I'm mostly doing this to get reaquinted with my RP skills, as its been a year since I've done any writing, much less rping, creatively. It's gonna start off pretty horrid, but it's not really intended for you folks anyway. With that said, onwards and slightly southwards, following major roads and detours as necessary
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"This is boring." Thought Ra'al, sitting on an elephant's back. The suns shone towards him today, spraying light over the scene he viewed. It flowed between the spaces, and into the spaces those spaces didn't know about. Darkness waged a muted rebellion against the flowing golden flood, a cool shade beneath a tree here, or the miniscule shadows of a thousand blades of grass, conspiring in the tiny ways grass always did to bring about another shoot. Everything was just how Ra'al had dreamed it to be a day ago, from the palm trees in the distance, to where the sand and the grass flowed into each other, and eventually out to see. He had remembered vividly that dream, when the suns had shined away from him and the worlds around him turned dark and stormy.
With a wave of a mental hand, the entire scene changed, turning into an ice cathedral, beams of light slowly destroying it, yet providing beauty to all that was inside. It was an old dream, this frozen homage to light, but one he had never got just right. The ice curved into each other some wrong way, not real, not like he had seen in the Others. The pillars gave the illusion of straightness, like the temple's collumns, but were an illusion like many other of the Other's architecture. It bulged as it rose, in-what had they called it......ah! Yes, entasis. His were just off somehow, lacked something that he couldn't put his finger on. The whole thing seemed wrong, somehow, as if it missed some key pillar, or had no roof. Maybe he had forgotten something again, or misplaced it with the cat's tail. The last time he had done that had been just horrid, like frozen watermelon on a lukewarm day in October.
Ra'al tilted the world on the tip of his finger, pushing it away from him, telling it to change for him. The frozen wonder indeed had a roof. He scowled, then wiped the whole thing away, drifting as he found himself doing more and more often these days. Around him, worlds' spinned and changed and moved, all dancing to the same unknown tune, like how plants knew where to grow, or how darkness knew where to hide. He paused, thinking on this, then dismissed it. Light knew where darkness was, everyone knew that. If it didn't, how would it know where to go? His thoughts drifted away from him, snatching at pieces of ideas like strands of gold.
With a start he stole them back, guiding his thoughts towards safe harbors. The last time he had done that, he had merged the cat, the feel of an orange, and the awe of a lightning storm together unawaredly, and made quite a disgusting mess. Instead, he pondered over towards the planets around him, stretching to encompass a section of thoughts from another, carelessly sent out like a flare in a bonfire. He closed his mind around it, pulling away from who he was now and into that person's self.
"Damnit, I'm going to be late again!" He said, charging down the stairs half dressed. His sister was there-as usual, she hadn't deemed to wake him up before she made her breakfast, as evidenced by the crumbs on her shirt. She zipped up her jacket, smirking at him.
"What's wrong, Ni-san?" She said innocently, the smirk instantly gone and replaced with innocent curiousity. But he could still see it, her joy at this mischievious little prank, shining through her eyes. Damn her.
He ignored her, popping a piece of bread in the toaster as he fiddled with his shirt's buttons. He ran to the living room, grabbing his bag and slopping his unfinished homework into it. Damn it, he had planned on doing his homework before class started. Well, he did have third period spare, so if he could just keep Mehiko-Sensai off his back till lunch, he'd be fine. Hurriedly zipping the bag back up, he rushed back to the kitchen, popping the piece of toast, still warm and crisp, into his mouth as he made his way towards the door. His sister rolled her eyes towards him.
"Bread in the mouth? Really? Are you that desperate Ni-san?"
"Mmmffffgh!" He said back, glad the bread acted as interpreter. Wouldn't do to have his sister exposed to that kind of language, now would it? He slipped his shoes on, then hurried out the door with his sister, locking it behind him. She waved, then headed left, as he turned right. Thank God, she was finally gone. At least till tonight.
Checking his watch, the student gulped audibly. If he ran, he might might might be able to explain it as him just having to use the bathroom before class, and not get a detention. He took off, following the streets he was so familiar with. Left turn here, left again, right, down this alley, try not to get mugged as you pass that gang again (success!), hop the fence...turn this corne-
"Aaaah!" He collided into something hard, falling back onto the pavement, choking on his toast. After a moment to assess that yes, no bones were broken, nothing was bleeding, and all he had was a sore head, he blinked his eyes open. Before him lay the most beautiful girl-
Ra'al pulled himself away from the next scene. How cliche, he thought, then looked at the boy's futures. Hmm, in many of them he married the girl, in a couple, he killed her, or vice versa. Ra'al sighed again. He had seen the same thing play out time after time in countless thoughts. Was nothing new anymore? At least that had given him some excitement. The impact always surprised Ra'al, who always loved surprises. It was like a birthday present, never having one weight, but always being something else.
Sitting down, he willed a chair, a form, and a world into exsistence. The only joy he ever recieved was from these worlds these days. Everything he imitated was flawed, lacking the spirit these things had. He smelled the chair expand under his weight, and sighed contentedly. He still could make the best appearance of this type of gravity though. He changed the land under his feet to something more real, adding earth, rock, and all the other things he had observed on most thoughts. Some were different, but he longed for this feeling above all else.
Some of his brothers he had seen wink out of this place, joining their thoughts forever with the world below. It was....scary, to say the least, to think of. How could anyone stand to live somewhere they cant mold and shape, where they are shaped and molded and given form? Permenant (barring certain circumstances, of course) unforgiving form! Thoughts limited by what and who they are? Ra'al would rather stay here, of course.
But on the other hand, they gained something. He could never really know what it is, but something about those thoughts, and the beings that they were from, had something that he could never imitate. They melded and shaped and died and lived in a thousand different ways, all together, all sharing the same burden. Time, space, form, all the things that made the Other, well, the Other. It was enticing. Besides, the few times one of the thoughts from the Others had made his way here, he had always been scared of staying here forever. It's like they don't know what theyre missing, but miss something else more. What did they have?
Ra'al's thoughts struck the ground with the force of a thousand children's screams, breaking it into an infinite number of pieces. Seas rushed into the gaps between them, filling the voids and bringing the sounds of waves crashing in on him. He smelled the salt, felt the spray, and heard the flow he had made. But, something was missing. Something was wrong. It was never like how it was supposed to be, how he had seen it in countless thoughts, in dreams that made the spirit sing, or in nightmares that sent monsters hungry into the night. He knew that they had something, something he couldn't see, or hear, or smell, and he wanted it. He needed it, like an addict needs his addiction.
Ra'al made up his mind, and rose, dispersing his last thoughts below him. They joined the choir of Astral Energy, clashing and flowing as one, as he made his way towards the Other. Forces beyond even his recollection recoiled from his passage, shaping in ways even his mind couldn't understand. He shuddered, wondering if what they saw of him was what he saw of the Others. Still, he couldn't turn back. He had made a promise to himself, and he kept promises. Steeling his will with a needlepoint edge, he plunged towards the veil that kept the Other from the Astral Plane, searching for a weak point. He pressed hard against it, everything that made him in a battle to break through, if only for a moment.
The Veil breathed against him, pushing him, changing shapes and thoughts and forms. It sent him darkest nightmares, the horrors of the Other in distilled form. But he could not be dissuaded. He pressed, sending his hope to the front of his attack, changing the Veil into himself. He saw a thousand futures, where he was among the residents of a planet, his soul spread amongst a thousand bodies, his children playing by the fire. He cried for the tragedies that he faced, the loved ones lost, the friends forgotten, the edge of a sword cutting into his all-too tender flesh. He laughed at his companions tales, breathed in legends and tales, messages of hope that showed just what he was looking for. Love grew in his heart, then withered, then grew once more.
The Veil shattered with a silent crash, just for a moment in thought, just for him, just enough to let him past. He entered his world, his consciousness breaking apart as it took form, as he grew into a new shape, constrained by all the things he hated by boundless in all the things he loved. He felt, for the first time, what it meant to truly create, and Ra'al smiled, closing his eyes as he trickled over the land.
He was home.