They do not take to space as he did.
Nihlus is the first to figure it out, swimming through space, to the warmth. To him, the dark god gives diamond armor – a hardening of the skin, a change to sharp reflective diamonds that will not last forever, but will help protect the boy for what is coming. He also speeds up the boy’s reflexes, quickens his reactions.
Ramiel is next through, on the backs of alien creatures he has no name for. To him he gives metal armor, less resilient than diamonds but harder than their delicate skin.
Third is his daughter, propelled by the help of others. To her he gives leather armor across her skin (ah, she does so look like her mother). Less protection than mineral or metal, but far together than skin – and besides, what girl doesn’t love leather?
The others trickle through. He notes Wrynn’s quest, the strange purity she possesses that allows the monsters to see her through. Others work together, using their abilities to come forward. Nymeria and Kellyn step through, and he feels the wormhole sinking shut, collapsing in on itself, a dying star. He cannot stay with them and hold it open.
In the end, he leaves two behind.
With a gasp from him, the wormhole closes like a fist. It leaves Joscelin and Myrina behind, there in space.
Joscelin shatters, frozen without his protections and too far away from him to take her back in time, but he sends the pieces back to earth, back to him, where he repairs her haphazardly. She will look like a shattered piece of pottery for a while, but it will heal in time, he thinks.
He pulled Myrina back quick enough so she did not shatter, but he sees her mane and tail have turned to ice. Again, he supposes it shall fix itself with time.
With that, he forgets them, and turns to the ones who have made it through, made it to Gail.
******
He miscalculated.
The wormhole does not take his acolytes to the beach; instead, it takes them to a different point in time.
They are in the future, but not far enough. Instead, they are in the middle of a cataclysm. The sky is a murky gray, filled with ash. Something is burning in the distance. The air stinks like rotting meat.
And here there be monsters.
They are the Great Old Ones; they are the things that have slept – deep in the seas where light fails to reach, deep underground in places untouched. They are the ones who once ruled. They have awakened (the skeleton king wonders briefly, sweetly, if he is the one who woke them – and if so, where he stands now. Does he walk among them? Does he rule them?).
These are the devourers, the monsters, the things that cannot be looked at without going mad.
And they are burning the earth.
The ground cracks beneath his acolytes, and something roars in the distance. Something else replies, a babble of incoherent language so thick with consonants that might be a curse or a prayer, it’s impossible to tell.
The next wormhole is… he pauses a moment, feeling for it through them, for the energy,
it’s by the sea. About a mile off.
He does not tell them that the sea is boiling. Or that the Great Old Ones have caught their scent by now, and will be here soon.
NOTES:
Nihlus, for being the first to respond, you will have diamond armor and enhanced speed for this round.
Ramiel, for being second through, you will have metal armor for this round.
Lageratha, for being third, you’ll have leather armor for this round.
Joscelin, you were too slow and shattered in space. Carnage brought you back and glued you back together (think a broken vase). For 1 BQ year (1 month), you will have a ‘glued together’ appearance. You can choose to make this permanent, or have it fade after the time is up.
Myrina, you were too slow and got pulled back when the wormhole closed, but not before your mane and tail turned to ice. This will last for 1 BQ year (1 month). You can choose to make this permanent, or have it fade after the time is up.
RULES:
It’s the apocalypse! AKA some distant future point where monsters have risen up from everywhere and are scorching and salting the earth and basically fucking shit up.
To get to the next wormhole, you have to encounter and fight/trick/run from
at least one monster. If you have traits, they may be used within reason.
Once again, you have 24 hours to reply. No reply at all will result in automatic elimination and a defect.
This round is quality over speed. Posts will be judged on creativity, ‘realism’ (as real as a fake horse fighting a Lovecraftian god can be, anyway), and overall style. Think of it as a battle post, except instead of another horse, you’re interacting with a monster.
You must act alone. Assume you’re scattered around.
Use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_deities as a guide for the kinds of monsters/gods/Great Old Ones you might encounter.
If you have any questions, you may email me at acmrshll@gmail.com.
