Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
at adventu, we believe that colorful story and plots far outweigh the need for a battle system. rp should be about the writing, the fun, and the creativity. you will see that the only system on our site is the encouragement to create amazing adventures with other members. welcome to adventu... how will you arrive?
year 5, quarter 3
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[attr="class","tlbody"]Tellah and Garnet’s boat drifted alongside Quistis’ until the haunting melody of the drowned city faded to nothing more than a whisper. Mist eventually rolled over them, thick with magic and mystery. Tellah shivered at the touch of the strange, magical mist against him, enveloping him in its power. [break][break] He headed up the double stairs with the other two to find a large circular room that no doubt was their initial destination. A pedestal past the central well was surely where the Water Crystal was once housed, but there was nothing there. The crystal was nowhere to be seen. Tellah’s heart dropped. Had this all been for naught? [break][break] Garnet drew their attention to the three strange shadowy glowing and drifting figures in the well. She commented that they seemed to be a reflection of the three of them. Tellah squinted at them then raised a quizzical bushy eyebrow at Garnet. “I guess I’m a woman then, eh?” he asked with an amused edge to his voice. All three figures certainly appeared feminine in shape. [break][break] The dark-haired girl mused cautiously about how they might lower themselves down into the well. Tellah peered over the side and nodded along, contemplating the best course of action. “Float is a good plan,” he agreed. “Just in case the drop is far. But if it’s endless water, we might need something else to be able to breath.” Perhaps toad again. That was, yet again, a possibility. But even as Garnet and Tellah stood beside the well and considered the best course of action Quistis was already in motion. [break][break] She didn’t seem too concerned with a cautious plan, instead seeming to prefer action. Well, Tellah couldn’t entirely disagree. Sometimes you just had to go for it and hope for the best. He nodded and watched as she cast float on herself and readied herself for the jump. “We’ll watch out for you and follow behind,” Tellah assured her. “Be careful,” he added gruffly even though she seemed unlikely to follow that instruction. [break][break] Then Quistis pushed herself off the edge of the well. “You can cast float on the two of us?” Tellah asked Garnet once they were alone. “We can follow together, if you would like.” And he peered into the glowing depths of the well, watching Quistis and preparing to follow.
Quistis smiles, braces herself, and falls into the well. The water ripples at her touch, but as she slips below it, nothing of her is seen from the outside. It’s as though she’s slipping into nothing -- a strange glass dimension where she won’t be reflected. In a moment, she’s gone. Vanished into thin air as though she’d never been there at all. Below, the shrines image is nearly unchanged. While there is no Quistis, the feminine, spiky headed shadow has disappeared. One of the doors in the reflection has opened.
Their physical room is quiet. The crystal has not appeared for Garnet and Tellah and no doors have opened around them. They are alone.
A shiver passes over Quistis as her head slips below water. Her vision falls away, leaving her suspended in a strange void where she feels herself floating ever down. There’s a vague light in the distance that becomes more powerful the longer she falls. A woman’s voice whispers, ’Pray, cleanse these waters and thy heart.’
Quistis wakes face down on hard stone. She finds herself in a gleaming, immaculate shrine not so unlike the one she left. This one has been untouched by time -- the columns are no longer crumbling, the stone is no longer worn, and the walls reflect a deep black that could go on forever. She awakens where the well would be, but is no longer. The entranceway to leave is shrouded in a deep, impassable mist.
The room is lit in a familiar blue-green -- but there are no sigils like above. The only light comes from the brilliant power of the crystal. It is nearly blinding as it hovers above its pedestal, turning in a slow, aimless dance. The arches opening around it are sealed with a shimmering, shadowy veil. Two indistinct forms stand vigil at either side of the dais. One, heavy-set with what looks like horns about its head. The other, an indistinct woman in a dress. Quistis can approach these figures, but they repel her at the touch. They will not allow her passage to the crystal.
”Quistis! You here? Where are you?”
A child’s voice calls out from beyond an echoing tunnel. One of the doors around the perimeter has opened, and stairs lead up into an unknown landing. From here, she hears a voice. A familiar, boy’s voice of maybe eight years old. Among others.
”Course she’s here! She wouldn’t go far!”
”Really?” The voice is surprised. Hopeful. ”Where is she then?”
A pause before, ”Shut up, chicken-wuss!”
The pair’s arguing echoes from the staircase, calling to her. There’s no magic drawing her in. Only those two familiar voices, lost to time.
Post by Garnet Til Alexandros XVII on Oct 19, 2020 8:12:45 GMT -6
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"Wait!" Garnet tried to call after Quistis, but it was too late. The woman was gone. She had been about to point out that while float did ensure that they'd reach the bottom safely, it did not ensure that they would be able to get back out. A rope or the ladder would have done that, but clearly they had no choice. They had come all of this way. Now their only option was to carry on. Quistis seemed prepared, at least. White magic, black magic, her whip by her side, was there anything that woman couldn't do? Garnet had to admit, she felt a little jealous. Next to her, her meagre white magic seemed rather... underwhelming. Back in her team, back on Gaia, every team member had contributed, but it seemed Quistis could do it all. She wondered if maybe Quistis should have journeyed here alone. That was unfair, she realised. Being in a team wasn't about power, it was about companionship.
She looked to Tellah, both he and Quistis seemed to disagree with her assessment that the shadowy figures were their reflection. She had to admit, it seemed unlikely, she had just assumed by the long hair she had seen on a figure, so much like her own. But now, as one of the figures disappeared, she was beginning to have another feeling. "Maybe... not us, but linked to us, somehow. Look, that figure disappeared when Quistis entered..." she pointed out to Tellah, looking to the darkness. The figure she had thought was her hadn't moved when she had moved, so it wasn't like they were looking directly at themselves. Instead, her eyes moved to the other figure. The one that wasn't her. Heavyset, with what could be horns on the side of her head...
...or hair?
....(Mother?)
Was it possible? With magic, Garnet knew that anything was feasible, she had seen other worlds, she had travelled dimensions, and she had battled a God at the centre of the universe, but... this felt like something else. She almost felt violated, if that figure was who she thought it was. Like the shrine was digging into her memories, and turning them back against her. It had no right.
But she had no choice but to proceed. She nodded to Tellah, and began to cast float on him, before casting it on herself too and moving towards the edge of the well. "I... do not know what we shall see in there, but... I have a feeling that it won't be easy. I think you're right. Those figures aren't us. But they're connected to us. I think... They're somebody special to us. Perhaps somebody that we have lost. I think... that's my mother..." she admitted, pointing at the large woman. "Be should be ready for anything. There's no turning back," she said, before turning back to the well. The sense of foreboding grew, but she knew that she had to go on. Zidane would have jumped. She would jump too. For the good of the party. She climbed over the well, letting her legs dangle into the water that didn't seem damp.
"Be safe. I'll see you soon," Garnet said to Tellah, and then she pushed herself off the edge, into the depths...
Don’t know why there’s no sun [break]up in the sky. Stormy weather.
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The warnings from Tellah and Garnet were but a distant echo by time her head slid under. [break][break] Goosebumps lit her skin at the strange rippling sensation. She had felt something similar to this before. When time was being compressed. When planes of existence shifted to show her the different sorceresses. When her own reality was difficult to determine. Laguna said the only way to come back is to think and hold on to a strong attachment. And yet she ended up here in Zephon. [break][break]
She closed her eyes, only to open them at the feminine whisper. ‘Pray, cleanse these waters with thy heart.’ Was it a similar recommendation Laguna had given her back then? [break][break]
Then, she was awake. The transition must have overwhelmed her. It took a moment to process what had happened. She could feel her fingers and toes. The fall had not seemed to cause any injury. She sat up, her legs tucked to the side. It was as if time reversed itself. The sight was breathtaking. She reminded herself to breathe again. [break][break]
She noted that only two figures stood guard at the crystal. Silent sentinels that kept her at bay from the crystal. Yet neither attacked her like she expected. Was there a puzzle she had to solve? [break][break]
She heard familiar voices from long ago and her head snapped in its direction. “I’m here.” She started to slowly get to her feet, confused and unsure what was happening. “Where are you?” She grew a little concerned, though she tried to logic that this had to be an illusion. Or was it? Was it like when Ellone linked someone to the past? Where these past sequences had all happened, though it could not be changed. [break][break]
She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. If children needed her, then she was going to be strong for them. Just like she had been back then. “Zell, Seifer. Stay where you are. I’ll come to you.” There was only one way to go. One of the archways opened its portal and the voices seemed to emanate from it. “Seifer. Don’t be such a bully.” She instinctively huffed. Now clouded by her own emotions, she boldly just walked through the portal.
[attr="class","tlbody"]Tellah watched, tense and ready to act, as Quistis disappeared beneath the water. She faded out of sight, flickering and shimmering and then vanishing entirely. Beside him, Garnet commented that the figures may yet be linked to the three of them. It was true, one had disappeared with Quistis beneath the glossy water. At first, they assumed the larger figure was related to Tellah, though he took offense to being associated with the heavyset woman. [break][break] But as he stared into the depths, he thought again. Not them, but linked. His face was mere inches from the water as he stared now at the other figure, the woman in a dress that Garnet had believed to be herself at first. Could it be? He couldn’t make out her features well enough to truly say who she could be. But he started to wonder if maybe she wasn’t an echo, a beloved memory of his past. [break][break] Garnet seemed to be having the same realization. She pointed to the larger figure and mentioned it could be her mother, someone special and lost. If so, was his figure his beloved and lost Anna? “The other may be my daughter,” he responded in a strangled whisper. “You’re right. We must be ready for anything. This place seems like it will play more tricks on us before we’re through.” How would he react when greeted with a ghost of the past? Would he be able to keep his head, logically understanding that this was a magical effect? [break][break] Or would he lose his head? Would he forget all sense of what was real?[break][break] Tellah couldn’t know for certain. So he steeled himself and climbed over the well alongside the black-haired girl. He nodded sharply and gruffly responded, “See you on the other side.” He hoped it was true. Then he pushed off the edge, hoping the Float spell would be enough to see him safely through.
As Garnet and Tellah slip into the well, they see much the same as Quistis had.
They feel the same chill, the same lack of vision, the same weightless void. They to hear the whisper of the unknowable woman, ’Pray, cleanse these waters and thy heart.’
When they wake, they are alone.
They find themselves in a gleaming, immaculate shrine not so unlike the one they left. This one has been untouched by time -- the columns are no longer crumbling, the stone is no longer worn, and the walls reflect a deep black that could go on forever. The entranceway to leave is shrouded in a deep, impassable mist. The room is lit in a familiar blue-green -- but there are no sigils like above. The only light comes from the brilliant power of the crystal. It is nearly blinding as it hovers above its pedestal, turning in a slow, aimless dance.
The shadows that had once guarded the crystal’s dais are no more. However, it is not without protection. The arches opening around it are guarded with a shimmering, shadowy veil. They magically repel anyone who attempts to pass through.
Garnet is alone. Her footsteps echo strangely in this timeless space. There is no entrance and seemingly no exit except…
”Princess?” A familiar voice, echoing from one of the six doors set into the room’s perimeter. It’s open now, and the stairs lead up into shadows. ”I hope you haven’t run off again.”
She would know that voice anywhere. General Beatrix.
Tellah awakens on the hard floor -- a floor too hard for a back like his. There’s a strange, muffled resistance to the air as though muffled underwater. As he approaches the dais, another sound calls to him. Not voices, but music.
It’s a haunting sound played on graceful strings. The sound of a harp. Its melody echoes from stone stairs leading into the darkness of a door mysteriously opened. There is nothing else.
The stairs lead up into darkness. Perhaps Quistis has passed through a portal. Perhaps she’s gone nowhere at all, but as light finally reaches her, she emerges to find herself on a coastal cliffside beneath a cloudless blue sky.
The sound of the waves finds her first. They pulse with the rhythm of a distant shore.
She stands on a windswept plateau. Below her, the beach winds into the blinding blue sea. In the distance, a lighthouse spirals towards the sun. Its path leads to stone buildings inset with classical columns and reliefs. A woman stands at the cliffside, her head tilted to consider the sky. She wears a dark, form-fitting dress. Her hair falls down only a little past her waist. As Quistis approaches, she turns.
”Quistis?” Matron’s eyebrows raise in surprise before she gives her a small smile. ”You’ve come home.”
Post by Garnet Til Alexandros XVII on Oct 26, 2020 14:52:05 GMT -6
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Garnet was painfully aware of her footsteps as she moved. Everything else was silent. Any hope of finding Quistis within the well had faded. She was alone. Once again. She began to take in her surroundings. It looked so much like the shrine she had stepped into, only, now it was pristine. Had she... travelled backwards in time? Was that insane? After everything else she had seen, would that have been so unusual? Or was this something else?
That figure she had seen, her mother, flashed across her mind again. She had been so sure. Had she been mistaken again? Where was she now? Her eyes moved to the crystal. Of course, the crystal, she realised. If it was anything like the crystal back on Gaia, the one that she had seen, the one Kuja had tried to destroy, it could access all memory of creation. She remembered Memoria, walking through the ruins of Alexandria, of looking back even further, of seeing Maidain Sari and the boat she had escaped on... Memories genetically implanted in the human race, wasn't that Garland's explanation? Maybe this was similar. A memory of the planet conjured by the crystal. A hint-
Her thoughts were cut off by a familiar voice. A voice that almost had her turning to run immediately to respond to it. Make no mistake, in terms of the technical chain of command, Garnet was the Queen and Beatrix was the General, but Beatrix's voice always had this way that when it issued commands, even Garnet felt compelled to obey. Maybe it was because Beatrix had been her bodyguard for as long as she could remember. What Beatrix said went if she wanted to be kept safe, or maybe it was something else.
She paused for a moment, hesitating. It WAS possible Beatrix had followed her through. If there was a way to reach this world from Gaia, Beatrix would find it. She would be by Steiner's side, and Garnet knew HE would never give up looking for her if she disappeared, but something about the voice bothered her. Something Beatrix had said.
Princess.
It was so much part of her identity that it had taken Garnet a moment to recognise that it wasn't the correct form of address anymore, but Beatrix would never make that mistake. Steiner, maybe. Zidane might call her it as his way of making fun, but never Beatrix. That meant it was something else. A trap, a trick or... a memory? She thought back to Memoria, to the crystal, and with one last look at it, so out of reach, she began to make her way up the steps. Whatever it was, whatever lay beyond that door, she had to face it. And if it was her memories, if her mother was there, as the shadows had hinted... Then...
Well, Garnet could see her again. Even here, even an illusion, that thought, that temptation, carried her onwards...
Don't know why there's no sun [break] up in the sky. Stormy weather.
[attr=class,text] It was disorienting to walk through the abyss only to end up home. [break][break] She could smell the salt breeze, and this time there was a gentleness to it. The familiar blue sky. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. She remembered how she used to sprawl out on the sand with the others and collect shells to put in glass bottles. Even how they splashed around in the ocean’s cold waves or caught the supper for tomorrow. The place was calming and serene. [break][break] She continued forward along the path to such a familiar house. One that she had once forgotten, only to remember it later on in her journey. She was taking in the sight of the structure that housed her in her earlier life. It was odd really. How the matron guided and prepared her, in a way, to take on the challenges they would face in the future. [break][break] Then, the matron called to her. Quistis turned her head toward her and she could not help but return a smile, before childishly glancing away. Was she guilty of being away too long? Guilty of once forgetting someone of such importance to her once before? “I have returned, matron. It is good to see you again, though it seems I may have lost my way.” She turned back up to study the beautiful woman in her dark clothes. A stark contrast to the blinding ocean and the brilliantly blue sky. [break][break] Her eyes seemed the unclouded green now, but did the matron’s internal fight against Ultimecia continue? The kind gentleness, too, was an obvious trait of Edea. “How are you feeling?” Quistis pulled a hand to her chest as she leaned forward. She was seriously concerned. And where were the boys she heard? [break][break] But, Quistis did not know what to do from here. She had almost forgotten that this was a trial of the crystal. Quistis lips turned into a soft frown. She shook her head. “I wish I could stay and reminisce with you, but...I may need your help again.”
[attr="class","tlbody"]Tellah groaned as the world slowly came into focus again before his eyes. Everything hurt. The floor was hard and unyielding stone beneath him and his back ached and throbbed. His head pulsed with a dull headache. He struggled into a sitting position, grumbling all the while about being too old for this. [break][break] Once he managed to pull himself to his feet and straighten his robes, Tellah looked around the room. There was no sign of Quistis or Garnet. Nor any sign of the strange shadows that guarded the crystal. No sign of the girl that might have been his Anna. Where had she gone? He could still see the crystal, brilliant and shimmering on the dais. There was something shimmering in the air around the dias, something that looked like a veil and spoke of strong magic. [break][break] The sage’s approach was slow. Partially due to his aching joints and complaining back, partially due to caution in the face of the strange magic before him. The air seemed thick and strange, almost like water, as he slowly walked forward. And then, before he got too close, there was music. The haunting melody of a harp. It called to him, beckoning him forward, into a dark door he hadn’t noticed before. [break][break] Tellah answered the music’s call, slowly descending the stairs and disappearing into the doorway. He followed the sound of that lilting and mesmerizing music with barely a thought.
Matron smiles. As Quistis speaks, she seems not the least bit shocked. In fact, she has an expression that can only be called expectant. ”I’m still myself.” She looked up to watch the sky. ”You have somewhere to be, don’t you? But you should stop to rest, I think. The boys should be here somewhere.”
She looks at Quistis. ”It’s been so long, after all.” With that, she starts towards the weathered stone staircase. This place has been here for some time, and will remain for far longer. Though it is no ruin, it stands on the precipice of fate.
She brings Quistis to a small, stone room which makes up the front of the orphanage. She offers her a chair by the window overlooking the endless sea. It pulses upon the shoreline temperate, timeless waves.
”Tell me, where have you been? Have you done well?”
As Tellah ascends, the sound of the harp grows louder. There is nothing on this staircase but darkness, and it seems to spiral upwards for longer than the spire is tall. Time is strange here, and Tellah feels a shudder as he passes through something cold like water. Light appears at the end. Light and the smell of a dry, desert wind.
The harp is distant, but ever-present, and it seems an almost wistful tune as the room takes shape. It’s unassuming -- no larger or more extravagant than it needs to be. Magical components line the shelves. In the corner, an assortment of staves. Somehow, impossibly, Tellah has found himself in his own desert home.
And as his eyes adjust to the merciless glare, he finds that he is not alone. A woman stands at the table, arranging a bouquet of flowers in pink, yellow, and violet. She wears a yellow dress set off the shoulder. Her brown hair falls in a veil behind her shoulders, tied up in a matching yellow ribbon. She looked up in surprise which quickly settles into a smile.
”Father.”
The staircase leads to abject darkness. It seems almost a passage to another world, and as Garnet ascends, the strange, timeless haze seems almost familiar. It is in its own way not so different from Memoria. Though there is nothing to see, it has that same sense of primordial magic in the air. Her footsteps echo strangely through that space which is not really space at all. In time, the darkness lifts, and she finds herself in familiar marble halls.
The staircase behind her is no longer a tunnel of cold stone. Instead, it is shrouded in red carpeting, spiraling down to a hall which will lead to the castle’s entrance.
Garnet til Alexandros XVII is home.
She finds herself in the hall leading to the throne room. There is movement outside, and the fading lights of dusk. From the throne’s balcony terrace, the whole of Alexandria is visible. The city pans out to the fading horizon. This was the place where, not so long ago, Garnet had seen a play. The first had ended in a kidnapping. The second had ended in a reunion.
The throne is not empty. As Garnet rounds the corner, she finds a woman who is perhaps the most familiar of all. The queen, looking not as she had at the time of her death, but sometime before when she had been first and foremost a mother. She looks up in surprise at first then she smiles with a kind of mild relief.
”My Garnet,” she says. ”I’ve had the guards searching all over for you.”
