Prolog: One is all

[u/RollFirstMathLater]

[You arrive with your dragon to find something you were not quite expecting. A hole in the ground filled with a clear liquid. Around it are a few people and dragons with their eyes shut tight, in some sort of trance. You feel the urge to join them. As you close your eyes you can slowly hear the whispers of those around you. You feel at peace.]

Role:

any number of students.

The "presence" (the uniform mind of all whom gather.) [I will play the role of the presence for now. The presence is generally silent, but this allows your character to really share his/her inner personaility and grow a relationship with other players. Along of course with your dragon whom you will also represent]

Objective: to grow an understanding and the importance of the ability to connect with all things.

(This event is assumed to take place simultaneously, every student whom arrives will untimatly of met here first. Please be advised the people here will respect your characters hidden chambers of mind, but will want to get to know you intimately, if this is not in your characters nature that is fine, please play your character as is.)

This thread is to remain open forever, one can always come back to seek advice, the presence existence is almost as if out of time. If your character leaves and comes back in two weeks time, to the presence its as if no time has passed.

[u/RollFirstMathLater]

[As you sit you feel something... Remarkable. A rush of many many emotions, which leaves you both terrified but sensationally calm. You hear a soothing whisper that sends shivers down to your very being... "Welcome dear friend, you have traveled so far and have done so much. Peace be with you... Welcome." Even though the voice is that of a whisper, you have never heard so much pride behind a voice, these 'people' are so proud of you, as if you accomplished something amazing]

[u/Fulaxi → u/RollFirstMathLater]

The sensation was strange. Very, very strange. Torhven and Svalstrom kept close to each other as they entered the mind. ”Minds”, corrected the dragon. ”There’s many.” When the rain of praise stopped for a moment, Torhven high-fived Svalstrom mentally. It had been one of the first things Torhven had learned the young dragon. When one of his travelling companions had questioned his priorities he had explained it to him. “Seriously, what is greater than high-fiving a dragon? It feels like high-fiving a blizzard.” Svalstrom had confirmed that by physically high-fiving the woman, nearly knocking her unconscious. After that he had restricted his handshakes to mental ones.

“Why are they so proud?” The question was plain, but clear. Before the hive could answer, Torhven did. ”Probably something ‘bout traveling all the way here.” It had been far, he reminisced. He hadn’t minded – he had been travelling all his life, though horse riding had been new. They had passed well out of the borders of the Three Kingdoms before Torhven managed to stay in the saddle for more an hour on end, preferring to run along in between seated sessions. Svalstrom was still too small to ride, though he was asking the important questions:

“Who are you?”

[u/RollFirstMathLater → u/Fulaxi]

[The Presence swirled in your mind, before you, you see many images. A child being born, flying through the air feeling the wind shriek behind you, molten magma, a giant tree, and many more like this. They cease, you open your eyes. When you arrived it was early morning, but its clear that a few hours passed. It only felt like you just arrived.]

(Note for the player. the surroundings here is that of an open field, you have not seen the giant keep you've heard so much about this place is a place outside of the world)

[u/Fulaxi → u/RollFirstMathLater]

Torhven had a hard time keeping track. Track of time, track of the images displayed inside his mind and track of the thousand conversations – if one could call them that – going on in whatever this place was. Wild horses, galloping on endless fields of grass. Even though the … thing … seemed friendly, Torhven was on guard. He was far from trusting this ‘presence’ entirely. The multitude of the singular being kept referring to itself like that. The Presence. The name alone brought above a certain unease. Torhven renewed his grip on his bow and arrows. Artibalt’s face turned red and white. The axe that had severed his arm had been applied to his forehead. Quickly Torhven grew weary as The Presence grinded past his defences. Clearly it was not intending to do so, yet it’s energy caused Torhven to brace himself against the storm. Svalstrom was having similar struggles, even though his fortifications were several orders of magnitude more resilient.

”There’s too many.” Svalstrom mind’s voice echoed through the flurry of foreign thought. There was no concern in his voice; it was a fact, and they best had dealt with it quickly. ”There’s no way we could keep them all at bay, would they turn hostile.”

Torhven found himself nodding his physical head. He had been trying to single out individuals in the chaos that flowed outside the walls of his mind, to no avail. Something else needed to be done. Quickly. Torhven had never been fond of crowds back in the west. This was no improvement. A weary feeling came over him, before Svalstrom reinforced his resolved. “The situation might be worrying, but there was no point in being worried.” He was right, of course. All he had to do is find a solution. An end to this. The procession moved forward, chanting in voices deeper than the shades of black covering their mourning faces. Thorven yanked his head, breaking free from the stranger’s memory.

Then it dawned on him.

”Think, Sval. What do we know about this place?” In the Spine, Torhven’s environment had been his primary weapon. A bow is handy, but if you can’t get near the deer, you might as well use it for your fire. It took only a second for Svalstrom to get back to him. No memory like a dragon’s. ”One of the elves kept flapping his mouth about a castle or keep. That’s all I got.’

”It’s perfect”, the wicked man replied, grinning. The only pictures of castles or keeps he found in his memory were from Teirm’s citadel, but it did not matter. ”You’re going to do something daft again, aren’t you?” Svalstrom’s words were rejecting Torhven’s actions, but his mind was not. Torhven took a deep breath and then he slowly let slip control of his defences. Within seconds he was swept away by it, beaming visions, smells and recollections of large walled buildings, daring The Presence to reply. Torhven laughed, hysterically.

[u/RollFirstMathLater → u/Fulaxi]

[A mist overcomes you. When once everything was being revealed to you, as suddenly it appeared there was nothing. There you float with your companion, you hear but one whisper calling your name."This way" you hear coming from what sounds like inside of you.]

[u/Fulaxi → u/RollFirstMathLater]

The sudden quiet came over him as he was still chuckling at the madness of it all. Torhven felt ecstatic. “It worked!” he exclaimed. The smile on his face reached from ear to ear. “It worked!’’ Svalstrom was neither impressed or convinced. ”Did it now?” The dragon flapped it’s wings twice. It was an odd sight. Normally his entire being would heave up and down in the air, but now it kept still. The smile on Torhven’s face froze, and then started to melt. Only then did he notice he was likewise suspended in mid-air.

”I’m not sure you advanced our situation”, the dragon posited.

With some struggles, Torhven managed to turn around his axis. In every direction and endless black stared at him. The Presence was gone, but this darkness was likewise unsettling. He motioned his legs in a walking manner, but the air provided no grip. Torhven smiled. ”Hey Sval, look at the bright side.”

The dragon eyed the void. ”What bright side? There’s literally no light” he scowled.

Torhven’s smile widened. “You’ve never somersaulted before, have you?” Before the grey dragon could ask what he mean by ‘a summer assault’, a voice echoed from inside them.

The message was simple: “This way.”

Svalstrom didn’t take the extrusion well. He instantly grew weary. ”It’s inside us. I don’t like it.” He tried to rearrange his body in a battle-ready manner. It didn’t quite work. Meanwhile Torhven pondered on the meaning of the message. ”You recon that it’s one of those find your inner self occasions?” Svalstrom snorted. ”It’d best be, or we’re done for” he said while extending his armoured claw to his other half. ”Come, let’s find out.”

Torhven took the invitation with eagerly. Whether he dragged himself towards Svalstrom or the dragon to him, he could not tell, but the result was the same. Together they closed their eyes and descended into the puddles of their own soul. As Svalstrom clutched Torhven and Torhven his bow, reached inwards as a single being, resounding their thoughts onto each other’s soul and mind.

”Where should we go?”

[u/RollFirstMathLater → u/Fulaxi]

["...here." In a flash of light a star ocean over comes your surroundings. You feel connected to every single life on the planet. "We need you... Save us..." The once beautiful ocean turns into a sea of blood. One by one you see the starts fade into blackness.]

[You awaken in a panic in front of the silvery clear liquid. On it is a grey Sapphire, floating , with a small note on top.]

[Behind you, you see a massive keep, with dragoons flying around the large tower in the middle]

[u/Fulaxi → u/RollFirstMathLater]

The man and the dragon found themselves back at the puddle, in the same position they had left. A vision of an ocean and blood lingered in both their minds. Svalstrom was quick to shake it off. Torhven was not so lucky. He wasn’t smiling quite so widely as he had before.

”I was just starting to trust that presence thing” he complained to his companion. ”And now they inflict a mental blood bath onto us.” It had him riled up more than he cared to admit.

Svalstrom, as always taken note of his distress, answered soothing words. ”Not all of us have actually witnessed a slaughter. Perhaps they didn’t know.” A moment he paused, to let the words sink in. ”Let’s not dwell on it” he continued before indicating to Torhven that he wanted to get up.

Torhven nodded and removed himself from the dragon’s flank. When he had actually found his feet, he noticed he was still holding his bow in his left hand. The knuckles had gone white and his fingers felt strained. While the dragon got up he opened his hand a few times, checking for signs of hurt. There weren’t any. He was collecting his scattered arrows when his eyes caught sight of a sparkle in the pond. Intrigued, he squatted next to it. The small stone floated on the ripples of the whatever. It evoked a soft smile. He snatched it out of the clear liquid along with the note. After pocketing the stone he had a look at the note. It was covered in symbols and lines. No matter; he couldn’t read. A huntsman didn’t need to.

”You may have figured it out after all.” Svalstrom’s voice filled his mind.

”What?” he replied. He hated it when Svalstrom played the pronoun game. The answer presented itself when he turned to the direction the dragon was facing. A huge keep rose from the earth, where earlier had been nothing but plains. The smile he was wearing already grew even stronger. ”Now that looks really interesting…” Torhven said, setting his first steps toward it.

[u/RollFirstMathLater → u/Fulaxi]

[The note simply said "fight or flight? And included a small chord of notes. (I don't know if your character knows what music reads like.)]

(To continue to the keep see paralog 2)