Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

Avalon (Hat + Starlight)

Hat-tori

Hat-tori

Supernova
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Artanis was certain he had all the bindings correct. All the runs had been inscribed with perfection, and the floor was just as smooth as it needed to be. He had used the proper amounts of blood and other fluids, and had even made several sacrifices to Raven, the Goddess of magic. He had to summon the correct demon!

Of course, like many young man who discovered their powers during sexual tension, Artanis was attempting to summon a Seducer demon, or, in laymen's terms, a Succubus. Raven, Goddess of plans and magic, had better ideas for the young man than donating to the worst sperm bank ever conceived. Plans for him... and the young woman he was to summon.

Reaching through the mists of space, time, and dimensions, She connected his little tunnel of magic to another world entirely. Nothing but the woman would survive the trip, but that was just the Way Things Worked, after all. She was lucky he was working in a secluded basement. Even clothing and other things that survived the trip beside herself would rapidly age over time, visibly wearing out and degrading in minutes.

As he reached the crescendo of his ritual, his hood fell back, revealing a young face, with rounded features. Black bangs covered bright green eyes, and the rest of his body was obscured by simple black robes. The room was dark, barely lit by the glowing circle, mason jars and stone shelving almost all that was visible.

The portal opened, and pulled from the other world...
 
"Shit..." Natalie muttered to herself as she fumbled with her keys, trying to get the door to her apartment unlocked and open, balancing the books and groceries in her arms. The young woman had been trying to take care of everything before her friends came over for the evening, but it appeared as though she was running late. Again. Being on time had never been a strong suit for Natalie, often fighting to get anywhere with time to spare.

The door burst open, though instead of the normal entrance of a tiled floor and soft light, she found herself thrown into a burst of light and warmth, dropping all she was holding, the world around her spinning, catching her off guard so suddenly. Her mind raced, her thoughts jumbled, desperately trying to hold on to whatever she could, though finding the effort futile.

In almost no time, with a gentle 'thud', the young woman found herself laying on a new floor. It took a few blinks of her deep brown eyes to allow the world to come into focus, confused as her light brown hair was splayed around her, rubbing her face a bit, "This... isn't my kitchen..." She was confused, realizing suddenly how cold she was, her slender body completely exposed, her generous bust visible from... whever she was. Yelping slightly, she jumped to her feet, eyes frantic as she searched the room for some kind of explanation.
 
"...And you're not the one I had been intending to summon." the young man said. She was in the centre of a circle of runes, glowing a deep blue and lighting the room, and her. "My name is Artanis Delarosa, and you are in the basement of my family manor, in the city of Rivermeet." he said. "To make certain you are not some sort of demon, I'll have to inspect you. Don't disobey me, and don't leave the circle unless I tell you." he said. "Though I doubt you'll try running anywhere." he said, circling her. He was young, maybe in his early twenties, and had black hair and bright green eyes. His body seemed to be well-built, though the robe he wore hid many details.
 
"Summon?! What are you, a drug dealer?" Natalie was frantic, trying her best to cover herself with her arms, though seeing nothing around to use as a blanket or robe. Her eyes were wide, much like a deer in headlights, quite in shock, that being the only reason she wasn't bolting right at the moment. She watched the young man nervously, shaking her head, "Did you kidnap me?! You can't do that, it's illegal!" Her voice was shaky, nervous and upset, shivering a bit, both from cold and from anxiety, having no idea what was going on. Her eyes followed him as he circled her, turning as he turned, crouching a bit as she continued to try and cover herself, "And you can't take my clothes from me! I'm freezing as it is!" Her hair was down around her shoulders, though not long enough to giver her any real coverage, relying on herself to cover her body as best she could, that being her first real concern.
 
He sighed as the circle did nothing to her. Troublesome.
"I did not kidnap you." he said, looking her over as he did so. "I accidentally summoned you." he snapped his fingers, fire flying from his hand to the candles around the room, bathing it a dim glow as he put out the circle. He walked to an old cabinet, pulling it open and pulling out a robe, tossing it to her. A perfect copy of his. "Calm thyself, miss. Your equipment was likely destroyed by the summoning process. And I am no meagre drug dealer, I am a magus of some renown. Be glad that it was I who brought you here and not some untalented rube." he said, anger tinting his words slightly. "Cover yourself, or do not. I do not care."
 
His attitude was irritating her. Here she was, defenseless and frantic, and HE was the one who was annoyed. Grabbing the robe, she slipped it on quickly, the dark fabric enveloping her figure, drowning her in cloth and darkness. She tied it shut, making sure it covered her, looking over at the young man, "You sure talk funny. And if you're not a drug dealer, you want to tell me what's going on? How'd I get from my apartment to here?" The item of clothing seemed to have at least calmed her down a little, obviously still nervous, her large doe- eyes still eying the room as if it held an unseen danger that she knew was lurking. Her toes curled a bit from the cold floor beneath her, looking around the oddly-decorated room, trying her best to think of what was going on. It reminded her of something from her Medieval Literature class, having taken it her last year at college. She was only twenty-two now, though it felt like ages ago. Pushing back her hair, she stepped out of the circle, taking a look around the room, attempting to figure out where she was.
 
The man, while not growing irritated, sighed.
"If I had wanted to strike you down, I would have already. Calm thyself. I know you are unbalanced, but now is not the time to panic." he said. "There was some sort of error in the process of summoning. The tunnel of null space was diverted to another world. It should not be possible... not possible by mortal magic." He sighed. "Are you hungry? I am hungry. Come upstairs, let us eat and speak." he said, gesturing for her to follow as he walked upstairs.

The house was... magnificent. To say anything less was an insult. Crafted elegantly of wood and stone, she would find parallels to some of the architecture norms of rich Industrial Age Europe... but then, there were bits and parts that were too smooth or seamless to seem possible, even as he lead her into the dining room.

"Jiles, could you get the kitchen going? I'd like something light today, and nothing too shocking for our new guest." the young man said, and a...

What?!

A humanoid rat, dressed in fine menswear, nodded and walked down the hall speedily.

"Come, sit. Let us have civil discourse, not barbaric demands, miss...?" he asked.
 
Hmph... unbalanced... She thought frustratedly to herself, though decided that it would be best to go along with... well, whatever was happening right now. Maybe this was all a dream, maybe she had hit her head and she was unconscious, and this was a dream. Yes, that had to be it. It wasn't real. Best to go along with what she normally did in dreams and follow suit.

The beauty of the house was not lost on her, her eyes looking over the structure with admiration, smiling a bit as they moved forwards. Her feet were now hitting flooring that was much warmer, grateful for the change in temperature as she became more aware of her surroundings. She watched as he spoke to the... manrat, a bit startled, gasping lightly as she watched it depart, though staying silent about it.

When he beckoned her to sit, she pushed back her hair, the large sleeve of the robe falling a bit as her arm lifted, "Haymitch. Natalie Haymitch. And I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name before." Since having decided that this was a dream, or at the very least, that screaming and being hysterical wouldn't help her cause any, Natalie had become much more subdued and polite, her usual self. She had wanted to do more than sit, she had wanted to explore the area she was in, though it would have been rude to wander, and Natalie felt it best to try and make up for the first impression of hysterics in her nudity.
 
"Much better." he replied, smiling. "My name is Artanis Delarosa, son of Roseanne Delarosa, daughter of Artemis Delarosa, son of Great Saviour Hattori Delarosa." he said. "My apologies for the lengthy introduction. You can call me Art." he sighed heavily. "I will assume for now that the world from which you hail does not have magic or any sentient species aside from humans. Am I correct in that?"
 
Her eyes widened a bit as he rattled off his naming history, his heritage, cocking an eyebrow as he finished. Taking a breath, she leaned back in the chair, crossing her legs, holding the robe to her body protectively, "No, no magic to speak of, unless you count that stupid card game..." She muttered, finding herself once more distracted by her thoughts, looking back to Art, "Ah, no. No magic. It's fairly basic. Enough that I'm still questioning the reality of the situation." She laughed a bit, pushing back her hair as it lay around her shoulders, a nervous habit that gave her something to do besides stay anxious. Of course, all of this felt real enough. The cold air, the fear, the anxiety, even the images were so perfect it was hard to chock it up to a dreamland. But she'd never experienced anything like this before, and so it was hard for her mind to accept it as a real situation. Biting her bottom lip, she eyed him, "So, I guess the question is, where am I? Seems basic, but... obviously I'm not where I was ten minutes ago."
 
"You are in the world of Avalon." he replied. "I know it's not much of an answer, but I imagine you could not summarize your world in much less than half an hour either." he sighed. "The basics, then..." he said, then began to explain.

The world was created through the machinations of three gods and the actual actions of two of them. Raven, Anansi, and Coyote orchestrated the creation of the world. Raven manipulated Order, or Old Man Law, into creating the physical world, and splitting the initial huge landmass into three. Anansi manipulated its separation into three planes of existence: Arcadia, the land of Order, the Materium, where they sat now, and Infernium, the land of chaos. And Coyote, not wanting to miss the fun, coerced Xom, god of Chaos, into creating Man, Demons, (who Artanis explained were not evil, merely creatures of chaos) and Angels (who were not good, merely Lawful).

He took a deep sigh as food arrived, a simple meal of a steak and potatoes. "Thank you, Jiles." he said, and the rat-man bowed, then wandered to attend to other things. "We are currently in the central city in the central landmass of Avalon." he said, "Rivermeet. Later, I suppose, I can take you into town, and teach you the lore of the Great Heroes. I hope you are not overwhelmed with all this information?"
 
Natalie frowned a bit, listening to the young man explain where she was. Again, while accepting it was difficult, this time she found herself more open as he explained. Just because it felt unbelievable didn't mean it was impossible and Natalie realized that this was becoming something she needed to simply accept. Nodding, she folded her hands in her lap and watched Art as he spoke, only turning as the food was brought forth, trying her best not to act shocked as Jiles placed the meal down, nodding a 'thank you' though avoiding eye contact. God, did she hate rodents.

She carefully inspected the food, beginning to take a few bites, realizing how hungry she was now that the food was before her. As he questioned her being overwhelmed, she shrugged a bit, placing down her fork, "Well, of course I am. Not to say I can't manage it, it's simply a lot to cope with, I'm sure you can understand that. My own home was far different from this, it's taking a lot to make sense of it is all." Her voice was steady and calm, her rational nature having settled in, her brown orbs less frantic and more exhausted now.
 
"By all means, my good lady. Eat, drink. We need to buy you a suitable outfit in any case. She-Who-Grooms-Flowers, my family tailor, will be most happy to assist you." he paused. "On second thought, having a living plant measure and work with you might be a bit much. I'll find someone else." he sighed. "After we get you properly dressed, then we can see if there's any hope of getting you home. For all we know, this could be the work of one of the Gods, and then, well." he shrugged. "If it's Raven's fault, then at least we know it's intentional, that you were chosen for a purpose here... whatever it may be."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom