Justin awoke to a very strange sensation. He was floating... he thought. Or it felt like it. Except he could breath, and move as if he were walking. But what greeted his eyes when he opened them was even stranger. Everywhere he looked there were portals just like his own but he could see through them like a window. Some were normal places like lakes, houses, cities and deserts but others were otherworldy. He didn't know what to think, he was afraid to move in fear of falling into one of these unknown places.
He slowly began to make his way along the checkered landscape avoiding the various holes as best he could. He couldn't see anything for as far as his eyes could make out, just checkered holes. It was hours of useless wandering, peeking into different holes to see if anything was familiar but only confusing and what seemed like chaotic scenes were contained within the windows to what he could only assume to be other worlds. One was nothing but darkness, another a fiery landscape with roaming beasts, that somewhat resembled the thing that had appeared in the mansion, that could only described as hell itself, another a walled in ghetto with a scrap heap fashioned into some sort of fortress, and finally what seemed to be a nuclear reactor that had been sliced into a spiral pattern by some inexplicable force.
He finally collapsed onto the solid white flooring exhausted. "What the hell is this place?" He shouted grasping his hair in frustration at the absurdity of his situation. His warping had never landed him in such a ludicrous place such as this. He laid back and closed his eyes. "This is all a bad dream, yeah i must have passed out when i tried to force open that portal that's it!" He began to laugh in spite of himself knowing full and well it was real from the aching of his body from the mission.
"The Void is an unusual place that much sure. Not existing in a space unto itself yet in between all spaces at all times. I found it vexing when i first arrived but you get used to it." A unfamiliar voice suddenly poke out beside him. Justin jumped in shock jolting up. No one had been beside him a moment ago, yet now there sat an elderly man, his beard down to his waist as white as fresh snow and eye brows to match. His bald and wrinkled head set with the crevaces of age with the occasional liver spot. He wore a white robe that covered his entire body, only his hands which held a knotted staff poked out. But the most stunning and somehow familiar feature was his piercing blue eyes. "Im sorry to startle you my boy i just get so few visitors here."
"Who the hell are you? And where am i!" Justin almost shouted in panic. "Oh calm down Justin my boy your perfectly ok. I am the keeper of the gateways between worlds but you may call me Chronos. You are in the void my boy." Justin withdrew a bit, not in fear of the old geezer but at the oddity of the situation, it was a reflex. "What the hell is the void? And what do you mean gatekeeper?" The old man smiled knowingly, it somehow showing through his thick mustache and beard. "I know you have many questions, but come with me and ill answer what i can." He surprisingly sprang to his feet and motioned for Justin to follow him with a sweep of his arm.
Ever since the incident Justin was wary of just jumping into situations, but somehow he trusted the old codger. Chronos skipped over the holes with amazing youth never once falter with his leaps across the landscape, it was all Justin could do to keep up. In a couple exhausting minutes the old man finally stopped at a square that contained something different from the surrounding landscape, two large pillows and a teakettle suspended across the edge off a hole that seemingly lead to some sort of fiery landscape giving off an intense heat.
"Welcome to my abode. It isnt much but its all you need here in the void. Please sit and have a cup, its jasmine, and ill answer all i can." Chronos poured himself and his visitor a cup before seating himself on a pillow. Justin followed suite gratefully taking the cup and taking a sip, after all it had been some time since he had anything... or was it? Hell he couldnt tell, the perpetually setting sun between the holes in the sky and ground never seemed to move as far as he could tell.
"So where am I?" He finally asked after a second of silence with nothing but the old man smiling at him patiently sipping his tea.
"This is Known as the Void. It is a place between dimensions, link your universe with the next, and every other. Here there is no time and yet it holds together all of time. One passageway could lead to the roman empire, and the one next to it the Big Crunch with its Time Variance Authority fellows. Across from it is another part of the multiverse where i do enjoy watching the antics of the Guardians and their adventures, and yet next to it a billion playboy drinks his sorrows away in his lab. From here everything can be seen. The void is the Glue that holds everything together. Think of it as singular hallway with each door leading to a different time and place in the multiverse. It is the place between paces, inaccessible to all, and yet you seemed to have stumbled your way into it."
The man's explanation did little to clear up Justin's confusion and his talk of all his viewings of through the holes were way over his head except for the one about the Roman empire. He tried to process it all as best he could. "And who exactly are you?" he asked before another thought struct him, "and how did you know my name?" He suddenly blurted almost spilling his tea.
"Calm down my boy, calm down. As i said call me Chronos, i watch the gates between worlds here in the Void and make sure nothing gets caught in here and skews the happenings in another part of the multiverse and keep an of the gateways from becoming permanently linked together. Its all quite bothersome especially with those like yourself, your friend Addy, Shade and some others constantly barreling through the gaps in the void all willy nilly with your teleporting. As for you i know a good deal about you, i take special interest in those with the ability to slide in and out of their world and space. These portals make great forms of televisions." he smiled again sipping gingerly at his tea, never moving from his pillow.
"Thats kind of creepy Chronos, knowing your watching people." Justin almost joked if it werent actually a tad unsettling.
"Well what would you do with an eternity to spend here?" He asked actually laughing.
"Touche, old man." Justin laughed along, the man's bellow was pretty conatgious. Justin fidgeted a bit in his seat before thinking of what to ask next in his log line of questions. "But i thought Addy transported through some demon place for her portals, and shade uses shadows or something?"
"Ah yes, those two are fascinating. Much like you Addy temporally makes a link from one portal to the next and flashes through here faster than light to her little realm then jumps though it and connects another in hers back to where she wants to go in your original dimension. Basically this is nothing more than an arrangement of doorways for you all, it constantly shifts to match up how you are using it, think of the Void as the wall between the doorframes in this case. Shade is unique he simply links a shadow from one doorway of your dimension to another in yours, kind of like yours." He tried to draw out the image with his hands as best as his wrinkled appendages could after setting down his cup.
Justin was pondering his next comment when a black orb flashed from one hole through another. He shook his head in surprise making sure he had actually seen it over the old man's shoulder. "What was that! some sort of like black sphere just rocketed from the ceiling to the floor!"
"Oh hoho. Yes yes, just some meddling in time lapses an annoying young man is attempting. Pay it no mind." Chronos waved it away as if it were nothing.
"Um.. ok... well how did you get here?" Justin finally asked, placing his now empty cup down.
"Why the same way you did, i sort of found my way in here long ago. After some complications in my past i decided to return and reside here making sure nothing irreparable happens here which would unravel the dimensions." He tapped his chin thoughtfully as if remembering his past.
"But how did i get here then?" Justin posed intrigued by the mans response. He had to admit thought these pillows were comfortable.
"You never set a destination for your portal, to tired i suppose, so the open doorway had an entrance but no exit. Therefore you were spit out here, in the space between spaces. Your unique my boy, the only one able to open a singular doorway, but its going to take lot of before you can do it on purpose." Chronos explained as if he were an expert. Which Justin supposed he was in all honesty.
Justin was confused again, why was he any different from other teleporters? "Why would i
want to come here though?" He asked placing emphasis of the want.
"You will my boy, one day you will." Was chronos' only response. At this point he began to stare off at the eternal sunset. He was almost lost in his own memories before Justin spoke up again.
"But how do i get back?" Justin posed the last question that was stuck in his mind.
Chronos looked over at the boy and gave a slight nod. "The same way you got here. Its about time you got back Justin." His old hand raised slowly as if to wave at Justin, but instead he curled it up and gave a slight punch, a shimmering portal opening up behind Justin. "Some advice before you go, lay off the liquor in the MLA, in a few day take Addy to see the Stars, she will enjoy it, also dont name our warrior Bukakewindmill on THE WORLD mmo, you will get to number one in the PVP rankings before they ban you when the admin's figure out what it means. Ciao."
"What how do you know about our date... and that i was thinking about naming my warrior..." However Justin didn't get to finish his sentence before Chronos knocking him off balance with a quick poke from his staff as if he didn't wish to touch him.
(more to come)
X-men RP
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