The endless waste

[aestrix]

Once, this planet teemed with life. It doesn't do that, anymore. The ground is dry and cracked and occasionally broken up by charred remains of trees. There are no birds, no bugs, no living plants - nothing but an empty, endless waste.

With one exception.

But the world is so very big, and the exception so very small. If someone showed up away from it, they could be quite forgiven for thinking this world is completely dead.




with Sable (Kappa)

with Aisilian (Link)

with Grendyne (Rockeye)

with Temple (Curiousdiscoverer)

Comments

[copycast]

The part can be obnoxiously any color, as long it isn't dead. This place is depressingly boring.

The walls are a sign of people, but he didn't land near here... Temple casts Wind Armor and observes the place from a lower height for a few minutes, close enough to be visible and talk, high enough he doesn't feel like trespassing.

[aestrix]

It seems to be highly magical, whatever it is. Also obnoxiously alive. Along with the various kinds of ivy climbing up all of the walls, there are various types of flowers, a bunch of plants that glow, and a large area set aside for a truly obnoxious amount of plants.

There's a main building that looks rather large, and a few smaller buildings that look more like sheds than buildings. There's a stone dais near one of them, and some kind of neatly built firepit that looks built to have things hung over it to be heated.

If anyone's home, they're not outside.

[copycast]

Temple flies around until he gets a good sense of this place's layout. Maybe the people that live here are too busy look out of the window.

After pondering which spell to spend, Temple uses Far-reaching whisper and says "Hello?" to all directions. Whoever hears it won't speak his language, but it should get their attention.

[light_another_life]

It does seem to have gotten someone's attention. She pokes her head out of a door in the building, holding a bow and looking alarmed.

She spots Temple and cautiously calls up a greeting in a foreign language.

[copycast]

Temple eyes the bow, but decides to just stay alert to teleport himself out.

He floats near her and casts "Comprehend Person." Those words are obviously magical and sounds like he speaking all the languages she knows at once, while still being understandable. "Hello? I'm just a traveler and mean no ill towards you."

[light_another_life]

".... Okay. Hi. This is probably not a great vacation destination, fair warning. Where did you come from?"

[copycast]

"Hi! I literally just materialized in your world... it was maybe less than two hours ago? Are the hungry-magical things the reason of your warning?"

[light_another_life]

"Uh, yes. They're what caused the mess you can see outside. I'm trying to fix it."

[copycast]

"How? Oh, you can call me Temple by the way." He bows formally.

[light_another_life]

"I'm Saevetei," she says. "I have to take care of all of the hungry-magical things, either by feeding the ones that are starving or by, uh, ripping apart the ones that have condensed to a dangerous degree."

[copycast]

He tilts his head. "Who helps you?"

[light_another_life]

"... I get some help from people in the dream world on how to do things and what to aim for next, but. It's literally just me actually doing everything."

[copycast]

"Dream world? Why don't the others do anything? Sorry, but I just literally arrived here so I'm completely clueless."

[light_another_life]

She blinks.

"If you're connected to the dream world, your mind goes there when you sleep, and if you then die, you wake up there instead of - ceasing to exist. You can be retrieved, but it's not exactly easy. The end of the world killed - well, everyone. I'm only special because my body can be remade without outside help. And I don't have the resources to make new bodies yet, so. It's kind of just me."

[copycast]

Temple blinks, multiple times, when she explains this and after a pause he says "Yeeesh. That is an interesting mix of ups and downs. At this point I should mention that I am not a tourist type of traveler. I'm originally from a cluster of worlds where everyone gets to be reincarnated once per world. I was sent world-hopping as a means to add more worlds to the cycle and to find a world with some sort of eternal life. Also, I have foreign magic. At least one of which can feed the magic-hungry-things, and another that should be suited to help with the task."

[light_another_life]

"This world," she says, "offers eternal life. You can't die in the dream world. How willing are you to help save the world...?"

[copycast]

"Extremely" He says. "Well, I have some magical constraints. Guardianship, one of my kinds of magic, is all about preserving, nurturing and healing. Mine is a guardianship of magic, which aligns pretty well with solving the situation."

[light_another_life]

"Quite. Can you feed sickly nodes? Those would be the hungry-magic-things that don't leave holes in the ground."

[copycast]

"Yep!" Temple says satisfied "Found one and fed him a little light spell, could even sense that it shouldn't eat more. Also found a hole-making one and it ate a spell while I was trying my magic-healing magic."

[light_another_life]

"Oh, excellent. That'll save me loads of time. I can handle the hungry nodes - the ones that make holes - but I need to get equipment set up for it. Do you have anything that could rip a node apart?"

[copycast]

"I could try some of my anti-magic spells or the nonword. The latter might have the reverse effect because it is an incoherent burst of pure magic meant to break spells by brute force, it might rip the node or feed it." He shrugs. "Aaand I have magic-granting magic if you are interested."

[light_another_life]

"You will not break a hungry node by brute force, and would strengthen it trying," she states with certainty. "And - uh, I am, but what's involved with the magic and are there nasty effects as a result of having it?"

[copycast]

"There is a completely preventable nasty side effect to one. So, the magics are Spellcasting, Guardianship and Perception. Well, I have a gloriously impractical magic system based on magical rocks, if you are a bigger magic geek than me, which would be impressive. Spellcasting involves words with magical effects for example: Minimal Light." A small dot of light appears on Temple's finger. "Guardianship is the nurturing magic that I mentioned, it requires that you dedicate yourself to what the Guardianship wants to protect. Perception allows you to detect something through one of your senses, like if someone lies to you their breath smell bad or similar. It is the one with the nasty side effect, the detection gets stronger with time and by the time you are old it can be painfully strong, but I have a spell that counters that problem. I have spells to give Spellcasting and Perception. Guardianship is trickier... Basically I have to know you well enough and long enough that my magic will feel okay to transplant a bit of itself to spark your own Guardianship. I could also deputize you as an agent of my Guardianship, which requires less time but then you would just be a conduit to my magic."

[light_another_life]

"Spellcasting, yes please. And Perception - maybe, what things can be detected?"

[copycast]

"Perception is not from my original world-cluster, it can be very useless and random. Some things I have seen detected includes: lies, probability of death, the most competent person to perform a task, emotions, but also the last time you ate, how many times a person blinked since they woke up, the direction of the nearest person speaking the vowel 'o', random. It will take a few days until you start noticing what it does, and the overloading-preventing spell allows you to shut it off completely."