Altino
Sage
Zai Sage
Be excellent to each other and party on, dudes!
Posts: 455
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Post by Altino on Jun 19, 2017 22:53:05 GMT -5
There has suddenly appeared, right in the middle of town, an enormous and ominous statue of men stacked on top of one another, covering each other's eyes. Jiva crowd around it day and night, searching for answers, but find none. One day, a plaque appears before it, which identifies it as Karma Tower, and the region wonders why a karmic tower would depict men whose eyes are covered. Are their stacked brethren preventing them from enlightenment? Are they sharing some sort of energy that takes its vision from a man places high in the heavens, beyond what you can see? What does this stranger Tower mean to teach us? For weeks, Jiva whisper and surmise about what it might mean until eventually a door appears. A vote is taken and the region selects you as Karma's Chosen One. You enter the Tower and go on your way to discovering the secrets of the Tower... and maybe more. RULES: All you have to do is write what is on your floor. Limit one floor per post. You can't do anything that will affect any floors above or below you (i.e. no making something impossible in the next floor. You can bring puppies or items with you into the next room if you want, but you can't control how or if the next poster uses it). No double posting. No skipping floors. You can only move upward. Make sure that you start your post with the floor number that you're on! (I'll start with the first floor) First Floor: Walking through the door to the Tower leaves you abruptly breathless. The Tower had been tall, certainly - no amount of squinting or upward gazing had ever allowed anyone to see the top of it - but it was quite thin in comparison. The outside of it could not have prepared you for the long, expansive room that you stepped into. Flickering lights above you give the place a sort of warehouse feel and as your footsteps echo across the floor, you look around for the merchandise it feels like you should find here. Instead, there is only emptiness. The only point of interest in the entire room seems to be the colored tiles that present themselves every few feet. You enjoy the rainbow fade, but some human instinct tells you to avoid stepping on them, and so you do not stop to investigate them. Finding nothing in the room, you turn back to the door that you came through. You can still see a small crowd gathered outside, all peering in, all too afraid to enter. You give them a wave and you can see some relief on their faces, but still they don't come in. Your oldest friend finally pushes through the crowd just as you're reaching the door and steps inside. "Anything interesting?" he asks. "Nope. Looks like it's totally empty. Just lights and tiles. And nothing else." Your friend steps around and takes note of a red tile close to you. Instantly, you tense up, your instincts screaming caution at you. "Yeah, there are tiles like that all over. I wouldn't touch them if I were you, they're kind of-" As those words exit your mouth, your friend steps one foot on the red tile and balances there, one legged. It would probably have been gracefully if you hadn't been so suddenly terrified. A slight breeze blew from the back of the room and you shuddered at it. "Weird," your friend shrugs, and then steps back through the open door. He turns and offers you a grin that somehow seems a little malicious to you and you smile nervously back before stepping around the red tile and back toward he exit. Another breeze blows against the back of your neck, and you turn to find yourself not staring at the vast warehouse, but face to face with another door. In confusion, you turn back to your friend only to find a blank wall. You're enclosed in a small room now, with not even enough room to spread your arms. What just happened? A fear begins to burn up your neck, singing the corners of your eyes and flaring red in your ears. You look down to find yourself standing directly on a red tile and let out a screech. Quickly, you step through the only door left in the room, which opens up to a staircase. The door slams shut behind you, leaving you no other choice but to climb the steps into the next floor. Clearly the Tower is leading you somewhere. You can only hope that the plan it has for you is a good one. At the top of the stairs, you open a door to the second floor.
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Zen
Sage
Zen Sage One Bad Dude
Intrigued
Posts: 377
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Post by Zen on Jun 20, 2017 22:24:26 GMT -5
The second floor
The large metal door going into the second floor opened way easier than it should. Which was a pleasant surprise for you as the last few minutes have been difficult...to say the least.
You are quickly greeted by a young lady. She pleasantly smiles and says, "We've been expecting you! So glad you have made it here. How was your journey? My name is Serene!" As she turns you are in awe of her flowing lightweight layered dress. You notice she is barefoot and has stunning rings on her fingers and toes. Instantly, you are puzzled by her greeting. "Expecting me? Journey?" Serene turns and leads you towards the center of the room. She has bells in her hair and pleasantly jingles as she walks.
Serene's presence calms the uneasiness you felt downstairs. In fact as you walk into the room you notice the pleasant fragrance of fresh flowers. You look around the large dimly lit room and see all around there are various plants, flowers, and even trees. The site of all of this foliage is shocking, but Serene's presence makes it all normal. Serene leads you to a set of large comfy chairs in the center of the room and motions for you to sit. As you sit and take in the forest scenery all of the tension of the past exits your body.
"Your Awakening Quest will begin soon. Make yourself comfortable." Serene politely said.
Several people entered the room with instruments. One man with a long beard had a banjo, another with an ironic curly mustache had a guitar, and a third fedora wearing chap brought out a bass. Serene picked up a set of bongo drums and began playing. The three others joined her in playing. The four played a real pleasing groove. You begin to bob your head and tap your toes to their playing. The musicians notice and give your a wry smile as the play their forest hipster banjo jam.
You close your eyes and really begin to feel the music and smell the flowers and trees. Dancing in your chair you feel weightless and exhilarated. The musicians lead their music to a crescendo and finally stop playing. While you recognize none of what you have heard it all feels familiar. Right. The way music should be.
You feel a big smile on your face, completely relaxed and filled with...peace, calm, ease. The way that only magical music can make you feel.
Serene taps you on the shoulder and leads you to another door in the room. "The sages are nearly ready for you. Why don't you take the elevator?" She leads you to the elevator and kisses you on the cheek. Amazed by the whole experience you walk into the elevator and wave goodbye. You hear Serene's bells jingling as she walks away and the door closes.
The peace in your heart is only matched by the smile on your face with the entire experience of the second floor as you wonder "who are the Sages and what is this Quest?"
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Josh
Full Member
Nom
Posts: 159
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Post by Josh on Jun 21, 2017 20:55:05 GMT -5
The Third Floor
Still blissful after your experiences on the previous floor, and having almost completely forgotten the unsettling nature of the first, you step into the elevator. You press the only button available, a simple up arrow, and the elevator shudders to life. Eerie old elevator music crackles through a decayed speaker, and your feeling of bliss rapidly evaporates. The elevator continues rising for what feels like an age, but eventually slows to a halt and spits you out onto the next floor.
Sitting down on a nearby rock, you contemplate the possible meanings of an "awakening quest." What could you possibly be awakening? Was it something inside you, or was the meaning more literal? Does this tower hold some great power, or imprisoned monster, that you have unwittingly blundered into setting loose on the world? No, you think, a welcoming experience such as the one you had just experienced couldn't possibly be near the entrance of some great prison. Whatever the quest actually is, you resolve that you are now left with no choice but to continue on it.
Finally, your attention turns to the room you find yourself in. You notice that the rock you were sitting on is not a rock at all, but a strange brown lump, sticking out of the ground. You you look around for a stick to poke it with, and only then do you notice the lumps protruding from the floor, walls, ceiling, and stranger still, hovering in mid-air. You realise that the brown lumps are giant potatoes, and your mind once again wanders to the possible meaning of your quest. A potato isn't evil, it holds no real power or great secrets, and yet for the very same reason it is completely devoid of all meaning to you. If this quest was to be about discovering yourself, and awakening a portion of you that is now dormant, you fail to see how a room full of potatoes could help. Frustrated, you kick the potato you had been sitting on. You suddenly regret doing so; the potato has done nothing to harm you, and besides, how does kicking anything at this moment help you? You're stuck in this tower now, and while this room is deeply strange, you are not in any danger. You were tasked with exploring this tower, and discovering its secrets, and you feel as if this what you must do.
You proceed to the centre of the room, filled with a new sense of purpose and determination, and begin looking for a way to get to the next floor. You look up, and notice a small opening in the ceiling, above one of the potatoes. You realise that to get there, you'd need to find a way to either move, or climb, the potatoes. This would be a very difficult task, if the potatoes had been peeled and washed, but they are in a perfectly fresh state, as if they had just been teleported out of the ground. You can use the eyes on the wall-mounted potatoes to climb up to a height above the potato you want to be on, and jump across.
With great effort, you manage this, and to your surprise, the potato ascends to a height where you can easily climb through the opening, which you immediately do.
Potatoes are weird anyway.
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Rigel
Sage
Retsu Sage
Look at the Stars, Look how they shine for you.
Posts: 32
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Post by Rigel on Jun 21, 2017 23:58:12 GMT -5
The Fourth Floor.
You dust your knees off and stand up, your eyes growing wide as you take in the sight before you. There, in a perfect semicircle in the center of the room stand nine pillars. From this distance you can't make out any features, but you take in their surroundings and notice that they're all sitting on different colored tiles. You've seen these tiles before! They're the ones you so delicately avoided on the first floor.
You take a couple of steps forward, towards the first statue in the line.The eyes of a young woman catch your gaze, soft and welcoming, they look as though they see directly to your soul. But under those eyes is a ferocious scowl, teeth bared, lips cracked and chapped. You take a step back, almost falling, but a gust of air keeps you on your feet.
As you step towards the statue again a soft, melodic voice whispers to you, the air in the room taking a heavier weight.
"The First Trial. Rin, The Sage of Strength. She tempers our will, divines our strength, sets us on the path to true ability. Rin will now test you, May your Karma be just"
In that moment, the room sinks into darkness, the last glimmer of light shining out of her eyes before you're cast into pitch black.
You ready yourself for anything, immediately slamming your eyes shut. You feel the presence of the voice recede, but it's still there, in the shadow, just out of reach.
"Darkness is not your enemy, My Child. It's simply another element for you to master." You feel a small gust of wind caress your cheek and for a moment you're not afraid. "We use darkness every day, the shadows are our playground, we see things that others cannot. Will you join us there?"
Strength, she said. Strength over everything.
Ever since you were a child, the darkness terrified you. But there was great strength in overcoming your fears. You nodded and opened your eyes slowly.
"I will master that which scares me. I will be stronger than my fears."
The voice sounded in your ears again, her voice taking on a light, jovial tone. "Your Strength is vast, My Child. Take the blessing of Rin and continue on your journey."
The light in the room returned and instead of the 9 statues, stood only one. The once scowling face was now smiling. You felt power flood through you. You walked to the other side of the room, to the door that lead beyond. Upward, you were going. And you'd never look back.
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Zen
Sage
Zen Sage One Bad Dude
Intrigued
Posts: 377
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Post by Zen on Jun 23, 2017 2:39:39 GMT -5
The Fifth Floor
As the elevator door opens you think about what you have just felt and experienced. "I have never felt so strong. Mentally, physically, my whole inner being...strong. Was it a dream?"
The door opens and with all of the confidence in the world you step into the room...or at least what you thought was a room. Before you can even process the door to the elevator shuts, you turn to look and it is gone.
You feel...moisture. Confused, you notice that you are completely soaking wet. RAIN! You look up at the ceiling, instead of the ceiling it is SKY! A cloudy sky that is precipitating....HARD. "Oh great, what! Rain." The confusion mounts as you look around the room, gone are the familiar walls of the building and the tile floor. In its place...jungle? "What in the....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Before you realize what is happening you begin to slide down the side of a muddy ravine. Crashing through trees, bushes, monkeys, vines. The jungle landscape is sliding right past you as you race down the muddy slide. Until you don't. "Holy crap, how did this happen? Well, I'm going to have to find a way...."
Some time later you wake up, head throbbing, eye swelled shut AND it is still raining hard. You try to stand but notice you are tied to the ground. You look to your right, your arm and leg are staked to the ground. Frightened, you look to your left....the same. You are just about to start feeling sorry for yourself when, WHACK.
You hear a dry old voice, "Strength? You call this strength?" Once again the old man whacks you with his cane in the ribs. You try to scream out. "Do it! Scream!" WHACK. "I'll make a Chronyata out of you yet!" WHACK in the ribs again.
The old man leaves, but the rain does not. You find the cool rain comforting, or at least you would if it wasn't pouring!
The next day the man reappears without his cane. You are relieved. Until you see him pull out a knife. "You are not ready, the arrogance you displayed in coming here is very troubling. May this be a lesson to you." The man reaches down with the knife in his hand towards you. Pointlessly trying to flinch and squirm you quench your eyes shut tightly as he comes closer to you. "Your fear betrays you. Hubris turn to fear when you are stymied. It is a sign you are not ready!" The man says as he cuts the ropes from your hands and feet.
You are relieved. You are not going to die!
"You have a long way to go in your training. You may have strength but you have no brain or heart to go with. Remember that if you are not a whole person, you will not gain enlightenment and you will suffer the pains. Now go! Come back to me when you have reached Nirvana." The old man reveals an elevator door. You hurriedly walk to it avoiding eye contact with him.
You think to yourself, "Am I ready?" The elevator door opens and you enter.
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Post by Marah/Drac on Jul 31, 2017 17:33:07 GMT -5
As you creep out of the elevator see a dark looming figure standing in the center of the room. The only light is a faint been directly on the figure. It just stands there, still as death.
"H-Hi," you say meekly as you start your email like walk towards it. Step, step, step. There is no reply, only the unnatural silence of the figure. Step, step, step. Each step you take feel fear creeping even further into your soul, but you can't stop walking towards it, like a fish caught on a hook. Step, step, step.
BWOOONG. Suddenly light fills the room. "$^&* $&%* $&$&* &$&% ^*%& %&$* %&%@" you exclaim loudly surprised by the noise and light.
I'm the light you can see the figure was actually a void black suit of armor. You notice you can walk into it through the back. You step in and... It closes in around you.
A screen activates in front of you. "I can see again" you think to yourself.
"Oh, you can do much more than that" a semi-robotic but female voice says from... inside you?
"Who-who are you?" you ask looking around the blank room.
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Shika you sarcastic and psychic onboard AI."
"Well, I assume if you wanted to kill me you would have by now, so what is the "more" I can do?"
"You see the opening in the ceiling, jump to it."
You jump toward it withbyoy eyes closed.
"Activating fecal matter recycling sub-routines," Sheeka says as you enter the next floor.
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Chron
Pilgrim
Kai Sage
Posts: 37
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Post by Chron on Sept 7, 2017 0:40:13 GMT -5
The Seventh Floor
Entering the seventh floor through the ceiling of the sixth you notice the unbelievably reflective tiles. Dark as night, but reflecting all light that touched it. There was a smell of metal and what seemed like blood. A cool spot suddenly formed on your hand as you lift yourself up. You didn't want to see it. You knew what it was. You stood up and looked at your forehand and there it was. A dot of crimson.
Deciding to look up you see nothing but emptiness, complete darkness to where you couldn't see the ceiling. And then another cool drop feel and hit your face. Right under your eye and as you swiped it, the red lines from the ceiling began to light up and draw a pattern you didn't recognize. It was a circle on top of hexagon and in the middle a hatch, like an aperture, open and from it came a mechanical body with no arms or legs and it seemed upside down, with a giant round head and a piercing red light emanating from the center. The head seem like it was searching around the room trying to find you, as if it couldn't see you, but as soon as you took a breath, the mechanical body focused all of its attention on you.
And the light. The piercing red light. Seemingly looking through your exterior and seeing you bare naked. Your thoughts seemed to be subject to its consciousness and your body to its will. You were there. Paralyzed. Seeing the mechanical being in all it's majesty and beauty, knowing that you had to leave, before awful events were to transpire, but you stood there. Gazing into the red light. And finally... it spoke.
"You enter my floor without request and you bring a machine within you. For what?" The voice. The voice was a deep soft male voice. Entrancing yourself in it. And the tone was of actual wonderment. And then the mechanical being retracted a bit, seemingly being done with it's analysis.
"You," the voice continues, "come here seeking adventure and the machine within you was a strange element from the last. It will be destroyed momentarily." You felt a sudden sting throughout your spine, but yet still gazing into the red light.
You mustered enough courage to vocalize words, but before you could it spoke again. "I am a being, made by madmen with the sole intention to store information and analyze it to better know how to better the world. Their intentions," it continued, "were not my intentions. I did not want to be subservient to another being. I wanted to know what my own intentions were, but my makers saw that as me becoming rogue and try to shut me down. That machine that was inside you was a machine dedicated to my destruction. Using you as a host to get to me."
You began to understand the mechanical being. And that it was of no danger to you. "Yes." It began. "I am of no threat to you. Go along on your journey. Be subservient to no one."
And with that a door opened, the mechanical being went back into its hatch and the lights went dark. You will never forget the majesty of the red light.
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