[align=center]?? Folklore ??

One wouldn't believe that they had ended up in a fairy tale.

Once upon a time, you have.

 

There are those in the Netherworld that want to uprise and take over the land of the dead and the land of the living. Led by those from the Overworld, they have grown stronger and stronger.

There are still Messengers and others that can travel to the Netherworld that want to prevent this overrule and restore the balance.

Will both worlds live happily ever after?, or....

 

Rules:

Please, don't:

Bursting out laughing, and not trying to hide it because he knew Eliza was angry at Evany, Will looked between the three of them, expression full of barely surpressed glee at the confrontation. "I told you it was stupid, trying to hide-" he spluttered, in Evany's direction.

"Uweehee, that would be my fault," Scarecrow confessed. Whether his laugh was intentional or not, it did not matter.

Glaring at Will and Scarecrow for a second, Evany muttered, "Sorry..."

Despite being furious, Eliza sighed and glared at the horizon line, stated, "Geez, what is it with men and making everything into a problem?"

"Uh, hello? Like you've never made anything into a problem," Will responded. It would have been an argument, but there was still a laugh in his voice, his tone too light.

Eliza had no comback, so she simply stuck her tongue out as a response.

"Now that you're here," Evany addressed to Scarecrow (which irritated Eliza), "can you tell us how or when the portal appears?"

"Hmm..." Scarecrow began as he began to think. "... It's almost the twenty-first hour, I believe... Yes, that should be right."

"What time?" Evany asked.

"Oh, there is no time," Scarecrow said bluntly, making his whole talk about the time seemingly pointless. "It's here, as it has always been."

"... Where is it?" Eliza asked.

"It only appears to those who are confident that they are ready," Scarecrow explained.

Will's hand met his forehead with quite an audible smack. "You have got to be kidding me! We were waiting around for nothing?!" ...Scarecrow and Eliza didn't seem to be included in Will's mental list of what to bother waiting for. Then again, most things didn't. Pee breaks only just scraped in.

Scarecrow merely shrugged, saying, "I was almost positive that you two would've figured it out on your own without me. Quite sad..."

"That doesn't really help," Evany stated. "I mean, what are we supposed to do? Loudly declare that "We're ready"? I don't see how--"

Suddenly, it got silent. They looked up and saw that the lighthouse had stopped, placing a spotlight on the ground behind them. Slowly, like a plant growing, light blue strands of aura sprouted out of the ground. They curled, intertwining with each other, until a circular, decorated portal came to.

"... That's not even funny," Evany said, glaring at it.

"...Maybe if you'd bothered to explain a little, we could've found that out earlier," Will said, throwing a half-hearted glare at Scarecrow. "Instead of shoving just one riddle at us- the location- and expecting us to know EVERYTHING. I mean, what person in their right mind randomly announces how ready they are to thin air?!" He crossed his arms over his chest, then had to uncross them to be able to stand up. Which somewhat defeated the point, especially when he repeated the gesture once he was on his feet.

As Evany stood up, Eliza questioned Scarecrow, "Who makes these rules?"

"Don't look at me," he answered. "I haven't the slightest idea."

"Let's just go in," Evany said as he approached him. However, there was a light force that prevented him from taking another step forward. After a moment, a thought had occurred to him. Oh yeah, that's right, he thought I have to go with someone alive. Stepping aside, he stated, "Living people first."

Obviously not well accustomed to "ladies first", Will probably took Evany's statement as a replacement for such things, and all but barged past. "Looks like it doesn't like you much," he offered, lazily gesturing at the portal.

"You're one to talk," Evany countered, especially considering that Will personified the portal by giving it feelings.

"Bickering's fun and all, but we don't exactly have all the time in the world," Eliza remarked. Taking the first step, she went ahead and entered the portal first.

"Do I need to continue giving you two babysteps?" Scarecrow teased, since he didn't appear all that interested in tagging along.

"Ha-ha," Will directed a scowl towards first Evany, then back at Scarecrow. "What, planning on abandoning us to go hang out in the stupid pub, again? What do you manage to DO there, anyways? Although I guess you might be happy yapping along with all the idiotic stories the spirits tell in there."

 

Raiden came to, head pounding, sprawled under a few trees that gave very little cover other than dropping leaves and moss over him, it had seemed. With a groan, he rolled over, onto his front, struggling to move when his whole body ached. Even though the bruises had already faded, the memory of the beating he'd taken earlier still clung to him. Hearing a twig snap, he turned, face twisting when his sore muscles were forced to obey his instincts.

Though he was creepy-looking to begin with, Scarecrow's mood seemed to intensify. "Souls will be lost tonight," he stated. "Good, or bad, I know not. However, whatever it may turn out, destiny will come claim my soul." After a moment, the gloom instantly melted away as he exclaimed, "So of course I'll be living it out at the pub! Uweehee!"

Not wanting to know whether the creature was serious or not, Evany finally took notice that the force was now gone. It seemed to understand that he was with the living human that had entered. Great, even I'm personifying the portal, he thought before entering the portal himself.

"Urgh, fine..." Will resisted the urge to facepalm again. He hesitated, about to go through the portal, biting down a goodbye- and, after only a moment, mentally urged himself to pull it together, and stepped through without a word.

Upon entering the portal, the first thing one would notice was the spiral-like structure with steps. With closer examination, the next thing that would be noticable are the different levels as the spiral steps go up. The platforms were see-through, so the few folks from each realm were visible on them.

"Whoa..." Eliza breathed. "How tall is this thing?"

"Hopefully, not that much," Evany answered.

"Why, scared of heights, you two?" Will sniped, moving ahead, and starting to head up. Without slowing down or looking back, he added; "Might as well get started, or we'll be stuck at the bottom marvelling and never get anywhere."

"Yeah, let's get moving!" Eliza exclaimed, acting like a team supporter, as she followed Will.

Looking back up at the height of the spiral stairs for a moment, Evany trailed behind them.

 

At the Trees, s'Arina sat on her self-made throne, appearing to be relaxed. Then, Annabelle appeared next to her, stuttering, "s-s'Arina? They're here..."

s'Arina flashed open her eyes. She kept a content look on her face. "How is our little pet?" she asked.

"H-He's locked inside the 23rd level, just as you said," Annabelle answered.

"Is his father teaching him any respect?" s'Arina said, growing a smirk on her face. A measly pawn who wanted to control both worlds, yet for a selfish reason. It was worth keeping him on a leash. When Annabelle didn't answer (or she didn't pay attention; it didn't matter), she continued, "Go take post at the 19th level. I'm sure your dear Elizabeth will meet you there."

"Yes, ma'am," Annabelle said before she vanished.

Will found, to his surprise, that having an actual goal laid out ahead of him made it much easier to stay awake and alert. He didn't quite have the energy to speed up the steps, but he was walking at at least a steady pace. He glanced backwards, and rolled his eyes. "What's with that face, Evany?"

 

Raiden crawled into a sitting position, stunned that he was finding it hard to breathe. Which he knew was fairly ridiculous, since he was already dead.

"Urgh... H...Hello?!" He called out, voice cracking even though he wasn't nervous-more disorientated, and very frustrated about that.

Having a late reaction to hearing Will's question, Evany explained, "I don't know. I'm just having this bad feeling..." After a moment, he asked, "How high are we?"

Resisting to answer that as a crack question, Eliza answered, "We're almost on the 10th level." As they continued walking, she became shocked as she suddenly heard a faint, yet clear voice shouting. "Did you hear that?" Eliza asked.

"...Nice to keep up formalities, I suppose," Will stared upwards. "Although I doubt they can hear us coming. I can't see anybody, so I'm damned if they've seen us." He bit his lip. "Didn't think there was much in here, honestly. Scarecrow could've mentioned it..."

"Do you want to go back?" Evany asked teasingly. "We can go fetch Scarecrow to come hold your hand on the way."

 

On the way, Annabelle stopped at the 23rd platform. It was sealed, so that way nothing could get in, and nothing could get out. The only way that it would go away is if there was only one survivor in the platform. "Hello! Mr. Scary Man?" Annabelle called. "Are either one of you dead yet?"

Will's face flushed red, and he turned on his heel and started stomping up the stairs, faster than before. He didn't have anything to retort with, so he just, for once, kept his mouth shut.

 

There was a sigh. "And here I thought I was going to be allowed to enjoy this one. I don't see what the hurry is about- and it isn't my fault the boy keeps fainting. It makes killing him tiresome, waiting for him to wake up every time he passes out."

Raiden jolted, shoving himself to his feet, but he was barely standing before he stumbled, dropping to one knee. His legs were weak, shaking- and he didn't try to stand.

"P-please, just let me out!" he cried out, slamming a fist into the floor. The movement caused a wound near his shoulder to re-open, and he gasped in pain.

At the 12nd level, Eliza paused as she heard voices again. "There it is again," she declared.

Evany looked up, as he heard it too. "It's not that far, this time."

 

"Oh," Annabelle simply said, "I was just checking, is all." As she continued walking, she glanced at the 21st level. The half-dead girl that s'Arina had claimed before was still passed out in there. "It's almost sad," she said to the unconscious girl, "that you have to face your brother." She continued walking until she stood right outside the 19th platform.

Will didn't bother to acknowledge the voice; his eyes flickered up for a second, but he didn't comment or stop to look up properly. "Can we just hurry up already?" he snapped, voice on edge.

It wasn't their fault he was racing up the stairs and nearly leaving them behind.

 

"Aren't you even going to put up a fight, now? How disappointing."

"Shut up!" Raiden snapped, lurching forwards, only to wind up still on his hands and knees. As the footsteps approached, he squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth- and then he was caught by the throat and dragged upwards, feet kicking out uselessly as they left the ground.

He felt a stab of pain through his midriff that had nothing to do with anything his father had done that day; it was more of a memory of pain than anything else.

Anything he had to say choked off under his father's grip.

Eliza sighed as she attempted to catch up, passing the 13th level, 14th level, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th....

Eliza paused as she realized that she lost sight of Will. Looking behind her, she also saw that Evany had vanished. "Guys?" she called. "Where'd you go?" Looking back forward, she heard crying. Turning into what appeared to be a room, Eliza saw a little child on the floor, curled up into the fetal position. As she slowly approached the child, she became spooked as something shut behind her. She looked back to see that a barrier of some sort was up. When she looked forward again, in the child's place was Annabelle.

 

Evany had only dozed off for a second, but he realized that he was seprate from the other two. What puzzled him, however, was that even when he looked up, he couldn't see them at all. "Where did they go?" he muttered.

Will took a few minutes to realise things were oddly quiet. He couldn't even hear their footsteps behind him- and he'd purposely slowed down. He turned around, and froze, realising he was alone. "Oh, that's just great." He turned back and started trudging further up the stairs, hoping he would find them again if he kept going. Will thought he was seeing things, especially when, as he reached the... twentieth, twenty-first level? He hadn't been keeping count himself, not properly- he'd been relying on Eliza keeping track, and had only started trying to add up shortly after she and Evany disappeared. He stopped short, seeing the girl, familiar silver hair- and pulled his sword, pointing it at her. She mumbled in her sleep, stirring, and as he edged closer, he flinched when he heard the barrier slam behind him.

"Tess." He muttered the name, but she groaned in response, sitting up slowly and pushing her hair away from her face. When her eyes found Will, they lit up for a brief moment, before she realised he was looking at her with barely-contained loathing, and saw the sword.

"So, you came, huh? I thought I told you to forget about m-"

"I didn't come here to rescue you, Tessie," Will spat, cutting her off mid-sentence.

She nodded, ducking her head, avoiding his glare. Shying away from it, even.

"...I know that," Tess replied softly.

 

"How pathetic," Raiden's father (who has nooooo name.) said, watching his son's weak attempts to struggle against the hand choking him. "You must have realised by now how pointless fighting this is for you."

"Fighting what?" Raiden managed to force out. "You took my life away!"

"It wasn't much of a life to begin with." Raiden winced as his father tossed him aside, and he felt his arm crack under his body, when he landed on it awkwardly.

"Even if you escape from here alive, you won't have long if the messengers get their way. You don't really believe you can just get your life back because you helped one, do you?" Raiden cringed as his father laughed. "You'll be lost just like the rest of us."