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Post by Zane on Apr 2, 2023 4:58:17 GMT -8
Falling. She would herself falling for what felt like an eternity. Nothing around her but darkness, that descent would continue until light finally broke through. It was sunset as she was falling from the air from on high, the ocean beneath her. She would be falling long enough to take in the sights all around her. The world appeared to be at constant sunset, wasteland as far as she could see, and the ruins of buildings and civilization left and right. This wasn't the black hole nor was it the cyber world that she was pulsed in to save for one location on the landmass that seemed much unlike the rest that remained. A wind would blow strongly to slow her descent, making what would be an incredibly lethal fall even if it was into a large body of water into a rather painful one instead if that was her landing choice. It was probably ideal to land there, as the only body of land that was left appeared to be the one she could see as all the rest was ocean. Swimming there would be what she would have to do after that, and even the ocean life seemed desolate as the ocean from above seemed almost lifeless as there were no moving waves or moving life in the water as well. Almost as if life had come to a standstill here.
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Post by Warrior on Apr 3, 2023 8:32:38 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/80QKuvL~png Faith was falling head-down when she came to, her scarf flickering chaotically behind her from the velocity she was traveling. The wind that slowed her descent was probably the only thing that kept her from burning up as she fell through the atmosphere, enveloping her body like a sonicboom and slowly tipping her body upright as well as she continued to approach the surface below.
Landing on solid ground technically had the higher chance of survival: if she lost consciousness upon collision or was too broken to move after the fact, she at least wouldn't drown on land. The same obviously couldn't be said for if she'd landed in the ocean, and the force of impact was probably going to be about the same for both scenarios if she was falling at terminal velocity. The landmass was too far away to angle herself toward at this point, though, and the suppressing wind was at least beginning to slow her down enough that she could survive the fall into the water, at this rate.
So into the ocean it was. She'd slow her descent even further by spreading her body out, exposing as much of her surface area to the wind as possible. When the time for landing came, though, she'd shift positions quickly to mitigate the dangers that came with this form of entry: falling upright now, like a "pencil dive", but crossing her legs tightly so that they wouldn't be forcefully swung apart upon collision with the water. That was her best chance at preventing them from being dislocated, or from experiencing what could be best described as a high-velocity saltwater enema.
The ocean would be cold and dark, especially at the depth she would plunge to. Her body's reflex would be to inhale at the sudden loss of temperature, so she'd clench her lips and nose tightly with one hand to prevent that. The other arm would be crossed over this one and under its armpit, almost as if to tie her arms in a "knot" to better secure them so that the one covering her face wouldn't be displaced upon entry.
She'd have to keep her body tight as she sank so that it wouldn't be thrown apart while the water tossed it about to displace her kinetic energy. By exhaling a small amount of air after it had all subsided, she'd be able to feel which direction the air bubble escaped her hand to use as her heading to get back to the surface.
And when all of that was finally said and done, she'd have earned the breathe of fresh air as her reward and would begin her swim toward the land in the distance -- not entirely sure yet of whether she'd landed into the frying pan or the fryer, but that was something to figure out once she'd made it ashore.
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Post by Zane on Apr 4, 2023 23:20:26 GMT -8
Making it ashore, the devastation at hand was palpable. The air was stagnant and stale, and something repugnant seemed to hang in the air with it. All seemed to be fine at first until the next sight she would see as she was walking the barren Earth was that there was a waterfall. That didn't seem strange at first until the realization that the waterfall was from part of the ocean came up. This was when she would see the true harrowing sight that was here and that this was much more than simply a desolate planet. This was a ruined planet. There was no edge beyond where the waterfall was going. There was no end in sight besides the great beyond of the galaxy. Parts of the planet hovered about as the gravity and electromagnetic forces were entirely haywire at this point. The world had been proverbially and literally shattered by what could only possibly be extinction. Whether it was intentional or not, it was fact that the world was no doubt on its final throes before fully reaching its end. If anything, whatever miracle had kept it from detonating entirely was a feat all on its own. Someone or something had found a way to salvage the deplorable state of things for a time, but to what end? There was sound. The waterfall itself was largely silent as the water was rushing off into nothingness before, seeing as there was an ocean that remained, perhaps looping through some sort of distortion at a different point. But the desolate world had been ruled by silence given the ocean had no waves, the wind made no whistling, and the animals and insects were all dead. In light of all these, sound would easily be heard here and there if anything so much as made a solid movement. That was why Faith who was naturally light on her feet would be able to both make a relatively low sound and still attract others. Others who at first must have been quiet but started to become more active. Behind some of the rubble of the ruined civilization, a brief glint of light could made out from it with her keen senses. And soon following that would be spheres of light-purple hue, a firearm being fired at her from multiple angles. This time she was under attack without warning and no hesitation.
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Post by Warrior on Apr 6, 2023 18:58:28 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/AfT3qae~png " W-wait! "
Faith's eyes would catch sight of the firearm just in time for the rest of her body to make a panicked movement -- one that she was fortunate enough to have plenty of experience in, given her regular pastime. She threw herself to the side and into a sudden tumble, hoping to avoid the initial shots. The pattern of attack seemed mildly familiar, but for it to have taken the first strike contradicted the one she was thinking of.
Faith was no stranger to talking her way out of trouble -- when it worked, at least -- but not being given the chance to speak at all, before just being ambushed unprovoked, left her a bit out of her element. And so, naturally, she'd still herself after her movement to try to lay eyes on her assailant and to set things back into that element: laying the groundwork for a discussion rather than a duel.
" Let's at least introduce ourselves first! "
The playful tone was hard to find underneath the panic, but it was there. Even if this still lead to trading blows, every second of their pause gave her a bit more time to analyze the attacker (or attackers) and devise a plan from there. Her guard looked lowered, but she stayed loose enough to evade again if this was a more aggressive or feral type of encounter.
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Post by Zane on Apr 7, 2023 0:37:07 GMT -8
Looked like she was as nimble as ever. With her own movements and looseness prepared to evade again, the opponents would shuffle about their formation as they aimed to pin her down. Their avenue of approach was simple so far, to either fill her full of holes from the firearms or to lure her to the edge of oblivion and cast her off from there and let nature run its course. It was something they were very familiar with as it so happened. Just as they were about to begin firing once more, there was a pause. Silence ruled the space, and noise could be heard again. There was panic in the motions, movements taken to hurry away from a situation they found themselves in. Whatever reason they had for that was becoming apparent above, as lightning could be heard. It was coursing in an isolated spot in the air, as if something was coming through. The reason whoever or whatever it was had retreated was because of whatever it was that was about to arrive from this distortion.
It left Faith rather clueless on the many happenings still. But she could stick around longer to find out what this was, to pursue the group that had just started to run away, or to go in another direction entirely. What she had learned so far was that this was an even more hostile environment than the one she came from, which was infamous for immediate hostility with her talent for talking her way through problems shining through even more prominently in that world. What was her next move?
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Post by Warrior on Apr 7, 2023 13:37:49 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/AfT3qae~png " ?! "
It seemed like her assailants were more interested in getting away than taking her out. That seemed lucky at first, but it must have meant that there wasn't much time to get to safety and that every second counted.
Her instinct already knew that she needed to avoid attracting its attention as well, and so she'd conceal herself in whatever way the desolate terrain allowed her to so that she wouldn't be noticed as the distortion in the air continued to unwrap. There wasn't really anywhere to escape to, so she'd have to settle for this instead.
It'd give her the chance to see what the others were afraid of, and perhaps this would reveal to her the cause of this planet's undoing. Perhaps she could use that in her favor the next time she crossed her assailants, winning their favor by offering to help them resolve what was clearly troubling them. Or perhaps her assailants were the antagonists of this world's story and now it was the savior that was arriving. It was a little hard to imagine it that way, she'd admit, but nothing was for certain until she'd seen what came next.
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Post by Zane on Apr 7, 2023 14:35:31 GMT -8
It would be a few moments longer before she would obtain her revelation. The distortion would reach its apex and cease, as the entity that was on its way had arrived. The air about it was so thick that it felt suffocating even from this far away. But even through this Faith could make out red eyes. There were red eyes that gazed over the world below it before they started to levitate down, touching down upon the ground. The desolate soil seemed as if it wanted to give way just with this gesture alone but held together as if by the person--a woman's--will alone. There seemed to be an armored form about her, a familiar red eye attached to the forehead of the helmet adorning their head and shrouding other features. As if assessing the surroundings, she didn't move at all for the time being as her head simply scanned from left to right. The faint wind would be passing about Faith again, as if working to see her through the present circumstances unnoticed as the armored woman started to float again, vanishing as if the movement was swifter than Faith's eyes could track. Before long, an explosion could be heard in the distance. It at least hadn't come from the direction that the others had run in, but a battle had started to break out somewhere else.
The misfortune of others was the fortune of some, as the saying goes. This new arrival wasn't a savior, or if they were not in the stereotypical sense that was conveyed of a savior. But some of the people who hadn't escaped yet entirely stayed still, as if waiting for the battle to grow more heated elsewhere before they would move out further. Their survival was hinged entirely on the sacrifice of someone else who had been unfortunate enough to gather the unwanted attention. But for it to be a contest to begin with spoke as a testament to the person's fortitude in the eyes of those who had been faced with this despair for so long. No one was aiming at her again, as there seemed to be some confusion among the ranks now that things had come to this.
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Post by Warrior on Apr 7, 2023 14:50:59 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png Faith stayed still and silent throughout the entire scene. When the figure suddenly vanished, she couldn't help but look behind her to ensure it hadn't teleported to her blindside just then. It was her over-caution getting the better of her, but it'd saved her several times before against enemies that could warp.
The figure was gone, but she wasn't in the clear, as the explosion in the distance probably answered the question of where the armored woman had gone off to.
The others lingering around seemed caught up in confusion...? It was hard to determine, so perhaps the figure that appeared was new to them as well, or perhaps that was some other explanation that Faith didn't have time to explore. Her best bet was to go in the direction of the explosion to see what was going on -- her previous assailants didn't seem like talkers, and this would let her slip away before they got their wits about them and decided to attack her again.
Faith wasn't eager to move too quickly once she set off, though. She was more interested in remaining discrete and vigilant as she chased toward the conflict ensuing in the distance.
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Post by Zane on Apr 7, 2023 15:08:48 GMT -8
The thunderous crashes would go on for a time. They were swift and sure, the battle intended to reach a conclusion sooner rather than later. That was why even before she arrived the world itself would shudder at the coming impact as it seemed as if it was knocked clean off of whatever axis it had left. And then, silence reigned once more. Reaching the ground zero of the site would reveal the scene of the devastation unfurled here, as what appeared to be a gaping hole into the vast nothingness had been created. As it a massive blow blasted clean through the very planet itself and left a tomb in its wake for a goliath. The faint wind had finally faded away too, and what else could be seen in the area was fragments of something. It looked to be a sword, broken in the battle that had ensued and concluded. Cautious footsteps soon followed, as others were slowly but surely beginning to gather in this ruined space. No weapons were raised, but the tension in the high was enough to be cut through with a knife. One of them would finally speak up, lifting visors and removing the mask to reveal a brown-skinned man beneath. His face was scarred and torn, only half of it really usable at this stage. A consequence of the countless battles that had taken place these days.
"...I take it you're not with that monster that showed up?"
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Post by Warrior on Apr 7, 2023 15:29:47 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png " ... No. "
Faith would put the tension to rest after a brief pause of surveying the area. It was a miracle that this "planet", if it could even be called that, could support any life. No doubt it was once a more prosperous place, before the "monster". Now it looked like its inhabitants were fighting a losing battle to keep what was left of it intact.
" But I'm not from here, either. What is this place, and what happened here? "
She left that vague enough for now to avoid raising too much suspicion. "I fell into a black hole and landed here" wasn't exactly the most believable tale, after all. She'd need to know what was going on though, and this was the best way of finding out.
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Post by Zane on Apr 7, 2023 15:47:34 GMT -8
Not from here either? Then that could only mean--'Calm down'. Almost as if there was a voice that spoke faintly but briefly, the man nodded quietly. It at least confirmed that it hadn't been a figment of either of their imaginations. She wasn't from here and wasn't with that monster? Then... could it possibly be?
"This place is Earth. What's left of it after the 'heroes' failed their mission and let hell from on high drop down on us all. Won't be long now before what's holding this place up is no more and we're all space dust. All that happened months ago now."
Whatever miraculous power kept them afloat wouldn't be able to last forever was their take and honestly by this point hope on the matter. It felt like years to them, but it had only been a few months, almost a year at that since this new menace had taken center stage. And it did so by force and without mercy.
"For years now we've been trying to survive that monster. She appeared moments after it struck. And the horror she wrought with it was the likes of which had never been seen before. Nothing was able to stop her, and it seemed like she had no intentions of stopping. We threw everything we had at her to stop her, and all it ever did was make her stronger. The carnage only came to an end for a time when those distortions would show up here and there. We never gathered any more information on that, but it seemed like she was leaving to go somewhere each time it did."
That was why people started to scatter and flee the moment they saw it. It meant that the monster had returned from whatever had gathered her attention and had come back to finish what was already started. Why it had even taken this long was anyone's guess. Precise annihilation? Or because of their last bastion of defense, much as that was able to work about her now. It didn't quite explain why they fired upon her on sight, but he was getting to that.
"Sorry for our actions earlier. Honestly? We thought it was our best shot at saving ourselves. Never saw any cracks in her and thought for once we could have hope. Turns out we had the wrong person."
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Post by Warrior on Apr 23, 2023 12:28:24 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png " Well, can't say I've ever been confused for a monster before. I'm sorry to hear what you've all been going through, though. "
In Faith's mind, she was actually quite attractive, which could only mean that "monsters" to these people must have been as well. Most certainly.
The figure she had seen earlier, in the red armor, certainly came with the foreboding aura that would befit a monstrosity, though. She could discern that this was who the man was talking about.
Given the broken sword and the chasm left behind in the aftermath of the conflict that had ensured while she was approaching, she was able to start piecing together some of the story now surrounding what this world had suffered.
" You say she appeared after 'it' struck -- what do you mean by that? Is that what created this abyss? "
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Post by Zane on Apr 23, 2023 17:44:43 GMT -8
The man speaking didn't make much of an effort to hide the expression that said that he disagreed with her statement. Her questions certainly helped round out their beliefs as well. She must have not been associated with that unstoppable force. To her inquiry, he pointed upward. To what was a vacant space in the sky. And for years it should have been obvious what it was that was always looming up above their world in that position. And what was now missing from that very same location.
"Duo's Comet. It struck and tore our world apart. This is what's left of it, and after whatever curse kept us alive for the past months, the monster has been doing her work ever since."
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Post by Warrior on Apr 23, 2023 18:17:29 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png Duo's Comet?
While the memory was purged from Faith's mind during Vinyl's recreation of the timeline several months before, she'd been informed of that event by Warrior -- one of the few who were privileged to retain the recollection... or cursed, depending on how you looked at it.
" ... "
How did that make any sense, though? Didn't Vinyl undo those events?
That would've meant that they didn't happen. But if she really were here, then the truth was far more grim: Vinyl would have simply created a new timeline to ferry the world to, a world where Duo's Meteor didn't strike... and then left this one to fester in its suffering.
Vinyl's power required sacrifice, and those that declined the sacrifice were carried over to the new world. Which meant that those who accepted the sacrifice were left to remain here instead, and a new version of them was created in the new world to replace them. From their perspective, nothing changed at all after his invitation to repair what was broken.
Their sacrifice -- to forfeit salvation and to continue this suffering instead -- was what created the timeline that Faith had come from.
It tugged at her heart to think about. They paid the selfless price, and still, they wouldn't even be remembered for it.
" The armored woman... "
She changed the topic to keep her composure, though. Time clearly wasn't a luxury here, so she couldn't dwell on it any longer.
" ... 'The Monster', correct? I saw her return from the distortion, and the panic from my assailants when she did. Who is she? What do we know about her? "
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Post by Zane on Jul 11, 2023 16:50:09 GMT -8
It only made sense for her to go here next. This would probably be the hardest part for her to hear, about what they did and didn't know. That was why he would keep it brief and say what had to be said as curtly as possible. "We--[smear:cc5555] "They know that I am inevitable."[/smear:ad8c62] It was quite unlike the times before when someone appeared, and their presence was muted. What cloaked the presence of this one even in the face of them this directly wasn't some shroud, but natural instinct embedded in all creatures. The ability to deny reality and create the illusion of what was really there. The natural instinct at the mere sight of 'The Monster' Whatever great depths that laid here were denied from the onset of their appearance, for it was vastly beyond the scope of anything that could reasonably be compared with it. The woman had returned it appeared, and the only thing that had caused the people whose blood had frozen in their veins that she was this close to not expire was the fact that a cursory glance was left to linger on Faith herself. [smear:cc5555]"...Brahmastra, was it? How unnecessary."[/smear:ad8c62] There was only one familiarity that Faith could draw here as well. This was death. It wasn't some imitation or distilled force like what had been confronted before. This was inevitability. It was the endpoint of all things that came to life. All things expired, and she was the nexus of that expiration. Everything is already dead. And that this was far from the first extinction, nor the last, that this woman would be a part of. What followed was a series of events beyond even Faith's keen eye. Because whatever actions came next, the next thing she knew the woman was gone. Almost as if she were never there, there had been no sound or indication of what happened next. It was beyond the scope of what could be comprehended at the time and on such short notice, but even the people there were still frozen, as if they had already died in the time that those brief sentences were spoken with that distorted yet quiet, monotone voice.
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