[CENTER][sup][h1][center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019a022c-6e61-7236-9f9b-7a94aef8d57c.webp[/img][/center][b][center][color=black] A Q U A L A D[/color]
[color=gold]A Q U A L A D[/color][/center]
[/b][/h1][/sup]
[sup][color=limegreen][b]INFERNO EVENT[/b] (part IV)[/color]
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[@Half Pint] [@Cyrania] [@Taka] [@mattmanganon] [@King Kindred][/sup][/CENTER]

[color=goldenrod][b]BROOKLYN[/b][/color]
[color=limegreen][sup][b]NEW YORK CITY[/b][/sup][/color]

[INDENT][COLOR=SILVER]The green guy bent down to look the boy in the eyes, scooping up Garth. [color=green]"I will help as I can."[/color] He then took Arthur's hand. [color=green]"Imagine yourself without form or body. Calm your mind, imagining it as an oasis within the raging storm outside. Do not fear. I shall be your anchor, your surety that you shall return. As long as you are with me, you shall be safe. Once you take that step, I shall lead you to where you seek to go."[/color]

When the Green Goblin took the boy's hand, Arthur felt as though part of him were suddenly being pulled -- as if part of his mind had traveled down his arm and passed up the green man's. 

His name wasn't Green Goblin, it was J'onn.

The offered advice was both heard and [i]felt[/i]. Arthur barely aware of being lifted off the ground as J'onn moved them toward the seaside. Arthur mulling over the image of a raging tempest. Or a hurricane, with an eye of calm at the center.

[color=limegreen]"Freaking out, breathe it out,"[/color] the boy uttered, closing his eyes. How did he connect with the Fire Trolls though?

How did he connect with Porca or Willy? He never thought about it. He just [i]did it[/i]. Was that what the calm was? Not thinking about it?

Opening his eyes, the tawny-haired boy looked up at a Fire Troll that was charging toward them. Suddenly, Arthur felt a connection. 

The Fire Troll abruptly stopped, a look of confusion plain on its monstrous face.

The boy then turned his head, spying a second Fire Troll. And a third. [color=limegreen]"I need to talk to all of them this way,"[/color] the boy remarked aloud, even though J'onn likely also heard it telepathically as well. Saw as Arthur saw.

J'onn nodded, then spoke in a chorus of thought and speech. [color=green]"I'll aid you."[/color] Then Arthur felt J'onn's mind spread out like a current, flooding through the city, carrying Arthur's along with it. A brief image of a young boy grinning, green like J'onn, flashed briefly through the connection before J'onn stifled it to focus on the moment. Any Fire Troll mind was found, touched, and latched onto. Any others were briefly touched then released, though one couple J'onn gave the thought to head to a place to find their boy before releasing them. Once all the Troll's were found, J'onn then told Arthur. [color=green]"The connection is ready. Think what you need to say."[/color]

For a moment, Arthur felt as if he had been swept away by a riptide of consciousness. Minds, voices, experiences, all talking over each other in a cacophony of chaos. He’d have drowned in a yawning chasm of the mind that seemed to stretch and connect infinitely, but for the green hand that held him fast.

[color=limegreen]"Freaking out, breathe it out,"[/color] the boy repeated to himself, closing his eyes and letting his entire sense of self surrender to the pull of the mental tide, conscious thought drifting over telepathic waves as the Martian had laid out the path for him to travel.

Collectively, the Fire Trolls each stopped.

Some looking at others. Some confused.

Finally, one of the giants, a great behemoth even for their kind, spoke. [color=orangered][b]“KING ATLAN HAS RETURNED.”[/b][/color]

The trolls each took a step back. Looks exchanged before the same statement was repeated again. [color=orangered][b]“KING ATLAN HAS RETURNED.”[/b][/color]

Whatever it meant, whoever this King Atlan was, the giants were retreating back to the water.

Eyes fluttering open, the blue-eyed youth watched, but could not celebrate. 

The damage had been inflicted. While Garth had managed to snuff out some of the flames, there were fires still burning in places. And people trapped in buildings damaged by the giant’s passage into the city.

There was still work for the heroes to do. And likely more questions that needed answer.[/COLOR][/INDENT]