The Green Moon: Lost

The Moon.

The Green Moon is laid out before Estelle as she breaches the event horizon of the mirror. There is no sickening drop. There is no feeling of anguish, or some kind of badly imagined loading screen transition. There is only this. Only the moon, and the horde of Goblins before her. A horde that will force her to make a fierce left or right in order to not get trampled by them.

In the far, far distance, the massive orb and its tower stand. With the horde well positioned between her and it. What first hits her however, is the feeling of nausea. She might recall Prophylaxis shouting about hyperoxygenation. Too much oxygen. As she stumbles to the right, that's what she first has to deal with. Her gaze panning to the side.

Expecting to perhaps see a portal, or just some gate... she ends up shoulder-checking right into a structure amidst her stumble. Hard pale white metal slamming into her shoulder - or rather, vice-versa. And as her gaze goes up... she spots what looks like... almost a hangar in size that seems to be set in a cylinder. Behind her, the mirror seems to connect to a Chaos Gate in a small alcove that is rapidly whirring behind the 'square' that serves as the Event Horizon.

She has two options. She can try to find an entrance within this building, or she can make a desperate run for the antenna in the far far distance - though the latter is sure to be an incredibly difficult, if not impossible task.

The vixen did have a 'landing strategy' - one she was incanting even as she slipped through the mirror, its last words still echoing in the last gasps of the battle back in Yamato; "Vela, the wanderer's sail, I call upon the winds you jail. I turn them to a might gale, and loose them with freedom's wail!" The spinning, whirling winds should hopefully by her enough time to get her feet under her, thump into something that isn't a goblin, and realize the sort of predicament she's in. It doesn't give her too long, admittedly, but... the first course of action is clear.

Get out of the open.

So she tries darting around the... hanger?, looking for anything that could be a way in, or any omens and signs in the environment that might also indicate safety - even as she considers spells she could use to handle the problem the Doctor spoke of, back there. Eventually she adapts one of her air shields, softly invoking "Byakko, with your domain of air, keep my breathing hale and fair."

White wall. White wall. White wall. As her fingers slip along the surface of the metal cylinder, she starts to get an idea of just how wide this location is. How tall. Then suddenly, an entrance. She passes through what looks like a blue holographic entrance that seems to be scanning for something. The moment she steps in, a red light goes off all of the sudden.

Multiple wall panels open, with what looks like some kind of... miniguns on them suddenly turning towards her, while multiple scanners start to track over her body for a moment. Then, the red light turns to orange. The weapons do not figure, but she can tell that they are still tracking her, even though the gates into the hall begin to open.

What she steps into, is an absolutely enormous facility, of which she's only in the first section of. There's various conveyors running everywhere, moving what look like green 'eggs' throughout the facility. Various cranes picking some of them up. Some of them getting inspected. Others being suddenly crushed, splaying into good and drooling down to vats below the conveyors. There's a broken looking piece of machinery to the side, being repaired by these little various-colored... soot sprites? If she's familiar with Chim Chims, she might recognize them.

There's thick tubes filled with strange liquids all over the place. And what's worse, the oxygen situation here is no different than it was outside. However, there's a sudden sound of alert, followed by the buzzing of machinegun fire, ripping apart a few Goblins that came in through the holographic blue screen. The others quickly seem to think twice of proceeding further inwards.

Within the area she is in, more weapons pop out from the ground and various walls. Red lasers tracking her, and she becomes immediately aware of a series of 'paths' on the ground. Green going towards a chamber to the right, and Orange going to the left, to what looks to be an exit further up.

There is another thing notable however, in the region she is in. Within the wall, she can see something that looks like... an enormous 'sword' laid into the wall. It's colored in a red shade, and it almost seems like it's got a body attached to it as 'part' of the blade, with its singular 'wing' of blades to its left. From it, she is hearing an eerie sounding... song? Some of it she can understand. But she can also hear more voices coming from various parts in the facility deeper in, signing the exact same song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sgRKBot5bs

There's a gulp, at the warning light and the tracking of those /miniguns/. The fox holds her hands up, the folded fan in one of them - the other is open, palm faving forward, to show she's not going to start anything. When they don't fire, even fi they do track her, she does hesitantly continue forwards... where she gasps, silver eyes wide as she looks one way and then the other, taking it all in. This is far from what she expected!

"... If only we'd reinvented cameras already." She muses aloud, knowing that her sketching skills are likely not up to the task of recreating the image even half-way decently. Especially not from memory, later, because she doesn't have much time right now. The clock is ticking. She shakes it off, spending a moment to exam the chims - oh, how Merek has gone on about hem - and listening to the song they're harmonized with. Something about it sets her on edge, even as tries to memorize portions of it while she investigates. A vial comes out, for instance, to collect some of the drooling from a smashed 'egg' inside of it.

The sudden fire of the guns behind her has her whirl - but she sees it's at the goblins, and more of the scourge shying away. So she shakes herself out, and then starts along the green path - assuming that it means 'go', as it was used in game. She doesn't approach the singing blade fresco, and its frankly intimidating cast. She's here to gather as much information as she can.

With a little bit of work with her water spells, she manages to scoop up a section of the 'goop' before it falls into one of the vats, and returns it to herself to put in a makeshift jar of sorts. This sense of being watched starts to creep on her though, coming from that absolutely /massive/ blade in the wall, that looks about as tall as the hangar itself. Partially burried in the ground with its tip. Its gleam tracking her. Yet, aside from the situation with the oxygen, nothing is happening. It seems that as long as she doesn't personally step over that line, the automated systems are not going to attack her.

However, when she starts trying to go towards the green path, there's a sudden series of bullets that spray right at her feet. A warning, no doubts, that she is not permitted along the green line. She was given the orange light, so all she gets is to see the 'orange' path.

What is this, some kind of railroad? Nothing stops her from running for it, of course. It all depends on what she is willing to risk. She's got a full health bar so far. But she can tell that the negative status on her body is contineuing to rise. Even with her mastery of air, it is impossible to create an accurate amount of oxygen for her to breath.

Following along the orange line instead, presumably, she comes into a secondary hall.

This one is smaller, and seems to be closed from the world outside by some kind of garage gate. There's a sort of 'dune buggy' within, minus wings, though it's clearly locked off and it has a 'green' plate around it that seems to suggest she doesn't have the authorization to use it. There's various tools further into this 'garage' of sorts, which are all also off of the orange path. Weapons continue to track her here as well.

Still, here, she sees a screen with a holographic display. It shows white text on a red glow, that seems to indicate some kind of fatal error. There is no accessible button or interface for her to use.

https://imgur.com/a/noMerRN

The warning shots do get the Caith Sith to hop back onto the orange path. Alright. Stick to the Orange; her access level isn't any higher than that. She can deal with that... And so she does continue on, towards that second hall - a garage, by the look of it. That's... actually quite interesting, her gaze straying over the tools - including what has to be a /laser tool/ - and then she stops as she stares up at the screen, and the warning emblazoned on it.

She pulls out a journal, and starts to copy down the script; she has no idea what it means, but... she can sing some of the Lander songs she knows, watching for a reaction she doesn't get. It has her tails and ears drooping briefly, that she isn't able to get anything else out of it... But she moves on, considering her other options. The buggy is a vehicle, ad while all her driving experience is from VR... well, it's still some. And it /could/ get her to the other location of interests.

She stares at the tools a long moment, and then takes a deep breath. They're made of metal, and if she works Earth magic just right... she can probably drag it over with a mystic lodestone, a touch of magnetism. It's careful work, no doubt, with soft invocations of Mesa and Polaris, weaving together the iconic, rising mountain with the guiding lodestar. It has her kneeling on the orange path, working it close...

... and when she's got the cutter, and anything else that came with it, she turns to consider the buggy, and what she'll need to do to get into it and get it going - circling it on the path as best she can, to see what she can of it.

The tools wiggle and wobble. She has to really focus on the tool she is aiming for, so that she doesn't get killed like some cheap final destination ripoff assault of sharp tools. The cutter however still leaps with enough force that she has to grab it with both hands, barely stopping herself from going off the path as she skids back... and comes to rest. The weapons' lasers dangerously pointing at her. The air slightly knocked out of her.

Looking at the buggy, it looks like it's actually open on all sides. It has some safety bars, but that's it. The seats are rather strange. They have very low backs. Yet the steering wheel is at the level of a regular person such as herself. It's as if, whatever it is created for, can't have something supporting her back like that.

It has weapons on it that seem to be rather simply 'point and press the trigger' based. Some of them however have no such triggers. Perhaps automated weaponry? It's clearly kitted out to deal with monsters.

The impact of the tool knocks the breath from her lungs, and sends her back a step - which keeps her on path, barely. But she turns it over in her hands, even as she catches her breath. Which... isn't the best situation, given her environment. She sees the notification pop up for the debuff, and shakes herself out. She needs to control her breathing a bit better, work with her magic, but... well. She's been feeling somewhat woozy this entire time, and now it's starting to get more pronounced. She tucks the cutter away in her inventory, and then moves towards the buggy.

Stealing it, and trying to get to the Tower, as she's started calling it in her head, sounds like the next best step; she's already got a bunch of information on Alvish construction, it seems, and more exmaples of the language she can bring back. Now it's time to get a bit more... risky. So she plots her path carefully, trying to judge what approach would work best... The seats being built for winged potential is a good thing to note, though. Or potentially something else around the shoulder area.

But she launches forward, chanting to invoke a bit of speeding magic; "Swift and majestic Pegasus, steed of myth! Guide my steps with eagerness and carry me forthwith!"

A rush over the line. The bullets immediately start flying. She jumps and ducks away from the first series of shots, before getting into the buggy. Luckily for her, the device immediately activates and turns on. The Buggy floats into the air, and the weapons turn on.

The weapons of the facility continue to fire on her, and immediately there's a display that shows up, indicating that the Integrity of the buggy is starting to deteriorate because of the gunfire. And the garage is not opening for her right now.

She has the opportunity to open the door by force, or to try and come up with an alternative here. But she doesn't have long.

Oh, that it's turning on for her is... quite surprising, actually. But she swings it around - and it's a /hover buggy/, EEEEE - and starts towards the hanger doors. "... If someone is listening, please upon up. I aplogize for the joyride, but my fascination and desire to know what's in the tower is quite large, and this situation is... creepy, and the lack of response to my presence worrying on its own." She calls out, loudly and clearly.

... Of course, if it doesn't open then, she's going to turn her guns upon the door - and /just/ the door. She doesn't want to be too ungrateful, and give the owner(?) and the chims too much work to repair it once she's out.

The Hangar Bay door does not open. This garage is clearly meant to just house this buggy. Meant to ferry from one place to another. And she doesn't have access to the facility's functions.

But then she turns on the laser. There's a flash of red light, which firms a nice half-circle into the hangar, before her buggy slams into the gate and pushes that piece of heavy metal out. A barrier immediately comes down behind her, and a red alarm goes off!

And now she's out in the green moon, on a hoverbuggy that is rapidly accelerating towards tha domed tower!

Only for a laserblast to suddenly come down right next to her position with enough force that her buggy is almost sent upside down. Barely climbing out of the crater formed by the blast!

As she looks behind her, it's immediately clear she is being followed! By... a flying humanoid with metalic wings, aiming their arm at her position and forming another laser charge! They're too far away to get an accurate look. But if she'd met Spatjahr... the resemblence would be too unmistakable.

"... Fuck. Fuck fuckfuck..." The fox swears. Getting out of the hanger was actually rather easy. Being hunted down by Spatjahr's cousins, however, is not fun. The blast that singes her side and damages the buggy, for instance, isn't good at all. But she can only keep going, try to do her best, and see what she can find at that distant spire. And so she takes a carefull controlled, but deep, breath, and speaks another invocation;

"Tiger of the West, I beseech you at dire behest. Lend me the winds of your domain, that I might show them all the strength of your domain." It's a chant she usually uses for her more powerful wind attacks... but it works here, too, to give her a corridor of easier travel and a shove of wind from behind - a rough, and probably inefficient, cavitation drive. It makes things a bit more difficult to control, but she's headed very quickly towards a very large target.

"... Please don't kill me!" She calls back, since begging /might/ work. She doubts it, but Spatjahr has some personality, right?

The Hoverbuggy is fast. Really fast. It keeps going at top speed, and when she enhances it with her own magics to try and create that corridor, she'll notices it picks up rather easily. In fact, some of her mana seems to drain faster. It's like her mana itself is helping power the buggy itself even more!

Zooming faster and faster, she's approaching the distance dome and tower a lot faster. Just a bit longer, and she'll make it there. But she has to deal with the constant barrage from the humanoid chasing her! Blast after blast pockets the land, sending waves of debris and oxygen her way that is harder and harder to deal with!

Each blast, she can feel within the pit of her stomach. There is no reply from the thing following her either. Perhaps at this speed, that'd be impossible anyhow.

Then suddenly, a valley.

Her hoverbuggy flies right over the edge of the valley...

And lands on the other side with a scraping THUCK-SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE before righting itself again. She's almost there!

"Scutum, shield of the skies - I bid your veil now rise!" The blasts shaking through her body, and her 'steed', are worrying, even if she's... mostly keeping ahead of them, as she rushes for the tower. So close. She can almost taste it, can feel the importance of the building, the /weight/ behind the edifice. She doesn't need Divination to know it's important, that Answers lie within. Her every instinct screams it at her. And so she aims for it, she keeps up the cavitation spell, and she grits her teeth against the accumulated burns and the worry of her diminishing HP bar.

... but she knows she can't keep this up forever. They're keeping pace, still, and raining more and more blasts down upon her. She grits her teeth, snarls at her fate, and tries to push forward - to rush the last bit of distance with every drop of mana she has left. Her tails billow behind her, as she stands enough to try /leaping/ from the buggy if it will help, ears flat...

Yet, all that follows is a sudden brunt of pain, and then... silence. Where her and her buggy were moments ago, now lies a crater, as the unknown humanoid finally gets a targetting solution and erases them both from existance. A gravestone is all that lies there in its place, at the bottom of that new crater on the green moon.

48:00:00
47:59:59
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Time starts ticking, as her mind floats away. Drifting into dreams. Reliving a comfortable memory of her dad giving her the Divegear that had seemed to give her access to this new World she is now trapped within.

As the moon calms, the floating humanoid looks around for a moment, staring up at the tower she'd almost reached. Knowing that it could not have kept firing if she'd reached it.

Staring, as another spray of gas comes off of the tower, continueing to enrich the Green Moon.