::The Tower of Babel:: [Gate and Lobby]

[Arena Emperor]

~::The Tower of Babel - Tower of the Black Messiah::~

Though it is not present by day, during the Dark Hour it is impossible to miss the monolith rising through the sky itself not far from the location of the Junes Building where the ruins of Tartarus still linger during that hidden time of night. It is a tower with golden arches and a singular rise, dark walls pitch black, and a gate that is always open to those who wish to test themselves inside of this den of shadows. Demons often come to dwell on the lower levels here, even quarreling on occasion with the shadows, making this tower into a den of evil of all sorts, a constant struggle to endure the hardships of both battle and the rigors of the Dark Hour itself. It reaches higher than any sensor can possibly fathom, and though it is the haven of the Black Messiahs, even they have no explored the entirety of the tower to this day. Still, they call it home, and somewhere on the upper levels their leader, The Shadow of Soji Seta, reigns and continues his expedition higher into the upper levels in search of the heavens and the gods the Tower was meant to reach.

It is a place where summoners, persona-users, devils, and all supernatural sorts of beings can go and train if they are able to endure the Dark Hour. However, there are secrets on the upper levels which cannot be accessed by just anyone. Only with the proper [Key] can you access the highest levels of the Tower of Babel, but reaching those levels anyway seems an impossibility. Though the floors do not shift, the opposition is much more persistent and diverse.

...

Here is the Tower of the Black Messiah. Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

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By entering here, players may access and test themselves against shadows and demons of various types and increasing difficulty all the way up to, but not including [Floor 333 - The Champion's Walk]. To enter that level is not yet possible for any player who is not a Member of the Black Messiahs. Other known special floors include [Floor 666 - The Heretic's Throne], [Floor 888 - the Serpent of Lore], and [Floor ??? - The Shadow Forge].

You may travel from Floor-to-Floor via staircases and teleportation lifts which you may activate every 20 floors.

NOTE: It may occur on certain nights that characters are lost within Babel and can be found on different floors of the Tower. While most floors on the Tower will look similar, in these instances the level will take on the appearance of the trapped soul's Shadow World. These characters must be rescued within a certain time period, otherwise they will be consumed by the shadows...

 

[Necromonium]

W.Y.N.N.
W.Y.N.N. followed the mysterious shadow-like beings towards the tower, standing near the front of the gate quietly.
Something....something Dark is in there.. she thought to herself, her fingers starting to retract, as if bringing herself to the ready. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, or how she recognized it.....But she knew one thing.
"This..is...Dangerous." she called quietly, one hand reaching into her pocket. She didn't want to have to fight....She didn't want to endanger herself...She wanted to go home...
But, something had been calling to them...And she had to hear what they were saying. Was this the trial the Angel spoke of? Would there be a choice? A temptation?

Quote:

WYNN has arrived.

 

[Necromonium]

『Garry Iblis 』
App User/Junes Employee

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A few minutes (And a very quick scolding) later, Garry had managed to catch up with Colm, Mary standing by his side. As with Colm, the first thing he noticed was...
"Wow....some tower." Garry called, holding Mary's hand as the green haired, suave dressed individual went to protect some girl.
"Colm! Over here!" Garry called, signalling the two to move over to him. He didn't like the looks of this....But if he had to protect Mary, he would use his App. He pulled out the small candy dispenser, and pressed on it's head, popping out a candy.
This should help... he thought as he plopped the candy in his mouth, chewing up the candy. He really could do with a smoke....But he was trying to quit...So the Chalky, yet tasty candy would have to do. His hand moved to push down again, handing one of them to Mary, and then looking to the others, pressing again.
"Candy?" he offered to the green haired girl, before pausing. "Wait, I don't mean for that to sound weird or creepy or anything....It's just...stuff, and things...and this always calms me down and....Ugh..."
Someone should just stick a sign on my forehead. 'Garry Iblis: Master of Awkward conversation.'

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

 

[Necromonium]

W.Y.N.N.
WYNN turned as another figure started towards her, referring to her as 'Kid' and informing her of how dangerous the area was. Her fingers had twitched, almost unloading a round into Colm, but managing to keep herself from shooting the human.
"I Will Be Fine." she called blankly, a Cell phone being pulled out of her pocket. This wasn't her first time dealing with dangerous things...And it certainly wouldn't be the last, she could tell.
The purple haired figure that approached alongside a small blonde made her tilt her head, in confusion.
"I.....believe I have seen you before.." she commented, thinking of Junes. Didn't...he work there or something? She missed the latter half of his words, stammering something about being weird or such, watching him hold out a small candy. Should she..?
"My brother told me never to accept candy from strangers." she called quietly, analyzing it. It...seemed safe. Nothing appeared to be wrong with it, and if she really wanted to, she could probably take it....
A hand quietly was moving out to it, reaching for it. She hadn't had that particular kind of candy before..

 

[Rednal]

???

A figure flickered in and out of sight as it slowly walked forward, seeming to drift through obstacles as it made its way towards the doors of the tower. "Life... voices..." the figure whispered, its voice as dry and scratchy as a wool outfit in the desert. "Be heard... come... follow..." the figure floated through the doors and seemed to vanish, though it was hard to say what had truly happened to the strange figure...  

[Rummy J]

Friedrich Stahl

Fred was clutching onto a suitcase, the only piece of his luggage he'd manage to hold on to as the panic and confusion drove himself and his friend from the shop fronts. He was still lost in bewilderment, looking around in the dark horrors that swallowed up what he once knew was Inaba. Had it always been like this? Was it like this when he was here last time? What was going on? And where was he going? Ozzie had dragged him this far ahead, but it was he who stood ahead now, cautiously moving and guarding his deer friend from any danger that might come his way.

He looked down at the suitcase. Was this the one with his fencing rapier? Would it be enough? The things that crept from nowhere still boggled his mind. And the sky? The coffins? These things simply don't happen. Nervously, he tightened his grip on his bag, looking back to Ozzie. "It's okay," he reassured. "We'll find out what's happening here. Just stay close to me. We'll make it out of this."

Fred gulped down hard. He tried his best to believe the words he just said. It was hard. He wanted to scream, run, run far from whatever Hell they seem to have stumbled upon. As he approached, he could see Colm and Garry. Good, the thought. They look okay. Safety in numbers. His attention turned to Garry. "What kind of town is this?!" Fred asked, trying to hold back the confused anger in his voice. He needed answers. Maybe knowing, he'd be able to do something. His fear was starting to peak through his veil of steady calm, the trembling uneasiness in his stomach spreading. Deep breaths, reduce shaking. Need to stay calm, can't have everyone go in to a panic, he commanded inwardly. Wait, who is that with them?

Fred now gave the group a worried look. Two small girls had joined the group of men. This would be dangerous. It would be easier to leave them behind. Fred cringed at himself for thinking the very thought. His eyes darted around, keeping an eye on the shadowy figures. He expected that they would have made a move by now. The fact that they hadn't attacked only made him more wary of them. His free hand shot out to his friend, grabbing onto the green vest. "Stay close," he repeated himself.  

[Eretequis]

Nylocke! Dragon of Amazing Conquest!

The tower stretched for all eternity, it would be nigh impossible to scale. But our hero was not afraid, he whooshed in with great speed and approached the gates to this mighty stronghold. Nylocke noticed many a person infront of the gate and what appeared to be another wraith, without fear he charged at the foe. "Foul fiend, you will fall at the hands of Nylocke! Master of Defeating Villainous Currs." He called as he charged.  

[Arena Emperor]

Orochi-Hetero, the Black Messenger
"My ambitions are hardly petty. All I want...is everything."

Slowly the stream had trickled in, one of the wraiths after another stalking on stilted legs and dragging themselves with the weakened, painful gait of a creature on its last ounces of energy searching for a reprieve from an inevitable, imminent death. Down from the hills through the town itself they had come, through the streets they walked in search of the Voice which called them, and those who had followed them would see unerringly that their path drew them closer and closer towards the tower which extended into the sky far over their heads and the clouds themselves. They all walked because they had heard a Voice calling, luring them into the Tower with its promises of power, the promise of life, the promise of a place where Shadows themselves had a Will apart from the Maternal Being from whence they were born. They could live for a purpose separate from that, they could live apart from the human minds from which they were born, they could...couldn't they? It was that promise that made them march, and what awaited them was assuredly that...if not in any manner that they could have imagined. It was no paradise, no freedom, no iconoclast home where they would all live and be liberated from the painful thoughts and feelings that lingered inside of them from the moment they were born, nor would they be refilled with vital energy to survive on their own. Each shadow wraith that marched to the foot of Babel that night came face-to-face with the embodiment of the so-called Will of Shadows...a being born like them from a conglomerate of shadows that sought a world of its own, to dominate and eliminate the halves which brought them their pain...but this being did not welcome them as brothers or comrades, but as sustenance and pieces of a whole that had been separated for far too long. Like the maternal being that spawned them, it sought to take them back into itself to become more powerful, more complete than before. It was a cruel twist that the shadows who fought to free themselves from their human bodies and show themselves to be the 'real' self would walk unwittingly into a new host, one which unhinged its jaw and swallowed them all whole.

They walked like phantoms towards a figure at the base of the Tower, a man into which each shadow melded upon reaching the ends of its journey, with pasty-white skin and unnatural golden eyes. Upon the arrival of the 'normal' people who had been thrust into the Dark Hour, however, the ritualistic consumption of the wraiths seemed to cease...the last trickle from the countryside settling against him and melding into his body like black, liquid metal being fused into one. There was no recognition in his eyes for a moment, the black armor wrapped upon his chest shimmering beneath the green sky and the golden moon, lips pulled wide into a serpentine smile, but once the last of the fusions had ended his eyes flickered once...and then twice...before they focused at last upon the group that had followed the procession of ghosts to stand before him. And it was only a beat later that a very satisfied smirk creased his mouth, long, violet tongue darting out to wet his lips.

"Well, well...look what little flies have crawled into my web," his voice was low and saccharine, deep and melodious, perpetually amused as he scanned them one-by-one form head-to-toe, "this is quite the surprise, isn't it? Could it be that a new generation of condemned souls are ready to brave the Tower? How interesting...Hm hm hm...and so eager, as well..." It was, perhaps, not the best idea of the wannabe dragon to make a rush towards the gate while such an intimidating gatekeeper stood between he and the structure that reached into the sky. Nylocke's rush at the shadow ended rather abruptly when the jaws of a snack erupted from the midsection of the amalgamation of shadows and clamped about his neck, venomous fangs only barely missing piercing the skin as he lifted him high into the sky above him. "Now now, I know you must be quite excited to enter into a world of wonder such as this one...but before you're allowed to enter, you have to make a choice," his voice seemed vaguely amused again, the white-scaled snake that had seized Nylocke tossed him unceremoniously at the feet of the other newcomers drawn to the Tower, retracting itself back into the stomach of this man in an instant, "What you face inside [Babel] is far beyond your comprehension...it is a Tower that extends into the Heavens, and whomever should reach the top it is said may come to face even the gods themselves. Many will follow that carrot like good little servants and try to reach for the throne themselves...but in the end, would you not agree that to play at being God is the height of hubris? If you think to ascend to such heights, or to conquer the Tower itself, you will inevitably be cast back down to Earth and punished. ...That's why I'd like to offer you a third option...to accept or reject at your leisure, of course." There was something...sly about the way that he cast that last bit into his words, and his thin smile nearly betrayed whatever thoughts were hiding behind those dangerous eyes of his.

"Eschew the climb and join with me instead. There is no need to seek the heavens, for good or ill...instead, we can become the Messengers that bring order to this chaotic world. Help me learn of this world and all of its secrets, all of its subtleties and powers, and harness them for my own...and together we will stand above all men on Earth...it is a much more reasonable goal than heaven, don't you think? ...And in return, I will give you power beyond your wildest imagining...a purpose in this increasingly meaningless world. ...You'll not say my offer is not generous, will you? ...Now come, don't be shy. Answer me in earnest, with all of your feelings. ...Do you want to become stronger and escape this wretched life that binds you?"

Quote:

You face an important decision! Once you choose, you cannot go back!


Will you accept Hetero's offer to gain power as a Black Messenger?

-Yes
-No

 

[Necromonium]

W.Y.N.N. And Garry

WYNN blinked, her sensors on high Alert as the mysterious figure emerged, watching as another student charged the gate, only to be stopped by a snake.
Something about this man.....unnerved WYNN. Hearing his speech, while eloquent, couldn't help but put her at unease. He didn't seem to speak any lies...but at the same time, his intentions didn't seem to be for the best at heart for everyone.
"I.....Am content with my life." she called back at the mysterious snake person, thinking of Jo(shu) and the others. She was content with her existence, she had a purpose. She had a goal, and that was to Protect her 'Family'.
"As such, I am afraid I will have to decline."
Garry himself visibly shook as the figure emerged, having been terrified of the snake-like figure from the moment he arrived. It was taking everything he had to not cling to Colm, or the others, shaking as the man began his speech. Mary rolled her eyes at his cowardice, impressed at the level of power coming from the visitor. The rest of the group paled in comparison, though eyes weren't on her, so she couldn't get involved.
"I....I...I do want to become stronger.." Garry called, shaking a bit as he tried to straighten himself up. "But I think I can do that on my own, without your help Sir..........Sorry...sorry."
He didn't want the man to think he was trying to be some shining example of Heroics, no. He just....wanted to make it through this attack alive. Meep.

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WYNN and Garry: >>No

 

[Eretequis]

Nylocke, Dragon of lost emphasis.

Nylocke began to choke as the snake took hold of his neck, the sudden shock and that grip of the snake on his throat took any manner of speach out of him along with any theatrical presence. He reached his hands to his own neck in an attempt to pry the snake away but with no success and was promptly thrown. Nylocke landed on the ground with a rather loud thump, Nylocke was naturally larger then most people which was what seemed to give him a theatrical presence even before he would ever open his mouth to speak. It also made him look quite silly while going about his childish roleplaying, running about like people would expect a much smaller person to do.
He lay a few moments on the ground, regaining his breath and rubbing his throat where it was sore from the snakes grip. He looked a sight, but it was also the most normal he'd looked in a while. He took a while to clamber to his feet and straighten himself off before responding to the offer that had been given out to the whole group. "I choose...only the path...of good." Nylocke gasped between breaths.

Truly this foe was formidable, like one he'd never encounter before. This would be one battle that would be impossible to win, Nylocke could feel his scales shiver with the fear this creature portrayed. But would turning back be an option for our hero, wouldst this foe let the leave? "I, Nylocke! Dragon of Open Judgement! would never join a vilainour cur such as yourself." He told the Messenger, he would not be persuaded by evil forces.

((Note: Nylockes narration will go back and forth between roleplaying and normal depending on his current state of mind.))

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>> No

 

[Shadowkeykeeper]

☽ Mika✧Katsuragi ☾
『The Crazy Science Teacher』
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'Oo! Oo! Oo!'
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Mika nearly screamed and jumped to the voices and the shadowy figures that were walking around her and whispering. "Oh my God!" Mika said in shock, before her face turned to excitement. "This is so awesome! There are so many aliens here I can't believe that Inaba is like an alien convention or something! Eeeee this is so cool! Maybe I can find the ones that tried to take me."

Mika grabbed the notebook and pen to start making notes.
"Those guys and gals back at NASA are gunna rule the day they called me nutty!" She starts following while writing the notes, accidentally forgetting the broom...well more like intentionally forgetting the broom but then grabbed it again 'I mean, they're asking. I shouldn't show that I'm hostile. I can use this as a peace offering! It's so primitive it'll have them baffled!'

Mika walked all the way from her loft to the Tower of Babel, while writing down all the notes. "Note, aliens are rather strange and zombie like. Could be the Earth's natural bacteria and/or atmosphere affecting them. Aliens must've changed landscape to accommodate their needs of survival. Still unclear why there are coffins about this whole city. Aliens could've studied our Earthly rituals and believe that the coffin is a method of transporting and that there are life support systems with in each one. Still have yet to spot a cow coffin." Mika kept going, "So the aliens want to save people. Is the planet dying or something? Well that would make sense. Mark kept saying we're going to get by an asteroid at some point in the next few centuries or so. Whatever this tower they keep talking about must be a--" She stopped to look up at it. "Ship? Holy cows of Pluto!" Mika's mouth was dropped, "That is amazing!"
She starts writing, "There is evidence that aliens have studied the ancient architecture that has to date back during the Roman/Mesopotamian eras as their ship! Must have a cloaking device because this sooo wasn't there this morning or when I moved here! Makes sense! Inaba is such a small town, no one would ever think about looking out here for a ship! Specially those secret government sections and Area 51. Note to self, keep these notes away from the major countries or else I will be locked away forever."

Mika walked while still writing notes, "I can't believe I found an alien ship. Maybe they can give me the answers to the ones that took me before and-"

She looked at the group of people that where there and blinked. She was oblivious in her notes and excitement of aliens...she wasn't even paying attention before she nearly bumped into one of the people, "Oh hi!" she grinned, "I didn't think other people had an interest in the aliens that are wandering about. I mean, I just noticed them now and I should've kicked myself for not noticing them sooner but this is a-ma-zing! Say, haven't I seen some of you at school?

She blinked at Colm's expression, "What's wrong?"

====================
'Wanna know my theories about alien life on Pluto?'

Quote:

Did not hear the question, came in late and was too busying note taking and excited about the "aliens"

 

[Rummy J]

Friedrich Stahl

Fred stood in front of Ozzie, shielding him as Nylocke rushed by to meet a gathering mass of black. The figure that was the mysterious snake-man stopped him, tossing him aside. Words became hard to focus on. The foolhardy boy thrown at the foot of the group worried him. Where did he come from? Why was he so eager to die? His eyes shot back up to the snake-man, his smile sending an unnerving chill down Fred's spine. As she spoke, he could almost feel the dark weight of each word hit.

Then it was given, a choice. There was no veil to it, no bluffing. The strings attached were fairly visible. And what power was he talking about? Fred already came from money, what else was there? "I'm not going anywhere with you," he started, bolstering his courage. Despite being scary, this was all a trick and this snake-man was still just a man. "Do you have any idea who my father is?"

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Friedrich rejected the offer

 

[Yamiko Enoki]

Ozzie Winters

Ozzie covered the redhead's mouth at that point, visibly cringing and hissing out a "Shhhh!" through clenched teeth. "That's not going to work here." he whispered to him, pulling his friend back a bit and looking down worriedly towards the one who fell at their feet. The man had a snake bursting out of his chest and came out of some horrid realm of black and everything that's bad! Why in the world would he just rush right in?! Well, it seems only God knows at that point and right now Ozzie wasn't going to have it. He wasn't going to have any of this and he wasn't going have any of that. Despite these thoughts, the tall man was still shuddering in some fear of what was towering before them, trying to gather everything that happened. It was all just so abrupt! One moment it was just fine, then the next everything decided to turn into some sort of dark mirror world with a tower in full display as if it was natural! And here is this creature talking to them like he knew exactly what they wanted.

"What my pal here means is that, well... we--we're fine!" he finally called out, "Just fine! Fine where we are..." he looked to Friedrich, still not letting go of his mouth for the sake of not letting it take him into whatever the hell this sort of danger is. "Right?" he told him. Ozzie then looked back, his other hand taking a hold of the redhead's shoulder and started to take some steps back, taking Friedrich along with him in a slow stride. "So... we'll be going now!"

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Ozzie has rejected the offer