melodiesoflife | Legends of the Hidden Temple

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Legends of the Hidden Temple

Characters: Chiaki Nanami, Jack Harkness, Tsubomi Hanasaki, and Cloud Strife
Where: The Temple of the Heroes of Light
When: November 14 - November 21
Summary: Four intrepid Onion Knights open the temple in search of its secrets
Warnings: Anything could happen!

[It feels like ages since Chiaki proposed this trip in the first place, and to some degree she's still recovering from what happened last month, but there's no way she's going to let that deter her from the mission. She's got three companions who still trust her, a maxed out Onion Knight job equipped, and she's ready to discover the secrets this temple has to offer. The excitement is even apparent on her face and in her mannerisms, to those who know how to read her somewhat subtle expressions - she's having a hard time keeping still, and there's a glint in her eye that's only seen when she's truly absorbed in something she enjoys, like video games or Triple Triad.]

All right. Here we are. The entrance will only open for four maxed out Onion Knights like us. All we should need to do is stand over there, and the entrance will open.

[She points to a partially destroyed area in front of the temple proper, with a relief depicting what are likely the original four Heroes of Light. It's written in Ancient, but previous expeditions have confirmed that what Chiaki has just said is true. She walks over to take her place, waiting for the other three to follow.]

It goes without saying, but be careful in there. We don't know what kinds of guardians this place has, and it's sure to have them. This is Disc 3 stuff we're doing, after all.

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Children. When he looks around at Chiaki, Cloud, and Tsubomi, the thought comes unbidden to Jack's mind. The best Heroes this world has to offer, but they're all so young. They always are, aren't they, Jack?

He instantly admonishes himself for the thought: he hasn't fallen into the trap of treating Chiaki like a kid since the moment he's met her. She's been a faithful friend, more capable than him in a lot of ways. Case in point that she seems to know more than Jack does about what awaits them inside.

Jack is decked out in what some have seen as his 'vigilante' gear, lighter black leather armor and hood, but he's left the mask behind today. It's more designed for movement, to accompany the dark red spear strapped to his back. "I promise I will be more careful than usual." With a small smile to Chiaki, and he briefly places hid hand on her shoulder as he joins her. It's about the best promise he can give her.

Tsubomi had to steel herself. This was big. Very big. Final Test big. It probably wasn't a surprise that, again, there were four people dealing with this. She was currently suited up in the Crystal armor Levy made her months ago, both the Bearer of Wisdom and Onion Knight jobs active.

At Chiaki's warning, she nodded at her.

"I-I'm ready. Ready for anything." She replied.

Cloud could sympathize with Chiaki's fatigue if she chose to voice it. It always seemed like there was never enough time in this world to do what needed to be done, especially with all the interruptions and perils that kept coming at them. But like her he was also brimming with excitement for this trip. Maybe now they'd finally get something beyond the rumors and puzzles and riddles they'd been given. At least it felt like they were moving in the right direction. He shot her a confident nod before dismounting Zack and giving his neck a fond pat.

"Best you stay out here buddy. If something goes wrong it'll be up to you to let everyone know."

'Kweeeeeh~'

Cloud is favoring the modified ShinRa uniform that Levy gave him over any bulkier plate armor. Not the best defense in his collection, but just in case they run into someone capable of locking their powers he wanted to be ready. Besides, he trusted his sword and shield and he trusted his allies. They'd be fine.

"Disc 3 huh? So stuff we're doing to prepare for the end? Sounds right." Even with Cloud's limited exposure to video games back home, Chiaki's metaphors were usually still beyond him but he could get the feeling behind them. In any case, he trusted her judgement in this. Hefting his shield he took a few long steps to move more to the front of the group.

"Let's do this."

[In response to the four Onion Knights, the great and ancient doors to the temple begin to slowly break open. Chiaki glances at each of her companions in turn before slowly venturing inside. There is a statue identical to the one in Aqures Ixen, depicting the four Heroes of Light from the legend. And just beyond, there are three paths laid out before them - one leading left, one leading right, and a third continuing on straight behind the statue.]

We need to decide which way to go first. We'll end up exploring the whole place, though, probably.

[Tsubomi looked over the various paths, pondered a bit and spoke up]

I'm not good with video games, but I'm thinking the middle? B-But I'll follow where you guys want to.

[Cloud narrows his eyes as he looks between the paths, as serious as he ever is when they're on an active mission.]

The middle is probably the way forward, but we should probably check the other paths first.

[He mulls over the exterior of the temple and how the layout might work with these three paths.]

Left first?

[Chiaki looks at Tsubomi, and then nods at Cloud.]

Yeah. Usually in games when the path splits like this, the middle is the way forward, but you have to go left and right first to trigger switches or something to open the path.

[She glances to Jack.]

Is that okay?

Jack grins and nods towards Chiaki. "You've had a better handle on the logic of this world than me." He points a finger up and moves it in a circular motion towards the room. "We're a little outside any of my previous training here." Dungeons with linear layouts and traps and puzzles to advance? That's just for the movies...right?

[ Taking the path to the left, they’ll find themselves in a long and barely lit corridor—With the main attraction being the mural paintings on the northernmost wall. The paintings are mostly colorless besides a few details, depicting an ancient story.

They can see a large city, seemingly prosperous and filled with expressionless people. The city appears to be very advanced, more so than the Imperial City of Hera was, and the earth beneath the city is depicted as broken and dark. The sky is filled with clouds, but if the characters are to look up high on the wall, they might see two gigantic hands reaching down to the clouds with indistinct purple eyes looking down on the city and the earth beneath.

Moving to the left will reveal the continuation of this story—The clouds are gone and the gigantic hands are now above the city, with the creature destroying the city from the skies and killing the residents. The creature seems to be depicted as a female; its skin is pale blue and its hair silver, though the most striking details are its purple eyes. Looking at the painting at a whole, it feels like the creature’s hair is alike to mist and far larger than the city and world beneath, enveloping it all.

Going further to the left shows the cities destroyed and all the inhabitants dead with the entity covering everything. There are also smaller creatures, Moogles, praying. The next painting has people appearing all around the praying Moogles. Who these people are is unclear, but they are all shown wearing armors along with weapons classically associated with the Jobs: Dragoon spear, Dark Knight’s sword, White Mage’s staff, etc. The weapons they are wielding are all colored as well. There is more to the left, but it is too dark to see.

There are also texts written beneath the mural paintings, however they are written neither in Ancient nor in English—Surprisingly enough they are all written in Latin, and not even the Translator skill from Scholar can help with this. ]

Wow, look at this...'

[Tsubomi's taken interest in the murals depicting what appears to be a story.]

This city... a very advanced place but it's being overwhelmed by a strange woman... is that the Calamity?! And the Moogles, they're summoning Heroes...

[And then it hits her]

It's a city in the sky! Isn't there something like that here?! If... if I didn't know better, I think the Ancients hid in this city and the Calamity struck there!

"Narayana, I presume," Jack mutters as he looks at the depiction of the woman, the Calamity. And this is the entity that Jack wants to try to reason with. He's got his work cut out for him, certainly.

"The Calamity came first, and then the Heroes," Jack sighs. "Palitutu's reports said the first attempts to revitalize Crystallis just destroyed other universes outright, didn't bring any Heroes. That the Heroes were an attempt to integrate the universes more slowly?" But what do the moogles have to do with it?

Jack shakes his head at the script beneath the murals. "It's a language from Earth, considered ancient even by my time frame. I can't translate it."

This is the first actual depiction of the Calamity we've seen, I think.

[Chiaki stares at the mural with great interest, looking over every inch of it as if she's trying to memorize it.]

So far this is pretty consistent with Palitutu's reports. The script is in Latin, but I only know the words that show up in games a lot. We'd need a Scholar in here to translate the whole thing, probably.

[Cloud watches the murals as they proceed.] Looks like we picked the right direction to start.

He pauses, crossing his arms as he looks everything over. It's nice to see this story laid out from a more...objective source. At least he doesn't expect Palitutu to have been THIS thorough in setting up her scheme.]

So the moogles pretty much started everything about the Heroes. At least that kind of explains their connection to us and everything. [He pauses, scouring his memory.] Have we met anyone with purple eyes?

[The latin seems a bit familiar to Cloud but not in any way that is particularly useful. If anyone did speak it on Gaia, it's not a language that's really survived with any significance. He glances off down where the mural continues, narrowing his eyes as he looks into the shadows.]

Did anyone bring a light?

[Summoning his magitek armor in here just for that purpose is probably not the best of ideas.]

[ Indeed, without any light it would be impossible for the Heroes of Light to see anything more. The story seemed to continue, but no amount of efforts would help them discern anything in the darkness. Certainly they could venture deeper into the shadows, but would that be safe to do?

More so as a voice rose from the darkness on their left. ]

Four Heroes of Light...?

[ The voice was that of a middle-aged man, the words spoken with authority and an ounce of wisdom. It didn't sound threatening-- Intrigued and surprised if anything. Not at their presence, but at something else... ]

Are you the sole survivors of your generation?

Sole survivors...?

[Oh, gosh, this is bad. They can't lie and yet... she can't go through with it. She has to say truthfully.]

No, we are not. We are the few complete Onion Knights of this generation, however.

[Something didn't feel right. She opted to use Aura Sensing to see if what they're dealing with was good or evil.]

"One sec-" rummaging in response to Cloud's question, and then Jack promptly drops the pouch, startled by someone sneaking up on them.

Sonova- "Geeeez," watching his mouth in front of the kids. A quick look at Chiaki; she was the one talking about Guardians. Jack kneels down to pick the bag back up, and produces a small hand-sized flashlight scavenged from the Torchwood Hub. "Now, knowing my luck..."

Jack clicks the button and tries to point it at the floor in the direction the voice was coming from. Now to see if tech even works in here.

[ The Aura Sensing skill worked—And the results it yielded were quite surprising to say the least.

Whoever it was speaking to them certainly wasn’t “evil,” quite at the contrary. Indeed, while the skill showed the man was good, it went beyond that. The goodness and purity exceeded that of a normal kind person—In simpler terms, the radiance almost felt holy. ]

Have you come holding on to the hope of ending the cycle, Heroes of Light?

[ The flashlight worked, but proved to be of limited use as the man to whom the voice belonged stepped forward.

He was wearing a full armor set, aside from the helmet which he was holding under his left arm. As he stepped forward he looked at the four of them with gravity, and the remainder of the corridor behind him lighted up. ]

Hope...

[Finally, someone is speaking her language. A serene smile spreads across Chiaki's face as she repeats the word, and she nods before stepping forward.]

Yes, that's exactly why we're here. We've come with hope in our hearts, and we want to give that hope to the people of Crystallis. They deserve a world where they can live in the light instead of in the shadow of despair.

[Cloud starts at the voice, and his eyes go wide at the question. He's thus grateful for Tsubomi for speaking up and defusing the moment. He's likewise grateful to Jack and his foresight, but continued examination of the wall is put on hold as they deal with the new arrival, hoping that there will still be time for the former.]

Yeah, uh, we decided to check things out for ourselves. There are so many out there telling us there's nothing we can do, and that our only hope is to repeat everything. We came here looking to see if there was another way.

[He chuckles embarassedly, rubbing at the back of his head.] The four of us decided to scout ahead and check just in case something else went wrong, or before anything new could.

[Chiaki's words bring a warmer smile to his face. He can't help but feel hopeful when she's at her best.]

She's right. We want to do more than just end the cycle. We want to win. We want to save this world and its people and all the other worlds besides.

Jack owes somebody 5 gil since it works, but he respectfully clicks the flashlight back off. Hope. He has to think back to his words to the Entity inside the Rift.

"Only life has the power to defeat death. We want to end the cycle, by bringing life, not by giving in to despair and nothingness," he nods at Chiaki's words. "Lot of people who have been standing in our way think destruction is the only end. We're here to find a better way."

That's right. We've been ignored, lied to, used and everything else. We want to make a difference now and we want to do it without anyone using us. We're people, too, just like those here in this world!

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Legends of the Hidden Temple

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