Story Time 87 (Days 468-478)

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As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark.
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

THE SHORT AND SWEET
The heroes had entered into "The World As The Story Sees It," a patchwork realm overlooking The End of The World, a void of Darkness held back by an invisible wall and a net of the Story's magic. The heroes realized that they could no longer just defend—and began putting their minds towards strategies to defeat the Darkness once and for all.

The heroes visited several dead worlds connected to Aather through Rips in the world borders—the Floating City, the Academy, the Hive, the Naming Lands—and helped awaken the long-sleeping hearts of the worlds and connect them to Aather, along with their bonds and the bonds to many other worlds. This spell gave them the power to tackle the Darkness and their own fears.

But there was much more darkness, still. And the heroes discovered the Darkness could not be fully defeated as it was tied too heavily to the Story. They took a risk—to separate the Story from the Storysona, and the Darkness from them both. They poured their feelings out in response to the Storysona's plea, and two knights returned from their long quest for The Sword That Cuts Stories after months of searching, severing the Story from the Darkness, leaving just the fading Story, and the person left behind . . .

THE MORE COMPREHENSIVE
✦ Day 468
The heroes explored the castle in the Woods and eventually located a door that seemed to lead to a new realm . . . but were confronted by the Story(sona), who insisted that they couldn't go any further until they fixed things here—until everything was made right and they started to follow the Story again. It gave them a glimpse of what it perceived to be going on behind the curtain . . . then vanished, erasing the door with it. Dream gathered everyone to ask what they wanted . . . then helped build a bridge into the Heart of the Story.

✦ Day 469
When everyone who entered the Story's (heart? inner world?) woke up, they were sprawled out on the water of the Ring. In the Ring's water underneath everyone, the reflection of another image ripples: a moon hanging over a turquoise sea. The light it cast made a path on the water, leading down and away below the surface. The Woods were saved, after all. The pathway that the moon's light made led the heroes below into the new Realm.

✦ Day 470
The heroes could feel something new in the air, intense and wild and unconstrained. If they closed their eyes they could feel it on their skin, warm and inviting. They could catch a flicker of words hovering in the air, shining gold and just blurry enough that they couldn't make out what they said. They could hear it like a whisper on the air, a hitching breath of anticipation and the rustle of paper. There was nothing to unlock in this realm, and so the magic flowed freely, waiting for them to use it.

But if they happened to be close to the net, they sawsomething as well. The Darkness that they could see reaching its tendrils up through the gaps far, far below had grown since the last time they looked. It poured over the net protecting the world, overflowing in some places and spilling onto the edges of the ground. Here at the End Of The World, it was dangerous.

✦ Day 471
Baker ran a game. Witch? Not a witch? The heroes poured their powers together to build up a way to better defend this new realm. The Masked Lady told a ghost story.

✦ Day 472
Kiriko ran her final game. The Darkness stretched far into the distance. The net holding Aather together was weak with the heroes' interference, and weaker every time the Darkness made a move. If they simply tried to keep defending at this pace, it may start to chew away more than the edges of the world . . .

✦ Day 473
Maleficent and Beauty threw an egg into a volcano. Majory and June told their final story.

✦ Day 474
Maleficent bought time with an uncharacteristic sacrifice to help, and the heroes discussed how better to protect Aather. Beauty & the Prince had a chat and Beauty ran a game to help wake Maleficent up . . .

✦ Day 475
. . . successfully. The Prince's resulting game was a little lost, but he seemed to come out of it all the better.

✦ Day 476
The Darkness howled. The heroes discussed favors, bonds, and a plan of attack (and fussed on a baby dragon).

✦ Day 477
The heroes decided to ask Cecily to help them open up the way into the Rips, doorways into dead worlds long since devoured by Darkness. Each of these rips had a heart at the center of the world that the heroes found and rekindled, linking the dead heart of the world to Aather. It was the heroes' hopes that the worlds would rekindle in time; and in the meantime, their strength was added to the net of power and bonds that the heroes were creating.

✦ Day 478
The Dog returned and Maleficent used what it has fetched to help heroes regain some memories. Following that, the heroes used the power from linking the dead worlds and also reached out to all the other worlds, their bonds and each other, in order to form a Spell to help them fight the Darkness.

They added their bonds with those all over the worlds into this new Spell. The heroes poured their power into it to tie together more and more, each gemstone glowing with a fierce light that overlapped with the radiance cast by its neighbours. Between each of them; the dead worlds; their own worlds, their friends, and the people they cared about; those they knew . . . The Spell weaveed itself together, built from their bonds, brightening and solidifying and strengthening them. They could feel power at their fingertips, excitement with every breath.

Near the End of the World, they could see the invisible wall keeping the Darkness out vanish and dissolve. Darkness began to seep through the cracks, long tendrils reaching and twisting up into Aather, flowing in like blood and water, drawing itself up, in and together, struggling to maintain form. The heroes fought their fears and the Darkness, and destroyed it.

But there was much more darkness, still. And the heroes discovered the Darkness could not be fully defeated as it was tied too heavily to the Story. They took a risk—to separate the Story from the Storysona, and the Darkness from them both. They poured their feelings out in response to the Storysona's plea, and two knights returned from their long quest for The Sword That Cuts Stories after months of searching, severing the Story from the Darkness, leaving just the fading Story, and the person left behind . . .

You can also backthread as much memory/skill-taking as desired here..

TO BE DIRECTLY CONTINUED SATURDAY @ 1PM PST

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I-WASN'T-THERE-BUT . . .

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