Lethal Reword 5: True Mirage

B

Boss Frost

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PurpleLake.jpg


Crickets. Who thought it would ever be so good to hear the chirping of crickets? The first thing heard after the world seemingly ended for this particular group of people was the soft sounds of a lake... waves caused by a cold wind lapping against the shore - against their feet. Laying in a strange array - sprawled about like explosion survivors - they slowly stirred into the waking world.

A purple sundown. Bit of an odd sight, but it was better than no sundown at all. Compared to the orange-red sundowns of the planet Earth, the regal sundown of wherever they are know leaves... something to be desired. Something missing, though it might be hard to put one's finger on.

A fish jumps out in the lake. The act is simple, one of everyday occurrence, though the ripples it causes spread slowly throughout the entire small body of water.

You awake.
 
"This is why I don't go out."

Sanor groaned and rolled over, "Must have been some night though, I didn't even undress.... Hold up."

She sat up suddenly "WHERE AM I?" she looked around wildly. "Dammit Sean this is the last time I let you drag me on one of your nights out." Pulling her legs to her chest and crossing her arms on her knees... "What am I wearing?... wha....." Her face froze in a surprised gasp as she slowly unfolded her legs and poked her chest with a finger, then checked for....

"THE HELL?"

It was then that she notice she wasn't alone.
 
Adra's eyes opened.

She sat up slowly, rubbing her head and looking around. It was a nice night outside, she could see the stars. Purple sky, though. Bit odd, that, but it beat being left in a white void for all eternity.

Also, she was a girl now. Not a normal girl, either..
There was a pack on the ground near her, so she picked it up and got to walking. Or perhaps more accurately pacing, but that involves walking too. Everything seemed to stay fairly consistent as she moved around, so it probably wasn't a dream. Just...alien. She stopped pacing and lay down back near where she woke up, resting her head on a giant snake's body.

What's more, she felt some sort of power flowing through her...she gently rubbed the side of the snake with a hand, wondering what it was dreaming of.

She was in an alien world and an alien body, watching an alien sun set in an alien sky. She was far, far away from the realms of her expertise, and it was very unlikely that she would ever get back.

Still, Adra felt strangely content, believing that everything would be alright. She moved around a bit to get a better headrest out of the snake and sighed. There was a lot of work to do..

Of course someone had to yell and break the silence.

Dumbass.
 
"My back hurts." His first cognizant thought in a good long while was a complaint. Granted, waking up with his back hurting wasn't all that strange. What /was/ strange was that he couldn't feel his legs. Arms sprawled out against the ground, he groaned, opening one eye...

...The he felt his legs again. Or rather, something touch his legs. Groaning, he lifted himself up with his arms, murmuring a "Whazat?"

Even with his blurry morning vision, his eyes saw... everything. The purple sunrise, the serene lake, the others... and his lower half. Were his legs should have been now extended a thick, massive tail, covered in blue and green scales. Even before he could do anything about that, he's almost pulled backwards by the weight on his back.

Looking over his shoulder, he sees two massive, feathered wings... tipped with greens, blues, and purples. His jaw dropped, and he looked around down at the female resting upon his lower half... hesitantly, he reaches out, touching his new snake-body.

His reaction? "...What, again?"

It was then that the yell from another person caused him to wince, wings whipping upward in distress.
 
The snake stirred under Adra's head a bit, before she heard another person speaking; this time she looked over, finding that the snake had the upper torso of a man with some truly massive wings. She sat up, watching him question what had happened.
"...Not a bad question. I take it you also have no idea where we are?"

(feel free to note the damn whackness of adra's eyes anytime. She hasn't seen her reflection yet.)
 
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

That was the best Chris could come up with after letting his jaw hang open for a solid minute or so. Just a minute ago it seemed, he had just climbed into his loft to sleep. Suddenly he rolled over and instead of grabbing onto one of his many luxurious pillows, he nicked his hand on a razor sharp sword sticking up from the ground. It made him shoot up, much like in the movies, and take notice of everything around him.

He was sitting on the shore of a lake; it was gorgeous, the setting much like that of a place he would set his dream home upon. Things were too strange though, still too dream like. The sun was... going down? Yes, it was sunset. And the sky was purple! Yes, this was a dream. It had to be. But then he looked down at his hand, and the blood that was flowing gently from the cut he had given himself. He squeezed the wound and watched the blood pour out a bit quicker, then hissed in pain.

Pain.

He spun where he sat ,ignoring the wound, and looked at everything around him. A heap of chainmail on top of a heavy red cloak-robe; a katana, rapier, and dagger sticking up out of the ground with leather sheathes lying next to them; an unstrung recurve bow of composite wood laying in the grass, a quiver filled with arrows next to it; a backpack with a sleeping roll tied firmly atop of it.

I'm ready to go out on a fucking adventure. What the fuck?!

Then he screamed it.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

That's when he noticed everyone else.

"Wha--who the hell are you people?!"

Then he noticed the giant snake-dragon-thing.

"Oh Jesus Kraist, this has to be a dream. HAS TO BE."
 
Sanar looked at her hands, the familiar lines and scars gone, the callouses in the wrong places. The sky was purple... PURPLE, and there were creatures looking at her. A white human-ish thing and a winged.... snake-guy? She swallowed her rising panic and stood slowly. "I'm dreaming." she reassured herself even though she knew it couldn't be. Its nothing more than another stress-induced hallucination.

Oh crap I'm doomed. Starting to walk forward she almost tripped over a bag wand looking down somehow knew it was hers, she picked it up and slung it over one shoulder.

"Morning, erm evening, sorry, I'm just having one of those days."
 
"I've been wrong before, but we seem to be... by a lake." A weak attempt at humorously stating the obvious. He looked slightly nervous at his own body, and apologetically at her... when he leaned forward, struggling slightly (not quite used to his body yet), and he gently grabbed a hold of her chin, bring his face forward and looking directly into her eyes. "...You don't seem to have any-"

It was there that another scream of confused terror broke him out of his thoughts, and he winced, letting go and turning to look at the individual in question. Raising a hand, placing a pinkie in his own ear and twisting it around in a show of displeasure. "Ow." Was his statement to the loud noises... he hadn't much liked them in the last world, he didn't like them now.

He reached down, prodding his snake features more. "No... this can't be a dream. People don't use the word 'dream' in dreams... or when they do, or someone does, they wake up afterward..." He looked down at himself... then around. "...Though if this is real, then..." He cut off, looking up at the purple sunset. "...I guess we're adventurers."

"It's funny. I used to run games like this all the time. Never figured it'd actually happen."
 
"But... the sky! It's purple! And you're this... giantsnakedragonthing! That ain't real. But I am bleeding... Oh, son of a bitch. I always said it'd be cool to be transported to some fantasy world and stuff, but... ... This some weird shit."

He squeezed his bleeding hand on the shirt of his small clothes and stood up, walking over to the edge of the lake. He looked into the water and at himself in the silvery reflection; he was still himself. But he was also... different. Somewhat sharper in features, with his hair and beard a little different. He took notice of his body; it was still his, but toned out. Thinner, more lithe and with tight muscles.

It was like he shed all of the baby fat he had been trying to get rid of all in one night's sleep.

"... Damn, I look good."
 
It did seam familiar to something on a forum. So if this is....

She drew her sword and turned the blade over in her hands nodding with what appeared to be satisfaction. Then she lifted the blade and gazed at the eyes reflected there. She was distracted from the emerald green irises by the shape of the ears peeking out of auburn hair. "I'm not human." she muttered turning her head to see them better.

Sheathing the weapon she turned to the sunset, her face calm as she accepted the world around her. She walked over to the large half-snake and. "You say you used to do things like this on a forum, I think I knew you, thinker dee en dee type. I'm Sanar, maybe you could tell me what I am." she extended her hand boldly on greeting.
 
"Well, that's helpful.." She stopped for a moment as he grabbed her chin-her breath would have caught in her lungs, but it didn't for some reason. "I don't have any what?" She asked, when a scream cut them both off and the snake-angel-man offered a somewhat weak explanation.
"..I guess that works. I suppose these spikes I've got have to be good for something. Though I think we should work on finding out on what this place is like before committing to adventuredom." She lay back down, resting on the snake part again.
"Though if fate has it in for us to be champions of justice, I'm not going to be the devil's advocate."
 
The large snake-man nods, looking around. "Oh! Right... I guess I'm not who I used to be, either..." Looking down at the blue of his tail, he quickly came up with a name. "I'm... Cobalt." He nods, satisfied. "Cobalt Brave."

"As for you..." He looked to Sanar. "The tips of your ears suggest elven heritage, though the... general curve of your body suggests human. I'd say you're half-elven. Whether by elf father or elf mother." He shrugs, looking down at himself. "...For the life of me, I wish I could remember what I'm supposed to be."

He chuckled, looking over to the cut individual, "Well, yeah. Have YOU ever heard of a pasty, overweight adventurer?"

Trying to smile, he looked down at the female resting on his lower half once more. "As I was saying... you don't seem to have... erm... what's the word... the black dot with the color around it... Ah! Pupils! Right!" He nodded, patting a fist into an open palm in an 'achieved' way.

Okay, so he wasn't really all that bright. Least he had looks going for him.

...At least, the human parts of him looked good.

"...Though you do make a point. I think we should wait for the others to wake up, and we can talk about this... I don't think we all just happened to float up from the lake, here."
 
'Yeah I guess we're here fora reason and those still sleeping are too, most likely the same reason. So long as its not to fight each other for the kicks of some hidden presence, in which case I don't want to face the big guy." She looked to the pupil-less white skinned female, and the man in the lake and with a sigh walked down to the water's edge looking at her more complete reflection. Half Elf? well that had to be good right?
 
"No pupils? Huh.." Adra sat quietly with her head on the snake for a bit, thinking. She wasn't sure what she was just yet..and Colbalt did seem somewhat..slow.
"..My name's Adra Mys'Kavval. Just call me Adra."
She looked up at Colbalt again, the glanced out over the lake. "I wonder what everyone else is going to be like.."
 
"Haha, I guess not, huh?" Christopher responded as he pulled back from the lake edge and surveyed the area and everyone else. They were all quickly discovering some of the intricacies of their new-found situation; quite obviously, there was the giant snake-man. Then there was the cutie half-elf. ELF, he thought incredulously. Then he thought, Nice tits.

He couldn't help but notice about himself, though...

"Wait, why am I just a normal human dude? Why can't I be some fancy snake-guy, or a dwarf, or some giant stone-dude, or something?" He asked as he approached the awoke people. He kept ignoring his private circle of items; he'll get to them later . Best just talk to the people for now, gather all the knowledge he could...
 
"Oh god, what the fuck was in that beer last night"
Sven finally wakes up, shaky and holding his head with one hand
"and where the fu- oh jesus shit, where'd this beard come from? and...ok now that's just fucking wierd" he notices that he is now wearing heavy plate armor and beast furs. he also has an awesome viking beard.
 
"I have a hunch there's some deep meaning in it that's far above my comprehension. Colors of the soul or something. Of course, I don't claim to know anything about anything at all." He shrugs, muscle rippling across his shoulders and back as he responds to the human... as the other wakes up.

"It's a very spectacular beard, though." He commented to the bearded man with a nod.

"I mean, my torso's pretty much what it's always been..." He looks down at himself. "...Okay, a good deal more than it used to be, but it's familiar enough. What the wings and snake-tail would represent are beyond me. Balance between good and evil? I always preferred to think of myself as beyond such battles, but whatever."

It was then that Cobalt began to look around at his surroundings. "...Purple sky... dark forest... Hmmm..." It was then that he gasped, looking up at the sky.

Stars - millions of them, streaking across the sky in a shocking display - some of these stars... maybe lights? Burst in their travel, showering the sky with color. Quite a few of them stopped in their tracks... then more did... until, finally, they had all stopped. The gathering of stars formed into symbols.

A lightning bolt. A jackal. A bow and arrow. A longsword. Soon, many other symbols joined them in their stationary positions, but these were the greatest in size and brightness.

"...More symbolism?" The large snake-man commented. "...Wish I had paid more attention in philosophy... or taken a theology class at all."
 
"Hmm..." the plate wearing viking looked to the symbols in the sky
"Perhaps they're some kind of divine symbol. A Lighning god, The Jackal represents Anubis, Bow and Arrow, some kind of Hunter god, The sword is definitely a war god..." The viking looked at himself again and noticed that he carried a sword similar to the one depicted in the stars, marked with the letter T.
"Tyr, has to be him...."
 
"Oh wow.." Adra watched the stars form constellations from her seat in awe. Science, it seemed, had decided to take a minor holiday, and the result was breathtaking. The truly obscene number of constellations forming in the sky was quite probably the most amazing thing she had ever seen in her life, though to be fair a rainbow winged snake man was up there.

"...I like the jackal."
 
The movement in the sky reflected in the lake caught Sanar's attention and her head whipped up loose hair flying as she looked upwards. Her first though was a meteor shower or a destabilization of whatever reality they had found themselves in. Suddenly she felt small, unimportant helpless as the world changed again. She stared her eyes fixed on symbols. "Gods?" she asked no-one quietly, "Jackal... Germanic?" she felt no ties to any deity she had ever heard of nor much belief that they existed, but still there was the sky.