melodiesoflife | Event || Terra Incognita

Those are a couple of tough acts to follow.

"So uh, I'm no talking pony royalty, but I am Sparks Nevada and I'm... from Earth.

... Not that it means anythin' to you folks. Neither would sayin' that I'm marshal on Mars, but I'm sayin' it anyway. Also, I'm a police inspector from Aqures Ixen, which, uh, might be familiar to y'all? I really have no idea."

Zelda smiles sweetly. She wasn't sure how important her title was so she omits it for now but she walked up next to Sparks with a warm gaze and happy smile.

"I'm Zelda. It's an honor to be here and thank you." Her head tilted to the side spilling gold over her shoulder.

The primal Moogle with the blue dress and the Elezen nodded at them. Apparently, some of their names sounded familiar. Not Earth or Aqures Ixen though.

"The Honor is ours, Heroes of Light."

In the meantime, the other Primal Moogle and the Bangaa looked at the Ponies and discussed.

"How much do you think talking ponies would sell for in the black market, Kupo...?"

"Downapolis? I say a nice sum. We probably should warn them."

"Right, Kupo. One of them even claim to be a prince, on top of being a hero of light!"

"They don't know yet how things work here. The Sage warned us they wouldn't know anything."

They don't seem to care what they say can be heard by, well, everyone around.

Okay, yeah, they might not seem to care, but Twilight does. Especially since they mentioned her brother.

"Um, excuse me?" Twilight called out, waving a hoof to catch their attention. "What do you mean by all of that? And who's the Sage?"

Zelda stepped up to the pony with a smile. "It means you need to be careful. There might not be pony's like you here and some might try and kidnap and sell you."

She had some ideas on who or what this Sage could be but Zelda was going to keep them to herself.

"How long have you known of the Heroes of Light? Are there legends here as well?" If there are then Zelda's going to head straight for the library to learn more.

"That's right." The Bangaa nodded at Zelda's words and looked at Twilight. "Those of you who look like Elezen, I say you should be fine so long as you hid your ears. For everyone else, you're gonna draw the attention of the bad crowd."

The Moogle who was speaking with him moments ago nodded as well.

"You'll be safe in the city, Kupo. But if you venture into the Ancient Ruins and beyond, you should be careful. There are a lot of good people and friends of mine there, but also bad people who try to make easy money, Kupo. Many in Downapolis would give a lot to get their hands on beings from the Outside World."

With that said, the Moogle in the blue dress addressed the question of the Sage "We've known about you for a long time, Kupo! But we never suspected the stories were real until the Sage told us you were coming. The Sage is the oldest one. He's warned us of your coming today and asked us to greet you."

Still in the back, Ellie's attention was now riveted on the welcome party. She blinked once, then furrowed her brow. So even this sheltered continent had its share of problems. She shouldn't be surprised at that, she supposed, but even so. Her eyes skimmed briefly over the others to see what they made of that bit of information, and she resolved to look into it privately later.

At least now she knew why they were not only here to greet the Heroes, but doing so in a friendly and welcoming matter. A Sage foretold of this event. Interesting. What else might he be able to foretell in this case?

But something about the words they said... They were 'warned'? Did they expect ill from these Heroes?

"You have been closed off from the rest of the world for quite some time, I take it," she finally spoke, though she remained standing where she was. "How did this come to happen, and why?"

Robin glanced backward when Ellie spoke up. She blinked at the woman, giving her a brief look, before she turned her head to to the crew. She considered them for a moment, before she spoke up.

"They fear outsiders here?" the tactician asked. "Or... are they desperate? We don't know very much yet."

She hesitated, then she added: "Who is this Sage you spoke of?"

Ok, first off, how could there be a welcoming party? It's not as if any one of them had the means to communicate with the Continent which til now had been locked off away from contact with the rest of Crystallis.

That's the exact reason why Sephiroth did not introduce himself as the others did so. Instead, the Major from Esdham in his blue-silver uniform simply hung back within listening distance, churning over what they were being told in a similar way that it had struck Ellie. It seemed indeed, that complete attention and caution had to be tantamount in their minds and Sephiroth wondered, in silence, about a few of the less-cautious -and less world-worn- Heroes that had come along...

Between Robin, capable as ever though, and Ellie they did seem to have the relevant questions all in hand. There was no stopping that familiar creeping tension, though.

Fear didn't make much sense to Zelda, why would they fear the rest of the world? It was probably something else, probably before the time of most of those who lived in this city. She's learned a lot about history and she remembers their time in the past. Airships have only been a recent development, boats clearly can't get this far and judging by her glimpse over the city this continent was much more advanced.

It could have most likely traveled to the other unless there was a reason to stop it. There was more to this place than meets the eye and she wasn't ready to make assumptions. So, much like Sephiroth, she waited to see what might be said next.

There will always be more questions.

"It happened thousands of years ago, Kupo. During the great battle between Narayana and Kali Shashidhwaja."

The Elezen shook his head before adding something, to clarify what the Prima Moogle had just said. "The Calamity and the Heroes of Light." A pause before turning to Robin. "Desperate for easy money if anything. The Cult of Narayana may fear you, however."

The Moogle with the blue dress, Moglin, stepped in before the others.

"There is a lot you need to know, Kupo. The Sage is very wise and the oldest amongst us. He knew of your coming- He knows a lot more, but he shares very little, Kupo. He would very much like to see you, if you would follow us to the Pyramid of Prayers, Kupo."

Robin nodded. The Captain -- she had been promoted since the battle of Aqures Ixen -- frowned for a moment. They knew of the Heroes of Light. She didn't think she should be surprised by that, but much like Sephiroth, she wondered how they knew to expect them.

She sucked in a breath, then she nodded. "I understand. Thank you for telling us," she said. "We would be honored to meet your Sage, of course, if you would lead us."

She hesitated.

"But how did he know of our coming?" she asked.

Both words, even though they were translated almost immediately, instantly pinged at more of Sephiroth's attention. He drew his posture up just that tiniest bit straighter and more directly looked over the strange creatures that had come to greet them, one by one. Was there something else behind that statement, was this continent's separation from the rest of the World a direct consequence of that legendary battle? Curiosity was piqued-

The Pyramid of Prayers. He'd seen it from the airship on the approach, a truly enormous building at the center of a well-established city but with a name like that...well it drew all sorts of theories about how it might come to be named such.

The Major stepped forwards then, not quite barging into the group but very much making his presence known. He looked around the other Heroes to enforce his involvement even more, before turning his attention back to the welcoming committee in anticipation of the reply to Robin's last question. This Sage was certainly the individual they needed to see.

"Sure, we might as well. Kinda wanna know how he knew we were comin' too."

Listening to Moglin, something dawned on Sparks, and he mumbled a comment mostly to himself.

"Huh. They do that 'kupo' thing too."

"We don't know, but maybe he will tell you. Follow us, Kupo."

With that said, Moglin along with the Bangaa and the Elezen led them throughout the city toward the Pyramid. The Bangaa in particular commented on the various sectors, until they got close to the pyramid.

"The Cult of Narayana that Davoix mentioned..." Moglin paused, referring to what the Elezen had said earlier. "You should look out for them, Kupo. They're lunatics that worship the Calamity from the Skies and they have grown a lot more active, Kupo. They don't cause us a lot of troubles but if they learn of you, they will probably go crazy, Kupo."

Zelda followed behind letting her eyes flick in wonder around the city. She worried about keeping their identities secret but that didn't seem to be the most important thing to worry about. She looked down at the little moogle, her bright blue gaze curious.

"Why would they worship the calamity?"

It didn't make sense to her unless they knew or assumed something that she didn't know. Destruction hardly seemed something to put a guiding faith too.

Robin followed, too -- and then she paused. She frowned; she had a little knowledge of cults. She remembered fighting the Grimleal in Plegia, though she knew little of their beliefs.

She knew they could be trouble, though.

"They would be angered by our arrival?" she asked. "As Heroes of Light?"

"Reckon they might just be," Sparks answered to Robin.

Better ask their guides more on this, to know what they could be up against. "So they're lunatics, but are they dangerous? Is there a lot of 'em?"

"We don't really know. I don't think I really want to know either." The Bangaa was the one to speak, but the Moogle nodded and the Elezen remained silent.

When they finally reached the Pyramid's entrance, the Bangaa moved to open the door and let them all in.

"They've never caused us trouble, Kupo..." "But if they think you're a threat to their deity, they might become dangerous, Kupo. You won't find any here but there are a lot more around Downapolis."

Robin frowned. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that. But, one question lingered.

"Who is their deity?" she asked. "The Calamity itself?"

As the group led them through the city, much like Zelda, Sephiroth afforded a quick glance around at each sector that was considered appropriate enough for a comment to be made. It was clear, that each and more of the details were to be inspected closer during the time that the expedition had them spend here.

But it was very much the continued hum of conversation going on between the others which had much of the silver-haired Major's attention. The pessimist in him agreed with Sparks completely, yet to be so close-minded while they were still so ignorant of the demographics of the new continent could be equally dangerous.

Any mention of the Calamity instilled a sort-of hyper awareness now that Sephiroth knew that much more of the particulars of his own existence, though he remained silent and for all appearances as passive as could be as he brought up the rear of the group. Occasionally meeting the eye contact with one or two citizens, just to further gauge the reaction to them that hadn't been already represented by the committee that now led them to the Pyramid.

"We'll be careful then. What about our moogles?" Zelda looked over at those guiding them curiously. Kopula wasn't with her on this trip but she knew that more than a few of the heroes had their moogles with them.

"Wouldn't it be obvious that they are from the other continent? I just mean... if we are trying to hide our identities." It might not matter considering there are others on this planet but it wasn't to hard of a leap to guess that those visiting were a little odd.

She just hoped that everyone would stay safe.

"Narayana. I recognize that name," Rukia folded her arms, her face growing serious. "The Reaper mentioned it after his defeat, and change of identity to Hades. He thanked our group for freeing him from 'Narayana's Curse' it was called."

It looked like she could do some serious investigation here. She just hoped that a week would be enough time to dig for the information she needed to better understand what had happened, and how it had happened in the first place.

"Yes, the Calamity, Narayana, is their deity." The Moogle nodded then widened his eyes. "They are Moogles? But yes, they would need to hide."

When the Moogle opened the door to the pyramid after going past some guard, it would reveal a large hall filled people praying, with statues and stained glasses decorating the place. Specifically, there were four statues. The one in the bottom left corner of the room depicted a woman looking somewhat similar to Nebilim, whereas the one in the bottom right corner looked similar to Ib. The one in the top left corner looked similar to Igor, and the last statue looked like the spitting image of Kalki. All four statues had an extended hand over which floated a fake Black Crystal.

The stained glasses meanwhile seemed to depict events that happened during ancient cycles. Among the various tales depicted on the stained glasses, the Heroes would be able to see something looking like Sephiroth with the Calamity at his side attacking other Heroes of Light while another depicted a similar Dycedarg attacking the Heroes. In other series of stained glasses, they could see people looking like Ganondorf, the Librarian and Blair standing over Crystallis and brandishing a sword against the planet, Heroes of Light being murdered one after the other by the likeness of Haytham and a group of Heroes finding a locked chest on a floating continent.

The escort turned to the Heroes without paying attention to any of this on their end, and pointed to a series of stair going to the pyramid's summit.

"The Sage awaits for you in the Hall of Prayers. We'll be waiting for you here, Kupo."

Twilight stayed silent as she had followed the group, trying to take everything in. She mentally noted everything being said and regretted not having a pen and pad with her. The stained glasses, though, caught her attention. It reminded her of the stained glasses adorning Celestia's castle of her and her friends' exploits...

However, that first window, the one with the Sephiroth look-alike caught her attention, especially seeing the person there with them. Did that... make sense? Was that him in the window?

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