[KQ] What Lies Beneath

The book opens.

Deimos disappears.

The book closes.

Amalia

she wants the silence but fears the solitude

she wants to be alone and together with you

Perhaps she ought to walk away. Perhaps the silence of the pool is a warning, her reflection a sign that she should move on. The sound of books falling may confirm this idea, yet still Amalia lingers at the edge of the pool, staring intently into the depths as Jyoti swims above.

And then, a splash. Amalia jumps back at the unexpected commotion, lowering her body to the cold ground and staring intently into the depths. Shifting into owl form, the Shield leaps into the air, her stardust wings allowing her to circle above the water as she continues to search for life below.

---

Ama shifts into an owl and circles above the pond, trying to figure out wtf is going on

she ran to the lighthouse, hoped that it would help her see

she saw that the lighthouse had been washed out to sea

Illusion magic? Ancient but still powerful, it would seem. Jigano circled beneath Deimos, keeping a bird's-eye lookout on the cavern below and the ladies at their explorations until the General dove to examine the books that had fallen. Jigano followed more slowly, curiosity and caution in equal measure, especially as the pool began to bubble, but he was directly above the stalwart warrior when sword-calloused fingers opened the book--

Deimos! the bard called along the Attuned bond, dropping in a stoop and pulling up a short distance from the book as he shed feathers for skin and pulled up short. "Careful," he called to those remaining. "These might be Sentient Books." That, at least was the best case scenario. Measuring out a length of rope he edged towards the book with the Question Mark, attempting to lift it swiftly enough to get a wrap of rope around it to keep it closed lest it try the same trick as its brethren.

---

Jigano warns his remaining friends about the books and attempts to tie the Question Mark book closed with rope WITTHOUT opening it

KIADA

do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell

i mean a used up bullet casing

There’s books that fall out, there’s bubbles below, and for a moment her talons reach toward the question mark book — until she sees and then doesn’t see Deimos — and panic sets in. She focuses it outward to her companions, the endless worry and fear that takes over her where his form and items had once been. Jigano is there for a moment, before he moves on toward the question mark. And she rushes toward the book with the portal, peering down at it with all the ferocity of a worried child.

Shifting back into herself, she reaches for the book with worried eyes. “He has the bag. The Lantern. What if he needs help getting back?” She says, glancing toward Jigano and Amalia before she sucks in a deep breath and ignores everyone else and opens the book too, to see if it does the same.

---

Kiada freaks out and opens the portal book!

as in, the aftermath of something lethal

as in, an echo of inflicted evil

Woops, there goes Kiada as well.

Down to two.

Ahh, now Amalia sees it given her height. Hard to see from low down but clear above, it definitely looks as if there is something quite prehistorically-large in the depths of the pool. How nice. Its mind seems too old and ancient to be reached, or maybe you just need those higher level perks to talk to rare creatures, it's so hard to know.

As Jigano ties the question-mark book closed, nothing seems to happen. It is snugly bound shut.

---

Only Jigano and Amalia are now in the posting order!

Well. There went Kiada. Jigano sighed, tucking the Question Mark book into his pack to examine later and glaring at the Shark Book as if it would try to bite him. He still wasn't sure it wouldn't. Repeating the process with it - tying it shut and adding it to his pack - he looked back to where Amalia was staring into the bubbling pool and then to Zuriel. "If it's a Sentient Book they might need help getting back, like Kiada said," he called to his book-savvy companion. For that matter, Deimos is probably going to want backup..."

With a sigh, suspecting it was a bad idea but it was too late for that to matter now, he picked up the portal book and pointed it towards Zuriel, attempting to open it towards the unicorn and hoping it would send her onwards to wherever Deimos had been taken.

---

Jigano puts the Question Mark book in his bag, then ties up the Shark Book and stores it as well. Then he picks up the portal book, points it at Zuriel, and opens it to try and send her to join up with Deimos

Zuriel disappears as well.

Amalia

she wants the silence but fears the solitude

she wants to be alone and together with you

Perhaps it is the roar of the waterfall, or the song of the whale, or simply Amalia's rapt attention on the great creature that lurks below which keeps her from noticing the scene unfolding behind her. Jigano's voice is far too soft to carry over the noise, and though she feels a small prickle of Kiada's concern it is drowned beneath Jyoti's rising urgency. The Shield does turn to look back at her companions, and the lack of Deimos gives her momentary pause, but there is the beating of a large and ancient mind she cannot comprehend to turn herself back to, a mystery hidden in the depths.

Something's down there, the owl calls mentally to the group. Jyoti's panic, so foreign and strange, is drowning down through their shared bond. She wants to know what it is, where her kin is, how it came to be in this place. Lower and lower the pair descends, until they skim above the water, lingering on the far edge of the pool near where the waterfall churns the depths and looking for secrets behind the fall.

---

Amalia doesn't catch much over Jyoti's panicked singing and the waterfall. She lands on the shore by the waterfall and tries to see if she can get behind it.

she ran to the lighthouse, hoped that it would help her see

she saw that the lighthouse had been washed out to sea

The shark book is easily bound as well.

It's tough going for Amalia. Owls are not meant to fly so close to the pounding droplets of a waterfall. That said though, the ingenious mind controlling the body is able to navigate well enough. With Jyoti partially deflecting some of the percussive liquid, the pair are able to slip behind the fall. It is dark, but Amalia's eyes adjust instantly given her form. The walls are slick with slime, but there appears to be a door. No symbols, none of odd's stupid puzzles, just an ornate handle.

Amalia

she wants the silence but fears the solitude

she wants to be alone and together with you

Well. Never let Amalia be called particularly thoughtful or prudent.

Shifting into human form, Amalia lets her eyes stay the owl's as she rests her hand carefully over the ornate handle. Perhaps it would be wise to bide her time, to turn back to her companions, but... Jyoti sings encouragement, and the Shield's curiosity is insurmountable. Carefully, cautiously, she attemps to turn the handle, planning to open the door but a crack, to peer within and see what other secrets it keeps.

---

Amalia the Dumbass tries to open the door

she ran to the lighthouse, hoped that it would help her see

she saw that the lighthouse had been washed out to sea

He had called Deimos's name through the Attuned link, but even the disappearance of their teammates doesn't seem to phase the baker and Jigano closed the portal book grimly as his sister took off to circle the pond and disappear behind the falls. Deimos and Kiada - and Zuriel - have disappeared inside a book, he called through the Attuned bond, worry underlaid with exasperation at how easily their little group has been separated. He was a veteran of the old adage 'Don't split the party' and his neck prickled with unease at how far apart they were all drifting at that very moment. They might need our help, Amalia.

He was curious to the point of foolhardiness, yes, but the last time people had disappeared on one of his little explorations they had been kidnapped and thrown into a Pit. He wasn't exactly sanguine about it happening again. Though, given that it's a book on portals, they might have been taken elsewhere... and they might be in danger. Frustrated and with a growing, gnawing, sharp-toothed worry he tucked the portal book into his bag and set it by the rest of their things. Then he turned into a raven, attempting to follow Amalia's path behind the waterfall and get a response from her, unwilling to abandon Deimos and Kiada, but equally unwilling to leave the baker on her own.

---

Jigano stuffs the portal book in his bag, leaves the bag by Amalia's things, turns into a raven, and tries to follow Amalia behind the waterfall

A shield appears just above the door handle, glowing with a soft blueish purple light, and easily it opens beneath Amalia 's fingers

The room is like standing on the event horizon of a black whole. In the sheer nothingness there is everything. An infinity of colours swollen in the blackness, if only there was light to see it by. Physics and matter do not exist here. The space is as infinite as it is contained. The room is the size of..a closet? A small room? The head of a pin? An entire universe?

Step in and find out. Or don't.

Jigano easily navigates the waterfall, landing hardly wet in the darkened stage before the door.

Amalia

she wants the silence but fears the solitude

she wants to be alone and together with you

Distantly, again, she can hear Jigano, but the waterfall and Jyoti are roaring in her mind, drowning out almost anything else that tries to enter. Go after them. I'll catch up, she calls back absently as the door swings open, still not fully understanding but having absolute faith that whatever is happening, Deimos will keep them safe.

She is too distracted by the room that has opened, infinite and finite and impossible to truly comprehend or describe. Closing her eyes, the Shield reaches inside herself for the ability Safrin granted her, letting her body shift and change into its newest, most incredible form. Conjuring clouds on which to tread the qilin steps out into the darkness, her cloven hooves landing on a film of mist as Jyoti lays across her back.

---

Qilin!Amalia tells Jigano to go after the others, then enters the room with Jyoti, levitating on conjured clouds.

she ran to the lighthouse, hoped that it would help her see

she saw that the lighthouse had been washed out to sea

Amalia, please don't abandon them, he begged. She heard, but she would not listen, and her lack of concern for their friends frightened Jigano more than any strange doors or infinite darknesses. Once again he found himself given an impossible choice, put into a position that tore him in two as he watched one friend - beloved, the sister of his heart - go one way while others that he cared for had been stolen away against their will to another. Those who had gone into the book could not follow them behind the waterfall. The girl behind the waterfall would not return to help those who had been swallowed by the book.

He could not win. No matter which way he choose, no matter who he went after, he would be leaving someone behind. He would let someone down, betray someone's trust.

With the cry of a heart breaking the raven launched himself from behind the waterfall, arrowing through the spray on agile wings, tear-blind eyes missing the shift from woman to qilin. He knew already, could hear already, the anger of those who loved the baker, but they'd had no choice.

Amalia did.

Raven turned to man, stumbling as he landed beside his pack and slung it over his shoulder. The Portal Book was easy to find; it was the one without rope wrapped around it, and he pulled it out and flipped it open, heedless of the page it turned to.

His heart yearned to be back with Amalia, exploring the unknown, captive to his own curiosity, seeing new wonders and learning new things.

His honor, his duty to those he had lost, called him back to the book and those it had already devoured.

---

Jigano begs Amalia to turn back a final time, then returns to the shore. He turns back into a human, picks up his pack, and opens the portal book.