User:Double Slap/Sandbox

I thought we were going to a better place. How wrong I was. Traveling from blistering winds to scorching sands, the fish is completely baked. I quickly devour the fish as I follow across the vast expanse of endless sand dunes. As hot as it may be, it is bearable. Perhaps it is due to this fractured crown I've got on my head. Nevertheless, I grow skeptical do not see our destination anywhere in sight.

"Where could you possibly be taking me in this desert wasteland?"

"We're going to the Oasis of Dawn."

"Ah, an oasis! That's refreshing."

"Well, this is not your average oasis. It has rejuvenative and hardening properties for swordsmithing."

"Awesome! I guess this sword of mine won't be so useless after-"

"We're not using that sword."

...

"What?"

"The main goal is not to forge a sword, but rather contain a portable seal."

"A seal? A seal for what?"

"A seal for you."

...

"What?"

"From that incident earlier, I noticed something peculiar." states as he turns to me. "In a way, my first hypothesis was correct. You are being protected by the World Rune."

"How is that possible? I went insane!"

"That you did, but it's not your sanity that is being protected. It is your physical form."

...

"What?"

"I went under the false assumption that your ghoulish power was the reason why you are physically stable. However, upon seeing that..." shudders for a moment. That was a terrifying experience after all. "I concluded that the ghoulish power within you is voraciously transforming you into a monster. When you utilize your might without the crown, it is extremely draining on your body. As a response, the World Rune gathers to quench that ghoulish power."

"..." I muttered. "Could that be what I felt?"

"What is it?" probes.

"So, how is a seal going to be good enough for this issue?"

grimaces at the question. "I do not know."

...

"What?"

"Ok, you can stop it with that. I'm grasping at straws here." lashes out at me. "I just want to avoid a cataclysm and the solution is not as simple as I thought."

"So, what made you think of coming to this bland place?"

"Well..." stands on top of a dune and asks, "Would you believe me if I said we are already here?"

I look around and see the same exact barren wasteland. An endless stream of sand dunes supported with the vast white sandstorm that surrounds us.

"You mean, the Oasis of Dawn?"

"That's right."

...

''"This isn't refreshing at all!" ''

"Never said it was." states as he slides down the sand dune. "However, does this sandstorm seem peculiar to you?"

"Now that I think about it, this is a fairly white sandstorm," I reply looking him in the eye. "Heck, even though it is raging this much, I can still see you clearly."

"Right you are! That's because this is not a sandstorm." proclaims with a smile soon turning into a heavy grimace. "This is a World Rune."

...

"WHAT?!"

"I already told you to stop it with that. This is a World Rune, the only one I let slip past me."

"How could you let this giant slip past you?"

"Simple." lets out a sigh and asks, "Can you think of a way to capture this thing?"

I look again at how huge the sandstorm is, engulfing as far as the eye can see.

"Nope."

shrugs when I reply. "Neither could I."

"Fair enough..." I nod as I scout around. "So this is the Oasis of Dawn, huh?"

"Yes, well specifically that." directs my attention to a shallow basin, devoid of any liquid.

I walk to the center of the basin. I finally have a grasp of the situation, and I have a plan.

Zara stood in the center of the basin, pondering on something as he examined the surroundings.

"..." Zara mutters as he looks down on the cracked dusty basin with a crestfallen gaze.

Looking to me Zara asked for reassurance, "So, you said that to quench the thirst of this curse I bear, my crown gathers to control it?"

"Well, not so much as control." I replied to the notion that whatever forces he holds could ever be controlled. "Rather, appeasing it so it does not go rabid." As harsh as it sounds, I am relieved that Zara believes it to be a curse rather than a blessing like the others I have encountered with World Runes.

After an eerie pause in discussion, Zara took his crown and said, "Good enough for me," as he laid the crown in the basin. Almost instantaneously, black mist spewed out from Zara's visage and then from the rest of his body.

"Woah! What do you thi-"

I cut off my own statement as I saw the stalwart poise that seemed to emanate from his figure. Zara's figure reminded me of the exaggerated stature of heroes from Demacia, yet his calm disposition in the face of his crumbling life was equivalent to that of an Ionian monk enduring the harsh trials through meditation. This calm manner was further magnified as he took a seat within the dusty confines of the basin. Zara is meditating in the midst of all the chaos. However, I finally could see what he was doing as I looked past the basin and into the storm that surrounded us.

As the storm spewing out of Zara grew violent, the storm enveloping the entire desert regressed into a calmer state. I try to make sense of what is going on, but it is all happening too fast. The sands are shifting, the mist thickens, the basin overflows, but Zara sits still.

"RYZE!" Zara roars with a booming voice that echoes across the dunes.

"Bear witness to a World Rune in its true form."

I have no idea what Zara means, but I can swiftly see something building on the crown. A blue light emanating from the crown with a flowing stream of sand from the storm converging into a crystalline state. A gem of pristine. It swiftly grows larger, expanding to heights greater than monuments.

"Is this the true form of a World Rune?"

In response, Zara took his moldy ornate sword in the arm he still had and began to chisel the monumental that laid before him.

"What are you doing? You will break the World Rune within!"

"FOOL!" Zara bellows with a sundering voice that caused the dunes to shift.

"Are you too blind to see it? You are well versed with are you not?" Zara hollered as she continued to chip piece by piece of the large crystal.

"I am, but-"

"Then you should very well know this fact." Zara interjected as he cracked a massive piece of the crystal. "The World Rune does not simply gather ..."

With one final blow on the crack Zara proclaimed, "IT IS ! " as the tremendous chunk crashed into the ground.

I am completely taken aback by this huge piece of information and how Zara was even aware of it before I ever did, but then I had a terrifying realization.

"Wait, but why are you destroying the World Rune? It prevents that force from overtaking you, why would you go out of your way to destroy it?"

"Destroying? Do you really think that is what I am doing?" Zara asks with a disgruntled tone.

Upon further inspection, all of the he chipped off disappeared. The only one I saw was the gigantic chunk and it seemed to be growing smaller, as if it was dissolving into the basin. Wait, dissolving?

"You are offering your World Rune to the Oasis of the Dawn?"

Zara nods in response, but I cannot understand his logic.

"Why would you do such a thing?" I asked and Zara's visage grew grim. "We are not even sure if the Oasis of the Dawn can even aid you, we don't even know how! Why would you risk your life when we came here to try and save your life?"

Zara ceases his methodical chiseling and a deafening silence cuts between us...

I can't help but feel anguish as I witness what Zara has become. The mist has completely overtaken him. His body is pitch black, and the outlines of his face was not even present--as if the mist devoured his entire head. Zara would not even be able to wear the crown that was important enough to be a constellation deemed worthy of the scrolls' recording. I could tell that Zara pinned all of his hopes and dreams into the success of this endeavor. I could tell that Zara is willing to throw his life away for this oasis. I could tell that there something about this was very important to him. I couldn't tell you what his reason was at the time. However, his answer was something too noble for me to fathom before this event.

"Why would I deny my water to the dying?"

Taken aback by Zara's response, I could only listen as I saw his mist slowly consuming him.

"You said that travelers came to sharpen their blades and heal the wounded." I nod in confirmation. "Where are they now?"

Upon further thought, I did not even think to question why the Oasis of the Dawn became inactive. There were no reports of vandalism and from what I've seen it does not seem like anyone ruined this place but time. It was just the mysterious storm that enveloped this entire land that crumbled the entire nation.

"You may not hear it, but I can." Zara knelt down and pressed his hand on the basin and continued saying, "The numerous cries of the fallen who have resided here long ago. It is horrifying."

If I remembered, a vast metropolis used to reside in this area. The scrolls have shown it enveloped in a great storm, could this be what it was referring to?

"However..." Zara carried on, breaking my train of thought. "All of their cries converge here. To this dried up oasis. They are reaching to me, clinging to this basin. Clinging to the one thing that I know very well..."

"What is that?" I ask, awaiting his response. Turning to me he says a single word that I expected all to well.

"Hope."

Raising his ornate sword once more, Zara continues to chisel the crystal before him. " may quench my thirst, but will sustain their life."

Despite all my worries, I take ease in his bold reason. It is something that I myself have avoided for far too long. Suddenly, I witness perhaps the most divine thing I have ever seen in my entire life. began pouring from the skies above. Drops of light crystalline spheres enveloped in a droplet of liquid descending from the sky like  lamenting in the selfless resolve that I have had the fortune to bear witness to. This play that is cast before me reminds me of the resolve I had for my master a long time ago. No, this far transcends that resolve into a need for complete devotion. I would have never expected to find such strong will in a being of the underworld.