Outside the Venturian Galaxy - The Town of Ciela
BGM: Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Doorway of Summerhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7sxfABkV3oU(This is my first post, so hopefully it's all ok. Also, for reference, here is what my character's "casual clothes" would look like:
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/umineko/images/4/48/Ushiromiya_Jessica9.png/revision/latest?cb=20111113144749Also, be expecting lots of Umineko BGM! Thanks for reading this!)
The sun shone brightly in the skies of Ciela, a town only about 30 minutes away from Neri. The sky was dotted with puffy, white clouds, adorning the townspeople with a happy, vibrant luster. No matter where one looked, it seemed as if sparkles burst from every smiling face they passed on the street. There was happiness in this town.
Not on the streets, however, was a young girl. She dressed casually at the moment, wearing a white shirt and red tie under a dark blue jacket that was accented by a purple, cross-like design around her midsection and a golden wing on her left sleeve. The sleeves seemed a little too long for her arms, and she kept unconsciously holding them so they covered her entire palm. Below that, she wore a simple red skirt and brown boots over thigh-high black socks with girlish-looking white frills at the top. She had her wavy blonde hair tucked into a ponytail and her blue eyes sharpened determinedly. "Hey, what do you mean I don't look like a witch?" she was asking.
This girl was standing at the clerk's desk in a large bookstore toward the center of Ciela. A large grimoire sat on the desk between her and the store's clerk. The young girl seemed to want to buy it. The clerk responded to her question simply. "Well, you don't really look all that mystical to me. You also look like you might be a little young to be a witch."
The girl crossed her arms. "I don't always dress like this, this is just some casual wear! And what's wrong with being a sixteen-year-old magician?"
Rolling his eyes slightly, the clerk sighed. "Nothing, but aren't most magicians older?"
"Well, the more learned ones are, but that doesn't mean I'm not good at magic! It just means I have room to improve!" The girl smiled energetically as she spoke, and she held up a fist in front of her, a gesture that showed some of her ambition. "More importantly, even if I wasn't a magician, why does that matter if I just want this book?"
"It doesn't, I was just curious," the clerk said. He clearly wasn't curious anymore. Maybe her reaction was a little too defensive? He then told her the price of the book this young witch coveted and her bright smile stretched out again. What luck she had had! To think such a rare book would be up for grabs for such a small price just because the store was overstocked! "Now I just need your name and payment and you'll be good to go."
The girl gave the clerk her money, beaming, and grabbed the book, clutching it to her chest excitedly. Then she looked up at him and told him her name. "Terra Kirisame." The clerk gave a quick nod, handed back her change, and she walked off with a quick "Thank you very much!" and exited the bookstore.
Terra strolled along the streets of Ciela, heading toward the eastern side of the city, the direction of the town she lived in, Neri. A small spring showed in her step, and her giddy grin glowed for all to see.
What amazing luck, she thought again.
I just can't wait to read it! She began making plans to read it as soon as she arrived at home. Hopefully she wouldn't be up all night this time. It was fun to be excited over her new finds, but that didn't mean she could blow off her already poor sleep schedule.
Terra came to the center of the town of Ciela. Once more, her gaze lingered on the fountain in the center of the area. It wasn't anything too impressive, really, but still her eyes were drawn to the water as it jumped out of the hole in the fountain and landed in the pool below. Terra really did love fountains. If only there were some flowers there too...
Then, Terra's train of thought was cut short. A small group of kids, ones maybe a bit older than her, had been sitting on the rim of the fountain, but they had suddenly stood up, gasping. Other people around them did the same, encouraging others who were looking away to divert their attention from what they were doing and look. Terra paused, then followed the crowd and looked behind her, expecting to see some kind of spectacle, like maybe two girls getting into a slap-fight. Oh, how wrong she was...
BGM: Umineko no Naku Koro ni - goldenslaughtererhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=raxEmANPTVcTerra did not see any slap-fights or other classic crowd-gathering circuses. In the corner, close to a building, was a circle. A dark, creepy circle, like a portal or rift of some kind. What was that about? Was someone going to come out of it in just a minute and go about their daily business as if nothing happened? Terra might have laughed if that were true. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
After a moment, some kind of... creature emerged. This time, Terra gasped along with the crowd. It wasn't attractive. She didn't quite know how to describe it. It writhed around a bit, then seemed to flip over. Terra realized then that the bizarre being seemed to have landed on its head as it emerged.
Unusual, Terra mused. Now that it was right-side up, she had a better understanding of it. It looked somewhat mite-like, with and insect-ish head and body. Terra didn't like bugs much, so she found it kind of gross.
Before she could come up with any other defining features to describe it with, another popped out. It, too, landed on its head. Then, a third, a fourth, a fifth... what was this? Terra started to get nervous, her shock sliding away. She didn't have time to react, though. They moved too quickly.
One of them, the first one to emerge, ran forward. It was heading straight for one of the people standing around it, a middle-aged looking woman. It jumped at her, clearly in a form of attack. No one seemed to be prepared for what came next, however. It looked as if the creature was attempting to... dig into its victim, the poor woman who was now screaming.
Yes, she was screaming. And, as hysteria tends to do, her scream then spread to those around her. Another one of the creatures - no, the monsters - rushed at another person, this time one of the people by the fountain, and repeated the same "burrowing" motion, this time into the target's fleeing back. One could only imagine what that could do to someone's spine. Then another charged, and another. Terra looked back at the rift.
What!? When did all those get there!? They, whatever they were called, had multiplied in number. Terra couldn't even try to count them, as they quickly scurried forth and attacked some helpless victim.
"I've gotta get out of here," Terra said, stating the obvious a little late. Late because one was already moving for her.
Unlike the others, however, this monster did not reach its destination. A blade bad been stuck into it, or rather, it had run into the blade before it could react and change course. Terra stood with her hand on that sword's handle, looking fearfully into the beast's face.
Thank god I aimed right, she thought with relief. Some gold sparkles still fell from the blade. She hadn't pulled it out from somewhere. Where could she have? She wasn't carrying a sheath, and a rapier this size couldn't fit in a jacket pocket. She had summoned it there in a flash of light. All too late for the unsuspecting monster. It didn't realize it was dealing with a warrior.
Terra pulled out her sword from what was now a corpse. Terra's rapier didn't harm people, but monsters like this? They were no trouble to kill. The beast fell, dead. Terra looked at the swarm before her. It was spreading further still. Amazing... and horrifying. Terra's eyes sharpened. All that remained of the giddy girl from before was the book in her left arm.
This might not be good... Ugh, why did I leave my baton at home? I could pulverize them with that! As Terra cursed herself for her poor judgement, she thought about quickly changing into her combat clothing with a spell. Then, another monster made a dash for her and she ran forward, slashing through it in an "X" motion. It, too, fell dead.
No, no time, she thought.
No time to change right now. Guess I'm fighting in these. Terra briefly worried about her somewhat small skirt flying up in battle, but this fear was undermined h the fact that, besides her, the only other people there were on the ground, struggling. Only Terra stood before the horde.
Terra was nervous. A sword was not the best weapon for this. It's range was limited. She wouldn't be able to take out large groups with single strikes. She would have made a bow, but she needed to hold her book. She needed two hands to shoot arrows. She would need to rely on speed. She needed speed to escape their touch, and speed to strike first. Easier said than done.
Terra rushed forward again and saw some oncoming monsters. Then, Terra stopped on one foot, twirling on it, and floated into the air a couple inches above the ground. A triangle made of light had appeared beneath her. It slowed the monsters to a halt as they passed over it, causing them to pile up and crash into one another. Terra levitated there, spinning around, then lifted her head skyward and stretched out her arms downward, in a pose like one would make when sliding down some kind of ride head-first on their stomach. When she did this, the glyph beneath her intensified and bright beams of light burst from the ground, destroying any monsters above it. Even in her "casual" wear, now, Terra certainly looked like a real magician. And definitely a light mage, at that.
As the light faded, Terra sank to the ground. She then suddenly burst forward, accelerating dramatically for a moment, slashing another creature and spinning on one foot to slow down.
Ha, light isn't all I can use magic for, Terra gloated mentally. She knew some magic that allowed her to increase her agility in battle, allowing bursts of speed and increased jump height. It was incredibly simple magic. She hardly had to even think about it anymore. She then repeated her burst of speed, this time to the right, twirling to a stop once more. Another beast fell. Then she went to the left again. Another. Then to the right again, spinning this time. She hit two that time. An onlooker might have compared her to a dancer.
She hopped into the air and stabbed forward. Her sword wasn't exactly normal. As she stabbed, rather than stabbing into a monster itself, it sent a small burst of light forward that smacked the beast itself. Terra repeated these stabs with astounding grace and speed. The area before her filled with lights as she did, her blade glinting as it sent more bursts of light into the monsters. Then she aimed her sword down and stabbed it into the ground as she fell. Unlike a regular sword, which might have broken, her blade created a cross-shaped burst of energy on the ground around her, knocking monsters into the air. Then she ran at them, slashing wildly and finishing with yet another spin, this time her blade flashing and leaving a slash-shaped light in the air, a pinkish light that resembled a color of sunset.
Her spin was too vigorous, however. Her book flew out of her hand. There was no way she could just catch it. It flew to the monsters. She hoped it would be okay, but it was immediately trampled, torn to shreds.
She didn't know why, but for some reason, that caused something in Terra to snap. She yelled. "That was a
rare book, you monsters!!!" Anger rumbled in her throat. In a flash of gold light, her sword vanished. Another flash and a bow materialized in her left hand, and an arrow formed in her right. She jumped upward, a yell escaping her mouth, and fired into the horde of monsters below. The arrow burst into light, knocking monsters away like an explosion. Terra continued jumping through them and firing, over and over again. How fun she found this now, as she jumped around, getting revenge for her precious grimoire. We hardly knew it before it's time came.
Then, one of the beasts made it dreadfully, incredibly close to her. Terra barely managed to dodge a swipe from its odd appendage. She leaned back... and then started to fall. She was tripping now of all times!? She would fall right into them. But then... something different happened. Terra didn't fall back into the swarm of parasites. She fell into the portal they had spawned from. She hadn't even noticed that at some point they had stopped coming. Her newfound fervor had distracted her. Damn that anger.
And so, Terra fell into a new world.
Somewhere on the planet ProsperityTerra fell out of the portal, realizing something odd in midair. The sky... It appeared to be below her feet. That couldn't be possible, could it? And then, somehow, she remembered. The monsters had fallen on their heads. This portal... It was upside down.
Terra didn't react in time. She sailed out of the portal and landed squarely on her forehead. It was then that Terra lost consciousness. Her bow crumbled immediately, fading to gold dust and disappearing in the wind. Thankfully, there had been some greenery there that had broken the hard fall slightly, but the ground was still hard enough to kick her clean out. At least her forehead didn't bleed, and at least she didn't sustain a concussion. More good luck today. Still, she was in for a lot of pain when she awoke.
Until then, she slept soundly. This new world could wait until she healed up a bit.