Kubera: One Last Thought

You had one last thought, before he broke the world.

[one-last-thought]

0006

0006 You dodge the missile and turn to the man with a smug look and say : "pfft... you throw like a little girl" 0006 "Says who???"

You figure that infuriating him will drive him outside, so you start yelling challenges to aggravate him.

His response... is more ice! As well as a sharp decrease in the temperature. Sharp enough that you, who are fairly resistant to the cold, are feeling it.

Well, that was a smart move.

Frost starts covering the ground like white roots growing out in every direction. He still hasn’t come out.

0006 Ignore his wishes and go up to him. He was alone in a frozen room for who-knows-how-long, you have to check whether he is ok or not.

0006 You try to get closer to the person while he keeps throwing ice at you.

You suddenly wonder about whether he’s all right or not, desperately flaying around to keep dodging. Perhaps he's unable to get out of the frozen cellar? 

Well, he’s at least healthy enough to chuck ice blocks at you.

...but that might actually be his last defense. Like a wounded animal. You decide to get closer to him.

“Stay away!” He screams at you again, apparently detecting you as soon as you are within a couple meters of the cellar door. Instead of giant ice cubes, ice spires start protruding from under you. You jump away, barely dodging. Okay, so now you realize that 1. It wasn’t his last defense and 2. He REALLY doesn't want you to com near him, if the endless barrage of ice is of any indication.

The ice spires stop appearing once you are far enough from the cellar. In fact, you are further out than how you started out. You both stay silent for few heavy moments.

0006: Who could it be? You wonder if this voice is a familiar one. Does it jog a memory of anyone you know? You proceed to ask the person who they are? You won't harm them, you just want to know what happened. You also hope that this person doesn't try to harm you. If they don't cooperate you might have to break the door of the cellar. "I won't harm you. My name is Leez. Who are you? Could you tell me what happened?"

0006 His voice sounds scary but you suddenly remember that as long as you have enough vigor and that bracelet you should be safe... somehow... So you wait to see what happens and keep your vigor strong

Right. As long as your bracelet is on, you will resurrect from fatal wounds.

You'll be okay. Once again, you approach the cellar. You try to not make too much noise. The coldness of the air stings you- the skin of your face feels drenched in water.

"Okay, please stop attacking! I'm sorry, you're the first person I meet. Do you know what happened to Aeroplateau?"

There is a pause.

You open your mouth to continue, but his sharp voice slices through the air.

“Miss Ketergent?”

You freeze, (hah!) remembering the first time your faked your name long, long ago. Long enough that you never thought you would hear it again. It was before the complete and utter loss of your innocence. In another era, another world. Distant, careless days.

“You are the person I met in the forest,” you say breathlessly, glad to finally stop dodging. It wasn't a question.

The person (the Half?) appeared in a blurred motion, too quick for you to catch. Lime green hair flapped behind him like a lone flag, blue skin cutting sharply against the ice.

It's totally him.

A name you shouldn't know flutters at the edge of your consciousness.

What do you do? What do you say?

The number is 0007.

[one-last-thought]

Love the story so far! You guys are great! Please keep up the splendid work :)

Awww thank you :D Such a nice comment.

We shall do our best! 

[one-last-thought]

0005

0005 You slowly approach the frozen house. Something wet hits your face… A drop of rain. More follow in pursuit, so you decide to take shelter inside. Seeing the open window, you choose to enter there. 0005 You walk to the window to try and get a look inside. You see that there is food inside. 

0005 You feel the need to pee… … … … Houses have bathrooms. The rain hitting your face startles you at first, but you are not completely surprised by it. The sky was dark and stormy, and the rain could only fit the sad, solemn atmosphere. You walk fast towards the window, seeing that it was the only opening into the house right now. You look at the interior of the house as you enter it, and glimpse some food inside. The room you entered into, itself, was very similar to the one you woke up in, with a wooden table and chair. The only visible differences were sea blue walls and a salad on the table There is food, yet there is no one around… could they have gone outside before you came…? And you found a curry sandwich when you woke up… In any case, you don’t eat the salad offered on the table, and instead search for the bathroom, since your bladder started to bother you. To your eternal relief, you find out that the plumbing in this house does indeed work, despite being frozen. Somehow.

0005: You think that the most simple thing to do is to just enter the building through the window. However, you also think of using your super strength to break the ice that covers the cellar by punching it. You decide to use your strength to get into cellar. “Hoti Kubera”. 0005 You slightly tap the frozen cellar door. Summoning some magic, you place your palm on the door and apply pressure. The frozen door cracks under the pressure. 0005: DESTROY THE ICE! SHOW IT WHO’S BOSS! MELT ITS WILLPOWER AND SUCK ITS SOUL OUT THROUGH ITS EYESOCKETS! The rain had already stopped. Odd.

After checking the interior of the house, you decide to go back outside to go check the cellar. 

You toured the entire house and found nothing.

You’re angry. The cellar is the last place left. The damned ice the only thing standing in your way.

So you cast “Hoti Kubera” and begin hitting it. It doesn’t budge, which only makes you angrier, and you keep attacking and attacking…

Just get smashed already, you stupid solid water!

It’s finally smashed.

Then you have to jump back away to dodge a missile apparently made entirely of ice flying at you. 

“Get out!” A masculine voice inside shouts.

He stands inside of the cellar, and it’s clear that you’ll have to bait him to get him out. 

You brace yourself. What now?

The number is 0006

[one-last-thought]

0004

0004 Find the cyan light by running there one massive stride at a time

0004: She decides to follow the cyan light. She squints and thinks of curry cake. Well, that was random. Hopefully, she can find some soon.

You decide to find the dimmer light first. 

You consider your options. The floating scrap of city is higher than most, so you could reasonably try to jump from to another island... But there’s no way you could just walk and jump to your destination; there’s a massive amount of sky between you and the island the light’s flickering on.

It kind of reminds you of a cake, actually. It’s mostly circular, but there is a building in the middle, and it looks coated in icing...

...

...

It’s covered in ice?!

0004: Activate your bracelet and see if you can use magic. If you can, follow the cyan light.

In a flash, you remember the bracelet. You’re in Aeroplateau, but... didn’t it turn on earlier? 

The faded gray turns gold, nudged by your will.  Yesss. 

If you’re not wrong, you can fly with the bracelet on! Though it would be more prudent to test it out first... 

“Bhavati Kubera!”

You hover, testing your control. It’s easy. It’s familiar. It’s working, too, which means something is very, very wrong with the city.

As if it wasn’t obvious already.

You head towards the building covered in ice, now that you know how you can reach it. You fly.

Whoosh. You land a few yards away from the cake-shaped building, cautious, just in case whatever (or whoever)  got disturbed by your landing.  You shiver, but not from the cold. You sweep the place. 

You are alone. 

Tracing circles around the building, you look for something odd in your surroundings before you try the door. It seems that it used to be a regular house, before it was, well... frozen solid.

You notice an open window on the first floor. 

You also notice what appears to be the entrance to the cellar, but the door is frozen over. 

Which do you try first? 

Knock on the door

Sneak in through the window

Try to open the cellar door (How?)

Other

The number is 0005.

[one-last-thought]

0003

0003 While deciding on which way to go, you suddenly hear glass breaking, but from which direction is unclear...

0003: Examine the other rooms, see if they're any different from yours - if it's a hotel, they should be roughly identical. Are their windows broken? Is anything missing? -L

0003: *Go up and trips. Discovers a key on the stairs. I don't know what it's for, but I'll keep it.

You jump, startled by the sound of glass breaking. You don’t know where it came from- probably one of the rooms. 

You notice a set of keys glinting on the third step. After thorough examination (dangling them in front of your nose) you realize that they are the keys of room 56! 

You unlock the door, and cautiously walk in. It’s similar to yours; the only difference is the orientation. 

You take a look outside from the window. Unlike your room’s, it’s intact. 

There is a lot of sky. you stare at it for a bit, and notice light below. 

Very, very below. 

Either you are in a very tall building, or the building is on a mountain of some sort... It’s too hard to distinguish much, you can’t tell anything else.

0003 You smell food. You follow the smell...

You sniff the air. The unmistakable scent of delicious food...! It is, yes...

Your eyes swipe the room more carefully. 

There, on the bed! A curry sandwich! 

Your stomach growls, as if awoken by the smell of food. You devour it, curry-induced ecstasy on your tastebuds.

You take a longer look around, but don’t find anything else. You decide to go back to the stairs.

0003 You approach the stairs cautiously. Out of nowhere, your bracelet starts to glow...

0003 You decide to investigate the source of light which seems to be coming from upstairs...

You climb a couple of floors until you reach a door. You assume that it’s the roof, and open it. You notice your bracelet glowing gold briefly as you open the door, and-

...you put it down gently, apologizing to the god of doors silently. 

Wind rushes in. Your green hair whooshes around, and you step out on the roof. You truly are quite high up. The cold bites through your skin, only leaving a harmless tingle. You’ve always been cold-resistant.

The city lays at your feet. 

It's... Aeroplateau. The floating city. You remember now; you've been there before. It's Aeroplateau. No doubt... Right?

It's... probably Aeroplateau.

It's shattered.

A relatively small piece of it floats on its own above you, supporting a few buildings. You can see a few bigger pieces, somewhere further to the left, lower. The huge shapes seem to slowly float apart like sand dropped on water. Clouds curl around the floating rock.

The broken city's lights glow orange. Like pieces of the night sky fell apart.

It's both beautiful and terrifying. What happened?

Faces you know flash through your mind, too fast for you to pin down. There were people in the city... What happened?

The piece you are standing on is slightly higher up than most.

You recognize some of the buildings, though the last time you saw them was a sunny day, not a dark and stormy night.

A jingle rings through your head.

There is no storm, unless it is your heart’s.

You squint, trying to distinguish people in the city. You find none. you hear nothing but the wind. No background noise, no voices, nothing.

Look.

As if a filter was applied to your vision, something changes. The orange lights seem dim, compared to two bright lights on opposite sides of the city. 

Instinctively, they call to you.

Neither are moving, and they are about equally far. Then again, you’ll have to find a way to actually get there. You don’t think you can navigate the piece of floating rock the hotel is on. Maybe you could fly there... 

The first light is dark blue. It glows almost aggressively, but flickers. This somewhat worries you. 

The second is a paler shade, mixed in with some green- cyan? It is dimmer, but a little more stable. 

What do you do, and how?

Find the blue light 

Find the cyan light

The number is 0004.

(Author’s Note: Careful. You only have control over Leez’s actions!

Consider yourself in Leez’s head. You’re controlling her actions, not the world around her.

Also: If you don’t include a number, your submission won’t count! D: This is for sorting reasons, not to be mean. Please include the correct number.)

[one-last-thought]

0002

0002: Clean up that glass, that's an accident waiting to happen. -L

It occurs to you that the glass is dangerous. You wrap your hands in the bed sheet and swipe the shards aside. No one will get hurt like this!

0002: Try to open the door! But first, examine the ceiling and the floor. People never think about that. Don't hit your head!

You examine the ceiling. It’s even-hued, though a thin crack spiders through it. 

The floor is clean, made of pale wood planks that fit perfectly into each other. There is nothing notable about it beyond that. 

0002: You reach for the doorknob, but as you are about to grab it, you get a flashback. You see a silhouette of a person you are unable to distinguish... The person seems familiar in some way.

0002: Send a quick prayer to The Demon Turtle, Destroyer of Australia -L

You finally go back to the door. It’s a normal door, like you’ve seen many, you’re sure about that. 

Although it is nothing special,You suddenly remember something else. You’ve forgotten many things, you know that, but there are slowly coming back. Surely this is normal? 

You can’t tell. Some sort of fog coats your mind.

You try to grasp the memory. A purple sunrise. Flowers. Someone tall. You can’t distinguish their features, but you vaguely remember something you asked. 

“Even if it’s just a trivial wish... Have you never prayed for anything at all?”

...but you cannot recall the answer you asked for, just another interrogation.

“Pray to who?”

You sigh, puzzled. It doesn’t really help you figure out why you're here. A thought pops in your head, however- 

You can pray to anything. Heard prayers is another thing entirely... But if it is just praying? Then you can pray to anyone. You pray to Agni for nice weather, to Asvins that you won’t get hurt, to Kubera for more mushrooms in your life. "Kubera Leez” has done this before. But... 

You can pray to absolutely anything, up to the Demon Turtle, destroyer of Australia. You can’t know if it would work until you try. A prayer is but an echo thrown into an abyss, hoping to be heard by someone wielding power. 

Then again... perhaps it is preferable if they do not answer.

You consider that. You know there is something you’re forgetting, but it is completely beyond your grasp right now. 

You have never heard of Australia before. Surely this turtle must be powerful, to wipe something into oblivion. You address it a quick prayer, polite, just like your mother taught you. 

0002 You decide to try and open the door. It's locked. You push it a little. The entire door breaks, pulling with it the hinges from the frame... You've successfully managed to open the door.

The power of the Demon turtle must not be underestimated! 

Deja-vu strikes you. You’re pretty sure this has happened before. Doors probably don’t like you. 

Whoops. You feel kind of bad, and set the door down as gently as you can.

You silently thank the Demon Turtle, Destroyer of Australia, for its help, and decide not to borrow its power again. You stifle an internal giggle. There’s nothing funny.

The bedroom door opens to reveal a corridor.  You walk its entire length and back, opening all the doors that aren’t locked, but you find no one. Strange. 

It seems that you are in a hotel. You were in room 51, and as far as you can tell, however, the rest of it is unoccupied. 

There is a staircase on the other end of the corridor. You aren’t entirely sure, but it seems that there is some light upstairs.

What should you do?

Go up

Go down

Other

The number is 0003. 

[one-last-thought]

0001

0001 *Look through the window

You walk until you reach the window, and put a single hand on the cold glass.

The night is well advanced. You can see nothing but the sky; tiny specks of white betray the presence of stars.

You sweep the window with a glance, and catch an oddity.

An entire panel of the glass is gone.

You step forward, and a crunching sound under your shoe tells you that it was broken from the outside, sending bits an pieces of glass everywhere on the wooden floor.

0001: Examine the room

0001 You examine the room. (You feel slightly hungry?)

You turn away from the window and decide to pay closer attention to the room. You realize you cannot remember the last time you ate, and a familiar growl notifies you.: you are hungry. 

You remember food. You liked food. Yes, you love food! But there is none here, the point is moot. 

You notice no new furniture, but on the same wall the bed was against, though in another corner... There is a door. There is nothing else of note.

You probably won't get anywhere if you stay secluded in the room.

What do you do?

Try to open the door 

Try to use the window to get out of the room

Other

The number is 0002.

[one-last-thought]

0000

You wake up in a dark room. The room isn’t dark, per se. The wooden floor is clean, the shade of birch trees. The walls were painted a pale purple color, and another sky of that particular hue flashes in your mind, without letting you hold onto it. There is little furniture; the bed you’re sitting onto, a table, and that’s it. Both are a darker brown than the floor, but wouldn’t grant you the right to call this room “dark”. No, what makes you think that is the sky. The wall opposite to you, a few strides away, is a window. A window longer and wider than you are tall. There is no moon, but a slight radiance seems to glow from outside into the room, just enough for you to distinguish color. Who are you? A voice says a name you recognize. Leez Haias.

Is it your voice?

The name doesn’t sound quite right. No, it is not who you are. This was a name you used to protect yours.

You are Kubera Leez. Kubera. The girl with the name of a god.

Another image flashes in your mind. You remember a girl with green hair and green eyes, tan skin, tightly clad in yellow and orange. The outfit was important. You don’t remember why, but it was important.

You look at your knees, take note of the orange skirt you’re wearing. It is just as you remember. That girl wearing happy color was in the mirror.

You know what your name is. You know what you look like. Your memory is fuzzy, but it comes back bit by bit, as if you had woken up from a long nap and lost your identity in too-real dreams.

You notice a gray bracelet on your wrist. It’s warm. You remember it was important, too. It feels like a part of you, it’s been clinging onto that wrist for so long.

Nevertheless, something is missing. You’re not sure what, but it was also important.

What do you do?

Look through the window

Examine the room

Other

The number is 0001. 

Write in the beginning of your ask for it to be counted! I’ve never done this, but let’s have a lot of fun.