Autumn: described by the brisk breeze, golden leaves, and blended landscape surrounding Alice’s home. (parralel fall to alice hair and appearance, include her age) Alice sloppily captured the crimson trees as she strode against the wind. She attempted to balance several grocery bags and her weathered, convenient Nikon camera. Placing her baggage on the pavement outside her house, she unhatched the back gate. It eerily scraped the asphalt as she yanked the gate open, making a loud course noise that probably alerted the entire neighborhood of her arrival. She scooped up her bags and placed her camera under her arm. Climbing the wooden rickety stairs, squeaking and scratching. Her home was a single floor rented out by the older lady downstairs. Her son had made that decision for her in order to help with her financial support. Alice’s home was small but cozy, there were two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, a make do living space, and an attic which she had claimed as her bedroom. Alice’s room had always been a safe space to get away from impending obligations including her family’s financial state. She lived with her mother and younger brother, Ivan. Their father had left the family around the time of his birth and doing so had set the family into financial ruin. Their mother had difficulty with her lack of education, prior inability to financially support her kids, and debt left in her name by her parents. (figurae out how legal stuff happened?cuz…) In other words, the family dynamic was nonstandard. Alice became very “motherlike” with her brother as their mother worked constantly. She took up the responsibility of errands, cleaning, cooking, and overall taking care of her brother since she was around 9. From what doctors could tell, her crowded routine led to some detriment in her stress levels which manifested in horrific sleep paralysis and nightmares. Treating her episodes also set the family back financially, so as Alice grew older, she began to hide her incidents (although they also became sparse over time).
Dreams: her’s were petrifying and vivid. They robbed her from reality, like a tsunami, they washed over her mind causing it to fabricate new senses and concepts that she could never explain. It was so extreme that they would sometimes feel more real than reality. Were they, perhaps, dropping her into a new world?
“What do you mean…?” Ivan trailed off, “How do they not have bread??”. Alice placed the groceries on the ashy, round table, slightly covering Ivan’s homework.
“They only had the whole wheat one with sesame seeds”, she giggled, “You’ll have to eat the grainy bread”. Ivan rolled his eyes.
“I’m going out after I finish this paper”, Ivan stated.
“Yeah, just be back before mom gets home, that’s when dinner’ll be ready”, Alice replied.
The conversation devolved into micro groans as Ivan struggled through his algebra and Alice distributed the groceries into the fridge and pantry. She picked up her remaining things and went up into her bedroom. Soft light illuminated the dust particles in her room and despite the dust, it defined a comforting, warm room. These days, aside from impending issues, Alice’s life was similarly cozy and mondaine. She did her schoolwork, hung out with classmates, her friends, her brother. She searched for a job, and each day, she prepared a simple dinner for her family. It was a life not shy of problems, but whose life isn’t riddled with issues? Together at their small round table, the family would discuss their day, some days too tired to say much, and others they ate in complete silence. Then, they would go off and do their own things. Ivan might get lost in a computer game or sneak out irresponsibly into the night. Their mother would probably not make it to her bed, instead collapsing on their old leather couch. And Alice, she would be in her room finishing her assignments or maybe staying up, deep into night, chatting with a friend.
“Hey Alice, do you think aliens exist?”, Alice’s good friend, Sapphire pondered.
“I mean…maybe?”Alice responded, “wouldn’t really matter if they did though”.
“I was just wondering, I started this movie where aliens attacked earth and-”
Alice interrupted, “That’s just a movie though”.
“I know but space is so big… there’s probably something out there”
“Yeah true”
“You should watch it with me though!” Sapphire suggested.
They met up together the next day to watch the film, which Alice enjoyed but it didn’t kindle the same questions that Sapphire had asked. (explain this ). She plainly enjoyed the movie. The afternoon creeped and the girls started towards Alice’s house while entertaining the movie’s premise and discussing its funny moments and attractive actors. They walked along a neighborhood trail, carpeted with crunchy, dried leaves and framed by a canvas of colorful, autumn trees. The girls’ laughter filled the air along with natural bird calls and unnatural ambience of cars and planes. The air was broken by yelling nearby.
“Who’s, like yelling right now?”Alice looked around.
“Wanna go see?” Sapphire suggested intently.
Alice smiled, “Absolutely”.
They inched towards the noise on the other side of a dense row of trees beside the trail and hid among the bushes parallel to an almost abandoned road. They watched two strangely dressed men argue.
“Are they going to a fantasy convention or something?” Sapphire whispered.
Alice giggled, “You wanna ask them?”
“No way, I'm not getting near those weirdos,” Sapphire opposed.
The mens’ arguing was heated and almost scary. (their language couldn’t be understood) One man swung his arm hitting even on the other’s jaw, cleanly cutting the air and the girls quietly gasped at the sudden blow. Sapphire’s phone basically appeared in her hand and she began recording the surprise conflict. “What are they even-”, Alice was cut short by a deep rumble followed by a crisp crackle. A bright flash appeared simultaneously, and the girls shielded their eyes. Another man had appeared, dressed in similar but simpler clothing. He wielded a large weapon with a shattered stone blade bound together by a mysterious, teal haze. Alice eyes widened, petrified in confusion. The light cleared and the two arguers’ attentions were immediately directed towards the simply dressed man. One charged towards him and with a sweeping motion, he revealed two sharp daggers. The other made use of a bow and bright arrows from behind. Another sharp crackle and loud whistle, and the two wielders made contact. CRACK! Debris spewed; rocks and chunks of dirt flew and a fast cloud covered the air. Alice and Sapphire ducked in the bushes, one arm covering their heads while the other wafted the smoke away. Sapphire quickly rose up to resume her recording, her mouth gaping at the intensity. “We should seriously leave ''Alice panted, lightly hitting her friend’s leg and wiping dirt off her face. CRASH! Alice rapidly ducked her head then quickly decided. She stood up, yanked her friend’s arm and began to pull out. “Stop recording!-” BOOM! Another crackle, this time reverberating, vibrating the ground around their feet. “WATCH OUT!” Alice shouted. The sky was falling. Seeds, leaves, branches descended above them. Roots beneath them pierced the dirt and they began to run away from the falling tree. Suddenly, Alice felt a violent pain in her left arm as a tumbling branch pierced and dragged down in her skin leaving a deep gash. “AHHH” Alice screamed while reaching for her arm. Sapphire jerked around, dropping her phone and quickly collecting her friend. SWISH! BOOM! CLAP! The tree landed just barely missing the girls but now leaving them in the direct eyeline of the three perpetrators. “Run go go” Alice groaned frantically from her friend’s back. Sapphire ran, a few arrows whizzing by them. Another sharp pain, this was supposed to be felt on Alice’s back but instead she felt it at every point of her body and even at her core. (it was an arrow that hit but instead of feeling centralized pain, it was everywhere and so much that she passed out). It burned and the world went dark.
The world returned. Alice opened her eyes, noticing Sapphire’s panicked expression across the room. Alice swiftly eyed her surroundings; she was in her living room on that ripped leather couch. She reached to feel her arm, now covered and wrapped with a t-shirt. “Alice! You’re awake!” she heard Sapphire’s voice. Sapphire rushed towards her friend, almost tripping over Ivan’s bookbag, and embraced Alice.
“I’m sorry, I put us in danger… I shouldn’t have been recording I-” Sapphire whimpered.
“It’s fine… I don’t even know what…”Alice stammered, “just don’t tell my mom about this”
“WHAT?! You want me to hide this from your mom!?” She protested.
“She can’t know, seriously Sapphire” Alice pleaded, “please…please just call your dad to pick you up”
“Wait no, I can’t just leave you!-”
“It’s late…just go” Alice interrupted urgently.
Sapphire pursed her lips and inhaled while running her hands along her forehead, “fine”. She took the house phone and dialed her father’s number. She withdrew that afternoon, forewarning Alice that she would call the police the next day.
Alice exhaled. What could she do? She was still petrified, a pain pulsed in her arm and a strange lack of pain in her back. Dread engulfed her, (its the aftermath of fight or flight plus feeling something is wrong about the situation) the orange kitchen light peaked around the corner seeping into the afternoon lit room. Her eyes darted around the room focusing on the grain provided by the shadows. Her eyes blurred and she tightly squeezed them shut. Inhale. Exhale. She stood up slowly and headed towards her room, the traumatic events of the day shaking her heart which beat quickly and loudly. She climbed up her ladder and dropped on her mattress, allowing its softness to swallow her; allowing her dread to slip off along with her consciousness. She fell into a nonroutine sleep. She hadn’t made dinner or waited for Ivan to come home. She hadn’t worked on her assignments or set her alarm. Sensations drifted away and the world seemed to get smaller. Tomorrow things would return to normal.
(she was lying there btw) Alice’s eyes shot open. Where was she? She awoke in an open space, like a clear ocean colored blue and periwinkle, decorated with patterned lights of pink and starlight. Sunset clouds billowed underneath her, swirling occasionally like a winter storm. “A dream,” Alice concluded. She stood up and looked down at herself through the floor’s iridescent reflection. Her arm’s wound was gone, replaced by a golden glowing circle and star shaped marks. She was dressed in white drapes decorated with gorgeous flower detailing, golden bits intricately detailed among the lace. She felt beautiful and it felt powerful. In the distance, a transparent dome encompassed the space and was broken by monumental arches. One was smaller than the rest, like a true entrance with pillars. Alice’s location seemed to shift towards this gate. As she walked through it the space changed: it became a hallway and the dome and arches were now many open doors leading to an abyss. Floating orbs passed along beside her. They piled on the ceiling, traveling through the walls as though they were free from all physical boundaries. Several passed through Alice and she reached out to touch them but felt nothing. At the end of the hallway, there was a hall, grand and open. It was on an elevated platform and in the center was a globe, orbiting around itself and illuminating the hall. It was heavy and demanded an overwhelming presence. Alice’s eyes welled in unbearable awe as she recognized it immediately. It was her home, her earth: Terra, simplified to a small space but not removing from its beauty. It was something real in an unreal state. Suddenly the space was overwhelmed. Terra grew exponentially and the space expanded. The colors and light vanished leaving just the planet in the vacuum of space. Like the true spec she is, Alice floated in the void around her world.
—
Alice’s eyes shot open. “Where am I?” sped her subconscious. She was back on the platform with Terra. But now, she felt, she heard, she smelled, she saw, she tasted. “What?!” she spoke. Her dread returned, her heart beat in heavy rhythmic thumps. Her beautiful drapes were gone, her arm pulsed, her eyes darted. The white orbs previously gathering above made themselves known. They rushed towards Alice, now making cold, undeniable contact on her skin. They lifted her off the ground, rapidly circling, winding and pushing her away from her Terra. They swept her towards the hallway of impenetrably dark doors. They tossed her through one and she fell. Her valuable senses vanished in the void only leaving the subtle sound of her clothes wrapping around her body. “This can’t be real” she finalized, denying her mind and the sense it used to define and justify reality.
A light breeze brushed against Alice’s cheeks and refreshingly through her auburn hair. Grass tickled and scratched her legs, the lumpy firm ground underneath her providing much needed comfort. She hesitated to crack her eyes, now heavy from exhaustion. She ran her fingers through the ground, gripping the grass with all her strength. Was it still a dream? Even if it wasn’t, she was not home, in her cozy bed. It was unacceptable, so yes, it must be a dream. She sat up, gravity pressing against her stressed body. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to a simple calming nightfall, the moon brightening her surroundings. Sitting on an undulating hill, she notices a sparkling city in the near distance. Its grand buildings and simple cliffs framing it were attractive. A tall castle with sky scraping towers completed its silhouette. Watching the cattle grazing in the nearby fields, Alice’s head grew heavier. She laid back down and allowed the breath of the wind to sweep her into a comfortable sleep.
—
Spring: described by the budded white flowers blooming from waking trees, the red bark, crisp but warming air, and the fresh sour green grass illuminated by new morning rays. The early bird songs blended with the city’s bustling markets and the light breeze carried the people’s voices through its cobblestone streets.
Stalking above the city, on Roseport’s tan roofs, a young woman surveyed the market crowd as tree pedals, thin dust, and crowded streets(likethingsnotlettingpeoplebelow see her) concealed her perch. Her piercing brown eyes clicked between the alleyway and the open market where vendors negotiated their prices. She stalked the streets both waiting and watching for something. She sees her suspect men walking in the crowd. The three of them approach a merchant, engaging in sly and intimidating banter as they swindle the booth. She draws her silvery and brass colored arrow and carefully aims. Whoosh! The arrow pierces swiftly through the air with a trail of wind falling behind. The shot tore into one of the men’s satchel, breaking it his shoulder, and pinning it to the ground. Before the men could react, the woman’s ally leapt out from the alleyway. A large beast–a black panther with frightening emerald eyes pounces on the satchel, snatching it with her mouth and breaking into the busy market crowd. Chaos ensues. People scream, terrified as the panther maneuvers powerfully through the streets. The woman leaps from the rooftop grabbing her protruding arrow and running. The swindling bandits yell after her and begin chasing her and the panther. She splits up with Deliah, running a different path, causing one of the men to split up and chase her. hastily loses her tail in order to return and stalk her panther’s chas[a]e. She strategically isolates one of the thieves and corners him for questioning, managing to get a location out of him (probably a younger bandit) and she probably left him immobilized (:/) or tied i guess. She heads there in the city;it is an empty warehouse, or bar littered with boxes, leftover bottles, and an air of mischief and thievery. She wrecks the place and finds nothing and around that time, Delilah breaks in still with her chasers and the bag. She knows she’s cornered and the thieves guffaw probably, maybe they try to swing and fight. They almost knock her out, but one of the men sets the building on fire, the men leave and they block the entrance. She and Deliah manage to escape through a window by carving and hammering out. She rebegins her process of hunting down these weirdo thieves by using clues, her panther’s senses, and intuition to track them down. She does. The day grew darker as the Elkan star began setting and Roseport turned to twinkling candle lights. The woman sneaked behind the thieves as they migrated from the city to its outskirts. She hid out from the city gates, and followed the wispy grass growing taller and the surrounding cliffs growing apparent. She quietly stalks them through the pasture and into the spacious forest, then into the tunneling cliff caves. Her weathered brown cloak camouflages her in the oncoming night while Deliah’s black coat causes her to vanish in the shadows. A soft flickering light wraps around the cave's corners, hugging the rocky wall’s rough grain. She hears the crackling fire and the cackling voices of the bandits echo through the narrow tunnels. They boast of their experience with an archer rebel and her beast as well as other arrogant conquests. Arriving near their hideout, she doesn’t enter first. She motions her hand to Deliah, you have the court, and she waits. (I'm not sure I want deliah to kill them but injure them I guess). She finally walks in and her eyes widen. Her hand flies to her mouth as she gasps. There is a young woman. She was tied and sitting, her red brown hair spilling and glowing bright from the firelight. Her head is leaning on the cave wall and she is asleep or unconscious. The archer pressed her hand on her growing headache and tilted her head. She eyed those radiating golden and intimating circular marks on her arms. The marks lit the woman’s face with a soft light showing her closed eyes and light freckles. Guardian’s seals; the archer had a bad feeling about coming in contact with a Guardian. The archer cautiously moved forward and untied the ropes and moved to detach the heavy metal cuffs but hesitated and chose against. She paused and instead, carefully picked the woman up and placed her on Deliah’s back. “Brian’s isgoin to kill me”, she muttered under her breath. (include travel sequence because traveling back is through “teleportation”)
—
Alice's eyes peaked open. Soft rays of light spilled onto her eyes. The air was cold and fresh and she could smell luscious grass. She jolted up in panic feeling her hands tightly restricted behind her.(could be just regular cuffs or blockier ones with fansifus detailing) She scoped her surroundings; a small room. Across her was a dresser(mirror one) decorated with a handmade quilt and lace. A small plant on top of it and the mirror reflected the soft morning glow. The faded floorboards beneath her squeaked as she slowly shifted off of the wooden framed bed. Her breath was shaky as she crept towards the door. She turned her body, stretching her back and cautiously twisted the knob. Locked. She scrunched her nose and turned towards the window. She tiptoed across the room and opened the rustic drapes. A swish of crisp air entered the room revealing a lush garden and golden morning light. She took a deep breath and made a small, full body jump at the window. She winced, hitting her stomach against the window sill and pulling her leg over the edge. She twisted and fell out, rolling in the grass below. Ouf. Standing up, small bits of dirt and grass stuck to her face. The air was warm and a light breeze swayed the trees above her, making dotted shadows around the grass. She stood in a small overgrowing garden, boxed in by a brick wall decorated with moss and vines. She slowly made her way towards a circular gazebo bridge that is the entrance to the garden.(check pinterest) (i will fix some day) Ok, so she has arrived in Elkis’s Temp world, currently has no name um. She walks around after “escaping” Lyza’s houses guest room which was not very well guarded in the first place. The place feels very villagy but this temp world is prob, one based off of Fractyl, and two very pretty. It is extremely lush, and alive. The ecosystem is lively and very undisturbed because of how actually brand new it is. Alice obviously doesn’t know this so when she is walking around, she will just notice its beauty, the town and its architecture. She is barefoot so that prob felt weird.
She is drawn towards a small grove with a building. Not too sure but I know that the building has a porch type beat all around it, like a hallway but outside with beams. She didn’t really see anybody around and was trying to stay out of the town because she didn’t want to run into anyone. As she looked into the building, she stepped onto the cold smooth hall. She peaked around the corners when she heard the noise of people chatting nearby. She quickly ran across the hall and around the corner noticing an open room which seemed empty. She entered. (this whole section has to go from confusion and fear to fear and wonder) The room was dark and opened directly to a small creek. (insert that one dream i had yuh).
The brook rippled around smooth stones and the water cooled the area, serving as its on air conditioning. Alice eyed the room. The room was disorganized with books and bottles spread out. Leaves occasionally flew in, falling through the air. The foliage began to rumble, piles of leaves flowing into the room. A loud whisper of air gushed, pushing Alice’s hair backwards. Her eyes widened as she rushed back. Rapidly, her foot caught on a pile of books causing her to fall to the ground. She winced, landing awkwardly on her wrists. She froze as a loud thud hit the wood floor paneling. A large shadow blocked out the muted light from the brook. Slowly looking up, a cold chill rose up her arms and spine. She shuffled further back, quickly wrapping/cupping her hands over her mouth as she gasped. A large beast stood before her. Its body barely fit in the room, and its winds clasped. Its nostrils flared.
“Who are you?”, a rough, violent inquiry came out from behind the beast.
A man stepped out and walked up to Alice. She stared up in fear. She could not make out his face in the darkened room. He whipped his hand forward. Alice flinched, still watching the beast with one eye. Iss th at a dragon!?. Her mind raced. Her thoughts were again interrupted as a bright teal light materialized. The stone on the man’s hand glowed and light smoke appeared in the shape of a large sword. Stones crackled into the sword's shape, one of them directly in front and between Alice's eyes.
“WHO ARE YOU!”, the man yelled.
“Woah woahWoah!”, Alice gasped, moving out of the way from the stone blade.
Timeline bc writing the story doesn't seem fun right now:
https://www.pinterest.com/alli_nico/alice/
Quick backstories for everyone:
Quick categorizing of motivations:
Ivan:
Elkis : cities:Belcrest, Roseport
Alice was my first oc. She popped up somewhere when I was little while I played pretend. When I started drawing, she again popped up as a spy character. This story has grown with me i guess. I imagine many of the characters and plotpoints reflect things from my life. It’s inspired by many media including Arrietty, Blades and magic by Dolastic on yt, whenangelsfall by aphmau on yt, several webtoons, several anime, and probably much more. This is an adventure fantasy series spanning across 4 (technically 5) planets. There are themes of family/parenthood, positions of power, war rebellion and crime, laws, and belonging. In an ideal world, this would be an animated series with multiple seasons.
This story doesn’t stop here, it barely scratches the surface on the it’s universe. I ended up combining it with another story called The Cosmic Asylum which goes more into the guardians, other planets, and the universe.
[a]this section need revise but too lazy rn