From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
With the information from Kaladin lingering in her mind, she took adventuring toward where that strange bubble surrounded the place and why it had decided to filter everyone into it. She came very unprepared, only herself and the clothes on her back as she attempted to figure out where exactly the lines were drawn – or if they were invisible. Certainly, there’d be a weird feeling about the place, the closer you got to it, that would tell whether or not the barrier was near. If it had no feeling, people would have likely tried to go through it already.
But this spot here, had that strange feeling that raised the hair on her arms, and she squinted against the bright sun as she looked toward it. She spotted nothing, but the vibrations in her bones set her on edge. Rexanna backed away, then, far enough to where she was certain she knew the direction of it without feeling the shaking in her body. Sighing to herself, she glared at the wall and the strange sensation it enacted, realizing how poorly she had come prepared and having absolutely zero idea what to do.
Deciding to think about it a bit longer, she made a place to sit comfortably in the grasses, staring out at the invisible barrier as the sun beat down overhead. If she had already felt that terrible that close to the wall, she wondered what it would be like trying to invade it. And if there was perhaps a force from within that had created the boundary that could somehow be relieved. At first, she had started this adventure with only one question. Now, she had too many to count, and she sighed yet again at the overwhelming sense of confusion at the result.
Open for anyone! I'm terrible at opening posts so it'll get better I promise <3
Alistair had been a gifted hunter/tracker and it was moments like these that made his skills pay off. Long had he thought about traversing the outskirts, but it wasn't until he had spotted Rexanna in the distance during one of his routine camps that he decided to follow her.
He grinned beneath his mask as he silently passed a safe distance from behind. As she stopped, he clicked the button in his palm. His image distorting and reappearing next to her.
"Suppose we both have the same questions...what the fuck are we doing here, and how do we get out...right?"
Alistair would ask as he stood at her side so suddenly. The mechanical mask hissing and humming as he turned to face her.
She had absolutely zero idea of where to go from here and decided that remaining a safe distance away was a good idea in the sense that she could observe from far away and think about options. But the questions that resounded in her head were so many, and she had no way of figuring out how to answer any of them. Huffing silently, she wondered if Remi had encountered the bubble and what his ideas might be, if he had any either or if he was content to just have everyone live in the small boundary this world had seemed to provide.
Rexanna stood, then, patting the dirt away from her legs and glaring at the invisible boundary, crossing her arms along her chest. She had no idea that anyone else was there and was immensely surprised that when she began to turn, Alistair suddenly just appeared. She emitted a small squeal at the surprise, eyes wide for a brief moment as she looked at the masked man – her fingers curling and uncurling a fist.
Then, she glared at him as her body worked to regulate her heartbeat. She wanted to yell at him, but she couldn’t quite get it out right, so she shook her head and looked away from him as a small relieved smile cracked the corner of her anger. “That mask is beautiful yet terrifying, you know. Especially when you just show up like that. Next time let me know when you're near so I can be sure I'm presentable.” She finally managed to say, her voice taking on a honey-dipped tone despite the attempts to keep it normal. She looked back to him then and offered a nod to his previous question about why they were here and how they could get out, wondering if he had any insight to it.
He replied in an overly dramatic, romantic tone as one who rehearsed such a cheesy pick up line would.
He even accompanied it with a hushed 'Awwwww' to sound like an audience swooned, and wave of his hand to the nonexistent audience as if saying 'I know, I know.'
Alistair rested his hand over his waist, surveying the barrier.
"These gods or god you speak to...Did they have any answers as to why this was here or a means to bypass It?"
Alistair would slip his mask off, smirk as he watched Rexanna and half-heartedly, playfully, placed it on her.
"In my world, we were concealed in a barrier as well...but literal. They said it was to protect us from the dangers beyond the wall, in truth I felt it was to keep us contained, controlled. Can't help but feel a similar intent here."
His overly dramatic tone caused a laugh to break out of her original stern face. Her eyes found him again and she playfully rolled them as if exasperated by the response. But he recovered, while he added in a dramatic response. She snorted at it before he surveyed the barrier with her, her arms crossing her chest as she too gazed back at the invisible boundary. Then Alistair began to speak again, and she continued to keep her gaze on it until the end when she shook her head and looked to him. She wanted to tell him that she hadn’t asked, that she didn’t even know of it before talking to Frey, but she couldn’t.
He spoke of his home, and what it was like with barriers too and she breathed quietly though her nose as she contemplated it. She, too, had lived in a world with barriers and boundaries, places she should be and places she shouldn’t be. All of them were never up for debate, and she sighed quietly at the memory, hating the feeling it brought back to her. It reminded her of when Frey had her see all her faults, and she tried to shake her head to rid her of those thoughts as she looked back to Alistair with an apologetic look that met her eyes, though he couldn’t see it from behind the mask. Instead, she listened to the whirring and hissing of the gears.
“I know what it’s like to be bound, too.” She finally said, that purring rumble of her tone distorted by the mask though she didn’t seem to notice. She moved closer to Alistair then, slipping her arm around his own and leaning into him. “I wouldn’t try using this to jump outside of it though, I’d rather like to see your handsome face more often.” She said, turning to him with a grin that also couldn’t be seen. Her head angled slightly as if to ask how it worked, to see what it felt like to shift and teleport to a different location – what it might feel like to the body to disappear and reappear in a split second.
As her arm eased around his own, Alistair glanced over at his side as Rexanna leaned into him. It was a simple, sweet gesture that he hadn't expected. Usually their encounters involved articles of clothing being removed in record time before the only embrace they'd really feel would be one out of passion.
Yet the simple act of seeking comfort caused him to grin sincerely to her.
"I'll make you a promise, when I get the kinks worked out of this here contraption..."
He'd gently tap the mask against her forehead before turning and looking toward the barrier.
"...I'll jump us both through there. Somehow."
In truth Alistair was growing quite fond of Rex's company. Through the claims of no expectations and freedoms they provided one another to explore what they would, he found himself staring at her longer. Holding her longer.
If and when she slept, he could have slipped away, leaving her with an empty bed and breakfast at her side. Instead he found himself watching her as she stirred and nestled quietly.
All of these thoughts held internally though, her intentions were quite clear and he was no one to force her otherwise. He learned that lesson quite severely, and vowed never to repeat it.
Alistair would slip the glove which had been synced to the mask and slipped it onto Rex's hand, tightening it to fit firmly in her grip. He'd flip her hand palm up as he gestured to the sensor at the palm.
"Click here when you feel you are ready, it will feel very disorienting. Unlike anything you've every felt before."
He whispered with a grin before turning her hand palm down and gestured to the glowing stones along the wrist. Only two were glowing azure as the other flickered.
"These are the charges, one has already been used...there are two jumps left before it will need to recharge. Give it a shot, you might like it...than I say we go see just how far this rabbit hole goes."
He'd make a motion to the barrier and see how far it wrapped around, should there even be the slightest opening to be discovered.
He offered her a promise, her head tilting up to get a better look at his face as he spoke and she continued to lean into him. He reached up and tapped the mask against her forehead and she playfully reached up to swat at his hand like a cat before looking back at the barrier when he did. “I don’t want to die.” She whined in her sultry tone, a frown finding her face as she glanced back to him. If trying to get through the wall was instant death like she felt it was, she wanted no part until it was safe.
Alistair slipped the glove onto her hand, and she looked down at it to see while he gestured and flipped her hand around to show the sensor. He explained it and she nodded, the mask combined with the glove was something that worried her slightly, but she’d try it just to say she did. She nodded to him as he explained where the charges were and how many were left. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as bad as she thought it would be – or perhaps it would be absolutely as terrible as she was dreading. A small sigh passed her lips, distorted by the mask but she moved from him then and nodded for the third time.
She sucked in a breath, picturing a place that was probably a good hundred feet from them away from the barrier but still in the outskirts. Her eyes closed and she clicked the button, vanishing and appearing a ways away, immediately losing her balance and falling in a heap of leaves. She remained on the ground for a good while, should Alistair move to see her, clutching her stomach with a gut wrenching laugh. “Oh gods that’s an awful feeling.” She moaned, laughing while she tried to catch her breath.
Just that like she was gone and back again. He had wanted to give Rexanna some hint on how to manage the sudden jolt to her system, but she was off.
As she reappeared and lurched onto the ground, clutching and gasping but managing to get words out.
"Praise be, it's a miracle!"
He claimed, hands lifting in the air in mock joy, laughing as he approached, crouching by Rex where, should she allow, he would gently bring her back to her feet.
"You're alive..."
He teased softly, had he been able to help Rex to her feet he would slip the mask from from her, hooking it to the strap at his side. As well as the glove from her hand.
"It uh...yea...took some time to get used to. The phasing sort of throws your system for a shock the first few rounds."
He continued with a chuckle before he looked over toward the barrier.
"Come on, let's give it a look...don't make the fear of what could happen make nothing happen."
Alistair reasoned as he held out his hand for Rex to take. The barrier was something beyond human capabilities, and Alistair had every intention to study as much of it as he could.
"Something this was made to protect or contain...what, I have no idea...we find that out, maybe we'll find a out through."
A giggle erupted from her as Alistair joked, his hands raising in the air as he approached. Though she took his hand to get her back onto her feet. As he teased her, saying she was alive, she pinned him with a look that wasn’t seen behind the mask. Though it was an incredulous look sent in his direction, it faded as he slipped the mask off her and hooked it to his side as well as the glove. She looked at him then, a smirk forming on her features as he explained the shock it did to the system.
“I went a little hard didn’t I?” She hummed in her sultry tone, her head tilting slightly before she laughed. Then as he spoke of getting a look of the barrier, her brows furrowed together and she wanted to shake her head. She had gone closer to the barrier, and it had caused her head to start aching in an uncomfortable, pins and needles kind of way. “It feels awful.” She complained, gesturing with her hands at the barrier and the closer someone stood to it.
Her sapphire gaze shifted from the barrier to Alistair, almost pleading not to get too close. She wasn’t sure what would happen the longer someone remained at the barrier, but she could gather from the feeling alone it wasn’t good, and she honestly wanted no part in it.
Alistair had begun to move toward the barrier when Rexanna spoke, to which he turned and studied how she appeared concerned. Rexanna? Concerned? She had leapt off the bone bridge after him...yet the barrier and its mere presence seemed to make her uncomfortable.
"Ok..."
Alistair would concede as he made his way back over to her.
"Ok, we don't have to go...you said it feels awful...did you manage to touch it? What did it feel like exactly?"
He asked curiously, hands resting over his sides as his eyes squinted studiously over her.
"Never would have assumed you one not to take risks...must have really taken some effect to steer you away."
Luckily for her, he made his way back to her. Concern sparking in his dark eyes. She shook her head no to his question, chewing on her lip slightly. “I didn’t touch it, I didn’t get close to it I don’t think.” She admitted, despite the purr in her voice. He continued to speak, however, and she turned her head back to him with a slight huff. “I mean, you can go near it and try it but it has this terrible feeling to it. You can feel it in your mind and your body, like when parts of your leg falls asleep and it’s that stabby feeling.” She hummed with a tilt to her head.
She was one to take risks, but this one felt particularly dangerous and with it, she didn’t trust it. She didn’t want to linger too much, go unconscious and simply die because she was too stupid to move away from something that felt terrible. It was the least she could do, to explain the feeling and remain far from it until it was gone. But she didn’t know what to do to make it go away – she didn’t think anyone else had an idea either.
If they did, why was it still here?
She looked back to Alistair with a slight sorrowful smile, raising her hand to press it gently against his stubbled cheek. “I’m sorry, handsome, but I don’t want to be a martyr today.” She purred in the attempt of a joke before staring back at the invisible barrier.
