forum A More Ambitious Crossover Than Infinity Wars // Closed with @Morals-are-for-mortals

Started November 14, 2023 by @the-void-phantasmic language

tune

The group makes their way through the Prairie, and after a while they start on a dirt path. The path leads through a large valley with cliffs on either side, but otherwise it looks just like the rest of the Prairie. This area is slightly more populated with children.

They make it through the valley to a stone bridge, leading to a separated piece of land with a large stone building on top of it. The temple. The temple has a few gold details on it, and there’s a koi pond in the middle of the flower field in front of it, with a bridge stretching over it to the temple’s wide open entrance.

Pollux watches the fish swim around as the group passes over the bridge. Castor is watching the butterflies fluttering around. The place was practically swarming with them.

As they enter the temple, a soft, melodic voice can be heard singing somewhere in the temple.

”Are you, are you, coming to the tree… where they strung up a man, they say who murdered three.”

An awfully dark song to match up with the voice.

”Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be… if we met at midnight in the hanging tree.”

(This song is not canon it just feels like something she would sing-)

Lili took in the surroundings of the unfamiliar Prairie, and especially the view of the Temple they were fast approaching. There was the odd sense of familiarity to it, but at the same time it was still terribly foreign. The Prairie Temple she had seen and visited so often looked much different than this. And there were considerably more people roaming about. Though, the fact that it consisted mostly of children eased the creeping feelings of anxiety.
She watched the butterflies fluttering through the air. They didn’t seem the same as her own people. It was unexplainable if anyone were to try and ask her why. They just seemed. . . wrong.

Tseth himself observed the Prairie as well, in his own way. He had rarely ever visited the Prairie before, so this was an unwelcome difference. It was fucking hot in this realm. And flat. Well, not terribly flat, considering the hills. But until he had reached the valley that lead to the temple, there were no actual mountains to speak of.
And then the Temple. At the sight of it he had visibly tensed. Tseth never visited Temples, let alone the temple of Ayin. If this even was the Temple of Ayin. The twins had mentioned Elders, but never said anything more about them.
The bridge up to the temple. Tseth froze when he saw it, taking several seconds to decide what to do before quickly walking over the bridge and diverting his thoughts to essentially anything else.

As Lili listened to the melody that echoed through the temple, she got the slightest bit unsettled by it. Though she was being unsettled by everything. Everything was weird and the only person she knew here was a murderer. But she held hope that the owner of the voice singing the song wasn’t as morbid as the song they were singing.

Pollux listened to the voice for a bit.

”Are you, are you, coming to the tree… where the dead man called out for his love to flee… strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be… if we met at midnight in the hanging tree…”

Pollux looked over at Lili, sensing her discomfort. “Don’t worry. She’s a lot nicer than her taste in music.” As if on cue, a small woman rounded the corner, her hands folded in front of her. Her long, blonde hair was tied into two braids draped over her shoulders, and she wore a light green sundress with purple flower patterns. Her wings, folded neatly against her back, resembled that of a Luna moth’s.

“Oh. Hello, there.” She said as she saw the group. This was the owner of the voice singing that morbid song. She walked toward them, smiling and tilting her head curiously. As she got closer, one could notice the odd way the light reflected against her right eye,, and the scarring around it. “What brings you to the temple?”

Pollux smiled back. “Hey, Juniper. Me and Cas just found these two, and… we think they might not be from the Islands. Cas said it might be a portal to a different world.” Castor stared silently at the woman named Juniper, shrugging slightly.

Juniper furrowed her brows in confusion. “Well, that’s a new one. I’m not exactly sure how that would work… but I can certainly see why you’d think that.” She looked at Tseth and Lili, and while she was confused and slightly creeped out, her gaze held compassion towards the newcomers.

(Are the Luna moth wings a nod to. . . Luna?)
(Also I’m realizing I probably should have had a better description of Tseth and Lili’s clothing in the starter post oops but we’re both pretty familiar with them)

Lili glanced at Pollux dubiously, but took a breath and willed herself to be more calm. Which quickly disappeared when Juniper appeared so suddenly. Lili’s wings flared the slightest, but she quickly composed herself once again. She glanced at Juniper’s injured eye for a moment and wondered what had happened to it. And then she realized she had been staring, and looked down at the floor. Such nice stone.

Tseth had a very different opinion than Lili regarding the melody. In fact, it was almost soothing to him. Side effects of growing up in a culture that has songs such as those. Regardless, his posture was still stiff as a wooden board after entering the Temple. His wings were tightly folded behind his back, uncomfortably so.
But still when Juniper appeared he gave her a smile and a nod. “A pleasure to meet you, madam.”

(No they’re just prety-)
(Also that’s just me fluffing my responses dw lol)

Juniper looked worried for Tseth and Lili, but she didn’t ask any questions. She just assumed they were upset about being so far away from their homes. She nodded in return to Tseth.

“I don’t exactly know how to help you… my job is just to watch over this realm. And it’s population is mostly children. But I do know someone who could be helpful.”

Pollux watched the interaction, for once not being loud. They wanted to let Juniper speak, and they knew not to annoy certain people. Castor was relieved at the welcome change from Pollux’s near yelling.

Juniper turned around, her wings spreading slightly. “In the Vault of Knowledge, there’s an Elder by the name Lamed. She may be able to help you. It wouldn’t hurt to talk to any other Elders you might find on the Islands, though.” She paused for a moment.

“Except… as of now, we still have yet to find a permanent replacement for Tsadi, our former Elder if the Wastelands. He… has passed.” Her expression darkened, and she was thankful she turned around at that moment. “But enough about that.”

Lili looked up again, staring at the back of Juniper’s head with a confused expression. “We know of the Elder Lamed, but-“ She glanced back and forth at everyone around her. “-did you just say the Elder of the Wastelands is dead?” How does an Elder die? It’s impossible. Impossible for us, at least. Her wings fluttered anxiously a couple times as she thought about it.

Tseth shifted his weight to his left side uncomfortably. Diverting his line of thinking from something similar to Lili’s, he observed the Temple around them. And then he had a thought. “If you suggest we speak to the Elders, should we not speak to the Prairie Elder here?”

Juniper sighed, and her wings folded back to their resting spot. “Dead. Yes. Elders are mortal, just like everyone else.” She looked down. “I don’t quite know how it works… wherever you come from, but that’s the sad reality here.”

Pollux bit his lip and glanced between Tseth, Lili, and Juniper. Castor spoke up. “How are we so similar, yet so different at the same time?” He wondered out loud.

As Tseth asked his question, Juniper looked back at him, then turned to face him. She smiled again. “You’re talking to her right now.”

Lili’s expression turned dark. “Oh. . . I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.” Lili was quickly learning that she shouldn’t expect anything to be extremely similar to what she was used to. And that if she would be traveling through the other realms as well, she would have to get used to it.

Tseth looked surprised for just a moment before composing himself yet again. “Oh- what a pleasant surprise, then. May I ask, exactly what are Elders here? If not. . . what they are where we are from.”

Juniper shook her head at Lili. “It’s alright. You’re not being rude at all. You’re just confused, as you should be.” She clasped her hands together and tilted her head again. “As you already know, the Elders are the leaders and guardians of each realm. We protect the Islands and ensure that the Darkness doesn’t spread and take over, among other things.”

She looked around the temple. “We mostly reside in our temples, that way it’s easy to find us. I, however, am an exception to the rule most times,” she said, laughing a bit. “But I’m pretty hard to miss, anyway.”

“We’re just normal people, assisted by magic granted to us from Megabird. It’s difficult to qualify as an Elder, though, for obvious reasons. Some realms are more difficult to maintain than others, but it’s all hard work.”

She bowed her head slightly. “Now, I don’t want to take too much time, or I might go on a tangent. And who knows where that’ll lead?” She looked back up at Tseth and Lili. “Are there any more questions you had in mind?”

(So this is how I can get FL lore, I see /j)

Tseth nodded thoughtfully as he listened to Juni’s explanation. “So you and the other Elders are the ruling system here. . . Interesting. Thank you.” He glanced down at Lili to see if she had any questions. She seemed deep in thought about something, looking downwards towards the floor.

Sensing she was being stared at, Lili looked up. “Oh, no. We wouldn’t want to take up much of your time.”

(☠️☠️ Damn you’re just in it for the lore huh /j)

Juniper nodded. “Alright. You should be on your way, then.”

Castor looked at Pollux. Pollux nodded as well, then smiled at Juniper. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem.” Juniper started to walk away, back towards the area she had emerged from. She paused, then turned around, looking at Castor and Pollux. “Oh, if you see Resh in the Wastelands, can you say hello for me? I haven’t been able to spend much time with him lately.”

Pollux tilted his head. “He’s still filling in there? Damn. I guess he’s the best option, though. Sure thing.” They looked at Tseth and Lili. “Well, we should head to the Forest now.”

Castor nodded. “There should be a portal at the other side of the temple.”

(Anyway no I also wanted to interact with your idiots)
(And find out about lore)

Resh. So Resh is also a normal person here? Tseth and Lili looked at each other and shared yet another look of confusion. Tseth shrugged and muttered something in Dark Dragon, and then looked at Pollux. “That might be for the best.”

(Small response 😔)

Pollux jerked their head towards the opposite side of the temple. “Let’s go.” They grabbed Castor’s arm and started walking to the other side of the temple, laughing when Castor tripped and stumbled. Castor righted himself quickly and glared at Pollux.

As Castor said, there was a portal on the other side of the temple, framed with stone. A faint image of the forest on the other side could be seen, along with a softened sound of rainfall.

(Also small response :( )

As everyone walked towards the portal, Lili looked at it with intrigue. “Our portals don’t look like this. . . Strange,” she said, and then looked at Castor and Pollux. “Just so we’re clear, we’re going the Forest temple next?”

Tseth walked towards the portal with indifference. He had noticed the strange, almost fogginess of the image of the Forest. But he did not think much of it. If the portal worked the same, then it didn’t matter. What did matter is that he wanted to get through the Forest as quick as possible if it was anything like he was used to.

Castor nodded. “Yes, we are.” Pollux tilted their head.

“Just our of curiosity, what do your portals look like?” They asked.

Castor fluttered his wings impatiently. “Let’s just do this quickly. I don’t like the rain. It gets my feathers wet.” He looked around, then huffed and stepped through the portal, not bothering to wait for the others. Pollux frowned, then shrugged and followed Castor.

Lili opened her mouth to respond, and then quickly shut it again after Castor spoke. After he and Pollux left, she made an annoyed huff. Tseth looked at her and sighed. “You might find interacting with the common people not what you’re used to, Queen. Get used to it.” Without waiting for a response, he stepped through the portal.

Lili only got more annoyed at that, and followed Tseth. I’m sick of this. “Don’t tell me what to do, Krill-”

Tseth turned to face Lili, wings flared. “Really? Because you have been acting like you need an attitude adjustment this whole time. My patience has a limit, and you’re reaching it quickly.”

Lili also flared out her wings defensively, looking considerably more scared than she was before. I messed up-