A low hum crawled up through the silence, reverberating from the sleek, rusted metal casing of the generator and into the air. For so long the growl of the generator had been consistent, give or take a few small hiccups, moments when the power shuddered and the generator struggled to give out the electricity it was to allocate to every room. Other times, the lights would brighten as a few powerful waves coursed through its mill; no matter what changes the generator experienced, it always ran on. Relentless, faithful, dependable.

And then it stopped.

It would be difficult to say how or why the generator had stopped. After all, nobody had been around to witness the generator suddenly stop running. But everybody would know it had - the lights would flicker, dim, and then slowly go out, casting the cave in darkness once again.

A dim glow bathed the generator, and atop it sat the tiny sprite, whose bow-shaped gemstone glimmered in the low light. She sat with her legs crossed atop a large chunk of topaz, examining her long, black nails, vibrant yellow eyes watchful for movement in the dark. A subtle smile on her lips suggested that she was searching for someone, welcome to be spoken to. After all, she was sure they'd want to take a look at the broken generator.

Join This Quest

If you would like to participate in this quest, post with your character in this thread. Completing this quest will require some teamwork, so don't be afraid to roleplay it out! Feel free to request a GM when you feel you may be ready to proceed.

Participants:
Baratheon, Quintus, Yuma, Saosin

Recently he'd decided to take up residence in Polaris, it seemed to get a bit of traffic nowadays and it was where he'd met the other of his kind. Although recently... he'd also been plagued with a bought of laziness. The great white beast lounged at the base of the spire. His body was stretched out like a feline while his head lay upon the earth. His pink eyes were closed as he dozed peacefully... until he heard an irritating humming noise. His ears flicked as he tried to ignore the annoying noise but to no avail. The beast grumbled with irritation as he opened his eyes... just in time to see the lights dim and go out.

For a moment he sat there, dumbfounded at the sudden darkness in the caves. Never in his entire life had he seen something like this happen before and now he was completely at a loss. The only thing he could think of was the humming noise which, though annoying, was his only lead. So, he rose to his paws and began the task of tracking it down which was no simple feat in the dark.

It lead him to the generator where he saw an impossibly small creature perched on top of a gemstone. Who on earth was this and did she know anything about what had happened? The dragon stopped a few feet in front of the generator before he dipped down his large head so that he could better see her in the gloom. "Do you know what has happened?" The dragon's voice was curious as he pondered if this tiny thing had anything to do with what had happened in Polaris. If it was some prank he certainly didn't appreciate it.

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"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

smells like teen spirit the lights turning off so unexpectedly had certainly managed to catch him off guard, in all his cycles spent living in this cursed cave nothing like this had happened before. just when everything starts getting better, gembounds were once again roaming all about the various rooms of origin cave and most of his family was now reunited, all that was a cause for celebration but it seemed that the cave had something else in mind for him. curious as to what exactly happened, quintus would quickly make his way to polaris where the generator happened to be at. luckily he had whiskers and good enough night vision to assist him in finding his way about without a hitch but then again not everyone had these advantages so quintus was intent on fixing whatever the problem was. soon enough he would find himself within the heart of origin cave, and memories of his time spent here would start recollecting, bad memories. "the golems might have caused this," it was certainly a possibility, the last time he had been in polaris golems littered the place and had been terrorizing gembounds, quintus honestly didn't believe that anything had changed despite how many cycles went by. after all just because gembounds decided to take breaks did not mean that life wouldn't continue to go on. upon making his way to the generator two figures would be spotted with only one of them being familiar to quintus. there was no mistaking the dragon, despite the fact that the last time he had seen baratheon was at the wedding of his parents quintus did not forget. it's nice to see someone familiar, he would take a moment to examine the furred dragon before turning his head towards the frame of the stranger. he had seen nothing like her before, quintus had been ready to dismiss her as a lesser gembound due to her size but there was something about her. instead of opening his mouth to ask questions of his own, he would listen and hope that answers to his questions would be given without him having to ask.

Yuma It had come, just as he knew it might. Like the dying breaths of a cave deer overdosed on electricity the very lights that permeated his home at the edges of the cave had been fading away. Each sputter of absolute darkness, each groaning strain of prolonged dimness, they had been there to herald the end of the age of sight. It was no matter to the diminutive aye aye, as he had already memorized a large portion of the cave system and knew where to find sustenance to keep the pain in his stomach from becoming unmanageable. He'd been in Tunnel N when it happened, the final expiration of light. Even if the illumination in this place had always been a good bit more stable it was only able to hold up for a scant few moments before darkness overwhelmed the area. Yuma was left alone, clinging to a familiar hidden pathway along the cave wall. With his light weight and sharp claws he was in no danger of falling, but a portion of him wished had had been given a bit more time to prepare so he'd be in a better spot to observe the reactions of the other residents of the cave. Still, the darkness was not absolute, and far off into the distance he spotted a single point of light. Dim, but in this place it shone as brightly as any star ever could. If there would be anywhere to witness events of interest that would be it, or so Yuma suspected at least. With practiced silence the small aye aye descended the wall and slinked toward the source of the radiance. To his delight he was not alone, for a behemoth hidden in the shadows and another fairly large creature had already gathered around. It wasn't until he had gotten closer did Yuma spot yet another being who had evaded his vision from afar. The behemoth spoke as Yuma drew near, a question no doubt directed toward the strange fae who bathed in what light remained. "Is it not obvious?" Yuma cryptically said as he ascended a rock near the structure, his wide eyes illuminated by the dying light, "It has come time to once more fade into the void." Of course he had no evidence to back this up, he simply spoke the first words that came to mind as he always did.

Nothing changed. Nothing ever changed.

Until the lights went out.

Saosin had resigned to his solitude, swimming up and down the river in Polaris, searching for new hiding places and tunnels that snaked through the cave and led him to new rooms. He had explored the place called Fornax, every inch of it. He'd gone to Pisces and seen the Gembounds that live there, the group that once thrived, now dead. He had wandered on land to Eridanus and Cetus and found himself disdaining of the filth. The colour. Too much colour. So back to Polaris he had gone, spending his days boredly catching fish and lounging in the lights, playing with pebbles as he idly watched others go by. He had no interest in interacting with them.

He really had no reason to venture from his water until the lights had flickered and extinguished, so with curiosity, he drifted up the river towards the glow that hovered atop the generator where others were already beginning to gather. He listened to them, sitting silently in the river where the generator was half-submerged, looking between them. The darkness agitated him. Or maybe it made him feel better. He couldn't decide.

Swinging her legs back and forth, Nemean waited patiently for the arrival of others. Surely they had to appear, right? And before long, appear they did, emerging from the darkness. Their curious faces were illuminated with the subtle glow of the light emanating from Nemean. The first she saw was the dragon, massive and overbearing in his size, lurching towards her. She remembered seeing him when they were trying desperately (fruitlessly) to defeat Raheerah. He demanded to know what happened. But a fairly small, pale creature responded instead, pointing out that it was time to return to the void. How astute.

A lion had appeared not long after, and she could hear the splashing of water behind her, betraying the presence of a fourth curious face. "Why, it seems like the generator has just stopped working!" Nemean arched her brows as if surprised by this fact. "Do tell me, is it dark everywhere in the cave, or just here? I have been trying to fix the generator since I found it, but the darn thing just won't work!" She lamented, throwing her wrist against her forehead.

@Baratheon @Quintus @Yuma @Saosin

White had been heading home.

Polaris had been so boring lately. The blue light of the spire was so... dull. The taste of plants White forced herself to eat were boring, and trying (and failing) to hunt for actual meat was just as boring, especially when she couldn't find anything. It offered nothing to her but a river to clean her paws and feathers in and a good napping spot.

Orion had so much more for her: it was warm and dusty in the way that was comforting instead of repulsive, big broken buildings to wander through and a sky filled with makeshift quartz-crystal starts to fly among. While Polaris had the spire to nap by, White had begun to prefer napping behind the throne, curled up into herself comfortably.

Regardless, she always came back. Wandering through Orion one last time, White craned her head as far back as it would go to observe the crystals studded into the ceiling, twinkling with the light that flooded the room. As she came to the tunnel that connected Orion to Polaris, they went out.

One second, White was content and filled with warmth and light. The other, she was cold and bathed in darkness. Fear shot down the hybrid's spine, a sound that was an amalgamation of a squawk and a yelp came out of her throat. She didn't need the light to see where she was going, however.

Sprinting on all fours down the tunnel, a tunnel she had traveled through so many times before, she arrived in Polaris. But there was nothing. There was only the darkness that was left behind as the orbs turned off.

She bristled, ears pricked. She could hear soft humming, and she could see a dim light in the distance - but otherwise nothing. She couldn't smell anything - but when could she ever? It meant one thing regardless, and she felt her paws and talons taking her towards the generator.

If the behemoth of a white-and-pink creature had said anything, White had missed it. Instead, she heard the voice of a much smaller white little thing who spoke of a void. She was immediately reminded of the darkness she had seen cycles and cycles ago - before she emerged from her own silvery-blue chrysalis.

Was that a void?

"What do you mean?" asked the hybrid to the wide-eyed little creature as she approached, nails clicking loudly against the floor. "Fade into the void? That doesn't sound right."

Her attention was then grabbed by the thing that was glowing, supplying the only source of light in the room. Perhaps the entire cave, she briefly considered. The little thing spoke of a generator and the darkness, and of it not working, but the words mostly went over the hybrid's head.

Though, she did understand one question. "Orion and the tunnel are dark," she said, settling herself down onto her haunches. "I didn't see any light in Eridanus either."

It appeared as if he was not the only one who noticed the light outage in Polaris. Soon other gembounds began to collect and circle about the tiny glowing creature on the generator. One creature about as tiny as the strange lion-thing spoke about voids and returning to darkness. Baratheon turned his gaze on him not amused in the slightest. If that was a joke then he didn't care for it. "You know not of what you speak." He rumbled at the tiny aye-aye before turning his gaze to the snow-white hybrid that spoke next. So... The lights were out everywhere? That was troubling.

"Then we should work together to figure out a way to repair it. We can't allow all of the caves to continually be filled with darkness." It hadn't even been that long and he was already annoyed with the untimely absence of the lights. The dragon was no repair-gem but surely there was a way to get it to work again. He lowered his head to sniff at it, pondering if a good hard smack would make it work again.

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184
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5/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Yuma Yuma sat deadly still on his perch, turning his head slowly toward the amalgamate as it approached and addressed him. "It is only a guess, but one prompted by experience. he explained, "When creatures run and run they become warmer and warmer, just like the caves have been. The winds within them become unstable and the sounds they make are pained. Soon the winds cease and the sounds fade away. The caves may be the same, except its unstable lights take the place of the sputtering winds in others." And now the lights were gone, and what warmth remained would surely fade away soon. This he also knew from experience. If the aye aye heard the dragon his expression did not show it. This was something new, something interesting, something to occupy his attention. Perhaps though this was not the end of the fun. The little strange creature spoke of fixing the generator, perhaps the cave's equivalent of the pulsing thing inside cave deer that gave them such an interesting internal thump before going cold and silent. Could they restart the generator? It would inevitably go out again, but what better way to occupy their time before the final end than to trash and fight against the inevitable? "The core of creatures is full of liquid. Is it the same with the core of the caves?" he suggested.

His choice of residence has been Eridanus as of late, although Albeon wonders if there's an area in the caves that's more secluded that he could take refuge in even if this here branch he is now perched on is on a pretty high up tree. He doubts any know who he is and frankly, that's good for them since the likes of him isn't in their lives but he often feels like nowadays that others will be better off not associating with him at all.

But the only place that comes to mind is Canis and although entering his birthplace, he now won't be as averse to the idea of it like he was previously, but even so it doesn't seem like an appealing part of the caves to take residence in. Besides at least in Eridanus it has more than enough fruits in it so he never needs to hunt other living creatures or more specifically he doesn't need to kill any Lessers to survive, although he's now OK with others hunting for Lessers for survival themselves he still wants no part in such a thing, after all he's been doing just fine without hunting at all.

Him still being alive and in good enough health is proof of that... Right?

During his pondering of things, he never took note that things were getting darker around him till right at the last second when things were now in borderline pitch black darkness, contrasting the chromatic green that flourished throughout this area. Eventually the surrounding's colour scheme is just one shade of pure pitch black, the raven perfectly blends in with it, the only thing part of him that's still visible to the eye will be gold from his eyes and scarf.

Wh-What the hell is this supposed to be about? Great... What's the problem this time?

This is a problem... He doesn't know where the ground is now... But it'll probably be safer hopping on the ground than being on a thin branch or flying not knowing where all the trees are. Just... take off and just slowly glide down. With a long hesitance Albeon eventually leaped off the branch and spread his wings, he can feel his scarf being blown by the wind, not to the inconsistent sound of rustling coming from it by being blown by the wind. During his descent thankfully the ground can be seen so with a few strong flaps from his wings he safely lands himself on the ground.

...He supposes Polaris is his destination to go to if he wants to know what the hell is happening here, usually the area that has something to do with something... 'eventful'. His travel to Polaris was quite a long one since he treaded along the ground instead of making things quick and flying over to it. But eventually he did make it and immediately took notice of the Generator and the gathering of many Gembound including... huh although his memories are now very hazy of his early days it's kind of hard to forget Baratheon what with the blatant factor that he's a colossus giant and all and he thinks is the only one in these caves that's a colossus giant. Listening in to his words and watching the various other Gembounds that are gathered around the generator which is noticeably not moving now listening Albeon heard the dragon mention how it needs repairing to return the lights. Out of nowhere to starts to move a lot closer to where they all are till he's too has joined this gathering of Gembounds around the generator.

He wants to help out on this too, he wants to help as some form of atonement for his past transgressions, he doubts he'll ever feel like he will make up for what he has done but he'll do it anyway, although something tells him that he won't be needed surely with these many Gembounds they'd do just fine without him. But he'll still go along with things, besides even if he gotten a lot humbler now, no longer chanting 'I'm a prodigy!' he still likes to prove himself to others.

"The parts on it that turn are what powers the lights right? Is it possible for one to turn them manually? Not exactly a suggestion that'll go about a permanent solution to this, but... Could work." Finally raising his voice speaking thoughtfully to speak to all of them for his suggestion, he's hoping that could work, he may not have the muscle for it and even if it's unnecessary to do so he believes one of his Spells is up to that task if this method will in fact work.

Tags: N/A
Side Notes: N/A

"Hey Yours Truly Albeon Speaking."

And that's a good thing...
It means there's hope and potential in one's Future.