soulreleaserWHO: Veldora Tempest and you!
WHERE: Veldora's Labyrinth, around the city
WHEN: forward dated to a few days after the Azdaha wrap-ups
WHAT: sometimes you're a Storm Dragon and you went to sleep with your face in a volume of Black Jack and you wake up in the burning ruins of a city bearing your name and things just get weirder from there.
WARNINGS: passing references to dead monsters, but nothing severe?
the wolf only needs to be faster once; inside the labyrinth
[ it's still horrific the second time.
he'd been there the first time Tempest had been attacked, after all--not there directly, of course, but he'd been there behind Rimuru's eyes, watching as his friend had run through rubble and ravage that Falmuth's soldiers that brought to Tempest. he'd felt Rimuru's infinite sorrow--and his silent, seething rage as they'd come upon the town square, upon the rows and rows of their poor subjects laid as neat and reverentially as could've been managed, every one of them slain injustly in their own homes, their own streets--
there are no neat rows for the bodies, this time. monsters of all shape and size, of all races and bearings are dead where they lay, crumpled in heaps or splayed, gruesome testaments to the power that would've been needed to bring such devastation to a place protected by the Storm Dragon, by the Demon Slime. the city burns and crumbles, cracking buildings falling like crude gravestone markers for the corpses they cover in their wake.
Veldora checks the first dozen he comes across, recoiling as if he'd been struck when the remains seem to remember that they are monsters--that the magic that made up their bodies no longer belongs to something living, and is free to waft away in glowing streaks of power, twisting up and off into the ether of the world as there's no magical net to catch their souls this time and keep them close.
it is... not often, that Veldora thinks of what the destruction of a city must look like from the city's perspective. it could be argued that he's never thought about what it would look like from down here--just as he's never thought about what it would mean for him to be too late, too slow, not strong enough. he tears his way through the ruined landscape, trying not to think of every city he's ever brought a storm to--he would never have done something like this, there'd always been time enough for the little things to get to safety--
he shakes the thought from his head and skids to a halt when he spots a familiar shock of pink hair peeking out from under a crumbled column from the--city hall, he thinks he's at city hall--and he goes to try and lift the massive pieces of cut stone from where they're collapsed
but no matter how much he pushes and pulls, uses both hands and puts his back into it, the stone doesn't move. he tries to call upon his grand form, but he stays small, humanoid. fear is a cold feeling at the base of Veldora's spine, and he hasn't felt this way since his last meeting with--with Velzard, with the hero that'd been sent to--
he shakes the thought from his head again, grinding his teeth and vowing to come back to this pile of stone, to help the little oni princess, as soon as he finds-- ]
Rimuru! Rimuru, my friend, where are you?!
[ the space in his mind that Rimuru should occupy--the telekinetic link between all of his friend's vassals, between the two of them, sworn and fatebound as they are--is so silent and still.
it's as if the World itself has nothing to say, and such a silence is unlike anything Veldora's ever felt before. ]
and a voice cried out; network post - voice - UN: tempestdragon
[ the sound starts a bit abruptly, all things considered--the one who initiated the recording is definitely reading from the 'how to phone' manual that comes complimentary with the Kaisou express shuttle, sounding like your hypothetical 1990's mom trying to read a manual to your hypothetical 1990's dad as they try to set up their newfangled DVD player for the first time. ]
... and upon clicking the 'record' button, a timer will begin to indicate that the recording process has begun; from there, speak your intended message and... mm, mm... touch the red icon to end your... mhm, hmn, from there you can review... touch the post button. The spells that power the devices from the other world truly are as remarkable as they are complex--ah, has the recording begun?
[ he clears his throat, and
look, I love ya'll so I'm not going to type a whole block of text with capslock on, in bold, and at 30pt font size
but you need to picture that for what follows. the poor phone's microphone doesn't know what's about to hit it. ]
To you I extend my greetings, sages and warriors of the world beyond worlds! I am Veldora Tempest of the Great Jura Forest, the Storm Dragon and protector of the monster nation of Tempest! I must applaud you all for finally managing the feat of calling someone from across the veil between our worlds to yours--and then I must laugh at the audacity that you all would dare to call me of all beings! What admirable courage the world of my dear friend's birth truly possesses!
[ for anyone that hasn't aurally abandoned ship, he'll start talking like a normal man--a loud man, but not one that's gonna be heard in the nosebleeds in Toronto, you know? ]
I shall now inquire--upon which land in the Otherworld do I currently stand? My friend spoke occasionally and fondly of his home country of 'Japan', and I've seen many a place in the writings and etchings ascribed within the sacred texts--anyone with courage enough to aid me in gaining my bearings will find that I am a grand and magnanimous ally to have! I thank you kindly in advance of your obeisance!
[ and then he's gonna fumble with the phone and mumble his way through making sure that--that's the post button? that button? he doesn't want his grand words to be lost, after all, and the little operator's manual is getting its pageflips in until the recording finally cuts and is conveyed to an unsuspecting network. ]