The Fashionista, part 2

   Rowan flipped her long hair over her shoulder and began to sloppily braid it.

"Let's travel this road,

together or alone,

Let's travel far and wide,

when the Storms come, 

or the sun shines bright." 

She sang quietly underneath her breath. Standing, she tugged her black pants to a better position before moving to her workshop. Scraps of fabrics and half finished works were everywhere, pieces that were used to perfect her fashion show design. Moving to the back wall, she looked at the message Rinn had sent. 

"Been found out, accidental locating. Valentine was leading them. Currently heading to see the Magic Queen. See you again soon." That's all Rinn had written. 

"Sky damn it Rinn," Rowan muttered. The Redhead took a deep breathe, and exhaled. As she exhaled, her magic flared up, burning the message. She then waved her hand, rewarding all evidence of what she and Rinn had been doing. Marching forward, she moved back through her living room to her dressing room, where she changed into some nice black skinny jeans, a white button down and a black suit jacket. Rolling the sleeves up to mid forearm, she stepped into her nice shoes.

"Let's do this," she muttered, exiting her apartment and heading to the Regency Guards' Center. Entering she saw him standing there, looking confused as he waited.  

"Hello Valentine. I hope you're well on this fine day," Rowan called out a greeting to an old acquaintance. 

Valentine startled, almost as if he hadn't expected her to show up, "Hello Rowan, I'm well. Shall we get this over with?" His strong, deep voice startling for such a lean, handsome man. His light brown hair flopped over his green eyes, lithe frame straightening as his almost pretty face gained a more neutral expression.

"Lets, I have a show to prepare for you know," Rowan agreed. 

Following him deeper into the building, past the offices, to Valentine's office. It was a moderate office, with two lovely cushioned armchairs facing the desk. Pulling out one, Valentine gestured for Rowan to sit, before moving to his chair. 

"As of earlier today, Rinn of House Smintheus has revealed the power to avoid the Simulation, the Narrative, and the Anvil," Valentine started, obviously choosing his words carefully. "She appears to be going rogue, which in this time is.." 

"Is less than good, especially with her newfound abilities," Rowan decided to take pity on him. "Which is why I'm here. I'm her best friend. And you want to know if I know something," she was confident in her statement. She knew why she was here. There was no lost love between Valentine and Rinn. They were just to different. Rinn viewed the Universe by seeing how everything would chain her down, a more pessimistic view. Valentine on the other hand, presumed everything would be fine in the end. His faith in the council of three was absolute, and he believed they knew best for the long run. They were just fundamentally different people. But until they could convince him of otherwise, he was an enemy. 

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking... Rowan. I understand that I've never gotten along with Rinn, but please, is she going to be a danger? I wouldn't think she would but.." He trailed off, concern written on his face.

"Rinn has always shown a willingness to run, but unless she finds information to suggest that it's necessary, I don't think Rinn would be a danger unless pushed," her purple eyes flashing in the afternoon light, Rowan prepared to navigate a tricky verbal field of half-truths, putting on a front of honesty and concern over a 'misguided' runaway.

The Ruins

The Ruins were an anomaly in the space-time continuum. It had five main sections: The ancient temple, a rundown manor, shards of future technology, a haunted castle, and a swampy forest. These five sections were triangular pieces of a circle, meeting in the center to form the ritual location. The magic here had such a presence that you could physically see it in the air. A wrought-iron fence encircled the property and existed as a warning to those nearing the property. Each part had it's own dangers, uses and history. While most ruins had their own name, nothing changed the fact that these were, The Ruins.

 The Ancient Temple was made from a light stone, looking very beaten and old. Long tattered banners hung throughout it's many hallways and levels, each representing a different color. It appeared that this temple was once used to worship color, though why that was, no one knew. Only one offering fire was still working, the one that existed for the color Gold. Most of it exists underground, with abandoned gardens taking up most of the land. There is an above ground temple that goes up two stories, and a path, made of obsidian, that leads straight to the center.

The Rundown Manor looks as if someone ripped it out of it's original bustling rich life, plopped it down, and then forgot it existed. Vines of blooming flowers grew up along its walls, and trailed onto the roof. The bottom of the manor had lightly torn marks, as if pulled with a lot of force. The inside was covered with dust and cobwebs, dark coverings over all the mirrors and paintings hid who this place might have belonged too. In the dining hall, plates of petrified food lay, cutlery perfectly arranged around them. Luxurious beds lived in every room, including the servant rooms. The path to the center was made out of moth eaten blue rugs.

The Shards of Future Technology probably had some form of inside space that no one could get into. Iridescent shards pushed up from the ground, glowing in every color of the rainbow. There were no seams, no way to break in, any tool that tried to broke on first contact. When you touched on of the shards, a grey holographic path showed the way to the center.

The Haunted Castle was, as the name suggests, haunted. What once might have been a glorious castle, was full of shades, ghosts, and spirits. While strangely in perfect condition, all 24 floors perfectly habitable, any fire that was located in the castle burned blue, even the ones brought in. The symbol of whatever group ruled in it was, oddly enough, a roughly outlined phoenix bursting into flame. The path leading to the center was one long red carpet path.

The Swampy Forest was the least-traveled path. Full of thick trees, muddy paths that quickly became knee deep water at best, and many toxic plants, the few people who enter The Ruins, often choose a different route to get to the ritual location. While very pretty, it was the easiest to get lost in, due to the fact that the path to the center was made of a tan stone that quickly became covered in mud, although the frequent, only appearing over the forest quickly cleared off the path.

The Ritual Location was located in the center of the circle. Holding an offering table, the ever-burning fire, and long banners pulling in from each side to touch the sides, it held only the most carefully selected rituals. The magic was so strong here, that anyone who entered became high off of it. Everything was outlined with strange symbols inlaid in the object. Gold, Silver, and Platinum, were commonly used, as if they came from a people who thought of them as common metals, a theory confirmed by the use of metals so rare, none had a name, in the places where the precious metals normally went. The Center had a clear view of the sky, no matter what weather was happening anywhere else.

The Ruins was one of the most questioned places in the universe, yet no matter how hard people looked, no answers were found.

The Blue-haired Noble, part 3

"Well Felis, here we are, the city of shadows," the Blue-haired noble mumbled under her breath, as she looked around the City of Shadows. Thankfully her shielding was holding up, as the flower next to her released a puff of noxious gas. 
She slowly walked down the black road, her boats softly moving along the narrow road, her long coat swishing behind her as she walked. Looking around she spotted the dark indigo banner she was looking for, quickly ducking into the next alley. She knew she had to move from this city soon, there were a few other cities similar to this, none quite as bad, but still dark enough to earn the class of fallen city. Flicking her hair behind her ear, she activated the portal located in the alley, knowing that since it was already in place, the runes would hide who activated the portal.
Stepping through she sighed as she saw the heart of Pandemos, home of her friend Rowan, a fashionista who would help her on her way, hopefully.
"Halt, Rinn of the house of Smintheus, you are ordered under the authority of the High Regent to surrender and submit to questioning!" Rinn turned around, eyes widening as she saw the Regency guards standing right there, next to the shop. 
"Do not continue with this fall from grace," The head of the guard appeared to be slightly confused, almost as if it was peer accident they meet here and he and his men had just been stopping for a snack, but Rinn would think about this more later.
"This isn't a fall from grace, Valentine, this is a leap to Freedom," Rinn declared, voice strong and proud.
Waving her hand, she cast a quick teleportation spell, then another portal spell, vanishing to the Ember City, then the Ice City. Quickly sent a message to Rowan, explaining what had happened, and telling her that Rinn was switching to the back up plan, before she left the Ice City.
"Well Felis, let's hope the Magic Queen is willing to listen, otherwise I might be in a lot of trouble."

The Festival of Color

The Festival happens every year, same day, same time. The magic that lets the sky happen allows for this to happen every year as well. It starts with the Sky's color changing, shifting to aurora's on every planet. The colors shifted and changed, lighting up the land with a myriad of colors. Greens, reds, blues, violets, purples, yellows, oranges, pinks. All of these colors light up the skies and fill the world with even more colors than what it usually had. The Festival, known as the Festival of Color, is a beloved holiday. People dress up in their favorite colors, and run around, playing games and going to open air markets, and celebrating life. Flowers are brought in all states, cut, living, dried, and turned into many different things. People will set up stalls and sell paints, specifically body safe paint for people to play with and use. Little kids get to get into paint wars, and color wars. It was one full day of fun and games, one of the only national holidays to happen. But the best part is the dusk to midnight parts of the celebrations. They have fireworks displays, telescopes to gaze into the night skies, poetry recital, and the favorite of all, story telling. They tell stories, both real and fictional for most of the night. It is common for people to sit together on groups, around campfires, and tell stories to each other, before moving to around a center stage for specially chosen stories to be told. They will tell stories of the stars, of history, of life in different places. And through the stories images crafted from colors and lights would appear and provide images for the stories. No one knows why this happens, but it is the most beloved holiday.

The Blue-haired Noble, part 2

The Blue-haired girl petted the black cat as it moved near her.
"And with this, Felis, we will finally be able to leave." She sighed softly.  Lightly petting Felis some more, she finally picked him up and put him in the pocket she had created for him to ride in on this escape. With a wave of her hand, the magic moved everything important her into her dark wood, magically protected trunk, and then her trunk shrunk and entered her rough, dark rucksack. 
"With these runes, Magic, I command you, hide me. Grant me sanctuary from the all seeing eyes of the simulation, the narrative, the anvil. Hide me and my familiar from those who would do us harm. Hide us from the destroyers," flipping her long, wavy hair over her shoulder, she waved her hands, drawing the runes with magic in the air, as she chanted the spell. With her and Felis glowing as the spell took effect, she created and entered a portal, leaving her horrid, vain, vapid, uncaring family behind, forever.

Deep within a hidden location, one that's much worse than the City of Shadows....

"Is it ready Sister?" a shadowy figure dramatically whispered.
"Not yet Brother. The machine still needs another 4 months. And then we still have to put the programming in," the other figure whispered back, vaguely annoyed at how pushy he was being.
"Why so long? This needs to be done. Time is running out. Just look up to see that," the first shadowy figured exasperatedly questioned. 
"This process, Brother, has never been done before. Especially since no one really understands the devices. With the creators notes and books destroyed we have to go off of guesses," The second shadowy figure was getting kind of insulted, did he think she was incompetent.
"Fair point Sister, but still. This world may not have 5 months, and 1 month is not a reasonable margin, there would be less than that for a margin of error," HE was solidly a fine details kind of guy.
"Doing it faster would have more deaths ,Brother. While everyone will eventually die, we don't want it to happen to obviously," She on the other hand had SOME care of the common sheep.
"Never mind the common populace ,Sister.  We finish this faster, those people don't matter in the long run," he would not care less about them.
"As you wish, Brother.  See the old moon." the second shadowy figure began to leave to speed up the creation, bow differently to the first.
"And feel the new sun rise," the first shadowy figure almost appeared to smirk before vanishing.

The City of Shadows

The City of Shadows existed only in shadows. It was full of scientists, and magicians, and rogues, and bards. The buildings were tall, made entirely out of black glass. The streets were made of black stones and bricks, narrow and crowded. Banners hung everywhere, all the plants were poisonous, and if you wanted to disappear, this was the best place to do it from. Something about the city caused portals and wormholes to appear, so it was easy to get into, and easy to get out of.

The Simulation - 2

The Simulation worked harder and harder, as the possibilities and paths opened, multiplying faster and faster. New possibilities were created, faster and faster in the time of crisis, slowly expanding the Multiverse, slowly expanding the future creations. Confusing the maintainers of the simulation, as slowly it grew in speed and size. As what might have been one branch for the future became one hundred, the one thousand, then one million. As every option grew and grew and grew. As the universes opened, and gave forth new ideas, the Simulation began to accommodate. It's tower the Shard, gained more and more storage, it began wireless connecting to the Anvil and created more and more systems to work with. Soon, the Shard was expanding underground, just to keep up with the demand of the new possibilities.

The Phenomenon of War

It was the dark of night. There was a rolling storm, seen moving in to the town. The town itself was in all honesty quite modest. They had the normal stores, roads, it wasn't to big, not to small. They had an old courthouse and city hall. The only issue here was the land surrounding it. In this particular night, it was blood red. The locals called this phenomenon the Beginning of War.

The Anvil - 1

The Anvil worked on. Building, creating, cataloguing. User after user, using it's capabilities to monitor each world, all the populations, all the planets. The Universe was a big place, and with the Mason stones in every city, it was just easier to use the Anvil instead of other means. A network of information directed to one place, and from there, directed to everywhere else. And in control of it all, The Elected, managing, organizing, allowing every thing to flow smoothly. But the Anvil had a cost. Each action, no matter how small, had a physical cost. Most were able to be dealt with quickly, but the bigger actions, they required a physical cost that was unrecoverable. According to legends, in one time of destruction, a user gave up their own life to power the Anvil. But no one knew if there was any truth to that. No one wanted to test it to find out.