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[SWP] between the waves
Open Akvo City 
Kisamoa
Currently championing:
#1
Kisamoa, labeled a god by some, had no need of malspira. He could fill his lungs up with water and it wouldn't do him much harm; it would be uncomfortable, but it wouldn't kill him.

Actually, he wasn't sure that he could die. Deicide—he had committed it, and he was born of it. The Helovian gods had died in the teeth of his fury and vengeance, but wasn't proof of his immortality in his very existence..? The dead gods he was made of had been killed, and ripped to pieces, stripped of their bones and blood, yet the remnants of their carcasses had coalesced out of sheer strength of will and Kisamoa had been born.

He wasn't interested in finding out how much truth there was to his theory, though, but he wasn't afraid of getting a little waterlogged.

The black deity swam steadily south and west, though, as with all things, he found himself wondering—a little too late—if that had been such a wise idea. For him it was no problem, but what if Ruwin had followed him directly into the waves..? The swim to Akvo City wasn't a walk in the park for a mortal, and if he had deigned to keep that in mind, he would've taken the land route until they were just north of the underwater city.

Oh, well. Too late for that anyway. If his companion started drowning, he'd just save him. No point in worrying about it in advance.

It was embarrassing.

Kisamoa ceased his movements, and instead sat in the waves like a monstrous, over-sized duck. The combination of his head and neck was somehow grotesque, an affront to the senses, and his black blood floated like oil stains around him. The shadowbeast drew a deep breath, and waited for his companions to join him, there above the city.

"Here we are," he said when they were gathered; with a sigh he turned his nostrils to slits and disappeared, with relative ease and grace, beneath the surface.

The light steadily faded as he dove, until finally, the gates of Akvo City loomed in front of him. He cast a glance behind him to see how the others fared, and then passed into the abandoned realm.
beauty in darkness
kaos in light

@Ruwin & whoever wants to join in bringing Hope to Akvo City!
.. and kaos opened up its eyes
Ruwin the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#2
Ruwin
It seemed he had been right to assume that the city was their destination. Shortly after he arrived Kisamoa emerged from the sea to beckon him. As stoic as ever the stallion reached back to his satchel to retrieved some Malspira, a plant that would allow him to breath underwater. He devoured a portion, leaving himself an emergency supply. Once ready he followed. Water splashed at his feet as he stepped into the waves, and he was soon soaked up to the chest. The tips of his metal wings trailed ripples in the shallows until they too were swallowed up. As useless as they were one land, they would help keep him firmly planted on the sea floor. Though if needed he could swim with them, having developed the strength to carry them through the worst of conditions long ago.

As the waters rose above his ears the stallion snorted. he hated the feeling of being under water. The limitations of one's movements. You became helpless to what ever lived below. For they were designed to move quickly beneath the waves, while he was not. Plunging deeper he followed Kisamoa towards the city. Though the other had no problem moving, it would seem. He grunted. One of the perks of being a 'god' he supposed. Still, he di a pretty dang good job keeping up and soon he was standing before the gates of the city. Well now what? Before he had helped solve a few riddles for the lonely Protector. But what would greet here among the abandoned buildings and spires?

Would anything come at all? Given little time to think about it, seeing as Kis was already passing through the gates, Ruwin picked up his pace once more. He could feel his mechanical spiders clinging tightly to his mane, desperate not the be ripped off as the water pressed in around them. He could send them out searching through the city. Have them see what they could see. But he refrained from doing so until he knew more of their mission. he was also curious to see how Kis reacted when they reached where ever they were going. Would he become furious when he found the task too hard and use his powers? He knew so little of this monstrous being that any opportunity to observe him was a welcomed treat.


talk talk talk talk
I used to recognize myself

Funny how reflections change
image credit to Marcus Castro
@ unsplash.com


ooc" Ruwin is following behind Kis. More curious about what he will do then actually completing the mission. xD
You have my permission to use magic/force against Ru.
Maiming and killing is not allowed. You can always message me if you're not sure about anything/want to plot something out. =D
Avatar Credits 
Kisamoa
Currently championing:
#3
Well, well, look at that—Watcher had a brain. It wasn't that Kisamoa had ever doubted it—his pre-death recollections of the stallion were of a reclusive, yet obviously magically talented, individual, so it sort of made sense that he chose his own path. Nor did he blanket-assume everyone was stupid, but.. there was always the danger of someone going 'oh, a god, gotta follow it', without considering the possibilities.

Kisamoa, advocating his subjects explore other options?

He had vague memories of the City before its fall into ruin and decay. It had been colorful, full of life, a place of activity; a gateway between the deep and the land, and a place where all sea-dwelling creatures came to mingle and...trade? Possibly? Kisamoa frowned as he drifted among the silent structures, his little ball of hope illuminating little. Shadows and more shadows; death and stillness. Gray silt and sand...

He didn't even know what had happened to it. Likely, it was something to do with Vjanta's madness poisoning the seas, and that was what kept life away still.

Nothing seemed to stir. Kaos's fluid movements drew to a halt in a broad lane, his cloven feet coming down to rest upon the sand. It reminded him of where he had taken Kiada and Erthë in the Scint—a place deep beneath the layers of the world, where lost things sometimes ended up. It had seemed to him a temple of sorts, but standing among the shadows of the abandoned Akvo, it could just as well have been here.

"Do you see anything interesting?" His mind's voice, a strange and gentle contrast to his hideous body, slipped into Ruwin's head. Why opt to get water in his lungs when he could speak directly, mind to mind? After a moment, his eyes slid to Ruwin, watching the stallion for a reaction. Brave enough to speak despite the water, or would he simply emote..? Surprising himself, Kisamoa found himself curious as to which it would be.
beauty in darkness
kaos in light

@Ruwin & whoever wants to join in bringing Hope to Akvo City!
.. and kaos opened up its eyes
Rift Presence
Currently championing:
#4
The world in Akvo City was dark, despite the fact that it was underwater, it almost had a forgotten feel about it, as if you looked in every corner and found cobwebs dusting each side of the coral. But there were no cobwebs, just simply a dark haunting feeling that accompanied a land when the inhabitants seemed to have vanished immediately without any sign of why. The City was itching to be revived, and as you search, perhaps you can find a place to put the piece of Hope.
the Rift
image

Continue to search, perhaps you'll find a place to put your Piece of Hope!

* Each round is 48 hours (give or take), and has no posting order. If you miss a round, don't worry - just post when you have a chance to! The round is open until Rift Presence posts again.
* New characters are always welcome to join the plot
* If you find the pace too high, let us know, and we'll slow down!
* Posts are encouraged to be 400 words or less.
» Presence of the Rift «


Ruwin the Hopebringer
Currently championing:
#5
Ruwin
Speaking under water was not a pleasant experience. But he didn't have a fancy way to communicate with Kaos. So, with a frown he opened his mouth to speak. The water rushing into his lungs made him want to gag reflexively, but he resisted the urge. "Nothing but water and ruin." he muttered. Upon his mane spiders crawled, weighing much of his hair down while the rest floated about like seaweed. Upon a silent command many released themselves from his mane and floated to the seafloor. With the salt now upon their metal, none of them would last long upon dry ground as rust took hold. What a shame.

He would have to recreate more tools after this. A taxing manner that he was less than thrilled about. Only his enchanted wings seemed unbothered by salt, having never rusted before. Though now that the rift had touched them, he was unsure if they would be able to fend of the corrosion for much longer. They would need to be fixed as soon as possible. If the blasted Rift would answer he request for a trial already!"Go." He commanded to five machines and they scurried off along the sand. Leaving tiny trails in their wake. With his task done the stallion began walking once more.

As his minion fanned out he would begin using them to searching the ruins, not creating a connection with them until he had secured a safe place to do so. If they found anything by then they would come and find him. But first he would explore himself. Divide and conquer. He paid the god little mind as he struck off down the main causeway. Starting a the heart of the city seemed like a logical enough choice of action. They could fan out from there. Unless Kisamoa had other ideas. He didn't look to see if Kis was following. He was a big boy, he could do what ever he wanted. As for Ruwin, he'd go this way.


talk talk talk talk
I used to recognize myself

Funny how reflections change
image credit to Marcus Castro
@ unsplash.com


ooc: No longer interesting in observing Kis, and more interested in getting out of the water. Ru has sent some of his machines off to search while he follows the road to the heart of the city. (If I am taking too much liberty with Ru's magic, let me know).
You have my permission to use magic/force against Ru.
Maiming and killing is not allowed. You can always message me if you're not sure about anything/want to plot something out. =D
Avatar Credits 
Kisamoa
Currently championing:
#6
"Nothing but water and ruin."

Kisamoa's long ears twitched, his lips pulling into a humorless grin. Water and ruin and damnation, one of them walking upon the sandy bottom with a kind of obscene ease, as if his body just couldn't help but defy every sense of what was physically possible. He seemed to both walk and float, leaving drops of tarry blood in his wake.

He wasn't interested in a philosophical debate, so he chose not to answer. He could've argued about how Akvo, despite its state, was interesting in and of itself, but frankly, he saw no point in provoking Ruwin—and besides, having discovered the principle of self-restraint, he was childishly amused by practicing it. I could, his mind purred, but I won't.

And that applied to most things: I could kill everyone, but I'm choosing not to. Granted, there were more reasons involved than simple benevolence, but, y'know. Fact remained: he was a conglomeration of dead gods and much too powerful for his own, or anyone else's, good.

Kisamoa had drifted to a halt again, peering at the masterfully wrought coral, when Ruwin passed him by and headed towards the main plaza, or whatever it was that sat at Akvo's heart. He couldn't quite remember; it was likely something Vjanta had taken for granted, and in the merging of the gods, it simply hadn't carried over to him. Oh, well. Kisamoa pushed his poll and shoulders up, stretching his thick, scarred neck, before kicking off the ground. He floated above the structure he had inspected, paddling awkwardly—today's body wasn't made for swimming—and trying to sweep through the City's outer reaches, trying to help Ruwin cover ground.
beauty in darkness
kaos in light
.. and kaos opened up its eyes
Rift Presence
Currently championing:
#7
Shadows elongated through the slivers of light that permeated the water this far down, as you explore the shadows grow and shift, changing shape into what look like little fish and squid like creatures. After a few moments, all the shadows converge toward Ruwin as if they’re curious of the light that bobs in the water against his hip. After a few moments, the shadows disperse, the orb pulsating and growing lighter until it was nearly blinding, cleansing the area Ruwin searched – while all this happened, Kisamoa’s orb began to flicker and glow just as brightly, illuminating Akvo and giving a sense of peace as the orb’s lights converge and cleanse the fallen underwater city.
the Rift
image

Hope has been restored in Akvo City!

* Each round is 48 hours (give or take), and has no posting order. If you miss a round, don't worry - just post when you have a chance to! The round is open until Rift Presence posts again.
* New characters are always welcome to join the plot
* If you find the pace too high, let us know, and we'll slow down!
* Posts are encouraged to be 400 words or less.
» Presence of the Rift «


Valkyrie the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Caevoc
#8
By some stroke of luck, the few morsels of foliage sprouting the sandy foot of the cliffs enabled one to breath under water! Valkyrie had nibbled the finer looking leaves – the bluer foliage, fresher – growing nearest to the centre, perhaps enough too of the younger plants to extend the length of her ability; not that any of it mattered, for she was unfortunately unaware, gasping and spluttering as each salty wave crashed down rudely upon her.

She swam with honourable conviction, though hopelessly slow compared to the revolting mismatched-giant, his trailing wraith, and the equid-stranger ahead. As they grew smaller and smaller in the distance, bobbing images devoured by the rolling, tempestuous sea, her struggle became more frantic and the realisation of this ridiculous endeavour blared urgently in her mind. What the hell was she thinking? There was no explaining the feeling within her, the drive and determination forcing her forward. It was a nagging want to know and contribute, a stubborn, stupid curiosity and the inexperienced Daughter had ventured too far to turn back – at this point, she was growing so tired that she would drown here, or there. It hardly mattered.

The largest of the pair she pursued, was easier to track. A disgusting slick of what she imagined to be black, bubbly oil, skimmed the foamy surface in his wake. While the waves worked to cleanse her skin of filthy build-up and sweat, his discharge moved to cloak her in contrast – she tried to skirt it, but flailing hooves and scrawny legs did not serve well as a rudder in this element. It was incredibly frustrating…

The sun above had long past noon (this senseless adventure had begun the same morning), and it had been a solid time since she had seen the monster and his posse above the waves.

Despair was beginning to burn away the persistent hope in Valkyrie’s mind, and her furry, determined to sink frame – the thrashing limbs, straining throat and heaving forequarters – were stinging with unbearable fatigue. In addition, her mouth was dry, the taste of saline souring soggy flesh and her wobbling ears were waterlogged so that any sound beyond the frantic thunder of her pulse was non-existent. It seemed by all accounts, that her foolishness on this occasion would indeed see her end.

Without the energy to stay afloat any longer – eyes burned, lungs choked, and her mind was a haze of shifting, ‘pre-death’ emotion – the lost daughter, began at last to sink. Rapidly…

As she did, however, it shocked her to the core to realise that the brackish ocean was not filling her lungs!

Down, down, down, she descended, and before her eyes materialised a quite unbelievable city of grimy coral through the murk. At first, she rather struggled to overcome the illogical manner of underwater breathing, but after a small while, the rhythm became easy. It was, really, just the same as breathing real air. Still, there was no comfort to be found there where the water rocked around her more gently, the feeling, the pressure, it was entirely unnatural.

A grand set of gates, unmistakably, stood a small distance ahead of her position, and she figured it likely, that the duo had travelled on to whatever lay behind them. With awkward, jerking thrusts, she swam slowly against the current towards them and the gloomy formations above the sand, beyond. Passing through the gates, Valkyrie scanned her surroundings and a chill crawled down the length of her spine. This world - the Rift – seemed more and more dreamlike at every turn. The oily substance she had been following along the way, lingered in the depths, staining the grey bed of sand like a surreal path to guide the way.

There was movement ahead (more defined than the queer shift of shadows in the doorways), and it quickly caught her wandering eye.

The mammoth, his hulking, hideous form visible from a distance, was floating up above. Though there was a sensible reluctance to continue (where was the other? Was this the monster’s lair?), she had come too far to ignore the still present urge within. The Daughter of the Shieldmaidens gathered behind her instilled courage and kicked off the floor in upwards motion, towards him. Without warning, a soft glow spread around her, leaking into the varied contours of the underwater city. Valkyrie paused then, taken aback, drinking in the architecture now visible with expanding fascination.

(tl;dr - she has arrived /late to the city, and has come across Kisamoa (still has no idea he’s a god), as he swims above the plaza. The light from his orb has distracted her journey towards him.)

Kisamoa
Currently championing:
#9
The thing about Hope was that, just as other lost things, it tended to wash up in places between realities, as if stuck in a filter. He had found the pieces of it in the seams of the world, a not-quite-place between there and nowhere. He'd picked a few of them up, but he knew that there was more out there. There were always more lost things to find, but the point wasn't the magnitude of lost hope washing up in that borderland, but rather, the behavior of it. The orb he had brought back into reality had somehow duplicated its mass, and kept on doing it; if you took an orb and split it, they weren't half the size of the first one.

Hope wasn't measurable. It wasn't quantifiable. What it was, Kisamoa didn't quite know, but it fascinated him in more ways than the obvious. It had a life of its own, and when his orb began to flicker and increase in glow, the deity drifted to a stop, hanging there in the water and staring at it with disconcerting intensity.

As the steadily spreading halo from his orb met with the thrice as blinding one from Watcher, it was like the entire city let out a breath no one had known it was holding. Kisamoa's ears flicked forward as the strange sensation washed through him, things his bloodied upbringing had never shown him: peace, gentleness, hope. He sighed, like the city had sighed. "I think that was it," he whispered into Ruwin's mind, his voice still soft and gentle, as if he wished to make the smallest intrusion possible.

But as he spun in the water to head back to shore, he noticed a new presence; surprised, he stopped moving again, just peering at it. He hadn't noticed her following, and he hadn't seen her before. A newcomer, then—short, pale, sturdy. She looked enchanted by the city, now that it bathed in the light of the still-bright orbs. "Hello," he said gently from somewhere among her thoughts, before drifting closer towards her again. "We're heading back to shore now."
beauty in darkness
kaos in light
.. and kaos opened up its eyes
Valkyrie the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Caevoc
#10
In every respect, the ungainly technique of an equid treading water was one that both looked and felt  horribly unnatural - not to mention the art of breathing in a realm where lung-quenching oxygen seemed not really to exist. Valkyrie was feeling the strain of her misplacement as the monster hovering by the floating light-source, began to turn around. It dawned on her in those painfully slow seconds, that her endeavour to follow it so far beyond the safety of the land, had been a very foolish feat indeed. Swallowing hard (and surprised still that her lungs were yet to be inundated by the sour, burning salt of the sea), her stinging eyes found amid his grotesquely-piled pieces and parts, the shining eyes which seemed to echo the mystery in the depths that surrounded her.

A voice resonated within her mind, taking her completely by surprise.

Like a fish out of water she tossed and turned hopelessly on the spot, trying to work out the source of the words (clearly his mouth had not moved), swivelling with all of an earthworms grace and coordination; at least, she thought vainly, my hair looks lovely… It twirled and flowed about her like  white, satin ribbons in the wind, and distracted there briefly by her own undeniable loveliness, the ghostly pale horse continued around even after the voice had well and truly ebbed from her mind. Soon she grew tired, muscles that were unused to the stroke down here required began to moan and sting, and she heeded their protest with a sudden state of stillness.

Where was the monster?

Valkyrie’s lean throat twisted around and she spotted the murky silhouette of the stranger slipping away through the darkness behind her. It appeared to her uninformed eye (for, it was not a strength of hers to listen), that he was leaving - swimming back the way they had come - and recalling the second horse which had accompanied the journey, she glanced with some concern around the vast coral structures that had fallen back beneath shadow. It was too bad… galloping along the seabed at the rate of a striving snail, the Shieldmaiden in training, pursued the monster back to land.