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."

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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."

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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."

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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.

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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."

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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."