hung silent around him as his footsteps traveled onwards, pressing towards the farmstead. He would find his journey largely unimpeded - at one point, the falling ash was swept away by a wind, clearing the air around him for a time as he walked. And yet...

The hairs on the back of his neck would prickle, the feeling of being watched by unseen eyes dancing across him every so often. But when he would stop to check his surroundings, the only thing that stirred around him was the ash that flowed in his wake, moved by the passage of the large man. Though sometimes it felt as if the same shadows were still in the trees, staying just beyond his gaze, trailing him through the ash. Despite the occasional feeling of being watched, the faint sound like a branch popping in a fire, or the hint of shadows flowing just out of sight, nothing came forward, approached the blacksmith.

He was left alone until he reached his farm, a short distance from the small village of Kivach. Thanks to the lack of ash falling, in the distance on a hill, he could see a pair of glowing green eyes focused on the collection of buildings, and approaching it.


Charles

Engines were not meant to deal with choking ash, and the genius of Alerar had been all that kept the wondrous balloon afloat in conditions it had never been designed to handle. The clunking of the motors as they struggled in the ash was a sign of mounting problems as the air intake valves began to struggle. Descending was a mixed bag - the engines struggled more with the ash clogging them up, but at the same time, had to work less to keep aloft. And - if the worst happened, when the worst happened, the impromptu stop wouldn't be as terrible.

Beneath the gas-masked entity, the figure that he had been guiding the airship towards crested a hill and paused, staring towards the village for a moment. The figure's head tilted to one side, discernible as Charles closed in. But then he pressed on, heading down towards the buildings near the base of the hill.

McKinley

One of the figures paused atop a hill as McKinley called out, their head moving slightly in the ash. With the wind that had cleared away some of the falling ash it was easier to see, but now that wind had died, and ash was beginning to fall once more as she followed after the figure. Her cries had been swallowed up by the choking ash around her. But she was close, as she hurried after him - and above, she could make out the shape of something large and bizarre descending through the sky, a black blot in the clouds that stood out even against the ash clouds.

John kept walking through the ash, which was slowly deepening on the ground. A hot wind blew from the east, like a draft from a furnace, dry and smelling of soot. The walk was uneventful, but John kept his eyes open, scanning for that first shadow he saw, looming behind the smoke and ash. He arrived at the farmstead, noticing the clearing which surrounded it more than the building itself. The hazy air prevented him from seeing all the way to the barn. He looked around him, now suddenly more aware of just how many figures could be hidden in a fog like this, just beyond his view. Could they be men? Were they what the townsfolk in Radasanth spoke of? Reportedly, there was some kind of creature that rose with the volcanic eruption, though the large number of conflicting stories gave John reason to doubt.

However……

John chased the thought away with an increase in pace towards his home. Well, formerly his home. It wouldn’t be fit to live in soon, considering what the predictions were on how deep and far this ash would travel. He opened his door, taking off his stifling cloth mask, finally breathing deeply of air that was at least not full of dust and smoke. He closed the door quickly, and lit a few candles around the place, as the haze prevented much of the sunlight from reaching into his home. He then set about collecting his things. He grabbed a large doubled burlap sack, placing it on the floor. No time to be stingy or careful about his tools. His hammers and tongs, good blacksmithing tools all, went into the sack, followed by the two magical dehlar hammers. His bow he placed across his shoulder, tossing some more odds and ends into the bag. The closet was next. He grabbed the tomes inside, including that strange codex, and his engraving tools. He took a moment to look around the house, wondering what he would do now. Maybe live with Jamie for a while? He shook the worry for her from his mind, if he was to meet with her in Radasanth again, he’d have to make it out of this place, and he couldn’t do that while worrying about her. He tied the bag tight and hefted it above his free shoulder, pushing his door open to a clearer sky than he was expecting. In fact, across the way and down a hill he could faintly see the edges of buildings.

That would be Kivatch, trading town and periodical buyer of horseshoes and nails. They never bought expensive treats, but they always paid for their smithing on time, and knew how to care for what iron they did buy from him. Something to the north of the town, wasn’t there before? John squinted, trying to make out what it was, other than two vaguely…green? No, perhaps yellow, but they were there. John started, the wind dying down again, which began to cover the ground and air with that suffocating ash. There had been something out there, and could it have been moving toward Kivatch? He looked back in the direction of Radasanth. He knew Jamie would find her way, and knew she had faith in his own survival. If there were people in Kivatch, then they would undoubtedly need help. John groaned a complaint about his own scruples, the irony not lost on him, and set out in the direction of the small town.

As my stolen aircraft began to plunge towards the endless rocky earth beneath me she at last spoke.

She, who called herself Destruction. She, who had found me and hidden within my form as I served five thousand years as a slave under a tyrant death god. She, an entity whom I now knew to be a goddess of chaos, born from even before I had first drawn breath, the source of my ultimate power, who could no longer survive without a host.

And she had chosen me.

Shit, she shrieked in my mind as we fell. Shit, Char. What did you do?!

Spinning away from the wheel that controlled through Aleran airship I gritted my teeth beneath my mask. I could see the ground beginning to rise now, hurrying towards us like a conscious lover as the thick smoke of the volcano began to clog up the engines. I was thankful for my gas mask that I had purchased, glad I had had the insight before all of this hell.

Ignoring her and her useless admonishment I ran to the side of the steering room and pulled a massive leaver. Then, I set about flicking small switches, those which really needed an army to control them but had only me. I grabbed a stick labelled, 'manual descent' and pushed back a wooden casing to reveal a large button. I had briefly read the handbook for this vessel before stepping on it, and taken into mind the process I was now conducting.

Charon, Des snapped at me, are you ignoring me? What are you doing?

I ran back over to the wheel as the ship suddenly lurched. I gasped as I saw the ground tilt towards us at a new angle, pitching steeper with the nose. Grimacing, and knowing I could not both keep direction and balance for the ship I pulled the jacket from my back and hastily started to tie it around the wheel and it's pedastal in an attempt to hold it in place. The ship lurched again, like it was a smoker having swallowed too much tobacco.

Charon! she yelled.

"Oh shut up!" I growled back at her as I tied the knot tied. I fell heavily against the wheel as the ship tipped, and bumped wildly. Wincing, I clutched my ribs as I turned to eye the lever I had released moments before. "I need to keep us alive."

Why are we on an airship? she asked, as if she had not been there the entire time, in the back of my head, able to access all of my thoughts.

"Because we are!" I yelled at her, launching myself up. With a kick of my leg I threw myself across the room to grab at the handle. Slamming my hand down on the button I released the manual ability to work the tilt of the ship. Swinging all strength into it I shoved myself into the railing as we began to shake. As the ship began to shake. Trembling.

Charon ... she breathed.

"Just shut up," I held against the thing, as we steadily and unsettlingly descended. I glanced out a window and saw that it was a village we were coming to, nestled against the field of obsidian like some ill begotten nightmare. People were there, some already watching my fateful craft dying out of the skies.

"Just shut up!" And I hugged the lever.

As I crashed landed into the volcano's side.