You clap your hands, rubbing them together, basking in the energy of the evening. The air is brisk out here and there's something...
...There's just something about not having a Seal over your head. Makes you want to run; makes you want to shout. You can't even see the limits of this world from here; you wonder where they even are.
You grin. "I say you go for a walk!"
Cato huffs, and even the Juvenile is eagerly bobbing on it's heels.
"
You are going with Cato, though." You warn it, stupidity senses tingling. It slumps.
Cato eyes it warily, before scuffing his boots on the rooftop and turning back to you. "Yourself, Boss?"
The skyline is dark and open. Buildings cluster around you; taller, shorter, big blocky shapes. If you're being completely honest they're also uglier but for all that they're
fascinating; it even looks like they're made of individually shaped rocks – all neat and orderly – rather than the structures of the Kingdom; either woven from shadow or carved out from the mountainsides.
"Me?" You ask, examining an odd metal pole running up the side of one building for no reason you can discern. Can't be a support; it's attached to the wall not the wall attached to it. "I'm going to look around a bit. Here. Get a feel for where we are."
Cato nods, scratching his neck as the Juvenile starts slithering around his ankles in its smoke form. "S'where should we be walking, then?"
You laugh, arms spread wide and free.
"Wherever looks interesting! That's what freedom means, isn't it?"
Cato's aged face cracks into a grin of his own; the reality of the situation beginning to hit home. You're all, for the first time in your lives,
free.
He's still grinning as he backs away towards the edge of the rooftop. "Ain't that right! Come on, kiddo."
The Juvenile trails after him, doing a few unnecessary loops to express its excitement, as they begin to wander jauntily off towards the towering, glittering spires in the distance.
"We'll meet back here in two hours or so!" You call after them. Cato flashes you a thumbs up before he drops off the side.
~*~
Your fingers feel tense; restless. It's at that point where you're having to actively suppressing the urge to drop their coherence and reform them, just to release some of the energy you feel building up inside of you. An illusion, of course. You pirouette adroitly on the pebble'd rooftop, sending lose stones and dust scattering, and begin your examination of the Breach.
It really is like a puncture hole to look at, you suppose; a thin, pierced diamond in the centre with fractured, twisting cracks splaying radially outward, twisting and warping even as you're watching them. You can't see the Dark Kingdom on the opposite side, but you know it's there. Still tugging; the Breach still trying to pull you back in.
A thought makes you stop; try to try something. One of your fingers sublimates into shadow form which you watch trail lazily into the air. You wave the finger around like that weird thing the Queen sometimes does when playing music, and the shadow-smoke paints a trail through the air.
A trail being tugged back into the Dark Kingdom. You can see the ends of it, always twisting back, always spiralling in toward the Breach as if it's draining through a hole. It's so subtle you can't feel it specifically happening, but it's evidently there. The Juvenile's actually doing well to resist it, you think; simply by age it has the weakest coherence out of all of you here.
Well, that's definitely one way to make it back into the Dark Kingdom in a pinch. And it solves the problem of making it through to the other side when you don't have the Queen over here to give you a push. Haaah, that's a relief...
You scuff your boots on the pebbles of the roof. How
did they make this stuff anyway...
Exploring the area proves very quickly sobering. It takes fifteen minutes of wandering to realise the odd, metal piece of wall was actually supposed to be a door, and that was only after you'd sublimated into your shadow form to slide through the cracks to the other side. The rooms and spaces below were empty and unmaintained, you judged from cracked walls and dampness in the air.
Even abandoned, the place felt eerie and otherworldly; they glued
paper onto their walls, as if it were just some common, replaceable commodity. There were materials you couldn't identify, far more materials than you recognised even; things that weren't metal, weren't shadow-weave or rock; things that crumbled, cracked or bent in your hands. Things that were transparent, like ice but warm and impossibly refined to the point it looked barely even there. The things they used for carpets was the worst of it; not shadow-weave as in the Dark Kingdom, this was more fibrous... like actual hair off something...
Eight stories. Eight stories of abandoned, bewildering, utterly confusing architecture. Elements you recognised, or could guess the purpose off, blindly tossed in with elements utterly alien to you, of seemingly purposeless identical rooms and corridors. The
paper was everywhere; sheets of it, just scattered around. Torn. Forgotten. No text you recognised enough to read.
You're also increasingly convinced you're not alone. Small squeaks and shuffling sounds around you, shadows disturbed by creatures passing. At one point you manage to snare one and pull it out before you on shadowy strings... but it's just some tiny animal as best you can tell; matted grey fur, a flicking tail and a pointed, twitchy nose. Not formed out of light nor shadow, interestingly enough; you poke and prod it a bit but you don't really want to hurt it. Part of you really wants to take it back with you to the Dark Kingdom, but you doubt it would survive the journey...
You let the creature go with a disappointed sigh, and watch as it scurries off into the walls. They're hollow here, bizarrely. You wonder if this place was built with those small creatures in mind before returning to exploration.
Even at the ground level (after getting slightly lost, cheating and sublimating out of a window), no part of this world made sense. Large metal objects on wheels. Wide, flat open spaces with markings on the ground. Dividing 'walls' made of poles and metal wire in a weave so loose you can easily poke your fingers through it. None of this makes any
sense.
...You lack context. Completely and utterly. Why are these buildings here? What are they for? Why is no-one using them? Are they sturdy? Well-made? What are they even made out of? So many questions... so little answers.
There's a pinprick of light that flickers and fades, embedded in the top of a tall pole set in what you slowly recognise as a street here in the Sunlit Realm. You watch it as it ebbs and stutters, emitting a static-ridden hum a bit like Palantine mucking about with his Dark Lightning.
You offer it a light kick, to see if it will help. It spews a shower of refined ice shards at you and makes the light go out. You resolve not to do that again.
Looking back, the building with the Breach atop of it is only obvious for the presence of the Breach itself still tugging in the back of your head. The other surrounding buildings aren't
identical but clearly related; the same general layout, the same general style, the same general... level of decrepitude. Hopefully that means people of the Sunlit Realm don't come here.
You wonder why. You wonder where all the people are and why they left this place; what they're like and why they sealed you all away. Are they creatures of shadow like you, or are they made up of light instead? You shake your head; that's Cato's job to find out.
For now, you need a map.
Shadow swirls around you as you pull them loose from the dark surroundings. They feel... weaker than in the Dark Kingdom; more disturbed and volatile and struggling to maintain form; as if they've been broken and shattered repeatedly many times before. It's... creepy, if you're being honest;
all of the shadows are like this, even in the darkest corners save those deepest inside the buildings. Still, you can hold them together out of your own will. You build walls, floors, a tiny model of your larger surroundings.
Returning back inside, you wander through abandoned halls and rooms, adding to the map building in your hands with a careful eye. Committing as much to memory as possible. The questions of the Sunlit Realm can wait; this is the more vital information right now.
The echoes of your footsteps ring hollow in the empty building, until you've found everywhere there is to find and move onto the next. And the next.
The hours pass slowly.
~*~
You're waiting on the rooftop as Cato returns, the Breach twisting behind you.
"'Ey, Boss." He greets as he lands on the rooftop, hands folded behind his back. You flick your hair imperiously, despairing at the lack of attention the Youkai is paying to the Dark Etiquette.
"Did you have a productive time?"
Cato shrugs, grimacing. "Had an interesting one. This place is
big, Boss."
...You'd thought the same. "Hn. No borders?"
"Haven't seen any yet. You see them towers up there?"
You nod, looking at the glistening towers Cato points to in the distance. He regards them soberly at length.
"...They're taller than the Seal itself, I think."
You feel the shadows twist inside of you, but can't put a finger on why.
"Anything else?"
Cato laughs. "Well, we went poking around a bit! Both picked some stuff up, the kiddo... where'd they go-"
A drifting cloud of shadow-stuff flops over the top of the roof and forms into a vague, person-like shade. With a red and white floppy hat on their head.
"...Cute, ain't it?" Cato asks, flicking the bobble of the hat. You shrug, bemused, watching it wobble as the humanoid shade preens.
Cato gives you a look. "You alright, Boss?"
You sigh. "I'm fine." You summon your map around you.
"This is the local area." You explain, as Cato and the Juvenile lean in curiously. "We're eight stories up, but the entire area seems abandoned. I don't think we need to worry about unexpected visitors. Some local animals seem to have moved in, but they're too small to be dangerous."
You pause, considering.
"What worries me more is the materials. It's not shadow-weave, and I don't think it's that strong. If we break this place too much it'll be difficult to repair it again."
Cato grimaces. Left unsaid is how awkward using the Breach is going to be should the building collapse; that's something you definitely want avoided at all costs. It wouldn't be
impossible, but...
"Anything else?" You ask him.
...Cato cracks an eager grin. "We~eeell, since kiddo there got so attached to that hat, I figured I'd try bringin' something back myself..."
He takes his hands out from behind his back, and a pinprick orb of light shimmers between them.
"...wasn't expecting it to work m'self..." Cato mutters, staring at it.
You can't resist it either; it's
Light energy, the counterpart to your Shadow. Now you realise it, Cato himself is greatly diminished; flickers at his feet as he barely holds his form. It's all going into that orb, keeping it contained, maintaining the cage.
It's barely a flicker – being only a regular Youkai, Cato really can't hope to hold onto much more – but it's there. And it's beautiful.
"How did you get this?" You whisper, still entranced.
"I, er..." Cato laughs awkwardly, "just kinda went for it, really. Didn't think it'd work but, well; here we are."
You make a 'gimme' gesture and Cato holds it out. The transition is... awkward; your shadows can't grip onto it at all, they just boil away on direct contact. The Light itself seems to be repulsed; the only way to control it is to encage it; a perfectly even distribution surrounding it such that it reaches an equilibrium in the centre. No wonder Cato struggled with it.
It's... surprisingly warm, all things considered. You weren't expecting that.
Cato grins, admiring the glittering pearl of light. "Not a bad present for the Queen, eh?"
…
Bugger.
[ ] ...She probably won't care.
[ ] ...The map totally counts, right?
[ ] Grab something when Cato isn't looking.
- [ ] Grab souvenirs for everyone! When Cato isn't looking.
[ ] Steal the Juvenile's hat. That'll do.
"Maybe." You're forced to admit, before turning to look back at the Breach. As much as you would dearly like to bring Light to the Dark Kingdom...
...The Seal was put in place by the Sunlit Realm. It's not too far-fetched to assume trying to bring the energy through would fail and just serve to strengthen the damn thing.
[ ] Try anyway.
[ ] Swap the Juvenile to fetch a Scholar.
- [ ] You stay behind to keep a hold of it. And totally not mess around with it or anything.
- [ ] Cato stays behind to keep a hold of it; you should report to the Queen in person.
- - [ ] And claim the Light energy was your own idea. Screw subordinates!
[ ] Abandon it and return the full party for a full report. There's barely any there; you'll grab more with your next outing.
