[OPEN-In Progress]Blue Mage, Blue Mage, Where Have You Been?
Who:Jace Beleren [meddling_mage],Haruhi Fujioka [haruhifujioka],Anita Blake [a_necromancer]
WhereThe Library
When:The Present
Rating:G to PG at best
Summary: Jace thought he got out, only to get back in.
the Story:
W-W-When….When is a raven like a writing…d-desk….
Jace could feel the madness. It had begun as a dull buzzing in the back of his brain, a mere annoyance as he wandered the white expanse with nothing but his shadow to keep him company. Above, light shown from an unseen source. Ahead, no visible horizon allowing him to distinguish where he was going from where he’d already been. He’d tried to pull the fabric of reality, to change something, anything, but in vain. There was nothing to feel here. No ether, no mana, none of the myriad names for matter that shaped the universe. It was a place of nothing, a true nowhere.
He had suspected that perhaps after so much poking and prodding he might end up in a place like this. A holding cell of sorts, where he could be kept until the Queen decided what to do with him. However, there had been no pattern to those who stayed and those who went in Wonderland, at least none that he could discern. As far as he could tell, the Queen hated them all with equal prejudice. Perhaps this was instead, not a cell, but a crack between worlds that he’d fallen into, a vacant lot between planes.
Shuddering he pulled his cloak closer around him. Though it was neither hot nor cold, Jace had been having cold chills, his tunic soaked with sweat, which in his desperation for water, he attempted to suck out. His throat was dry and cracked and water was a mere memory.
Chessboard Hills. They were a new addition to Wonderland, the memories of one of its long term residents crystallized. This cried out for analysis. Unlike the rest of the inhospitable land, this piece was made of something different. Perhaps, due to its intrinsic tie to Alice, there would be in the underlying structure something that still remembered that it was part of the world outside. If Jace could get a hold on that elusive substance, that thread of reality, there was a chance he could open a passage to Alice’s homeworld.
Having spent months debating with himself whether or not to trust this hypothesis, the mage had finally set out for the hills, only to be caught in the surrounding blizzard. Even with the added moisture in the air to boost his magical ability, he’d been unable to wrench open more than a rabbit hole sized portal. The very act had sapped all of his strength and caused him to black out.
Upon awakening he found himself in the whiteness. And here he had remained, starving, dehydrating, and going mad. There was no up or down, forward or back, day or night, no order. Nothing changed. And for a mind that thrives on change it was maddening.
Finally, unable to remain upright any longer he curled onto his side, whimpering.
W-Will you…w-wont you….will you…wont you…willyouwontyou…joy-join the dance?
A familiar smell wafted to his nose. The smell of leather, and paper, and ink. Of newsprint and parchment and cheap glue. A smell he knew. A beloved familiar thing. He felt hope well within him, reached out a hand and pulled with every fiber of his being.
Somewhere in the very back the Mansion library a bookcase veritably exploded. Jace was home, such as it was.
[NOTE: The Queen has NOT done anything to Jace officially. He may believe she has. Wonderland has simply made his power not work according to plan. Now he's a bit crazy.]
WhereThe Library
When:The Present
Rating:G to PG at best
Summary: Jace thought he got out, only to get back in.
the Story:
W-W-When….When is a raven like a writing…d-desk….
Jace could feel the madness. It had begun as a dull buzzing in the back of his brain, a mere annoyance as he wandered the white expanse with nothing but his shadow to keep him company. Above, light shown from an unseen source. Ahead, no visible horizon allowing him to distinguish where he was going from where he’d already been. He’d tried to pull the fabric of reality, to change something, anything, but in vain. There was nothing to feel here. No ether, no mana, none of the myriad names for matter that shaped the universe. It was a place of nothing, a true nowhere.
He had suspected that perhaps after so much poking and prodding he might end up in a place like this. A holding cell of sorts, where he could be kept until the Queen decided what to do with him. However, there had been no pattern to those who stayed and those who went in Wonderland, at least none that he could discern. As far as he could tell, the Queen hated them all with equal prejudice. Perhaps this was instead, not a cell, but a crack between worlds that he’d fallen into, a vacant lot between planes.
Shuddering he pulled his cloak closer around him. Though it was neither hot nor cold, Jace had been having cold chills, his tunic soaked with sweat, which in his desperation for water, he attempted to suck out. His throat was dry and cracked and water was a mere memory.
Chessboard Hills. They were a new addition to Wonderland, the memories of one of its long term residents crystallized. This cried out for analysis. Unlike the rest of the inhospitable land, this piece was made of something different. Perhaps, due to its intrinsic tie to Alice, there would be in the underlying structure something that still remembered that it was part of the world outside. If Jace could get a hold on that elusive substance, that thread of reality, there was a chance he could open a passage to Alice’s homeworld.
Having spent months debating with himself whether or not to trust this hypothesis, the mage had finally set out for the hills, only to be caught in the surrounding blizzard. Even with the added moisture in the air to boost his magical ability, he’d been unable to wrench open more than a rabbit hole sized portal. The very act had sapped all of his strength and caused him to black out.
Upon awakening he found himself in the whiteness. And here he had remained, starving, dehydrating, and going mad. There was no up or down, forward or back, day or night, no order. Nothing changed. And for a mind that thrives on change it was maddening.
Finally, unable to remain upright any longer he curled onto his side, whimpering.
W-Will you…w-wont you….will you…wont you…willyouwontyou…joy-join the dance?
A familiar smell wafted to his nose. The smell of leather, and paper, and ink. Of newsprint and parchment and cheap glue. A smell he knew. A beloved familiar thing. He felt hope well within him, reached out a hand and pulled with every fiber of his being.
Somewhere in the very back the Mansion library a bookcase veritably exploded. Jace was home, such as it was.
[NOTE: The Queen has NOT done anything to Jace officially. He may believe she has. Wonderland has simply made his power not work according to plan. Now he's a bit crazy.]