daybreakacademy | [Open] The Mark of the Herald

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[Open] The Mark of the Herald

Mark of the Herald Part I
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Despite certain disruptive events and ominous visions in the preceding month, August is seemingly still free of any problems.

That’s quick to change, however. Starting from the third of the month, strange, circular marks begin to appear on human students around the school - and, indeed, humans around the world. Those affected begin to feel incurably drowsy, something that no magical or mundane solution can seem to cure or relieve; eventually, they’ll fall asleep entirely, whether they want to or not, and enter a state of magical stasis. Not even nonhumans are immune, though whether they’re marked seems to be much more erratic.

Those who remain awake or are otherwise spared by the mark are free to do as they wish - the Academy won’t ask them to do more than keep themselves safe. But where each marked person falls in slumber, a portal will form; a strange tear in reality, offering glimpses of a surreal, nightmarish plane that differs vastly from individual to individual. One thing is certain; the cause of a victim’s seemingly endless sleep and these portals are linked somehow, and the only way to find out exactly how is to go through...and the only ones capable of doing so are those who are still awake.

This log can be used as a catch-all for event-related threads. The information for this event is here.

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[Okay, that's concerning. Hovering one hand over the whip at her side, Kokoro checks another iron door. Just in case.]

[This room is much the same as the one Kokoro started in. The floor and some of the walls have blood splatter all over them, but there's also the distinct smell of bleach. Someone's clearly been trying to clean up the blood. It seems rather...routine.

And Kokoro can probably guess what these rooms have actually been used for, by now.

But there's no time to dawdle. The overhead pacing stops and then footsteps start heading in a different direction...heading towards the stairs leading down to were Kokoro is.

It sounds like the person will come from the wooden door. But will Kokoro stay and see who's coming, or find somewhere to hide? There's a lot of extra rooms here...surely they won't look in all of them?]

[Kokoro stiffens. If she goes back in the hall, she'll find whoever this is, but... well. She'll find a piece of furniture to hide behind in the torture room she's already in, and just wait. If they're coming into another room, she can escape out past them, and if they do find her, she can deal with them then.]

[It's silent for a little while when Kokoro hides but eventually she'll hear the sharp clack-clack noise of heels against the floor as someone briskly moves across the hallway. An iron door creaks open but it's luckily not the one Kokoro is in. It sounds like the person is a little farther towards the back end of the hallway where she started.

The person sounds like they're looking for something and are currently busy. If Kokoro wants to make a move she needs to move now. But aside from the noise this person is making, it's very quiet in the hall. She'll have to be careful if she wants to escape out past them....]

[She holds her breath and goes to quietly open the door, but one hand is still on her weapon just in case the person hears and comes out.]

[There's no movement if she peeks outside. If Kokoro looks, she'll see the room that she started in is the one that person went to. They're humming an odd song - the voice is a woman;s.

But although Kokoro is quiet and doesn't attract attention, soon a black sludge-like substance starts leaking out of the room that woman is in. It's crawling directly towards Kokoro and the closer it gets the more and more she'll start to experience an intense headache.

She doesn't want to know what'll happen if she's caught. Better run...!]

[Kokoro grimaces. She flings a bottle of holy water behind her at the substance and books it down the hall, not watching to see if it worked.]

[Sadly the holy water doesn't slow it down. In fact it seems like because Kokoro chose to fight back, it speeds up.

As the end of the hallway comes closer and closer, she still has some choices. She could pick an iron door and hide in the room, and hope that this substance can't get inside. Or she could try the wooden door and head to the next floor.

But she doesn't have long to think about it. Think fast and make a choice!]

[Not daemonic? Oh, great. Kokoro goes for the wooden door, counting her options in her head.]

What is this thing?!

[Luckily for Kokoro, choosing the wooden door is the safer answer. Whatever that substance is it doesn't appear able to cross the threshold once she does. That doesn't stop it from trying, however, as dozens of pale hands with well-manicured nails reach out out of the sludge to try and grab at Kokoro. But they just hit against whatever invisible barrier is set over the door.

(If Kokoro sticks around long enough, it looks like the hands are trying to get at her head.)

The steps leading up to the second floor are long and lead to another door, presumably to the first floor of this building. But there's voices behind the door, if muffled ones. So muffled it's pretty much impossible to make out what's being said.

This door is the only exit out of the stairwell. So does Kokoro want to chance walking out and possibility exposing herself to whoever's on the other side or take her chances back downstairs and see if that substance is gone?]

[She scales the stairs and hesitates. Okay, she can't hear these people, but... they're probably just as dangerous. Whip in hand (given the holy water somehow didn't work on the last thing, it's probably the safer option), she grabs the door handle with her other hand and opens it a crack.]

[And what's revealed to Kokoro is...nothing. The voices are there, sure, but the area is devoid of people.

The new area is a large and grand. It looks like Kokoro has landed in a place that certainly has some money put into it. While the doorway she's at is tucked away near a large staircase leading to another floor, there's three other doors leading elsewhere.

The first door is a little larger then the other two and if Kokoro gets close, she'll be able to smell something tasty creeping out from behind it. Maybe there's a kitchen behind this door?

The second one is pretty shiny and it looks like it's been cleaned a lot. There's a basket of laundry nearby filled with freshly-washed blankets. Looks like this might be personal rooms for other people...maybe.

The third door is not as nice as the other two and makes a loud creak if opened. The doorknob is also strangely cold. The powerful need to get out that Kokoro experience when she first woke up in this dream doubles if she comes close to this door, but nothing will stop her from go inside.

Finally there are a pair of double doors that are obviously the entrance to this building. But if she tries to open the doors a barrier will push her back. Seems she'll have to find another way, for now.]

...I fear you not, realm of dreams. What secrets you hide must be brought to light.

[She takes a deep breath, ignores the general aura of NO, and opens the third door to go inside. Time to find whatever in here needs destroying and/or exorcism.]

[When she makes her deceleration, the whole area seems to flex under some unknown pressure. That might not have been a great thing to say.

But the door opens up to a spiral staircase that seems to go down and down, so deep it's impossible to see the bottom. Fortunately there is a nearby torch that can be taken off of the wall so she won't be walking down blind.

The second that Kokoro crosses the threshold, however, she'll be assaulted by the feeling that she doesn't really need to know what's down there. It's probably nothing and it'll be such a pain to walk down all those stairs just to find out it's empty! It's pointless.

Don't go down there. Please, don't go down there--]

Nn...!

[Kokoro does hesitate. But even as the mental influence bears down on her, she takes a deep breath, grasping the torch tightly.]

...You hear me. Or your creator does. The truth is something you fear anyone ever finding. Yet...

[She forces herself to keep on walking.]

If you fear a monster from the shadows, or the depths of the human soul, for what they've done to you, whoever may be listening? You are far from the only one. And whatever happens, I will face it. I was born for that!

[She makes her point but whatever is inflicting this mental influence isn't listening. The farther down she goes the worse it gets, to the point by the time she finally reaches the bottom it's a full-blown panic attack. Whatever is down here is something the dreamer of this world truly fears.

They'd tear Kokoro's mind apart to escape it. They really want to.

But as it stands they can't. The stairs lead to a large room that somehow looks like it cost even more to make then the area upstairs. Pillars made of pure white marble, fancy silk over a small alter that has a small mirror in the center. There's a magical circle carved into the floor and the language is some daemon one. A summoning circle, although curiously the words don't mention the name of whatever's being summoned.

Although the room is quiet, Kokoro isn't alone. There's a young woman before the alter with short brown hair and green eyes. She's dressed modestly with a simple black dress and black heels.

The second the woman turns to face Kokoro and smiles, the feeling she experienced on the way down returns with a vengeance. There aren't any words anymore. Just the feeling of betrayal, pain and fear. A bone-deep rage, caught somewhere between running away, running up to her and hugging her, or strangling the woman on the spot.]

Hello. Why have you come down here, little girl?

[Once she's down, she shudders, lights blinding for a second. She drops the torch on the cold, hard floor. But she fights it off as she had the fear, taking a deep breath and glaring at the woman at the altar.]

I could ask the same of you. A veneer of beauty over a domain of agony and ruin; that would appear to summarize both your home and your heart, would it not?

[Kokoro makes her deceleration and the woman just looks confused. And she isn't faking it. To say something about this wonderful place...of course it would be confusing!]

My, that's quite a thing to say...does this place truly look monstrous to you? I fail to see why you'd say so.

How something looks and what something is are two things entirely, madam. Torture and monsters come not from a truly peaceful home.

There are no monsters here, dear. Only the memories of a history long past.

[Even if 'long past' was 20 years ago.]

So many would say.

[Her gaze darts briefly to see if anyone or anything else might be there. It certainly feels that way.]

The pain of those tortured below tells a different story. Someone who hates, loves, and fears you all at once, and wished not for me to see you -- surely you know such a being.

[There's no one there besides the woman. Whatever is projecting their feelings onto Kokoro, they're long gone from this place. For a reason that's probably very obvious by now.

Meanwhile the woman looks confused. It is genuine confusion...if just because she is very good at projecting genuine emotion.]

I don't. All I know is love, you see. Us and our angels. My-

[Whatever the woman had to say is drowned out by a loud scream. Of rage or sorrow...?

Yes.]

Your what?

[Kokoro hears the scream and tries to trace where it's coming from. If she can hear the direction, she'll start over that way, not taking her eyes off the woman.]

You'll forgive me if you sound suspicious.

[Again the woman looks confused, and maybe a little hurt.]

Do I? This is the way I normally talk...

[The scream seems to have come from somewhere behind the woman herself. While she doesn't seem to mind Kokoro moving around, she's also keeping a sharp eye on the girl too.]

But I mean my angel. My Adriel. I love them so, you see.

[There's no scream this time but just a powerful feeling of self-loathing that comes from whatever is pushing its feelings onto Kokoro. Evidently it doesn't feel the same...or maybe hates the fact that it loves her back.]

Nn...!

[Kokoro nearly doubles over. She forces through the feeling and stands up straight again.]

Then tell me what you did. Why you hurt people. Moulding them into something that will fear you? Something that will say they love you for the pain to stop? Something different?

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[Open] The Mark of the Herald

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