THE FRACTURED WORLD: ARRIVAL

[modormenace]

 

A

rrival for some goes all but unnoticed. It's a sudden shiver, the sensation of being watched... and then nothing at all. Life continues serenely as it always has. The only indication of any change comes with sleep, wrapped in dreams: vague and distant echo imagery of another life, melting away in the morning.

 

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or others, arrival is a sharp jolt. In the space of a single blink, they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by the trappings of a life they have not lived. They are replacements, spirits taking possession of bodies belonging to people very much like themselves...

 

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nd for the rest, arrival is a procedure. Routine. Those ported in to the Fractured World wake hazily in the comfortably dim light of the Porter room, laid out on an exam table. Their wounds, if they remember having any, have been healed— and even those who remember their own deaths find themselves miraculously restored. As they regain consciousness, an automatic audio-visual presentation is triggered. Regardless of their backgrounds or physiology, all imPorts 'see' and 'hear' this message as if in their own language:

"Greetings, imPort."

The voice is calm and gently authoritative, almost certainly selected by committee.

"On behalf of the Synod and all imPorts it represents, we welcome you to the planet Earth."

A decidedly non-humanoid robotic arm holds out a palm-sized device and rather insistently demands the new arrival take it. This is the imPort's comm, used for accessing the Porter's database of information, as well as the communications Network— though it won't receive communications from outside the Porter building until carried through one of the many Gates set up in a long, crescent-shaped array on the far side of the room.

As each Gate is approached, information about the faction it leads to flashes up on the comm device's screen. Which will you choose?

THE WHITE TOWER SANCTUM AURORAE KRAKOA HOUSE OF M EMPIRE OF LIGHT EQUALITY BEFORE LAW THE TWIN CITIES OLIN VALE EDEN SEEKERS OF THE NEW DAWN NORTHWESTERN IMPERIUM GREEN PIECE MAD BURNISH LUMINARY

Comments

[rimuru]

Rimuru remains in Claire's arms, not caring for how much she squeezes and squishes them. Being a slime means Rimuru has no organs, no bones, not even any sort of blood or nervous system, but also means they can't feel any pain whatsoever and their body can be stretched and compressed without injuring them. A soft pillow really describes the little slime very well.

"It is! Life can't be all serious business, right?" and feeling a bit like gossip, Rimuru squirms in Claire's arms. "What about the newcomers? Anyone interesting?"

[numberthree]

"God willing," Allison replies, even if she doesn't in the slightest believe in God the way anyone else saying those words might. It's a mimickry, like any number of phrases she's picked up along the way, since leaving the Academy. That blends her into the people she'll never quite entirely be like after her (lack of a) childhood.

"I could definitely use a lighter day than some of our last ones have been."

There's always so much do, to plan, to shore up, the closer they head to Synod.

[rimuru]

"I think we all do, in a way. Things have been... rough" Rimuru sighs, and eventually moves from Claire's arms to now stand on top of her head like a pillow.

"Are you planning on taking some vacation with your family? You would deserve it, you know?" with all the work. Rimuru understands why Allison works so hard, even if he doesn't fully agree with everything going on. But it's important to breathe from time to time, too.