Checking out the library

With a flash of light, the black armored navi known as curseman began his entry into Dentech, prepared for the mission of checking out a few strange phenomena in the confines of the cyber sector of knowledge. The feline-esque navi made haste through the entrance of the area, and began to look around for anyone who could tell him just a little bit more about what was going on.

"helloooo, nyaa? anyone here?" the feline called out to any of the programs running the place hoping for a response.

meanwhile Rei was muttering to himself, wondering just what this mission could entail. it sounded a bit fishy in the first place. He wondered just what a strange light could be doing here, and why the heck it was something to worry about. He had just hoped he made the right decision taking on something like this.

Curseman looked around the immediate area, and a passing Navi responded to his call. The NormalNavi was different shades of green and yellow, and seemed to just be passing by as well.

"Hi, are you looking for someone?"

Curseman looked to the yellow navi, trying not to make much small talk. he was fairly anxious to just get started.

"I was drafted for a mission to investigate a strange occurance here. a white light appearing. Who would i have to speak to, to gather more information on this subject, nyaa?"

Curse felt as though he was going into this mission fairly blind, it was an odd feeling to say the least, but at the same time the air of mystery and finding everything out as he went along made it a bit more intriguing and fun to him.

"Strange occurrence? Well, I just came from the library, and I noticed the staff sure were busy with something. They might be the people you want to talk to."

The Navi pointed behind himself, towards a large building.

"The library is over there."

"thanks."

keeping it brief, curseman began to dash over to the building. Clearly there was no real rush, but the accumulated boredom in his body was eating away at him, he just had to get some excitement. Who knew a library and excitement would actually wind up together.

The black-clad navi, upon arriving at the building, quickly made haste through the doors. immediately he began to look around, trying to find someone who looked like a staff member of the facility.

Rei was still hesitant to believe that this mission actually held anything more then a fictional story within it, something was just nagging at him in the back of his mind about the whole thing. he just couldn't figure out why.

Curseman entered the doors, and started to look around for someone to help direct him to the strange light. The library looked like any you would find in the real world, but the shelves are very compact and few in number. One Navi moved up to one of the shelves, hit a reference number on a small keypad on the side of the shelf, and the entire rack of books zipped off to the right and went seemingly into the wall, kind of like an automated clothes rack in a dry-cleaners.

"Ah, you must be Curseman. I'm glad you came!"
Curseman turned around to see a blue Navi behind the main desk in the open lobby. She looked like a standard NormalNavi, but she had a Dentech Library badge with her name, Jess, below.

"I can't leave my desk right now, but you want to look behind the book "Occult and Magic: Fact is Stranger than Fiction" on the N-P shelf to your right. It's near the back of the library. If you need anything, please feel free to let me know!"

"nyaa, gotcha jess. Before i take a look however, do you think you could give me a little information about whats going on?i havn't exactly been giving a whole lot of information, other then to take a look. Anything would be helpful, nyaa."

The navi spoke, shortly after he had noticed the females name tag. His eye's slowly drifted towards the back of the library, wondering what was in store for him.

"And has there been any other strange occurrences here recently or in the past? I'm just trying to get an idea here, of what to expect, nyaa."

"Ah, well, a few of our patrons have noticed an odd light behind that book, and it seems to be a part of the shelving program. We would be working on that, but we have our hands tied in current operations. We haven't encountered this before, and due to the high amount of viral activity in the recent weeks, we restricted access to the shelf since yesterday."

"alright. thanks, nyaa. i'll go check it out now then." The feline navi spoke, tails flicking back and forth with excitement and anticipation. the words viral activity echoed through his ears, as a slight grin appeared on his face as he turned towards the books.

Curse slowly started down the isle of the N-P shelf, his eyes browsing across the titles before him, searching for the occult book mentioned earlier. A seemingly coincidental title for him.

"curse, be prepared for anything. we really don't know whats going on with this place, and we cant afford to take any chances." Rei called out to his navi, who was too busy browsing the book selection to pay much head.

Arriving at the designated shelving, curseman quickly scanned the books, before coming across the name he was looking for. without hesitation, he pulled the book from it's home and gave it a quick examination. After giving it a quick flip through, his gaze turned his attention to where the book had once sat.

Curseman quickly found the shelf, and easily found the book in question. He pulled it from the shelf, and took a few seconds to flip through the book, since it seemed to be of interest to him. His mind was finally distracted by a faint pale blue glow coming from the bookshelf. As he got closer, the light seemed to grow larger and larger. It then shrank as he stepped back. Wierd.

Make contact with strange light?
[Y/N]

Curseman stared at the light curiously, his tails dancing back and forth as his mind pondered the strange event playing out before him. the navi was 100% unsure as to how he should handle this situation, wondering what was taking Rei so long to give him some kinda order.

"umm... helloooooo? what should i do here?" the feline called to his thought filled op, who had been within a daze from his own curiosity and uncertainty. For now, it seemed as though it was a harmless enough light, and it was their job to investigate so it was seeming as though trying to grasp it was the only main choice.

"mm... curse, see if you can find something in the light thats causing this effect. Perhaps it's just some sort of device set up as a prank." the orders were given, how ever rash or unthought out they may have been, but not knowing anything at all it couldnt be helped.

curse's claw like hand extended, as he tried to make contact with the ominous light.

Curseman reached out to the light, and he seemed to move closer and closer, since the light grew larger and brighter. The light became absolutely blinding, and Curseman couldn't see anything, even if he turned back around. All he could see was white. It was only a few seconds before the light finally began to fade. As it did, Curseman quickly realized he was no longer in the library...

((Cue music))

He found himself in a weird room, the walls were made of clear, flowing water and gave the entire room a calming ambiance with the sound of the water calmly flowing down the walls. Curseman's attention then moved to the floor, as it's glass-like surface started to slowly turn from a softly glowing silver to a bright red. As Curseman continued to look around, the floor continued its slow rotation of colors, from red to blue, to yellow, to green, and then restarting back at silver.

There were 15 gateways in the dome-shaped transport room, and the smooth stone ceiling was painted with several varieties of symbols, all of which Curseman couldn't easily decipher. Jutting out from the room was a large hallway, leading to a similarly silver door.

((What now? It's your choice. There are 15 gateways, and 1 hallway. Where to next?))

"Curseman?! what happened?1 i lost track of you for a bit there."

"i dont know.. i got moved to some weird room with doors... i'm gonna investigate nyaa."

that said, curseman eyes all the strange symbols. he had no clue what anything meant, or what he was even here for. His head tilted to the side as indecision and curiousty kicked into overdrive. Where should he go? It was times like this he had to fall for an old saying of his.

"when in doubt, pick lucky 13."

clearly it wasnt a saying that applied to a majority of situations, but it was perfect for this one! the first time ever, in fact.looking along the doors in a clockwise fashion, he began to count them off until he was facing the 13th. someone hesitantly, he headed towards it and looked it over, before trying to enter it.

Curseman counted the gateways in a clockwise fashion, and picked out the thirteenth one. He walked over to the gateway as the floor changed to a soothing blue. He walked through the gateway, and found a circular stone set into the floor. The room was tiny, almost like a little crater in the wall. It looked like something was supposed to be there, like a statue, or they might be teleportation pads. If they were indeed telepads, they seem to only work one direction. Curseman stood there, wondering what else to do.

Curseman sighed, his saying failing him. As memory serves, it never really did work before, so why he thought it would now was a mystery. from the looks of things, he probably wouldn't find anything in this room. all the other gateways looked the same as 13 as it was, save for the hallway.

Sighing once more, the feline headed down towards the long pathway before him, figuring he wouldn't find anything else in the rest of the rooms. It really did seem like one big arrival area. Complete with no way out.

Curseman walked down the long hallway, and approached a large silver door. With nowhere else to go, he carefully pushed the door open. The door slowly opened and silently swung outwards as Curseman was bathed in light. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust, but when they did, he saw how immense this area truly was. He entered a room with a pair of very large walking paths on either side, each lined with statues and mirror-like bodies of water. The platform he was on branched in several different directions, and in the center of the platform was a large silver statue. The base was adorned with bright flowers of nearly every imaginable color, and the statue's base was surrounded with a brightly lit moat of sorts, that cast wavy reflections upon the statue. The statue itself depicted a tall, graceful female form. She was adorned in seemingly flowing yet conservative robes, and was holding a book under her left arm, and an orb in her upturned right hand. The orb was glass, and glowed different colors in a similar fashion to the floor of the transport room.

Everything there seemed to be made of silver, glass, or water; or some combination of the three. There were floating lights over the pathways, as were there multiple trees and flowerpots dotting the entire area. He continued to look around, and found two stairways moving down from his current path down to the promenades below. There were also several stairways leading upwards to ledges halfway between the stories of the large structures around him. They were dotted with doors, and a few of them had crystal-clear windows. From the looks of it, this was some sort of massive community area, or something... Curseman thought he heard noises echoing in the distance, such as the flowing water from a pair of fountains in the middle of the left water feature; and he looked up to see a large silver and glass chandelier/wind chime-like hanging sculpture overhead. The pieces were rotating very slowly, creating an oddly soothing tinkling sound. Then his feline ears picked up something familiar: voices.

((Choices:
Move down to L or R promenade
Approach/Examine Statue
Try to enter one of the doors in the adjacent buildings
Do nothing
Misc.))

"nyeh? other navi's are here?"

Curseman took in the scenery, finding this place getting more elaborate and confusing the further he went in. it was just one decision after another here it seemed, and he just had to guess at what exactly he was supposed to be doing. The voices didnt help the situation either. He couldnt be sure if they were friend, foe, or what could happen if he followed the noise.

"i... i dont know what to do nyaaa! Rei, give me something to go on here!" curseman called, expecting some kinda of guidance, but rei was at a loss as well.

"I dont know curseman. I'm just as lost as you are here, so just tough it out and try to find something that sticks out maybe."

The navi sighed at the useless attempt at getting a command, and just let his eyes wander. He pondered heading towards the voices, until the statue of the woman grabbed his view once more. Since he was already here, he may as well check that out first. Who knew if he could be able to come back here later. The orb in the statue also had the same properties as the rest of this place, so maybe it had some kind of secret. that or it was a useless piece of junk, but either way it was shiny, so that was good enough a reason to go look.

Curseman approached the statue, and attempted to examine it, the book, and the orb for anything possible; and attempt to take the book and orb. One can never have too much reading material or shiny things after all.

Curseman took in the scenery, and set his curiosity on the statue. Upon closer inspection, he noticed an engraving in the silver on its base. It reads, "Founder of the Sanctuary for Mystic Artes: Arcaster.NSE." There was also a quote underneath, possibly from Arcaster herself. "Purity, Precision, Excellence. With these, we hope to make the net a better place, for everyone." Whoever this Arcaster is, or was, she seemed to be highly respected.

Curseman got his hands on the glowing orb, but it seemed to be firmly secured to the statue, as was the book. Even if he managed to remove the book, the thing was made of solid silver. He'd have a paperweight, and nothing more. The voices got closer, and Curseman peered from behind the statue down to the right promenade. He saw a pair of shadows appear from behind the building first, then two figures appeared. They were two short, young girls, both donned in navy blue robes. Their robes had wide trims, and were nearly the same color as their robes, and their outfits were secured with a similarly colored belt. They both wore long stocking caps, almost like witch hats without the brim. They looked no older than 10, and they giggled as they walked along the wide path next to the large body of water. Curseman's ears perked up, and he managed to take advantage of his somewhat augmented hearing to listen in to their conversation.

The first little girl took a seat on the raised lip separating the water from the path. She was so short, her navy blue cloth boots almost couldn't touch the floor when seated. Her eyes were a bright purple, and her hair was a darker, more subdued hue.

That lesson was pretty fun, don't you think?

The second, wearing the same outfit, had green eyes and brown hair.

Well, I fell asleep during class, and Spring had to poke me with her staff to wake me up...
You don't normally sleep in class... Is something wrong?
I didn't get to sleep till late last night... I was thinking...
Were you thinking about PsycheMan?
Yeah... I still don't know what happened to him... We encountered this strange spectral Navi with thin, blue wings and really spiky orange hair. He told me to run, and I never saw him after that...

The first "mageling" hugged the second one, patting her back.
I'm sure he's alright, Nell. Once we get stronger, we'll go look for him together. Okay?
Nell looked back at her partner, and smiled.
Okay.

Curseman heard the entire conversation, all from behind the statue. They didn't seem to notice he was there, since he was a good distance away, and almost a story above them. The pair of magelings continued to talk quietly as Curseman assessed the situation.

((Mission Map))

Curseman listened to the chatter of the two little girls to his left on the lower floor. They seemed pretty carefree, as if this place was completely natural to them, coming to the assumption that they were definitely residents of this area. A little hesitant of the idea at first, Curseman contemplated trying to get some information out of the two before he continued on with his journy into this foreign land he was now trapped within.

Looking around, curseman tried to get an idea of how to get over to that area where the two maglings were standing. While the scenery suggestefd that the left prominade might yeild to the pathway he sought, curseman slowly took a more drastic idea, heading over to the edge of the upper area.

with little concern for himself, he attempted to jump down to his target location, being the fasted route hopefully.

"geronimeooooooow~"

Curseman jumped off the raised platform down to the floor below. Though he managed to silently touch down, his actions quickly caught the attention of the two SPs sitting near the water. Nell grabbed on to the other's robe and pointed towards Curseman.

Isis! Look!
Who is that? Is someone playing a trick on us?

As Curseman continued towards them, Isis called out to him, unaware of who he was or where he came from.
C'mon, this isn't funny! You're scaring my friend!
Both Nell and Isis stand up and face Curseman, but Nell seemed more content with hiding behind her braver counterpart.