In a cataclysm known as the Nightfall, the worlds were almost completely destroyed by a harrowing surge of darkness.
In the shadows of the ensuing chaos a new group has taken shape. Led by an Aegyl named Kalos, the 11th Hour touts an esoteric knowledge of how to combat the darkness and restore the worlds. They might be the worlds’ best chance at survival; but nobody really knows enough about them to confirm or deny their claims.
On the brink of collapse, the universe holds its breath in anticipation. Of restoration? Of destruction? It is up to individuals like yourself to decide.
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There aren't enough praises in the world I'd like to give to wonderful coders for the Proboards community. The following have contributed to World Destiny in some way: W3 Schools for countless how-tos and countless of other souls who have helped get WD up to where it is.
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Ariana massaged her temple, sighing. She was still trying to piece together what happened, and from what she could gather, either her world got devoured by these Heartless or the war in Ganymedes escalated to the point that they blew up the world.
But the latter wasn't very probable, was it?
But then there was that bright flash of blue. A loud sound like a camera going off, and then she was tossed here into an alley filled with lecherous imbeciles. Fortunately, she hastily left said alley and was sitting on the chair of this cafe. At first she was going to order something to sooth her frayed nerves, but soon noticed how the currency here was so very different.
How annoying.
Crossing her arms, one hand rose and brushed against Phantasm. At least she wasn't completely helpless. She still had her harp as well as her brains. Mind over metal, that's what her mother always said.
Now though..what was she to do? She was, for one thing, completely broke. She needed to find somewhere to work in. Then find some place to stay. Ariana groaned, wondering if she was to work as a waitress..how her mother would laugh at her.
It was a drawl, kind of. The person's voice was smooth, silky, but aged. An adult, it was easy to tell. The man's silver eyes widened with interest as he sat a few chairs away, sipping on a cup of coffee. His raven hair fell in front of one eye, and his build was very slim, yet not skinny. Muscled, yet not sculpted. A dark jacket fell to his waist, only partially zipped, showing off a grey undershirt, and his blue jeans had almost no bagginess to them, but hung to his thin legs. His dark shoes were propped up on a chair he had pushed in front of him, giving him a very lazy appearance. He looked to be over twenty-one, but not much. He was still quite young.
He grinned, his steely eyes bestowing a hint of the fun-loving mischief maker, maybe a joker or prankster, but he had an overall positive demeanor. "I'm Ienzo, and you are..." He paused, scrutinizing her. "You're new here, aren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. His smile subdued slightly. A newcomer normally meant another world taken by the Darkness. Many times, the people here either had severe injuries, or were traumatized by the events they had seen. "We get new people here often, and it's completely understandable if you have no idea what's going on. If you need anything, I'm here to help, okay?"
What he was doing in the snowy Traverse Town, he had no idea. He hadn't been here since Lea's little adventures, although he still loved this town of darkness. The world itself seemed to have fallen asleep lately, a cozy corner in the universe to pause and drink a cup of Starbucks. White chocolate mocha, Ienzo's favorite.
Ariana stiffened slightly, the flower she was touching seemed to shimmer for a second. That was close. She had almost been shocked into transforming the aster flower, what a sight that would've been - a harp in her hair. She briefly wondered what would happen - lodge itself in her skull or fall out of her hair, before turning her head to find the source of the low, almost alluring voice.
Well. A young lecher is better then an old one, I suppose.
A young adult, couldn't be more then twenty maybe sat a table away, feet on a chair. The man with pitch black hair almost looked like some kind of gangster if it wasn't for that strange hairdo, right eye almost obscured by bangs. There was this intelligent look to the man which she couldn't quite place..but right now he looked more playful and flirtatious then anything else.
"I'm Ienzo, and you are..."
A momentary pause. "Very confused," Ariana said in a deadpan tone. Her hand fell away from Phantasm as she placed both hands on her lap, bowing her head slightly as the man spoke again. New here..he made it sound like either she just ascended to heaven or entered a classroom.
She looked up, hair falling back as her head tilted ever so slightly in curiosity. Such a well-mannered man. Much unlike the many old geezers she had met. The only help they were capable of giving her was helping her get into their -
But she digressed. The man seemed trustworthy enough. Wondering how to reply, she said a quiet thank you and paused, tempted to bombard him with questions. But then, how would he know what happened to Ganymedes? After all, if he said "they" got new people here often, that meant he had been here for a very long time. And as she was just whisked from Ganymedes into this place..
Blink. Chief? He was speaking to her? Either way, she would look timid and foolish if she didn't speak up soon. "Ariana," she said after quietly clearing her throat. "Where..is this place," she hesitated before adding. "Strangers appear here often?"
That was strange. Did this place randomly pick out people and brought them here?
Ienzo thought about that for a moment. Never had he actually heard a name that made him thoughtful. It was a pretty name. When he thought of it, he thought of petite simplicity. It was fitting for the girl. The Heartless picked his feet from the chair and dragged it to its rightful place, sitting appropriately as he scooted his chair to face the girl. Another stranger who had no idea how they got here. He was right on the mark.
"Miss Ariana, this is Traverse Town. I regret to tell you this, but Traverse Town is a completely different World from your own, wherever you came from... This place is a meeting place for those who have lost their worlds to the Darkness." In time, she would realize that her being here was a good thing. The only alternative was either Heartless or death, neither of which this young one wanted. Ienzo could vouch for that. "In other words, your home is gone, but you survived. You are here because you lived. And that's why I wanted to help you out- it's not exactly fair that you are left alone with no idea what's going on."
The silver-eyed man felt a grave depression sinking in around them. The snow drifted by and he took another sip of his mocha. It was always a gamble to see what paths newcomers followed. The destruction of their homes was often reason enough to drive people mad. Hopefully, Ariana would be a strong one.
And she wouldn't let the Darkness touch her like he had.
The man assumed a more serious expression after that question. She paid careful attention to each word when he started talking, and her eyes narrowed slightly. This place was called Traverse Town. Strange, but she had heard stranger. Okay. Then, she froze for several seconds before she calmly blinked. Lost her world..to the darkness.
What did that mean? She racked her brain quickly - lost her world..it was gone? Darkness - darkness, darkness, the only darkness she could think of were those strange, large black ants and their kin. Yes..that was actually fairly recent, their appearance, yes. That was the reason why she was here? Because she lost her world to those black imbeciles?
She sighed softly. Her parents had seen it coming - the destruction of Ganymedes, that is, it was bound to happen with all those wars said they, but she certainly had not expected the cause of the world's end to be those black things. What happened to her parents? They were on the world too?
She slowly looked at Ienzo. She was here because she lived. It was a rather obvious statement, but she realized the true meaning -
Everyone else was dead?
She took in a sharp intake of breath as her brain struggled to digest that. Surely not. It was impossible that she was the only survivor from her world. And yet, she had seen not one person recognizable..
Her parents were out there somewhere, surely.
"You say it like destruction of worlds happen on a daily basis," she said, not liking what she was probably going to hear. What if this world went next? Another bang, a flash of blue and she ended up on another planet.
Ienzo wished he could feel something other than regret. Other than sadness. Anger. Hatred. It was the most difficult thing in the world to banish those feelings. It drained Ienzo at times, pushing the darkness away, leaving nothing but a void where emotions once leaped around. And at the moment, the Darkness was pushing against his chest. The girl's eyes met his and widened as she realized...
They were gone.
A daily basis... For some worlds, yes. For others? The Heartless stood no chance. Some worlds were still hidden, or sleeping, or far enough away to escape. Others, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Not that often. But worlds do disappear. Stars blink out. A lot of them."
What - now these black creature devoured stars as well?
Delightful.
What if the Sun was next to go? Bang, and everywhere was plunged into darkness. Then everything else followed, bang, there went her powers. It wasn't like they were unstoppable. Sure, they were using people as a human lollipop, but still! They could be stabbed, her town's guards had seen to that. Apparently they were very squishy.
Slightly disturbing, but what a relief.
Perhaps the reason why this town wasn't rolling in darkness was firepower? Ariana cast a glance at the snow covered streets. It certainly didn't look very well defended. But if people dropped in here when their world disappeared, this town was special then. "Aren't these creatures a lovely bunch," she muttered quietly to herself while tugging at a strand of hair.
"Of what importance are worlds to these things that they would so desperately scrounge after their destruction..?"
The Heartless weren't hungry for survival, it was that rush of emotion that came with absorbing the Heart, the immense power... That was what they strived for. Hearts were the only thing Heartless were interested in. They fed off the Darkness, something present in every living thing. Including Worlds.
Ienzo did his best to explain. It wasn't easy... Explaining that the only reason her World was gone was because the shadows got hungry. The silver-eyed Heartless mentally reflected on his own status as he spoke. Was he destined to be evil because he was a Heartless, or did his actions and conscience make him good?
Bah. They didn't even have a proper purpose. Ariana had expected something more subtle. More secret-esque.So they ran around destroying worlds to gratify their senses. Even the people of Ganymedes had things to do after busting the world apart..but then again, people were far less animalistic then these black...well they weren't animals, but they certainly had no brains all the same.
Perhaps it was just her, but Ienzo spoke with a strange, melancholic familiarity that she found strange. Perhaps, he, too had lost his world like she did. Perhaps, she, too would start finding this all a mere routine one day, walking around to help people who dropped into the world.
It was a good thing these black things didn't seem all too smart considering their movements back home. Combining their mass amounts and deadly subterfuge would be more then enough to drive her to a bar and start getting drunk as often as she could.
"You seem to know these things well," she sighed heavily.
The Heartless' silver eyes seemed to focus as the girl spoke. He almost wanted to smile at the comment but refrained himself. That would seem a bit morbid, no, to smile at the familiarity he had with death. With destruction. Everything he found useless. Indeed, Ienzo hated the fact that his organization wanted nothing but total destruction. He often wondered if Ansem had any higher plans... Did he have a goal beyond just swallowing the Worlds in Darkness? Ienzo couldn't see one, but perhaps that was just a part of the ruse.
He finally chose to nod, making sure he didn't display the irony of the situation. He eyed the girl, probably still jetlagged from her most recent adventure. "You've probably had a very long journey. If you'd like, I'll buy you lunch." And if she needed to rest, there were plenty of hotels around the city. Ienzo would let her use his hole in the wall to rest, but that was a bit inappropriate, he was sure. He may not be human, but he used to be, and he was positive that there was a rule against saying, Hey, you can crash at my place, to strangers.
Ariana smiled wearily. "I couldn't possible impose.." she started, but stopped when she felt the empty feeling in her stomach making itself known. "..But if it's not too much trouble," she said apologetically. She still needed time to digest the sudden treasure hoard of information that was unceremoniously ditched on her, and deal with the fact that, oh, maybe those things just committed genocide leaving her the only living survivor of Ganymedes?
Lovely.
"You must lead an interesting life, greeting newcomers and strangers," she said. "Sounds..relaxing," she commented wistfully.
Ha ha, relaxing. Trying to relax back at home was like trying to relax in the middle of a war. Because, well, it was, literally. Still. She'd rather be trying to relax then have her world crumbled and hurled through space onto a world of which she had never even heard of.
At best, it was depressing. He had to watch people hate him every day, without them ever realizing. Maybe this was his retribution for the deeds of his past. Or this was his responsibility. Something like that. In the end, he didn't mind. People left without a word, broken by the news of their World being gone. He couldn't say anything, they had to pick their own path... Maybe this girl would keep in touch, like Note did.
His hand tightened around the small olive branch. Note... Ienzo missed him. And Maya.
As he realized he drifted off, he fumbled. "Sorry, just thinking. I don't meen to be unsympathetic, by the way. It's just..." His silver eyes softened. "You survived. I think that's more important than anything." He held his arm out to the menu. "If you're hungry, pick anything off it. I don't mind at all."
The waitress snapped to attention and flashed a smile at Ienzo. He was regular enough that they knew what he wanted. He nodded to the girl next to him and the waitress looked as if she wanted to laugh. Ienzo with a girl, he'd never hear the end of it. Whatever the case, the waitress joined him quickly, ready to work.
Yet again, the mysterious man seemed deep in thought. A lot on his mind. That probably wasn't unusual, if he met and greeted ever so many strangers day after day. Ariana could imagine, people in denial, people who would probably go catatonic after the big reveal.
It was a good thing she wasn't one of them, then.
She briefly wondered how her parents would react, being ditched into a entirely new world. What if the world was dangerous? Filled with hostile species? For heaven's sake, they were old now, certainly not the astromancers they were in their better days. Unless they lucked out and played the Gulliver's Travels.
"I suppose," Ariana replied serenely. We, she thought. Phantasm might as well be a living flower, with her very energy that fed and transferred between her and the aster flower.
Anything will do. She had always felt so awkward eating out, and here she was being treated lunch. By a male no less. How her mother would laugh.
"Oh," she said awkwardly. Hmmm. "Tea will do for me, thank you," she said politely.
Wasn't she going to enjoy living the rest of her forsaken life here..
Ienzo grinned as she ordered. Girls were always so proper when it came to eating. He couldn't help but beam at the slice of cake they brought him and avoided devouring it, eating the treat slowly.
"You know, there are other Worlds beside this one," he said as they enjoyed their items. His silver eyes flashed to hers. "Many out there. Some of them are composed of only animals. Others, only sea creatures. Some are like this one, people, and others a mix of all the above." The World were diverse and open-ended, full of possibilities. Then... There were the Dark worlds, the ones that people didn't get away from.
"Did you ever have any dreams or goals? Daydreams?" An odd question, but it had a purpose.
Ariana placed her hands on her lap and watched him, looking calm on the outside but still rather ruffled on the inside. Gently sipping her tea like she was one of those distinguished old hags who enjoyed their afternoon coffee and their croissants and scones while on the inside she was internally battling thoughts of her parents getting torn by those creatures. And so she watched and listened to Ienzo's words, glad to have something to distract her.
Other worlds. That was to be expected, of course..it was a good thing she landed on this one. She blinked, surprise at the odd question. Dreams? Goals? Oh yes. To give all the war-hungry idiots back at home a swift kick in the-
"Not one in particular," she replied, frowning. She really should have some kind of goal. "Any that I may have before this would probably have been shattered, anyhow."
