EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

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With tensions heavy across Abraxas and all the destruction that's happened, it's no surprise that the dark shadows which sweep over the land go unnoticed...at first.

Winds initially stir in Solvunn, where the influence of the Old Gods remains the strongest. Slowly each Herald infects Thorne and the Free Cities, as well. The Summoned are the first to feel its effects and are the most heavily impacted.

Though no one will realize it until well afterwards, Nocwich remains unaffected. After all, the Summoned don't reside there.

NOTE: This event will deal with themes of death (people and animal) and horror imagery.

Emergence

It begins sometime in mid-October, around the 18th. Not everyone will experience it at the same time. You might even believe you're spared until days afterwards when you're visited by an unusually vivid dream.

The dream starts the same for everyone: you are going somewhere, anywhere, walking to your bedroom or enjoying a stroll on the beach. You might be driving down a familiar neighborhood. Wherever you're headed, you eventually come upon a stone tablet engraved with your Arcana. Laid on the tablet are three objects:

◎ A dead moth trapped inside a wilted rose, symbolizing Koth of Festering Lands
◎ A teacup inside which sits a single nightshade berry, symbolizing Adlewyrd of Poisoned Tongues
◎ An ornate cracked hand mirror that contains no reflection, symbolizing Sannleikr of Many Faces

Make a choice. Something inside your soul will be drawn towards one of the objects. Maybe you spend hours in the dream deliberating, but sooner or later, you'll pick one of the items up. The moment you do, the other objects vanish and the chosen Herald appears before you. Where one might expect a god to seek subservience, the strange figure instead extends a friendly hand towards you - as though it's greeting you as an equal.

Whispered around you, you hear its name. Then it fades and with it the dream. You awaken.

Affliction

You go about your day as usual. That's when you realize something isn't right. Creatures and people around you behave strangely. You begin to sense that you are the cause.

Depending on your chosen Herald, you'll experience at least one of its afflictions. The effects might start small, then grow. They might rush you all at once. You can't shake what haunts you, though you can try. Spells, potions, and willpower can help keep the afflictions at bay but you won't ever be completely free.

As the afflictions seep into your mind, you start to find shadows of it following you: a dead moth here, a nightshade bloom there, a cracked mirror elsewhere. You may even wonder if it's following you in the first place. What if instead, you are the one leaving these signs behind?

Corruption

The first time you inflict your ability on someone else, you don't mean to. It might be a stranger, some unsuspecting soul, or it might be another Summoned. Regardless, the afflictions that ail you seem to spread through you into another. Someone falls down as if in the throes of an invisible death or secrets spill. You brush by someone and they're suddenly upset and confused.

The more this happens, intentionally or not, the better you feel. You may grow full of life and energy, gain a renewed strength of heart, or radiate a charm that turns heads and garners compliments. The afflictions haunting you could even start to fade or completely vanish. And if you use your newfound power deliberately? You'll feel better even faster for longer. Of course, these boons are temporary, lasting at most an hour or so. When the feeling wanes, you might miss having it.

You are not possessed. You can't control this power that spreads through you, but how you respond or behave is up to you. You could be attracted to the allure of power, enjoy the boons you are granted, or realize you can gain relief from your afflictions if you choose a victim. Not everyone will fall headfirst into the pull. Some are not easily swayed by power, some struggle to overcome their dark impulses, and others would rather endure their suffering than inflict it on someone else. But others still might succumb to temptation and turn on those around them with purpose: once, twice, multiple times. The choice you make is yours alone.

Blight

With the call of the Herald at your fingertips, the world around you twists. No one knows whether this stems from you and your newly imbued afflictions, or if the Heralds are exerting power on their own. It's for sure easier to think of what occurs as the influence of something monstrous beyond your control. No matter the cause, the earth is changed all the same.

Omens

The omens arrive shortly after the initial Summoned receive their dreams, but they don't come to every faction at once. SOLVUNN is first, being home to the Old Gods' shrines, before THORNE and the FREE CITIES follow only days afterwards. Depending on where you are, the omens will affect things a bit differently.

Solvunn

In Solvunn, the ground stirs. A desiccated hand breaks through the grass, a cloven hoof. Human or animal, they crawl forth, animated against their will. Some might attack, but most do not. At the same time, crops around the settlements begin to fail. Some chickens lay rotten eggs while cows produce spoiled milk. Any livestock that perishes overnight will surface in the mornings with empty eye sockets - pecked out by crows or gnawed on by rats. From a distance, the ocean can be seen bubbling as leviathans beneath thrash.

Worth noting is that many of the dead are concentrated around the shrines, especially the ones deep in the woods. They're too decayed to recognize, and some might not even move from the site, as though they are waiting for the earth to take them again...or as though they once chose to give up their life at this very spot.

Summoned can assist by helping to cast spells or place warding charms around shrines, farms, and gardens to protect crops and livestock. As a commune, the Solvunnites will share their resources as much as possible and would appreciate those who might lend a hand bringing supplies, herbs, and offerings to neighbors who are lacking. The Summoned can also brew a common herbal remedy to aid any animals who have fallen ill or to help purify the well water.

Free Cities

In Libertas, the dead buried under the rubble dig themselves out. More crawl forth from graves in Cadens' cemeteries. Beasts and bandits slain in the desert wilds rise, hungry or searching for the ones who killed them. At the same time, dead fish wash up onto the shores of Aquila while birds fall dead from their perch, dropping like flies from an unknown illness. Vultures and other scavengers begin to prey upon the eyes of the dead, leaving behind hollowed-out corpses.

Worth noting is that in the Badlands, a few very old and skeletal corpses rise with a metal plate or two screwed onto their bones, which are also oddly elongated. Only one or two make their way near the city. The army is quick to dispose of them before many can notice. They will not disclose any information about this and will claim these are just monsters like anything else.

Summoned can assist by going on patrol with the soldiers to put down any risen dead. Merchant caravans are also hiring escorts for their journeys. Additionally, they can help look through any received supplies and packages to make sure the food isn't rotting or worse, use a special dissolving compound to purify the waters, and donate staple food items to refugees and the less fortunate who can't afford the rising prices.

Thorne

In Thorne, the dead emerge only from the outskirts of the castle city. Thanks to information from one of their Summoned and their recent monitoring of the Singularity, Thorne was able to act swiftly and was able to ward any royal or otherwise significant burial sites. Graves and tombs of less importance, though, will not be protected in the same way. There are fewer encounters with eyeless corpses, though some animals might appear outside the castle in such a state. Normally extravagant dishes from the Castle's kitchens use simpler ingredients as they struggle to ration their food stores.

Worth noting is that a few unexpected corpses make their way up from deep under the castle in places beyond the dungeons. These are twisted and mangled, missing limbs, heads, fingers. The castle guards are quick to dispose of them before they get too far into the rest of the castle, but one or two may be spotted.

Summoned can assist by contributing to the wards around Castle Thorne and the city, using spells to put down the dead without mangling the corpse, and taking inventory of food stores. Further, in Nott the situation is more dire for anyone who is traveling there to continue assisting with repairs following the attack. Nott will welcome help with any problems caused by the omens. It'll be clear the kingdom has neglected the city somewhat. Thorne will claim the Castle takes priority, of course, due to King and Queen residing there along with the entire royal court.

Apprehensions

Across the factions, locals are beginning to catch on that something isn't right with you, the Summoned. No one will say it outright, but there's an air of caution and wariness around you where you go. Merchants might be quick to hand you your wares so you'll leave or locals give you a bit of space when they walk by. Chatty innkeepers are more reluctant to hold lengthy conversations.

Much of the time, it may not be conscious. The natives might simply sense something off that instinctually makes them want to put some distance between them and you. The only exception? If you've chosen Sannleikr of Many Faces, you'll continue to exude your charm towards people you encounter. At least for as long as you continue to inflict that ability you've been gifted.

Displacement

Everyone responds differently while in the Horizon. You might exert better willpower over your afflictions or you might feel its effects more strongly. It all depends on the individual and their mindset. Regardless, the Heralds are only one part of the equation. There's a much bigger disturbance going on.

It could happen as soon as you enter or it might be as you're stepping over the threshold into another's domain. Whatever the case, you are suddenly not where you're supposed to be. Instead, you're in one of two places depending: transported into a domain you never meant to go into or in a foreign setting altogether.

Visitation

Whether you're the one transported or someone teleports unexpectedly into your space, the Horizon becomes unpredictable for the next little while. Rooms normally locked to strangers, areas you yourself may not even realize exists - you and your fellow Summoned continue to pop in and out despite your intentions.

The effect isn't painful, just disorienting, like missing a step you didn't see or stumbling through a door into a too-bright room. The person whose domain you've inadvertently visited might sense an unwanted presence, whether they're inside the Horizon or not, or they may be completely oblivious. This will depend on the strength of their connection to the Singularity and the Horizon.

Not to worry. You won't be trapped or anything in these cases...unless the domain you land in happens to seal from the inside. You might stumble on secrets you weren't meant to find, though, locked away in someone else's mind.

Ensnared

The less fortunate will be pulled into a space that they've never encountered before. The bizarreness of it resembles the glitchy visions that flashed through a few months ago, but rather than an image flickering by, you are now inside the space itself.

Trapped between minutes to hours, you can't use the Horizon's creation magic as normal. Attempts will falter or go sideways: trying to fly out might cause you to tumble, tools and objects are broken or not quite right, wounds don't vanish or heal completely, etc. More significantly, you can't seem to send or receive messages through your connection. Anything that manages to come through will be garbled and distorted. It's as though the place you are in is just out of the reach of your control.

Luckily, you may not be alone. Someone else may have gotten lost alongside you. They might already be there when you stumble through or they might arrive after you do. They might even fade out sooner than you, unintentionally leaving you behind.

Eventually, you'll be released back into the Horizon proper, spat out in a random place in the Horizon. While you're stuck, though, you can try to survive, explore, sit and wait it out, or make friends with your fellow trapped partner. Each area has its challenges and quirks that you'll need to deal with.

Scenes to Explore

JUSTICE ◎
FULL IMAGE

High in the clouds, these snowy peaks are as cold as they look. Giant marble hands reach out, though their sheer scale means you might not recognize them as hands from up close. You can scale the mountain, but if you try to go down, the hands will flip the mountain, which sends you tumbling to the top again.

It's up to you whether you can be injured when you fall. Maybe the snow will feel like marshmallows, or you'll break a bone on the jagged rocks. No two experiences are the same. If you have a partner, they could end up faring better than you despite being in the same place.

Conjure some warm clothes or a log cabin even if you wish - they might not manifest perfectly, but it'll be better than nothing. At least the view's fairly nice...while the sun is up. A blizzard will come through by nightfall. With it arrives a strange hovering light that entices you or your friend to follow it into the frozen darkness. What draws you out depends on you. It could be a familiar voice, an image, or a simple compulsion. If you're lucky, the person with you is unaffected and can try to stop you. Or maybe you're the one desperately chasing after the other person?

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THE CHARIOT ◎
FULL IMAGE

From a distance, it's hard to tell if they're shipping containers or houses stacked atop each other. A gooey mess covers the ground below. Oddly, the smell isn't as unpleasant as the goo looks. It smells like bubblegum or cotton candy, artificial and sweet. When you first fall in, you might land inside one of the homes, on top of the stacked structure, or the ground. You can try to reach anyone else who's there with you, but be careful: the ooze is spreading. Climb if you must or move from room to room. If you don't keep moving, you risk getting sucked into its sticky mass.

Each block of a home is different. Some are furnished, whereas others are empty or filled with strange knickknacks. Some might even have subconscious creations spawned by you. Keep ahead of the gloopy substance, and you'll be fine, probably. Or you can try to fight it back or block its path by sealing yourself in a room or otherwise, which can slow it down significantly. Mostly, you'll have to hope you fade out before the pink mass completely consumes the landscape.

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THE WORLD ◎
FULL IMAGE

The hazy neon glow obscures a nothingness that seems to extend forever. In the middle of the wet ground are several stacked television sets with wires plugged into nothing. Inexplicably, there's also a cat. At first, it appears perfectly normal, but keen observers will notice that its behavior is on a loop where it will walk a certain path, pause at specific intervals to lick its paws, and meow at set points. It does not acknowledge any of its intruders. You can break its loop by picking it up, at which point it'll go limp as a ragdoll. As soon as you set it down, it'll resume its actions as before.

While you can see the same images as someone else on the screens, it's also possible you'll each see something different despite being in the room together. What you see is up to you. It could be an old fuzzy movie, home videos of your childhood, trivia questions you have to answer correctly, or even a memory or vision you wouldn't want to share. Words or faces taunting you could appear between staticky flickers, or maybe your very thoughts are projected onto the screens for anyone with you to read.

Break the televisions if you want, but given a few short minutes, they'll reform between one blink and the next. Looks like you'll have to keep watching until you're released.

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THE FOOL ◎
FULL IMAGE

Sprawling and massive, you're unlikely to recognize at first that you're trapped in a labyrinth. Stone walls rise around you, and your surroundings are pitchblack. Manifest a torch or a flashlight if you can, though these will be prone to going out at inopportune times. Escaping over the walls will only send you into another section in the maze.

As you navigate the twisting corridors, you'll encounter any variety of trials and troubles: gaps in the ground, spiked traps, haunting whispers, monsters, decaying corpses. Some of these might've formed from your mind, others might've spawned from anyone else who's trapped with you.

If you aren't alone, do your best to locate your fellow Summoned. Voices do carry and echo over the walls, and there could be landmarks that help you find each other. Finding the exit, however, is another matter. Walk and climb all you want. A way out is impossible until the Horizon chooses to set you free.

Players can pick any scenario that interests them from the four choices above. Unlike the visions from before, characters can accidentally be trapped in as many of the scenes as you want, as many times as you want. Another option is that they can stay trapped in only one scene while a variety of characters fade in and out to join them, or some combination of the two. Choose what works best for your plans.

Each scene will once again carry an associated Arcana etched somewhere inside it, which can change from person to person or instance to instance. It might be on a wall, a table, or on the ground. Characters with a stronger connection to the Horizon are likely to be trapped for longer but the extent of this is your choice and it won't ever exceed a few hours. It's also your choice whether the afflictions continue to haunt them or not. If you want characters to deal with both problems while stuck together, you're welcome to!

Generally speaking, there are no restrictions other than that they won't be able to communicate with anyone outside the area, they can't escape it until the Horizon chooses to release them, and their creation magic will go wrong just enough that it'll make things tricky.

Comments

—HORIZON [ witchcraft and horror ]

[carmesi]

A. WITCHCRAFT GONE WRONG

[the unpredictability of the horizon's malfunctioning could very well land one into wanda's domain, particularly bypassing the labyrinthine forest and finding themselves, instead, in the home she's made for herself. it would be easy to just blink out of it, but there is something quite unusual about the place, and the walls are no longer walls.

rather, bits and pieces form like a puzzle, expanding and contracting, floating and hovering mere inches from each other, creating the illusion that things aren't quite right. it is enough to disorient. similarly, the slow crash of waves booming nearby echoes loudly between the rooms that doors open themselves to, the floor and roof shaking, the whistle of bombs and the crash of explosions nearby. the house feels alive, like it is breathing, wisps of red connectors tracing a path that one may very well follow.

those adept in magic may take note that it is just that, witchcraft acting up, as if confused, uncertain of what shape to form or how to make itself useful.

following the path highlighted by the wisps of red, one will go down the stairs, and will be unable to extricate themselves from looking at their reflection in the mirror. except it is not their own face that stares back, but rather that of the domain's owner: wanda, her eyes seeing but not seeing the person that stands before the mirror.

—and, just like that, chaos.

the world unfurls, dizzyingly so, like a kaleidoscope of the surroundings, the house in its psychedelic overture of puzzle pieces multiplying and refracting, causing confusion. but it is not all reflective surfaces; should one walk carefully, one may encounter a dark room, walls and ceiling filled with runes and sigils unfamiliar, but which exude certain dark, oppressive power all on their own. in another area, a singular television set plays a happy sitcom, beckoning the viewer.

but be careful, the longer one finds themselves in this space, the more one traverses to try and find a way out, the more the mirrors seem to refract and multiply and divide, making it much harder to find a way out.]

B. TERROR IN THE WOODS

[perhaps it is mercy to not land in a house where witchcraft has gone haywire. the forest, at least, seems an easier space to navigate. that is, until one realizes how utterly quiet it all is, the grayscale value of what was once lush and verdant. it is nighttime, but it is a lot darker than what one would expect. standing still would not be a good idea, though, as the only hue of color comes in the shape of dense, blood red mist, crashing into trees and whatever other feature juts out from amidst the foliage. it travels a specific path, though, and does not linger—like a traveling stream covering a small radius at a time, a predator of unknown shape and form.

best to run and hide out of its way, for while the forest is quiet, chants and macabre whisperings in a language unknown announce its approach. there are wails, too, if one listens closely, but they seem so far off.

there are closed structures one could hide in, or in between, for the mist seems to be intelligent—but can seemingly be outsmarted. hold your breath, toss an object elsewhere to distract it, whatever repertoire one may have in their pocket could work.

do not get comfortable, though, for while the forest creatures who were once friendly no longer seem to be around, ghoul-like creatures appear from the darkest of shadows, traveling silently, but screeching once they find their target. these are tangible and can be fought, but they will also grab and hold on to their target, yelling the sins of the offender they have crossed paths with.

but don't stand still and get dragged down by them—they seem to be working together with the mist, and it is only a matter of time before they meet up halfway.]

b.

[ordinar]

Wilhelm doesn't know that anything is wrong at first. He had actually intended to come to Wanda's domain, anxious to tell her about the strange dream he had the other night — and to calculate if he's losing his mind or if some kind of wrench has just been thrown in the works of the world again. She's a reliable source for that kind of thing.

Then the darkness creeps in, casting everything in grey. The weight of the forest's silence presses down on him. That's enough to put him on edge, but what sharpens his anxiety into alarm is the blood-colored mist that comes surging through the trees. He's seen this before — when it was billowing out from Wanda, she the epicenter and it the tidal wave.

"Wanda?" he calls out, darting his eyes around. But he finds nobody in the thick shadows between trees. All that answers him is the loudening undercurrent of chanting whispered in a language he doesn't recognize.

Standing still for too long was a mistake. Wilhelm realizes this as the mist starts to curl around his feet, and jumping aside he tries to kick it off. Although he doesn't know what will happen if the mist ensnares him, he doesn't intend to stick around to find out. And although he has forgiven Wanda, he hasn't forgotten how she shaped this red smoke into scenes pulled from his own head. How she tried to trap him with the promise of things too good to be true.

So he's running like hell. Betting on the mist rolling straight ahead, he cuts a manic path through the trees. No matter how many twists and turns he adds to his escape route, though, the mist seems to find him.

[carmesi]

Wilhelm can rest assured that the mist is not something Wanda is consciously controlling, but it probably offers little respite when he is being chased so earnestly by it. It does not bode well to be caught within its asphyxiating contours; not even she can tell what kind of horrors will be lived within it. It is, however, something she is aware is happening as soon as she enters her horizon.

A predator hunting its prey—and she's feeling the surge of emotion from it: the adrenaline, the desperation, the mad dashes to safety that allows for no safe haven. She reaches for it with her mind to pinpoint it in the labyrinthine paths of the forest.

The ground under Wilhelm's feet will give way and have him hurtling downwards into a tunnel, and he lands on soft ground, over a patch of grass and flowers cushioning his fall entirely. Roots and loose rocks decorate the walls of the tunnel.

Shh, comes the hushed command, Wanda's profile in the darkness beside Wilhelm. The red mist passes over the mouth of the tunnel, chasing after the boy that no longer runs to stay away from it, casting them in darkness for a moment. The monochrome-gray pervades, still, even as Wanda turns to worry over him.

Her silence breaks after a moment.

"Are you alright?"

[ordinar]

He screams as the ground gives way and he falls through darkness. Panic crushes the air from his lungs, pumps his heart into a frenzy. Limbs flailing, Wilhelm lands in a graceless heap in the grass. The soft shushing produces the opposite effect from what's intended: surprise spasms his whole body and a yelp pops out. Realizing that it's Wanda — and that she appears to be in control of herself — he gasps out a sigh of relief.

Slowly, he scrapes himself up so that he's sitting. Her question will have to go unanswered for a moment, though, as he rubs at his chest and tries to remember how to breathe.

"What the fuck's happening?" he finally manages.

[carmesi]

His question is warranted, and the fact that he asks that before anything else reassures Wanda that he is not badly injured and hasn't been ensnared by anything above them, yet.

"I'm not sure," she starts, knowing this is hardly comforting, "but I think the Singularity is acting up and affecting the Horizon again."

Truth of the matter, though, is that Wanda is well aware just how bad it looks that there are things chasing others within her own domain. Wilhelm would have recognized the red mist, and so she has to be honest with him.

"I let my magic roam free in changing my domain, so I am not in charge of making any actual changes to it or controlling what happens, unless I want to. Remnants of my magic — is out of control now. I'm trying to fix it."

The last sentence, she emphasizes earnestly; Wanda would loathe for Wilhelm to not believe her.

"Have you tried leaving the Horizon as normal?

a.

[dirtytrenchcoat]

[The inconsistency of his own horizon and the fact that he keeps appearing in domains that belong to other people have only added to Castiel's doubt and frustration. It began with death, following him like a promise. It's not lost on him that his commitment to The Empty had been usurped by the singularity and this new plane of existence. He was with Dean and Jo, and that gave him some peace of mind but their respective timelines didn't meet. Knowing more than both of them, and to some degree, more than his own brothers furthered the constant dread that followed him. Koth, decay, the dream he never should have had just fans those flames.

Now, here in this horizon, standing before sigils that he doesn't recognize Castiel feels all the more lost. His fist curls, and relaxes as he searches the runes and tries to place their language. He feels small, amassed by the darkness of the room. The same darkness he was supposed to spend eternity in.]

[carmesi]

[it is a darkness that wanda is well and fully familiarized with—the one here one that spells prophetic verses about her, in a language far too ancient for her to notably understand, but one that melds under her influence and her fingers into something with substance and meaning.

from the darkness she steps, emblazoned in the red hues that adorn the shimmers on the obsidian walls.]

Can you read it?

[this man— she knows him. they spent some time alone, enjoying the peace and quiet of sam's horizon many moons ago. his name escapes her, but comes to her with an easy traction of mind reading. castiel.

as she steps closer, the writings and markings on the wall blur out, like water rippling, making it impossible to see with certainty what it all spelled out. like in a dream, where one cannot actually read anything but gibberish. her mind's defense: keeping her from unlocking this forbidden magic once more.

except she doesn't wish for it to be here.]

It was written by a demon long ago.

B

[tobeclosetohim]

Fuck, no. This again???

[ Jo had been lying down and focused very hard on The Bunker more than the Bar. It was their one safe place, still untouched by the mayhem and mishaps of the Horizon. This was a slight reprieve, given how badly the rest of their domain had committed to the cause of chaos. But this. Is. Not. The. Bunker. This is a forest; and it doesn't even have the decency to be the forest behind the bar. The one they tell people not to go into, even when the Horizon is being good.

This whole place looks and feels off. There's something wrong with the light barely coming down through the trees; something wrong with the leeched-out color of the trees, maybe even their permanence; something wrong with the air that seems not as clear as it should be. She looks in several directions before spotting something that looks like the shape of a structure in shadow in the distance and sets off that way. ]

[carmesi]

[what jo finds is the empty ruin of something that was once, perhaps, habitable, but never here in this horizon. there is a doorway and steps carved in stone, yet it is incomplete—no four walls, hardly a ceiling to call it a building proper.

granted, this place is not supposed to be a refuge for what haunts the forest as of late.

there's a whistle close by—close to her ear, sharp and ringing—but no one there to take ownership for it. it is the ghouls, acting as arbiters of torment, trying to find amidst the darkness and the many obstacles in the forest for something living and breathing, for a beating heart. they whistle again, but their cackles as far off and distant. the world grows darker.

rather, it loses color, more and more, as if signaling that something approaches, something unknown. will she run and hide, or stand and fight? it will make no difference.

the mad laughing draws nearer, the whistling fading in the distance in turn.]

[tobeclosetohim]

[ The ruins aren't any help, not that Jo knows what help will look like in this place, whatever this place even is. She can't see for any long distance yet, to be able to see where exactly in the Horizon she is and how long that trek back to saner places might be. But it is the long-term plan already. Getting the hell out of here and back.

At least it's not the labyrinth again, Jo thinks, right before the shrill sound slides past her one side. Then, there's a quieter cackling in the air after that high-pitched noise clears everything out. She turns and then again, watching the color leech further and further and further away—the laughter skittering ever closer.

There's no one else here that appears sane, too smart to yell for anyone, and she doesn't have a fucking clue what that's going to be—only that the answer is bad, everything is bad in the Horizon lately—but she starts backing away. Not running, but looking for something to be able to watch from behind. Jo isn't fully paying attention to it when her sword manifests in her hand. Longer than half herself, thin and sharp. Still untouched by the malfunctions. ]

[carmesi]

[a sword manifesting in her hand is enough to tell the creatures that she's want for a fight, even if that is not her intent. they see things primitively, simply: the girl wants to battle, she will get one.

they appear from within the shadows, a myriad of them manifesting in wisp-like shapes, crowned with horns and their skin like open flesh, circling around her and through her, inadvertently screeching into their minds the sins she might be guilty of, whether exaggerated or not.

they swim in the dark, and more and more seem to multiply from the shadows. their loud screeching, too, draws the attention of perhaps an even scarier entity, the red mist that tumbles along the horizon, seeking prey, while the ghouls do a good job of slowing jo down from going anywhere.]

b. terror in the woods

[nightwash]

The Greywaren doesn't look like a victim trapped in this place. Rather, it could easily be just another piece of it — magic gone wrong, terror made tangible. It's a creature made of the deepest shadows, coiling itself around the sparks of magical energy that nourish it, and whether it was summoned here on purpose or by accident, this forest is its feeding ground now.

This is exactly why Ronan didn't want to attempt crossing into the Horizon.

Well, not exactly. But a part of him had understood the risk. The Horizon is too close to dreaming, and this entity — this thing inside him — was already trying to claw its way into the world before he went and opened the door for it.

What he didn't understand, before coming here, was that the thing inside him was not a thing that wanted to exist outside of him. Ronan Lynch is a name for something human-shaped. The Horizon is not a place for human shapes. The illusion of Ronan Lynch can be discarded here, as it was in the beginning, and the Greywaren can flourish once more.

It was supposed to appear in the volcano. Its bargain is with Kylo Ren, the man who created the mountain, so it's Kylo Ren's duty to feed the Greywaren. Instead, the entity finds itself in an unfamiliar forest. Unfriendly to it — or perhaps it's the Greywaren that's the unfriendly stranger. The invader. The virus.

It's an enormous creature, this cluster of shadows weaving through the trees like threads of smoke. A silent storm rolling in from another world, bringing with it hunger rather than weather. It wants, and it stretches its yearning out into this domain, reaching for any creature that might answer it.

[carmesi]

It is an enormous creature, and it is impossible for Wanda to not take note of it. Her domain has been acting strangely as of late, and there is no certainty in the number of things that are not meant to be roaming about, but she knows what is hers and what isn't.

This thing—this energy—this entity—whatever it may be, it consumes from her domain. It strikes against the forest creatures that slumber under Wanda's own magic gone awry, it feeds on the remnants of chaos and the devilish creatures finding refuge in the shadows. No matter in how much disarray her space is, it is her own, and a witch would be foolish to let it continue doing as it wills. This domain which took so much effort, so much growth, to nurture and to let grow with magic both her own and from the Singularity— it is not for another to consume.

She steps forward, like a curtain opening on the backdrop of the monotone-gray world, her garb of reds like a warning—her hand raised and scarlet magic spreading to try and corral the Greywaren. She stops it, lets her consciousness seep into it some, tries to gather understanding.

Approaching it, Wanda does not fear it, though she remains wary of its unpredictable nature should there be any.

"Stop your feeding," because she knows that's what it is doing. Her magic grips it, encapsulates it, stops it from moving. "This isn't yours to have."

[nightwash]

Despite its massive size, the Greywaren is a pliable thing. Wanda's magic captures it without the slightest resistance, and the creature's writhing shadows mold into the form she wills it. It can't simply stop feeding — it would bleed and evaporate into nothing without the energy that keeps it tethered to this world — but it stops drawing from the domain and turns its hunger to the very magic that's holding it prisoner.

It doesn't need very much when all it's doing is keeping still. The sparks of light between its unfathomable shadows flash less frequently as the storm compresses into a much more manageable form. It begins to look almost human-shaped.

Where am I?

The creature doesn't remember how to form words the way humans do. Regardless, because this is the Horizon, the question permeates the air as inarticulate yet tangible confusion.

[carmesi]

Wanda tries diverting her magic so it keeps just away from this entity, with mixed results. Still, she doesn't sense it actively feeding after a while, so much as just... not waiting, but pausing, it seems. Pausing long enough for her to see it begin to shift, to change.

It speaks, although the words don't come from any one place in particular. It also doesn't seem entirely a language she knows, yet she still understands it. It's somewhat familiar to her, which is why she keeps herself from banishing entirely with a spell.

Perhaps this is not some creature formed from the fluctuations in magic that have been sending the Horizon into a spiral.

"You are in my domain," her magic dissipates as her hand lowers, taking a step forward. It's intelligent, and it must understand concepts such as that—but it sounds confused. "In the Horizon, in Abraxas."

The following question should not be surprising.

"Who are you?"

b.

[actualwizard]

[ He’d been lost on the woods for what felt like hours, trying to dodge and hide from that familiar red mist. He wasn't sure why it was familisr- he'd never seen anything like it before, but it gave off a feeling like he knew what it was. If he had been in the right state of mind, and not getting chased by it he would have figured it out. Instead he was hiding behind a stone shrine catching his breath.

Which was probably why he didn’t notice the ghoul that shrieked once it was right in front of him. He tried to turn and run but another appeared, and then another, all at once he was hearing voices. Familiar voices that he couldn’t place.

”You are the reason the team isn’t together, you killed your best friend. You neglect your husband, he doesn’t deserve you, you almost destroyed the world.”

All things he thought he had moved passed. He tried to ignore them but it got harder and harder as more showed up and then he saw that familiar mist and this time there was no getting away. ]

[carmesi]

[the absolute last thing that wanda wants is for the ruthless ghouls that haunt her horizon unbidden start tormenting those who accidentally find themselves here. even worse, she doesn't want them to antagonize the boy who feels so much like her son, even if his mother is another wanda in the multiverse.

scattered and dangerous as things are in her domain, she pinpoints where billy is. it's easy to tell — his magic so similar to her own.]

You don't touch him.

[even if she's been awkward and hesitant around billy, her voice holds a protective quality to it. she will not have him be hurt nor harmed, not if she can help it, even if it is indirectly her fault. the ghouls are easy to get rid of, disintegrating under her scarlet magic, but the mist is something else entirely.

wanda holds on to billy, grabs at his arm, keeps him close.]

Billy, look at me.

[there is little time before it catches up to them, and while wanda could act right away on her own, she needs to make sure that the spell she is to think into being doesn't disorient him to the point of acting defensively.]

[actualwizard]

[ As disoriented as he is, her voice cuts right through to him. He's not sure if its because she's Wanda or because he can feel her magic, or both really. It could be both, but he feels something ease, knowing she's there.

She's trying to get his attention and she wants him to look at her and he shakes off more of the whispers enough to make eye contact with her. ]

Wanda.

[ Just her name but enough to show her he's with her. ]

[carmesi]

[good— that's good. wanda turns around fully in time to make eye contact with him, and now she holds onto both his arms. he still looks like he's trying to get through the brunt of the seeds of what the ghouls tried to plant in his head, all the doubt and fear and any feelings of shame they could dig their metaphorical claws into.

holding tightly onto him, wanda tells herself that whatever damage has taken place can be ascertained later. as of right now, she needs to get him out of the way for any other nefarious creature lurking in the forest from attacking him.

(and at the same time, she's so apologetic for it being her demons and her magic coming to attack him, which is why—)

wanda holds him tight into an embrace, closes her eyes; one arm tight on his back, the other reaching up, allowing her hand to rest against the back of his head. no need for incantations for her, just a thought in her mind, and the world around them swoops in a rush of air, tipping them over and forward, until they land in a part of the forest that has sunlight brimming from above the canopy.

a safe haven she's managed to board up, wanting nothing but to expel the darkness.

her eyes open, but she doesn't pull away from billy, keeping him there, safe, against her. should billy open his eyes, he will see that they are in a graveyard, quiet and alone.]

I'm sorry.

A.

[magicalarchaeologist]

Istredd keeps being teleported to different locations in the Horizon which has become frustrating, especially as he is still trying to figure out what about his domain is being set off. He has only felt one other domain that shakes and hums like his, but there are no obvious answers. The monolith is so easy to see from anywhere but times like now no matter how close he tries to get to it, it seems far away. It could be that the minds in the Horizon are reaching to him too; there's a lot of white noise here for him.

Everything changes when he finds himself in Wanda's domain. He knows immediately it's hers; he can feel her. Their psychic bond gets stronger each time they talk and share, and in a way, that is why this space ends up feeling so much more out of control for him. He twists and turns as the red boxes form around him, mists surrounding as he stumbles back, trying to get a grip on the area around him.

He pulls a psychic shield tightly around himself, considering Wanda's power it is necessary in this place, and he manages to breathe through the bizarre shifting of the fake world they are in. Istredd comes closer to where a reflection is and sees her face, fractured. Unlike most people though, when he sees that he simply reaches toward her essence, through the glass and to the energy glowing within.

Wanda!

His light vibrates a pale blue, similar to his eyes in color, shielding around him as he pushes through the chaos. He knows he can find her. He climbs through the reflection and follows, blue light chasing the red.

Focus, come back to me.

[carmesi]

While Istredd has his own Horizon to contend with—the humming and shaking—Wanda's own suffers from the fact that it is highly encased in her magic as much as the Singularity's, that now that things have tipped upside down, it contracts and expands in unexpected ways. Wanda, for her part, finds herself stumbling through the wilder parts of her magic that refuses to be reined in.

As much as her magic is her own, herself, it also is its own thing, just waiting to burst forth and dominate whatever it can reach for. So, as she stands in this fractured world that resembles the Mirror Dimension of her short imprisonment, Wanda finds herself overwhelmed. Every block she puts in place pushes another away, and— well, she is one who easily flounders and leaves logic behind for a more emotional way to tackle her problems.

And that—that feeds her Chaos Magic.

Except there is a voice that trills through the sharp edges of this world, and Wanda stops, focuses. There is someone else here, now, and that someone is not getting consumed by her magic, but appears instead as his own individual self.

Istredd.

Only one person communicated like this with her, and it's so familiar, so welcome amidst all this. She appears before him, in a myriad of mirror reflections, the world stopping its ceaseless spinning and allowing them both a moment of respite. This anchor, this focus, allows her to get some control back. They may not be in the same plane just yet, but they stand parallel to each other.

My magic is in all the wrong places. Something in the Singularity— the wheel keeps spinning.

This wheel of fate, of fortune, of everything that winds and unwinds witchcraft; an abstract concept that witches and warlocks alike may recognize beyond other mortals. She notes the pale blue magic around him.

You're not affected here?

Perhaps he could help her.

[magicalarchaeologist]

Istredd is not so easily fooled by the red tendrils or boxes that lead away from her or try to distract him, the broken mirrors that might get another person lost. His own strong sense of self helps him focus so that everything in his immediate space is his, picking out a small portion of the surrounding to be shielded and exist separately. It makes him seemingly fly through the confusing web of her out-of-control magic and the Horizon's own chaos. Finding calm throughout chaos is one of the first lessons he learned.

He spots her and while they're not actually on the same plane, he floats closer so they are face to face. Istredd looks like the eye of the storm, standing in place when everything is moving around him, fixed now on her.


Wanda, I need you to listen to me.


Istredd knows that she was never formally trained in what she is, but he has been. It is why control comes so much easier to him; it took time to get there, many years, and it is truly unfortunate she never had the same chance. This is why all magic users had to be trained in his world. They could burn themselves out otherwise.


Stop fighting. Stop trying to control it. Your magic is feeding off your reactions, you're fighting yourself.


It is impossible for this chaos to stop as long as she's adding to it. Istredd is in control, but it isn't easy for him either, he is swimming against raging waters around him. Luckily he knows what he's doing. He reaches his hand out toward her and she can see the blue color growing brighter, pointing her toward him, a lighthouse in the middle of a dark storm.


Come to me, let me help you.

B. coming at you fast

[hextechhead]

Jayce really should have known better than to come back in here after the time he and Viktor were lost in a labyrinth, but he wants to check on Rio and see if anyone in there needs to connect. There are also times when he is struggling so much with his emotions that he has to go to the rage room and destroy some things, which he can't do easily in Cadens. He is doing exactly that when he blinks and finds himself somewhere new. A forest? This is the second forest he's shown up in, after Alucard, but this is far more unsettling.

It is pitch dark in there and he murmurs an illumination spell that quickly brightens the area right around him. Not that he technically needs to do magic here, he would simply make it work, but it isn't domain. Jayce frowns and tries to look around, get a sense of if this is a real domain or another labyrinth in disguise. It's dark but he starts to think he can recognize where he is now. Wanda is the person he associates the most with the woods. Could this be hers?

He nervously moves through, pausing in the structures, uncertain of where he's even going. This is definitely creepy. Jayce hurries with his light glowing, but it probably is what brings down attention to him. One ghoul crashes down on him, a shock to the system as he instinctively creates his hammer to block the attack. It glows in its own way in the dark, a vivid sparking electrical blue. He pushes it back and a second one arrives, doing the same as long as he can.

"Help!" There is honestly nothing else he can think of to do.

[carmesi]

These are far too many uninvited guests in her domain as of late, and Wanda's got half a mind to stick around to try and help those who find themselves surrendered to the clutches of horrid creatures and twisting nightmares come alive. It is unfortunate how much her magic preys on the weaknesses of others, but such is the nature of her Chaos Magic.

Though she's tried deconstructing parts of her Horizon, it has grown far too unruly for her, as her magic fluctuates with the Singularity and her already-established domain thrives in the chaos, getting louder and louder.

At least, Jayce yells for help, unlike others who succumb to whatever this place throws at them—and this much is enough for Wanda to find him.

Water flows at his feet like a stream; slow and steady at first, but quickly it grows in speed and size, crashing against his feet, against rocks, against whatever else it finds on its way, even as Jayce tries to fend off the ghouls. Wanda knows she is a beacon for all these unseen things, so she, too, must handle it while unseen.

Two hands surge from the depths of this stream, reaching up and gripping tightly around Jayce's ankles. There's no warning as he is dragged down, this once-shallow stream now an infinitely deep lake. Wanda's voice rings in his head, pushed through by her telepathy.

It's just for a moment. Hang on.

Sinking further he goes, the hands at his feet dragging him down, until the world tips over, turns on itself, and he's out of the water entirely, hands and feet on solid, dry ground. He will find himself dry, too, if a little taken by being able to breathe again.

Wanda, too, is here, sitting inside a circle of rocks, her magic dissipating the moment she knows Jayce is safe. She stands, making her way to him.

"I need you to find your way out, Jayce," she says with notable urgency in her voice, as she offers a hand for him to stand. Though that may very well be easier said than done; the magic in her space pulls down at those who inadvertently arrive here and tries to keep them here despite their best efforts to leave. "It's not safe in my domain."

[hextechhead]

Jayce has only been in one fight in his life and while he did very, very well within it, the adrenaline he feels has the most to explain for that. In the moment he felt invincible, especially as the fight went on. It isn't the same when facing some monstrous creatures though and while the hammer glows brighter and brighter, it doesn't seem like he knows how to actually blow them apart or away from him. There will always be something holding him back from violence now, even to protect himself.

He blocks instead of fights, but he is thrown off by the sudden appearance of water around him. This would really seem like an outright strange nightmare if he was dreaming, but he is fairly sure he is (or was?) in the Horizon. If he can barely fight off ghouls, he has absolutely nothing to help him when he's dragged into the water abruptly. Jayce would have swam or fought if he didn't hear Wanda's voice. And because he trusts her, he immediately listens to her, although he can't exactly hang on to anything. His heart pounds and he feels like he might get sick from the tipping over. He has a weak stomach.

He manages to keep it together and gasping as if afraid there is no air, leaning on the ground. The hammer is gone, having disappeared during the water adventure, and Jayce feels so out of sorts. Like the world literally just spun around him. He looks up at Wanda, confused, and struggles to his feet.

"I'm not leaving you here, are you kidding me? This is insane!" She just told him that it was her domain, so arguably she is there for a reason, but it doesn't matter. She's his friend.