Falling. That was all Lucas could do for the better half of two hours. He couldn't really see anything either since it was just white fog he was falling through.
Honestly he was over it.
It was scary the first ten minutes and progressively lost its mystique when Lucas figured he would just never hit anything.
The fog itself wasn't anything special. Just white fog.
Two more hours would pass as nothing happened. Lucas was starting to wonder how Oz was doing. Probably better? God, he was bored. Maybe he should take a nap.
Lucas
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Oz
This shouldn't have been possible. There are fifteen billion people on Mitlethos alone. And the fog only took a hundred people every decade.
The chances it would've taken them should have been practically zero. But nevertheless. Oz was in the situation they were in and that was final. Best prepare to survive the festival.
Oz went about milling through everything they knew about the festival, which was surprisingly little, which was quite shameful to be honest..
However…
Oz was quite knowledgeable on Rylan herself. She was the only moon god left after the 'conquest of moons; she herself was the reason for the tear of Lunaris after all.
According to the history books. The conquest of moons was the event in which Rylan had waged war against the other moon gods for complete control of the ten moons.
The other two were Lunaris, the peacekeeper. And Sanctum, the forgotten. Rylan proved strong enough to beat both of them. And began her conquest.
Then she succeeded. And became the one true god of the moon.
That was the jist of it. Though how she ascended to godhood is mostly an enigma. Her story starts at her ascension and ends at her claim over the ten moons.
Oz was kind of baffled that in their research over Rylan and Lunaris that they had just breezed past the festival. Apparently its beginning was known to all natives of Mitlethos, which Oz wasn't, they had led a nomadic lifestyle. Going town to town, never staying long enough to truly know the locals.
In fact the longest they'd spend was in Stone's Edge. A whole two months spent searching for a flower that most likely didn't exist. For father's sake Oz was a mess sometimes.
They'd would've gone through more if they had the time. Unfortunately that was cut off when the mist disappeared. Revealing the festival grounds.
A city with broken towers and various types of buildings. With twenty or so thousand buildings, some in pristine condition whilst others were practically melted down. Odd features painted the town. Some buildings were still primitive. straw roofs in place.
On the opposite spectrum were tall blocks of brick known as apartments. Steam coming out from the top of some, the architecture was akin to the capital which Oz had only briefly visited.
The most bizarre feature was the grand tower that stood in the center of the city. Seemingly sixty two miles tall. Oz was stumped on how it held itself up but they supposed it was the work of the goddess herself, though throughout her legend she wasn't known for being a crafter.
In fact she did have an odd connection to the number four if anything. Anyhow just before Oz could've splat against the ground, their descent slowed to a complete halt, before softly having their boots touch the ground.
They were surrounded by four white corpse flowers. The smell of rot coming off of the flowers was disgusting. They earned their name in Oz's book and they would've liked nothing more than to leave without getting tainted by the smell.
Unfortunately they had a myriad of uses and were quite hard to come by on account of needing high concentrations of corpses. Donning their white gas mask. plucking the flowers and putting them into their endless bag.
Now then. Oz needed to find somewhere safe, they had a few more preparations they could make before they needed to really get a move on.
Oz
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???
Sky's above knew how bad her luck was, but even she knew it had limits. Unfortunately the limit was purely a lie that was broken by sending her into this hell forsaken death trap.
Her week was going fine too. Her target was dead before she even had to act. She'd even got her pay in advance! Which was an unfortunately rare occurrence in her line of business. Honestly you'd think rich folk would know better when you hired an assassin who could be anyone.
But what was worse were the four corpse flowers tainting her with their stench, for hells sake she couldn't have anything!
The gaunt woman walked off. Mumbling about 'pay' and 'worth'.
???
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Beelzebub
Weird. Today was too weird. Coin ran from some humans who looked more like walking corpses, they didn't even hesitate. Just ran as soon as they saw Coin.
Thankfully Coin was a fast one! The weird humans were weird in a bad way. Not like Lucas, who was weird in a good way.
They just felt wrong. Like they were missing something that made them alive. If Coin had to bet, it would be the fact they didn't have faces! All they had were holes! You could even see through to the other side!
Didn't stop Coin from killing them when they tried to corner him.
It wasn't that hard. They were weak, brittle. Coin was doing them a favor. Better a quick death than a slow one.
Coin had just sucked them towards his maw and swallowed. They tasted a bit off, like they were rotting. But it wasn't bad, it just wasn't good, something to hold off the hunger he started feeling ever since he got his new name from the spirits.
Mama worshipped them like they were big awesome creatures, Coin didn't see anything that was worth worshipping yet. Right now though he was just waddling around in his
Beast form.
It was a weird thing. Having more eyes than before. It was a bit overwhelming the first time he tried using it. It was tiring, but he'd gotten used to it. He could even eat food easier!
All he had to do was breathe in and the food came to him. Then he'd just move his mouth around and it would rip apart easily.
Coin was feeling a little sick. He'd eaten some weird looking flowers. Mama liked flowers, she'd talk about them. If he remembered right. He'd eaten four lotuses.
They were tasty. But he was feeling sick. He was slowing down too. He was running before. Now he could barely even walk before he needed to slow down and catch his breath.
"Well…this is new. A sheep away from their shepherd? How unfortunate. Worry not, I'll guide you best I can" Muttered a stranger. Who floated over.
They had long black hair which ended at their back, and a dark blue clock hiding most of their body. They looked boring, but they had two things that stuck out.
One was a tall wooden staff. It looked like it was alive sometimes, purple streaks bounced around the wood sometimes.
The other was a blindfold. It was red. It looked normal compared to the staff. But it still looked like it demanded attention.
"Sick too…don't tell me you ate the four life lotuses. Much too lively for someone of your stature. I'll see what I can do" added the stranger.
Weird. Maybe this stranger could point him to Lucas! He was missing his friend. Coin would share some food when he saw him.
Beelzebub
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Lucas
Lucas hit the floor with a thud. Shaken out of his nap. Lucas slowly got up and yawned. He looked around, seeing four white Lotus all around him. As if he were some sacrifice for a ritual.
Lucas noted that he was surrounded by raggedy buildings, though further beyond he saw tall 'bricks'. Bricks seemed like the right word for them, he had no other word that fit.
Having nothing better to do, Lucas started walking forwards. Whistling the familiar tune the gaunt lady had whistled whilst he went on his way.
The path was dirt. With various run-down houses tagging the roadsides. There was something eerie about it, maybe he was being dumb but the world seemed alive. It could be nothing, or it could've been the giant moon that hung eternally overhead. Cloaking the sky in eternal night, this led Lucas to looking around and realising something.
His surrounding area looked kind of dead. It was bizarre how empty the place seemed. Not a single soul in sight or place.
A while would pass and Lucas had no idea what to do, his walking had kept him in the outskirts of the city.
The boredom would've eaten him alive, unfortunately the quiet was ruined by the loud screaming of a person, who walked onto the street like a mad man, their limbs seemed weirdly long. Uncanny even.
He seemed thin too, unnaturally thin his ribs were poking out of his ragged shirt, his skin was deathly pale. Like the kind of colour a dead person's skin would be. Which looked shockingly like Oz's skin. Weird, maybe Oz is like a corpse or something…
The man kept his back to Lucas and face hidden as he walked towards the main city at a snail's pace. Lucas observed the man and decided to let the moment pass, no use getting involved with freaks.
Lucas took a few steps forward, the sound a pitter pattering against the ground. The pitter pattering also reached the man who immediately sprung into action.
He turned his body with inhuman speed, tearing his torso from his waist. But this didn't stop the faceless as he crawled towards Lucas with as much speed as he could muster.
What the hell?! It doesn't have a face! God's sake. Quietly screamed Lucas in his mind as he shoved off the ground and ran as fast as he could, leaving the man behind.
He kept running, fear powering his steps as he turned a corner. And tripped into something, causing him to fly into the road. Skidding to a halt.
"Oww…what the hell? What was that?" Muttered Lucas as he looked over his shoulder to find he had run over a little girl. A familiar little girl.
"Evie?" Questioned Lucas as he looked over to see the fiery haired girl also on the floor. He couldn't tell who had it worse. Him skidding over the road, or the little girl who got run over…yeah no, it's pretty obvious who had it worse.
"Ouuch…wait. you're the kid that brought papa back!"
"ye- I'm not a kid!" This would be a long da- correction. A long night.
"Are too!"
"Are not!" Was he really arguing with a seven year old? Yeah, would he win? Hopefully.
"But. You're not an adult! You don't feel old, so you're a kid!" Yelled Evie as Lucas almost gave in. He wondered. How was someone supposed to 'feel old' actually? It didn't matter. He was arguing with a seven year old.
"Pssh, what do you know? Your seven" Countered Lucas. Deciding arguing with a little kid was way better than admitting defeat.
"I'm nine! Not seven dummy!" Shouted Evie even louder. God's she has a high pitched voice. She would probably attract the weird faceless man.
After being the better person and 'losing' the argument. Evie decided she would follow along with Lucas. Which was probably the best thing she could've done.
They started walking towards the city. It would probably take a few good hours of walking before they even reached the outer city.
The two talked for a bit. And Evie bragged how her dad was the 'strongest ever' that earned a very not so subtle side eye from Lucas which Evie ignored. Apparently she liked reading with her dad, he had a calming voice.
The picture Evie had painted made her dad sound like a stand up man. Which was the polar opposite of what Lucas knew him to be. To Lucas he was a drunk who needed to be taught a lesson.
But Evie saw him like a hero. A hero he had nearly murdered. In cold blood.
What was wrong with me? A little thing like that was enough to trigger me? Is that what I was like?
Lucas shuddered at the idea. He didn't think he was an impulsive person. He was however someone who went on whims. Even getting his tale was a whim. Not much thought aside from 'I want one'.
Sadly Lucas would have to reflect some other time because something vile was up ahead. The sounds it made were loud and grotesque. Definitely a hideous monster. Best to walk the other way-
"We should see it!" Said the fiery haired girl who Lucas would soon punt.