Pax RP

It was very quiet in the Encampment, as it had been for a while. Most people were enjoying the long, long moments of uninterrupted peace. Just time to relax and do nothing at all, play in the sun or water, enjoy themselves as though they were having an extended holiday.

Then something very strange happened in four different places.

One of them, the most noticeable due to its location happened directly in the centre of the main floor of the Horn and Halo. A small boy no older than five with dirty blonde hair and what appeared to be yellow but human eyes suddenly showed up, wrapped in a yellow robe, blinked and looked extremely confused.

A similar thing happened just a bit away from the Temple of Insanity that housed the Knights, another young boy, though this one wearing white, with very light blonde hair and blue eyes. He however, started play with a nearby butterfly.

The third area, if anyone was unfortunate enough to be nearby, was just outside of C's Corrupted Forest. There a young girl with black hair, wearing a black robe and sporting two human but red eyes was sat there, quite happily pulling the legs off a spider that had crawled on her leg and giggling at it's attempts to get away.

The fourth thing, well, that was a long long way away-but getting rapidly closer

H&H
Thorn, after some adventuring in another reality and the wilderness, returned to the Encampment of Prime Pax for some rest. She was sitting on a chair in the H&H drinking some tea and chatting with three, rather strange horned and fluffy cat/goat creatures.

"And then, a laser went right for Akumi, and I lept in the way an' took the hit!" The Red one beamed, before downing a glass. "Could'ave died... An' was foolish, but that was the best I could think of."

"Nyeh... Always with the ego, Hayashi?" The purple one named Akumi joked, giving him a playful nudge. "But thanks for taking the hit."

"Woah... That sssounded very painful... But isss glad you defended coon-kin!" Thorn cheeps with a happy smile. "Isss very brave!"

"D'neh, what else was I meant ta do? Stand there like a vegetable?" The red one, Hayashi joked.

The one that kept quiet was a green one, named Ichiro, who was happily listening to the conversation until he spotted the confused kid, tilting his head. "... Ya... Okay over there?" He asks.

Temple
Sakuya was relaxing outside the Temple, enjoying the sun, peace and quiet when something caught her eye... A kid!? The Hylotl sat up and looked very concerned and confused... How did a child get all the way out here? Where are his parents? She then got up from a cozy patch of grass.

"U-Um, excuse me?" The Hylotl starts awkwardly. "My name is Sakuya Yuki, who might you be?" She asks, very concerned... Did the winds snatch away a young child from his home? What a barbaric force, she thought to herself.

The one (unfortunately) closest to The Collector's twisted wood just happened to be a city guard, fulfilling the "short stick" patrol of making sure no atrocities leaked out from the forested zone of corruption. Luckily, this extremely dangerous shift came with the perks of the best equipment - namely modern day body armor, a hunting rifle, and...

"You have to keep the button down the whole time you talk, Thompson." Captain Rae radioed to the guard by the woods, after his last message arrived at headquarters cut short.

"Ah. Sorry, Cap. Never seen anything like this uh... "Walk and Talkee" before. It actually seems pretty calm out here, nothing out of the - Wait. Is that... A kid?" Guard Thompson stopped, spotting the small figure by the treeline. He immediately moved into a sprint, focused on the area closest to her, dreading some creature would snatch her up before he got there.

"Hey! Little girl!" He shouted, trying to get her attention. "Hey, Squirt, what are you doing out here? Where are your parents?"

"Thompson? Did you say... there was a child out there?" Rae radioed back, though Thompson was too caught up in the danger to immediately reply. He moved close and knelt right beside the little girl, still watching the trees.

"Hey. Hey kid, you can't be out here. It's really dangerous... Things happen to people all the time." He explained, trying to see what she had in her hands.

"Thompson. I'm coming to where you are." Rae crackled over the radio.

"Are you okay, Squirt? What are you doing here? What's your name?" Thompson asked, setting down the rifle beside his leg in case he immediately needed to grab it and shoot. The girl's safety was most important to him right now, and he didn't want to scare her.

The Horn and Halo

The very confused boy looked over at Ichiro, eyes widening slightly as he looked even more confused. "... I don't know" he said, eventually. "Who are you?"

The Temple

The boy looked at Sakuya happily as he stopped chasing the butterfly. "My name is Raphael Miss Sa-Ku-Ya. You look like a nice lady. Where are you from?"

C's Corrupted Forest

The little girl smiled at the guard as though she didn't have a care in the world, letting the now three legged spider scuttle off her. "Hi Mister, my name's Abi. What's yours? Why don't you stay here? I like it here!"

H&H
Ichiro hops off his seat and walked over. "My name is Ichiro... But ya can call me Ichi if ya like." He says with a smile. "Who might you be?"

Thorn looked to the kid and waves. "Hello! Floran isss Thorn-Dancer!"

Akumi and Hayashi looked to one-another in puzzlement, wondering where this kid came from.

The Temple:
Sakuya smiles lightly. "That is a wonderful name. As for where I am from... Well, I am from another world very far from this one, I can imagine." She explains. "Um... How did you get here, if you do not mind me asking?"

"Abi. That's a very pretty name, Squirt." The guard shifted his weight, knees sore from kneeling beside the child. He carefully listened to what she had to say, impatient to leave but not wanting to spook her. "Well. I don't like it here very much, Abi. It's not my sort of place. I don't find it very nice here."

He peered into the darkness of the tainted woods that surrounded them. His view couldn't get more than a few feet, with the thick, darkened plant life that always seemed to be in a different position blocking the way. Still, he somehow knew there were creatures in there, twisted by The Collector's dark imagination, and they were hunting him.

"Come on kiddo. Let's get out of here, quickly." He said, standing somewhat and offering his hand to Abi.

The KoI HQ

Grathon managing the security center of the HQ below the Temple of Insanity, the invisible monitors that tracked the Hylotl's movements picked up the sight of the strange child. Fortunately there happened to be a Flame Guard close by to check up on the both of them.

The Temple

"Hiya Sakuya, another one from the 'Winds?" Automatic in 'her' thought process, the duplicate huldra cheerfully walked over to greet the two outside. With the Knights not as active as they once were, Solveig wanted to make sure she could at least help out as much as possible.

The H&H

The little dirty blonde haired boy smiled at Ichiro and went to walk closer to him, before looking up and waving back at Thorn. "My name is Nero!" He declared to them all happily, nerves slightly showing behind the smile.

The Temple

The little blue eyed boy looked from Sakuya to the new one, apparently quite cheerful, before he furrowed his brow and seemed to wrack his brain for the answers to Sakuyas question. "I... don't know where I came from... How did I get here? Where am I?"His cheerful expression soon changed to a confused and fearful frown.

The Tainted Forest

The little girl looked up and frowned at the guard, unhappy at hearing he didn't like the place she did. "But why Mister? It's so pretty here. I feel like I'm at home" She got up when he offered his hand however and took it, still frowning "I think you just don't like it because you're a silly grown up who doesn't understand it. Maybe I should make you understand it-somehow"

"I think I understand enough, kid. It's dark, scary, and everything in there wants to kill you in a needlessly creative way." The Guard explained, grabbing her hand. Before Abi had time to pull away, he yanked her up into his arms and held on to her protectively, securing the little girl.

"But sure, go ahead kiddo. Help me figure out why you liked it enough to wander out here without supervision. I really wanna know." Thompson said, bending down to pick up his rifle. He still kept his eyes trained on the uncomfortably close treeline, in case something charged out.

"Hey Captain? Are you still on your way? I have secured the little girl." He spoke into his walkie talkie, breathing a sigh of relief.

H&H:

Ichiro smiles cheerfully. "Nice ta meet'cha Nero!"

Thorn tilts her head. "Oh? Nero isss nice name!" She cheeps with a smile. "There is alsssso a Nero who protects the Horn and Halo and makesss thisss place sssafe!" Thorn says merrily.

Akumi and Hayashi chatter to one-another quietly, but then Akumi just shrugs.
"My name is Akumi, and this grumpy fluff is Hayashi." Akumi says with a smirk to Nero.

"I-I am not a grumpy fluff, nyeh!" Hayashi retaliated, fluffing up his fur... Yup, a grumpy fluff.

The Temple:

Sakuya looks to Solveig and nods. "I believe so, yes..." Then pauses when she saw the fearful frown. 'O-Oh no, please don't cry...' She thought worriedly, then goes to kneel besides him. "You... Are in a dimension named Pax, on a world named Ana... It is okay though, as you are safe here with me and Solveig." She explains kindly, gesturing to the flame guard.

"As for how you got here... I believe it may have something to do with the Celestial Winds, a force that takes various beings from different worlds to this one."

Tom's Cabin - Edge of the Encampment

Tom was trying to have a bit of a lie-in, having stayed up late the previous night on his own patrol. However, his sleep was restless, as he tossed and turn from some apparent nightmare. His skin glistened with a cold sweat, and occasionally he'd cry out from some percieved threat. One might think this normal, but the bright purple glowing pendant around his neck indicated otherwise.

Suddenly he bolted upright, wide awake. He looked around, trying to remember where he was. He had known nightmares - but never known them to be so vivid. It was only when he looked down at his hands to make sure they were real did he notice the pendant.

He had only seen it glow once prior - that that was bad news. Considering the Nightmare - no, visions - he had just had, it was definitely bad news. Something was coming - or already here - and it was something the Sanity Blade was reacting too.

He quickly geared up with a little bit of everything, as he was yet uncertain of the threat he faced. He made use he had both of this knives with him - the normal and the enchanted - and then rushed out. He thought about heading to the temple - but decided instead to head towards the H&H. No matter what was happening, that most assuredly would be one focal point.

The H&H

Little Nero walked over to the table the others were at and went to sit down, twirling his fingers through his little robe. "Those are all nice names, and the Nero that looks after this place sounds nice too! What are all of you?"

The Temple

Little Raphael screwed up his eyes and started balling loudly. "B-but that doesn't h-help that I d-don't r-remember anything!" He whined to the both of them before planting himself on the ground and starting to soak himself with tears.

C's Tainted Forest

Little Abi smiled when she was scooped up and seemingly snuggled into the guard, laying both hands on him. "I really REALLY wish that I could show you Mister. It'd be so much easier for you to understand it then!" she said... and as she did, black roots erupted directly below them, to try and cocoon the guard.

"Sure kid. Why don't you draw it out on a picture when we-" The guard began to say before the earth under his feet suddenly and tremendously exploded beneath their feet. His legs were snared immediately, as the flowing wash of tendrils wrapped around his boots and crystalized, while even more worked their way upward.

"ABI RUN! GET SOMEWHERE SAFE!" Thompson yelled, throwing the little girl clear, no time for a gentle touch. The tendrils had begun to work over his face... and then he was simply gone. The edge of the tained forest had an eerie silence now, with only Abi, and a large person-sized cocoon of pure darkness present.

The H&H

Tom rushed in through the front door, right past the serpent woman. He looked around hurridly, and slightly out of breath he asked "What's going on?"

C's Tainted Forest

The lumbering Gargoyle once known as Blackfoot noticed a change. He couldn't quiet understand it, but something was different. His Dark Mistress still had control over him, but he was a little more free to think on his own. Using his limited mental faculties, he decided that the best bet was find his Dark Mistress and figure out why the change occured. Thusly, he went out, searching for wherever The Collector might be.

Frowning, she went over to kneel next to the child. "I'm sure it will come back to you soon enough-just try to relax," Solveig attempted to sooth him, materializing a soft 'blanket' of light around little Raphael.