The ocean’s waves lapped against the white sand beach of Solania, ignorant of the wave of corruption swelling rapidly beyond the opposite shore. A small, wooden boat crashed up onto the sands alongside a tall man with dark brown hair and emerald green eyes. A young woman, deeply tanned and sporting a navy blue spaghetti strap, black short-shorts, and a pair of blue-and-white sandals disembarked. She looked to the red-eyed boy she had taken with her in the boat and commanded, "Wait here, I’ll be right back." Her feet sunk in the sand as she ignored Grazel Octavion, standing there dumbfounded as his home was swallowed, and bolted forward, looking back over her shoulder for just a moment, making sure Kendrick Donato had listened to her command.
She dashed past the large, semi-muscular form of Aiden Conlan as she rushed toward the center of Solania. She skipped a step and tumbled to her hands and knees at the feet of Solan Zoniko, relieved, if not slightly winded. "Thank Carbuncle, you’re safe," she managed, clutching her right hand over her chest as she sat back in the sand. Solan sat atop a "throne" crafted of various pieces of wood of different make, size, and shape, all nailed together haphazardly into a quasi chair shape. Around the base of the throne leaned heavy, black rocks, to keep the chair in place when Zon did not sit upon it. Perched precariously atop Zon’s head sat a makeshift crown fashioned from palm branches and fronds along with myriad seashells collected by he and Alma over the many a time they went looking for them at low tide. His right elbow propped up on one of the arms of his throne, his chin rested loosely on his wrist as his fingers tapped against his cheek, eyes half open.
He yawned, "’Bout time you bowed down to me."
Alma grumbled and said, "Something serious is going on. Some purple… something… just flooded Norfein. I got here to make sure you were okay. Waste of time that was." She pouted, folding her arms across her chest.
A handful of others had managed to escape Norfein before it went under. Off in a small grove of palms nearby, Lexabelle Legio reclined in the shade, her pack of gear sitting up beside her, packed near-to-bursting. She seemed not to notice what was going on. At least not yet, she didn’t.
Farther off toward the northern end of Solania, Roy Ventus IV sat on a rock, intently whittling his fiftieth arrow of the day. He sat with his back to the main island and, as such, had little idea of what was happening currently. Perhaps the abrupt change in weather would draw his attention.
Dentoka Giha paced up and down along the far end of Solan’s clearing, intently whispering things to himself about how he should have seen this coming; should have been prepared. He, alone, knew what had happened to the island. He knew that a Font of Corrupted Aether had burst atop the highest point of Norfein, bathing the rest of the island with its negative influence. He might also know that the Font had been kept sealed tightly by the light of the Aether Cryst, in the Lotus Forest. He and everyone else would certainly know that this particular Cryst was watched over by the Aegis, Carbuncle, for as long as anyone could remember. She was revered as a god by the denizens of Norfein.
From the trees just beyond where Dentoka paced, a young Lycan named Kersha Fangs sat patiently, intently examining the others out in the clearing. She hid behind a palm tree, out of sight to the others to silently observe, at least for now. She likely understood what was happening less than most of the others, though she also cared about what happened less than them, as well.
Even farther away, on the eastern shore of Solania, a young woman by the name of Diana Rivers reclined on her beach towel, tanning in the bright, noontime sun. Her clothes were bundled in a heap beside her, tossed aside without a care as she lay there in her bikini, soaking up the sun. She had dozed off, but the abrupt change in lighting would likely rouse her from her slumber.
"You should take a look," she offered Zon. With heavy heart and a long exhale, Alma Lunos got to her feet and turned about, holding her right hand above her eyes to shield them from the noonday sun as she gazed out through the sparse grove of trees and over the short expanse of ocean to her home, beyond, pointing with the index finger of her other hand. The island still stood, and it appeared most of the buildings (from what she could see, at least) were entirely intact. The island, however, was coated in a thick, heavy cloud of inky purple smog. In the very center of the island, even from this far out, Alma could spot a jet of purple sludge firing off into the air above the cloud, as if a geyser of the stuff had burst. The skies overhead began to dull; thick, black clouds blotted out the sun.
Alma’s right hand dropped to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear before she strode off, back toward the southern shore of Solania to gather her katana from the boat. She looked back to Zon as she went and called out, "I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think we should be far enough away to escape the worst of it. I’m gonna check down by the shore to see who else made it here. You should look around the palms to see if anybody was here already."
On the way back, she stopped by Aiden, who had been practicing with his axe. She motioned for him to follow her to the beach, though she wouldn’t push him if he refused. Out on the shore again, another boat pulled up, supporting the small, fragile form of Colsh Wix, followed closely by another boat, holding Novus Frigirost. Alma walked back by Grazel and snapped fingers in front of his face to see if she could get his attention. If she could, she would say, "Hey, look, Norfein’s not safe, nothing we can do for anyone there, now. We’ve gotta get set up here and wait it out. I’m sure everything’ll be okay. Find out if anybody has a tent or something, would you? Thanks." She rushed to her boat, then, and pulled Sakura out of it, nodding to Kendrick as she did so. She said, "If we don’t have any tents, we’ll have to build a shelter. You’re pretty strong, so see if you and the guy with the axe, back there," she motioned over her shoulder, either to the small grove she had run through or Aiden, if he had followed, "to help you scrape something together."
With Sakura clutched tightly to her chest, she would then shout over everyone gathered near the boats, "Everybody who made it, we should meet further inland, by Solan’s throne. We’ll need somebody to start a fire, and I’ll be running around to gather some fruit, if anyone wants to come with." She nodded and set off around to the western side of the island, where there grew of a healthy grove of mango trees. The overcast skies had suddenly made the island chilly, and it seemed to be late evening, rather than early afternoon. Alma took a quick glance out toward the main island as she trotted off and noticed some purple swirls of liquid leaping from the waters around Norfein. She hoped it wouldn’t reach the shores of Solania.
Edited by Artemis, 20 June 2012 - 06:34 PM.