Altered Tundra

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Kai would never be able to tell Aira how relieved he was to see that she was unharmed. If anything were to happen to her because of something that he wasn’t able to do, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. So, just to see her smile and safe from all possible danger was enough for him to smile as well. Though, he did raise an eyebrow or two at her(not at the same time) when she addressed the thing in his hand as a key. It was as if she knew what it was.

And only a moment later did Kai look at it and only did he realize that it felt really familiar to him. He didn’t know how to explain it, but there was something about the way it felt in his hand, the way he was holding it, and how it just seemed like he knew how to handle it that felt natural and as if he had been using it for years. Maybe it was just his experience with Struggle that was the reason for it.

“That has to be it,” Kai mumbled to himself, following Aira’s lead as the duo of friends would head back the way they came.

It wasn’t long until the sounds of the town would once again enter their ears. The second round of trains coming and leaving the station sounded off their engines, the ever-too-familiar horn going off. It was strange, but Kai actually missed hearing that. With everything happening from the dreams to the arrival of those little, black creatures, and then to the feeling that Kai couldn’t shake since then that he was being followed.

As the two of them had gone by Alexander’s stand to get two large Berry Jelly hot dogs just like Aira promised they’d get, they walked around town. Kai glanced up at the sky, seeing it was cloudless and the sun was way high up there. A gentle breeze passed through, giving Kai and Aira a surprising chill, blowing their hair back just briefly.

“This breeze feels nice,” Kai noted, smiling at Aira.

They continued to walk down the center of town along the train tracks, most of their dogs having been consumed by their hungry lips. The entire time they did this, Kai had heard these whispers in the back of his mind. At first, they were faint and barely audible by him, but the closer they were to his house, the louder they became. It was at the point where he could hear the voice speak out to him.

Kai! Run! They’re coming!

Kai had stopped as soon as he heard the voice scream into his head. He looked around him, then as if time itself was an illusion and had escaped him, Kai was transported to his room, or so it seemed like he was. He looked out his window and what he remembered it being daytime, now the sun had already set. There was still light out, though not much. Most of what he saw, which was from the base of Sunset Hill and the entirety of the town.

Kai didn’t understand any of this. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was hearing that voice screaming into his head then turned around; and now, as he glanced around his room. For whatever reason, his first thought was that this was some sort of prank by his family. Not a nice one, but he couldn’t help but go there. He was on edge and hearing screams from deeper in his house didn’t help quell that feeling. Quickly, he rushed out of his door and saw his little brother and mother.

And it was the sight of the black creatures from before that put Kai even more on edge. TO make matters worse, he slammed the door when he came out and all of the twelve little shadow monsters that had cornered Kai’s loved ones in the kitchen had all turned their yellow, bug-like eyes on him. They wiggled away from his mother and brother, hugging to the ground as they reappeared just a few feet away from him.

“You want me, huh? For revenge?” Kai taunted them. He extended his dominant, left hand. Light surrounded it, shaping itself around his fingers and then extending in front of him. The same weapon from before was in his hand, held in the same reverse grip that Kai held it in before. “Well, then come on!”

They weren’t very bright. They had come at Kai, which they had to know was a trick to lure them away from Kai’s family. Oh well, he simply had done what he did before. Kai lunged forward, the same unexplained skillset overtaking his mind and he spiraled forth, the blade held horizontally. Each time the weapon connected, a weird sound unlike any other that Kai heard before, was heard. It was like a hammer hitting a ball. This was heard several times - twelve, in fact - as a dozen, small clouds of shadow, followed by twelve hearts, faded into the air.

Kai rushed to his family’s aid, though it seemed like they fainted. "Good, they’re safe. I better--”

Kai was interrupted by the alarming screams of the townspeople.

“What’s going on around here?” Kai asked himself. “Oh no, if they attacked my family, then that means..”

He wasted no time. He quickly made a beeline for Aira’s house, jolting through the front door. The sight he saw, however, was not one he had expected...

The Sands of Time

ATTENTION SALEMITES

_{@Dirty Pretty Lies @Hero @spooner @SpicyMeatBall @Ruby @Fabricant451 [@Proseiac] @Ejected}

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Due to the prolonged length the current scene has been lasting, we will be skipping to our second IC event sometime next week. This decision is partly my desire to move things along, as well as get the maximum amount of posts from you beautiful people.

So, in knowing this, please make use of the time that you have left to finish up your current scenes. I do not know exactly when next week the skip will be, but the goal is to, at the latest, by the week of June 11th. This gives you about 10-14 days to do what you need to do. Given the busy schedules some of you have, I'm sure this will be more than enough time to bust out what you need.

As always, I love you guys and hope this RP is a long one. <3

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Our Journey So Far…

Prologue

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Kai, the Sea-Faring Boy with Oceanic Eyes

Aira, the Girl Who Smells of Sunflowers

Friends for as long as they could remember, Kai and Aira grew up with each other in adjacent houses. Their families were friends long before their birth, so even before they knew it, they were destined to be the best of friends. With such a close bond, when they finally were able to meet in the physical world, it was almost instant that their friendship blossomed into something truly magical. Their hearts bonded and they developed a deep caring for each other.

And it was this bond that they became a packaged deal. Though they didn’t realize it, their two dreams were connected in some way, though the exact reason for that still remains unknown. They woke up from a strange dream in their own way. Kai’s dream had him receive a warning about an impending doom that would soon fall upon his world, while Aira experienced a dream that dealt with her running away from a darkness, though no matter where she ran, it followed and consumed her. When they woke up, both of them were brought to reality differently. Kai received a loud awakening call as his head met the wooden foundation of the bunk bed he shared with his brother and Aira simply woke up as if nothing had happened, yet they couldn’t shake this feeling of something larger at play.

When Kai had made his way to the beach, along the way, he thought he saw something - or someone - near the entrance of the Underground Concourse. He shook this feeling off, of course, as he made his way to the beach so he could meet with Aira. She herself was feeling as if things hadn’t been the same since waking up from her own dream. She, of course, wouldn’t show this to Kai because if he had seen her anything but her usually cheery self, he would worry. But, as it would turn out, their conversation following their initial greetings, ended up being about the very thing she didn’t want to worry him about.

They told each other about their dreams and how it seemed like they were in the same realm and were oddly similar to one another. It wasn’t entirely the same, but they appeared to be connected in some way.

After trying to figure this out, it was Kai who would, yet again, seem to hallucinate about something. He saw the sea in front of him turn black, the skies grow dark, and the circular sun change its shape into a heart and it had a more pinkish shade as opposed to the usual red/orange scheme. The sight disappeared as soon as it had appeared, but that wasn’t the same for what Kai saw in his mind and what he was feeling thereafter.

He took a few moments to process it, asked Aira about it (to which she seemed confused), but he eventually let it go. Instead, he chose to focus on something else - like surfing and getting Berry Jelly dogs. Though the latter wasn’t denied, Aira had a different idea, which was quite uncharacteristic of her. Usually, she loved playing in the water as Kai surfed, but she felt like being Aira, the Explorer today. And much to Kai’s initial disappointment, he submitted himself to this new experience.

When she told him of the destination for today’s exploration, the Underground Concourse, Kai was more than willing to explore that place. He had an additional motivation to go through with it because of what he had seen earlier. Though, as they stepped into it, he heard a voice speak out to him. It wasn’t until later on when they had properly removed themselves from the town’s noise and were in the tunnels, that the reason was revealed…

Kai and Aira’s life was put in danger as these shadow figures with little, black bodies and yellow eyes rose up from the ground and surrounded the duo. Out of instinct alone, Kai put Aira behind him as he took his struggle bat and promised to protect her. His efforts were no good as the bat went straight through the creature. In turn, the shadow creature struck Kai and sent the teen back a few paces. Desperate, Kai was about to go back for round two. Just before he did, he heard a voice call out to him. After a brief conversation, his resolve to protect Aira in every single way that he could was confirmed. As a result, he was gifted a weird sword shaped like a key. It resembled his surfboard and the colors of the ocean. It was with this that he not only was able to protect Aira like he wanted to in the first place, the blade proved to be the only thing that was able to vanquish the shadow creatures back to their place of origin.

As Kai looked upon her face with gusto, he was overcome with a sense of relief as he had done what he had set out to do: protect Aira at all costs.

Later the same day, Kai and Aira had went home to try and relax. Tomorrow was looking like it was going to be a good day. And after everything that happened in the Underground Concourse, both Kai and Aira just wanted to forget and enjoy the time they could with each other and their respective families. However, it seemed as though that wasn’t in the cards for them because, not long after Kai had went down for a nap, he was awoken by a terrible, terrible scream. This was, of course the sounds of his family members.

Immediately, Kai went to check it out. To his surprise, he saw the sights of the same, shadowy creatures from before. His first instinct was to make sure his family was okay. They were unharmed, but it seemed like it wouldn’t be like that for long. Those creatures were pinpointed on them, so Kai created a diversion so they could escape. IT worked because they were on him. Kai dealt with these creatures in a swift manner. After it was all said and done, Kai was on high alert. When he stepped outside of his house, he saw everything was darker than night usually made it and it was crawling with the same creatures from before. In his desperation, he went to Aira’s hosue.

And as Kai entered her house, he was too late. She was just seconds away from being absorbed into a portal of what looked like darkness. The only thing he saw was the sight of a pink-haired girl with a scythe and Aira’s desperate plea to Kai.

---

Chapter I - As Dusk Falls, Dawn Traversed Through

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𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

He didn’t know what he was going to do. These little creatures with the golden eyes were increasing in the numbers and Kai’s efforts proved to be in vain. But at the same time, he wasn’t about to give up. If he had to be a diversion so that Aira could get away, he would do just that. There was absolutely no way he was going to let them harm her. As long as he had a fighting bone in his body, he’d protect her at all costs.

Do you mean that, Kai?

Kai looked around him for the person that just spoke to him, but he didn’t see anyone. Then, it spoke once more.

Do you mean that you will protect her at all costs?

As the voice spoke again to him, it started to resonate with him. Moreover, the voice was the same one from before. It was starting to come back to him.

“Yes, more than anything!”

In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder, you shall be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love.

Kai reached into the bright light, his hand being surrounded by it. He felt a warmness overtake him, the entirety of his body engulfed in that same light. As it would fade, Kai came out of it relatively the same. He felt the same, anyway. But, as his oceanic eyes glanced down, there was an obvious difference. As clear as the ocean was in a cloudless day, a key-like sword that was in place of his struggle bat. It was of equal length and it was lightweight much like his bat. There was, however, a momentous difference. It looked like his surfboard and was colored similarly.

Kai smiled at Aira, then gave the creatures a similar look. “It’s their doom!” It took Kai just a moment to realize how corny that sounded. “...yeah, okay I heard it in my head,” Kai shrugged.

He lifted the key-like weapon and held it reverse-grip. Something about how it felt and how the stance he took with his back arched forward and his left leg in front of his left felt was natural to him. Then, as the creatures came at him, Kai spun around, somehow feeling lighter on his feet than he had ever been. His body was like a spiraling tornado of greed and blue, striking all of the creatures that came at him. Each corner of his weapon struck them and every single one that had been hit disintegrated into smokey blackness and little pink hearts floated afterward, fading only a second after appearing.

And all of this happened in a single jump. When Kai landed just a few paces away, he looked back at Aira, looking at her half-amazed, half-surprised face. It warmed his heart and gave him such a feeling of relief to see that she was unharmed.

"I'm so glad you're safe."

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

It seemed like the deeper they went into the tunnels, the less noise that Kai heard from the town. Usually, though not too much, it was pretty loud. The trains coming in and out of the station every five hours was when everyone in Sunset Terrace what time it was. But even that was muffled out because of the thick walls of underground concrete that these tunnels were carved from. What beautifully-crafted constructions they were, though. Every inch was measured perfectly and every path that Kai and Aira took were equal in height and even the way they each seemed to connect was carefully planned out. Just by looking at them, that was something Kai could surmise.

But, as with all things, especially when it came to exploring unknown territory, Kai’s attention went elsewhere. It went to how Aira took the lead, which was highly unusual for her. She’s been doing a lot of things that seemed to be unusual for her. Not wanting to surf or go to Sunset Hill, for one. Wanting to explore the new tunnels was another, but Kai was curious what came over her. This wasn’t the same Aira from yesterday. Then again, Kai was more on-edge than he usually was. He never was one to back away from anything, but when he stepped foot into this underpass, something about it didn’t sit well with him.

It was almost as if--

Kai was cut off mid-thought as he heard Aira speak, her sudden gasp immediately setting every alarm in his head. Without thinking, he took her behind him, gripped his struggle bat, and assumed defensive countermeasures. He didn’t think, he just did it. It was only after he saw what she was alerted to that he raised an eyebrow, looking around as there were more of some little, black creatures. They were about as large as a raccoon. They were entirely black like...like...the sea. And their eyes were golden...like the heart-shaped sun.

Again, Kai shook that thought, looking at Aira. “Stay behind me. I’ll protect you.” He promised her, gripping his bat as hard as he could. He put on a brave face for Aira but the truth was he was just as afraid as she was.

When one of these shadow creatures poised themselves to attack, Kai jumped the gun. At the same time that the creature lunged at Kai, he swung his bat. To his surprise, the bat not only didn't do anything to stop the attack, but it phased right through it, though that didn't stop the creature from getting a good lick into Kai, as the boy was sent about a pace back. He wasn't hurt in the process, but the action from the shadow creature did startle him, though not as much as his attack doing literally nothing did.

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

As they walked back up the flight of stairs and went through the center of town along the train tracks, Kai was still moping around about not being able to surf. Even if the prospect of getting a Berry Jelly Dog wasn't off the table, Kai was still feeling disappointed that he wasn't going to get his feet wet like he had originally hoped he would. An upside of this, though, was his headache from earlier had more or less dissipated. That, at least, was something to be thankful for. He still couldn't believe how much his head was hurting and how foolish it was of him to jerk so quickly when he was on the bottom bunk.

Oh well, time to focus, Kai!

"Yeah, it is," he said, confirming what he told her earlier.

When they had come to the entrance to the Underground Concourse, Kai gave Aira a quick nod, hearing her voice echo through the large pathway of tunnels. Admittedly, he didn't know how deep or even where it led to. In all the time he had lived in Sunset Terrance, Kai couldn't recall a single time when he had explored this place. In fact, it wasn't until just a few days ago where the tunnel was open to the public. How odd that it magically was open to everyone.

That thought lingered as Kai glanced over at Aira, nodding once more as the two would go in. With his struggle bat in his hand, he took the first step. When he did, for a brief moment, he thought he heard something. This prompted him to freeze for a single second. But, just as quickly as he did, it was gone.

"It's so big in here. How was it that no one knew this place existed up until a few days ago?"

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

"Something else?"

Kai tipped his head to the side. This wasn't like Aira at all. She had always enjoyed their moments in the water, with him surfing and catching the waves and her being his support as he would crash and wipeout on shore. And when they had enough of their fill of the sun and sea, they would head into town and get a Terrance Dog, which was basically the usual hotdog sold in Twilight Town - just with a special Berry Jelly in place of mustard. Most didn't care for it, but Kai and Aira loved them. Alexander, the man who runs the only hot dog stand in Sunset Terance, which was located just a few clicks from the station, knew to save a few extra crispy dogs for his two favorite customers. And, after soaking in their town, the two would end the morning by going up to Sunset Hill to watch the afternoon sun and feel the breeze of the wind and the butterflies coming out.

So, one could imagine the surprise that Kai was experiencing right now when his best friend in the whole universe suggested they do something else.

"But..surfing. And our Berry Jelly Dogs."

It was as if Kai's entire world had come crashing down on him like a wave too high for its own good and forcing itself to collapse within itself. But, as Kai looked upon that gentle face of hers, seeing the fire in her come alive when she uttered the words of exploring, he knew he couldn't say no to her; better yet, he wouldn't. She was just about the most important person to him - other than his mother and little brother, of course - so, how could he possibly say no to her?

He let out a defeated sigh, then gave Aira a wide smile. "Fine. You win, Aira," He told her, shrugging somewhat, "just let me stack my board in our hut and we can go explore...wherever it is you want to explore."

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Kai gave Aira an equally-intrigued, confused look. What was she talking about? He didn't say anything about seeing darkness or anything of the like - just a black sea and a heart-shaped sun. But now that she had mentioned something about it, he became solely focused on what she had said. His mind wandered deep, diving head-first into the 'what if' scenarios. Every part of him that was present tried as hard as they could to remember every intricate detail of the dream. Kai knew it was there. He could feel the emotions that came over him. The feeling being helpless while being helped; the feeling of being useless while being used. Everything and anything that happened to him was there, yet it was far out of his reach. It was like something was blocking him from accessing the entirety of that memory.

"Gah!"

Out of frustration, Kai let out an abrupt, sudden yell, no doubt alarming Aira.

"I'm tired of not getting anywhere on this trip down memory lane. I'd rather just enjoy this beautiful day," Kai said, giving Aira a grin, turning a complete 180 of his previous mood. "I've got my surfboard, my struggle bat, and my best friend. That's all I need today." Kai nodded to himself, even vocally confirming it with himself. "So, what do you say? Want to just enjoy this day and maybe go check out the passing trains later on top of Sunset Hill?"

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

Though it was a serious moment between the two, childhood friends, Kai couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Only Aira would assume that Kai's dream that involved water would automatically mean it was centered around surfing. "I only wiped out because that wave snuck up on me. Honest." Kai huffed negatively, then looked at his usually cheery friend, then he sighed. His mind went back to the topic at hand, "I love how you went to that first," Kai said, grinning at her, "but that's not what it was about. I mean, not really. It's hard to explain."

And even after he had explained it to her and explained it in his head, Kai couldn't properly find the right word to explain the sort of dream he had. It was like nothing he experienced before. What was even worse was that something in the deepest part of his heart gave him a bad feeling. He knew it was just a dream and there was no reason for him to be so on edge. Why would a dream make you feel so paranoid about something that didn't even happen? Sure, those vivid dreams that were so intense and so life-like would cause one to feel as though they were real. Maybe that's what it was.

As he was going to respond to the last thing that Aira said, Kai suddenly felt something in his stomach. He didn't know what it was, but for a moment, when he had gone to gaze at the sea, that wasn't what he saw. In front of him, he saw darkness, smoke was rising from the sea, and the sky was as black as night with something that looked like a heart-shaped sun in the sky. He immediately shook his head and everything was back to normal.

"Whoa!" Kai jerked to Aira, looking at her, almost as if taken aback by what he just saw, "did you just see that, Aira? Did you see the black sea and the heart-shaped sun?"

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

"That's a good question."

Kai didn't know how to answer that. He remembered bits and pieces of the dream. He remembered being under water and feeling like he was being protected from drowning. He remembered being at a loss for words when he heard a voice and how, no matter what he did, he couldn't escape that stasis. It was like an endless loop and the only thing that was keeping him from drowning was, ironically enough, his mindset at the time. It was as if his desire to keep going kept him from sinking into the darkness. But how would he properly explain that to Aira? It was bad enough that he couldn't remember anything past the water part, but there was this feeling deep inside him, though he wasn't able to recall, he felt like something really important happened.

As his gaze left the sea and went to Aira, Kai simply spoke with an uncertain recalling of events. "I remember being under water. And a bright light. There might've also been a voice. I don't know. I just can't be sure.." He scratched his head, letting out a forced laugh.