Removing the Veil (Invite Only)

[Jilak]

Dark. Dark and cramped. He had to get out, needed to get out. Why was he here? Why was it so dark, why couldn't... why couldn't he breathe? It didn't make any sense. He'd been having a normal day, he'd gone to school, he'd... he'd possibly come home, he...

Oh god, he couldn't remember. He couldn't remember and he was in a tight, claustrophobic space and he couldn't breathe. Reaching up a hand to touch the back of his head, where it was in incredible pain, he felt... wet? Was he underwater, was he... wait... that was a wound. Which meant he was bleeding. He was in a tight, dark space, and he was bleeding. His head was killing him, but at least that explained why.

"Okay. Don't panic. Don't... don't panic. What happened, why can't... my head, oh god, it's bleeding. It's bleeding and I'm in a tight space. Was I... have I been kidnapped? No, that doesn't make sense, it's too tight in here, so tight I can hardly breathe, it has to be something more than that, has to... I... oh god... I was hit by a car. That's right! I was leaving school and I was hit by a car and... and... am I dead? No, no, if I was dead I wouldn't be in this much pain... would I?" He tried to rationalize, tried to think. It was hard.

One imperative came to mind then. Out. He wanted out. He needed out. Needed to get out and find help and... oh god... was he in a coffin? Maybe he was dead. He didn't know. Adrenaline shot through his heart. Had to push his way out, through 6 feet of dirt, and one layer of wood. It was illogical, it was nearly impossible. He put his hand to the resin cover, logic being lost at the moment. He couldn't even remember his name.

He didn't expect much out of it. Maybe a bit of upper body pain, but not much more. He definitely didn't expect the electrical surge he felt hit his fingertips. He screamed, his eyes, unbeknown to him, glowing a bright orange. It hurt, it really hurt. He didn't realize it, but he let off a large aura of energy. All he could think about was the pain. And then everything went black.

When he awoke, he could see... outside? For a moment he didn't believe it, but he seemed to be free. Due to where it had landed, he didn't notice the cover that had formerly been over his coffin. If he had, he would have seen that it seemed to have been... knocked away by a blast of fire. It would burn to the touch, to the normal individual. To the average magic user or such, however, it would feel... wrong. Diseased, almost.

It was now that Josah Hasoj unknowingly did his first magic trick.

[mugenginga]

The relative peace, as much as it could be called that, of the Dark Side edge of the Shadowlands was shattered as a draconic winged demon burst through a tower of lava set off by the many volcanoes that dotted the land. The speed and his natural racial resistance meant he was only singed, but it served to do nothing but aggravate the various wounds seeping black blood all over his body. He pulled his wings close and spun around, quickly tracing a reverse pentagram in the air with what seemed to be blood.

As six more demons appeared from behind the tower of lava, each deftly avoiding it in a group of two and a group of four, the pentagram exploded into flames and shards of flaming crystallized blood show out from it, raining down towards the six demons flying after him. Most of them hit, causing one of the demons to fall back in burning pain, while the remaining five fought past it.

"Enough of this foolishness, Kurosumi!" one of the demons shouted. He appeared older than the others and their flight pattern indicated authority. He didn't look anywhere near pleased, "You can't escape, and you are only making your punishment worse!"

"Shut the hell up!" the initial demon, the one referred to as Kurosumi, snarled, "I'm not going back to your masked slavery! I'm going to be free!"

"You're going to be dead if you keep this up!" the older demon snarkled. He held both arms to the side and a draconic skeleton shape appeared in a shadowy flame beneath his hands. He swung both arms forward and the draconic head flew forward, taking the shape of a full sized dragon, "There are those that would not approve of your death, and I'm not about to take blame for your idiocy!!"

Kurosumi let out a "tch" noise and pulled his wings in close, allowing himself to free fall towards the glacier filled ocean below. The man pursuing him brought both arms up and pointed towards Kurosumi with his clawed pointer and middle fingers. The younger demons flanking him split into groups of two and dove towards the chasee. He was then surrounded by black flame in a flash of fire and the shadow flame dragon in the sky shifted direction, diving towards Kurosumi as well, a trail of flame extending from its skeletal wings and tail.

The four demons chasing Kurosumi had their wings pulled in close and were using aerodynamics to fall faster than him. He saw this and spread his wings to full length, catching the air and shooting backwards. As he went he was tracing another pentagram, wincing at the drain on his energy it was causing. It set aflame and the shards of flaming crystal blood shot out again, heading for the four demons going in his direction. The action caught them by surprise and all twenty hit the demons, causing one to begin to freefall towards the glacial shoreline and the other three to have to draw back.

Kurosumi attempted to bank to avoid the incoming dragon, but he only dodged part of the way. The flaming entity clipped his left wing, setting it ablaze. Kurosumi cussed as he began to fall, but pulled an impressive bank near the water's surface and managed to put the flame out, rising back into the air again in a clumsy spiral. The older demon from before threw both arms out to the side and the shadow flaming dragon pulled up... and fired off a beam of black energy towards where Kurosumi was trying to recover.

Due to his flight patterns being effected by the previous injury, Kurosumi wasn't able to dodge the attack in time. It hit him square in the chest and drove him down towards the ground. His black eyes set ablaze and the summoned dragon creature flashed out of existance as the older demon shielded himself from the sudden increase in energy. He'd done enough damage that Kurosumi had hit that mode.... but he was already under the water.

"Infernal King damn it... That Lord is going to have my head...." the older demon scowled to himself. He looked down at the murky ice water as Kurosumi began to sink, struggling against it but unable to recover.

This is it, isn't it? Tch, well at least I don't have to go back. Back to that program... to that lack of freedom. Haaa, I wonder what mother would have thought of this? Sorry about that, looks like I can't have what you as a human would have wanted for me anyways. All I wanted was freedom, to escape this...

The elder demon in the sky widened his eyes as a huge rush of energy exploded up from where Kurosumi had sunk. He suddenly dove towards the water, pulling up once he was close enough to be sure what he was seeing. A gate?! That walking bag of rebellion was a Key?! He cussed under his breath and shot into the air. It was another gate, and if the boy somehow survived, he was the Key. Maybe he had something to save him from the death penalty after all...

Kurosumi had taken a human form as a final concession to his fate, using the last of his energy, when he felt the surge. He managed to work up enough willpower to turn his head, and his eyes widened with a smirk as he realized what it was. He was a Key, eh...?

I'm not going to die knowing this...!

The doorway created by dark glowing opened and Kurosumi lost the last of his consciousness as he was sucked through it with a fair amount in the way of water....

Josah probably wouldn't have much time to react to the massive change in events when he would feel a surge of magical energy (probably wouldn't know what the hell he was feeling, but he'd definitely be noting something) seconds before arctic cold water began flooding his grave. Up on the surface, an unconscious human teenager who appeared about seventeen years was dumped on the ground. He had burn marks and cuts riddling his body, although while the latter were open he was not actively bleeding.

Just above him, pouring out water by the gallons each second, was a "gate" layed horizontally that appeared to be made out of charcoal black human skeletons, bones, and the occasional skeletal draconic wing. The doors were of femure bones stacked neatly into each other, although a reverse pentagram was made by bones and with a human skull in the center in the center of each door. The doors began to struggle to close, and by the time Josah got his (probably in shock from the cold water) ass out of the grave, it would have blinked out of existance, and with it the deluge of icy water.

[Jilak]

Well, today was shaping out to be absolutely splendid. First, he'd awoken in a coffin. Then, he'd blown the lid and a few feet of dirt off of said coffin. Following this, his grave was flooded. By Arctic cold water. Well, you didn't need to tell Josah twice, universe. As soon as he realised that he was both wet and cold, he dug his fingers into the land beside him, clawing his way out. So, now he was cold, wet, bleeding, and disgruntled. And before he got incredibly waterlogged, he'd felt an odd sensation in the pit of his abdomen. Not the worst thing to happen today, at least.

He collapsed on his front once he was fully out, breathing heavily. He was lucky to not have suffocated in his coffin, or drowned! Or even worse, gotten a splinter! There was no Neosporin in the immediate area, after all. Getting an infection would be terrible. But dying would probably be worse. Maybe. It was up for debate, you know.

Following this, he took in a deep breath, sighing. Well, at least he was out, and the surprises were hopefully done. Now was the time to take action! To take note of his surroundings! The gravestones, the rather soaked ground, and the unconscious seventeen year old!

"Wait... what? This isn't consistent with the rest of my horror film-esque nightmare! Unless it's like Saw, which to be fair I've only seen once or twice because the first one was pretty good and special, but the second onwards started to go down in quality. And I guess the vampire films I've seen have always had an unconscious girl or two, but he's not a girl and those were really mostly romantic comedy and--FOCUS, UNCONSCIOUS TEENAGER, RIGHT." Josah thought to himself, his train of thought rather all over the place. To be fair, he'd just burst out of a grave that was then flooded by icy cold water. It was a wee bit distracting.

"Hey there... guy. You okay, there? I suppose I don't really expect a response, you being unconscious and all, but... oh, god, how do they do this in the films? Smelling salt, usually... but it's not like I keep a bag of the stuff in my pockets at all times. Uh... wakey wakey... sesame?" Josah tried, feebly shaking the teen's shoulders. It was at this point that he noticed the burns and cuts.

"Aw, jeez... I hope those aren't infected. No Neosporin, no bandages, no... orange juice. Also, please don't be dead. That would be sort of awkward."

[mugenginga]

Josah would realize upon placing his hand on the teenager's bare shoulder (he had pants, but they were might tattered. No shoes for that matter. Who was he, Bruce Banner?) that it was cold and clammy. Well, no wonder. Teen was soaked, and given the mud around the area and Josah's previous experience in the grave, it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Oh, and the teenager's ears were pointed, kinda Vulcan-like, really. And he was awfully scrawny, pretty much sickeningly so.

Oh, and Josah probably wouldn't notice his breathing. It was really shallow-like. So yep, looked kinda like he had a soaked to the bone dead Vulcan on his hands. Although the eyebrows were wrong, and the skin tone was ashen, not green tinged. Still seemed like he just might be dead, though.

[Jilak]

"Well, great. My first time in a survival horror-esque nightmare and I lose my first party member. God, this is why I don't play tactical role playing games, which this seems sort of like, while still being survival horror. So it's kind of like Resident Evil, I guess, except not at all. I suppose I have a few options, here. I could either wake up, or I could bury the body, or I could actually make sure he's actually dead before doing anything definitive. I'm not seeing a shovel around here, and after being hit by a car I doubt I'll be waking up soon, so it's time to push the boundaries of dream world. Hold on to your socks, metaphorical kids. This is where things get interesting." Josah stated, a slight twinkle in his eye. He put his hands forth to the teenager's chest, preparing to work a miracle.

"By the power of Greyskull, I render you... HEALED!" Josah exclaimed in his oh so dramatic voice. Whole planets aligned, stars were born, the win picked up, and then...

Absolutely nothing happened.

"Well, bugger. That was my best shot. I guess now I'll just have to sit here dramatically until Dream World stops being such a prick." Josah grumbled to himself, crossing his arms.

[mugenginga]

About the only thing to happen thanks to Josah's theatrics is crickets chirping. They hadn't been before, and while logically they had returned due to shit calming down, it was quite comical.

Maybe Josah would suddenly remember how to check for a heartbeat? Of course, I'm just a narrator...

[Jilak]

Josah paused for a second, a thought suddenly occurring to him. Yes, yes, why hadn't that occurred to him before? It was so obvious, yet he'd completely glazed over it. He felt like something of an idiot for it, too. But whatever, he remembered now. Yes, now was the time to pull out his ace card!

"Of course! How could I be so stupid? I'd almost forgotten I could snap my fingers. Maybe the local crickets and I can make a band! A symphonic band, even! And I'll be... that one guy... who snaps... he does the snapping. That guy." Josah said, commenting on his exciting eureka moment.

"Oh, wait, hang on. That's not my heroic insight's supposed to be about. RIGHT. I can check his heart beat! Pretty crazy, I know... me. But stay with me. Hopefully he's still alive, I'm getting tired of talking to myself. I wonder what class he is. Maybe a beserker! He's got the trousers for it. Or... or a half-elf half-revenant wizard, judging by those ears. That would be pretty awesome, I guess." He put his hand over the teen's heart, closing his eyes.

"By the power of Odin's Third Cousin Twice Removed, I demand that you... allow me to tell if you're beating!"

[mugenginga]

Odin's Third Cousin Twice Removed Says No.

Or to put it more simply, as soon as Josah touched the teenager's chest, he'd find himself with a surprisingly strong grip around his neck half a second before he was lifted off the ground, thrown on his back, and had a pissed off looking barely dressed male teenager sitting on top of him with one arm drawn back and pointed as if he were... going to do something nasty. Possibly gouge his eyes out, although the hand position was wrong for it.

"Who are you?!" the teenager demanded, glaring down at Josah. Who would now probably be noting the eyes. Inky black with a dark grey sclera. It also seemed the odd eyed individual (who was breathing heavy, worth note) was quite prepared to do significant damage if not death to Josah if he did not like the answer.

[Jilak]

Denied by Odin's Third Cousin Twice Removed. That's harsh, bro. It wasn't until a hand was around Josah's neck that he remembered that he was actually pretty sore. Following this, he was lifted off the ground and thrown on his back. It wasn't the fact that there was a half naked teenager sitting on him, holding his hand back menacingly that bothered him. It was the fact that someone, somewhere was probably getting off to this interaction that bothered him. But then he reminded himself that it was just a dream so it was probably okay. Though, dreams weren't supposed to hurt quite this bad. And when they did it was usually okay because Batman showed up in the and and punched everyone.

"WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME, BATMAN?! Right, now, right. Yeah. This is... this is fine. This happens in popular media all the time. Two people start off hating each other before becoming fire forged friends. That's what it's called, I think. Fire forged friends. Though, there's no fire here. Just... water. Freezing water. It's actually really cold." Josah thought to himself, briefly. Right, he had to think of a witty response.

"I'm... Josah Hasoj. A lot of people call me Josiah because it's a more common name, but it's actually pretty hurtful. I was just... making sure you were still alive. After... you know, being unconscious. I was in that grave over there, my coffin lid's right over there, please don't rip my eyes out and feed them to lemurs. If you're going to rip them out, at least feed them to chimpanzees. Those are pretty brilliant." Josah responded, slightly pained. He would never forget the day he lost his father to a gang of lemurs...

[mugenginga]

The teenager frowned at Josah's response, and tightened his grip on Josah's neck, effectively cutting off the pinned boy's airflow. It was only then he turned his head to the side, and seemed confused. He looked back down at Josah, being kind enough to loosen his grip on the boy's neck. Still had a pretty damn firm hold on him though.

"Graverobber?" he didn't seem judgmental of the possibility, just curious. He was still frowning pretty deeply though. For the first time he seemed to notice the water seeping into the ground. His next question came out almost as warning, "Did you see me arrive?"

[Jilak]

Josah was unsure, for a moment, of how to phrase his response to either of the teen's questions. He wasn't.. quite sure how to explain that he'd woken up in a coffin. It was pretty strange, all things considered. Nor was he sure if he could make a joke about not seeing the other male born or to respond earnestly. Honestly, the former would probably have gotten him killed, so that one was at least somewhat obvious.

"I, well, you see... not... exactly. Last thing I remember is being hit by a car, then waking up in that coffin over there. Realised being stuck in a coffin wasn't a good life plan, so I sort of hammered on the lid, felt my hands tingle, and passed out. When I woke up, the lid was blown off, along with six feet of dirt, and you were unconscious. And then there was water everywhere, so that was awkward. So I didn't see you arrive, no." Josah responded, hesitantly. It was a bit of a difficult concept, for him.

"Also my pants are wet because of all the water, not because I wee'd myself or anything of the sort."

[mugenginga]

The teenager considered Josah's words for a moment, and then released his grip on the younger boy's throat. He put his hands to either side of the boy's head and pushed himself up, and Josah might just catch the faintest trace of a wince. A few of his slices (those weren't mere cuts, really. It looked like he'd been in the wrong end of a sword fight) were seeping blood again, but the teenager was able to get to his feet. He took some struggling steps over to a gravestone to support himself, and looked back at Josah.

"Where is this?" the teenager asked, which would probably seem an odd question given what Josah had already stated.

[Jilak]

Once the teenager was no longer on top of him, Josah breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. Not because he was afraid for his life or anything, but because he didn't want to provide any shady internet forums with more fetish fodder. Which is totes a term. Fetish fodder. Look it up.

In any case, Josah looked around himself. There were gravestones, and the place gave this sort of... emotion. This dark, sorrowful feeling. It was really deep. Meaning it was either a graveyard, or George Lucas' back yard.. The former seemed the most plausible, in this case. Which was good, because Josah imagined the latter to be a truly horrifying place.

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say it's a cemetery. Judging by the amount of graves, I'd say we're in a pretty busy, yet crime-ridden, city. It's probably filled with all manner of vigilantes and supervillains, out for their own lot. Taking all the facts into account, and tossing a quick Sherlock Holmes-esque scan around the area... I'd say we're in Gotham City. Definitely Gotham." Josah responded, stroking his chin.

[mugenginga]

"You have to guess? You were buried alive and you don't know where your parents would have put you?" the teenager did not seem pleased with the response, "And no orphanage would spend the money to send a supposedly dead charge out of the town."

He winced again, still slight and barely noticable. He adjusted his position in relation to the grave so that he was at the back of the tombstone and slid down into a sitting position, not taking an eye off Josah the whole time, apparently waiting for a response to his sort of inquiry.

[Jilak]

Josah considered, for a moment, correcting the teen. Pointing out that he was probably just unconscious and his meds were just giving him weird fever... coma... dreams. But he stopped himself, deciding to play along for now, to keep everything fun.

"Well, if I were dead, my mum would either give me a viking burial, putting me in a burning ship and pushing it out to sea, or she'd bury me in our local cemetery. This isn't our local cemetery, though. This isn't even my country. None of these landmarks look familiar, and something about this place just feels... off. Mind you, the caretaker of the cemetery back home also seemed a bit off, but that was mostly because he was a registered sex offender." Josah responded, looking around.

"Went streaking one day, and... well, yeah. That's sort of not okay."