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―――――――――――――――The nights were bright recently.

It did not happen all at once.

Spreading out from a single point, the Dust had began to move in waves of fairy lights.

Nobody was completely sure why.

Each night, the ring would expand just a little, and a wind of aurora would carry light towards a single point.

Nobody dared look for a cause.

It was common knowledge that the center would break into a Duststorm at any second.

No, rather, it should have been engulfed by one already.

Measuring the Dust in terms of "how much" was not possible.

However, just the tiniest glance over the horizon at the blazing light that hovered over what was once called a border proved that even obsolete words are still necessary concerning that not of this world.

The amount of Dust in that singularity was definitely "too much".

That's why that hurricane of Dust should not have been a surprise.

It had lasted five days, turning half of the landmass into the untouchable territory of Death.

And ten minutes ago, it stopped.

It was obvious that the Dust was not obeying its own rules.

Any kind of result would be unpredictable at best, or more likely, incomprehensible.

But if it was worth taking a chance on what had been seen in the past, then the world was quite possibly standing just outside the biggest Neverland ever seen.
 
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For the past few days, Otto had been watching the lights. He did not like them much - they felt dangerous - but he also knew he had to go. Go to the lights. So he had widely skirted what he believed to be the border of the storm, and now he had been rewarded.

He stood on top of the building he had been camping on the roof of, a moderate, six-storied place that has been spacious enough to appeal to Otto. He cut an imposing figure - an angel of silver and steel with a face of gold. He hadn't moved for a while now, his interest on the now gone storm. He knew what formed after these storms. He knew that, dangerous though it might be, it was just as likely to be an... education. He didn't like leaving 'home' for long, but it would be worth it to stay a while, it seemed.

He turned back to his makeshift camp - a small mound of dirt that he had molded into a comfy bed and a small floating fire, since he didn't like the dark - and removed his mask, rubbing his face. As his left hand hooked his mask on his belt, his right hand went to the small notebook also hooked on. It was pocket-sized, and he had dozens like it at 'home'. It was his log, his documents where he wrote down his new knowledge. Now he wrote, still standing. Storm has stopped. Entering dustbowl area. Hopefully suitably large as the storm suggested, hopefully won't die. Will maybe update later, depending on state of mortality. Then he turned back to a little human figure next to his dirt mound bed.

"Time to go, Aloysius," Otto whispered, picking up the small figurine. Otto spoke with a slight slur; he knew his English fine, but years of almost complete isolation from others who also spoke it meant his pronunciation and enunciation of words had slipped. He still talked a lot, just rarely to other humans.

Aloysius said nothing in response, as most inanimate objects do. He was a small figurine of shaped bone. He was, in fact, well made, like a small mannequin but more articulated and with even less features. The only thing he had was a smile of gold, and a rather wide one at that. The only other feature was a hook on the back of his neck. Aloysius was, basically, something for Otto to talk to. A friend.

Otto hooked Aloysius to the hook on his right, next to the mask. Then he took up the mask and set it back on his face. Once again he was the angel of silver and gold; the wings on his back only cemented the image. He closed a hand over the small makeshift fire that floated next to him, snuffing it. He had left his mark on the lower floors of the building, bone chimes fashioned from his last kill, which had actually been a rather bizarre plant thing. Then he stepped off the edge, gliding gracefully. He would have to be careful now. He had been to the places he had dubbed dustbowls many times before and many times smaller than this; they had still been life-threatening. This one...

He smiled to himself underneath his mask. He loved a challenge.
 
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Robin loved the lights, how they danced like the fairies she used to read about when she had time to. The fairies, of course, had rules. But these did not. They danced and got bigger and of course Robin wandered towards them and waited from a distance for them to stop. Getting close to them might scare them away, or so she thought.

She touched on of the horns on her head as the Dust Storm settled down into place, a new Neverland to be discovered. Robin knew that other people would be there, because if they'd seen the lights they'd know about this place too. A new Neverland... Robin remained in the branch of the withered tree she'd chosen to set up camp in. Strangely enough, it held up even though she knew it was dead. Just a shell of life before.

Same with the buildings, but Robin knew that those had never been alive. The tree was different, though. Robin stood up and stretched, happy enough to be able to observe the Storm, but only slightly worried about the plants she had at home. She knew that she shouldn't have set up somewhere permanent, but...

The plants looked lonely before she took them in.

Mr. Scales nibbled on Robin's ear, forcing Robin back into reality.

"Mister Scales, I am disappointed in you!"

He squeaked in response.

"My ear isn't a chew toy!"

Mr. Scales looked out at the Neverland.

Robin replied, "I know. But I want to go. Just this once. We can go home after. I'm sure that the plants miss us."

Another squeak and Robin was off, leaping out of the tree and making a run for the Neverland, laughing as she went. She loved seeing the new things a Neverland brought with it, and even though she knew it was dangerous, she was always careful to avoid areas that looked bad. Besides, she trusted the land and nature to work with her somehow, and she hadn't died yet.

She stopped as she heard something glide overhead. Robin climbed up and into something that was like a tree but not, and waited to see what the thing was. Friend, foe, monster, or human. She covered her mouth like a child, tucking her feet up under her in order to be smaller. If she was small they couldn't find her.

So she waited.
 
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A boy strode swiftly across a verdant field.

His paces were neither fast nor long, and yet the ground passed rapidly and continuously beneath his feet, as though the earth itself were shrinking to accommodate his passage. The unnaturally animated grass shifted restlessly behind him, viridian blades clutching vainly at the places his figure had occupied only moments before.

Aloysius Savantine reached the edge of the field and paused, fixing his gaze on the bizarre landscape just beyond. He scowled. In all his years of roaming the Dust-altered world, he had never witnessed a Duststorm of such magnitude as the one that had spawned the Neverland which now lay before him. That fact alone would have been sufficient cause for concern, but Aloysius wasn't particularly worried about the potential dangers he might encounter therein. Rather, his thoughts lingered on the area engulfed by the Duststorm - yet another region that was, inevitably, forever changed by the phenomenon. Any remnants of human civilization that had endured there would have been largely erased, overwritten, incorporated into the Ashen ecosphere.

The old world was moving ever-further beyond his grasp, and he didn't like that one bit.

Nonetheless, for all his dissatisfaction with the circumstances, Aloysius was no fool. A vast Neverland invariably constituted an equally enormous opportunity for profit - he wasn't about to allow a chance like that to slip through his fingers. Almost unconsciously, he reached inside his blazer, checking the locations of several sealed containers that he had prepared precisely for such an occasion.

Satisfied, Aloysius nodded to himself and looked up. Dust swirled invisibly around him, drawn to his Ashen presence. He took a step forward --

-- and vanished, leaving only luminous motes of infinitesimal Dust floating in his wake.
 
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From nearly a mile away, Julius had been observing the Gathering, as his parents had called it, since shortly after it began. He was perched in a tree on the edge of a forest, the tree limbs warped into odd geometric by a Duststorm some unknown time ago. Stretched between a pair of these limbs was a hammock with a tarpaulin pulled taut over it to protect from the rain as well as to give camouflage with it's pattern.

He sat with his legs hanging off the branch and leaning against the thick trunk as he peered through the foliage with glowing yellow eyes. Spliced from nightvision and raptorsight, his nighthawk vision allowed him to see in the dark perfectly clear from a mile away with only small diminishing returns beyond that. Aside from periodic breaks for sleep, food, and calls of nature, he had been taking notes in his notebook and comparing previous notes to what was going on now. It was certainly interesting and the longest lasting Duststorm he had seen yet and the resulting Neverland was by far the largest he had seen or read about, stretching wide as his vision permitted and who knew how far beyond.

It had been a lucky break for him that a passing beast at a nearby lake had been Dust-sensitive and had been willing to talk about it with him as he filled up his canteens. It had decided to get out of there as quickly as possible, having seen the Duststorms before, more information that had also been added to Julius' many notebooks. He had set up camp when he had seen the auroras, making in the tree that was also inhabited by a mutated squirrel, the strange six-legged and two-tailed furry thing trading the space for Julius popping open the extremely hard nuts of a nearby tree, a rare delicacy to the beasts in the forest. it was an easy matter for him to do so and he had had a number of interesting conversations with the squirrel who turned out to be surprisingly intellectual, as far as the animals went.

With the Neverland having formed, and given how long it would take for him to make it there, it would be stable enough for exploration once he got there. He packed up the hammock and tarp and tightened down the straps on his pack before putting it on. He rappelled down the tree from the spike he had placed previously, the squirrel helping to remove it once he was safely down. Giving a final goodbye to his friend, he headed off towards the Neverland at a quick pace.
 
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Otto landed gracefully, which was all good, but more importantly he did it silently, dropping to his knees as he did so and scanning his surroundings. Surprises were common and rarely appreciated in the land of Dust creatures. They were always interesting, of course, but Otto didn't wish to use up his reserves before he entered the dustbowl. Then again, he also didn't want to die, so he was prepared to use as much energy as needed.

Slowly he brought himself up, standing straight and flaring his wings out. This was in case anyone who bore ill will was watching, which Otto had dealt with more than once. Other Ashen were not always friendly, and some Ashen creatures were intelligent enough to reason as well as any human. Otto prescribed to the classic animal procedure of warding off supposed predators, which was to look larger and stronger. His wings, fully extended, were a sight to behold. He slowly scanned the horizon again as he straightened his back rigidly. It was important to look confident and foreboding; that was the type of thing humans didn't like to mess with. He already knew that nothing was immediately apparent, which just made him more cautious; he could've sworn he had heard something below him as he glided.

"Reminds me of that time in the glass forest," he muttered to Aloysius. His slur was still pronounced, no matter how quiet he spoke. "Remember when I landed next to that tree, looked the same as the others, but, hah, shattered? Still got scars. Glass everywhere, had to fly out bleeding. No fun, but still fun. Still, got to be careful. Important life lesson. Take heed, Aloysius." He patted the doll on the head, smiling faintly under his mask.

Still unsatisfied, he folded his wings back began walking slowly. He was still on full alert, but he knew other Ashen had seen the storm. It was very hard to miss it, actually. He had to be careful. On the other hand, he wanted to be there soon, preferably now. He sped up his pace. Yes, he had to be fast.
 
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The lights had been dimming lately and that meant that it would only be a little while longer before a whole new world would be ready to be explored. High in a tree a reflective grey liquid was hanging from one of the branches watching the lights with wonder. Morph loved nothing more than finding new things to examine and mimic. He'd only seen the lights a few times in the past but he knew that they always brought new things. More lights meant more new things and judging by what he was seeing this place would bring more new things than ever before. His mass rippled in anticipation.

It was almost time. Letting go of the branch his form fell for a few seconds before splashing on the ground beneath the tree. Literally collecting himself he began leaping forward towards where the lights used to be, running through all of his forms in his head before choosing one of his favorites. On his next leap the front of his mass stretched into long feline arms with 2 more pairs following half way through the new body and at the end. A long barbed tail followed the last pair of legs and the form completed with slender cat like head with bright green eyes, having X shaped pupils. The chromatophores in his sleek fur pulsated through different colors as he flexed the camouflage this species had acquired before returning it to its standard pitch black color.

Morph brought the front of his body up, supporting himself on his back four legs as he looked behind him one last time. He probably wouldn't be back near this place for a long time if he ever came back at all. With a roar he lept off with incredible speed as he dove head first into the unknown.

The sharp eyes of Morph's new form darted between any new flora he encountered as he sprinted through the brush. Taking in every single inch of his surroundings. He stopped dead in his tracks and rose up on his back legs. There was something new off to his right. It was a ways away but he could tell even from here that it was somewhat unique compared to the things he had seen before. He crept off blending his fur into his surroundings at a much slower pace as he honed in on the strange entity. It was a ways outside of the new area but from what he could tell it was heading his way. Maybe it was... oh what had those people called themselves, an Ashen? They were attracted to the lights like he was. He lied in wait, blending in perfectly with his surroundings as he watch something tall with a shiny protrusions on its back and on the top of its form.
 
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At what was the closest thing that could have been considered the former "eye" of the Duststorm, something changed.
At the very heart of the chaos, there was a crater.
In the very heart of the crater, a single door appeared.
It was neither sudden nor gradual.
There was no grand fanfare of its arrival.
It was a simple door.

And yet, that door was exceptional.

For to the eye, it was made of darkness.

The dark door was born.
The dark door waited.
But the dark door did not vanish.

An inhuman voice resounded.
A song floated on the wind.
The dark door called.
 
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Otto sped up his pace slightly, muttering under his breathe to Aloysius. "I don't like this, you know. Doesn't feel good. Feels like a trap, but also like a... something good. Got to remember the glass trees. Always watch out for glass... trees..." his voice trailed off, and he stuttered in his walk for a second.

A voice on the wind... was it a voice? Was it the Dust calling for him?

He shook his head. I have to know. I can't be cautious now. Others will have heard. But will they? He tensed up, then sighed. He spread his wings out again, bent his knees, and jumped. His wings beat, now glowing. Otto rose up through the sky, his arms spread out. It was tiring to fly, not to mention wasteful, but he had to know.

Now he was high up, higher than all the nearby buildings. He saw the crater, which was not too surprising, and the door, which was.

The door, a voice in his head said. Can't you feel that? It's all coming from in there.

Otto closed his eyes for a second. Then he relaxed, his wings folding up as he went into a dive. Being fast might be reckless, but on the other hand, if you were fast enough, it didn't matter. He pulled up suddenly as he entered the crater, landing far more softly than what most would expect close to the door.

He eyed it cautiously. On one hand: it was obviously a dust thing: not safe. It probably led somewhere different than the ground immediately on the other side of it: not safe. It could violently explode (remember, glass trees): not safe. On the other hand: Otto could feel something on the other side, something very... Dust-y. And that, for Otto, was enough. The pull was almost intoxicating. He felt like an addict, and he was, in a way.

He stepped forward and opened the door.

Suddenly Otto was sitting down. He flinched at the sudden transition. He was in a rather stylish wooden room. Everything was polished wood. He couldn't, however, see any doors. There was a seat on the other side of the table Otto was seated at. The seat was empty as the table. The walls were lined with books, sophisticated looking ones at that. Otto liked that.

"Hello," the girl said. Otto jumped.

There was a girl - a young one - suddenly sitting in the swivel chair across from Otto. She was pale, thin, and wearing a silvery dress that came down to her knees. In fact, that was all she wore, besides a pair of circular glasses.

"You're Otto, right?" She asked. She fiddled idly with a small glass paperweight that had been on the table.

"Y-yes," Otto said, enunciating slowly. Even in his surprise he wanted to sound clear. "Are you going to, like, kill me?" He scratched his head, almost embarrased. She didn't look dangerous, but that didn't mean anything.

"Nope, she said, abruptly jumping out of her chair. "I'm actually going to help you."

"I'm sure," Otto said. He hadn't been sarcastic in a long time, but it still came out pretty clear. "Pretty sure you are not human. And-" his eyes went to the walls, which were almost completely covered in what looked like old hunting weapons "-it looks like you could kill me pretty easy if this is all yours."

The girl made a face, settling comfortably back down in her chair despite it looking more like a poorly shaped rock mimicking a chair. Otto shifted in his chair, which was apparently a cheap plastic one. Maybe.

"I probably could kill you, y'know," the girl said, if a bit half-heartedly. Otto certainly wasn't convinced. "I am quite a bit.... more than you. But that's besides the point," she said, waving her hand vaguely. "You're in the Atwix now, and I think you can help me, too."

Otto raised an eyebrow. "You are not explaining anything any clearer to me."

"I'm not used to having to explain myself," the girl huffed, getting out of her chair again and walking over next to Otto. For some reason his eyes were drawn to the floor; clean marble tiles. Then he felt his chair; steel, fixed to the ground by the legs. The walls; logs, like a cabin. He frowned. He felt like he couldn't focus completely; something was off.

"Look," the girl whispered. "I know you can feel the Dust. Can't you feel it calling?" Otto could. It was, in part, what was distracting him. "I can feel it, probably more than you. Now, I'm practically a queen already around these parts-" Otto almost smiled at such a haughty statement from the small girl "-but more is always good, right?"

"I... guess," Otto said slowly. He looked at the door on the other side of the room. He felt the pull, calling for him.

"That's good." The girl smiled. Suddenly she was behind him, hands on his shoulders. "This will hurt me far more than you," she said, and then gasped and staggered.

"Are you okay?" Otto was out of his chair, helping her up.

"I-I'm fine," she muttered. "But now we're bonded. We have to work together now."

"I do not understand anything you are saying," Otto said, but he did feel something; suddenly he felt attached to this girl, trusted her.

"I told you, I'm bad at explaining myself. Now, open that door."

Otto turned. The door was large, foreboding, almost like the one he had opened to get here. "What is behind it?" He asked.

"Wouldn't you rather find out for yourself?" She said, wiping her brow. Apparently this 'bonding' had been physically tiring. "Besides, I don't like this room. I think it wants us out."

Otto looked down. His boots were firmly planted on the ground, but the ground was now a bit slick, to put it one way. He didn't feel like investigating, partially because he didn't think it was safe, but also because sticky red liquid can only be so many things. "Got to agree, Silver," Otto said, then frowned to himself. She hadn't told him her name. Ask her later, I guess, he said, then opened the door.
 
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Robin waited and watched, as she liked to do with something new. He had wings, which was different and neat. Robin made herself small while he made himself big, but he was doing it out of fear. Robin didn't get it; why would you want to be big and present when they could possibly come and hurt you? It made more sense to hide and be very, very quiet so they couldn't do 'surgery' on you. The memory made a few scars on Robin's body itch. Soon -she had to strain to hear all of it- he was talking to himself. Why would you do that? Then more people would know you were there.

Thankfully the strange man walked off and she was alone again. He was determined to get wherever it was that he wanted to go and he wanted it to happen very soon. Robin could understand why he wanted to go quickly, but his rush would get him hurt again. A glass forest? That sounded strangely... beautiful. Even if the trees exploded. And got glass shards everywhere.

Robin then heard a sort of... heard singing. It was beautiful, like when she would hear her mother humming to herself in the spare moments that Robin could get along with her. She wanted to go.

No, she needed to go.

So she still was cautious, but almost ran through the forest's twisted branches and broken bits of buildings to get to the center. She had to go. She had to be there. At the heart was something more powerful than she had wanted going in. It was mystery, and Robin wasn't one for riddles and puzzles and the like, but she didn't want to leave it either.

The strange man went into the clearing first, Robin nervously clinging to the plants. That was a big crater, and at the center...

A door.

It was too creepy to ignore, and once again too creepy to investigate. She could sense it was all Dust, but it was singing. Dust and doors didn't sing. But... it was too alluring, somehow. She had to see what was inside. She walked forward and opened the door. Inside she was outside, like a sort of topsy turvy joke.

She was outside, standing on a crumbling stone wall being reclaimed by grass and vines, staring at a castle that had been ripped apart by said vines. Demons dotted the wall, grim reminders of the imagery that the world wanted to remind her of her own form. Robin touched her horns, and Mr. Scales climbed on top of her hand to look at the girl across the wall.

"Uhm... hello."

"You think these things are ugly? I dunno, I think that they're just misinterpreted."

"I'm sorry?"


The girl was pretty. She had a plain white dress on and her hair matched. From this angle, it looked like she had blue eyes too. She looked like something out of a fairy tale book that the scientists would read to her when she cried loud enough. "The gargoyles. I think that they're cool. You know," She turned to Robin and bother eyes were visible, one blue, one red. "Your horns look like theirs."

Robin covered her horns, leaping back in fear. Mr. Scales hissed as well, ready to defend his master to the best of his tiny ability.

"No no it's cool! Not many people have horns!"

"Th-thank you."

"Welcome to Atwix! Maze of dreams, death, and Dust! And... I need a favor."

Robin lowered her hands, and Mr. Scales moved to stand in front of Robin, tense and ready to attack if need be.

"So uh... Dust may or may not be gathering up in the middle of this place. And uh.... it may or may not entail the end of the world. I don't know, but I know it's bad. So uhm, if you help me I'll help you get more powerful?"

"It doesn't sound like I have a whole lot of choice..."

"Can I get a yes or no? Pretty please?"

"I'll do it. But-"

"Mmkay! Here..." the girl hesitated for a moment, then fell to her knees. She struggled for breath and Robin ran to help her up. "Whoops. Meant to... make that sound way cooler."

"Are you okay?" Robin asked, panic setting into her voice.

"Nope, just bonded with you. Which is... ugh. I would have preferred to get kicked in the face, to be honest. But, time to go meet the others! Ha... ha... help me out, will ya?"

"How-"

Another dark a spooky door. Of course. Robin lent Beryl -when she learned that she didn't know- her shoulder while Mr. Scales took the other and she opened the door.

She hoped her plants at home were doing okay.
 
A boy stepped out of the empty air.

Emerging amid the region formerly occupied by the Duststorm, Aloysius paused to survey his surroundings. It was not his first time entering a Neverland, and he knew well enough that danger often lurked within. And yet...something was different about this one. He felt a strange compulsion, like a voice, or perhaps a song, beckoning him further in.

Aloysius shook his head. There was no reason for him to obey the summons. Logic dictated that it would be wiser to remain where he was; to search his immediate surroundings, as he always did, and to avoid whatever troublesome matters lay ahead.
But his intuition, the part of him that communed with the Dust, told him otherwise.

His hesitation lasted only as long as it took for him to reflect, dryly, on the myth of the Greek siren. Aloysius took another step forward and disappeared once more.

This time, his translocation carried him to a crater near the center of the affected territory. He was alone, and before him stood a strange, dark doorway, from which the odd compulsion seemed to emanate. Whatever was calling to him, whatever had managed to exert its influence over such a distance, evidently lay on the other side.

Aloysius walked through the door.

Inexplicably, he found himself in a greenhouse. Gentle sunlight filtered through the glass walls and ceiling, illuminating a room filled with unfamiliar greenery. A small bird perched atop a nearby plant, chirping complacently as it peered down at the new arrival. In the middle of the greenhouse existed a chair, and in that chair sat a girl.

She wore an intricate green and black dress. Her hair was a strangely translucent shade of gray, and her eyes were pale green, a shade lighter than Aloysius's own. A leatherbound book lay open in her lap.

"Who are you?" asked Aloysius peremptorily. "Where are we?"

The girl looked up, delicately adjusting her half-rimmed glasses as she did. "We are inside the Atwix," she replied. "I am to be your guide."

Aloysius frowned, displaying a skeptical expression, but said nothing, instead pensively examining their surroundings. He suddenly narrowed his eyes, focusing his attention on the sky beyond the greenhouse's transparent roof. Nothing was ostensibly out of place, and yet to his perception the distances appeared somehow skewed, as though he were in a place entirely distinct from the other side of the door.

The strange girl followed his gaze and stood, setting her book aside. "Your eyes aren't bad," she observed, a faint note of approval entering her voice. "You are indeed worthy."

Aloysius glanced at her and arched his eyebrows. "Worthy?" he repeated dubiously. "Worthy of what?"

"Of me," she said quietly. The girl winced and abruptly stumbled, nearly losing her balance. Aloysius instinctively reached out to steady her, then blinked and promptly withdrew his hand, wondering why he'd bothered to help a stranger. "What happened?" he asked.

"A binding," answered Glass. He couldn't remember when she'd mentioned her name, but that hardly seemed relevant. "We are partners now."

"I don't have partners," Aloysius muttered petulantly, sounding less sure of himself now. "Not ones as incapable of elucidation as you evidently are, at any rate."

Glass smiled slightly. "Your questions shall be answered in time," she said. "And now, it is time to go."

Aloysius looked forward to find another mysterious doorway standing before him. He sighed, walked over, and opened the door.
 
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As Morph was watching the large figure approach he felt something odd. It was similar to his instinct to mimic but different. He wanted to turn and run towards the center of the new land. He needed too. This calling mixed with his own natural curiosity was too much for him to resist. Abandoning his camouflage he sprinted off as fast as he could in the direction he was being called.

With the incredible speed of Morph's borrowed form he reached what he assumed was his destination in little time but found himself doing something he usually never did. He silently observed. One bye one he watched as ashen walked towards the center of the crater towards something made of the lights. Three had entered and none had come back out. Experience told him that he should leave the strange object alone. The could create just as much as they could destroy. The feeling in the back of his mind was growing stronger though.

Slipping back into his liquid form Morph slowly approached the dark structure at the center of the crater. He circled it several times, trying to examine every inch of it. His form rippled for a moment but as he thought he couldn't copy the object. After a few minutes of hesitation he did as the others had done and walked into the object.

Somehow Morph had ended up in a small clearing surrounded by tall trees, the dark object melded into the side of a tree behind him. This place seemed off to him. It looked normal enough on the surface but he could sense something different. Before his curiosity could take over however his gaze locked on an almost entirely white form. Cautiously he approached to find a girl in a white dress with long white hair and golden eyes. She was kneeling in the middle of the small meadow holding a small yellow flower.

"Isn't it beautiful?" The girl asked, keeping here eyes locked on the flower she held lightly between her fingers. "The dust has warped and changed the world in so many ways. It's easy to get lost in everything that it does but sometimes the original things, the simpler ones, are just as interesting." She turned her head to him with light smile and held out the flower too him.

Morph had been studying the flower as the girl had talked. Everything he had ever seen had at least some trace of the lights' affect on it. Every rock, plant, and animal was related to the lights in some way. But this small flower, while still having traces of the lights on it, seemed unaffected. He reached out a tendril and tenderly took the flower from the girl's grasp to look at it further. As soon as it left her hand the flower twisted and changed. Several of the petals grew and expanded outward while the stem split into eight separate parts. With a light buzz what used to be the flower lifted itself from Morph's tendril and flew up into a tree.

"You truly don't understand exactly what you are able to see." Morph gave the girl his full attention as she spoke to him.

"What mean, White?" He asked as he stretched his form upward to come up to her level.

"Don't worry about it for now. You'll understand more as you learn more about yourself."

He decided to drop the topic for now as he looked around at the grove of trees. "Where Morph is? Not been before." Instinctively he began cataloguing everything he didn't recognize.

White stood up and dusted herself off as she looked down at the sentient puddle. "We're in a place called the Atwix. I think you'll find it easier for me to show you rather than me tell you. Hold still for a moment."

"Atwix... is weird na-" His sentence was cut short as he saw an energy rush from White to himself. His vision darted around his form and back to her as she stumbled and nearly fell backwards. "What you do? Are okay Wh-... no not White, name Diamond?" Morph said as he looked her over to make sure she was okay.

Diamond held her head and winced a little, getting her balance again. "I-I just bound us together. It's not very pleasant for me but I'll be fine..." She regained a bit of her composure and stood herself up.

"Bound. Diamond and Morph connected now. Why?"

"Like I said before, it'll be easier to show you." Diamond turned towards a tree at the other end of the grove, another dark door forming in the side of its trunk. "Hopefully we'll find the others easily."

Morph had been wondering what had happened to the other three he had watched walk into the same thing he did. Maybe he'd get to meet them. The pair made their way to the door, Morph looking over the small grove one more time, his gaze fixing on the insect like flower still hiding high in one of the trees. With an encouraging nod from Diamond he opened the door and walked inside.
 
Even as he approached the Neverland while not actually being in it, the toxic Dust in the air was clinging to him, absorbed into his body on contact. It was a common phenomenon for Dust to still be swirling about in the wake of a Duststorm with the density in the air varying between the size of the Duststorm. However, with this massive Duststorm, the Dust was kicked up farther than before and in greater quantities.

This was of little concern for Julius since it wasn't adversely affected by the Dust but with such a high amount in the surrounding landscape, he could afford to splurge a little. Reaching behind him, he tightened the straps on his backpack and then loosened those on his shoulder as well as letting his belt out a notch. As soon as these small modifications were done, the change began.

His arms were the most obvious change, growing longer with his hands and nails became paws with sharp claws that could rip into flesh as easy as tilled earth. The muscles bulked considerably, his shoulders thickening with powerful cords that cinched his pack up tight again. They continued down his torso, the reason for loosening his belt obvious as muscles swelled around his waist and legs, the straps on both thigh and shin straining with the increased mass. He dropped to all fours and took off like a shot, less running and more bounding, each powerful kick launching him forward faster than running could have taken him. Even as the terrain changed around him from earth to rock to sand and back to earth, his claws found purchase, raking into even stone with a powerful grip.

The Hellcats from which he had borrowed this strength were some of the most misunderstood creatures. Living in some of the most inhospitable lands of sand, rock and heat, they were built for surving in the land and doing so well, able to clear a 100 ft gap in a single bound without a running start. Their claws were wickedly sharp as were the massive saber fangs that dropped from their upper jaw. They were such fearsome and intimidating beasts that it felt as though Julius were the only one to ever get to know them. In reality, they were big softies,with soft, fluffy fur and a love of scritches and someone who could play with them. Julius has spent quite a while with a clouder of them, exploring a nearby Neverland that spawned with towering spires that the Hellcat's and his own curiosity could not resist.

He entered the Neverland without fear, slowing down and looking around. What also gave him pause was the scent of other Ashen. Yet even as he could scent them, they were nowhere to be seen, despite how fresh the scents were. He padded along silently, keeping to the shadows as the scents headed towards the center. All of them seemed to be converging there.

Finding the point of convergence was easy. Understanding it was less so. A vaguely formed cloud of darkness was in the center of the crater, clinging to the very air. No matter the angle, it was always rectangular at its heart. Its appearance was unlike anything, yet there was no doubt that this was a "door". Its form was completely different to a door. There was no handle. There were no hinges. It simply stood in place, little more than a monolith of shadow, attached to nothing, with no right to lead to anywhere. And yet, it was a "door". That was the only conclusion that could be reached. It was not by trial-and-error that it was so. Calling it a "door" was not accurate simply because there was nothing else it could have been. In fact, it was rather the opposite. Upon merely observing it, Julius could easily conclude that it was a truer "door" than what he recognized a door to be.

The "door" did not react to his presence. It watched him patiently, waiting for him to step forward and open it.

The scents led Julius to the crater, his enhanced sight picking up the door easily. He sat on his haunches, his rear inches above the ground and twitching ever so slightly as once dormant muscles swished a nonexistant tail. Sitting there, he observed the door, scenting a new smell that approached the door and then vanished, all with neither sight or movement. Cocking his head in curiosity, he reached out and grabbed a nearby rock and tossed it towards the door. It skipped several times before stopping several feet before the door.

Still on all fours, he padded down towards the door and circled it, leaning in close to sniff it. It smelled unlike any door he had smelled before, lacking all scents except for Dust and what he could only describe as 'Nothing.' He went around it four times, scenting a new smell approach the door and vanish again, all in real time. Taking a seat on the featureless side that always seemed to face him, he got the sense that while he had been observing it, it had been observing him just as well, though not in so many senses but that strange 7th sense that felines tended to express.

There was no fear, no threat, no emotion at all radiating from the door. It was neither friend nor enemy; it was simply there. Yet it had a desire - it wanted Julius to open it. He circled it twice more, pondering what to do before he placed a paw on it and pushed it open.

The action of Julius entering did not occur. He opened the door, so he was inside. Inside what was another question entirely. Metal pillars towered onwards to the heavens, no end in sight. Or perhaps they were bars to an endless cage. Whichever it was didn't matter. The most important thing in the room was without a doubt the white-haired girl in less-than-modest Chinese dress, sporting what looked to be the ears and tails of a fox, standing opposite the beast that was Julius.

...Tails...?

"...Well," she said simply. "This is most definitely new."

She looked over his beastly form with two mildly inquisitive eyes of subtly different colour.

"I appreciate a good pastiche as much as the next girl, but I have to admit this wasn't what I'd had in mind when I was planning for a 'first impression'."

The stoic-looking, fox-eared girl muttered what sounded like a joke without any change in her expression, tone, or body language.

Julius was greeted by countless pillars of metal that stretched beyond his own magnifed sight. His gaze flowed over the scene before alighting on a white haired girl before him. He raised an eyebrow quizically, the scent before him not matching any of those that had entered the door before. He cocked his head at her surprise at having tails, as though not knowing you had tails was inane at best.

The word pastiche was one that he didn't know; it must have been outside the realm of science. But he could guess it had something to do with how either she or he looked.

"Then what did you have in mind?" he asked, his voice thrumming with a deeper melody than usual.

"Don't misunderstand," the girl said firmly. "I have no issue with the form you are in right now. Rather, wouldn't that just be another side to you, as expected?"

The words that came out of her mouth did not quite make a real sentence, as if she had only studied how to speak but had never had any experience. Likewise, once again, her total lack of body language and expression made her a little difficult to read.

"I suppose you're lost," she continued. "It's understandable. You're literally between worlds right now. Or rather, the opposite."

She was silent for a moment.

"You've noticed the Dust being drained from the Earth, I hope."

It was now clear that she had been referencing him and he looked down at his appearance and shrugged in response. It was the best answer to the grammatical gobbledegook she had said without being demeaning. He looked about the strange space, silently agreeing that he was effectively lost, not knowing where this extradimensional space, for that was what it had to be, was.

"I wasn't aware it was being drained," he said raising an eyebrow. "I've seen lower levels than expected in recent times, but so far, I thought it might be a simple fluctuation in the Dust. It's not like I've had decades to study it - a few years at best. But if it's being drained, where is it going?"

She was quiet for a few seconds. "It is being gathered here, at the heart of this labyrinth. You raise a valid point... That is entirely possible. I do not know enough about the long-term behaviour of the Dust. The Atwix may simply be a natural phenomenon," she guessed. "Though, I have no estimate as to just how much Dust this place will consume. As to what will happen afterwards, I am only mostly at a loss. I'm sure you can predict what will happen if the Dust runs out. Likewise, if an Ashen were to reach the heart of the Atwix, where the Dust is being gathered, the power they would gain would be immense, and all too easy to abuse. So clearly," the girl concluded stonily, "you were my obvious choice."

At the end of her diatribe, Julius couldn't help but be purring at the compliment.

"So you're looking for someone who won't abuse the power but would be able to regulate it's flow back into the environment to continue to sustain it. I guess I fit the bill well enough. But there's an obvious question that follows: who are you to choose me in the first place. Obviously someone in some sort of power to need a champion of sorts."

"I am Steel," she declared, as if it were a clear and sufficient answer to his question. "I am neither the metal, nor am I the quality. All that is 'steel' is me, and I am nothing that 'steel' is not. If you should accept my judgement, then all the steel of the world between shall be your weapon, your domain, and your throne in the world ahead, Julius Aspel."

The idea of an anthropomorphic concept wasn't foreign to him - it was an activity that occupied the mind and kept the imagination in shape. He hadn't expected for Steel to be a fox-thing or for Steel to be female. Or at least not obviously female. In his mind, Steel was androgynous, since it was molten steel in the vaguest shape of a human, with massive oversized gauntlets and greaves.

'Why do I feel like I'm making a deal with the devil,' he thought to himself, not quite realizing where the phrase came from.

"Sure, I'll be your champion."

"Then, it is sealed," Steel nodded, expressionless.

At first, nothing happened. Then the girl gritted her teeth all of a sudden, staggering, losing her balance for no perceivable reason, barely caging a cry of pain.

"Even this..." she whispered. "It really is true. Just this alone has taken so much. I'm surprised."

She didn't look surprised at all.

"At any rate, we are now bound in soul. I am confident I can satisfy your inevitable needs for power."

She didn't look confident at all.

"Now that has been successful, if you would be so kind as to follow, and I shall guide you to the Atwix."

She turned, and took a single step.

Her left leg gave out, and she dropped to the floor, staring at it.

"O-oh. How unfortunate."

Sealed. Now that sounded ominous. And as could be expected when something ominous is said, something comes to fulfill that feeling. Steel was sent reeling by some unseen force, Julius' enhanced senses picking up the barest vestige of a pained cry. He was up on four legs and bounding over to her but she regained her balance before he made it.

"Inevitable need for power? You make me sound like a mad monarch. I'm not that bad."

About to follow after her, she stumbled to one knee, though this time Julius was at her side.

"That's usually not something that's supposed to happen. If you don't think you can walk it, you can always ride it. I promise I don't bite. Much."

He gave a fanged grin.

She responded with an objective stare.

"Thank you," she said. "Then, please excuse me."

Clutching onto his enhanced, beastlike form, she hauled herself onto him with shaky limbs and poor grip.

"Well then... It should be directly ahead. Another door, much like the entrance, will take you into the Atwix itself. Prepare yourself," she warned. "There may be things inside unlike anything you have ever seen. You must mentally brace yourself."

She pointed ahead, and Julius's enhanced eyes could make out another Dust-door in the distance. It too, seemed to sing, but only a little, as if the song was just about ending.

"How quaint. It must be almost dawn," mused Steel offhandedly.

For all her talk of being steel, she had a grip like gelatin. With a slight smirk, he padded towards the door, taking care so she didn't fall off. The smirk widened as she warned him about unimaginable sights.

"I've read Lovecraft - I'll be fine. It's not like I can't do the tentacle thing myself."

Following her direction, he headed towards the door.

"So that means this place has a time dilation field to it. Interesting. But, also interesting, how do you know it's dawn?"

"They only sing at night," Steel said simply. "The Atwix has its own sun and stars, so it should be a given that it has its own day and night. The place itself is not unthinkable as such, but it may well be a little different to what you are used to."

"Considering the teleporting doors, you, and the fact that this Atwix thing exists... Yeah, I'd say it's different. For that matter... what's going to happen when you go through that door? Are you still going to be here? You said you were everything that is steel - you're a concept anthropomorphized. Is that only the case in the Atwix, or..."

He let the end of the sentence trail off, the unspoken ending that Steel may cease to exist as soon as she was outside the Atwix hanging.

"That is what the binding is for," Steel explained. "So long as you can exist, so can I, and vice versa. It will save you from what's ahead, at least partially."

With that, the door opened, and the world revealed itself.
 
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mind's eye breaking abyssal seal

@Karyra @Eryian @Yaoi Master Gavin
It was dawn.
The sun was just rising behind a plateau in the distance that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Rays of crisp spring light danced along the river, across rocks, scattering rainbows as a grand finale before dropping from the edge of a waterfall to certain doom.
Below, a ridge. A small village, with a great many wooden houses, sat along the left side of the river that the waterfall broke into, with a wide, dam-like bridge leading to a large wooden tower on the other side.
Around them, dense forest, so much so that it could be mistaken for mere foliage if it were not clearly so far away.
Beyond that, nothing. The ridge ended in a cliff face to which the bottom could not be seen. A cloud-filled sinkhole cut the village off from expanding any further forward.
It was like standing in the wings of an auditorium. Concentric rings of elevated land climbed higher and higher.
Or perhaps, it was lower and lower, until the geological staircase finally gave out into the misty hole.
Either way, an uneven cliff face a few hundred yards away was the only way down it, crawling down to the earth below like a staircase.

@Viral
The morning sunlight was, at first, blocked by a large tower in the distance.
At first glance, it could have been mistaken from a tree, but it was quite clearly a tower from where Otto was standing.
It was placed directly before the wilderness began, and just across a bridge over a river under a waterfall.
The bridge led from a small village, which was suspiciously quiet. Not a single soul seemed to move within its streets, yet it was quite clearly maintained, as if its population was simply invisible. In the town square, a stone dais stood out in the centre, like a stage that had set itself.
Closer still from the town was another forest, surrounding him on all sides.

That, naturally, was all Otto managed to take in before the thin branch he was stood on buckled under the weight of two people and snapped, sending them crashing down to the ground in a rather graceless fashion.

@Purveyor
Morph quickly found his bearings thanks to being stood on flat ground.
The floor below his... "foot" was wooden, the planks coming together as part of a bridge. In front of him, a waterfall down into a cloud-filled sinkhole, and behind him, a waterfall down from a cliff that reached into the slowly brightening sky.
The sluggishly rising sun was hidden, for the most part, behind an enormous tree -- no, wooden tower -- to his right, but it had just enough altitude to shine on the silent village to his left. The village itself seemed entirely empty, but not ominous; rather, it seemed more like a home that had yet to be inhabited, or perhaps one whose residents would soon return to.
How strange.
 
Julius blinked in the morning light, the shift in brightness a touch disorientating. As his eyes adjusted, he looked around at his surroundings to see a very different landscape than what he had left behind. The massive hole before him was a place that he had never been to but he could swear something had told him about this place, or one similar to it. Something about a gigantic sinkhole that they skirted to avoid falling into it, never to return. Whether it was this one or just a general warning, he padded warily to the edge, his eyes focused on what was along the ridges while his ears were wary of everything in his general vicinity.

"I don't see a way to get back up if we were to go down... Any thoughts Steel?"
 
Otto barely had time to register where he was before a new problem popped up, namely that he appeared to be falling.

It happened so fast he barely had time to spread his wings. He tried to pull up, but something was weighing on his back. On instinct he tried to pull up. All this did was make his landing all the worse. He slammed into the ground like an aerial belly flop. He thought he felt something, probably a rib, crack, and his bottom jaw clamped painfully onto his tongue. Strangely, the latter injury bothered him more.

Silver dropped off Otto's back, brushing imaginary dust off her shoulders in a way that Otto was sure was supposed to be inflammatory. "Surprising, wasn't it?" She said.

Otto ignored her, cursing rapidly as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. He assessed himself: wings were fine, back ached a bit, knees were scraped, at least one rib was a bit messed up, he had bleeding rashes across his collarbone, and his tongue hurt to holy hell. He brought a hand up to his chest, were the majority of his injuries were, and concentrated. He felt his ribs begin to hurt less, the scrapes clot and mend. He breathed out a sigh. He would leave his tongue; it wasn't too important, just irritating, and he didn't want to waste Dust.

"Useful," Silver said, eyeing him up and down in a way contrary to the compliment.

Otto pointed and angry finger at her. "I would've made the dwop ith you hadn't been on my back," he lisped.

Silver smirked, probably at his new temporary speech impediment. "Physician, heal thyself," she said.

"What?"

Silver sighed, rolled her eyes. "Nevermind. Look, you saw the tower and town too, right? Obviously, the town should be our first stop. It's the only safe looking place close, and the tower wasn't too friendly looking. So town it is."

Otto, who was still a bit angry and wasn't sure the town had looked very friendly either, nevertheless said, "Thine. Town it ith. But you've got to pull your weight, inthtead of dwopping it on me," he said pointedly."

Silver rolled her eyes again. "You sound ridiculous and I can't take you seriously. Let's go."

Otto trailed behind her, muttering darkly. Aloysius, miraculously, was unscathed, if a bit dirty. Otto ran a gloved hand over him, cleaning the dirt off and inspecting for scratches. Satisfied, he reclipped the doll to his belt and looked up to the trees around them. For once he didn't find himself on edge, even if he was surrounded on all sides by living things. The trees seemed peaceful, nonambulatory, and decidedly not glassy, all of which were major points in Otto's book. He let himself relax a bit, His gaze went forward, to the town, which they were slowly getting closer to. He hoped the peace of the forest was a good omen for the place.
 
Steel's fox ears twitched and anyone who hadn't interacted with her before would have sworn that she smirked in amusement for a brief moment.
"There are ridges we can traverse in that direction," she noted, pointing. "Although I must admit that I am not entirely convinced that is a matter of immediate concern."
She raised a finger nonchalantly to the sky, indicating a flock of seven birds circling overhead, each of a different colour.
"While these creatures stand little if any chance should they prove aggressive, I suspect caution is best exercised here."

-

The town was entirely silent.
The streets, if they could be called that, were more lifeless than even the woods Otto and Silver had come from.
It was nearly unnatural, but not quite; a still snapshot of a peaceful settlement, with all instances of living things carefully doctored out. It felt less like a village and more like a scale model.
It wasn't very long before the pair stumbled across the dais in the centre of the uncanny scattering of empty houses.
Sat atop it, however, was something had not been present in their brief panoramic view of the area.

What could only be called a wooden gargoyle was placed on the platform, boasting two heads clad in theatre masks.
It seemed still, but it felt as if it were glaring.

To a degree, this entire place was unsettling. It felt so much like it should be inhabited, yet there was not so much as an animal in sight.
 
Julius followed Steel's finger up towards the sky, spotting the rainbow of birds circling overhead. He could see them well enough and what he saw wasn't something he liked.

"They aren't our problem- they're only scavengers. But they have some sort of precognition that allows them to know when death arrives to an area. Then they circle it, waiting for a meal. Of course, they aren't the only ones who see this. Other predators do and see it as an opportunity to get an easy meal. They're called -"

He emitted a series of growls from his throat that made little sense.

"But the closest we have to it is 'Harbinger of End.' We may be looking at a fight on our hands soon enough. I hope you can handle yourself in one. Though we could find a place to hide and observe some of the other local beasts."
 
Robin wasn't sure what to make of the cliff and town down below it. The town seemed nice and empty but at the same time she was wary of it. Empty towns and dust meant more than enough caution was necessary. Usually the houses had a chance of eating you whole if you made the mistake of trusting them more than you probably should. Something pulled her to look at the forest past it, and the dense mysteries contained within.

"Let's check out the town first," Beryl said, interrupting her thoughts. Robin wanted to pout and give her puppy dog eyes to try and convince her to visit the forest first, but she simply pointed at something moving in the town. "Bet that's some other people that got drawn in by the big mysterious door in the middle of nowhere."

"W-we could watch them from up here and then see if it's safe to go do-" Beryl suddenly started going forward, dragging Robin behind her. "H-hey it's not safe yet! W-w-we don't know-"

"A little adventure never hurt anyone, come on!"

After a quick drag/walk later, they reached the ridge leading down into town, and Beryl started to stand up on her own again. Probably because Robin wasn't really that good at climbing to hold two people at once. This would be easy to traverse for her, but she worried about Beryl getting back up if push came to shove.

Unfortunately, Beryl was already climbing down by the time that Robin had judged the entirety of the ridge. Robin decided to climb down with her, but looking up, she spotted birds. Hopefully, they'd let the climb down be a normal one. The climbing passed without incident, Robin casually walking down with her hands to the wall, and Beryl going slow enough so as to not fall.

The town that they entered, however, was empty. Robin decided to poke her head -very carefully- into a few houses if she could, while Beryl decided to knock on the opposite side of the street.

"What if they attack you?" Robin asked, after realizing that Beryl was just knocking.

"A hero never wavers, and if you're gonna be a hero, you gotta be more brave!"

Robin looked to her feet. Beryl briefly wondered if this was the smartest choice she could have made.
 
Having arrived in yet another unfamiliar location, Aloysius paused once more to scan the surrounding area. Finding nothing in the way of recognizable landmarks, he exhaled exasperatedly and turned to face the strange girl standing - still rather unsteadily - next to him. As his gaze swept over the nearby river and its precipitous descent, for a moment he thought he glimpsed an oddly-shaped figure in the distance, at the edge of the cliff near the waterfall. Perhaps it was an animal of some sort. Regardless, Aloysius had no intention of molesting the local wildlife.

"You called yourself a guide," he said to Glass. "So, enlighten me: where exactly are we meant to be going? As much as I appreciate the abrupt transitions and scenic vistas, I don't seem to recall signing up for a bout of extended tourism."

"Our goal is the core of the Atwix," Glass answered simply. "You heard its call, did you not? That is why you opened the door in the first place."

Furrowing his brows in thought, Aloysius briefly reviewed his memory of recent events. "Annoyingly enough, you're probably correct in that regard," he admitted a moment later. "What route do you suggest we take from here, then? I see nothing resembling a 'core' in this area."

"You would feel it if we were nearby," she said. "For the moment, perhaps that village will hold something of interest."

"Either you're being deliberately abstruse, or you know little more than I do," he remarked. "At the moment, I'm not sure which is worse."

"Glass is inherently transparent," offered Glass helpfully. Aloysius shook his head, then jerked his chin towards the cliff leading down.

"Let's go, then," he said resignedly, beginning the trek down. Glass, who seemed to have recovered some of her equilibrium during their conversation, followed closely behind.
 
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