M The Dreamer's Cycle: Ep1, "Starfish in Wonderland"

[P0rcelain]

Tahlula Expanse - The Corporeal Rift Carnesphere

Ivory scuttled at the back of the group, his many arachnid feet rhythmically squishing and tripping over the guts and bones that constituted the earth. To cope with the malodorous stink he was wearing a beak-like mask over his mouth, scarf tucked neatly underneath. He and the other Rift Knights were marching through the valleys and enormous caverns of the Carnesphere together. It was, quite literally, a putrid place. Mountains of flesh and lakes of clotting blood. Piles of rotting corpses from the millions of beasts and monsters that live and pass away there every day. Moisture dripped from the ceiling, a vile stock of (perhaps thankfully) unknown fluids. Dim lights reflecting sinisterly off wet surfaces, emitted from the plants, algae and lichens that grow in the eternally fertile ground.

He watched some grotesque, balding hexapodic creature start eating another of its own kind alive in the distance and promptly dry heaved.

"Ugh, I hate this place. Worst sphere... Well... At least in my worst eleven." He muttered to himself, wiping sweat from his brow with an underdeveloped claw. "When was that crossover going to open anyway?"

He directed the question at no one in particular. For the longest running member of the group, he was rather infantile.

 

[Over Yandere]

Azure walked with small nervous steps in the middle of the group, this was her first outing with the Rift Knights. Her largely humanoid body was currently hidden behind the environmental protective suit she wore. Head occasionally swiveling to shine her helmet's flashlight upon the disgusting mess that was the flesh which made up the Carnesphere. As she walked her hips wiggled uncomfortably as she wasn't used to the feeling of her small bear tail being cramped up within the suit. At least the helmet had been modified to fit her rounded panda ears located on top of her head. Fortunately her helmet also spared her from the smell of the Carnesphere, she honestly felt pretty bad for Ivory in that he couldn't wear a full suit.

"Soon I think... but um hopefully sooner. I really don't like this place," she replied to Ivory.

 

[Noodlewerfer]

The Black Knight was unphased by the grotesque Carnesphere. "Soon enough," he said curtly. His suit of armor contrasted strangely with the fleshiness of the Carnesphere. It also contrasted with the other knights' suits. It looked like a traditional medieval knight's armor, though black. It was questionable what it was actually made of. It didn't appear to have any obvious environmental protection systems, but apparently it still worked fine in this environment. It was somewhat questionable if there even was a person inside the armor, as the other knights had not seen him without it. Its feet were squishing against organs and entrails, squeezing out their remaining fluids like a sponge with occasionally sloshing sounds. Coming up to an obstacle, he had to slash his black sword against some clumps of veins blocking the way like vines. They were quick to burst open and pour out blood, coating the ground below in a crimson paint. The bizarre amalgamations of tissue that constituted this place were nothing more than mere traits of this place to him.

 

[AirAdmiral]

Following a bit behind the Black knight was Amber, somewhat shorter than the rest. He seemed surprisingly unperturbed by the environment around him, despite being relatively new to the Corporeal Rift. "Ivory, you more than any of us should know how difficult it is to pinpoint something like this, let alone an exact time." His voice was slightly melodic and higher pitched - not unusual for his species, though unexpected considering his almost human appearance. "Just make sure you're all keeping your eyes and ears open." Ironically, his own eyes were darting between the innumerable bits of gore, taking in all the anatomical variations and details. The sensor suite he had installed on his helmet was going wild, as was usual when he was on missions. Much of it was modified equipment that he had brought with him to the Rift, and was still not entirely calibrated to filter out the immense amount of latent interference of the Rift. "Damn it all." he mutterd to himself. 'Even after all these months, I can't put a decent filter on all this stuff."

 

[Wolf626]

Bringing up the rear of this group, came the biggest of the group. If not in height, then certainly in weight, especially considering he bore the biggest backpack carrying the supplies. He wore blood red armor that bore no insignias nor ornamentations, mantled by a gray furred cloak. It's only noteworthy feature was the great horned helm that adorned the head of the Rift Knight known as Red.

"It could be worse." was his simple ruff reply, setting his great silver axe upon his shoulder, covered with runes pulsing softly with verdant green witchfire. Around his waist, a lantern hung from his belt. It bore a gentle purple light source for the group.

"Apologies Azure." he eventually said, as he stood sentinel to the back of the group, watching for sneak attacks. "I was unable to implement suitable accomodations in your suit for your behind. When we return to base, I'll make sure to fix it." The armored man, referred to his position as the team's blacksmith, armorer and overall, 'wrench boy' as he had been called.

 

[P0rcelain]

As Red scanned the surroundings for potential threats, a reflection caught his attention. Purple light dimly bounced off of some spherical object 10 or so meters from the group. It seemed attached to a great body laying sinisterly in the shadows. An eye, perhaps? And with the possibility, perhaps danger.

 

[Wolf626]

"Take heed knights!" Red warned, eyes locking onto the sphere. Lifting his axe from his shoulder, he brought his lantern to bear on his left hand, seeking to bring forth more light onto this possible danger. "Battle may be upon us."

 

[P0rcelain]

As Red focused his lantern onto the sphere, reflections danced across its surface and soon revealed the features adjacent to it. Another ball to the side of it, this one cracked and broken in the middle. A giant pair of gaping scissor-like mandibles beneath them both, with some oral opening distorted and frozen so as to be screeching with might eternally. Antennae broken off and each penetrating the terrain. Its body a long and centipede-like rope of armour and legs, dipping beneath the sea of cadavers it is partially submerged in. Its surface was a translucent tan in the goggle-like, forward-facing compound eyes that had previously only shown themselves as spheres. The rest of the thing, muddled shades of brown and silver. There was no mistaking it, it was not alive. Terrifying, yes, though never alive. It was the enormous molt of a territorial seolforwyrm. Deadly giants and denizens of the carnesphere that claim territory as theirs and battle each other for land in games of wit. They rarely take an interest in smaller beings, since they are orthodox; multi-celled eukaryotes with a ravenous caloric intake. Though their intelligent, meddlesome nature can often lead them to... interfere... with grander plots.

 

[Over Yandere]

"My behind?" Azure inquired innocently before the pieces clicked into place, "Oh! S..sorry, is it that noticeable?" She was going to say more when suddenly the warning came, causing her to hurriedly sweep side to side with her helmet mounted flashlight as if she were looking for something but not seeing anything. After a few panicked sweeps of her flashlight it seemed to settle on the gaping maw, or rather what would have been the gaping maw were this not a molted carapace. The light lingered there for a while as magic began to flare at her finger tips before she finally realized it was not a threat. Flashlight sweeping much more slowly now she took a more careful look at their surroundings. She really didn't know much about this sphere, and as such was feeling quite uneasy about there being such a large creature possibly around her in a world made of meat. Normally size wouldn't deter her as many in her home were quite large, even unfathomably so, but she wasn't in her home and this sphere was as alien to her as she might be to it.

 

[AirAdmiral]

Noticing Azure's response to the corpse through his augmented vision, Amber cautioned her - "Try to avoid that. There are almost certainly beings near here that will take notice of things like that, minor as they may be." He looked more closely at the creature, and managed to quickly recognize it. "By my understanding, there shouldn't be much of a threat from those. Considering how fresh it is, its territory probably hasn't been claimed yet." After thinking further, he continued. "If this drags on, however, we may see a turf war between others of its species. At that point, it is difficult to predict how we would fare." In truth, Amber did not know as much as he would have liked about these creatures, and it worried him greatly. His greatest fear on missions was of walking into an unknown situation, which this one was becoming more and more and more of.

 

[P0rcelain]

Ivory pivoted on the spot after Red had stopped, and scratched his head at the goings on.
"...I suppose... We should probably try to find it..." He shrugged unsuredly, "to make sure it does not go near the crossover. I suppose."

 

[Noodlewerfer]

"The threat to us does not appear to be immediate... We will have to bring the threat to it. We cannot allow it to interfere," the Black Knight concluded confidently. "It will be a mere inconvenience to slay." He readied his sword, prepared to fight the beastly centipede monster whenever they encountered it.

 

[P0rcelain]

"Makes sense to me." Ivory raised his claws in a shrugging motion, and began walking with his delicate, arachnoid legs past the molt.

His feet made a rapid pitter-patter against the flesh as he moved, and a creaking sound started in the ground beneath him. "Should we split up? One group can guard the crossover and the other-"

A sharp crack echoed throughout the landscape. Less than half a second later, Ivory plummeted into the earth with a shrill, gargled shriek through his mask. Squishing and thudding sounds became increasingly distant. It sounded like a small man falling down a fleshy staircase. Fittingly so, because it seemed like Ivory had just fallen into a tunnel that was previously concealed in the ground as though it were a pitfall trap.

 

[Wolf626]

Red approached the molt, purple fey light shining on the dead skin of the worm. While he was not a hunter by trade, he had learned how to track beasts long ago. If they had a physical form, there would be a trace of their movements. There was always a trail to follow.

As he began to call the rest of the group, he heard the crack. Turning, he was able to watch as Ivory fell beneath the earth. Without hesitation, Red followed, buckling his lantern to his belt. "Ivory!" he called, shuffling down the staircase.

 

[Over Yandere]

The loud crack and shouting caused Azure to spin on her heels and gaze at the hole where Ivory had fallen. The pit with uneven protrusions of flesh and meat providing a way to get down to the bottom invoked a feeling of dread. Emotions racing, she moved closer until her eyes gazed into the pit while she stood at the precipice of the edge. Of course she didn't know if she wanted to get to the bottom of it though Red clearly did. Hesitantly, a bluish purple aura began to spread outward from the tips of her finger tips until a thin sheen covered her whole form. It was then that her feet slowly lifted from the floor and brought her roughly three inches from its surface, she then began to float down after Red while sticking near the walls of the pit.

 

[Noodlewerfer]

"That..." Even the Black Knight seemed to be shocked by Ivory's disappearance. "Follow me, with haste!" he called out. Ever the one to make a display, he raised his sword and planted it in the wall of the pit, using it to slide down at a controlled speed. With his dark and uncanny powers he could've levitated down like Azure, but that's not what he chose to do. If this pit was part of some sort of living organism, it would surely be in a world of pain from the cut at least.

 

[AirAdmiral]

"That might be worth-"
Amber was interrupted by the realization that what he had heard a few seconds ago was actually something dangerous. "Oh for fuck sake. Now hang on just a-"
He was again interrupted, this time by the rest of the group diving after Ivory. Sure guys, he thought to himself. Jump into the unknown hell pit without a thought, not like there are deadly creatures around here or anything.

 

[P0rcelain]

The tunnel spiraled a fair way down, twisting consistently to the right and down. Bones protruded from the floor and walls, likely the main culprit for the stairway-like acoustics made when Ivory fell through. Stringy veins and arteries hung from the tunnel ceiling, and varicose veins lined the walls. At the bottom, the tunnel opened up to an enormous cavern much like what the group had been in before they spelunked the tunnel. Ivory was sprawled out on the ground, covered in putrid blood and a face full of flesh.

"I am ok. I am just taking a breather." He muffled into the floor. Physically, he was not injured. Emotionally... it took a minute or two for the other knights to catch up to him, and he still had not got up yet.

Ahead of him, there were markings across the piles of carcasses. A hint that something had passed through.

 

[Over Yandere]

Azure eventually landed at the bottom after floating her way down, she was breathing a little heavily as it seemed as though maintaining levitation magic for such a period of time had made her short of breath. That aura of magic surrounding her began to fade as she continued to catch her breath. Breath caught, the flashlight on her helmet swung to illuminate Ivory's fallen form as her gaze went to him. "Let's um... get you up okay? This place doesn't seem safe to rest." A gentle touch to the back of his armor as a hand was placed upon it in an attempt reassure him. "Would you like help getting up... that is not that you need it, just um the offer is there." Her voice meek and unsure of itself as it was still presented a soft kindness.

 

[P0rcelain]

"Th-thanks." Ivory got half way up, then raised an arm to steady himself on Azure as each of his many legs righted themselves, slowly crawling back to a standing position.