That which is lost (far east of archades) [open!]

[Genesis, Demiurge]

The gift of wings was certainly a lonely freedom indeed.

Genesis knew this better then almost anyone, having had this "gift" (or perhaps a curse) as long as he could remember. Even if one could fly, the sky was quite a lonely place that, while good for reflection and solitude, provided nothing in the way of company. Every single time the red-clad former SOLDIER soared high amongst the clouds, feeling the rush and force of the cold high-sky winds against his body as gazed down upon the land below. While genesis did not usually use airship or common land travel due to his desire to remain anonymous and "off the map", there was something to be said for those methods of transportation and others like it: they were considerably less solitary. As a result of his ability, travel was not as much a matter of convenience but a matter of how willing the ex-soldier was to expose himself to the world at large. As a result, his own flight almost always was the optimal solution.

the lone, black-winged man had his somewhat off-topic moment ended when his sharp eyes spotted his real objective far below him among the trees and coast far to the east of archades below: A large series of ruins that dotted the landscape. That was the target of Genesis time and attention, and he knew it well:

The "Mirage Ruins".

The Mirage Ruins (which was only one of their many names) had been somewhat of an enigma that Genesis had been following closely since the merge. According to reports from the various world governments as well as his own investigative endeavors, the mirage ruins were an anomaly that seemed to appear and vanish at seemingly random locations and times around the world. Every time they "shifted" or "vanished" they would completely change in layout and appearance on the outside. As few individuals had been on the inside, however, little was known about what the ruins were like on the inside. Fortunately, Genesis was one of the few who had managed to enter almost every "instance" of the mirage ruins, and he knew for a fact that the insides were even more fascinating (and sometimes terrifying) then the outside.

The inside of the mirage ruins, from Genesis experience, was as different and as random as the outside. The rooms were always different in almost every possible way, filled with an enormous array of items including riches, traps, weapons, resources (many of which genesis did not recognize), murals and ancient writings, monsters, technology (some seeming current, others ancient, either advanced or simple) pits...It was seemingly endless. Genesis had even entered rooms that appeared to simply be the empty interior of someones home or an illusion of some place in the outside world. It was seemingly an adventures paradise or nightmare, all depending on your luck. Genesis, however, did not enter the ruins for treasure or power, but for a very different and personal reason:

Answers.

He was not sure of it, but Genesis believed that powerful forces were at work within these ruins. Powerful forces beyond what anyone understood. With that in mind, the ex-soldier believed that perhaps the being he sought to encounter was in here as well. Perhaps he could find the "goddess" and the answers from her within.

As genesis scoped out the land far below, even through the trees he saw little activity: this was good. It meant that the would-be explorers, adventurers and plunderers had not yet arrived. Nor had the archadian government sent their troops to try and secure the ruins for themselves and prevent the would be explorers, adventurers and plunderers from taking the massive ruins possible treasures for themselves.

This meant that Genesis could likely get away with being a little less discrete then normal, at least for the moment. Spotting what Genesis assumed was the large, primary structure/entryway to the ruins far below, genesis came to a stop high in the clouds above. unsummoning his wing, Genesis felt the wind rush by him as he turned to a dive and began his descent down to the world below. As he descended, his mind pondered an ever-familiar (and perhaps fitting) verse of the play that once consumed him: Loveless.

Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest.

--------------------------------------

Genesis descent to the world below was as exhilerating as it had always been for the former member of SOLDIER. the cool air rushing past his face and whistling by his ears, the clouds speeding past him as he fell back to the land below, the ornate details of the world below that became even more clear to his sharp eyes...It was a thing of beauty, and perhaps always counted among the moments that Genesis took to remembering fondly.

As the ground grew closer and closer, Genesis felt a smile spread across his face: this was always another fun part for him, which was the landing. His brow furrowed in determination as what many men would call certain death grew closer and closer. Genesis just took to calling it "the ground" and found little to no fear of landing, even at these speeds. As the ground suddenly became uncomfortably close even for him, however, Genesis quickly snapped into action.

The red-clad man's body twisted and spun to place him from a diving position so that his feet would hit the ground and, with a surprisingly light thud, Rhapsodos landed into a kneeling position on the soft earth. His landing was harder then it sounded, as the dirt had compacted where his general landing had been, leaving a slight circular impression in the ground a few feet where he had landed. Not an uncommon thing to have happen on such a landing in Genesis experience.

Rather cautiously, Genesis took a quick survey of the area around him. It appeared to him that his initial impression of the area had been correct: this was the main entryway to the ruins, a large "temple" like structure stood before him facing the east, and the immediate area was littered with many ruins ranging from tiny to the size of small homes that did not interest him. What was important to him, hwoever, was that he had not seen anyone in the clearing during his descent. The Red-clad man seemed to have been lucky and there did not appear to be anyone in the immediate visible area. Genesis let out a sigh of relief at that: usually people didn't survive drops like the one he had just performed, and trying to explain it to them in a way that was not an outright lie or appropriately vague enough not to divulge his identity had proven difficult in the past. Worse still if the person was superstitious, afraid or simply looking for a fight and left Genesis no choice but to defend himself. The world even before the merge had been a dangerous place, and afterward perhaps even more so.

Genesis stepped forward to the gigantic main "temple" before him, and began to take a closer look at it. The temple looked rather plain and made of stone, with an exceptionally large ornate-looking door of an unknown heavy-looking material that towered before him, roughly three-people standing on each other's shoulders in height (if Genesis had to wager, it was about 20 or so feet in height) and roughly twelve or people wide (roughly 15 or so feet in width). The symbols on the door were strange and foreign and incomprehensible to Genesis, the soldier hypothesizing that they were of an ancient language few understood. strangely, the door as a whole was quite familiar to him. The ex-SOLDIER believed he had seen the same (or more likely similar) door in the past upon mirage ruins. Genesis started a slow walk to the door to confirm his suspicion, his senses keen for any kind of possible ambush as a force of habit to the battle-hardened warrior.

Little did Rhapsodos realize his journey into the mysterious mirage ruins would not be a solitary one on this day. While Solitude did not ask for anything in return, his comrades (and perhaps enemies) just might...

[Al-Cid, Rakesh, Paloma, Mateo]

Well...

This was new...

For what seemed like a while now, he had been traveling through a whole lot of nothing.

Well...

Not nothing in the most literal sense of the word, for he had indeed been traveling across a whole lot of dirt and rocks and even more dirt. It had been far too long since he’d eaten a real meal, and it was a miracle at best that he was still alive. The only way by which he’d been able to find sustenance was by eating bits and pieces off the monsters he’d slain. He was fairly sure his mom would be quite put out if she saw the beasties from which he’d made his meals. Some were right unpalatable, and Mateo would do well if he never had to eat them gain--such as the one-eyed bat creatures. Others... they weren’t so dreadful. The taste of the gelatin monsters almost reminded him of the flan deserts his abuelita would bake when he visited. Oh how he missed that!

And how he missed food and a good cup of clean water.

Mateo did not know how many days it had been since he had last had any.

It was in this half starved state that he had wandered upon a temple. Cold and tired, he had sought shelter and refuge within its walls.

What he found within was a labyrinth of rooms that seemed to hold no consistency from one to the next. Some rooms possessed coiffures of jewels and gold. One looked much like an armory, although the weaponry Mateo found within was unlike any he’d ever seen before. There was a library filled with old musty books that itched at Mateo’s noise and made him sneeze. He’s spent a little time in there, looking through the books and trying to see if he could find any information about the library’s location. Unfortunately, many of the books were written in a language he could not read, and the lighting was so dim that Mateo was unsure if he would be able to read them even if they were written in Rozarrian or Archadian tongue.

He might have stayed longer, but Mateo was feeling very ill and lightheaded. He decided to continue on searching through the temple in hopes of finding food. Although he did soon find a few rooms that contained monsters, none within looked particularly appetizing. Mateo had slowly closed the door to those rooms, and continued onward with his search. He’d come back to it if there was no food was to be found. But surely, there had to be food nearby, right? He had noticed footprints amongst the thin layer of dust collecting along the floor. Someone had been through recently? Someone with shoes... a person... And were persons went, there was usually food to be found. At least, Mateo hoped so.

So through the temple he wandered.

Eventually, he came across what looked to be an altar room. It was empty, save for a slab table at its center. And upon that table sat a feast unlike any Mateo had ever seen! Spread upon it was an assortment of meats and fruits and bread and it all smelled so wonderful. Mateo practically drifted over, ready to stuff his watery mouth with as much as he could. As soon as he got bear, he grabbed a handful of bread in one hand, and a large chunk of beef in the other. He was about to thoroughly this good fortune, when he heard a growl from behind.

It was a kind of feral growl that told him, “hands off”--much like a hungry dog would if you tried to take away his bone.

Turning slowly, Mateo’s eyes widened as he saw an angry behemoth looming behind him. The beat roared and snapped its fangs, not at all pleased to find that a little boy had attempted to steal its food. With another growl, the behemoth charged toward Mateo.

Not one to become dinner, himself, Mateo took off running. Holding onto what food he did managed to grab, Mateo shoved the bread down his pocket (for later), and the meat into his mouth as he sprinted toward the behemoth. With a yell, dove for the floor and slid between the beast’s legs. Once on the other side, he righted himself and took off through the door at the beath’s back. The beast roared and turned to give chase.

Mateo sprinted through hall after all as fast as his feet could manage; yet, he could not escape the behemoth. It was nipping at his heels at each turn.

There was a doorway at the end of the hall he’d just turned. Hoping to lose the beat, Mateo made a mad dash through it... Only to a sudden halt with his arms flailing in wide circles. Ahead of him was a room entirely devoid of a floor. In its place as a rickety wooden bridge that looked about to crumple. Across the bridge, and the bottomless pit beneath it, was a lone door.

There was a roar from behind, and Mateo jumped. The behemoth was right behind him, and there was no turning back. Swallowing his heart, which had just jumped into his throat, Mateo darted across the bridge. He didn’t dare look back until he made it halfway, when the bridge gave a might shake. Mateo dribbed the rope with white knuckles, and turned to see the Behemoth charging across a bridge that was narrow for its massive body. The bridge could not bare beast’s weight, and snapped. Mateo screamed as both he and the monster went plummeting into the darkness. His stomach joined his heart, and Mateo thought for sure that he was going to die.

But then everything froze.

A rattling sound filled the air as tendrils of blue and purple light filled the darkness.

“Huh?” Mateo blinked in confusion, wondering what was going on. Looking over at the behemoth, he saw that the beast looked equally befuddled.

A white-robed figure stepped forward from Mateo’s periphery--one that had not been there mere moments before. The figure slowly ambled forward across the nothingness, and as it did so, rings of light ripped out from underneath each footstep as though the figure was walking across water.

Float?

The figure moved past Mateo and toward the behemoth. Coming to a stop upon reaching the beast, the figure raised a bony hand to rest upon the beast’s mighty maw. The whips of blue and purple light shifted around the beast, constricting like a snake. The rattling grew louder light became brighter as the beast gave a roar. Then, suddenly, the beast seemed to implode upon itself with a crackling of bones until nothing was left but a glowing crystal.

Mateo watched with rapt horror, for he could not look away.

Before him, the figure extended its bony hand and plucked the crystal from the air. It then cradled the crystal in both hands, before raising those hands to its face. Mateo heard the distinct sound of crunching and swallowing as the figure apparently ate the glowing rock.

It was then that the figure finally turned to to face Mateo. As it did so, it lifted its bony hands to pull back the good. At this point, Mateo was quite sure he was going to be face to face with a skill. Instead, he was surprise to see a ghostly version own face looking back at him.

It was a mirror image of himself...only not. This other face was more gaunt than his own, and it seemed older somehow. The skin was also paler, and the hair and ears were stark white to Mateo’s own ashen brown. The eyes were the oddest of all--they seemed to glow in the darkness, as though lit by magicite.

A wide smile stretched across the doppelganger's gaunt face, bearing his teeth, “Hey, there, dummy.”

“W-what?” Mateo blinked at the unexpected words and voice. When doppelganger had spoken, it was with a creepy reverberating tone that seemed to belong to both that of a child and an old man.

Then, the doppelganger shifted his weight from left foot to right, and stepped forward to stand before Mateo. His body seemed to briefly flicker in-and-out of existence, from one movement to the next--as though he were some sort of visual echo. The doppelganger bowed his head to bring his lever to Mateo’s, and at this closer distance, Mateo realized the doppelganger was somewhat see-through.

"W-who are you?" Mato gasped in confusion, "And why do you look like me?

"I am the alpha and omega, silly child; and it is not I who looks like you, but you who looks like me."

"Huh? That makes no sense..."

The doppelganger's eyes then narrowed and he looked at Mateo as though he were looking at a plate of broccoli. “What a waste you are, now that I see you up close... All this time and you are still lost inside the looking glass. Really? I would think you’d find something better to do than hopping about like some scared little rabbit. But you are just a mama's boy, aren't ya? A lost little boy who can’t do anything to help himself. Not without his mommy showing up to set things to right.”

“H-hey!” Mateo yelled indignantly and wiggled against the magic that had him suspended in the darkness, “I’m not a mama's boy! And you don’t know nothin!”

“Don't I?” A doppelganger smirked, “I should think I know plenty about you. At last, enough to know you’re doing it wrong.”

“W-what?”

The doppelganger tsked before he set his hands akimbo and raised his nose to the air, “If it’s a really way home that you wish to find, wouldn’t it be a better use of time to look for Magic Pots?”

“Huh?” Mateo’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“Magics Pots are perhaps your only hope... though one dashed, now, I should think,” the doppelganger sighed as he turned away. Raising both hands in the air as he shrugged, “Whatever help they may well have been, it’s too late. All the Magic Pots have fallen through the cracks, and are now lost somewhere in the darkness.”

The doppelganger then half turned, to shoot a glowing glare toward Mateo, “Twould seem some dummy went and broke the universe. Really, now, didn’t your mama teach you not to touch things that aren't yours? You just had to go and touch that glowing rock; and now, try as they might, all the King’s chocobos and all the King's men cannot to put things back together again.”

“Wait...” Mateo frowned as the doubled granger's words sparked a memory, “I’ve heard this before... But it wasn’t the universe that they couldn’t put together. It was an egg-man...”

“An egg-man?” The doppelganger looked at Mateo as though he’d grown another head, and Mateo was about ready to check if that was the case, before the other added, “Why would the King care about something as stupid as that? The universe is much more important.”

“Oh... okay... But why need Magic Pots?” Mateo asked slowly.

“Obviously,” the doppelganger drawled out, “The maps were in those Magic Pots. How can they put the universe back together without knowing where things go?”

“I guess... That makes sense.”

The doppelganger nodded, then reached into his clothing and pulled out a slip of paper. He stepped up to Mateo and held it out.

Mateo, not sure what else to do, took the paper, and found it to be covered in a scribbling of numbers and letters that made little sense. “Uh... What’s this?”

“An invoice.” The doppelganger sighed as if he was talking to a nitwit, “Since you broke it, you bought it.”

Mateo groaned. Figures. This was just his luck. He broke the universe, and now the money collectors were after him. How exactly the doppelganger got into the business of collections, though, Mateo did not know. Regardless, Mateo rummaged through his pockets and took out a handful of coins, “Is this enough?”

The doppelganger laughed, “Really, gil? This is a broken universe for which you must pay... You will need to give me something far better than a handful coin.”

Mato frowned, not sure what could be better than coins, “What do I pay with, then?”

“With ink and paper, of course. The cartographers need it to draw new maps.”

Mateo blinked when he heard the odd payment, and then checked his pockets. “I don’t have any ink and paper,” he muttered when he found none.

“You don’t? Well then, I have no choice, but to put you in prison.” The doppelganger seemed to take on the appearance of a headhunter as it picked up a pair of shackles and stepped toward Mateo.

“Wait!” Mateo backed up a few steps to keep out of the doppelganger’s reach, “I can’t go to prison! I have to find my mom!”

“Your mom?” The doppelganger paused, and lowered the chains. He took on a thoughtful look as he then tapped a bony finger against his chin, “Well, I suppose that changes things, now does it? Can’t keep her waiting, now can you, hm? She might become quite cross if you are out too late past bedtime.”

“H-h-h-hey!” Mateo sputtered as he wiggled against the spell’s restraint, “I told you I’m not a mama's boy!”

The doppelganger tilted his head, “Then prove it.”

Mateo stilled at those words, “How?”

The doppelganger grinned, “Take responsibility for your actions. Since the maps were lost by your stupidness, it is only fair that you be the one to retrieve them. Bring me the maps, and you won’t have to go to prison.”

“Alright,” Mateo nodded, agreeing to the terms because he did not want to go to prison. “I’ll do it. I’ll bring the maps back... But, how do I find them if if the Magic Pots were all lost in the darkness?”

The doppelganger sighed and shook his head, “That is something you need to figure out on your own.“

“What? No fair!” Mateo frowned and clenched his fists, “You want that I find the maps, but you aren't even going to tell me how?”

“The world is hardly fair.” At Mateo’s glare, the doppelganger raised his bony hands, “As you ought to know, ‘tis how quests work. Has your mama not read you enough Fairy Tales to know these things?”

“What do Fairy Tales have to do with this?!”

“Everything, of course. But...” The doppelganger then sighed, not giving Mateo an answer as he once again tapped his finger thoughtfully against his chin, “Since you’re a bit too stupid to sort it out all for yourself, I’ve given you a clue... If only to make you to stop standing there whilst gaping at me like some stupid fish.”

“A clue? What clue?”

Rather than answering, the doppelganger trailed off as he stepped forward, grabbed the boy’s shoulder, and grinned toothily.

“Kid...”

“Huh?”

"Kid are you alright?"

Mateo groaned as he awakened. His head hurt and his mouth tasted like cotton. Blinking a few times, it took him a moment to realize that he must have fallen asleep. He was still in the library, surrounded by a pile of fallen books. When did he fall asleep? How long had he been sleeping?

It was then that Mateo finally awakened enough to notice that he was not along. There was another in the library with him.

A hume with hair the color of ripe apples...


---
((Here Genesis! Have a half-starved and delerous little boy!))