acatalepsy_logs | PHASE 3: AKVOS: THE END.

PHASE 3: AKVOS: THE END.

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the great escape.

The Circle has quite a lot on their plate, this time around. Multiple players are fighting for the control of Akvos, and many difficult choices to make. No matter what path you choose, though, one thing is for certain: it is a bitter fight to the death to ensure that Akvos remains standing, one way or another.

There are three main areas for the characters to explore in the final log of Akvos: (1) The Kingdom of Akvos, where the King is fighting to seize control; (2) The Rift, where the characters will encounter the Dreamscapes; and (3) The Kingdom of Polankos, which is where King Ka'pouli has reigned since his arrival in the pocket dimension. Decisions made in all there areas will affect the outcome of Akvos, so get to exploring.

THE ASSAULT ON WAHINE.

The King’s forces will attack in three different fronts. There will be mermen attacking from above, riding saddled giant seahorses and manta rays, launching spears at the mermaid-warriors below with terrifying precision. They seem to be indiscriminate, in their aim -- the weaponry, charged with the same dark energy that the shadow creatures seem to be made out of, find their target in civilians and warriors alike, raining down a sea of terror upon the central stronghold of the Kingdom of Akvos.

The mermen will also be attacking at the ground-level, attempting to burst their way through the Palace Gates to flood the city with numbers. While the mermaids outnumber the mermen, the mermen are certainly more brutal than the mermaids. Some of them, though, in finding the city, are more concerned with looting it than with senselessly murdering everyone inside. Indeed, this is the most food they have seen in a long time -- and markets are destroyed in grabbing as much food and riches as they can, pressing closer to the Palace, and toward the Queen's stronghold.

And, finally, they will be attacking from below, navigating their way through a network of tunnels meant to transport goods and bursting their way into people’s homes, to sneak their way closer to their ultimate goal, which seems to be the Palace itself.

The Circle's main goal, here, is to protect civilians, usher theminto the underground strongholds beneath the Palace, and fight for their own lives should they attack the mermen first. Man the wall, if you so choose, to attempt to block the air attacks from the mantas. Fight on the ground, to protect Akvos from destruction. Or make your way to the underground strongholds and tunnels, to block access to the Palace. All of these will certainly assist in keeping Akvos safe.

In addition, please remember that shadow creatures (which can only be killed by magical means) are still making their way through the entirety of Akvos. While King Ka'pouli's forces are targeting the Palace of Wahine, the shadow creatures are still present everywhere. Get to killing!

INTO THE RIFT.

Some of you, however, have elected to traverse into the mysterious rift that appeared in the midst of the Fields of Akvosia. It looks like a black hole into nothingness, crackling with odd energy . . . and passing through it feels as though you have stepped through an icy waterfall. For a moment, you cannot breathe -- and then, you are treated to beauty.

The gaps between time and space are full of sparkling lights, bolts of rainbow starlight winding around you as you move through the uncertainty that is the void. It seems endless, but something inside you is tugging you forward . . . and, suddenly, there is a soft voice in your ear. A familiar one, to those who reside within the Circle . . . the confused voice of Astoria.

"Hello? My Travelers? How are you within the Void?" The Void? That word hadn't been used to describe whatever this magical place is before, but . . . well, a witch with the ability to send you all across the universe probably knows what she's talking about, right? "That should not be possible . . . who opened this doorway?"

You can tell her, or you can not. It seems to matter not, because: "Is this not getting through? Why can I not hear you . . . but I can feel you, I can -- please, if you can hear this, be careful. The Void is not something for mortals to interact with, and it can show you terrible things -- terrible things, so please--"

And, right before you have the opportunity to respond to our benevolent witch (or captor, depending on your point of view), you see a bizarre glass-like surface in front of you. It looks like a mirror, and you see a perfect reflection of yourself. It is absolutely captivating, and it beckons you . . . almost urging you to touch it. And Astoria's whisper grows a bit louder, more urgent:

"My dear Traveler, be careful what you encounter here -- can you hear me? Can you see me? I am trying to get you out of there, to bring you back home--Akvos is--"

But it is too late.

Your fingers graze the edge of the mirror, and you are pulled -- a sensation that is familiar to you, the same pull in your stomach that you feel whenever Astoria thrusts you across the universe, into new realities. And, when you blink your eyes again, and look around . . . you are no longer in Akvos, or the Void. You are somewhere entirely new.

Welcome to the Dreamscape.

THE KINGDOM OF POLANKOS.

Once the Circle emerges from the Rift and the Dreamscape, they will stumble into another world . . . but this one's wateris shallow, in comparison to the massive depths of the crystal-clear kingdom of Akvos. You can quite clearly see the surface, here, and there are shallows that allow you to come up onto islands, tropical in nature with fruit, odd creatures that appear to be multiple-headed monkeys and parrots, and sandy shores. It's a bit jarring to see, after spending so long underwater. Indeed, you emerge to trudge onto land, and look around, somewhat mystified that the deep-dwelling mermen would be from a place like this.

However, exploring the islands (which is not very difficult to do, as they are all small and will not take very much time) will yield the discovery that on the islands themselves are tunnels -- underwater caverns that thread through the islands to much deeper water. It's almost as if the islands themselves are barriers to the underwater caverns below -- shallow water, a layer of land, and then a (mer)man-made bubble of water below the barrier of land. And that whoever lived on these islands tunneled through them to find deeper water. Princess Kea, (who will attend on these journeys, while remaining in the water), will tell the Circle members that King Ka'pouli told her that when the mermen were cast out, they landed on solid land, and had to slowly dig deeper to their salvation.

Navigating through these tunnels will be somewhat perilous -- and the Circle members will need to carry Princess Kea to the nearest tunnel to get her into some water, because while she can breathe on the surface for a certain period of time, she cannot navigate the land as quickly as you people with legs. Additionally, underwater caving isn't exactly a blast, but the deeper you go, the more clues of civilization you can find. And, eventually, once you go deep enough, you emerge into a massive underwater cavern to find the small Kingdom of Polankos.

In comparison to the Kingdom of Akvos, Polankos is witheringly depressing. It is not brightly colored, nor open -- indeed, it is tiny, with mermen huddled together waiting patiently for the forces that went through the rift to return. There is not a lot to find here, save for some interesting weapons that possess a dark energy, versus a lightning energy -- and those weapons will be given to the Circle members who ask for them, because those who wield them are in no condition to fight. There is little food, little room to sleep, and these are a people clearly in need of assistance.

In order to get them out of Polankos, you will need to usher them through the tunnels back up to the Rift above -- it seems that King Ka'pouli opened the Rift on the surface, rather than risk the city below in case it did not work. The mermen there (who seem to be elderly and weak) will be eager for the assistance to get out Polankos, and at the promise of being brought into Akvos, they will happily go. There will be no resistance from them.

You may also see Princess Kea, who has filtered in and out of the Rift to assist on the journey -- teary-eyed, heartbroken at the sight of these individuals who require rescue, organizing the mermen with the promise of keeping them safe in Akvos.

"Hurry," she tells you, as she rouses another merman into getting to the nearest tunnel. "We do not have a lot of time to pull this off, and we must work quickly."

Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These areas of the world are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore -- you may use as much leeway as you want in order to come up with what your character will do, especially in the Dreamscapes.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Okay, she likes his use of a joke at a time like this. And he gets a small laugh out of her before they are ... doomed to a lack of laughter for a little while.

It's jarring, suddenly showing up in a place like this — she honestly did expect things to go okay. She doesn't recognize the place at all, though, so it's not like she can tell it isn't real yet. All she knows is that it is very far from safe, and she can't help but wince when she hears the shriek from that thing in the distance.

It's a good thing he's there to do something quickly, because for the first few moments, she's totally caught up in her surroundings, trying to take them in as best she can but being a little overwhelmed in trying to do so. And she seems ... a bit afraid, through that overwhelmed and shocked expression she's wearing. She isn't quite used to these things. Not like her friends might be. ]

O-Okay!

[ She'll allow him to tug her arm wherever he wants to. Boy this situation turned bad fast. ]

[ It sure did, and Prompto has barely even been able to register the details of it yet. All he can process is what's immediately apparent — they went through the rift and somehow wound up in Altissia, in the past. Or his past, anyway. These events already happened, and —

And he knows how they're going to end. ]

Gotta find a place to hide, gotta find —

[ There. He tugs her towards a small building that has so far been untouched by the battle. Prompto ducks through the doorway and waits until Kairi is inside behind him before shoving a shoulder against it to shut it.

What the hell is going on?

But first things first, through heavy breaths: ]

A-are you okay?

[ She sticks close to him as he leads her into the building, panting afterward from the sudden rush and need to run. She's got even less of an idea of what's going on than him, considering she doesn't recognize a single thing happening.

She nods when he asks his question. ]

I-I'm okay. [ She looks concerned, as she takes a half step forward toward him. ] What about you? What's going on?

[ She doesn't really expect him to know, actually. ]

[ He shouldn't know, maybe, but he does, because as impossible as this all seems, he's been here before, in this time and place. Not that that really gives him any clues as to what they should be doing, or how the hell they even got here in the first place. Weren't they supposed to be going to the mermen's pocket dimension?

Were they stuck on Eos the whole time? ]

Y-yeah, 'm fine. [ He answers after a delay, glancing out a shattered window as Magitek Troopers pound the pavement outside. ] It's...I...

[ He turns to look at Kairi again. ]

This...is my world.

[ He can't believe the words coming out of his own mouth. ]

[ Kairi makes sure to stay out of sight of any windows that she can, considering the state of the outside ... It's kind of freaking her out to see troops running about like that. And she doesn't want to catch their attention and screw over both her and Prompto here.

... And then he drops that little bombshell. ]

It's ... really? This is your world? How did we end up here?

[ If only Sora or Riku were here. Those two have more experience traveling worlds and they could give them some insight. ]

And what's going on in it? Some kind of war?

[ To her first question, he shakes his head sharply. He has no idea how they got here. This definitely wasn't where they meant to come, and while under any other circumstance he would be overjoyed to find himself at home, being in this particular time and place with someone who isn't even from here is bad. Really, really bad.

It's overwhelming. He isn't smart or strong or clever enough for this. He probably messed something up already, just by virtue of them showing up in Altissia in the first place. ]

I-I dunno how we got here, but...the city is under attack. Noct was makin' a pact with Leviathan, and the Empire attacked, a-and...

[ A thought occurs to him then, and his eyes go wide. ]

Wait...what if there's another me out there, too? Or... [ Or is everything all messed up now? ] Oh man...

[ Most of that means nothing to her. In that she doesn't understand what he means, but she can get the gist of it. Really, the most important part is that the Empire is attacking — that would explain the military troops everywhere. And all the destruction.

She's freaked out herself, but she doesn't have a heart of light for nothing. She's more concerned for him than she is herself, and he's clearly concerned.

So she walks in close and places both hands on his arm, holding it in some attempt to provide stability here. ]

Hey ... calm down, okay? We'll find a way out of here. [ Before his possible other self finds him. ] We just need to think.

[ And a large part of that thinking is going to have to rely on Prompto, considering he already knows the events of this place and such. Kairi's blind here. ]

[ He should be the one offering her support — after all, he's done something wrong and somehow brought her back to his world with him, and they've arrived at a terrible moment. She should be freaking out right now, even worse than he is. But instead, Kairi just puts her hands on his arm and tells him to calm down, and even if his heart is sinking into his gut, he nods a moment later, taking in deep, steeling breaths to quiet his racing heartbeat. ]

O-okay. L-lemme think...s-sorry, I'm just...

[ He's not the plans guy. What he wouldn't give for Ignis to be with them right now — and he probably is somewhere out there, but the gods only know what might happen if Prompto tries to find him now. A break in space-time, possibly.

He meets her gaze then, level and wary. He shouldn't even ask this. ]

We...we can't change the past, right?

[ It looks like they're both lacking certain qualities their companions have, but that isn't enough to stop them, right? At least, not Kairi. She's determined to keep up with those she holds dear — not be left behind in the dust — and she's going to figure this out no matter what. Not just for her sake, but for Prompto's too.

His question catches her a little off guard, because she has no idea what the answer to that question would be. So she looks a little shocked at first, before looking down as she thinks. ]

I'm ... not sure. I've never tried it. [ She's never been in the past at all, actually. ] Is that what you're afraid of doing?

...I...actually, I was thinkin'...nah, it's a bad idea. Never mind.

[ But he can't just leave it at that, either, after asking a question like that. Kairi has connected the dots correctly. Prompto is afraid of changing the past, but he's also afraid of not changing it while he has the chance. This day that they've landed in changed everything. It was when Lady Lunafreya had died, when Ignis had lost his sight, when so many people had suffered...his best friend not the least among them. Can he really just stand by if there's something he could do to stop all of that?

But even if he decided to do something, could he pull it off? How could he accomplish any of those things, being just one small, insignificant person in all this mess? ]

I-it's just — this was...a pretty terrible day for my world.

[ She can probably guess what he's thinking from that, but he's still almost embarrassed to suggest it. He's being foolish. ]

[ Ah ... oh boy. She gets the hint now. And she looks mildly shocked for a moment, before her expression takes something more of a sad tone. ]

So you want to change it ...

[ She can understand someone having that sort of sentiment — had certain things in her and her friends' lives been changed, some things could've gone better. They wouldn't have gone through so much danger, or spent so much time apart. But ... she never dwells on that sort of thing like others might. Doesn't really even consider it. Kairi's someone who lives in the moment and puts bad things of the past behind her — keeps moving forward. She's not one to get easily caught up on negative feelings, though that's a happy side effect of having a heart devoid of darkness. ]

I don't know what'll happen if you try to, but ... I think it's up to you, to make that decision.

[ She's going to respect his feelings on this. ]

[ As nice as it might be if Kairi gave him a straight-up yes or no to guide him, he knows it wouldn't be fair for him to ask that of her. This isn't her world, and even if he summed up all the events that happened in his life over the last year, she still wouldn't have a full appreciation for everything that's at stake here. The only person who can make this call right now is Prompto himself.

The pressure is immense. He is completely unsuited for this, but that's nothing new. What is the right thing to do?

His lips press together in a thin line as his chin dips down. They don't have time to dawdle, but...what should their next move be? ]

...W-what if we give it a shot? I mean...it can't hurt, right?

[ Right? ]

[ She doesn't quite know how time travel or affecting the flow of time can change things, but this is his world, and she doesn't know a thing about it past what she's just seen here. If he wants it so badly in his heart, something terrible must've happened today. It's not a stretch, considering the environment.

But .... hmmm. She shakes her head. ]

I don't really know. Maybe it could, maybe it couldn't. [ She seems a little lost on the subject herself. ] But if it's what you want, I won't stop you.

[ She'll help him with his decision! He should follow his heart. ]

[ He should follow his heart, but he's always had difficulty doing so, especially when pressure such as this is applied to it. He has the chance to completely change the course of history — or maybe he doesn't. Maybe nothing he can do here will alter the outcome, and Lunafreya and Ignis and Noctis are still ropes to the paths of their fates.

But...he has to try. ]

...O-okay. Then...we should head to the bay first.

[ He doesn't know the details of Lunafreya's death. He never asked Noctis for them, of course. But he does know that was the last place he saw her alive, so...it's a starting point.

Gods, he hopes he's not about to make the mistake of a century.

Taking a deep breath, he steps back to the door. ]

You ready for this?

Okay.

[ Heading to the bay, then ... She may not know the details of what's going on, or the true extent to which Prompto's being hurt by being here, but ... she'll do what she can to support him and help in his decision. Wherever his heart leads him. ]

Yeah. Ready if you are.

[ He meets her gaze for a moment before he opens the door and nods. They may not have known each other for very long, or very well, but...he's glad she's with him. Kairi is a good person — he's known that since the first moment they met. He can trust her in this, for sure. ]

...Okay.

[ And then he wrenches the door open to jump back out into the chaos. MTs pour down the street still, but they strangely...don't seem to notice Prompto as they go by. Maybe they have orders they won't deviate from...but they're not his concern right now anyway. Waving for Kairi to follow him, he jogs through the streets towards the city's bay. ]

Watch your head! Things're gonna get crazy soon! — Er, crazier!

[ Kairi trusts him, too — they've already fought a little together before, and he's always given off good vibes when she's been around him. Granted, there aren't a lot of people Kairi doesn't trust.

But she follows closely behind him, watching her surroundings both out of curiosity and concern. ]

G-Got it! What's gonna happen?

[ All she can really tell right now is that it's bad. ]

W-well? That big water snake? My buddy is gonna summon a giant naked dude to fight it. Uh. The Archaean, I mean.

[ But Titan is a big naked dude. He can't be sure exactly when that will happen, as jumbled as the memories from this day are in his head, but it could be at any moment. With any luck, though, it won't be until after they've had a chance to try and rescue Lunafreya. ]

Just watch your head and — oof!

[ By telling her to watch her head he neglects to watch his own, and he runs full-kilter into a heavily armored Trooper. He recoils and stumbles back, eyes wide — but it...doesn't seem to notice him at all. ]

...Wh-what?

[ Okay, while that explanation of his is plenty simple enough for her to have an idea of what's going to happen, it's also very strange at the same time. Still, she's going to roll with it. Okay then, giant naked dude fighting a giant water snake. Sounds kind of terrifying.

And then he runs into that soldier and the soldier ... does nothing. Which only makes this situation all the more strange. She's frightened that something's going to happen for a moment, but ... nothing does. ]

He's not reacting at all ... That's not normal, is it?

[ Just ... checking ... It's his world, and all. ]

[ For a moment, he doesn't answer her, instead caught up in staring up at the soldier, expecting a delayed reaction or something, but...no, there's still nothing. It's like the trooper didn't even feel a full-grown person run into it.

Tentatively, Prompto straightens again, and waves his fingers in front of the trooper's armored face. Still no reaction. ]

...N-no, not at all. What's going on? Why can't he see us?

[ He's asking her as much as he's wondering aloud to himself. ]

[ Well Kairi has no idea, but ... she has a hunch, maybe. She walks over to look at the trooper closer — it feels really weird to not be reacted to by them. ]

Maybe ... we're not really in your world, after all.

[ She can't really explain what exactly this place is then, but ... if they were really physically here, they'd get a reaction. ]

What...what d'you mean? We're right here, aren't we? H-how can we be here, but not here?

[ It all feels so real. He smarts where he collided with the trooper, the smell of smoke on the air is thick, the sounds of gunfire and weapons clashing echo around the city. How couldn't it be real?

...Or maybe he's just reluctant to accept that possibility, if it means there's no chance for them to save this day, if what has already happened is written in stone forever. ]

I don't know ... But there's got to be something wrong here.

[ She just doesn't know what. She has no idea what happened to them when they got brought here — they're going to have to solve that mystery first and foremost. Or rather, maybe something else needs to be solved before that, as she looks at Prompto who still seems to be clearly out of sorts.

She places a hand on his arm. ]

I know it's hard but ... calm down, Prompto. We should try seeing if anything else might react to us.

[ He knows she's right — he needs to calm down and think this through, but its damn hard, when his world is literally crumbling around them. Every second they waste is one fewer they have to turn this day around. But did they ever have any hope of it in the first place? Or was it foolhardy to even consider it a possibility?

After a moment, he nods, swallowing, and steeling himself. He needs to keep his head on straight if they're going to figure this out. ]

G-got it. Sorry...let's keep heading for the bay.

[ They're bound to run into someone else on their way. ]

[ She feels bad that he's feeling this way, and certainly doesn't blame him. She's just doing her best to support him, for right now. There's not much else she can do aside from use her words.

So she gives him a smile, too. ]

Don't apologize. It'll be okay.

[ Really — she knows it will. And she gives a nod, ready to follow behind him whenever he's ready. ]

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