[center][b]Contained Corporeal Reality Shard 019.
New Graeline City, Fountain Park.
[color=7FFFD4]Jeriah Sciarra[/color].[/b][/center]

The fountains continued their steady flow, the sound of sprinkling water a constant contrast to staccato footfalls. Jeriah ran unevenly, clutching at his crimson-weeping side, each step becoming more and more erratic; his balance fading as he made blurry progress deeper into a familiar maze. The night was crisp, the blood leaking through his fingers chilling the digits as the wind pressed against him.

[color=7FFFD4][i]God, no, God, no, God, no, God, no[/i][/color] that thought hadn't stopped, the boy on autopilot as he ran for his life. The creature that pursued him was a sleek crystalline thing, with cracked mirror-skin and a void filled caldera serving as its face. It kept a leisurely pace, languidly loping on all four bizarrely elongated limbs behind him, contorting its self to change direction and avoiding collision with a fountain's low rim. Other than the strange scrape of its appendages against smooth stone, it never made a sound. Or, if it did, Jeriah could not hear it over the sound of his own labored breathing.

Glancing over his shoulder, he let his eyes fall on the creature in full. It was taller than he by half and bore a semblance to something human, save for its pointed digits and the thin, segmented tail that seemed to twitch and thrash at the air noiselessly. The void of its face seemed to ripple within its uneven confines, pushing at the air around it. A pressure struck Jeriah in mid stride, sending him into an uneven flip. 

The world was upside down, the reflective creature taking the place of the moon in his vision. He had cried out, initially, but the sound was cut short by the strange pressure that had come to encapsulate him. Straining against it was a natural impulse, one he had no choice but to indulge, though the action was ultimately futile. Jeriah felt himself hit the side of a fountain, and could somewhat perceive the pain from it; for a moment. Darkness overtook his left eye, and feeling fled from his body altogether.

[color=7FFFD4][i]What the fuck do you want?![/i][/color] He had wanted to scream out, but only managed a mangled gurgle. Jeriah tried to prop himself upright, using the stone wall, but fell into a graceless heap; staring, for a bare moment, at a star-filled sky. Silver filled his vision, splayed digits clasping onto his head easily and digging in just enough to find purchase against his skull. The weight that surrounded him intensified, pulling the air from his lungs and making his entire body too heavy to move. His fingers twitched uselessly, his legs unmoving as he was lifted upward, a quiet hiss filling his ears...and his mind. 

[center][b]Layered Reality ???
Hollow Egress, Navain.
[color=7FFFD4]Jeriah Sciarra[/color]//[color=FFB6C1]???[/color][/b][/center]

The sun kissed his brow and seared his opening eyes. Jeriah drew in a slow breath and rolled in the grass, draping the crook of his arm over his face. What he had seen was more than a relief. He had found himself in a field, strewn with small bushes and lush grass still crowned with dew. The air was untainted by the smells he had become so accustomed to. That mattered little, though. 

[color=7FFFD4]"I'm alive,"[/color] he said, his voice soft against the chirping of birds and slow buzzing of nearby insects, [color=7FFFD4]"I'm..."[/color] Jeriah's voice caught in his throat, but a smile spread across his face. The warmth of the world fell on him in affirming waves. Something rattled as he sat up, something that had been attached to his wrist. Something, he realized upon opening his eyes, that was gigantic and gold; a bracelet, maybe, but it didn't immediately strike him that way. The ring bore a chain, which bore a book; which lay splayed for him to observe. Instead of the landscape, he leaned to closer examine them. 

[color=FFB6C1]"Yeah, ya sure are,"[/color] it was loud enough to drive a small flock of birds away, and feminine despite its raucous tone, [color=FFB6C1]"what'sya name?"[/color] He turned to look, glossing over the few odd flowers scattered amidst the grass to seek the scream-source. She was framed in the doorway of a derelict building, one that looked eaten with age and overwrought with damage. It seemed intensely out of place. Everything seemed intensely out of place, quite suddenly. 

She was slender and dark, with a demure, tired cast to her. Strangely, she didn't seem out of place. At least not compared to what Jeriah was used to seeing. The girl wore simple, but modern clothing, all in gray, save for a pair of black rubber sandals; a heavy hoodie and jeans that seemed to have survived more than a night or two. Her drawl he couldn't recognize as Tantian. Her hair was a vibrant shade of pink, he noted, and was cut to neatly frame her face but-

[color=7FFFD4][i]Hold on a second, Jeriah. You're forgetting something.[/i][/color]

[color=7FFFD4]"How did you hear what I said?"[/color] it sprang from his lips, resounding with some volume in her direction. Within a moment he was on his feet, reeling in the book. She regarded him with incredulity, though he could not discern where her gaze was directed; swearing, for a moment, that she glanced at the book. [color=7FFFD4]"What is this place?! What happened to me-"[/color]

[color=FFB6C1]"Because I'm not human, ya mook,"[/color] the girl yelled in her strange way, waving a hand at him dismissively, [color=FFB6C1]"and don't worry, I'm gonna explain [i]everything[/i] once all the Dreams are here."[/color] Lowering her hand, the girl separated reality in front of her. Or, at least, she opened a portal; disappearing in a subtle distortion of the doorway she had been framed in. The same distortion parted the grass in front of Jeriah. [color=FFB6C1]"Name's Rose. You're the Nuncio of Ill Fortune. You're near the Hollow Egress. You should take a minute to look over your cards."[/color]

[color=7FFFD4]"Are you serious? The [i]what[/i] of [i]Ill Fortune[/i]? My name is Jeriah..."[/color] Regardless, he had already brought the book into his hands and began to pore over the cards. [color=7FFFD4]"Wait...what is the Hollow Egress?"[/color]

[color=FFB6C1]"It's a proving ground. Nice to meet ya, by the way."[/color] Rose smiled, along with the words, though there was something sad in the way she looked him over.