ORIGIN - drag your halo through the mud

Himmel

It was hot here; the air pressed in on all sides and was so heavy that Himmel had to resort to panting to get enough oxygen. The passage narrowed immediately when he left the crystal room of mirrors, the plants withering along the route until there was only barren rock and the occasional crack in the floor. The ground was hotter too - Himmel could feel it radiating warmth despite being in the epicenter of the corridor and he was nervous to continue, except that he must. He did not want to return to Gemini and its seemingly endless funhouse walls.

As he marched along he took notice of more than the warmth. There wasn't any darkness in this part of the pathway. There were rocks galore, no greenery like on the exit to Gemini, and yet it was lit with more warm light than what should be normal. Then again what exactly was normal in a subterranean cave system?

Himmel was careful as he came upon an exposed section of glowing red; it seemed to flow like water but it rumbled too, and he imagined a snake made of fire curling in to the earth. He dipped his nose towards the crack to sniff at it and tasted the hot fumes (they made his eyes water immediately), and off of his flank came a crack and a moan as a geyser erupted with a smattering of red-hot debris.

He was startled enough to step back and wheel his hindquarters away, watching as sparks flew.

_{Set before the Leo quest thread.}

Legion was trying to pass through this place. It had seen the touch of Mother, and been infuriated by it; vengeance drove it--its entire new swarm (and hadn't that been a terror to create) through these strange new places in search of more.

This place, though--this tunnel--was hot, and the mite swarm was having distinct trouble maintaining a cohesive form. The geysers and suffocating atmosphere meant it had to stop twice, despite the short length of the tunnel, to rest and cool, tiny wings beating furiously, briefly, to fan themselves.

It was only at their second rest that they spotted Himmel--a stranger to them, and the Queen at once froze with suspicion. She tried to cast her magic out like a sensitive little net, but found that it did not come--she'd fought and practiced hard to learn it, but it still was unfamiliar to her. The swarm, then, as it formed, kept a distance.

The shape of Himmel was duplicated, as the swarm coalesced: a gray-brown, slightly-shifting Himmel, its eyes shining bright, bioluminescent blue-green as those mites all turned reflective eyes to view him. This Himmel stood on the wall, impossibly, each mite hovering to keep the shape; it kept what the Queen considered a safe enough distance.

The voice, of course, was nothing like the deer's, instead a buzzing that sounded questioning, cloaked in wariness, though not outright hostile.

"We are Legion; who are you?" they asked, and then the form trembled with a buzz. And then, with that same caution, "Are you one of Mother's?"

They don't look like Mother's.

But you know it's hard to tell-

No white, at least.

Not thin, not starving.

We have to be cautious-

Yes, we won't approach. 

The cacophony of thoughts--these and many others--ruffled a thousand tiny wings, as the swarm awaited Himmel's response.

@Himmel

Himmel

Once the roar of the geyser subsided and he had blinked away the remnants of light burned in to his vision, Himmel was left astounded by his surroundings. Sure it was hot here, but the radiant heat and light from the flowing magma called out to him in a way that defied reason. He wondered if he could spawn something like that instead of his usual fire - or maybe if he focused enough he could manipulate it out of the ground? It flowed like water but it clearly wasn't water; perhaps he could not move it in the same way, but he wanted to try.

The boy was distracted from this line of thought when a sound not unlike the falling sand in an hourglass caught in his ears. He thought that maybe the geyser was preparing for another eruption so he stepped back, looking around frantically for a place to stand that would be out of the way enough - and that was when he spotted a shape that didn't make sense. Where the fires within the tunnel lingered there was a strong red-orange glow which caused some very drastic shadows; the one he stared at now was not so hard-edged, and seemed to construct itself as he stared.

It grew tall, sprouting ears like his, a tapered face, and thin legs. It wasn't standing on the ground though and he certainly did not cast it. When the shadow's eyes opened they reminded him of the way his own eyes glowed in the mirrored tunnel and he thought, 'Is this a reflection too?'

Then, it spoke. It called itself legion and spoke of a mother. This wasn't like the mirrored corridor at all.

"My name is Himmel," he answered innocuously enough. Maybe he could scare this thing away with some magic of his own? Like he'd done with the bats. Summoning the energy from his stone for this task was much easier than before, leaving Himmel with a fiery glow from the eyes. He looked right at home here, as if he were full of magma too. "What is -- or rather who is Mother?" The way the shape spoke of it, he presumed it was a name.

^{@Legion (I totes hit "tag GM" out of habit, my bad!)}

The swarm regarded Himmel with caution, their internal dialogue rapid and debating. The flameglow eyes didn't seem to affect them overmuch, if at all--perhaps they hadn't noticed or perhaps they were simply considering what they imagined to be more important things. After a moment, however, they spoke.

"Himmel," came the many-voiced buzz, "We greet you. Mother is a fungus. A thing of many layers, carpets of white, and rot. Stay away from it. Himmel. It takes your mind, and promises love, and whispers care. It seeks only slaves," and even in the buzz of mites, there was a bitterness to these words.

The deer-shaped swarm shifted slightly, unevenly; otherwise it was oddly still, without blinking or shifting limbs or the movement of ears that a living deer would display. But the eyes, now, did shift: a reflective glow of magma to imitate Himmel's own, though not bright or glowing; just the turn of a hundred carapaces to catch the tunnel's lava-light.

"We do not know what lays beyond here. Do you?" they asked, uncertain. Again they cast their senses out, seeking any sign of infection in this young stranger.

@Himmel