Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Trip into the Multiverse 1x1

Matthieu sat among one of the Tower's many portals rooms surrounded by his own tower of books. Each one lay open or had scraps of paper shoved in it to keep hi place. Matt himself was a sight to see: fedora half cocked on his head, hair a mess, pens and pencils stuck in his shirt pocket and behind his ears. He sat with his legs crossed beneath him and a journal laid out across his lap. He was currently madly scribbling in said book, copying text from one of the many tomes.

"So if I apply the right logic to this, it's telling me that this portal will lead me right to... But then if I don't make I will probably... Unless I hit the jump just right... Yeaaah." He spoke to himself and chewed the end of his pen. Looking up as he thought, eyes searching things that were not there, he nodded to himself and stood up. A rain of pages scattered across the floor from his lap.

"Oh, right." He scooped up the mangled papers and shoved them back into a book. Placing it a top the precarious pile he turned to the portal. It stood before him in an arch made of scaly brown spikes.

The Portal crackled to life suddenly, the aura within the confines turning a dark purple and began to swirl. The energy began to crawl around the edged of the portal, and suddenly it flashed. The bright light was almost blinding, and the silhouette of a humanoid emerged from the portal.

Once the light died down, a tall young man in black attire stood in front of Matthieu. His thick black hair was pushed to the side, his golden eyes a sharp contrast. His black coat reached past his waist, and a single sling backpack was slung over one shoulder.

The stranger looked around at the room, then down at his watch. The face was broken, and the man growled.

"Damn... Another misfire..."

Matthieu was left blinking his olive green eyes in an attempt to see properly again. He reflexively grabbed the glove on his left arm, but did not remove it. When he was able to see again he found this man standing in front of him, seemingly having been transported through the portal he was so interested in.

His face split with excitement. "Are you a demon?" He asked the stranger, walking in circles around him to inspect his every inch. He had the journal flipped open again, taking shorthand notes about the features of the figure before him, writing with his gloved arm.

The man blinked at him, his head twisting and watching the guy walk around him.

"Demon? Uh... No not really. Do you ask that of every person that shows up here?"

The man's fingers flexed a little, on guard, but his face was pleasant enough.

"Who are you and where am I, if you don't mind me asking."

Matt looked taken aback and he dropped his hands from writing. "So you're not from the Abyss?" His brows shot up in question and his face was questioning. He seemed to be crestfallen that this man was not a demon nor the portal the right one he was looking for.

"Uh, oh, you're in the Nexus Tower," he added as an after thought, frowning.

Lucia scratched his ear.

"Abyss? Heck no... Well, I've been there before, at least my version of Abyss."

Nexus Tower... He'd been in the Nexus before... but he didn't remember there being a Tower with portals in it... Heck, there wasn't towers anywhere back there. This must be a different type of Nexus.

"Name's Lucia VanDrayle. I'm a Traveler."

He held out his hand to the young man, eyes the glove for a moment.

He made a funny face at first, but cracked into a smile, offering his left hand at first, but recoiling. He instead gave the right, ungloved hand and introduced himself.

"Matthieu Vega, Explorer slash Traveler. Pleased to meet you." When the hand shake was complete, Matt closed his journal, slipped the pen into the spine and put it in his back pocket. "So, you're syaing I can't get to Hell through this portal? That's disappointing, I was sure it was this one."

Lucia took the handshake, then tilted his head at the man's comment.

"I'd ask why on earth would you want to go to hell... BUt then that would almost defeat the purpose."

Lucia's hands found their way into his pockets. HIs weight shifted to one foot and he glanced around.

"I might be able to find someone who COULD get you there, but I'd have to get back home first. Does this place have Internet, or did I fall in a pre-technology era?"

His expression may have given Lucia the answer, but he replied anyhow. "Pre-technology. I miss it myself, but the portals give me an outlet." He rubbed his left shoulder and looked at his feet a moment. When he looked back up, it was right at Lucia, a strange sort of look in his eye.

"Could you really get me there?"

"Like I said, If I could get home, I know someone who could get you there. But unfortunately..."

Lucia lifted up his arm, the broken wristwatch glinting a little.

"I've kinda lost my form of transport back to HQ. If I could get ahold of the right materials, I could maybe fix it myself, but it'd take a while."

His arm fell, and his golden eyes looked at Matt.

"So why are you so interested in going to Hell? Are you a demon? Or are you looking for something?"

'I'm looking for Someone," Matt smiled at the stranger. His eyes still glinted with interest. "What world are you from? Maybe we can find the right portal."

He stopped and scooped up some more dropped papers, shoving them in his back pocket again. "I'd be interested in hearing about your world."

Lucia grinned a little and followed Matt.

"It's hard to nail down my world. It's one of those between realities worlds that seem to slip through the cracks. But the Serial for it is TER1082... I think, dpending on who you ask."

Lucia looked around the room a bit, then back to Matt.

"So who are you looking for? Friend or foe?"

His face screwed up in confusion for a moment, but soon cleared. "I have to get back to someone; I would like to think of her as a friend, but really it's hard to tell with women sometimes. Isn't it?" The question was posed as if he was really unsure of what he had just said.

"But back on topic; I might be able to ask the Tower's Wizard if he could point us in the right direction of TER1082, but he can be fickle."

"it's always that way isn't it?"

Lucia shrugged adn crossed his arms.

"If you think he can help, then I'm up for it. I'm in no hurry to rush home, but if I can get a way back fast I see no reason not to go."

"The best I can do is ask; the Tower master tends to be fickle, really." He chews his lower lip, tidying to mess in the room before walking out of it. He entered the circular hallway which has no banisters, but there is a giant hole in the ground. When looked through, one can see the countless other floors which house even more portals. Matthieu stood on the edge of the floor and waited, his face betraying the fact that he was thinking hard.

"The last time I needed to speak Corwin--that's his name," he turned to inform Lucia, "I needed something big from him. So I don't know how he'll react now."

Lucia followed, his eyes scanning around as they walked.

"Is Corwin a resonable person? I mean, I'm not without my own merits, I could maybe barter to get what you need?"

Lucia had always been one to carry stuff with him, just in case. You never knew when other-world tech would come in handy.

"Unless there's some rule about it..."

"I wouldn't call him unreasonable, exactly... But back on Earth we might have called him something of a jerk. Being that he has the power to make and destroy this place, he has let some of it go to his head." He leaned over the edge and looked down, waiting for something. "He's got a lot of friends in high places though, so someone has to be able to help us."

Finally, Matthieu got what he was waiting for: just then an enormous flat disk rose to meet them at the edge of their current floor. Matt stepped on and motioned for Lucia to do the same.

Lucia looked at Matt for a moment but stepped on the disk none the less.

"Hmm... It's prolly best I came through the portal, and not Charon. You prolly would have had a fight on your hands. He doesn't take well to jerks."

Lucia looked around as the disk began to drop. In the back of his mind he was logging information about this place, and trying to get a handle on the world signature.

"So... Corwin made this place? Is he some kind of deity?"

The disc began to move upward, toward the forever far away ceiling. "Oh, he didn't create it. I read a book about it when I first came to this world; the Tower was made centuries ago by a committee of magic-users. The Master of the Tower sort of becomes one with the building when given the title, Corwin especially."

"What's a Charon?"

"ooooh..."

Lucia shrugged at teh question.

"Not what, who. Although sometimes I think he should be a what. Charon is a Sub-Class Deity from a Realm I visited once. He's over the Styx River, which is basicly the River of teh Dead, I don't know what you would call it here. Nice enough guy but he has a chip on his shoulder for jerks."