Across the Sky - Arc I, The Story Begins Options

[Kratour]

Krepus

Night had fallen on the Glacial Mountains. The air was cool, the grass green, and sky clear- a perfect night for star gazing. Krepus lay back in that soft grass, staring up at the sky, the stars, simply thinking. It was a strange night- nice, but he had the weirdest feeling that he wasn't alone. Out in the distance, a star gave a peculiar twinkle- and then it's light vanished entirely. An odd site, to be sure, but before he could give it much thought, a slight rustling, like the pull of cotton over stone, sounded out from off to the side.

Though he made the motions, turned his head, glanced, Krepus didn't particularly expect to see anything. Which was why the sight of a slender figure in a long, black robe was more than a bit surprising. There they were, sitting on the top of a ruined wall with one foot dangling over the side and the other sat easily along the top. Nothing could be seen of them, not really, for a hood obscured their face, and heavy, black garbs covered every visible inch of their body. Slowly, their head tilted downwards, away from the sky, and though he couldn't see it, Krepus could feel their eyes upon him. Then, in a surprising turn of events, a rather bubbly giggle pulled out from under the shadows of that hood, followed by a soft, notably feminine voice. "Why hello there, Krepus." The voice took on a playful edge as it continued, "I've been watching you."

_____________________

Alaster

The sun had finally ceased it's relentless assault on the Desolate Dunes- a harsh world made more of sand than anything, save perhaps heat. Unfortunately however, the Desolate Dunes were rather aptly named in that the world was essentially a massive desert. And staying true to the nature of deserts, the temperature took a rather steady drop, falling and falling until the words "cold as a desert night" began to echo throughout the winds that pulled at the empty night sky. Alaster had never particularly cared for the cold. In fact, it was pretty far down on his list of favorite things. So it was little surprise when he pulled his coat a bit tighter about him, the fabric catching a sudden breeze and twisting up slightly as he did so.

Skylar and Naomi had already fallen asleep, he probably should have as well, but it was a rather strange night. In actuality, he felt more alive than ever. It was like the night was calling him, telling him that something big was going to happen. And then, someone from off to the side gave a wide, lazy sounding yawn. Alaster turned his head, slowly, then gave a bit of a start and took a step back as he turned on his heel, a bit of dust getting kicked up in the process. There, only three or four feet away, was a black, robed figure. He couldn't tell much about them, but they were about as tall as Alaster himself- the heavy clothing obscured pretty much any other details he might have picked up. Before he could say anything though, a the robed figure gave a sigh and looked down at his feet. "Man," he said, confirming his gender rather solidly, "why sand- sand on the ground, sand in the air," he shifted a bit, "sand in my boots... I tell you what man, this is a heck of a world you've got here."

_____________________

Ethan

Ethan sat in his bed staring at the shadows that played on his wall, as he wondered why sleep refused to take him. It was late, late enough that falling asleep should be more than easy enough. And yet, he could barely keep his eyes closed. With a bit of a sigh, he finally shifted to an upright position, throwing his legs over the side of his bed and resting his feet on the cool, hard-wood floor.

For a while, things were silent. It was as a night should be, with only the slight whistle of the wind pulling through the slightly cracked window at the edge of his room providing any notable noise. And then, a curious creaking sounded out from the opposite corner of the room. Ethan looked, hard, and finally the darkness parted to reveal a robed figure rocking slowly back and forth in an ornate, wooden rocking chair. In his hands was an open book, and from the way his hooded face was angled it seemed that he was reading, however improbable that was given the intense darkness. His head tilted upward for a second, glancing over Ethan for a moment before he held one gloved finger up, as though signaling for him to wait a moment. A few seconds later, he turned the page, slid a small white ribbon in between the pages to mark them, then closed the book altogether and deposited it in the folds of his robe. "Ah, Ethan," he said with a very slight accent, and a very noble voice, "apologies if I woke you."

_____________________

Kai

A candle's wavering light flickered over the slightly worn pages of an equally worn book, which lay open on a wooden desk in an otherwise dark room. And there, sitting in with the light casting curious shadows over his face, was Kai. Turns out, being groomed for leadership of a guild wasn't all fun and games. So, here he was looking over some dusty old books which described the history of some random guild or another. Fortunately, it was a nice, peaceful night- not much was really going on. Or at least, that was the case until his bed creaked behind him.

At first, he ignored it. Then it got a bit louder, as though someone were laying back into his bed- but what got his attention, was the slight sigh that followed. Now that was definitely not something you'd expect to be hearing from a bed, and he turned to find a dark robed figure laying in his bed, with their upper back resting lightly against the headboards. They were slim, and though it was difficult to tell due to the poor lighting and the heavily obscuring robes, the black cloth seemed to be hiding a feminine figure. Another good indicator of this, in fact, was the stream of wavy, blond hair that poured out from either side of the hood, falling over the robed figure's shoulders and finally reaching down across Kai's pillows. After a couple seconds of silence, they spoke up, "Good evening, Kai." Well, if nothing else, it certainly seemed that the speaker was a girl- if not a creepy one who sneaks into peoples beds when they're not looking.

_____________________

Kibou

Snow fell over the world of East Naven. Big shocker right? I mean, the place was 'always' covered in a blanket of snow. But this time was different, 'cause... well okay, no, it was a pretty normal night. Dark, snowing, cold, and so on and so forth. The slight patter that sounded out as thick snow flakes fell from the sky to collide with Kibou's window was mercifully quiet- yet, for all the sleep he was getting, it might as well have been a deafening roar. A sigh escaped his lips, and was immediately echoed from the other side of the room. He turned his head, curiously, and found himself staring at a dark robed figure with one leg kicked up on his desk and the other helping him lean back back in the Kibou's nice, wooden chair.

In one hand, he had a tin soda can, which he happened to be drinking at that moment, though his hood still obscured his face. Finally, he sat the soda down on the desk and gave a rather loud burp before letting his head swivel sideways to stare at Kibou. "Oh, hey..." he said, voice confirming his gender- as though his demeanor didn't handle that well enough- "Man, I didn't wake you up did I? Huh... Well my bad if I did."

_____________________

Karida

It was late and dark, or at least as dark as it could get with lights flashing through your window at regular intervals. Still, Karida found herself laying not so much in as on her bed. Despite the hour, she knew sleep wasn't coming, and so she now found herself staring absently at her ceiling as thoughts rolled by unhindered. Soon enough, or at least she assumed it was soon since time tended to get a bit skewed when one wasn't actually paying it any mind she could feel another presence in her room. Slowly, cautiously, she turned her head towards what was likely a figment of her imagination- and instead found a dark robed figure leaning back up against her wall, idly tugging at his also-dark glove as though trying to get the creases out.

He didn't look up, he didn't really move at all. But Karida could feel a smile growing on his lip. Finally, he turned to look at her, shifting the long, curving arcs of silvery hair that poured out from beneath his robes. Finally, he spoke. "Nice night, isn't it Kari?" His voice was smooth, musical, definitely not what one would expect from someone so ominously dressed. After a couple more seconds, he let his hand drop back down to his side, where it slid into his pocket. "I'm sorry if I startled you," he began again, "It wasn't my intention to do so."

[Dirus]

Karida's eyes were wide in surprise, a bead of sweat falling down her right cheek. She blinked once and managed to regain her composure then glared at the man in her small apartment room. "Like hell it is! What do you think you're doing in my house!?" She questioned, clearly agitated. The pale light of the moon accompanied with the countless neon bulbs that lined the streets outside her window fell on her, illuminating her slim, athletic figure. Even in the darkness of the room the light filtering through Karida's window it was easy to see that she was only wearing a small tank-top with thin shoulder straps and white short shorts. "I'm not going to ask you again..." She said, reaching for her gun under the pillow.

[Kratour]

Karida

The robed man gave something of a sigh. "Karida," his voice was just as smooth as ever, clearly showing that he was far from fazed by the girl's words, much less worried by her veiled threats, "Calm yourself." After a moment's toil, he pushed himself up off the wall, though he came no closer. "I'm not here to harm you, in any way. I'm simply here to talk to you. There are things beyond this world that you live in, things that your heart yearns to feel, even if you do not yet know it." His stone shifted to a somewhat lighter key, and he lifting a hand to point a gloved finger at the girl, "There's a light in you, in your heart. It shines brightly, clear even against the flickering light of this world." He took a step then, not towards Karida, but towards the window on the other side of the room, "There is more to life than the neon signs you're surrounded by. Look into the sky, see the stars as they shine through the darkness in between." The hooded boy smiled and placed his hands along the window sill, leaning in slightly as he tilted his head upwards, "Every star in the sky is a world- a world filled with light." He said it in a soft voice, and then, he waited for the girl to argue over his sanity, as they always did. ... Or almost always, at least.

[Ryuga]

Kai blinked, to make sure he wasn't seeing things at first.. Some people, would be pleasantly suprised, or even thrilled at the fact that they had girl in their room. Given the circumstances, however, Kai wasn't those people.
His hand quickly reached for the katana he placed beside the desk, quickly unsheathed it and pointed it at the hooded figure.
"Intruder!" Kai called out as he cautiously made his way to the door, keeping his sword pointed at the hooded person.

[Kratour]

Kai

As Kai drew his blade and leveled it at the girl, she leaned up off the headboards of his bed, using her arms to prop herself up. She just watched him for a minute, though she certainly didn't seem threatened. Finally, she swung her feet over the side of his bed and pulled herself all the way upright to face him. She took a second to give an exasperated sigh, and though he couldn't see for sure, it definitely seemed that she rolled her eyes. "Kai," she began after taking a second to clear her throat, "come on, enough with the shouting. It's late, you're gonna wake everyone up. Now why don't you just have a seat so we can talk, hm?" She didn't seem concerned that people were going to be kicking the door in, and seemed less concerned at the katana being waved at her, despite being unarmed herself. "Just calm down- I mean, if I were going to hurt you, I'd have done it in the twenty minutes it took for you to realize I was behind you." Though it came off as a joke, the tone of her voice certainly seemed to indicate that the girl was serious, at least about having been there for so long.

[Ryuga]

"Well you're certainly dressed like someone who's after another's life," replied Kai, who refused to put his sword away. "I'll stay standing thank you. I'm not in the habit of dealing with someone whose face I can't see."

[Dirus]

Karida blinked again and felt her fingers let go of the gun. No longer did she feel threatened by the boy in front of her, in fact something in her heart told her that she might be able to trust him. Trust him enough that he wasn't going to hurt her anyways. "A light..?" She suddenly asked after a long pause, her voice meekly escaping her lips. "Inside me? What do you mean? Who are you?" She had so many questions. "How do you know my name..?" Karida leaned forward on the bed towards the window where the boy was standing. Suddenly she stopped asking and let his words sink in. Every star is a world filled with light. Karida gulped. Talk about mind boggling. She sat back on her bed and sighed. "Interesting." She said with a small smile and afixed the dark robed boy with her one green eye.

[Firefly]

Alaster studied the man, he didn't look like a raider, didn't act like one either. Alaster casually lifted his hand to the back of his head and pretended to scratch it, but really, he was trying to grab one of the throwing knives he kept on the belt across his chest. "So..." Alaster started, trying to sound casual, hoping the stranger didn't notice the bead of sweat dripping down his face, Naomi was sleeping across the fire, he'd never get to her, Skylar was not far from him, but was a deep sleeper, and a grenade going off in his face wouldn't wake him up. Looks like Alaster was on his own. "Not a fan of the sand, huh? Funny, most people here just get used to it... so I take it that you're not from around here? You from the skyscraper? Wait, no, nobody would've made it past the monsters... maybe the sun finally got to you and baked your brain inside your skull? Wouldn't be the first time that's happened. So who are you, and what are you doing near our camp? Forgive me if I'm being cautious, but, you know."

[se7en]

Kibou rubbed his eyes thinking he was imagining things, but yet the hooded figure was still there. He jumped from his bed and stared the man down. "What the hell are you doing in my house, wait better yet. What the hell are you doing in my room?!" he shouted.

[Kratour]

Kai

For a moment, the robed girl just stared at Kai. Finally, however, she did something altogether unexpected- she lifted one black gloved hand and pulled back her hood. She was young, probably a year or so younger than Kai himself if looks were anything to go on, and she was definitely leaning on the pretty side of things. She fixed him with an almost pouty look and held up one of her arms, letting the robe's sleeve drift a bit, "It's the robes isn't it?" She didn't wait for an answer, but instead lowered her arm and continued, "Personally I never cared for them... I mean, they're comfy and all, but they're certainly far from glamorous." The girl was silent for a sec as she pulled her long, silky hair back, then clipped it into place. That done, she turned back to him with a smile, "My name is Veil, by the way."

Karida

The robed boy donned a look stuck somewhere between amusement and pleasant surprise- not that Karida noticed. Slowly however, he turned to face the girl, eventually coming to lean back against the window sill. "Interesting?" he said, echoing her response. For a moment he seemed to consider the word, and then he managed something of a nod, "It is, isn't it? So many worlds existing so closely that they can see each other- and yet none of them know of the others' existence." For a moment, it seemed as though he'd go on to speak more of those other worlds, which were evidently a fancy of his as well. But if he was planning on it, he stopped himself in order to address her other questions. "The light-" he smiled, and this time she could see his pale lips turning up, "the light that's inside of you..." He lifted a gloved hand to his chest and pressed his palm there loosely, "It's your heart Kari. Your heart is strong, true." He let his hand drop, "And within that light is power. The power to protect what's important to you."

Finally, after he'd let that answer settle for a few seconds, the robed boy went on to address her other questions. "I know your name, Karida, because I know you. You may not have known it, but I've been here for a long time- watching you, keeping you safe." He pushed himself away from the window, taking a step towards Kari more out of convenience than anything, "And as for who I am..." Slowly, he reached up and pulled back his hood, letting his long, silver hair pour out uninhibited. From the way he was standing, moonlight only just highlighted his gentle features, and his pleasant smile was only just apparent as he spoke, "My name is Vorin."

Alaster

"Sand?" the robed boy said as he began his response, "Nah', I don't care for it. I mean, where I'm from you have to head down to the beach to find any sand-" He looked up at Alaster and gave a bit of a chuckle, "Though I guess you wouldn't really know much about beaches, huh? Doesn't seem to be an ocean here- wild man, I tell ya." ... "Wait- camp?" He took a look around, only noting the sleeping pair after a couple seconds. "Oh... Whoops- friends of yours huh? Well uh... Yea don't worry about it, I'm not here to hurt anyone." He quickly tacked a personal aside onto the end of that, one that Alaster wasn't supposed to hear, "Didn't even notice those two, anyways." There was a bit of an awkward silence that spread as the robed boy shuffled his foot into the sand a bit, then he gave a bit of a cough, "Well yea, anyways... I'm here for only one reason. I need to talk to you, Alaster. That alright with you?"

Kibou

The hooded man gave him an ominous look, then answered Kibou with an almost booming, "I'm going to eat your soul!" A moment of silence followed that, then he kicked himself back even further and loosed a round of laughter. Unfortunately, he went back a little bit too far, causing gravity to overtake his balance and ultimately bringing him crashing down to the ground. He gave a dazed shake of his head, then rolled backwards out of the chair and pushed himself up, kicking the chair back into place as he did so, "Well that sucked." the robed man said, coughing awkwardly as he reached up to rub at the side of his head. "But uh... enough of that. You wanted to know why I'm here?" He turned to face Kibou, "Well, I'm here to talk to you. And yea, just talk, so don't get all loud and shouty with me, huh?"

[Ryuga]

"Yes... yes it is," bluntly replied Kai to Veil's robe comment, as a knock was heard on the door.
"Young master!" exclaimed a voice from the other side. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, Blanka. False alarm," Kai replied. He waited a few minutes in silence, listening to the footsteps gradually fade away. He then turned his attention back to the girl.
She was cute. Prettier than most girls Kai had met. But he wasn't about to take it easy on her just because of her looks. Afterall, a pretty face could hide an evil mind.
"Don't get any ideas," he warned, still keeping his sword pointed at Viel. "I'm not going to just 'trust' someone who has the nerve of sneeking into my room while dressed like some assassin or thief. If you want to discuss something, then you're going to first have to cooperate. Start by answering a few simple questions. Who sent you?"

[Kratour]

Kai

The girl, Veil, seemed to think about Kai's question for a minute. As she thought, she fiddled rather absently with one of the zippers on her sleeve- then, finally, she looked back at him and gave a bit of a shrug. "Who sent me? That's kind of a vague question, you know. A better question, is where did I come from, or why I snuck into your room in the middle of the night." She gave a playful smile, then pushed herself up off the bed, "So how about I just tell you that so we can get done with your interrogation a bit quicker. My name is Veil, like I already said, and I'm from a place called Solus. Before you ask, no, you shouldn't have heard of it, and I'll get to that in a minute. First though, I was sent here by my master- and no, I'm not gonna tell you his name." The girl gave a small laugh, "I mean, I've got to be mysterious, right? Otherwise the robe's for nothing. Now then..." She sighed, then reached into a pocked in her robe- from which she pulled up a rolled up note. She read it over, then gave a sniff, "Yea, like I'm reading this. Way too dramatic- Vorin always does that. What with the "Oh there's light in your heart, and the sky is filled with love" and stuff." Amusingly enough, she even went as far as to emulate this Vorin's voice, albeit rather poorly. "Hm... Well, I'm just gonna say it, I'm not good at talking in riddles and being cryptic or whatever. Basically, you're special. That," she pointed out the window, probably towards the sky, "is filled with worlds. And uh... Okay, I think that's the gist of it. Now go ahead and ask me whatever questions you have, hm?"

[Ryuga]

Kai raised an eyebrow, perplexed by Veil's explanation. Indeed, he didn't know what "Solus" was. It wasn't the name of any of the guilds, nor was it a name of any region he had ever studied. The rest of her ramblings were nonsense. As a matter of fact, he was starting to think this veil person was a looney.
"Riiiiiiiiight..." he replied, unsure of how else he could possibly respond to that. "Did you suffer one too many head injuries or something?"

[Firefly]

"How do you know my name? ...What the heck is a beach?" Alaster asked, as he slowly slipped a throwing knife from the belt and hid it in his glove. "Plus, why would you be looking for me? I'm just some desert raider like everybody else here, what's so special about me that you even went through the trouble of remembering my name?" Alaster slowly walked closer to the boy "You're not making a very convincing argument, kid. Now you've got ten seconds to explain yourself before I stick you with something sharp." Then Alaster began to unsheathe his sword.

[se7en]

Kibou frowned and scrunched up his face in confusion, who was this strange, clumsy man that appeared in his bedroom? "Okay, I give what are you here to tell me, if you keep this up there's gonna be a hole in the floor and you in my parent's bed, and something tells me that my mom wouldn't react the same way I did." he said.

[Dirus]

"My...my heart?" Karida placed her small hand on her chest, absentmindedly as the boy explained it to her and told her his name. She looked at Vorin, her long dark blue hair falling to one side, allowing her to look at him with both eyes. Karida didn't say anything at first, she just stared at him. He was good-looking to say the least. "Huh....So it was you." She grinned, "Kinda pervy to be watching a girl like that for so long...don'tcha think?"

[Omnial]

Watching me? Is this some kinda perverted dream of mine? Krepus secretly pinched his side, he winced, No, this isn't a dream. He couldn't help but stare at the figure sitting on the wall. "Uhm..." He looked away, face glowing red, he wasn't used to people just randomly appearing near him, actually now that he had thought about it a little longer, it seemed like this women or girl, litteraly appeared out of no were. "Not to be blunt...but..." He started fidgeting, "Who are you? I don't think I have ever heard your voice in this place before." After finally poping out the question from his mind, he felt a little more at ease, he looked up to her, awaiting the answer curiously.

[Kratour]

Kai

With a roll of her eyes, Veil plopped herself down on the edge of the bed. "Right, I'm crazy, that's original. You're reaaal open minded, huh?" One finger slowly tapped on her chin, and her voice took on a more thoughtful voice, "Of course, in hindsight, I reacted pretty much the same way. Only with more screaming, 'cause I'd just got out of the shower." Another moment passed as the girl silently stared at the ceiling- then she just gave a shrug and pushed herself back up, clapping her hands together as her thoughts settled, "Well alright, I guess I'll do this right then." Rather quickly, she stepped over to the window, then pointed out into the sky, where stars lined the darkness, "Alright, you see the stars in the sky? Each of those stars in a world- a world filled with light. The light," she brought her hand back, and this time pressed it into her chest, "comes from people's hearts. And everyone has it- but some people, like you and me, are different. Our hearts are stronger, and so we're able to do things that normal people can't." She let her hand drop back down to her side, then seemed to mused silently for a moment, considering what, exactly, she should say from there. "Um... What would he say... Okay, well all of those worlds are different, but one thing is the same for all of them. They're surrounded by darkness- and while the light in people's hearts can help to keep the darkness away, it can't really stop it. So some people..." she smiled, "Like me and maybe you, help to stop the darkness from overflowing." .... "So... yea, make sense now?"

Alaster

"Woah, woah!" The robed boy said as he took a step back, both hands popping up and waving slightly in a protective manner, "No need to get violent. You have questions- well I'm happy to answer!" He stopped backing up, then dropped his hands and fixed Alaster with a smile, "Why do I know you? Well, I've been keeping an eye on you. You might not know it, but you're special. Look around you," he threw a hand back up an pointed a finger out at the desert, "do you really think that this is all there is to life?" For a moment, he just stared at Alaster, and the question started to seem less rhetorical, when he finally continued, "Well it's not. This desert, or maybe I should say this world, is just one of many. Take a look up into the sky, you see all those lights?" he himself looked up as he posed the question, "Well, each of them is a separate world. All of 'em are different- some are just water, as far as the eye can see, and some are covered in mountains and trees. I mean, you think of something, and it's gotta be out there somewhere." He lifted a hand and scratched at the back of his head, which must have been kind of awkward given that he was still wearing his hood, "Now, the thing is, every world is in danger of being swallowed up by... well, let's call it darkness. And some people- special people, like you and me, are supposed to keep that from happening. So what do you say to that, huh?" At that question, he spread his arms and donned a bit of a grin as he waited for the impending response.

Kibou

The robed man gave a bit of a chuckle, then pulled the chair back over and plopped himself down, arms lacing over the back as he leaned forward a bit. "Alright, I like that. So you wanna know what's what? ... Alright then, here we go." He thrust a thumb out behind him, pointing at the window on the wall beside the desk, "You see the sky? It's filled with darkness, and the darkness pretty much wants to swallow up the stars. Well, you know, big deal right- they're just stars. Well, wrong. All of those stars, they're all worlds, filled with people and places and uh... things and stuff." He brought his hand down and instead pointed between himself and Kibou, "People like me and you though, we can keep those worlds safe. What do you think, huh?"

Karida

The robed boy, Vorin, gave a short, soft laugh. "Well I suppose," he said, voice echoing his good humor, "it could be seen as such from a certain perspective." After a moment though, his demeanor shifted and, while his voice was still as light as ever, his words seemed more serious than before. "Like I said Kari, you are special. Others, they would dismiss what I've said as nonsense, perhaps even insanity. But you, you can feel it, as can I. There's more to things than just this world of neon lights, no matter how nice it is. Worlds lay beyond the darkness that you could scarcely imagine, places of wonder." A sigh escaped him then, and despite everything else he'd done, this seemed more of a personal thing, "But the darkness threatens to eclipse those worlds forever..." Vorin paused for a moment, quickly erasing the frown that had overtaken him and instead opting for a more neutral tone, "People like you though, with light shining so brightly in their hearts, can keep that from happening. Within you, and within some others, myself included, is the power to fight the darkness." His voice dropped off at the end, and instead of picking it up, he simply watched the girl, a burning question dancing along his eyes as he waited for her to absorb what all he'd said.

Krepus

A soft giggle pulled from the shadows cast by the girl's hood, and she didn't seem particularly determined to stop herself. Eventually however, she did. Unexpectedly however, she simply leaned back onto her back and looked up at the stars. "Well, you don't recognize me because I'm not from here." She gave a silent, thoughtful hum, then decided to add on, "East Naven that is... And well, I'm not anyone too important." The girl was silent for a moment, then she started back up rather suddenly. "They're pretty aren't they?" she asked, "The stars I mean, shining so brightly against the night sky."

[se7en]

"Erh. . . wait what?" he stuttered, shocked. "There is no way that there are other worlds, and all this stuff about darkness wanting to eat the stars erhm. . . worlds, and what do you mean by you and me, I don't even know who you are and I can't even see your face."

[Kratour]

Kibou

The robed man was silent, for a second, then he gave a bit of a chuckle. "Right, right, sorry, I totally forgot about that." As he spoke, he reached up and pulled his hood back, revealing a strong looking young man, a year or two older than Kibou, with short, dirty blond hair and small, golden ear ring hanging from his right ear. "Well, I'm Des. And what I mean, is, we're both special. There's more of us of course, but uh, well, it's just us here, right now." He glanced back out the window, an impassive look crossing his face before he turned his smile back on Kibou, "And yea, basically, I mean exactly what I said. All that stuff between the stars? That's darkness, and it pretty much wants to cover the worlds that are filled with light, 'cause well, that's what darkness does. People like you and me, we've got light in us, and strong hearts, so we can fight he darkness and keep it from eating everything up."