The Labyrinth (Advanced RP, Inviting Members) discussion

A large meadow, only grass. It is bordered by the forest, and contains many odd and extraordinary plants.

Riin went though a small space-bend not to follow Anne who practically went the same direction but further into the forest. Everyone seemed to want to be left alone, and the girl did not insist on her company. She was happy already, so many new faces just in half a day.
There was a big tent set on the meadow, lamps glowing under the roof, a big long table set with different food and drinks, different chairs and benches all around it and relaxing music playing.
Riin chose a big armchair, pulled her legs to her chest, made the magic bring a tray with tea and sweets closer to her. She rested and waited for something else to make a shift in the fabrics of the island and the Labyrinth.

Pelajos followed Riin. He needed answers. When Riin disappeared suddenly, he simply continued in the same direction. He soon found himself in a grass meadow. He saw a large structure ahead, with lights, music and food. He headed towards it, intrigued.

Pelajos turned instinctively. Someone approached. He loosened Shadow in its scabbard. "Hail! Who approaches?"

Pelajos stood still. "Hilarious" he chided. "I am astonished by your stealth. Is what I would say if it were true. What I will say is... I saw you way back. Half-Celestial, remember?"

"I can see in the dark. I'm a Half-Celestial. It's a thing we do."

"Lead the way."

Pelajos merely looked confused. In his night vision state, the room was painfully bright, and he lost conciousness from the intensity.

Pelajos slowly came to. "Thanks for the warning," he said sarcastically, lamely extending a hand to be helped up.

"Thank you. I must confess this is all rather alien to me."

Pelajos found somewhere dark to sit, and stared at the tent wall, listening.

Since his unfortunate encounter with the group of newcomers at the Sandy Beach, Morph had wanted to return to his cave in the Cliffs. But as he still wanted to receive new information that could only be retrieved from the White Keeper and the newcomers, he had silently followed them to the Meadow. He was thankful that it was still night and the sun would not come out for a few more hours. As he drew closer to the Meadow, he saw the tent and the bright lights surrounding it. Morph considered if it would be wise to go inside. Just as he was about to make the first step into the lighter area around the tent, he noticed someone sitting in the shadows. The energy that came from this creature made him stop...

Something clinked rather loudly and Riin opened her eyes, startled. It took her a while to focus her vision only to see the tea tray laying turned over, tea spilling on the grass, some cute porcelain cups and pots smashed to shards.
"Huh?" She still felt groggy and couldn't tell much from what she saw. In fact, she didn't see much because someone dimmed the lights. And the next thing she did was to ask exactly that thing out loud: "Who turned off the lights?"
Only then her vision refocused completely and she noticed the guests at the table.
"Sorry... I must have fallen asleep. Have you been here long?"

Pelajos continued staring at the tent, unwilling to sacrifice his heightened senses and see normally. "I cannot say how long I have sat here. It is still far too bright. But I can see just as well with my other senses. You saw them at the table, but unless you have a superb range of vision, you didn't notice me, sitting here in the dark; hiding from the light."

"Pelajos? Is that you over there?" She turned to the sound of the voice and narrowed her eyes to see better. "Well, I haven't noticed you, actually." She sadly looked at the tray she apparently turned over by leaning on it in her sleep.
Then she yawned and only after a pause gathered her thoughts. "The magic here gives me a slightly better vision than humans tend to have to find my way in the darkest parts of the Labyrinth... But I seem to be still sleepy, so no, I didn't see you there."
She yawned again, politely covering her mouth with her hand. "I'm also notified by the magic if there are living beings in my vicinity... All I could see was Charlie, but I definitely sensed more than one person here..."

Still staring at the wall, Pelajos spoke again. "I would prefer it if you addressed me by my family name, Iskilsa. And, also, please refrain from suddenly or without thought turning up the lights, this much is already a starscape to me."

"Oh, I'll keep that in mind, Iskilsa." She looked around wondering what happened to the lights in the first place. "Hmmm... when I arrived here this place was illuminated not more than it should have been. Comfortably to a human's eye, that is. Probably the island playing tricks while I wasn't watching... You know, the brighter the light, the bigger and more moths it attracts." She shivered at the thought what else could have turned up here like that. All the lights, the smells, the sounds... So inviting. And practically in the middle of nowhere.

"Have you not noticed I am not human? No-one seems to, but I'm not. And I am sure I could handle most moths. Despite this, I still don't quite know why I am finding it impossible to revert to light-intensive vision. Would you happen to know why?"

"Erm... I have noticed, yes. But I have never met one of your kind, so I don't really know how bright is too bright for you." She gave him an apologetic smile. "My brother knows better. You see, where I grew up, we had only humans around. So I'm still learning."
She pondered. "As for your vision returning... It might have been to big of a shock, so give it time. I would move a bit further away from the tent if I were you, wait for the eyes to adjust to natural light instead of this artificial one."

"My face is pressed against the tent wall. So far as I can manage there is no light. But I can still see. It's like synaesthesia, you see?"

"Too big of a shock indeed." Riin's facial expression quickly changed from surprised to worried. "As far as you can manage... Well, the darkest place on the island is one of the Labyrinth's realms. But I can't let you in just like that."

"I guessed. Do the lights here go down any further? If it's no inconvenience? And it may intrigue you to know that upon entering this tent, I was almost immediately rendered unconscious. It's not something my people make a habit of, and rather confusing."

"Oh my. Deepest apologies for all the inconveniences you had to experience here so far."
Riin carefully stood up from the chair and stretched out bringing her body back to life after her slumber. Blood returned to her limbs and she winced feeling the invisible pins and needles prickle her skin.
Then she made a motion with her hands over the head and the big balls of light under the tent's roof went out. Instead similar but now baseball-sized lamps went on here and there among the crockery and food on the table. The light was coming through the prism of the dark blue surface of these balls making it so soft, it was practically nonexistent.
The tent sank into darkness and now it became visible that there was another source of ghostly dim glow beneath their feet. Several types of plants on the meadow had luminescent qualities to them.
"Charlie, I know I've just interrupted you eating. If you don't see a thing now, just take one of those small lamps on the table in your hand. It will respond to your needs and glow brighter, but without troubling anyone else since it's range is quite small."

"Thank you" Gasped Pelajos. The darkness fell swiftly, and the pain in his eyes and head relaxed; but still remained. He pushed his face harder into the tent wall, vainly trying to alleviate his torment. He looked around, with his non-visual senses, seeing Riin had stood up. "If you go," He began, "Will it stay like this? Or will it change back?"

Charlie sighed. "Its alright. I've got this." She held her hand out, making a small light ball that floated next to her, illumanating where she stood.
"There." She smiled contently, and continued to stuff her face. This food is amazing! She thought. She hadn't had a decent meal in years.

Yet again Morph's senses were playing tricks on him. The few visions he had experienced before had never felt so real. It was obvious that no one was in the shadows. 'Why is this feeling so different from the other times?' Morph asked himself and finally stepped inside the tent. He was pleased to see that the light was dimmed, even though he didn't know the reason behind it. He slowly approached Riin, hoping she would be as kind to him in his current appearance as she had been on the Sandy Beach.
"Hello there." He said in the most childish and quiet voice, he could manage.

"I wasn't planning to go away just yet." Riin replied to Iskilsa making a mental note of the fact the man could see her actions even being blinded. "But I could, just to consult some books in the Labyrinth's library on your condition. A lot of visitors did some chronicle writing back in the days... Though it's mostly just legends and rubbish."
"Oh, hello Teddy." She turned to the child.

"Who is it? The other person that just entered. I can see him. But not clearly. Who is he?" He pressed his face harder to the tent. "Who are you?!" He shouted.

Hearing a loud and somewhat rude shout from the behind, Morph swiftly turned around. Not wishing to be impolite Morph introduced himself: "Hello. I am Teddy. My home is near the Cliffs. I thought I might join you in this small party."

"Hello Teddy. Forgive my rudeness, I'm not exactly in the best of conditions."

"Yes, you may join us." Riin made a welcoming gesture. "Have you been living on this island for long? And your parents?" So the child probably was one of the several entities she felt in her vicinity. Her senses did not betray her.

"Yes... join them. Keep moving, or I can't see you. Keep moving, making sounds. Talk, and I can listen, and see ."

"Oh, I see. What happened to you?" Morph was intrigued by the state of the creature, who's name he couldn't remember.

"I don't know. I came in. The light burned into my mind. I feinted - that itself is strange, as my race rarely do - and awoke like this. I rushed here, to the darkness and pressed my eye's against the tent wall. I can still see . Why? I feel suddenly synaesthetic." He paused, still clearly in pain. "We haven't met before, have we? I am Pelajos Iskilsa."

"Nice to meet you, Iskilsa. I have a sensation that we might have met on the Beach, but I am not certain of it." Morph got more and more intrigued by the creature, who bore the name of Iskilsa. Since Morph had a curious nature, he was not afraid to ask a question that was playing on the tip of his tongue: "Who are you? You don't seem to be a human, because they are not as sensible to the light."

"I am a Half-Celestial, what you may have called an angel, that was my ancestors. Some bred with mortals, and created my race. I am proud to be what I am." Pelajos replied, though still wounded.

When Morph heard Iskilsa's reply to his question, he instantly of his own feelings about being something special. Pride was a constant companion of it. He was pleased that Iskilsa was feeling proud of his race.

"But you're no human, are you? Not that I'm in the best state of mind to judge."

"I am a human, but with a history, not many humans have experienced."

"Like I said, I'm not exactly top form at the moment. Go on. Tell me who you are, Teddy."

"Well, if you are interested in my story, I will tell you. Please tell me, where should I start?"

"Whenever's going to put my mind away from here."

"As you wish. My story began some time ago. I don't know the exact duration, but it seams to be a thousand years. I can't recall the reason or the means how or why I came to this island. There are only a limited number of memories I have. One of them being, that due to my childish and mischievous nature I managed to make the Crimson Witch angry with me. In the state of her anger the Which placed a curse on me, bounding me to the island and making me live in the state I currently find myself."

"You are long-lived. Who is the Crimson Witch?"

Riin was listening to the conversation not daring to interfere. She was still trying to grasp at least one of the thoughts she had about having heard stories of people loosing their eyesight on the island. Nothing relevant came to her mind so far.
"The Crimson Witch? She was a demiurge living on this island before, managing the Labyrinth, creating realms inside of it with her powers and the magic of this place. She met my brother during one of her travels to the outside world and taught him a thing or two of the arts she practiced, soon to be gone from here. Presumably forever." The girl looked at Teddy apologetically. "I do not know what were the reasons of her disappearing..."

"So I would presume we are stuck here? As well as may be, I could not return like this. I presume from your silence you have been deep in thought. Pray, what do you think of?"

Hearing Riin's description of the Crimson Witch recalled Morph's only memory of the Witch and he immediately said: "Neither do I, but I hope she will come back eventually." 'To set me free from the island', he thought to himself, not bothering to speak his mind out loud.

"To free us? I find that unlikely. How long since she left? Why would she need to return?"

"I don't think we're stuck here completely... Even without the Witch being here." She looked at Teddy. "The kid's cursed in never to leave this place as far as it seems to me... But not the rest. We the Keepers can go whenever we want to - my brother is away right now - but it's not like we want to go, really..." She shivered remembering the reasons of her coming to the island in the first place.

"And me? Can I ever be healed?"