Unlock! (1)

[trainmasters]

Who: Everyone
When: Day 12, evening into night
Where: the Aurora

[As evening approaches, you hear the jingle associated with an official message from your Chain. It's the same balloons and confetti animation as the last time newbies arrived, and the same message as well:]

WELCOME NEW HEROES

[As anticipated, some newbies are waking up in their rooms, in the usual nondescript undies or team pyjamas.

Just after this, however, something much more startling happens...

Outisde, the bell tone gets all the louder, a beautiful resonating sound that fills the air. Then, suddenly, a flood of strange square-shaped sparkles appear, floating around like magical fireflies, bringing with them a pleasant warmth. They increase in size and volume until the air itself whites out with a bright but pleasant light. While you can't see, you can hear the bell, and the distant rumbling of stone.

Abruptly, the sound stops, and the bright light fades to reveal a sky painted in sunset hues. Where there was once a dark and hostile jungle with cracks in the ground, there's now a colourful rainforest environment and a floor thick with bright moss. The sounds of birds and insects and regular wildlife rise over the previous silence, and the aggressive plantlife is replaced by large flowers and succulent fruits. In one direction, a dirt path winds through the trees, and in the opposite, the brush gives way to a stone formation with a flat top and an opening flanked in carvings of water and plants.

If one were to enter the new cave entrance, they'd find the previous moon crystals replaced by rainbow ones that reflect sparkling light onto the floor, and feel soothingly warm to the touch. Further into the caves, there's a carved stone path that leads to the beach you initially arrived on. There stands the Prism: a large floating cube in the center of gyproscope-like concentric rings. Where it had been glowing black, it's now a royal purple, and the light and energy from it are significantly less malicious than before -- though still far from pure. The beach itself is now covered in fine white sand, and the sea no longer tries to pull you in -- provided you don't go out too far.

Because not all is well on this Star just yet. While the nearby water contains a reef of colourful fish, 100 meters or so out to sea the water turns black again. While under water in the safe area, you can occasionally see the shadows of great and terrible monsters deep in the dark.

Likewise, should you choose to follow the first path, after ~1km you'll find the forest fades back into the previous dense, dark jungle. At the edge of the darkness, there's something new -- the remains of what looks like a modern town. It's all overgrown, cottages twisted into ruins and streets covered in vines and prowled by tiger monsters and a new threat: towering reptilian creatures that climb the crumbling shells of apartment buildings and the empty City Hall, like geckos increased to dinosaur size. They're fast, and if they catch you they'll swallow you whole. On the one side, that makes it easier for someone to save you -- they could cut you out. On the other, those unable to be rescued will find their skin and muscles becoming slowly more transparent and stiff, the colour and feeling leaving them until their minds are trapped in a useless shell. Those found in that condition later must be saved via the healing pods -- but they'll remember their stay in their glass bodies, with their blood running and heart pumping like a living anatomical model of their organs.

On the Aurora, however, you're welcome to enjoy the first sight of the sun in 12 days. As the brilliant sunset moves into a night reigned over by a gentle moon, the Heartbeat Festival remains in full swing. So celebrate your victory with a glass of shimmery alcohol and a kiss, because you've done it -- your love has purified a part of this Star!]

[[OOC NOTES: CONGRATULATIONS on your first Prism purification, guys! There is a toplevel for ICly suggesting train upgrades here, so check it out! Next week we'll post a poll, and the week after the upgrade will be implemented.

The updates to the Setting page to reflect this post will be made soon, so keep an eye out!]]

Comments

2

[purrtagonist]

[with the new brightly colored rain forest outside, the view is spectacularly colorful and bright! especially compared to the dank and dark surroundings he's been living in for the past four days]

[but is Akira staring at those beautiful flora? nope]

[he's staring at the new licorice, expression sack, eyes wide and bewildered behind his glasses]

[so]

[hi???]

[crimeboy]

[It takes him a minute before he realizes there is an extra him in the reflection of the glass and he turns around to stare back at him with the exact expression depicted in this icon.]

[purrtagonist]

[opens mouth]

[closes it again]

[????]

[. . .]

[JABS A FINGER AT HIM]

Thief.

[smooth Akira]

[crimeboy]

...



[Points back at Akira]

... Wizard.

[purrtagonist]

Unicorn, actually. I’m currently donning my clever human disguise.

[wags his fingers all spooky like. oooooh]

[crimeboy]

At least you've got good taste in disguises.

[WINKS]

But seriously this is wierd.

[purrtagonist]

Whiiiiich part?

[seriously there are like ten weird things happening, here]

[crimeboy]

Every?

Yeah. Every.

[purrtagonist]

[YEAH, THAT'S. . . . . . FAIR]

-- I'm Akira. Kurusu Akira, but just Akira is fine.

[he introduces himself first for a purpose, carefully eyeing the stranger's reaction to that name]

Do you remember who you are?

[crimeboy]

[There isn't even the slightest spark of familiarity.]

Nope! Not a clue!

Thought I was in Monster School for a minute.

[purrtagonist]

[huh. . . he wonders if the lack of familiarity is because this guy doesn't have memories, or if because the similar appearance is misleading. either way?]

. . . why did you think you were in Monster School?

[crimeboy]

Well, when I woke up there was a zombie in my common room. And I'm like. Clearly an imp or something.

[purrtagonist]

[ah]

And me being a unicorn would lend to that theory.

Have you read the welcome message on your phone yet?

Re: 2

[malignstar]

There's two of you?

[purrtagonist]

Nnnnnnooooo?

[but he doesn't. sound too sure?]

One of us has horns.

[malignstar]

I can see that. Maybe you're twins.

[purrtagonist]

Nope. I don't have a twin.

[and he sounds pretty sure about that, too]

[malignstar]

Oh, that's right, you would know. You remember everything. But he looks just like you.

1/2

[purrtagonist]

[idly, almost distantly, like he's talking to himself]

Magical cloning. . .

[no]

[purrtagonist]

[a beat]

I'm kidding. I wish I had an explanation, but I'm about as lost as you are on this point.

[malignstar]

How about you from another reality?

[purrtagonist]

. . . like an alternate universe?

No better way to make me feel like a comic book character, I guess.

[malignstar]

It's not like this whole setup doesn't feel straight out of D&D.

[purrtagonist]

[a thoughtful hum]

Feels more like a sci-fi miniseries than D&D, if I’m being honest.

Point taken, though.

[malignstar]

I don't know the heroes, bonds and darkness thing tracks.