melodiesoflife | Intro Log || The Return of the Heroes

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light" (only new characters can start threads).
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: The 5th of September. The new Heroes of Light will awaken early in the morning.
Summary: The new Heroes of Light awaken in Aqures Ixen and are informed by their assigned Moogles of what the situation and what their destinies are. This a log for them to react to the situation, meet each other and be welcomed by the former batches of Heroes of Light. It marks the first time since January that Heroes of Light have appeared in Aqures Ixen.
Warning: N/A

Where you were or what you were doing— It does not really matter. Not any more. Within an instant, 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 knew it. No matter what the answer is, it will only take a few seconds for you to find yourself sinking into a void, your world vanishing into the distance. There is nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see. Even you feel different: all the powers you might once have had, are now gone. It is silent, cold and it feels as though life itself is slipping out of you.

At this moment, when it looks as though nothing but a never-ending void awaits you, a red Crystal forms before you. In this void, its warmth compels you to grab it. Upon doing so, you can hear a soft, soothing voice speaking:

"Wake up."

Soon, the void itself vanishes and is replaced by distant noises of engines. Had it all been nothing more than a dream? The soothing voice repeats its call one more time, but is soon replaced with a much less graceful "Wake up Kupo." Hand clutched on your Crystal, the call of the Moogle may finally wake you up. But you are no longer in your world, nor in the void. You are before the Crystal of Fire, in the third district of a city called Aqures Ixen. At this point, you may realize the engine noise actually originates from an Airship flying low over the city and headed to dock beneath the castle. As if it wasn't strange enough, your clothes have changed as well. They are now a reflection of the Jobs you are wielding. Last but not least, you are surrounded by Moogles, small and fluffy creatures who are more than happy to tell you about everything you want to know, about your 'destiny' as a Hero of Light, about what awaits you.

Or at least, they will tell you everything they do know, which isn't much in the end.

The only people around you are like you-- There are quite a few of them, all clothed in their Job garbs and most likely wondering what is happening. If somehow you do not realize it, the Moogle who woke you up will be more than happy to inform you there are others like you around. In fact, there are other Heroes who have arrived in the course of the past year and they will come soon! Like you, they have Jobs and a Crystal.

If asked, the Moogles will mention that the city was recently attacked by the Heran Empire and nearly destroyed by Ultima Weapon. What's the Heran Empire? What's Ultima Weapon? Better to ask to the heroes who saw it all.

The Other Heroes
— Shortly Thereafter —
Thanks to the efficiency of Mognet, it does not take long for the other Heroes to come around: those who arrived in this world within the past year. You may have imagined heroic and charismatic figures when your Moogle told you that there were other Heroes of Light in this city. You may have imagined persons with fearsome powers when they told you about how they fiercely battled each other past month. And more importantly, you may have imagined them as people who would have all the answers to your, doubtlessly, numerous questions.

If so, you may be up for a tragic disappointment. Still, for the most part they know more than you on the situation and may be more than happy to fill you in, especially if your Moogle didn't tell you much.

The City of Aqures Ixen
— Anytime —
With the recent attack, Aqures Ixen is under reconstruction. The city was saved for the most part, but there are ruined buildings, the Sixth District is nothing but wasteland now and the Thirteenth District has become a graveyard. Even so, there are a lot of things left to do in the city for newcomers. A few groups of Triple Triad players are playing before Mognet Office in the ninth district, mostly Moogles as many of them are not working after what happened. And of course, they are more than happy to teach the rule to anyone passing by. Characters are free to enter and play games of Triple Triad, and if they do so they will be given very basic cards and explained the rules. This may be the start of a promising career!

Characters are also free to visit the city-- Mognet Office just behind the Triple Triad games is filled with Moogles, most of them panicked, tired, busy or slacking now that their director has disappeared. They can also visit Airship Port in the twelfth district from where characters can board for free Airships from Shoopuf Airline-- Though they have to make a request 48 hours in before to do so.

Or maybe you could visit your new house in the 11th District, and get to know your new neighbors and housemate. Hopefully your neighbors are people you will get along with.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
— 19:00 —
Characters venturing by the city's outskirts at this specific time will be able to see a most peculiar sight: a flying saucer seemingly abducting a cow before flying away and disappearing into the sky without leaving any traces of its presence. If your character do see it, hopefully there will be someone with them. Otherwise, nobody will believe their story.

Was it an UFO or just a hallucination? Only the future will tell...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Ah." That early. And no knowledge on Sephiroth. That made Reno a little more uneasy, but he tried to hold on to the hope that the Silver General had remained otherwise calm here.

"So -- no kid gloves? You prob'ly know what happens when you go there. An' I know it don't mean much, but I'm sorry things end up the way they do." Reno shook his head.

Cloud just nodded quietly. He did know. He was told, and he dreamed a memory of it, and he was glad he didn't stumble anything like it when the others had their own minds and memories thrown against them right before the invasion.

"But we're not on Gaia...I still want to hope that maybe things will go a bit differently. That we can all be happy here." He wasn't sure it would. He'd been warned that crystal stasis had a way of moving someone to their own future, regardless of what they'd been doing here. Sephiroth himself was pessimistic on the matter for that reason.

Cloud sighed and looked away, trying to push the thought from his mind. "I just wish the others did too. At least in this world I got to fight alongside my hero."

Edited 2015-09-22 20:23 (UTC)

"Mm..." Reno didn't say it aloud, but his face may as well have. He didn't believe that. Every experience he'd had with people disappearing and returning with new memories from home had suggested the timeline was immutable. While they were here -- or wherever they were -- the events of their universe continued as they were prescribed.

Sephiroth would discover Hojo's notes. Zack would die. Meteor would fall and Midgar would be destroyed. Over and over and over again. The only things that changed were the people who'd been removed to these worlds. They built new memories, new relationships, had new experiences -- until and unless they went home, and it was as if nothing had ever happened. The timeline continued.

"Yeah... at least there's that," Reno said carefully.

The face was enough. It was an expression that Cloud was familiar with on Tifa's, Yuffie's and even Sephiroth's own face. He was the only one who believed that there was a chance to, if not redeem his Hero, to at least change the future of this version of the man. He knew that perhaps they'd both be slaves to the timelines they were supposed to have, but the fact that they weren't on Gaia had to count for something, right?

Cloud sighed, shook his head and looked around. The city was in the middle of its rebuilding, a slight echo of Gaia's future from his perspective but he tried not to think of it overmuch.

"Anyway...welcome to Crystallis. Has anyone told you what's been going on?"

If Cloud really wanted to know, Reno would tell him to make the most of this world if a good Sephiroth was what he wanted. That was the one good thing about inter-dimensional travel: the old relationship rules from home didn't apply. The timeline might stay the same at home, but while people were here, anything could happen.

Anyone could be a better person.

It might not last forever, and it wouldn't change the events of their timeline. But it was something special, nonetheless.

It was hardly an appropriate conversation for the moment. Cloud was a brooding teenager all over again, Reno felt older than he was, it was just awkward. Maybe another time.

"I heard there was a war?" he began. "And some kind of Calamity that we're supposed to fix, or the world ends?"

Cloud was shaken out of his thoughts but it looked like in an effort to change the subject he pulled an even bigger weight back onto Cloud's shoulders. "Ah...yeah...the Empire invaded us. Some of the city got burnt down but we worked hard to save it. But then it turned out the woman who was helping us stole the Ultima Weapon."

His voice cracked as he said those two words. It seemed his experience with it was personal. The blonde looked more like those young ShinRa troops after their first bad deployment than the sullen wandering swordsman Reno knew.

"From what we've been told we're connected to the Calamity. IT started spreading when some of the others ran into one of our other....enemies in Imperial territory. A lot of stuff in this world has turned out to be our fault just for being here." His fists clenched. He wasn't going to take all of this lying down but even with his regaining his confidence lately it's a lot to think about all at once.

Oh, good job, man, you ended up making things worse. Ugh. Reno's stomach sank, seeing Cloud look so distraught, hearing the crack in his voice.

"Whoa, whoa, hey..." He lay his hands on the cadet's shoulders, gentle but firm. Resisting the urge to lay hands elsewhere, or hug him.

"Look, it ain't our fault we're here, the-- the crystals just pulled us, right?" Reno frowned. "You can't blame yerself for existing."

Cloud tensed briefly as the hand came to his shoulder, not because of who it was but because of the contact. He really was not that used to people being physically affectionate. Zack was a bit of an exception.

"Yeah I know but...." He went on to explain to Reno what he knew from the other Heroes about all that had happened. That the invasion of Aqures Ixen was used to fuel the Crystal of Fire to send them back in time. Their presence in the era powered it up enough to cause an explosion and that the deaths there empowered the crystal to bring them to this world in the first place. At least that was the story as he was able to figure it out.

"I don't blame myself but it IS our fault. And I don't want anything like this to happen again." He looked up at Reno, steel in his eyes. "And I won't let Palitutu get away with it." The jury was still out on Kalki. She wasn't a good person in the present but she seemed as much a pawn as the rest of them in the past. He wanted to speak with her now that they knew the truth.

Reno stared as he heard all Cloud had to say. His grip loosened, his mouth opened. The Ultima Weapon... here... and in the hands of an enemy. And the heroes, manipulated, had given it to her.

There was no good angle to this story.

The fire in Cloud's eyes was what brought Reno back. Even in the young boy, it was the same fire he'd seen in the future Cloud. A strength that had always been there, just growing. That was a small comfort, at least.

"Yeah." Reno almost smiled. "Yeah, I believe that. We'll get her."

Intro Log || The Return of the Heroes

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Nice going Reno

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