Walkers: Origins (McTavish and Lorchenne)

[Thomas McTavish]

This was the most confused he had been his entire life. Earlier today he was bending the earth so the Herbomancers could plant the crops for the season, and then, just out of the blue, some funky ass portal opens up right in front of him. Curious as he is he stepped through. Now he's in some crazy, inter-dimensional hallway, chuck full of portals and creatures he could never seen, with powers he only dreamed of.

Needless to say, Bennet Angoria had no idea what was going on.

"Erm, excuse me, could some one tell me where the hell I am?"

 

[Banana-senpai]

Amethyst is the name she is using at the moment, and the Sister whispers to her of her new ward.

She turned to him. He was but a boy in her eyes, but she can't be too sure. Time is relative there. She was perhaps and old woman in one realm and a child in the other. And the same is true for him.

"Welcome to Midpoint, Bennett Angoria." she beamed at him. "You have awakened as a Walker, descendant of the Sister. Call me Amethyst, I shall be your mentor in your first term of Walking."

She gestured for him to come closer. "Come, I we can talk as we walk. I know you have a million and one questions."

 

[Thomas McTavish]

Hm. Cute chick. "Alright, Amethyst. Where am I, who are they," he said, pointing to a group of janitor- looking people carrying a man-sized black bag, "and what the hell to you mean I've been 'awakened as a Walker'?"

Marble columns, different worlds seen through portals, aliens, druids, Cyclopes, being made of pure energy, and an all-too-obviously gay hobo were just a few of the sights that crossed Bennett's eyes.

 

[Banana-senpai]

"A Walker is an individual gifted with the ability to transcend into different dimensions." Amethyst said. "These dimensions are called Planes. You are among the third generation of individuals to have awoken the Walker gene. It is a random phenomenon not dictated by biological relations.

"You are in Midpoint, center of the center of the infinite Multiverse. Only Walkers can enter Midpoint and as Walkers, each generation has appointed tasks-oh!"

She stood in surprise, she saw herself up ahead.

"Come!" she said excitedly gestured for Bennett to take cover by one of the doorways.

"That's you." she pointed to a young man in a suit, conversing with a young brunette woman in a black dress. "Do you get what I'm saying, now?"

 

[Thomas McTavish]

Bennett nodded, taking in everything he was being told. He was shocked and even more confused to see himself talking with her further down the hallway than they were standing. It was creepy, unnatural.

And then it clicked. All that babble about multiverses and some such that his friend Carl always got into- this was it. This was the middle point he kept talking about, the one place where every event in every dimension of every universe converged; this was the hub of existence.

"Hooooleeeeey SHET."

 

[Banana-senpai]

Amethyst chuckled. "Yes, I think that's one way to put it."

She strode off again, continuing down the main hall and gesturing for Bennett to come with. "By the way, we aren't to converse with our other selves as much as possible. Only do it when it can't be helped, and only in Midpoint." She said sternly.

As they walked along the great marble halls that led to connections of other halls, she briefed him on basic Planeswalking rules as such. She kept a light tone but a stern voice to make her point clear: rules here are unbreakable. Breaking them will only disintegrate one's matter, or other terrible consequences.

"If you want much more detail on rules, I can get you a copy at the Archives and we can continue discussing. Or, we can begin Walker Skill Training." She pointed to either side of the hall. "What would you like?"

 

[Thomas McTavish]

Bennett listened to her, absorbing all the knowledge. He didn't much care for the information, but figured it was necessary.

"Rules are for fools." he said, in regards to her suggestion of getting a copy of the rulebook of this strange place she called Midpoint. "Fools and slaves." He paused a moment. "Skill training? Ah, sure, I could use a little practice with this whole dimension-travelling thing."

 

[Banana-senpai]

Amethyst looked pleased. "Can you fight?" She said, doing a slight bounce and turning to the right, toward a set of halls. "Any kind of combat. Weaponry. Anything."

She turned again and entered into one of the halls. "In here, we shall enter your second portal." She gestured to the seemingly endless row of portals in the hall, then she put her hands on her waist. "The first was the one you entered coming here, and that usually happens without intention. So your second is more important. It's where we train."

She stood near one of the portals, probing it slightly. "What do you feel about rabid dragons?"

 

[Thomas McTavish]

" Fight? Of course." he said. He wasn't cocky about it, but it did have a hint of do you even need to ask?

He stared down the infinite hallway, which stretched to extend beyond the horizon of his vision. "Ok."

He paused a moment at the question. "Rabid... dragons? You expect me to fight a rabid DRAGON?!" He shouted. He paused a little more, standing in a posture of disbelief.

In a moment he straightened and shrugged. "Yeah, ok."

 

[Banana-senpai]

Amethyst found him confident and amusing. She smirked. "Rabid dragons would like to eat beings like us. They're normally gentle. In this realm is where rabid dragons are sealed. Our objective is to kill the great one with golden back-spines."

She gave him a gentle nudge closer to the portal. "We'll...figure out its weaknesses on the way." She said reassuringly. "Now, enter."

 

[Thomas McTavish]

"Golden back-spikes, huh? Alright then." he said, and stepped through the portal.

It was an odd sensation, like when you pass through a calm surface of pool, but on the other side of that surface you find yourself outside of the pool, in a different world.

The air carried a foul smell, much like sulfur and the sweat of a fat jogger mixed together and set alight on the body of a rotting corpse. Dragons ran rampant through the blank sand-covered world of the Plane, hissing and fighting, tearing at one another with obvious maliciousness and hunger. A few smaller dragons were eating the rotted and diseased flesh of recently deceased, which had become bloated under raging sun of the land. This was a desert world, a place where creatures not fit for this landscape were sent to die. And it was full of angry, hungry, rabid dragons.

Bennett sighed.

 

[Banana-senpai]

Beside Bennett, Amethyst morphed into what seemed to be a dragonoid skin and eyes. She took something out of her pocket and handed it to him, a bright red pill. "Take this, you need it against the extreme heat."

She surveyed the dragons in the surrounding. "Okay, listen. Dragons have plenty of weak points. Blinding them, as is often taught, is futile because that'll only aggravate them and make them go on a rampage." Not seeing their target, she gestured for him to follow her. "It shouldn't be so hard to spot because it's really conspicuous in coloring-ah. There it is."

She pointed to a huge dragon sleeping on what seemed to be another dragon-or what's left of it. "We're in luck, I guess. It's a tough one to-"

While she spoke, another rather large dragon of dangerously gleaming emerald and blue scales bashed the sleeping Golden-spiked one right on the head. The now awake Golden-spiked angrily thrashed its tail back. In a matter of seconds, it was a full blown dragon fight.

She grabbed Bennett and made a run for it, trying to leave the line of range of both fire breathing dragons. "I take back what I said about our luck-DUCK!"

 

[Thomas McTavish]

With a quizzical look on his face, Bennett swallowed the pill. quickly, scales spread over his body and his fingernails grew into claws. He also though his teeth were sharper now, which proved true after a test with his tongue. "Trippy."

He looked at where the target dragon was resting on a corpse, and watched as it engaged in battle with another of the ferocious creatures. It was magnificent display of pure animalistic rage, a dance of slashing claws, swinging tails, and scorching flame. He felt a tug at his arm and off he was pulled as the battle neared them. HE took her advice and ducked; not a moment too soon, either. The tail of the offending dragon swung just over his head, quickly followed by a ball of fire.

"HOLY SHIT!" he screamed, as the ball of deadly flame slammed into yet another dragon, causing it to bump into another dragon, and the two of them began fighting. Of course, the tail of one of those two dragons slapped another, and it joined the fray. Things were really starting to get out of hand now.

 

[Banana-senpai]

If not for her morphing and for the pill, the two of them would have been ashes by now. Amethyst got up. "Forget figuring it out! All dragons are weak under their jaw!" She had to scream to be heard as the dragons roared, thrashed about and tried to make roasts of each other. "Strike them there upward and you get to their brain!"

She looked at him and slapped her forehead. "By the gods-weapons!"

Amethyst tugged hard on him so he fell on his back, narrowly evading what seemed to be a spiked tail. "What do you fight with?"

 

[Thomas McTavish]

From on his back, he answered her by smiling and drawing the sand up around him to form an armor suit of rock-hard sand. This world might be hot as hell, but it was chuck full of his element. It was times like these he enjoyed being a terramancer. He stood, and a dragon tail caught him in his chest, sent him flying backwards. He could tell it had penetrated the sand armor, and put a hole in his suit. He loved that suit.

"Fuck this."

he raised a foot and brought it back crashing the ground, making the boot mix with the ground. Spike jutted up around him, piercing or almost piercing every part of the combatting dragons exposed to the sand. Underbellies, tails, legs, throats, and underjaws were all ran through with spikes of solid earth, and what didn't penetrate dug in painfully. He watched as each dragon took its last breath, dropped the spikes and returned to Amethyst.

"Mission accomplished, I'd say."

 

[Banana-senpai]

Amethyst smiled, pleased with her new ward. In this same scenario, plenty others broke under pressure if not the flame. Bennett passed all tests, entering the portal, facing a new dimension, facing the dragons-well, that one's a little overdone- and adapting to the situation. "You did exceptionally. It's not much of a mission yet. You'll have them soon enough."

She figured there would be other things that would prove difficult for one like Bennett. She won't simply tell him he's talented, though. She chuckled. "Anyway, we won't go back just yet. There is one other thing."

"You must find the hatching egg of the golden-spiked red dragon we saw and bring it to Midpoint." She said as a portal opened beside her. "That dragon has four eggs and are all about to hatch. You must get them before they do-no cracks."

She touched the portal. "Jump in here in ten minutes!"

And she was gone. The portal stayed open.

 

[Thomas McTavish]

The terramancer stared speechless at her.

"Eggs...?" he asked himself. His words were heavily laden with outright confusion. Did he seriously have to find the soon-to-hatch eggs of that demon reptile he just killed? That thing was a FEMALE?!

"Well, better get looking. Now, where to find a bloody dragon's nest..." he searched the area for a few moments, and found his answer. The corpse the beast had been laying on was the nest, and it a mother protecting it's young. Well, shit needed to be done and he was the guy to do it. I guess...

After about four more minutes of labor, he finally had gathered the eggs in a sand-nest to carry them for him, gliding across the ground. At the tem minute mark, he and the eggs entered the portal. He looked at Amethyst a little expectantly. "Well, what now?" he asked.

 

[Banana-senpai]

Amethyst applauded a little, looking impressed. "Not everyone can hold a dragon's egg. It'll often burn right through skin and bones." She gestured for him to follow and added quickly, "Of course, I already knew you could handle dragon eggs. Don't worry, Midpoint is too cool for them to hatch." They were certainly shaking a little before.

A little ahead was another portal. "It's time for a different tactic, Bennett." She said, morphing into a more mature shape and features. "Because now, We sell them."

Although the rest of her body was humanoid, her hands her hands were still dragonoid. She took out a trunk from the portal after rummaging in it. The glowing portal was small and functioned like a cabinet of sorts at the moment. She unlocked the trunk after entering a set of numbers on the golden seal. It clicked open to reveal what seemed to be silvery black foam. She took two eggs and placed them gently side by side. They watched as the foam seemed to absorb the egg slightly, making them seem submerged in shimmery black clay. She took out another of those trunks and kept the other two eggs in.

"Alright." She said, closing the trunks. "These are never heavy, but they're stylish." She smiled and patted both. "We'll be entering a black market of Merigard, a rather gloomy city. It's a planet of modern magic, you'll see what I mean. Anyway, carry these. You are now my-"

She paused and studied him. "We need a shower and a change of clothes. We'll do it there, come."

She touched the cabinet-portal and it grew to a regular size and glowed brightly as the others did. She entered and waited for him.

 

[Thomas McTavish]

He stood there, watching her as she packed the eggs into the odd cases of obvious mystic origin. Or was it some kind of advanced science? Or both? The explanation was quite clear, though the task was rather unusual.

He stared at her with a raised eyebrow as he ordered him to go through the portal so they could shower. He tapped his foot impatiently. "Not until you answer the third question." he demanded, and pointed to another group of displeased-looking men dressed in janitor's uniforms, carrying what seemed to be a body bag. The bag contained an inhuman form, and leaked a steaming green liquid which was quickly mopped up by another of the janitor fellows following the group. "Who the hell are they, and why do I always see them carrying dead things in body bags?!"

 

[Banana-senpai]

"Cleaners." She replied simply, poking her head right back in Midpoint. There was a rather unreadable look in her eyes. Sadness? Pity? A mix of both? "Planeswalking is a very dangerous task. Every portal you enter could be your death."

"Come in here. Let's not talk about them right where they are, okay? It's not very nice." She said gently, what's visible of her shoulders sloped down. "We have some time."