Event || In Your Worst Memory

[0301120113092025]

Characters: All Heroes of Light. Only those who signed-up can start a memory.
Where: Interdimensional Rift
When: May 27th - May 30th
Summary: The Heroes of Light relive some of their worst memories, with a twist. All characters participating in this will be physically missing from Crystallis for the duration of the event.
Warning: It depends on the memory.

Where you were or what you were doing— It does not really matter. Not any more. Everything around you freezes, nearly as if time itself stopped, as if the world was frozen in time. And before you have a chance to understand what is happening, you can hear a voice right behind you.

"Kali Shashidhwaja."

Should you turn around, you may see a child who seems to be the only one aside from you unaffected by what is happening. And as she stares right at you, it makes no doubt these strange words are aimed at you. But before you can reply to her, the world around you collapses. Reality twists and shatters... Or maybe you are the one who is collapsing and shattering away from reality as you know it. No matter what the answer is, it will only take a few seconds for you to find yourself sinking into a void, Crystallis vanishing into the distance. There is nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see.

And once again you feel different: all the powers from your Jobs are fading. Not only that, but you might find that your Crystal is gone and your clothes back to what they were before you woke up in Crystallis. It is silent, cold and before long it feels as though life itself is slipping out of you... And yet, slowly the world reforms around you. The darkness fades away and a new world appears, yet at the same time this is not a world.

This is a memory. The question is, is it yours or that of someone else?

Comments

[desertbloomed]

Ashelia finds herself on the mountainside very suddenly. She looks around, trying to gain her bearings, but the sound of the explosion doesn't help matters. She ducks, covering her head with her hands at the unexpected noise. After a moment she looks up, spotting the grisly scene as it nears its end - and then begins anew.

She makes her way over cautiously. Even after so long, she reaches into her mind for her buffing spells on instinct - and to her surprise, there they are. She reaches out a hand to cast on Luffy as well - he can clearly use the help - but nothing happens. I don't...

As much as she doesn't really like the young pirate, she doesn't like seeing him so defeated. He is still, after all one of the displaced Heroes. Unsure of how to proceed, and cluing into the fact that she apparently can't affect anything that's going on, Ashelia approaches Luffy directly.

"Remember yourself, Luffy - this is not you! Your will is stronger than this. You have endured far worse."

[gomu_ningen]

The words whisper into his ear like the passing breeze on a late Autumn day, just barely reaching his consciousness while so much else is occurring in front of him. The piercing arrows sting his extremities beyond simply being flesh wounds, his heart and pride taking far more damage in the process.

His eyes try their best to adjust to the haze brought on by fatigue and morose thinking, looking down the path paved before him where he and his loss lay bleeding on one end, the the Baron with all of his malice and sorrow stands at the other.

"-this is not you!"

His crew is gone, nothing more than a memory to the palette of wherever a mouth might exist on the monstrous plant. The reason for sailing is dashed, even knowing that the promise he had made needed to be fulfilled, yet what point was there to taking the journey if not with the company of those he loved and adored?

"Your will is stronger than this."

He's never heard the voice before, at least that he can't recall. It's an inviting tone, the sort of empowerment that felt as if it could encourage even the meekest of men to become towering giants of will and confidence.

"You've endured far worse."

The arrow imbedded in his left hand snaps, cracking in two as he pulls his hand away with a grunt that more than suggests it does not come without its share of pain.

"Stand down."

An arrow is conjured to replace the broken switch, fired forward and landing in Luffy's already wounded mitt before he has the chance to move it away from the rock. The pirate reels in further agony, crying out to deaf ears as the Baron pays no concern to the condition he brings the formally boisterous young man to.

[desertbloomed]

"Do not," Ashelia continued, though she winced and withdrew momentarily at the gruesome display. Her hand automatically goes to the hilt of her sword, despite the fact that she knows it would be useless to brandish. "Fight! Free yourself, Luffy - isn't giving up for Heroes? You aren't a Hero, are you? You're a pirate - act like one!"

[gomu_ningen]

It was the last voice had expected to hear, wondering if by some cruel fate he'd been made to hear the lingering echo of the woman he had put so much effort into disliking. Despite his grievances, the tone of the former Princess stirs within him. As if a drug had been injected into his veins, the audacity of hearing her telling him the sort of man he knows himself to be, it acts as a catalyst which in turn causes the pirate's limbs to tighten. Where muscle had seemingly not existed before, the lad flexes his arms and legs to the point of almost breaking. The tension of his extremities has the arrows begin to shake, their integrity finally giving as Luffy's arms pull up from the rock to see the pins which had held him down shatter into a shower of splinters.

With his arms free, Luffy drops from the rock, crying out like an enraged beast as he pulls the tops of his feet along the length of the arrows which hold them down. The sight is akin to seeing a needle go through a thin cloth, sandals and flesh running down to the notch to see the blackened arrows now a dark shade of red. Still growling, the young pirate stands upon his injured feet, looking across the chasm between them as he now stands despite the Baron's best efforts.]

"Heh.. That takes balls, kid. I'll give you that. But this next one is going straight for your head. So you want to play the hero? Then die like one."

Luffy takes to a sprint, just as the Baron readies a series of arrows on the bow he holds. Every foot is a step towards what might be his last, the splattering of blood leaving behind the evidence of his will, the never ending promise that Luffy had made to all that he cared for and called his "crew". He's halfway up the mountain when the arrow comes screaming towards him, shouting the curses of death and finality that the other shots had only hoped to claim.

Luffy might not be the smartest or the most tactful, but even a dull sword can still manage a cut after the numerous fights its seen. The sharp edge of Luffy's undying willpower cuts through the air in the form of a fist, keeping at its normal length as the wound-covered pirate ends the great distance between the two of them with his charge. A slight jump in the air gives him the high ground needed, bringing his arm back and slamming it like a meteor into the despicable face of the man who'd moments ago had him begging for the last sentence in this lengthy story of his life. It echoes, the crack of his fist making the mountainside shake as Luffy's single attack reworks the landscape of the Baron's features. The punch sends him flying like a getaway cart, rolling up the hillside until the gravel and rocks finally stop his jet-like flight.

When Luffy lands, he does so with his face, hitting the ground with an equally echoing thud that suggests everything up until that moment had been spent for the purpose of a deathblow. Smoke billows up, surrounding the now silent mountainside as the pirates legs dangle for a moment before falling flat upon the Earth.

[desertbloomed]

Ashelia gasps in surprise, moving back and shielding herself from the shrapnel and smoke with her arms. That was...unexpected. But that's exactly what one could expect from Luffy.

A moment after Luffy's landing, Ashelia moves to the young man's side. Prior evidence of being unable to affect her surroundings aside, Renew after Curaja after Renew is sent Luffy's way, the young queen's hands hovering above the pirate's body protectively. The light dances between her hands, but she isn't sure it's working - regardless, she keeps going. If Luffy can push the bounds of reality with his willpower, so can she.

She glances over at Luffy's opponent, or what remained of him - it was hard to tell at this distance. "Come on, come on...work..." she muttered, fingers flexing as she felt her magickal energy leaving her, effective or not. Without the Mist, she wasn't at full strength.

[gomu_ningen]

The sweet sounds of a female voice ring in his ears, the familiar sound of what he assumes might be his Mother.. or perhaps.. ?

Despite assumptions, the pirate is unable to open his eyes. His lids feel as if they've been clamped shut, either due to there being staples which now hold them in place, or that his body is so well beyond the capacity to exert the energy needed to gaze upon the person helping him that he's unable to look on at them with thanks and gratitude.

He wants to raise a hand to stop them, to give some sort of indication that the need for aide is not needed, at least not the magical sort. The feeling of warmth and comfort runs through his body like the tide, an ebb and flow that carries through him for a few seconds before it ceases. While Ashe tries desperately to heal him, the world around them begins to fade back to the destination where they met; Aquares Ixen. His memory disappears, the prison of his thoughts now gone so that their liberty and freedom, or lack thereof, is again presented to them in the world they'd been summoned to.

A slight murmur is all he can get past his lips, his mouth moving slightly to imitate the way a weak animal might chew meekly on a piece of food. He isn't certain whether or not the Hero will understand his gesture, but he only hopes that she'll assume his movement makes some sense, and that his teeth might help to recover the rest of him with a fresh meal.