Topic: The Hanging Garden (Open)

Kaius

Date: 2014-08-25 23:57 EST
The Hanging Garden

~~~

The Secret Gardens, West of Coven Bristle Crios. Late Evening.

The air was alive with skeins of power, though most of them could only be viewed with mage sight; to the eyes of those not yet awake, the only evidence of arcane manipulation were the flower petals which were constantly dancing through the air, on and on, without cease. The ground, too, was abound in flowers; roses of all different strains filled the wide flower beds, including a pure rosa gigantea at the center of the entire thing.

It was at the center, that Kaius stood. He'd stood there for hours, next to the plinth that supported the planter that held that foreign rose, the rose that had reminded him of the necrosa gargantua.

He felt' powerful, there.

It was his private place, away from the Coven. Well, mostly private at least. "Too private, now" he mused quietly, unable to keep the ironic smile from tugging up a corner of his lip. "You were never meant to be in seclusion," he continued, talking to the plants, ?" I wanted to' glorify you."

Perhaps part of the reason he felt more powerful in the Garden he'd built for the Goddess, so long ago, was that it was filled with the notion of glory. As the thought crossed his mind, he couldn't help but also consider the bittersweet notion of his failures also culminating there.

Renna " or someone he had thought to be her, calling herself "One" " had repaired his severed arm; in doing so, she had also made his last, strongest, memory of her to be that of anguish and tears upon her face even as she commanded her Proxy's help in subduing him. His regrown arm was whiter than the native one, but just as durable " so far at least. He didn't feel the exchange at all a fair one, but' what?s fair, after all.

Atticus had repaired his Myriad or something very close to it at least. Kaius hadn't understood everything that the High Mage had said " proving Kaius's own inexperience with the objects. From the way he'd made it sound, there was nothing wrong with Pathfinder to begin with, except to Kaius mind; it had somehow been disconnected, perhaps by Kaius on will or desire. Atticus had had an answer to that though, and put a "patch' as he described it, that he called "Wayfare". Kaius hadn't used it to great effect, yet.

Tonight would be his first test.

He had to test himself, to push himself; he couldn't abide by those who were still showing concern. It had been ten months now since he'd returned. They needed to get over themselves and realize that although the damage done to his mind and body could be and were healed; there was another damage that needed something he apparently couldn't provide a bandage for, the damage to his soul.

In his mind's eye, he opened his Myriad " Pathfinder " and the darkness of the garden was lit by a hellish red glow emitting from his third eye. Power surged through him, as he prepared himself, letting Pathfinder delve into the area around the garden, caressing all the enchantments that he himself had put there, and also the ones left by' another. He could feel the dimensions of the garden perfectly; all space within the garden was one with him.

He kept reaching out, further and further, deep into the ground below the garden, and all around its circumference which, from the sky above, made the layout of the beds themselves resemble roses in bloom. As the power of Pathfinder began to rush through him, he did something he had not done before, nor even though possible " especially through the use of his Myriad. He bi-located. Not once, not twice, but many times"

The bi-location continued until Kaius appeared in nine different spots around the Garden at once; eight around the perimeter, and the one "original" directly in the center. As one, since one they were, those on the perimeter extended their arms out to their sides, as if seeking to contact their fellows; he who stood in the center gradually turned in a circle, as if drawing in from everything around him, amassing power until his eyes " their eyes " finally opened.

The opening of their eyes was the beginning a conflagration that lit the skies above the gardens, as Pathfinders power bored into the ground around the garden, and beside it even, as if burrowing.

And the Garden entire disappeared, leaving behind an apparent quarry with a few stray petals falling through the air " the only petals from the garden ever to have touched the ground.

~~~

The Hanging Garden, Somewhere above the Marketplace. Even Later Evening.

The 'duplicates" of Kaius had collapsed in upon themselves, and he fought a feeling of severe disorientation. His senses had been thrown in far too many directions with what he'd done, but it wasn't the first time that he had been wounded by his ambition.

Still.

It had cost him the ability to use Pathfinder, again, though he realized now that it was only temporary; his Myriad was acting like a muscle, and he had strained it, and now had started to exercise it again. It was still weak, or at least weaker than he would have preferred. Weaker than it had been before he had injured it.

As Kaius looked out across the new vista that the garden had, he found himself looking evenly with the tops of the tallest buildings in the city. He sighed, and collapsed back on the plinth beside the Negzacurgian rose, sitting cross legged and letting some form of sleep steal over him for the moment. He would modify the applications of Pathfinder's powers on the Garden come the morning.

Or whenever he could draw on his Myriad again.

Until then, he was stuck there it seemed. Resigned to his fate, he stretched out onto his back, arms behind his head, and looked up at the moon. Thankful that the previous mythals laid by Pathfinder were shunting most of the wind away from his new perch, he allowed his eyes to close.

Sleeping here wouldn't be so bad, nor would it be the first time.

Depending on how you define "here?.

Yasmin

Date: 2014-08-26 22:11 EST
Sky Falling

Yasmin was walking home from a club one morning. She was the disc jockey for WHAM! 101.1FM. They often held their shows on location at various clubs and bars around town. Tonight was just like every other night where she worked until dawn. She loved every minute of it. She was a household name, at least she was in her head. That's why she called herself Yasmin. She was too important to have a last name. She was like Madonna or Cher or Reba or Lady Gaga, although Gaga may have been her last name; Yas wasn't really sure. The cool night air still lingered in the alleyways where Yasmin was taking her shortcuts on her way home to her apartment complex in the marketplace. Beginning to walk down the sidewalk, she could see the sun rising between the buildings on each side of the street. The sun had just fully dawned over the horizon. Its small red sphere created a raspberry glow before fading into the blue sky. Yas stopped for a moment to appreciate it and its cascading colors, but soon found out that it wasn't the only thing in the sky anymore. A small flower petal fell down next to her. Instinctively, she looked up. She could see a huge chunk of earth suspended over the marketplace. The coloring effect of the low sun gave its cutout underneath a look of a red flower. There were even little dewdrops created by the rocks sticking out. Yas stood smiling at the cute flower inverted in the sky with its green vines draping over its sides.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yas saw one of the rock dewdrops dislodge from its place, sending it hurtling towards the ground. It was coming down quickly. Based on how high it seemed, it looked pretty big, not like a cute dewdrop anymore. She did a quick projectile assessment in her head. Taking into account wind vectors, trajectories, and other scientific principles the best way she could, it almost looked like it was headed towards her apartment building a couple blocks over.

"No' No. Nonono"" Yas frantically ran towards her apartment, looking up to the falling chunk every other step. It couldn't possibly be falling right for her place, in this endless sea of buildings, but it was. Plummeting as quickly as she was running, not only was it was aimed for her two story building, it was aimed at her corner of the building.

Just as she made it to the street, it crashed through the roof and both stories. Plywood, drywall, studs, beams, insulation, everything had been crushed under the weight of the huge boulder. The rest of the building was intact, save for the cloud of dust and debris settling. Yas's and the apartment under her's were leveled, leaving the chunk half buried into the earth. From Yas's vantage point across the street, one could easily see into her apartment above and the one underneath. Although the apartment under hers was ironically vacant, Yas wasn't the only one affected.

"My seamonkies!"

Yasmin cried out as she burst towards the wreckage to save her beloved pets.

Once she reached the exposed corner, she looked up and saw that the table with the fishbowl of seamonkies was no longer up on her second floor. She began digging through the debris. In epic feats of strength, like a mother trying to rescue her child, Yas began lifting pieces of rubble twice her size. Finally, she pulled up a metal beam and saw the intact fishbowl underneath. She threw the beam to the side and looked inside. She knew better than to move anyone after a trauma without assessing them for a head and spinal injury first. She did a quick head count as she looked into the fishbowl. Pearl. Tiger. Shadow. Spot. Mohawk. That One. Boy Twin. Girl Twin. Stripe. Sunny. Wait' where was"

"Oh my gosh! Mike!"

Mike was lodged underneath one of the decorative stones that had shifted during the fall. His fins were caught and he was unable to escape. The other seamonkies were debating biting them off to help free him, but Yasmin stepped in. She quickly reached in and moved the stone. He eagerly swam to the others and they greeted him warmly, as warmly as seamonkies can anyway. She picked up the fishbowl and comforted her traumatized pets, talking to them and stroking the side of the bowl.

"It's ok, guys. It'll be ok."

Yas looked up into her massacred apartment.

You know, she had a pretty good year so far, so she was due. Karma had to be balanced out after all. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have options. She could stay at the radio studio for a while. She could find a new place if need be. She preferred to wait until they fixed up her place, then move back in though. Maybe they'd just replace the walls and let her stay on the ground floor with one heck of a skylight. Either way, like she said, it'd be ok. She turned and began walking back to the radio station. At least she had her two most prized possessions, with her seamonkies in their fishbowl wrapped up in one arm and her beloved turtle in her pocket.

Things would work out. It wasn't like the sky was falling.

((Disclaimer: No seamonkies were harmed during the writing of this story.))

Kaius

Date: 2014-08-30 09:15 EST
Kaius awoke from his usual troubled sleep, and immediately opened himself to Pathfinder, reaching out to it; in some ways he treated it as both a sense, an ability, and as a sentience, though that was only because of the rudimentary ways in which he perceived his Myriad. Something had disturbed his slumber, and using only a trickle of Pathfinders power, he reached out and checked the wards which held the Garden above the Marketplace. As his senses slipped in amongst the quanta that the Myriad used to effect things, he noticed a problem.

Of his own doing, and not the fault of his Myriad.

He hadn't accounted for the natural interdimensional shift of RhyDin on account of it existing as a Nexus; the wards holding the Garden aloft were attuned to maintain it in a static reality, not one undergoing constant flux. Though it would be largely impossible for the casual observer to tell the difference, the Garden was not actually floating or flying above the Marketplace. Instead, the space that it occupied and the space above the market had been exchanged, but in such a way that those things occupying said spaces were held in a form of incomplete spatial stasis which applied only to what occupied each space when the effect began.

He had constructed the arcane wards so that third parties would be able to treat the two spaces as though they actually existed where they appeared to, defying the laws of physics as a floating landmass of nearly an acre, and an impossibly delved quarry somewhere north of the city proper.

As he double checked the wards, he walked the perimeter of the property, gazing out over the side, surveying the Market - and also hesitantly looking down. There were few places in the city itself that served as any kind ....marker. The Fountain of course, a flower shop, and a forge. It was only natural to check those places first, the places and people you knew, before looking....elsewhere.

And finding the mostly destroyed, rubble strewn mess that was once a domicile of some sort. Part of it still was, but his reaction was instantaneous none the less. He reached out with Pathfinder, as he had the first time, and immediately renewed all the wards he'd originally set, but with the modification for the Nexus' phasing state of existence. Drawing deeply on his Myriad, spectators from below were treated to a red flare of power that bled into the sky near the edge of the Garden, coupled with a sudden, terrifying dip in altitude of the entire structure before the wards were replaced.

Nothing more would be falling from the Garden, at least nothing that was placed there with his Pathfinder wards; any being that could fly - with feathered wings, plane, or some other mode - could enter and leave, or simply fall off the structure.

But the Garden itself was now completely secure.

Having used as much energy as it took to originally bring the structure to its current resting place, Kaius collapsed back to the ground, nowhere near the central dais, and instead lost consciousness amidst the concealing beds of roses.

Nathressa Ravenlock

Date: 2014-08-31 18:06 EST
"A New Challenger Has Appeared!"



"I can't believe someone did it, an before WE did it, too!"

"Yeah, that's bad form, man! I mean we went through ALL that trouble when we invaded Town Hall with those cupcakes, to get the permit for our" Hey, what did we call it again?"

"The Ultimate Untaxed Air Castle Overlord Special 5000, duh! Or the Eeewaaakos 5K, right?"

"Sumthin" like that."

"Man that named sucked monkey butt, what were we thinking!" I mean like how old were we, like 8 or something?"

"Dood, we were 8 actually."

"Oh yeah' So what now?"

"Now we watch and wait," Aleyah nodded to herself, while grabbing a fist full of chips that were rightly shoveled into her mouth.

*crunchcrunchcrunch!*

Nathresaa, continued to look through her binoculars at the whatever the heck it was that was supposed to be. "We got foliage an junk hangin" down, an hey look at that. That look like a rose to you?"

"Mrph!?" Aleyah's reply was quick as she grabbed her own pair of binoculars, to take a see.

Quite fluent in "Mouth of food-ese", Nathressa answered her sister's question. "At the base, looks like it's carved outta stone."

"Mrrph-Mrrph Hmm?" *crunchcrunchcrunchGULP*

"I know right!" I mean who the heck would do that' It's like they're begging for someone to just find a way up there. I mean there it is, just asking for it!" Nathressa, frowned a tad in thought, pondering ways to access what looked to be inaccessible . "We could maybe talk to aunt Icer" Y"know for an aerial assault?"

*Crunch!* "Mrph-Ph-Mrphphy?"

"Yeah, death from above might not work out so well, also aunt Ice is weak against shinies, if they got those we'd be boned."

Aleyah nodded, finally finishing those chips. "Okay, so we need to plan. Call out for pizza, an I'll grab the sodas. We're getting" up there, one way or the other!"

Knight of The White Rose

Date: 2016-05-02 02:22 EST
~~~

If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the world"

Forget what we're told Before we get too old Show me a garden that's bursting into life - Snow Patrol, 'Chasing Cars' ~~~

The Fallen Garden. Marketplace.

The Hanging Garden had Fallen.

The Knight stood amongst the rubble, analyzing and preparing to collect samples. The remains of the once proud garden were now a hodge podge of earth, stone, and the remains of flowers, mostly. Here and there were boards, planks, tools; the remnants of one of the few small sheds the garden had held for items of mundane use. The garden's owner had often scorned the use of magic to maintain the grounds, except where absolutely necessary to hold it in the air, and keep the climate ideal for the plants.

Approaching a bier that lay broken near the center of the rubble, the Knight gathered what remained of the Negzacurgian white roses; those were found other homes immediately, due to their rarity. While many of the other roses in the garden were relatively mundane white roses, there were a few others of particular note. An Alluvian strain, whose bushes grew three separate types of blossoms, were the second most rare - and the only source of both red and black blossoms in the garden; white, red, black, in order from most prominent to most rare. They were gathered secondarily, though some were missed as they were more numerous than the Negzacurgian strain.

The Knight seemed to flicker in and out of reality, like the flickering image from an old projector, and over several days his presence continued. Every time he would leave with more plants - getting them all moved before someone cleaned up the rubble would be impossible - and transplanting them elsewhere. In the beginning, he/it focused on the flowers around the bier, then moved outwards. The bier had been at the garden's center, and had been where the Sleeping Prince had lain; the prince who had slept until Kaius had been killed; what anyone who had seen him laying there would realize, what the Knight itself knew, was that the prince - while looking like Kaius, certainly, had one major difference: both his arms were fleshed, non-crystalline, and he bore no scar on his forehead. Save for those few things, the men were - or had been - identical.

The Knight saw a variety of people over the few days it was saving the plants; not the least of which - it thought - were One & Katt Batten. To be fair, it had only time for partial facial analysis to complete - but it was fairly familiar with One, and Katt had scanned at over 72% accuracy. But he was only there moments, then gone again; taking the plants took little time, but replanting them took longer.

Would the Knight even stop to greet or talk to anyone else that happened by' Difficult to say, as it was, after all, just a suit of armor - even if it was automated. And it had prime directives to carry out. ((Greetings and salutations. Just a heads up, this thread will likely be locked in a couple weeks time, given the setting pretty literally crashed to the ground. Thanks for reading, and thanks for playing - either here, or with Kaius and/or the Knight over the past several weeks as I've worked to wrap this up. Cheers, K. ))

~~~

All that I am All that I ever was Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where Confused about how as well Just know that these things will never change for us at all - Snow Patrol, 'Chasing Cars' ~~~

Yasmin

Date: 2016-05-05 22:42 EST
Sky Fell

Late one night, or early one morning depending on how one looked at it, Yasmin was walking home from work. Even though she lived several blocks from the WHAM! 101.1FM studio, she still liked the walk. It gave her time to unwind at the end of her day from the busy pace she liked to keep herself in. The passed couple years of her time in Rhydin had certainly been a whirlwind. In addition to her radio shows at WHAM!, she had begun a pretty extensive run at the Shanachie Theater, which led to a fairly renown leading role in a movie. Between all of her jobs and various side projects, she could have moved up from her small studio apartment long ago, but despite her grandiose radio and acting persona, she liked the simple life" like a quiet night's walk home to a cozy little apartment to settle in with her pet seamonkies.

But this morning, something seemed a little different.

It was one of those things you didn't notice until it was gone.

Yasmin had taken the miniature flying island garden for granted as it hovered above a small section of the Marketplace district. It arrived in the middle of the night over a year and a half ago, slowly making its way south, passing over her apartment, allowing a loose boulder to drop, causing her upstairs apartment to become a first floor flat.

She didn't even notice the floating garden was missing overhead until she stepped on some rust red dirt on the street. Feeling the soft soil underfoot, when it should have been hard pavement, she looked down. "That's funny"" she thought, "I remember seeing this red dirt before but I think it was"" She turned the corner of the heavily packed buildings and stopped as she looked down the street. Between the storefronts and apartment buildings, she saw a huge overflowing pile of dirt and debris. She continued walking over the red rocky soil, broken green foliage, and white flower petals.

"Oh my goodness," she said softly to herself. She carefully walked along an area with some white rose bushes still intact. The large, beautiful blooms were perfectly preserved from the painful momentum of the fall. Walking around to inspect them, she observed some surrounding roses that had also been saved. There were quite a few of a smaller variety. White. Red. Simple. "Perfect. Bending down to touch one, she stopped in mid-reach as she felt a presence with her on the vacant street. Quickly looking over her shoulder, she could have sworn she saw a flicker of a person out of the corner of her eye. Staring for a few moments, she saw nothing more. Continuing her reach, she lifted a single blossom of the small white rose bush in front of her, delicately bringing it to her nose.

After she inhaled its soothing scent, she stood and pulled her cell phone from her pocket. Hitting one button, she waited for an answer. "Yeah, hey, this is Yas. I need like five or six interns." She made an aggravated sigh after a short pause. "No, this is not like the blow up doll incident. Tell them to meet me at the corner of?" Looking to the street markers, she continued, "Maple and Elm. Oh, and tell them to bring gloves and a couple wheelbarrows?" Looking out at the bunches of the smaller red and white rose bushes, she had an idea to help save them from an early demise.