This world is inhabited by creatures that we call pokemon. People and pokemon live together by supporting each other, but now the scourge threatens the safety of the entire region. Kohaku has become a dangerous place, where children stay at home and only brave souls go adventuring.
Welcome to KOHAKU. Come for the nightmares. Stay for the tea and crumpets.
The season is SUMMER. It is easy for survivors to forage for food from the land, as there are entire abandoned farms ready for harvest. On the downside, you can smell the corpses.
swarms
GRAND OPENING !
Welcome to KOHAKU REGION's grand opening! If you're interested in joining, come check out our grand opening giveaway!
Neo knew where she was, immediately as her consciousness arose from its reverie. She knew it by the whispers of a sweet voice, gentle like a summer wind but cold like death. The ghostly touch of the empty air lingered on her skin, made it shiver, made it crawl.
She felt weaker here, in dreaming than in person. Her slumbering mind manifested itself as a small fragile thing dressed in soft white with hair a myriad of colors. Neo appeared as she felt: like she might be break at any moment.
The room was beautiful a hundred years ago. Now all that remained were threadbare tapestries long since leeched of color and decaying furniture lined with ancient, coarse velvet.
Neo sat in front of a fully set table of dusty porcelain plates and fine crystal glasses, and she found herself unable to move--unable to leave.
the castle forlorn beckoned to him in strange times. 'she's back,' the land hissed and twisted, and led him into the castle. he had declined the offer, but the land did not take no for an answer. so he went in, walking the empty hallways of the castle and taking a left turn, then a right -- from the voices' descriptions he was able to tell where she was, and iskander managed to find her without too much trouble.
she was seated at the table, and he was standing in the doorway. he said nothing; this was a dream (nightmare) and nothing more than that. he wasn't supposed to be in castle forlorn. he knew the place like the back of his hand, but home for him was in juno, far away from everything.
he watched her from a comfortable distance -- him in the doorway, her at the table.
She saw him, and for a while, she watched him as he did her. The silence was almost a comfort. He was almost a comfort.
"You shouldn't be here," Neo finally said, her voice soft and breathy in her efforts to keep it steady.
What Neo meant by that, she didn't know--not exactly. Perhaps that he shouldn't have dreamed himself here, in this place? Or that Delta wouldn't be a person she'd conjure up for her own nightmares. She didn't know if he was real or just another hallucination.
he didn't seem to have the ability to speak in the dream world. words didn't come to him as easily as they did in the safety of the real world. things were also more difficult for him in the land of nightmares; the land had an uncanny way of bringing lost and buried memories up along with emotions he had sealed away. iskander leaned against the doorframe, having gotten tired of standing.
he kept an eye on neo at the table. he wondered if she was speaking the truth. he didn't remember coming to this strange land as a child. he didn't come here until he was older.
was i, he said, but there was no sound. instead he stood far and distant. i don't remember seeing you until lake pax. no sound, no voice. nothing.
When Delta didn't reply, she looked down at her plate. Neo wasn't sure what was on it, but it looked like a still-beating heart, either bleeding out of itself or doused in blood like béarnaise sauce. She wasn't going to eat that.
When she looked up, Delta was still there. He'd moved, although not by much.
In reality, Neo wouldn't have minded a silence. Here, it didn't feel as natural. Then again, nothing here felt natural.
iskander watched neo, and didn't know if he ought to shake his head or to nod it. perhaps he could try playing this off as a dream, or something along those lines. neo seemed to believe that he wasn't real.
he shifted slightly, and shook his head. leonida. neo. things were starting to come back to him, bit by bit. perhaps it was the land at work.
i don't know, he said, voicelessly. are you? another question without sound.
Neo could've sworn she heard him speak--but it wasn't hearing, and he hadn't spoken.
"We can find out."
She took up the knife next to the plate. It was an ancient heirloom, it seemed, and its good steel didn't show even a hint of rust, although the handle was nearly ash and dust.
She brought the edge of the knife to her wrist and slashed it open.
< 50 it bleeds < 50 it hurts
Her wrist opened, now host to a gaping black wound, but no blood, no pain.
iskander watched her wordlessly. you're hurt, he said. but this isn't real, is it? he didn't know if it was his thoughts that he was saying or someone was merely engineering his words. he moved towards her and took her hand in his.
his skin was cold to the touch, and he felt as if hers was, too. he inspected her wound. it was dark, and seemed to be reflective of the land itself. iskander let her hand go lightly, and drifted back to his place in the doorway.
you're right in saying that there's no real difference. in that case, which would you prefer? juno city, or this -- wherever this is, actually. his voice grew distant, and whatever he said next couldn't be heard.
he was starting to fade from view, gradually growing transparent from the legs up.
She recalled Juno City, and it conjured up memories of perfect tea and games of chess. They were good memories. There were uglier memories too, but they felt more distant, out of reach from the Land of Nightmares.
Reality only became so bleak. The Land of Nightmares wasn't so limited.
"It's more honest here. I can't hide anything, especially in a dream. It's frightening, but perhaps after a while the truth will set me free."
how poetic, rang a hollow voice that belonged to neither of them. maybe the land will bless you.
SOnfaZja <50 scourge appear in the doorway
snarling and spitting, a litter of scourge poochyena started running up to where iskander was. the man jumped in surprise, and shut -- bolted -- locked down the door in an instant. no sooner than he had forced the last bolt into place did the sounds of incessant barking and snapping start. the poochyena threw themselves at the door, but to no avail.
at the very least, the land had provided them with a good, solid door.
if the truth appears in this land, then is it also the truth that kills you? iskander asked, his voice still faraway, if you die here -- if we die here, we'll return to the real world, and you can continue hiding.
Something flashes in her eyes--anger, and a light that approaches spirit. "I've seen the land's blessings. It's not very talented at picking out gifts."
Iskander moved faster than Neo was used to seeing out of him. Delta had a certain languid grace, but she wasn't sure the man in Juno would've bolted the door shut in time. Not the one she knew anyway.
"Death might set me free too. Living's become so complicated."
Neo reached for the knife again, gripping it in her hand as if it were a weapon, but it was just a steak knife. She couldn't even stab herself with it very easily, should worse come to worst.
"Would you have me stop hiding? You never talk about what you want of me."
i don't know. it feels wrong to ask for things from you. i like being around you. i liked when you visited me. even if things didn't go as well after, i appreciated your presence. i don't think i'm in a place to ask for more than that.
the door rattled and shook, but it stood strong. the poochyena showed no signs of letting up, however. they had sensed presences in the room, and were out to get them. they were as hungry as the ones that walked the waking world.
"It never felt like a relationship, with just me, showing up and always taking. There was a time when I might've given you whatever you would ask of me. I think that time's passed now."
F1cfvNok < 50 still can't move
Neo leaned forward. Her hands played with the knife. She'd meant to stand, but she was still rooted in place. She'd expected to have the odds against her, but even if the Land made its own rules, this was cheating.
"You could go out there. Maybe they'll leave me alone once they've eaten you."
uN_xYJMA < 50 voices
?
