More come than dared hoped, and already a little bit of healing occurs because of it. The light of the sprites softens and warms with each body that passes through the portal. It remains open for the straggler to decide whether or not he will come before it disappears in a flash - after all, there are things to be done and they cannot wait for one demon when so many others have arrived to help.
With the disappearance of the portal, a sprite floats towards each individual, hovering just near their head and providing a little bit of warmth.
They have travelled back in time, but this is not Beqanna's past. This is the past of the world where Baltia and Stratos formed. A war rages around the visiting party, certainly more traumatic to witness for some of their companions than others. The one who was friends with the fallen queen may even see a past-version of herself. The sprites do not know whether this will make the task easier or harder for her than the others.
Everyone else may recognize where they are if they are able to focus on the landscape rather than the fighting. The Ruins that stand in Beqanna are newer here, the magical and physical damage that will happen during this war has not yet been inflicted to make them weathered before their time.
Violence and death rage on amidst a storm fuelled by both Baltian and Stratosian magic. Being visitors out of time, none of this affects those who have come. The fighters pass through them like ghosts as they chase after their foes and the hard drops of rain and hail splatter to the ground without restraint.
Here, the sprites have voices. After a very brief moment to adjust, they waste no time in explaining. “This is the world divided between sea and sky. A wound was caused here.” As if that wasn’t obvious, as a Baltian nearby breaks the wings of a Stratosian. “It must be found, it must be healed, or Beqanna will fall next.” Dramatic, sure, but accurate - not a single one of them could be dense enough not to have noticed what has been occurring all across the continent of their home. Change is a natural thing, it has happened to Beqanna more than once, but this change is alien - a disease brought on by another world.
“Our magic can only do so much on its own.” All of Beqanna’s magic is driven by its residents, isn’t it? The Sprites can only direct this task because everyone here showed up. “Tell us, where - how - do we begin to mend this?”
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The Sprites have taken the questing party back into the past between Baltia and Stratos. They are currently in the midst of the part of the war where the land was ravaged and both sides incurred heavy losses.
The goal is to uncover what started the rift between the two kingdoms. Your Sprites can answer questions or prompts by taking you across the battlefield or further back along the timeline. By default you'll be working together as a team (i.e. you don’t have to duplicate someone else’s question/you'll all travel to whatever parts of the past together but you also won't lose "points" if you happen to repeat something that's been asked already) or you can tell your sprite you want to work alone.
You can also PM Squirt with questions that the sprites can then answer in your post if you've got an idea you want to run with or need some guidance!
Replies for this round are due on Sunday, March 5 by 7pm EST but like last time you'll have until the third round is posted to get your reply up.
