this is Salem, a land filled with magic and maladies. It is a place where witches and their elemental familiars gather, a home to legend and
lore that predates time itself. Yet of all the wicked and wonderful stories the past can tell us of, the most magical are the ones yet to happen.
This is Salem - this is the start of your very own journey. Welcome to starfall
Starfall is an animaga witch roleplay set in mostly modern times. Members play as witches in a world plagued by monsters, where the only safe spots are walled cities. Starfall strives to be a character-driven roleplay with expansive lore and a highly interactive plotline. We want to allow members to
create and look back on a magical journey, and mold the site and its plot as their characters grow.
"It doesnt matter. All that matters is that this time Im going to win." This time he was going to stop the creatures from killing one or both of them. Normally Aiden was first. His own death was hit or miss depending on the choices he made.
"Okay cuddle time it is~" Charani would purposefully get off Aiden as slowly as possible. Even dragging his hands down the other boys chest catching certain areas in the process. Okay even though they probably werent doing the thing in this iteration that didnt mean he couldnt still tease the dream boy.
Though because it was a dream it was always really... really good. You know artistic license with biology...not that he had ever seen his friend naked in real life so it probably was all a little... larger than it is normally. Aiden could probably see that if he looked at himself for more than a few seconds in the bathroom. Though his form in general was fairly accurate since they spent so much time together.
"How about we just let fate decide this time. Temere electionis." He waved his hand at the television before it turned on thanks to his magic. That was probably his favorite part of the dream world... pretty much unlimited mana regeneration. Well to a point. Spells here worked weird too and no familiar meant no elemental magic by normal means.
The television would flicker to one of the random assortment of movies in that box. To be fair he had seen them all since this was not the first iteration of this dream world. Charani would cuddle up to Aiden as it played. An hour and a half left before midnight.
Aiden’s eyebrows knit together as he got a vague response. He didn’t like that really. Then again, he wasn’t really one to push too much, giving up after asking again once or twice…maybe even three times. He was dismissed pretty easily when it came to his friend. “Win what?...And you say I'm the weird one tonight.” he returned, still concerned. There was no competition here, they were home safe. Aiden felt a chill once more, worry setting in again. It sounded like Charani was going to do something stupid. Then again, he couldn’t really judge having been just as stupid on his own anyway. He perked up as cuddle time was announced, only to nervously watch Charani get off him. Still embarrassed, still flushed. It wasn’t something he could just get used to. After all, he was sure he had crossed a lot of friendship lines today even if he was just dreaming. He was probably not going to be able to look at Charani in the eye for a full week afterwards.
With a wave of his hand the TV flicked onto a familiar movie. Fairytale kind of comedy. He stared at it idly, shifting only slightly as Charani got comfortable next to him. Aiden lifted his hand, slightly leaning the seer before lifting a hand and gently ruffling his hair, the last remnant of his silly energy used up in the action. "Hopefully we can finally relax with this on." the redhead sighed. He then yanked at the abandoned blanket and threw it on Charani once more settling into the couch and his companion. The movie was pretty standard, but at least it was pretty to look at. He couldn’t put too much stock into the story, not really paying attention much. He was still trying to figure out why his own dreams wouldn’t let him use magic. Couldn’t lucid dreamers do whatever they wanted in their dreams?
Maybe he was just unlucky. It wouldn’t be the first time, and probably not the last. He wished he could consult Mckenna tonight. If he was so disconnected from his mana he doubted he’d be able to summon her either. He didn’t need her, but having her around, much like staying semi-alert after a wraith attack was just a thing that would make him feel better about the situation.
"Hmmm. Maybe I am? But at least I get to spend the next hour with you uninterrupted~" There was an hour until midnight. An hour until the power went out. It was the first sign of what was to come. But at least they had some extra time to rest and be together. Plus he was hoping the crystals would allow him to proceed to phase 2 without worry.
"The animation is cute at least" Charani would hum as he rested his head on the other boys shoulder. He was purposefully being very vague about all of this. About his plan. This time he would say nothing and use his magic to put the other boy to sleep. With the crystals protecting him this way they could both survive the night. He just couldnt make any mistakes or he would die and rewind the night again.
The ticking of the clock was a bit louder than it would normally sound as the night approached its zenith. Midnight was only an hour away and he was certain this would be the last of this dream. It was a nice dream at the start at least. Warm and comfy. What kind of new horror would await later he wasnt sure.
"Only an hour left." He whispered to himself... eyes watching the clock more than the movie. Hed close his eyes for just a moment though. Just a few seconds of warmth and sleep. That was all. Little did he know what was to come. His plan was doomed to fail because of one tiny change. Aiden was not entirely a creation of his dream world. One hour to midnight. Tick tock.
Aiden huffed, not entirely pleased with any part of Charani’s answers. Then again, he was pressing a dream Charani into being honest with him. It wasn’t going to happen. “That’s dumb. We spend every day together, just about.” The redhead said with a snort. “One more hour ‘till the movie’s up then we go to bed and spend the night together. Then we probably wake up and spend all morning together.” And so on and so forth. That was the idyllic lifestyle they had. Maybe it wasn’t verbatim, every moment of every day but they lived together. They were probably near each other for a majority of their time in this dream life.
As the brunette relaxed Aiden let out a quiet sigh. There wouldn’t be getting any more information out of him until later when he could try again to press him. Then again, maybe he passed out and woke up in a new dream or even just completely wake up. He hoped he woke up. He was tired of the stress that crept after him even when he slept. Might as well have real stress than made up bullshit with wraiths interrupting his eternal honeymoon with his best friend.
He didn’t like how cagey Charani was, even if he couldn’t be annoyed with him when he looked so comfortable in his dream sleep. It came back to a lack of understanding of what exactly was going on in this dream. Aside from bad things. The bad things being emphasized by the loudness of the clock. It almost overpowered the soft dialogue coming from the TV. He wishes he could trash it but doing so meant getting up and disturbing his friend. He supposed he’d sit and wait at the ready for midnight. He didn’t want to risk trying to wake up by falling asleep only to get caught off guard by…whatever it was Charani was anticipating. It probably wasn’t good but really how good could you get in a weird dream? So, while Charani rested he stood watch, glancing from the movie over to the crystal wards every so often.
"So warm~" The ticking of the clock passed by without halting. Five minutes became ten. Ten became thirty. Charani had little awareness of time just casually slipping by. To Aiden however the clock would seem to be going faster than it should. Like the dream was forcing time to move at its own twisted pace.
The second hand would move and hover right at midnight. The chime would start... or at least the anticipation of it would. At exactly 11:59:59 all power in the apartment would shut off. The television would be the most noticeable before the lights flickered off as well. Aiden would naturally be the first to notice.
"Oh fuck" Charani would more than likely be roused from his restful like daze by the other boy. Well shit so much for extra time with the cute boy before the horrors start.
The young man would spring awake in a startling pace. It was now midnight and from the lower floors you could hear screams starting. It. Has. Begun.
"Okay shit. You can do this. Just like you practiced." He would turn to Aiden and place his hands on his forehead. He had to do this quickly before they made their way up to the fifth floor where the two were. He couldnt use teleportation magic this time since he knew that had a witch on their side. It was how they got through the barrier. He had still yet to discover the identity of the traitor though. Oh well.
With his hand placed on Aidens forehead he would try to put the boy to sleep. "In deliquium cadunt." There would be a flash of mana and then. Nothing. He would repeat the spell and the same thing would happen. The spell to force unconsciousness would not work on Aiden. He was not a creation of the dream world after all. Tick tock. The hunt begins.
Aiden glared at the clock after a while, his hand carefully rising up to hold Charani close as it seemed to speed up now that it had his full attention as if teasing him just like the seer before. Except, this was a little bit more ominous. As the hands began to move unnaturally his lips would curl into an irritated snarl. Fuck this dream. The bad things were starting to stack up against the good, and if he forgot this the next morning he would be fucking grateful. Funny Charani had mentioned horror movie clichés, because this definitely felt like one. “I’m never watching scary movies with him again…” he muttered, itching to get up but reluctant because of Charani.
First step: the lights. Second step: the screams. Aiden’s hair stood on end as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply willing his eyes to adjust to the darkness quickly as well as trying to push the dream’s memories for any knowledge of something in their house. Any kind of typical movie weapon: a gold club, a bat with nail, a frying pan even. He’d take anything. If something unnatural was coming after him to stab him to death, he’d at the very least want to try to bludgeon it to death. He’d broken enough faces with his hands but…could you really break a wraith’s face? He felt like since this was a dream he should be allowed to but why take the chance? Dream deaths were still scary, and he didn’t have any magical clothes to dull the pain for him.
“Oh fuck is right, hun.” Aiden said with another huff as he felt Charani move around. Power had been cut somehow. Probably the fucking basement, where conveniently ALL the wards of the building were. They still had theirs, right? He didn’t want to count on them too much. He felt the boy’s hand on his face and flinched at the flash of mana. The bit of light hurt his eyes and he squeezed them shut at the consecutive flashes. “Charani!” he whisper yelled. “What are you doing? We gotta go!” he added as he stood up, staring back at the vague figure of his friend in the darkness. Dream or not he wasn’t just about to passively sit around. “Put on your shoes, we’re holding down the fort now I guess?” it was like a zombie apocalypse and they were stuck in the middle of the city. The only solution was to get out of it, but they had to survive the first wave of crap being slung at them.
“Let’s hope those horror movies were fucking worth the anxiety it put me through.” He said to himself as he ripped open kitchen drawers scrambling for something, anything to hold. It might not do much, but it’d make him feel better about the whole ordeal.
"Hold the fuck up. How are you still conscious. That spell should have knocked you out. The dreams rules of magic are absolute." How was he immune to the spell? It couldnt be magic short circuiting. Hed used plenty of magic through the dream this time. What the fuck is going on. This random chaos was not normal.
"No. You need to stay here so I can get the wards back up. The crystals should keep the wraiths away as long as the witch helping them doesn't find us." Charani had one of the crystals in his pocket. There was a soft glow that Aiden could probably see. They would conceal their presence for the most part... at least visually from the wraiths. As long as they were quiet and didnt touch the things he could get to the basement.
Okay so maybe putting the wards back up was only a temporary solution. In reality they needed to kill the witch helping them. However the wards would solve the immediate threat as they could only be deactivated and reactivated manually. So the traitor would have to come back to bring them down again. Trap them.
"Stupid dream messing with my plans." He would pout as he started grabbing extra crystals and pouches of ingredients using telekinesis. Telekinesis still worked well in this world at least... actually a little better than the real world to be honest. He would stuff things into a bag that looked like it was some kind of weaving bag? Probably something Aiden had made or at least his dream counterpart had. On the bright side if Aiden tried he could use telekinesis at least. Hed find it much more powerful than it would be normally too. Thank you dream laws of magic.
“Probably the same reason I’m alive in the first place, to fuck with me. Is this really the time to discuss this?” He said as he threw his hands up in the air. He couldn’t even explain what was going on why did Dream Charani think he would know? He wished he could remember whatever else had happened, but those dreams were probably erased form his memory and for good measure. Fuck this dream. You know what, he could have a cuddle session with a movie and pizza any day of the week in the real world. All he had to do was make sure Charani wasn’t busy and BAM! Pizza night. Fuck this whole survival of the fittest wraith apocalypse crap.
“Me? Stay here? The fuck?? That’s rule number one of any scary movie. We don’t split up. I know we’re breaking rules 2. Don’t go to the basement, and 3. Don’t try to fuck, but considering the circumstances I’m willing to overlook this and actually stick to the first one.” The redhead argued, trying to keep his voice low as the screamed of what he imaged was witches dying horrible via stabbing by the same cunty wraith chick that had almost done him in. He paused. “There’s someone...helping them?” he asked slowly wondering who in the hell his brain put in charge of such a bullshit task. Was it Percy? That dick. Maybe his dad? That dick.“Oh good, I love midnight murder. Hot.” The ginger dead panned as he left the cleaver in the drawer and pulled out a thick iron skillet. Bludgeon was always his favorite type of damage. “Fuck this dream.” He said tired before the danger had even really fully caught up to them. He watched idly as Charani began grabbing things and shoving them into a pouch. He squinted before noting a sort of shine to the stitching and nodded in approval. Good work, very impressive, quality stitching. Probably his. Ha! He noted a more familiar spell the brunette was using a wondered if something would finally work for him for a change. He set the skillet on the counter before shaking his hands as if warming them up and pointing his index finger at the skillet. He felt the tip of his finger warm up despite no mana glowing form it and tilted the finger up. The skillet almost shot up into the roof and he managed to grab and it and hug it close to his chest. Damn. “Listen I’m following you, so you might as well tell me what’s your plan so I don’t fuck it up like everything else tonight.”
"DId you just say dream? Oh. Oops." So like... the telekinesis he had done was the icing on the cake. Normally dream Aiden was fairly weak magically. He could only use verbal magic and not nearly at the skill level of their enemies. That was partially the reason he died in all of the dreams. That and his... you know personality. Protective knight and all.
"No wait. This is good. We should go together." Charani would say pointing his fingers at Aiden to emphasize his point. So um... how to apologize for you know... forcing your friends mind into your nightmare dreamscape. Oh god and having the explain the whole sex thing too. Well he could just play that off later. Hopefully. Maybe.
Okay so he grabbed the last of his supplies and made his way to the door. No time for shoes or anything of that. They had to move somewhat quickly. Ten minutes had past since midnight. They had maybe half an hour before the wraiths would overwhelm the first few floors and make their way to theirs. At least with the crystals it should hopefully be easy to get down to the basement as long as they werent spotted by the witch.
"Yes. There is a witch helping them. I havent been able to figure out who it is but if we can turn the wards back on it will draw them out. They have to manually turn them back off to let the wraiths back into the complex so we can jump them before they do." He would turn his attention to Aiden and grip his shoulder. Well shit this was going to be super awkward but at least they had a much better chance now. Though since this was his first time in the dream he probably didnt know much about the magic here. Like at all.
"'Kay quick run through. Um so I may have snuck into your bedroom and may have accidentally pulled you into one of my nightmares. So yeah. Theres that. On the plus side you seem to be way stronger than your dream version was so like... thats nice. Oh also magic here works weird. Like most stuff is incantation based and for some reason its always in latin. But like if you are strong you can use basic scrolls here like superpowers kind of? Like energy balls and telekinesis and stuff. Everything else you just kinda wing it with spell casting. Oh hey I have a beginner spell book on the bookshelf. It should help with some basic shit like healing and stuff."
He was totally right. Not far from the entrance of the shared residence was a book called Babys First Spellbook. It had ten basic spells that would probably come in handy. They were simple one or two word spells. The three spells that would stand out would be sana which is a healing spell; protego which is a protection spell; and fractura or shatter/break. Well hopefully Aiden knew a little latin though any general scrolls he had access too would work super well as superpowers. Time to go.
“You said it first!” Aiden returned with a shrug. They were all just here acknowledging the absurdity of this situation apparently. He shrugged before Charani agreed to him following. Oh- Well good! That’d been easier than he had anticipated if he was being quite honest. “Well…ok ten. That’s settled.” Good enough for him to be honest. The explanation was bit of an overload and he had to blink a couple of times sputtering out half phrases as he understood exactly what the guy was saying to him. “Cool we kill ‘im- You broke into the estate?! What the f-?! Latin?? Basic-??” In short, he was doing his best to be quick about it and while they couldn’t discuss it now, there’d be a long fucking conversation afterwards when this was over.
Aiden looked over the spellbook, grateful and a little annoyed. It meant it when it said Baby’s First Spellbook. The old cover was a little dark but he could still tell it was supposed to be some type of eggshell color with pastel green lettering and pale yellow magic sparkles covering the background. The corners were a bit nicked here and there and as he flipped through eyes scanning through basic diagrams, most of with only a few words of straightforward explanation and the inclusion of ‘practice makes perfect!’. Well, alright then. “Fantastic. I feel ready to commit premeditated homicide.” He stated tucking the book under his arm to keep close while his other hand carried the skillet.
He lamented the lack of shoes but didn’t question it and instead shoved a pair of spare crystals into each of his pockets and followed his friend out. The screaming still persisted but their floor seemed quiet, for now. He silently closed the door behind them. No need to possible alert the witch they were on the move. He let Charani take the lead, considering he was far more knowledgeable about this. He wanted to ask if this was what kept him from sleeping? Then again this wasn’t the nightmares he had shared. They weren’t the ones he remembered. That had been a different experience entirely. This one had been misleading sure, and a little stressful, but the other one was just instantaneous death without rhyme or reason. Here, a bad witch was hunting them down. There, people were just eviscerated because they could be. He ran over the simple spells in his head again burning them into his memory. He hoped fractura worked on anything.
"It was surprisingly easy to get in. Plus nobody answered the door when I knocked..." That was to be discussed later though. Right now it was go time. There was a back set of stairs that should get them to the first floor at least. The elevator was out thanks to the power being shut off... plus it made a lot of noise.
"Theres some stairs down this hall here that can take us to the first floor. Then we just need to make it to the back of the building and hope they dont sense us so we can get to the basement door. Its usually guarded so we just need to take out the guard and turn on the wards." Charani was of course whispering these instructions to Aiden as the made their way towards the stairs. There was a large door that seemed kind of heavy duty. With a creek theyd be in. Thankfully they hadnt made it up to their floor yet.
The stairs were dimly lit but there was two guards stationed near the first floor and the second floor doors. With the crystals it should conceal them from the Wraiths as long as they were quiet.
"Just stick close." He would try to be as quiet as possible as they descended down the stairs. They would just need to make it to the very bottom and take out the two guards on the stairs or distract them at least so they could slip past. Then slip past the wraiths in the halls slaughtering dream people and make it to the basement. Easy peasy.
“Probably ‘cause it was the middle of the night.” He whispered back, sticking as close as he could without the risk of accidentally tripping or bumping into him. As they kept moving he tried to keep any possibly noise making to a minimum. Once Charani finished up he whispered a quick, “Got it, boss.” And settled into position at the rear, though this wasn’t that big of a formation to begin with but whatever. Taking out some guard would be easy enough. With all the noise from all the other dream people dying, no one would notice a missing wraith. In fact, he gathered it might even be sad that it’s missing out on all the mass murder.
He eyed the wraiths on the second door. They might come to aid the ones on the first floor if they made too much noise. So much for Knockerbacker. As they encroached in the entrance to the first-floor hallway he paused before eyeing the door. It looked simple enough. Maybe a bit noisy but… with the right distraction they might just make it through. What was wraith hearing like? He didn’t want to find out. He waited for Charani’s input before setting a plan into action not wanting to attract a target so quickly. They needed to get to the basement without a following or it’d be obvious they were laying a trap there.
He tried to stay close to the walls, figuring the wraiths would move in the most direct way possible. He wasn’t breathing hard just yet but being so close to the monsters was starting to set him on edge. If he tried to fight now though, they’d probably be overwhelmed in minutes. He nudged Charani’s elbow in silence hoping to extend the sentiment of, ‘ready when you are but also I have a back up maybe?’ Kind of complicated but they’d dream fucked a lot so they were basically the same person now right?
The wraiths didnt seem to notice them sneaking at least. It was probably because of all the noise just behind the doors. Especially on the second floor as that seemed to be where the bulk of the forces were at the moment. What would be the easiest way past the guard?
The other boy nudged him like he had an idea but he didnt elaborate. The just had to be very quiet even with their whispers. He could disintegrate them of course but that would probably draw attention to them and put the witch on high alert. Maybe open the door above them so the first floor guards go to help the ones above them?
"Any ideas? I could open the door above and hopefully draw them upstairs so we could slip past? Or we could put them to sleep but I dont have that much sleeping powder with me." Charani was of course whispering as quietly as possible to Aiden. They could of course just use telekinesis to knock them away or out and rush inside. They still couldnt see them and if they were quick they could be far enough away it would be hard to track them. As long as the witch wasnt on the other side of the door of course.
"Whatever we are doing we need to do it fast." They had a limited time to do this before they died or the dream reset by itself. He wasnt sure. Anyways time to get through that door one way or another. The two wraiths each had knives in their hands. They looked different from the couple before though.
Post by aiden emerson on Nov 24, 2018 21:48:08 GMT
[attr="class","wonwoo"]
Aiden paused, staring at his friend for a moment before he spoke, which he then stopped remembering he needed to keep quiet. “Actually…that’s way simpler than exploding a brick on a wall away from us.” Probably easier to do if they could see the second-floor door versus a faraway brick they’d have to visualize. “Do the door thing, we can save the powder for the witch maybe?” he whispered back. He wasn’t too worried about the first floor. As the bulk of the forces worked their way up to their floor, he imagined that witch was with them, disabling any minor protection’s they found. To what end though? It still bugged him. Dreams were usually stories, and while this one had taken some extreme turns he kind of wanted to know the reasons behind it. On the other hand, Charani had alluded to this happening multiple times. He would do his best to keep it from happening again. Let the guy sleep already, shitty subconscious.
“I’ll back you up.” He added, going the other boy a thumbs up before glancing over at the wraiths, shadowy forms and tendrils and all giving off an unnatural vibe. They really did give off the feeling of things that could harm witches. It was like the poisonous animals that were also brightly colored. OR well, maybe that was wrong. Wraiths didn’t look like they needed to ward off predators. If anything, they looked built to hunt as weird as thinking about a creature like these as hunters. Then again, what other reason would it have to try to come at him and Charani with a knife?
Dream logic. Then again, this wasn’t his dream anyway surprisingly enough. Maybe that was why he was so weirdly lucid. He wanted to be able to believe there was a reason he was unfortunate enough to wake up to this when he was trying to rest. Bonding exercise wouldn’t cut it either.
They had to make their move quickly. He wasnt sure if time running out was a thing? Better safe than sorry. With a wave of their super powered telekinesis Charani would slam open the door above them. The guards would stare above them and start making their way above to see what is happening.
The boy nudged his companion so they could go through the door on the first floor. With a slight creek they would be inside the hallway. There were body parts and mutilated corpses lining the hall. Blood was everywhere. It was like they were torn apart by rabid dogs.
"Huh. There arent as many thing time... strange..." Charani was of course whispering as quietly as possible to Aiden. There were not nearly as many bodies as there usually was. There were wraith creatures that looked... less than human chowing down on a few corpses but otherwise they were mostly alone. They would make their way to the basement door with relative ease.
"Okay. This is the door... you ready?" The door would open with a soft click when Aiden gave the signal. The stairs down looked old and horror movie like. The basement area was pretty far down and the floor made of cold dirt. It felt strange against his toes. There were scattered guard bodies around what looked to be three small orbs on pillars and a circle of broken crystals.
