The Impervious Door

At this time, a woman walked forward, approaching the others and the door. Dressed in a dress fit for a cleric type, she kept her eyes closed as she impeccably stepped up to the door, past the others. Stopping before the door, she clasped her hands together and began muttering in an unknown language, though it did not sound pretty. Not once opening her eyes, she lifted her head as if observing the door, her arms returning to her side as she took a position to the side of the room, where she would stand and wait.

"There is a strange energy present here. All of you must exercise caution once we enter."

With almost as little warning, the woman would spawn a staff out of the air, and stamp it on the ground, vanishing in a flash of light.

"Strange presence indeed," Casren looked around at everyone present, taking in the crowd. Given the amount of strange people from strange lands drawn to this door, there was something so big in the works that even his immortal self couldn't fathom.

"Ready to begin?" Casren looked to the captain with surprise, then to the drill, then to the captain again, "Where's the ah, other?"

As if on cue, the eyes of the door again projected green beams to the holes in the ground.

"Hey, you." Havasikaji went up to the person who had just spoken, who appeared to be a young man with long strawberry blonde hair and the faint aura of a corpse around him, and tugged impolitely on his arm. "Can you or someone else explain what the hell is going on in this damn place?" she asked in her thick accent.

The heads-up display in Integra's eye-patch quickly tagged everyone present. An undead which was probably a vampire due to his uncannily human appearance, an arcanist, a hitman, an elementalist, and a creature made up mostly of quintessence that took the form of a girl. Whats with Quintessence and pretending to be girls...

Integra stifled a yawn as the undead approached him, questioning about the lizard he'd left orbiting Pramia. "You know how lizardfolk are, slow. He'll be here eventually." He undid the stopper on his flask and took a long swig, enjoying the bite of alcohol as it ran down his throat.

"Can you or someone else explain what the hell is going on in this damn place?"

Blackheart knelt down, placing his amulet in the spot that the door pointed to, and spoke plainly to the elementalist. "It's a door, there are key-holes. I have one of the two keys. Get both keys, door opens. Not much else to it." Maybe he oversimplified it, but that was the gist of it.

The eye flashed bright green as it was inserted into it's place in the floor. The green beam of light was sent from door to eye, the Emerald Eye Pendant refracting the light skyward. The beam of light grew in strength and brightness, comparable almost to a quasar, as it shot straight through the hole in the ceiling and made contact with Sol high above.

Aoi watched from a bit further away from the others, well within the distance needed to reach it in only a few seconds for him, but far enough to watch from a distance with extreme interest. And more importantly, listen. Aoi made use of his exceptional hearing, and decided to listen in on everything from a distance, even going so far to take off the headphones he had specially made for him.

"Well well, this looks like it could get interesting...and the rewards are so high in potential...I wonder what I will buy this time..."

While thinking those thoughts, and watching the others as they discussed the door, the door began to speak itself...Aoi decided to specifically listen to the door now, and since it was making sounds on his own, he might be able to gather more data on it. Density, mass, possibly even material if it was unique enough.

Aoi took up a closer position, not really going out and introducing himself and not overly noticable. However, his main focus at the moment would definently be the door in front of him.

"If its really sturdy, then there definitely has to be great treasure ahead...."

Incidentally, Aoi was rather greedy and ambitous, having made a name for himself in certain circles...very few of them legal.

Havasikaji slowly nodded her head at the pirate's explanation. "Why do we need keys, though? Couldn't we all just try to blast down this door with our combined strengths?" She then muttered to herself, "I could probably do it on my own..."
"And also, what exactly do these keys look like? Where can we find them?"

Casren Bistreo pointed to the great green beam of light.

"The keys," He explained with a bit of excitement, "are the Emerald Eye Pendants. One of them was already here, and the other...Er," Casren turned to the pirate, "Where did you find it, anyhow?"

Out of the corner of his eye, the vampire watched bemused as yet another inspected the door.

Blackheart nodded towards Casren, "Funny story actually. I picked it up as a fancy brooch from a general store. It wasn't until it started yelling at me that I realized the importance of it." Irral was taking his sweet time, and by now the Captain had gotten bored.

He found a nearby wall, sitting down with his back resting on it. He flicked the lid off his flask, having a slow drink of the whiskey within. The newcomer was nearly famous in underground circles, the HUD in his eyepatch labeled the young child as Dark Sparrow, a hired assassin. "Cheers mates! I'm sure the gecko will be here soon." Not like he's engaged with the Aschen or anything! He chuckled, enjoying his aged whiskey.

"It? You mean the pendant, or the general was yelling at you? Just curious, cause I have met a few robot generals who would fall under the it category" Aoi asked, sitting cross legged on a rock behind Blackheart. Wait, just when did he get there? Well, that was his little secret, and if asked, he probbly would not explain it. At least, not yet. But he expressed an almost innocent like curiosity.

Aoi had decided to go with this for two reasons. One, he wanted to introduce himself before the door opened. He figured if he didn't, the people around might get suspicious. Besides, he was aware two people had noticed him. Its not like he was being overly stealthy, but a normal person wouldn't have noticed so he figured these people could have some talent.

He had no interest in a suicide mission after all, at least not an unneccessary one.

He then turned towards Casren with a smile. "You seem to know a lot about this door, gramps. Have you already explored it? Anything that might give us enough shock to stop a heart from beating...or maybe, make it start beating again?"

Admittedly, Aoi knew almost nothing about the people before he arrived. He had heard rumors of Blackheart, but Casren sort of interested him. After all, he didn't hear the usual heartbeats he got from everyone else. He considered vampire, but in a multiverse as large as this one, he couldn't be certain it was not something else. Zombies, some immortals, a few gods even, or so he heard.

"Of course, oen of us could always try to pick the lock if we felt impatient...but personally, I dont feel like upsetting that thing or doing soemthing unneccessary that will probably end with all of us dead...or re-dead".

Havasikaji narrowed her eyes at the young, blue-haired teenager who just seemed to sort of... appear. "Where did you come from, boy?" she asked. Then she turned to the others in the room, and said, "And for Satan's sake, why hasn't anybody put in the other key yet?! All we've being doing is making small talk and sitting on our thumbs! Can we just move on!!!" She stood there, fuming and huffing.

Casren laughed at the outburst of impatience, his fangs showing for all to see.

"Well, you see, the other eye was here, but it departed shortly after we found it. Goodness knows why we didn't insist upon it staying here. According to, er, what was your name again?" Casren addressed the pirate, "The other eye should return shortly. By the way, where is the other eye?"

The ground shook as Irral slammed into the earth, standing from his kneeling position, the portal closing behind him. The Dragon's Human body shook as he took in a breath, and he continued to glow, the sounds of wounds healing under his armor audible. The Second Eye hung around his neck still, glowing madly now that it was close to the door. Squaring his shoulders, Irral's back popped loudly, and he shuddered. His Lance was held in one hand, and with his other hand he removed the Emerald eye, holding it up to the door, slowly walking towards it.

He wasn't planning to stick around, however. Once the door was open, he was going to return to his own realm, and heal after his battle with the Aschen.

"Ha! The Second Eye! It is there!" Havasikaji pointed to the armored man who'd appeared with the Second Eye. "I like this man! He's much more useful than all you guys!"
Havasikaji sat on a rock and took out some jerky, chewing on it. "At least now we can get on with this damn adventure," she muttered to herself in her native language.

Irral ported in, obviously worse for wear due to engaging the Aschen. Integra grinned, standing up and polishing off the last of his flask. "Oi, look who finally arrived! Took ya long enough." Turning to the undead, he smiled "Speak of the devil and he shall appear, eh? The reptile here has the second pendant. Gods know what took so long."

Stretching out his muscles which had began to grow inactive due to the long period sitting, Blackheart snapped his fingers, prompting the undead Servitors to stand at the ready, weaponry locked onto Irral. Three gauss cannons, eight power swords, three laser rifles, four modified rotary autocannons, and one magitech cannon, all ready to light up the wounded dragon should he make a threatening move.

The elementalist said something about the dragon being useful, "Ironic," the Captain chuckled, considering they'd been waiting on Irral for sometime now. Even the door seemed impatient now. "Long time no see Gecko, you look well. Place the pendant so we can get started, M'lord."

"Blackheart my love," The AI chirped in his ear, "The Aschen retreated, presumably they will be here soon once they're better mobilized." Blackheart sent back non-verbal confirmation.

From outside lumbered a rather odd sight. One who, unlike Jennifer and Casren, was able to force the main gates open with sheer strength and a loud creaking sound not long after the green light shot up into the air.

It seemed to stand like a massive snowman, half again as tall as a normal human, moving on a snakelike tail of blackened snowballs. On its back was a massive frozen claymore, easily longer than a human was tall, and the haft was the length of a man's arm. A tattered, faded black T-shirt was stretched over its huge chest, with "Gambit's Bar" barely being able to be made out.

"What in the name of the Ice Lord is going on here? I just hope there's still some fun to be had for myself."

Apparently forgotton about and ignored, Aoi watched for now as all the pieces went into place, and the door as it reacted. It seemed that it was finally showtime, but from what he had seen he would not be surprised if half this group would end up dead.

That said, this new...being...seemed sort of interesting. A being made completely out of ice, and what from what he understood was probably a Dragon. To be honest, he had never really been in the pressence of a Dragon yet, so he found it interesting. To heat the thump thump, beat beat of a Draconic Heart...to hear it resonate.

Aoi had a bit of a thing for melodies and music, due to his sensitive hearing.

The Dragon didn't seem like it was sticking around, but this popcicle seemed like it would. Aoi could use this, he seemed like someone who could take a hit, or fifty.

"Well now, it looks like you made it right on time. We have not begun the party just yet, but don't worry, I think everyone here should make for a good group...that said, did I miss the part where everyone introduced themselves already? My name is Aoi, Aoi Azul, professional treasure hunter. You can call me Aoi, Aoi-kun, or however you might say it where you are from".

While he said that, Aoi made sure to listen to how they answered, to try and learn more about them. On the surface, people could fake voices pretty well, but Aoi could pick up things that no one else could with his hearing. He could hear the slightest traces of doubt, and sometimes if they were already thinking about it, he could even pick up hidden malicous intent...like the intention to betray their comrades, based on how they responded.

Of course, being able to hear heartbeats at a distance was very useful for that as well.

That said, from waht he could see, there was still a critical issue with this group currently...though the fact that Casren had not pointed it out either also interested him.

"So then, unless anyone wants to back out now, shall we proceed?"

In the skies above the collenham mountains, a ripple of thunder echoed through the mountains.

Then, through the clearing above the chamber where the Impervious door sat, a flash of multicolored light filled the room with brilliant rainbow colors, followed by an even louder thunderclap.

The flash culminated to a vortex, which flashed brilliantly, a figure in sleek, all black armor emerged, it’s face completely obscured by a glossy black helmet and visor. What betrayed the figure’s identity, was the sleek, compact disruptor PDW that was held in the low ready position while the figure moved forward, energy shields rippling a faint shimmering blue across the figure’s armor.

Another flash, and a second figure emerged, it’s PDW too held in the low ready position, it took position immediately to the left of the first figure, and then crouched on one knee.

A third flash, revealing a third figure, this one sported a full sized Type 53 disruptor rifle, modified with some sort of emitter attatched to the underside of it’s barrel, an emitter that, to the magically sensitive would seem unsettling, emanating anti-magical energies that while not outright suppressing or anti-magical, a keen sense could impart that this particular weapon dealt enhanced damage to magical entities.

This figure moved immediately right, taking position near some stone outcroppings.

A fourth flash followed, a fourth figure in the same armor, sporting a subcomact MC-3 PDW, a newer Aschen styled weapon that fired magnetically accelerated projectiles, they took up position near the first two figures, moving to a crouched one knee position, weapon held at low ready.

A fifth and final flash revealed yet another sleek black armored figure, but this one seemed different, their figure obscured by a large jacket, which obscured two disruptor pistols holstered at their hips.

On close inspection, every one of these individuals sported all sorts of equipment, affixed to nylon, and kydex fasteners to their kanvium armor, from antimana grenades, to rucksacks strapped to their backs, every one of them looked like they were ready for a serious fight.

EVE’s voice chimed in Anquietas in the first figure’s ear.

“All assets in position, use extreme caution, one entity has been detected to have energy signatures matching that of an entity Classis I engaged in the Opsian’lik system.”

The lead figure sent a mental acknowledgement, before turning towards Irral.

It watched somewhat impatiently as he set the stone.

As the stone was set in place, Irral froze, letting the Emerald set itself as he turned his head towards Blackheart and his Servitors, and then further to observe the Aschen as they made their appearance. As the stone was set, Irral's Lance slide from its sheath to his hand. "Lower your weapons or perish. I will not ask again." He growled. His voice boomed and shook the ground, but he made no other movements.

This over-confident Pirate who insisted upon insulting him was getting on the Dragon's nerves to say the least. Who did he think he was? Speaking to a Dragon so casually? What in the name of the Light had this human's head so far up his own ass? Why did the Aschen likewise think they could contend with a Dragon? The metal of his gauntlet and lance groaned under his grip. By now his wounds from fighting the Aschen Fleet had mostly healed, and his damaged bones were being coated in calcium; hardening as the nerves likewise mended themselves, though with higher pain thresholds.

The pendant flashed bright green as Irral inserted it into it's place in the floor. The second eye of the Impervious Door flashed, projecting a second green beam into the eye on the ground. Like the first, the green beam of light was sent from door to eye, the Emerald Eye Pendant refracting the light skyward. The beam of light grew in strength and brightness, comparable almost to a quasar, as it shot straight through the hole in the ceiling and made contact with Sol high above.

A deafening silence blanketed the room. It was as if someone had turned off the sound.
The Impervious Door spoke again, the eyes in the door projecting beams into the eyes in the ground, which then projected beams into Sol high and far above.


It wasn't a trick of the eyes, though to most who noticed it would seem to be so, but for a brief moment Sol dimmed. It brightened again, almost immediately, and as it did it presented another beam. A third beam of pure light, which seemed to be all colors at once as well as none of them at all, shot from Sol into the cavern.

The beam of light came to rest on the mouth of The Impervious Door. In the pure light of Sol, the mouth of the door looked to be alive. This time it was definitely no trick of the light-the door's mouth was moving, slowly, opening, slowly. A great hum emanated from the opening mouth, a strong gust of air whooshing in to the mouth as if by force. As the lower lip of the door descended, the great green beams from eye to eye faded, followed by the great green beams from the eyes in the floor to Sol.

The ground shook as the door's lower lip completed it's descent. It's mouth was left gaping open, revealing a long, dark passage. At first, the entrance was illuminated, revealing smooth stone and expert craftsmanship. A second later, the great beam of disappeared down the throat of the door, the door swallowing it whole.

There stood open the Impervious Door, mouth gaping, eyes glowing.

A flaming portal opened as the door spoke and stepping out of it was a woman with glowing tattoos. She blinked looking at the crowd gathered around the door.

"Well what in the Nine Hells? I seem to be late to a party here..."

Selena looked around at the odd group and at the door suddenly wishing her portal hadn't just closed behind her. "So um who wants to tell me what is going on here?"

Things suddenly started happening all too fast for Havasikaji to follow. As the very helpful man was about to put the eye in, a bunch of soldiers suddenly appeared with weapons and trained their guns on them. Then there was a bunch of light and the door stood open.
Havasikaji looked at the odd group around her; soldiers, dragons, wizards, strange synthetic creatures, pirates, vampires, snow creatures and now some magical woman. This last one asked what was going on, and to her Havasikaji replied, "Honestly, lady? I don't even know anymore."
She did, however, assume a combative stance against the soldiers. Flames grew and licked along her forearms and hands until it looked like blades made of fire had been grafted to her arms.

"Woah there, people."

An older man suddenly appeared, walking directly and deliberately in the crossfire of all the weapons that were being pointed, seemingly without a care in the world of the consequences. He almost seemed to appear out of thin air, but a few careful observers would've notice him walk up just before the door opened.

The man looked to be about forty or fifty, with jet black hair tied into a messy ponytail behind him, a shaggy beard that barely seemed trimmed, calm black eyes that seemed to settle like dust, and a casual grin with a piece of straw hanging out of it. He wore a faded blue kimono and a ragged white belt tied around his waist. He wore leather gauntlets, gray pants, and soft gray shoes. The only threatening devices he seemed to carry on him was a Yumi Bow and some kind of sword sheathed on his waist, though neither was drawn. His hands were behind his back, palms open, and he turned to face all combatants, which made sure everyone could see that he had no kind of attack planned.

"You all may be jumping too quick," he stated simply, "You all see enemies, but I see many allies to be made here. Now I came to see what this green light was about, probably like many, if not all of you, have done. We all come seeking the same goal. That make us allies, right?"

He turned towards the door, a calm and steady gaze made enlightened by the green hue the door was letting off.

"My name is Akio. I'm a wanderer by trade," he continued, "And where I want to wander is through that door, preferably with more friends than enemies. You all should do the same."

And before anyone could ask him anything, before anything could be done, Akio the Wanderer casually walked towards the door...and went through it, disappearing behind the green veil that cast it's inviting shadow to the rest of them.

“Allies,” Casren reiterated, watching Akio closely as he was the first to enter the door. No harm seemed to come of him, but Casren did notice something strange. His night vision didn’t seem to work as well down the hall, as it did in the room. He could still see better than any mortal.

“The Door has been opened!” Casren announced, maneuvering to the center of the crowd. He looked to Selena and Havasikaji, addressing them first, “It seems there’s something going on here that is bigger than all of us,” Casren then turned to Irral with a wink, “Perhaps even bigger than you!”

He then turned to address who seemed to be the leader of the Aschen unit, “Impressive entrance, and welcome back to the party! Shall we lower our weapons?” Casren looked pointedly to the Pirate, “Shall we investigate what lies behind this door?”

There was a distant series of booms- and then a min closer quake, come from outside the Mountain Fortress. For those native to snowy areas, it would be the obvious sound of an avalanche. Casren froze in place as the light from where they entered from faded fast.

“Ack!” Casren dove as a giant pile of snow poured in through the open hole, narrowly missing him. The snow kept coming as the avalanche proceeded, forming a solid column of ice and snow, clogging the ceiling hole and officially trapping everyone inside.

Casren let out a chuckle, gave the room a bow, and turned his back on the rest. He passed under the green glow and began to walk after Akio down the hall.

As he progressed, he noticed his supernatural abilities were most certainly muted. Not altogether gone, but he was no longer at his full power. This worried Casren- but was no deterrent. He remembered his cell phone and took it out to provide light, only to find it completely inoperational. As was his watch, he noticed. Technology seemed to no longer work past the threshold of the door- and he wanted to take pictures! A pity.