Removing the Veil (Invite Only)

[Jilak]

Josah fell quite silent after his final declaration concerning the status of the weather. Quite uncharacteristically so, to be honest. He drifted into a restless sleep, being drawn to a dreamless land. The area directly surrounding his resting place glowed a bright white for the shortest of second. Even the least observant would notice the large amount of angelic energy that radiated from said area in that sort frame of time. But as soon as it had come, it was gone.

At least, in the waking world. In Josah's mind, he'd awoken in a dark place, surrounded by leering jesters. He stumbled through, unable to see his own feet, barely able to feel them, until he came across an older gentleman. Physically he seemed to be in his 80s, but the energy Josah could feel radiating from him felt so much older. Regardless, he was the only individual Josah felt comfortable speaking to in this... place. His words came with a shudder, his body frigid. Wherever this place was, it was frigid.

"W-who are you? Where am I? Wait... am I having a dream inside of a dream? Is that even possible?" Josah asked, shielding his eyes with his right hand. The gentleman before him glowed a blinding white, the only source of light in this barren wasteland.

"You know me. At least, one of you does. Your other self and I are... associates." The gentleman before him responded, crossing his arms. Though his tone of voice was quite warm and inviting, he maintained a steely glare.

"Right. My 'other self'. For the sake of dream-in-dream logic, I'll go along. What do you need me with me, oh great and powerful lightbulb?" Josah asked, chuckling. It was a question he would regret. He felt a burning sensation in his right shoulder. Looking down, there was a mark embedded in it, seemingly burned in. It hurt. Dreams weren't supposed to hurt so much. As he fell to his knees, he noticed something quite unsettling. The gentleman before him hadn't even blinked.

"You always were quite the talker. Not surprised its bled over into this poor excuse for a body. Regardless, what I want is simple. Your other self can't take control with you like this. At least, not easily. There's a jewel, somewhere on this island. Find it." The gentleman responded, tone and expression unchanging.

"Okay... let's pretend any of this makes sense, even in crazy dream logic. What happens to me then? Not my 'other self' or whatever, but me." Josah's query was posed through gritted teeth as he clutched his still burning shoulder.

"Doesn't matter. Oh, I'm sorry, that's rude of me. What happens to your body is incredibly important. If I've done the spell wrong, your other self could burn right through the thing. Luckily, I don't make mistakes. As for your consciousness.... it doesn't matter. You don't matter." The gent answered, smiling at the last bit.

"Well, that's too bad. I sort of like, you know, existing. So I'm going to have to turn down your very well-phrased offer."

"How long do you think you can keep this up? He's a spirit who in his life was a powerful spellcaster. You? You're just a boy. A boy that shouldn't even exist."

"I dunno. I was thinking I'd win the lottery before selling my soul to some creepy dream-in-dream guy. So, you'll have to pardon my language, but you can just go straight to hell." Josah growled, trying to push himself up. He collapsed once more as another burning sigil found itself on his abdomen.

"Already there, kid. Trying to talk sense into you? That's an ironic hell if I've ever seen one." There ended their conversation. What amounted to a very quick second in the real world equated to a few hours for Josah's dream world. He awoke with a start, looking around.

"A dream... just a dream. In a dream. That's still pretty silly." He thought to himself, collapsing back with a sigh. Had he checked either his abdomen or his shoulder, however, he would have noticed an oddity. Both of his marks were still there. Burned into his very soul, if you will.

He twiddled his thumbs, unable to fall asleep again.

[mugenginga]

The dark red haired teenager had leapt to his feet, still mostly asleep despite the defiant expression that didn't touch his eyes, when the energy had radiated out from Josah's resting place. As soon as it had vanished, Shin had stumbled backwards, his back hitting hard against the stone monument he'd been leaning against before. He narrowed his eyes towards the grave, the energy gone but the memory lingering.

He'd looked down at his arm in the seconds following, noting that the wounds were gone. He gave a quick glance up towards the sky. Past midnight if the moon in this world worked like it did on Earth. He looked back towards the grave as he heard Josah's mumbles coming from it. His eyes narrowed even more, being nothing short of a glare now. He was done with this. That other self was all well and fine, but that had been the energy the Asrai put off. He turned to leave. Let the boy wake up to find himself by himself.

[Jilak]

Josah stretched his arms out, rubbing his eyes. Sleep wasn't exactly a thing that was happening, so there was really no sense in trying to trick himself otherwise. He grumbled, pushing himself to his feet, climbing out of the hole he had made into a makeshift bed.

"Might as well check on Carlos." Josah thought to himself, stumbling over to the last place he could recall seeing his as-of-yet unnamed associate. Finding no Johnson, he looked around a bit, stumbling in a half-awake stupor through the cemetery. After a couple of minutes of fruitless searching, he brought a palm to his forehead, sighing.

"Come on, Larry. You don't just... leave the party without leaving a note or something." Josah mumbled to himself, before his eyes widened. There was something very important he'd forgotten. Perhaps the most vital piece of knowledge he would ever learn.

"Wait... are you even a guy, I ask as if you're here? I mean, sure, you look pretty masculine, but you could just be a masculine lady. Aha! Clearly, my gender confusion was the reason you didn't warm up to my fantastic personality! I was being insensitive!" Josah said aloud, bringing a finger into the air. He looked around then, sighing.

"I'm far too young to be talking to myself. Aw, well, not going to find Conan/Carolina by standing around here talking to myself." Josah concluded, proceeding to do what he always did while lost: pick a random direction and heading straight.